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Sharing the Benefits through Collaboration Newsletter

Message from the Managing Director

Well it’s the start of another financial year in Australia; so a good question to ask is what does the future hold? Recently there have been a number of publications describing the trends that are likely to affect every aspect of our life in the coming decades and beyond. The newly published book by Richard Dobbs et al. from McKinsey & Company. “No ordinary Disruption: The four global forces Braking all the trends” (PublicAffairs, May 2015), talks of urbanisation, accelerated technological change and greater global connections as the four global forces shaping the future In the CSIRO publication, “Global Megatrends: Seven Patterns of Change Shaping Our Future”, author Stefan Hajkowicz identifies the following seven trends that will transform the world over the next 20 years: • Rapid economic growth and urbanisation

in Asia and the developing world • Accelerating technological advancement,

which will create new markets and extinguish existing ones.

• An ageing population, changed retirement patterns, chronic illness and rising healthcare expenditure

• Digital technology reshaping retail and office precincts, city design and function and labour markets

• Increasing demand for limited natural resources and a scarcity of these resources

• Changing consumer expectations for services, experiences and social interaction

• A window of opportunity to protect biodiversity, habitats and the global climate

In October 2014, members of the Science|Business Network of European universities and companies met in Berlin to compare notes about the future of four key sectors in Europe. This is what they see as the megatrends in business, society and technology (Views of 2030: transport, manufacturing, education and health, Science|Business Report 2014):

• Working population in Europe will decline by 21 million by 2030. Radical shift in workplace will require new work design, organisational structure, and leadership style

• The 21st century will be defined by convergence of different disciplines, with research in biology as a key component. Main research directions: human brain and next generation robotics

• Disruptive technologies and disruptive business model. Growth will be based not on cutting-edge discoveries but on business model innovation. Business model innovation will be driven by growing social networks including networks of suppliers, producers, customers, users and employees

• Events at the peripheries of the network could cause a failure of the complex system and change the logic of whole industries.

• Content will be available on-demand and produced by users. Mass self-communication across horizontal networks with interactive virtual and real-time exchange will empower individuals.

Although there are slight differences, most of the trends described have a similar underlying theme. But for us the real question is what do these patterns of change mean for the future of mining and its contribution to the economy? Before trying to answer the first part of the question, we should understand current the contribution mining makes to nations’ economic progress in terms of GDP. Not that GDP is a perfect measure of economic progress (see The Little BIG Number: How GDP Came to Rule the World and What to Do about It, Dirk Philipsen, 2015; Princeton University Press). The Australian national accounts to June 2015 show a seasonally adjusted GDP of 2.3% (to Feb 2015), of which mining contributed 0.5% and services 1.5% (www.abs.gov.au). I have included services because it’s the fastest growing sector of the Australian economy. The picture is much the same in countries where mining is an important export earner. Cont… Page 2

In this issue Editorial ……..................................

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Where to the mining industry in 2015/16?

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AMIRA “Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover” launched by Minister Macfarlane

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P1025“Achieving Interoperability across the Minerals Value Chain” - the Road towards the Future Automated Mine

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Helping Explorers find mines: AMIRA’s P1153 “Applying the explorers' toolbox to discover Cu, Au and Mo deposits”

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Dragons return to Miners Den 6 More "Gold" to Flow from the AMIRA P420 Program

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P223 EM Modelling 8 HISTORICAL PAPER: “Benefits Derived from the P9 Mineral Processing Project”

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Current Status of P9 12 Global News

- South Africa

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- North America 13 - Australia 14 - Europe 15 - Latin America 16

Conferences

- WAXI Conference in Dakar - AMIRA at SEG Conference - 2nd Sustainability Summit

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- AMIRA becomes associate partner of IMARC 18

Members Corner

- Demerger of South32 from BHP Billiton

- Gekko wins CEEC Medal - Alcoa aquires RTI

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CEEC Corner - Best Practice: an emerging reality

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AMIRA Press Releases 21 Staff Updates

- John Visser joins - Adele Seymon promoted - Farewell to Alan Goode - Farewell to Ileana Inocencio

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The global forces shaping society and business and the future of mining

Issue 40 July 2015

“... patterns of change suggest that mining will continue to play a Joe Cucuzza critical role in underpinning human development into the future...” Managing Director

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www.amirainternational.com

In Canada, the annualised GDP was 2.06% (to March 2015) with mining contributing 0.17%, whilst services contributed 1.44%. In Chile, GPD was 2.4% (June 2015) with mining contributing 0.3%, and services 1.34% (www.tradingeconomics.com). These figures support John Edwards’ point that in Australia “…mining remains a useful but not a dominant sector of the economy” (The Long Golden Run, The Australian Financial Review; Friday 12 June 2015). Edwards goes on to say “that while investment in mining has been falling, it has grown strongly in the services sector in the last year”. In my view the forces of change described by Dobbs et al., Hajkowicz and Science|Business strongly suggest an expanding services sector over the next decade as the knowledge and digital economies continue to grow. Indeed revolutionary ICT technologies now driving the creation of new services, products and technology companies, will guarantee that the share of the non-resource, non-farming, sector to GDP will grow considerably. But I hasten to add that this does not guarantee that productivity will rise. There is little doubt however, that population growth, urbanisation, will continue to rely on the supply of basic raw minerals such as aluminium, iron, copper, and rare earths. Recycling of metals, or indeed substitutes, even with innovations in the former, will not be enough to fill the demand that will come from population growth and urbanisation. Both the latter are projected to add 2.5 billion people to the world’s urban population by 2050 (World Urbanization Prospects – 2014 edition; UN). The OECD estimates that the global middle class (defined as households with daily expenditures of US$10-100 per person, in 2005 purchasing power parity terms) will increase to 4.9 billion people by 2030, from 1.8 billion in 2009. Two thirds are expected to reside in Asia (Lee Jong-Wha - The Bright Future of Asia's Middle Class, March 2015 www.huffingtonpost.com) Any objective analysis of the implications of these patterns of change would suggest that, barring any major global cataclysm, mining will continue to play a critical role in underpinning human development into the future. Although, the contribution to national GDP may well decline over time, as the services sector swells. That mining will continue to play a big part is good news for under developed resource rich countries for whom mining is an important avenue towards alleviating poverty. Clearly then, demand for the basic minerals will be strong into the foreseeable future, and mining will be the only way that the projected demand will be met. Inevitably however, there will be the normal demand and supply fluctuations as we are seeing currently with iron ore for example. As the world continues to urbanise, the environment will come under increasing stress from over population and competition for scarce resources, climate change etc. Many companies are actively trying to reduce the footprint of mining operations, carbon emissions, and their reliance on water and energy. Some see pursuit of the solutions as an opportunity for competitive advantage. It is generally true that only the larger mining companies can hope to invest in the R&D necessary to develop solutions. The vast majority of mining companies do not have such a capacity and must wait until solutions become commercially available. Although there is nothing wrong with this, it relies mostly on the big-end of town or the financially-secure METS companies to drive innovation. But imitative Cont… this page

After 17 years with AMIRA, with the last three devoted to running Data Metallogenica, Alan Goode has retired. Data Metallogenica began in 1970 as a dedicated mission by Peter and Sarka Laznicka at the University of Manitoba in Canada to progressively gather representative samples of ores, alteration, host rocks and regolith from as many international ore deposits as possible. After this original collection was acquired by AMIRA International, it was greatly expanded through projects P554 and P554A, and P1040 to over 70,000 samples from more than 5000 deposits of all types from over 70 countries. All were photographed at high resolution and spectral mineralogy measured from 10% of samples, with all globally accessible via the web at www.dmgeode.com.

Cont… page 23

Farewell to Alan Goode

Cont'd from page 1

innovation focusing on the same problem is a wasteful way of allocating scarce resources (Fraser Institute: Benefits of Incremental Innovation, Steven Globerman and Kristina Lybecker, June 2014). As I have mentioned previously, as an industry we need to consider how best to leverage each other’s knowledge and resources to address the big challenges in a way that does not jeopardise individual competitiveness or contravenes anti-trust laws. There is a way, but companies need to appreciate that competitive advantage can be captured from peer co-funded R&D. John Marsden, from Freeport-McMoran and then a Director of AMIRA International, declared in 2004 that competitive advantage can be realised from collaborative developments by (Technology development and competitive advantage: sustainable or short term. Plant Operators’ Forum, SME): • Applying the technology more rapidly • Applying the technology more effectively • Applying to a greater proportion of metal production • Taking advantage of geographical, geological or other factors • Developing and motivating people There is a way forward to develop the innovations the industry needs and that is through genuine cooperation and collaboration Some companies have recognised this, and a few are trying to drive collaboration themselves, Anglo American’s FutureSmartTM

Open Forum initiative is an example. In the company’s public pronouncements the emphasis is on “developing transformative opportunities” and “addressing issues of universal concern to mining industry but with greater benefit in Anglo American’s businesses”. What the latter actually means in respect to peer to peer cooperation is not clear. No one will argue that there is a need for transformative innovations although this should not be at the expense of incremental innovation. Over the next six months AMIRA International will be embarking on an initiative to facilitate cooperation and collaboration amongst members. More on this in future issues of the newsletter. On July 23 the Australian Minister for Industry and Science, The Hon. Ian Macfarlane MP, launched the AMIRA “Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover” in Perth. The Roadmap is the first step towards addressing the impediments to successful exploration in covered terranes. It is also a call to action for industry, government and research organisations to work together to develop the solutions necessary to improve discovery success. I am also pleased to report that 11 companies have invested some AU$1.77 million towards a new project “P1153 Applying the explorers' toolbox to discover Cu, Au and Mo deposits”. A notable achievement in the current climate. In addition the project P1025 Achieving Interoperability across the Minerals Value Chain: Phase 1 – Surface Mining Equipment” also commenced.

Joe Cucuzza

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Where to Mining Industry in 2015/16? The commodity price downturn is taking an awful human toll certainly in Australia and particularly in WA. The 2015-2025 WA Resources Sector Outlook predicts the number of people employed by the resources sector will decrease another 20 per cent in a decade from about 105,000 to 87,000 (CME, Deloitte Access Economics: www.cmewa.com). Also it’s been reported that some workers are now being paid 10 to 20% less than a year ago. The Australian Reserve Bank indicates that current wages growth across the economy is the lowest since the early 1990’s recession. Although the break in wages growth is good news for an industry that has seen escalating costs, it is fair to say that the rise in wages during the once-in-a-lifetime boom was fuelled by the actions of the companies. The correction however is little comfort to those who have lost their jobs. Unfortunately cuts are continuing with BHPB recently announcing that the number of staff in their Melbourne HQ will be reduced by 100. Anglo American announced that as part of the company's plan to save US$500 million in costs, they are targeting reduction of 6,000 overhead and other indirect roles, a 46% reduction in workforce. Despite cuts, we have the strange situation where the big players in Australia have, over the last year, increased production, at least in iron ore, whilst keeping a lid on capital spending (www.pwc.com). Although, BHPB recently announced that they will be reducing global production in coal, copper and hydrocarbons. Coal and iron ore have been the hardest hit by the commodity price downturn over last three years. Iron, nickel, and copper prices were down 26%, 11% and 7% respectively in July alone. In response to the collapse in commodity prices, the larger companies have not only reined in capital spending, they have largely turned off the tap on greenfield exploration expenditure as well. Perhaps the idea is that the juniors will take up the slack. In this gloom we are all on the lookout for the tiniest of “green shoots” that may signal a sustained recovery. The trouble is the financing of juniors and mining projects in general are at rock bottom. A recent report on mining financing by SNL Financial LC suggests that perhaps there may be room for optimism even though 2015 has not seen a great start (Mining financing by region, January 2013-March 2015, Chris Galbraith, June 10, 2015). The author reports that during the period the Asia/Middle East region received the most funding at 20% (US$16.92 billion), followed by Latin America with 17% (US$14.10 billion) and Australia with 15% (US$12.83 billion); the remainder was rounded out by Canada (14%), the U.S. (12%), Europe — including Russia and central Asia — (10%), Africa (8%) and Pacific/Southeast Asia (3%). The trend for 2015 is dismal for Australia which, according to Galbraith, attracted only 15% of total financings in 2013-2014 but has fallen to only 5% of 2015 financings to date. It’s looking good for Canada though, it’s apparently taking up a third of all funds raised in the year so far, followed by Latin America (26%) and Asia/Middle East (13%). Galbraith concludes that although mining-associated fundraising has been largely stagnant in the first quarter of 2015, there are some notable offerings namely, First Quantum Minerals Ltd.'s recently closed C$1.44 billion offering; Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd.'s recent US$412 million investment in Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.'s Kamoa project in Democratic Republic of Congo; and Rio Tinto's planned US$6 billion campaign to fund underground development at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia. Gold Road’s success in raising AU$39.3 million will allow the company to continue the momentum at its Gruyere Gold Project by completing the Pre-Feasibility Study and Definitive Feasibility Study was very encouraging. So perhaps 2015 may not be too bad; according to IBISWorld the outlook for the mining industry in Australia will improve with commodity prices set to rebound during 2015-16, although coal will continue to struggle (media.ibisworld.com.au/). However whether this constitutes the looked for “green-shoots” remains to be seen. There is always going to be a lag between recovery of commodity prices and substantial and sustainable increase in investment in greenfield exploration. Alan Trench from CRU, recently speaking at the AMEC resources industry convention in Perth, Western Australia, was decidedly upbeat about the prospects of many commodities over the next four years the exception being iron ore. He did express concern however, of the Australian gold sector following the unfortunate path of the South African industry. The sector is currently directly responsible for 8% of GDP of South Africa which is a striking decline from its peak in the 1970s when mining contributed 21% of GDP (www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-africa-mining-sector-an-update/south-africa-mining-sector-an-update) What’s worrying is that junior explorers will continue facing severe headwinds in the coming year. Speaking early this year at the 83rd annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Conference, newsletter writer John Kaiser painted a dismal scene in Canada; apparently there are 717 companies with negative working capital, 291 with between C$0.00 and C$500,000 in working capital and only 554 with a more comfortable C$500,000-to-C$20 million in working capital (http://www.kaiserresearch.com/). No doubt we have our “zombie companies” in Australia as well – indeed according to BDO one in five Australian juniors are in this state. According to Boston Consulting Group tackling the crisis in mineral exploration is not hopeless – after interviewing a few well known exploration legends they discovered that leadership, both in the Board and the field, is the key ingredient to turning things around (www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/metals-mining-tackling-crisis-mineral-exploration/#chapter1). Imagination, passion, patience and willingness to take a risk based on good scientific reasoning surely are the keys to successful exploration. Although many explorationists have these attributes, unless there is a supporting Board and senior management, the potential of such people will never be realised. And we will all be the losers for it. Getting back to where the mining industry will be during this financial year, there is no doubt in my mind that in the foreseeable future greenfields exploration is largely going to be undertaken by the mid-tier companies, although as one senior executive recently said that it’s unlikely to include much early concept exploration. The mid-tier companies are also the most likely to buy assets, as evidenced by Evolution’s purchase of Cowal and Independence’s acquisition of Sirius. In Australia the incentives by State, Territory and Federal governments to encourage greenfields exploration are obviously helpful, but nowhere near enough to really make a difference to the situation we find ourselves in. It’s certainly going to be a rocky road, with China along with the American and European economies holding the keys. Let’s hope that at least we have hit bottom and that soon some unambiguous signal of an upturn becomes evident. Joe Cucuzza

Sharing the Benefits

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AMIRA International “Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover” launched by Industry and Science Minister Ian Macfarlane AMIRA International has completed another major roadmapping initiative; one that is squarely focused on addressing the decline in the discovery rate of world-class non-ferrous mineral deposits under post-mineralisation cover or regolith. Despite some recent successes, the discovery rate of world-class non-ferrous mineral deposits has declined significantly and furthermore, the existing reserves are being depleted and the quality or grade of remaining resources is declining. If this trend is not reversed, Australia’s ability to maintain its role as a leading exporter of non-ferrous mineral resources will be eroded. The consequence of not addressing this challenge will have widespread repercussions, not only to our resource exports but also to the minerals equipment, technology and services sector, as well as to the research institutions that support industry, and not least to the regional communities that rely on the resources sector. In response to this challenge, 34 stakeholders (consisting of explorers, mining houses, suppliers, Australian State and Territory Geological Surveys and Geoscience Australia) plus CSIRO, Curtin University and UWA, have funded the development of a roadmap – the AMIRA Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover – to identify the impediments to discovery in areas of cover, and develop a plan to address them. The AMIRA Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover is a bold, systematic and collaborative initiative. It is a call-to-arms to the Australian minerals industry (explorers, miners and suppliers), geoscience stakeholders and governments to address the challenges to improve exploration performance in areas of cover. If we need further evidence of industry’s plight, only recently the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a report stating that exploration expenditure in Australia is at a 10-year low. This exacerbates the discovery problem and is not restricted to just Australia. The AMIRA Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover is a critical and strongly-supported first step towards unlocking Australia’s hidden minerals potential. The vision statement developed during the roadmapping process encapsulates the sentiments of the multi-sector sponsors and expert contributors involved in the preparation of the roadmap: “Delivering Australia’s major new mines by locating and unlocking future mineral wealth, and positioning Australia as the global leader in exploration beneath post-mineral cover rocks.” The AMIRA Roadmap for Exploration Under Cover was officially launched by The Hon. Ian Macfarlane, Federal Minister for Industry and Science, The Honourable Minister Bill Marmion MLA, WA Minister for Finance, Mines and Petroleum, and Will Robinson, CEO of Encounter Resources Limited. This event was co-hosted by the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum and attracted a crowd from industry, government and research organisations from around Australia. A discussion session for Stage 2 of the Roadmap was held the following morning. This was also well attended by a variety of industry and government stakeholders, indicating a promising future for the continuation of the effort required to complete the AMIRA Roadmap process. A copy of the Roadmap can be obtained via the link http://www.amirainternational.com/web/site.asp?section=activities&page=ExplorationUnderCover

www.amirainternational.com

From left to right (Second Row): Joe Cucuzza, Managing Director AMIRA International, Will Robinson, Managing Director Encounter Resources Limited, Hon. Ian Macfarlane MP, Minister for Industry, Hon. Bill Marmion MLA, WA Minister for Finance, Mines and Petroleum.

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Sharing the Benefits

AMIRA International, in partnership with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, have launched an initiative to examine the case for improved interoperability in mining. The initial phase of the project will commence on the 18th August 2015 and will focus on the processes and systems supporting open cut mining equipment. The research will be undertaken by Colin Farrelly of Indago Partners and Ray Ballantyne of RAK Developments. Both Colin and Ray have a wealth of experience in the application of technology to address mining challenges. The Global Mining and Standards Group will also be involved actively with the project. The case for improved interoperability in mining has become compelling and urgent due to the increased interest in end-to-end process integration, remote operations, multi-vendor equipment automation and the rapidly increasing amount and variety of field data being collected, managed and interpreted. The purpose of this study is to identify and leverage the many disparate past and present initiatives aimed at interoperability, develop a set of guiding principles for improved interoperability, and determine whether increased efforts are needed to support the evolving requirements of mining companies for major technology based transformations. Ian Hollingworth, Manager Innovation – Mining Platforms at Rio Tinto expressed their view on what interoperability is needed to enable safe, effective, remote, centralised control of highly automated surface mining equipment: “In looking into these questions, Rio Tinto’s primary interest is interoperability principles rather than technical standards. For example, how can individual autonomous HME items (drills, haul trucks, etc.) best be integrated into an overall autonomous surface mining system with many such items? Other principles might concern the ownership of operational data generated by an autonomous surface mining system and confidentiality obligations. Technical standards that might be employed to achieve interoperability (flavour of XML, data models, network protocols and the like) are out of scope for P1025 and are best defined by the various groups already established.” “The mining industry is moving closer to a “fixed plant paradigm” for control of surface mining operations. Regulatory control of equipment is increasingly undertaken by software algorithms, whilst the role of the human operator is shifting towards supervisory control (e.g. dealing with abnormal situations, monitoring, and optimisation). Rather than being co-located with (or on) a particular item of equipment, the mining operator is more likely to be situated alongside peers in a central control room. The operator is no longer needed on the equipment because on-board systems take care of regulatory control functions like navigation (trucks) and drilling (drills).” “Automated regulatory control of equipment and central control rooms have been used in fixed plant operations since the 1970s. In mining, the introduction of computer-based control systems (by OEMs) and the use of remote operations centres (by operating companies) is driving a new requirement for interoperability. Now in mining, as in other sectors (process plants, aviation, automotive) software performs tasks that previously required constant operator attention and input.“ “Rather than undertake hands on regulatory control, in the new paradigm, miners need to issue tasks / instructions to mining equipment (for autonomous execution by that equipment) and to monitor the progress of task execution. For this to be manageable (and safe) mining companies need to interact with OEM systems via supported interfaces. Simply put, we need to be able to tell autonomous equipment what to do and to monitor its progress.”

The project is still open for sponsorship. Producers with existing or planned remote operations centres, or having parts of their business focused on automation and the end-to-end integration of their mining processes, will be benefit most from this project. If your company is interested in sponsoring this study and helping lead the industry in mine automation and interoperability, or if you would simply like more information about the project, please feel free to contact the following AMIRA Program Managers: Adele Seymon | Olga Verezub

P1025 “Achieving Interoperability across the Minerals Value Chain” - the Road towards the Future Automated Mine

Rio Tinto Mine of the Future™ Rio Tinto - Autonomous Haulage Trucks, West Angelas minesite Credit: Christian Sprogoe Photography. Copyright © 2014 Rio Tinto

NEW AMIRA Project initiatives

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Helping Explorers find mines: AMIRA’s P1153 “Applying the explorers' toolbox to discover Cu, Au and Mo deposits”

CODES – The University of Tasmania has been successful in receiving an Australian Research Council (ARC) Industrial Transformation Research Hub, Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC). Over the five year grant period, programs run under the Hub will make significant improvements to industry practices along the Mining Value Chain. Particular focus is on detecting proximity to ore; quantifying geometallurgical characteristics; and predicting geoenvironmental behaviour. The AMIRA P1153 project forms the largest subproject within the ARC TMVC Research Hub, with substantial benefits to the sponsor group, including minimised infrastructure charges and analytical support. The AMIRA project kicked-off in July 2015 with 12 industry sponsors.

The P1153 research program will develop new methods and implement methods developed in previous projects (P765, P765A and P1060) to help its sponsors discover porphyry and/or epithermal deposits. Analysis of the geochemical signals recorded in hydrothermal alteration halos will provide explorers with both fertility (how large?) and vectoring information (how far, and in what direction?), allowing the presence, location and significance of porphyry and/or epithermal copper, gold and molybdenum deposits in an exploration tenement to be determined during the early stages of exploration.

After what has already been an exciting time for the P1153 research team, AMIRA is also delighted to

congratulate Huayong Chen for being selected to receive the SGA-Barrick Young Scientist Award 2015. Huayong has been a long-standing and valued member of the AMIRA P1153/P1060/765A/765 research team, and we look forward to seeing him receive his award at the Opening Ceremony of the SGA Biennial Meeting in Nancy, France on Monday, August 24, 2015.

www.amirainternational.com

Identifying new ideas and solutions for where Information & Communication Technology (ICT) can enable success in exploration, development and mining with improved productivity and sustainability outcomes.

Australia 3.0* is an opportunity for you to attend a one day conference in October to share your knowledge and contribute your experience and ideas to drive innovation in mining. Following a very successful event last year, we will again have compelling presentations from leaders in innovation from mining companies, research institutions and independent specialists, with a focus on showcasing new innovative solutions that involve the use of ICT.

The “Call for Innovation” Challenge

Over the next two months, we will be running a Call for Innovation that allows new concepts - at any stage of development – to be submitted into an on-line collaboration environment (“Miner’s Den”), and then be selected to present an “angel investment style pitch” to an audience of mining industry innovation experts and investors (“The Dragons”).

Up to 12 Research and product development teams from many different organisations will be selected to present their innovative solutions that address key challenges in the mining industry. We will put these ideas through their paces, test and mature them, and identify what is required to bridge the gap between working prototype and broad industry uptake.

The Nationwide Pitching Competition

At the one day conference in October (exact date TBA) you will hear keynote talks from mining companies and mining research organisations, as well as presentations of these innovative new solutions in three separate sessions delivered from three separate capital city locations via high definition video conference over ultra-high bandwith communications.

The three best presentations selected by a panel of judges will be given an opportunity to showcase their solutions at the 2015 IMARC event in early November in Melbourne. Further Information: http://australia30.com.au/mining/ or email Colin Farrelly directly: colin.farrelly@indagopartners.com * Australia 3.0 is a joint initiative of The Pearcey Foundation and The Australian Computer Society, with mining sponsors:

AMIRA International, CSIRO, Monash University, AARNET and perhaps many more!

The Dragons return to the Miners’ Den for Australia 3.0 - October 2015

NEW AMIRA Project initiatives Cont'd from page 5

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More "Gold" to Flow from the AMIRA P420 Program

While the current AMIRA P420E project has a further 10 months to run to finalise all the deliverables, Professor Jacques Eksteen and his Gold Technology Group have already commenced the process of designing an exciting extension project that looks set to meet the needs of the gold industry in this current economic climate. A process of consultation has been underway for some months now involving the 14 existing member AMIRA P420E sponsor family members as well as with companies that may want to be part of the consortium. This information has now been collated and prioritised and will result in the development of the AMIRA P420F proposal within the coming weeks. The proposal will have the specific aim of assisting gold Operator Sponsor companies to improve the efficiencies of their gold operations along the entire value chain, thus maximising the gold that is produced. In addition, the project will be designed to enhance the gold technology services provided by the project's valued Supplier Sponsors. The AMIRA P420F project will be titled "Enhancing Gold Mining Economics - Improving Processing and Extending Reserves". This project will build upon the highly successful series of P420 projects in gold processing technology (six projects in total over 30 years), which has delivered significant technological and financial returns to the project sponsors. The research team at Curtin University has over 300 man years of experience in precious metals processing and has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in this research field. This cumulative experience excludes significant contributions made by many noteworthy individuals in prior iterations of the project. The project team will continue its proud history of developing timely optimisation approaches, while also utilising its full suite of captured knowledge, databases, models and software to bring the following benefits; • Lower operating costs associated with processing low grade and difficult ores (poly-metallic, refractory and preg-robbing). • Lowering input (water, energy) requirements and managing with poorer or variable quality water. • Improving capital and labour productivity through improved asset utilisation and training of sponsors' human capital. • Maintaining and improving the social licence to operate. • Integrating and evaluating Supplier Sponsor technologies within the process context, where geology, mineralogy, chemistry,

particulate properties and supplier technologies interact. The AMIRA P420F project is expected to require an annual investment of the equivalent of 85 gold ounces per new operating sponsor (compared to P420B and P420C which required an investment of the equivalent of 170-180 ounces per sponsorship on today’s gold price). For this level of investment, new sponsors will benefit from an unprecedented cumulative value of products and services an AMIRA project has ever offered to the gold industry as a research program. The past value of the P420 projects has been highlighted to AMIRA by its members on a number of occasions with one sponsor representative recently advising that, in the latest and sixth iteration of Project P420, a single mine-site in South America had utilised the technology to realise more than AU$6 million a year in cost savings and recovery improvements. At St Barbara, a Senior Project Metallurgist stated that “Improved gold processing knowledge by the plant metallurgists, as a result of the on-site workshops, led to better gold leaching, elution and carbon management practices. This directly resulted in increases in gold recovery and lower plant operating costs”. This clearly demonstrates that value delivery and a focus on industry needs is a high priority in the AMIRA P420 Project Team and that the project is delivering positive measurable outcomes to its sponsors. This tradition of delivering real cost effective and market driven outcomes will no doubt be continued in the AMIRA P420F project once it has secured the necessary sponsorship and is achieving industry driven outcomes from June 2016. More sponsors are welcome to join this consortium with more information available from John Visser at john.visser@amirainternational.com. John Visser

Sharing the Benefits

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Program Model description Inversion? Topography Airbeo Layered earth yes Flat earth Beowulf Layered earth yes Flat earth LeroiAir Thin plates in layered host yes Flat earth Leroi Thin plates in layered host yes Flat earth ArjunAir 2D mesh 3D source yes Full domain Arjuna 2D mesh 3D source no Full domain SamAir Compact 3D in uniform host yes Limited Samaya Compact 3D in uniform host virtual Limited LokiAir 3D full domain yes Full domain Loki 3D full domain virtual Full domain MarcoAir Prisms in layered host no Flat earth Marco Prisms in layered host no Flat earth

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Advanced EM Modelling: Update on the AMIRA P223 Research Program Airborne eletromagnetics (AEM) has proven to be an effective mapping tool as well as a targeting tool for many base metal deposits, and has been credited for many discoveries. Furthermore, substantial savings in both time and costs can be realised through the use of AEM, provided you have good data. To be effective however, both horizontal and vertical location of the drilling target needs to be defined with sufficient accuracy. Horizontal resolution is determined primarily by flying height and flying speed (assuming a constant sampling rate). For this reason, rotary-wing systems that fly lower and slower than their fixed-wing counterparts tend to have better horizontal resolution. Vertical resolution for time-domain AEM systems is determined primarily by the number and temporal distribution of the time gates that are used to sample the receiver signal, and thus determine the ground response beneath the aircraft. Systems designed to sample near-surface effects may have time gates clustered very close to or even before transmitter turnoff; those designed for deep penetration may have wide-spaced time gates that measure the receiver signal long after the transmitter has been turned off. Quantitative modelling, review of past survey results and discussions with AEM contractors can all help to establish the spatial resolution in plan (horizontally) and in depth (vertically) of a particular AEM system. The importance of AEM as an exploration tool was understood very early, but innovations in both hardware and in interpretation tools were required to fully realise the benefits of this geophysical technique. The Mathematical Modelling Group at CSIRO started its first industry sponsored project focusing on geophysical modelling and interpretation in 1980. The group was led by Dr Art Raiche and initially included Fred Sugeng and subsequently Dr Glenn Wilson. This team went on to work on the famous AMIRA P223 software modelling program. The last project in the series, P223F, was completed in early 2008. Over the 27 years industry invested some AU$9 million (in current dollar terms) resulting in a suite of advanced modelling programs listed below. The software programs became public domain in 2010 (http://p223suite.sourceforge.net/).

The intent of the AMIRA P223 research program was to develop a suite of software tools to standardise how airborne electromagnetic data, collected by a diverse range of systems, could be used and interpreted. This project anticipated an increasing trend to use AEM to drill target directly off the geophysical survey inversion results.

ArjunAir was one of the last software packages delivered to sponsors. This software was designed to forward model and invert AEM data from a single profile using a two-dimensional (2D) model of electrical resistivity and susceptibility but with a 3D source. The only caveat was that the geoelectrical

cross-section is relatively constant along a strike length that exceeds the AEM system footprint. Both Time domain and Frequency domain systems were to be accommodated. 2.5D modelling is based on a full wave solution to Maxwell’s equations using a frequency-domain, spatial Fourier domain finite element method. In the spatial Fourier domain, Maxwell’s frequency-domain equations reduce to two coupled partial differential equations for the along strike components of the secondary electric and magnetic fields. These coupled equations are solved using an isoparametric finite-element method. This allows the mesh to conform to topography and heterogeneous geoelectrical regions with curved or sloping boundaries. The implicit continuity of the along strike components across discontinuous resistivity boundaries in the conventional 2D finite-element scheme ensures numerical stability and accuracy when modelling problems with extremely high resistivity contrasts. This enables the accurate simulation of 3D source excitation for full domain models inclusive of topography, non-conforming boundaries and very high resistivity contrasts. Over the years, the AMIRA P223 suite of programs has been the subject of much review and use by the exploration community. Many programs have fallen out of favour somewhat because the reported capabilities fell short of their design specifications. In the case of ArjunAir the published code had the following deficiencies.

• Inability to handle long profiles, with high resistivity contrasts. ( > 20 km) • Forward model does not work with any topography relief. • Poor/unstable inversion behaviour. • Forward model generated significant and obvious erroneous solutions near or over sharp resistivity contacts.

Only simple rectangular mesh, layered earth, case studies are published, and these do not reflect the original deficiencies. Most of the deficiencies stem from several algorithmic bugs that were not picked up in the original testing. In the last 18 months, Intrepid Geophysics in collaboration with Dr Jovan Silic (ex-Aberfoyle Chief Geophysicist and currently Consultant with Jovan Silic and Associates) has picked up on this work. A review of the original tests was carried out. Several new tests were added to the mix, reflecting some physical modelling of graphite blocks with stepped geometry. These were used to confirm expected outcomes, and verify the bug fixes which included rewriting or reformulating some of the forward model modules. Cont… Page 9

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Advanced EM Modelling Cont from… Page 8

In the process, the original inversion algorithm was also completely rewritten to: • optimize the time taken to solve large systems, by use of an MPI strategy

(multiple processors are deployed in parallel). • deliver a full 2.5D inversion for an AEM line greater than 20km long in just

over an hour on a laptop • allow the use of a starting or reference geology model, to influence the inversion. • use an L2 norm objective function which includes the misfit to the reference model and a model smoothness function. • use a Generalized Single Value Decomposition (GSVD) method where generalized singular values of the sensitivity and model

norm matrices are used as weights. • use an adaptive Tikhonov regularization scheme to solve for changes in the conductivity model. This allows dampening of changes

in non-sensitive cell conductivities for each data point during the inversion process at each iteration. As a result of this the capabilities of ArjunAir were extended to include: • Systematic and simple way to specify what EM survey system was used, and to configure a specification of the necessary units,

channels, signal type and response curves. This unifies all systems to a common SI units system, and provides a way to describe the transmitter and receiver geometry, waveforms used, time gates and on-off times.

• Forward modelling with the ability to add system noise by contractor. • Estimation of system noise using an empirical assessment of noise levels obtained under survey conditions. • Support for rough topography (this was one of the main defects fixed). • Ability to deliver the technology on a high-end laptop, with much improved utilization and computing performance. • Training courses and example datasets, showing the working and interpretation phases for many real situations.

Thorough testing of 10 variations on airborne and ground based EM survey systems for all the major commercial systems, both frequency and time domain, have been shown to produce significant geological detail. The design objective of ArjunAir has now been realised and extends to the ability to indicate not only planar dipping features, but also near surface synclines and anticlinal features. Inversion results using the improved ArjunAir The dramatic improvement from 1D to 2D inversion is illustrated below. Buried conductors with complex geometries indicating geological structure, have a much improved signature. Also, the fit for early and late times is much better. If possible and the data is good enough, both X & Z measures decay curves are fitted simultaneously during 2D inversion.

Happily, as many of the difficulties have been overcome, there is a full “commercially supported” version that is now on the market. Intrepid have achieved AEM integration with a full 3D structural geology modelling / mapping environment as part of Geomodeller 2014. All the issues around meshing, rock properties, a geological model and user interface simplifications are handled. As LokiAir (full 3D) also shares much of the same methods as ArjunAir, you can expect to see the same sorts of improvements. More information is available from Intrepid Geophysics, including product specifications, demonstration and training material through the link:

www.intrepid-geophysics.com sales@intrepid-geophysics.com

Des Fitzgerald | Jovan Silic | Joe Cucuzza

1D and 2D Inversion Z Component, Ch6 to Ch8 Profiles and Conductivity Sections – note the 2D (ArjunAir) ability to pick up a syncline indicative of black shale. The 1D code was written by Dr Jovan Silic.

Sharing the Benefits

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We have introduced a section in the newsletter where we include papers from AMIRA’s Annual technical meetings as a way of highlighting the technological changes and industry practice since the publication of the paper. The featured paper in this edition was presented by Andrew Michelmore, then Executive General Manager Business Development, Planning and Technology WMC Resources Ltd at 38th Annual Technical Meeting, South Australia, September 1997 “BENEFITS DERIVED BY WMC FROM THE P9 MINERAL PROCESSING PROJECT” Introduction Along with twelve other companies, WMC contributed to the grand total of 2450 pounds to help launch the P9 project in 1962. Thirty five years later, the P9 project is in its eleventh extension and has in fact survived many of the original sponsoring companies. Of the survivors, six continue to support the project today. They include BHP, Pasminco, CRA, MIM, North and WMC. The founding project was entitled 'The Development of an Automatic Control System for Mineral Grinding Circuits" and represented a significant challenge for both the researchers and sponsors who had to demonstrate considerable foresight and faith in such an ambitious and progressive endeavour.

Over the years, the emphasis changed from automatic control to optimisation of mineral processes t h ro ug h mode l l i ng and simulation. The field of study expanded to include flotation, autogenous milling, and heavy media separation. A wide range of unit processes and equipment were modelled until in 1986 the first simulation package, JKSimMet, became available to sponsors. Further developments led to the release of JKSimDM and JKSimFloat packages for simulation of heavy media and flotation circuits. The packages have been continually updated to reflect new equipment introduced to the industry and to refine models as understanding of the more complex operations such as autogenous grinding continues to improve. In 1992, the thirtieth anniversary of the project, four year extensions were introduced and the project modularised so that sponsors had the opportunity to support only the modules of interest. The eleventh and current extension commenced in 1996 and modules were offered in comminution, classification and liberation; flotation; heavy media and gravity separation; and process control. The subject matter within each module represents the requirements of an industry which is demanding higher levels of sophistication in its ability to optimise existing circuits and design new ones. Much of the early work therefore focuses on improving the understanding of the fundamental principles involved, so that ultimately, more intelligent models can be developed. The growth in numbers and composition of the companies supporting the latest extension reflect the high regard with which the project is held within the international mining community. A total of t w e n t y five companies, including for the first time three from South Africa, and seven suppliers of engineering services or equipment, now support the project. The budget for the four year extension currently stands at approximately four million dollars.

The WMC Experience Although WMC is one of the few founding members involved in the project, the early years reflected a very poor understanding of how value can be derived from participation in such a collaborative project. Attendance of review meetings was ad hoc and participation in agenda setting minimal. It was no surprise therefore, that return for money was poor. More active companies dominated the agenda, and quite rightly, reaped the rewards.

In the mid to late eighties, driven by mixed success in the implementation of autogenous milling both within WMC and the mining industry in general, and a strong desire to ensure the next installation was unquestionably successful, the relationship with the JKMRC was rekindled and strengthened. WMC, with its milling testing facility in Kalgoorlie and growing number of autogenous or semi-autogenous milling operations in Australia, provided a very useful source of data for the JKMRC. Further, as WMC installed bigger, more adventurous circuits, and feedstocks assumed unique characteristics, the grounds for enhancing knowledge in this area became more and more fertile. The relationship with JKMRC grew more into a partnership with valuable knowledge and information added to the database along with that from all other participating companies. The P9 style of collaborative research, and the participants in it, thrive and prosper from the active participation and contribution of all members. In that sense, neither competition nor confidentiality are sensitive issues for the project or its participants. The value derived by members is therefore a function of the willingness of members to use the information and tools developed, and the participation Cont… Page 11

Historical Papers: AMIRA Annual Technical Meetings

1997

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in plant surveys, feedback sessions and agenda setting. Exchange of information outside the sponsoring body is not viewed favourably, though all companies are WMC is now one of the growing numbers of companies increasing its interest in the control of flotation circuits. The surge in interest has resulted in flotation almost equalling comminution in the allocation of project resources. Nevertheless, the description of benefits to WMC which follows, deals entirely with comminution which dominated over the past years.

Benefits to WMC

Milling Circuit Design Technologies s u c h as autogeneous and semi-autogenous grinding generally o f fer huge capital and operating cost benefits but often have associated with them a higher risk of technical failure. There are presently no simple bench scale tests or engineering rules that can be used to design such circuits and their performance depends entirely on the vagaries of the ore. In Australia it is not unusual for ores from within the same district to exhibit markedly different grinding behaviour, making predictions very difficult. Given the high cost of grinding circuits, their criticality to the process and the severe consequences of error, many companies choose not to take the risk and prefer to live with the higher operating costs associated with the more conservative circuits. Over 15 years ago, WMC resolved to adopt autogenous milling technology and apply it wherever it made economic and technical sense. In the early years, success was mixed and like many others in the industry at that time, WMC experienced some major problems. Operation of the St Ives mill introduced WMC to some of the hazards of dealing with very tough basalt and doleritic ores, even if they only comprised a small proportion of the feed. The toughness of the ores surprised some North American experts in the field. The experience concurred with a previous installation in the adjoining district and was to be repeated again later by another company just a little further afield. While industry gradually increased its understanding of such grinding systems, the JKMRC through the P9 project began modelling the process. By 1987, a simulator featuring an autogenous mill model was made available to sponsors. The advent of this simulator, in conjunction with the experience gained from an ever growing number of tests at the Kalgoorlie Research Plant, as well as hard-earned operating experience, provided WMC with the confidence to design and install bigger and better grinding systems. The JKSimMet was first used by WMC as a serious design tool during the design of the 32 foot diameter, single stage, fully autogenous mill for the Leinster Nickel Operation. A WMC process engineer, trained in the use of the simulator, sat with an expert from the JKMRC and model fitted a comprehensive series of pilot test data. Simulations were then run to confirm issues such as mill size, number and size of cyclones, product size, and charge load. Although the exercise proved to be a major step forward in mill design, operation of the mill was to uncover another set of important considerations. lt was demonstrated on several occasions that provided the mill was presented with ore similar to that tested, the mill operated very close to prediction. However, changes in mine plan resulted in a predominance of non-competent, open pit material which predictably exhibited non conforming behaviour. A fall-back plan which involved bleeding cyclone underflow to an existing ball mill was initiated and the situation restored. Since then, two more mills of similar size but with second stage ball mills were installed at the Mount Keith Operation, and a larger, fully autogenous, single stage mill installed at Olympic Dam. Performance at both these operations has been close to prediction. Most recently, a smaller but probably more technically challenging mill was installed at the Kambalda Nickel Operation, back in the region of earlier failures. Reported performance to date has been very encouraging. The simulator, developed as part of the P9 project, has played an instrumental role in the success of these projects and will be expected to do likewise for the progressively bigger mills planned for the St Ives and Olympic Dam expansions.

Cyclone Selection lt has been WMC's experience, that recent nickel orebodies in particular, bring with them peculiar slurry characteristics, as if all regular, ideal ore types have been exhausted. These characteristics generally manifest as high viscosity and complex slurry rheology, with the result that equipment design and selection by standard method becomes inappropriate. T his first became apparent during design of the Leinster cyclones when classical design methods were conflicting with simulator predictions. Since classical methods had served us reasonably well in the past, while the simulator was essentially unproven, the simulated results were viewed with scepticism. After considerable analysis and review, cyclones as predicted by the simulator were chosen. Subsequent operation showed that the units performed very close to prediction and if the theoretical units had been selected, the wrong units by at least one standard size would have been installed. Lesson learned, Mount Keith ore was extensively piloted through a cyclone rig, and modelled using the simulator. As those familiar with Mount Keith ore would know, the slurried ore is very viscous and exhibits peculiar rheological properties. Again, in application the selected units proved to be appropriately sized while use of classical methods would have resulted in significant error

Specialist Centre of Expertise The modelling of mineral processing systems clearly requires advanced mathematical modelling skills. However, without an intimate knowledge and understanding of the basic principles, mathematical skills alone are unlikely to result in a useful or intelligent model. As a result, students and researchers develop sound technical expertise and understanding of the processes being modelled as they undertake endless sampling campaigns under wide ranging conditions and test parameters. The exposure to field work and interaction with operating personnel gradually builds the foundation for an important and valuable working relationship. Industry has begun to accept the JKMRC as an extension of their own technical team and somewhere to turn when problems arise

Cont… Page 12

Historical Papers Cont'd from page 10

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Sharing the Benefits

Historical Papers, Cont'd from page 11 As industry, with research partner alongside, continues to implement new and more advanced technologies, the opportunity for both partners to grow their knowledge and understanding increases significantly. In the area of autogenous milling in particular, the partnership between the JKMRC and industry has helped build a body of expertise probably unequalled in the world. Though North America would claim to have the world's leading authorities, Australian ore types and preferred circuit configurations do not always fall within North American expertise. The JKMRC, through the P9 project and with its more relevant expertise, would be our first port of call for assistance or advice.

Quantification of Benefits lt is the opinion of the author that the prime benefit to WMC has come from the improved ability to select the right equipment, the first time! During a busy number of years where four major installations have taken place and two others are in progress, extended or failed commissioning at any or all of the operations had the potential to incur severe costs to the corporation. As the heart of mineral processing operations, poor design of the milling circuit can be very difficult and expensive to fix and often results in reduced production for protracted periods. In the worst case, additional or replacement equipment might be required to allow production targets to be met. The value of a smooth and successful commissioning is very difficult to assess, but costs in the order of millions of dollars could be readily contemplated for deficient design. That none of the operations suffered from major or expensive commissioning problems can at least in part be attributed to the tools developed by the P9 project and the advice and assistance from JKMRC staff.

Where to From Here The current P9 extension addresses issues of direct relevance to industry and will further enhance knowledge and understanding of grinding systems. Further refinements to the model will raise it to the next level of sophistication, making predictions of power draw and efficiency that much more reliable and further enhancing confidence in selection and design of equipment. Other important work is aimed at developing scale-up methods from laboratory scale tests using drill core samples. lt is envisaged that future progress in the area of flotation will mirror the success of comminution. Current procedures for sizing flotation plants from laboratory scale tests are such that large design factors are applied to account for anticipated operating conditions. Future research is aimed at developing more accurate scale-up procedures and mathematical models of cell performance which will allow better design and optimisation of flotation circuits.

The P9 format of collaborative research under the AMIRA umbrella has long been held up as a model for the rest of industry. Its success has been built on a close working relationship with an industry which is prepared to share knowledge and information in return for both short and long term benefits for all. To ensure continuing success in an ever changing business environment, JKMRC must continue to produce high quality research, effectively communicate achievements, and attract and train high calibre students. Similarly, industry must ensure the field of research remains relevant to its needs and provide company champions to maintain communication and feedback. With its proven track record and the need for industry to advance mineral processing technology, the future for P9 looks assured.

Current Status of P9

The following is an extract from the CRCA Know-How Magazine, May 2015 issue 5. The AMIRA International P9 Project is the world’s largest university-based mineral processing research program. Since its inception in 1962 at the University of Queensland’s Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JMKRC), P9 has transformed the mineral processing industry through evaluating, designing and optimising mineral processing plants using mathematical modelling and computer simulation.

The current version of the project, P9P, has 23 sponsor companies and includes research collaborations with four international universities. AMIRA’s P9 Program Manager Terry Braden says each researcher brings their own area of expertise while picking up various techniques, procedures and results from others. By facilitating collaboration between industry and research partners, this highly successful program has had significant impact in the global minerals industry community, enabling sponsor companies to model their operations with more accuracy and use the results to improve their operations.

“There have been some significant benefits, especially for companies whose level of sponsorship allows the researchers to visit their operations on site,” Braden said. “P9 has been very successful at developing procedures, models and simulations that help operating people to optimise, meaning they maximise the revenue they get for their time and expense”. P9P provides potential annual benefits to sponsors of $1.5 million savings in energy, $34 million from increased throughput, and over $70 million through greater recovery of metals. AMIRA International Managing Director Joe Cucuzza said there have been two aspects to the P9 program’s success: the research has created new knowledge and modelling tools for the industry, and these in turn have nurtured an important research institution in Australia, allowing the necessary expertise to develop. – Laura King

AMIRA P9Q Project Looking to Apply Comminution and Flotation Models in Partnership with CRC ORE II’s Implementation of the Integrated Extraction Simulator

The AMIRA P9P Project will come to a close on December 31, 2015. A Working Committee composed of key researchers (JKMRC, UCT and CRC ORE II) and sponsors (AngloGold Ashanti, Teck Resources and FL Smidth) has been tasked to develop a proposal for the next extension Project P9Q. A mandate given by attendees at the May 2015 P9P Sponsors Review Meeting includes delivering to P9Q sponsors a fully functional Integrated Extraction Simulator platform (CRC ORE II deliverable) which incorporates validated multi-component comminution and flotation models which can perform simulations across a sponsor’s mineral processing value chain. Site work will continue to be the quickest avenue to delivered benefits for sponsors of P9Q but there will also be evaluation and validation using previous P9 survey data and potentially sponsor supplied plant data. Technology transfer using well established P9 survey standards and training of plant personnel will be additional avenues for quick benefits in P9Q.

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NEWS From South Africa The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and National Treasury are cooperating to ensure that the country increases its research and development (R&D) spending over the next four years, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor told journalists at her department’s recent Budget Vote media briefing. “We continue to work very closely with National Treasury to map out a process for ensuring that we reach the ANC’s, and now government’s, target of gross expenditure on research and development of 1.5% of GDP by 2019,” she said. The Department will also focus on developing international cooperation in order to obtain foreign funding. The aim is “to secure a strategic target of R380-million in foreign investments in the National System of Innovation during the year”, she affirmed. The DST’s budget for this financial year (2015/2016) comes to R7.482-billion. Of this, 92.2%, or R6.9-billion, is assigned to agencies that report to the Minister. In turn, R2.534-billion of this R6.9-billion comes from Parliamentary grants. These Parliamentary grants are distributed as follows: R827.7-million to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, R885.9-million to the National Research Foundation (NRF), R228.7-million to the Human Sciences Research Council, R385.2-million to the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA – in an aside, Pandor noted that she thought this should be increased in future), R22.991-million to the Academy of Science of South Africa and R124.4-million to the South African National Space Agency (Sansa). The DST’s priorities for this financial year are: human capital development, the creation of new knowledge, investing in research and the required infrastructure, as well as stimulating innovation through financing marketable products developed through research and incubation. She pointed out that the National Development Plan had “set ambitious targets and we believe our recently completed Human Capital Development Strategy will help us meet those targets”. During this year, the DST will release funding to the NRF to support 14 880 postgraduate research students. This is being done to improve the country’s global competitiveness. The DST’s flagship projects are (in the order given by Pandor) the MeerKAT radio telescope array, the Technology Localisation Programme, the TIA and indigenous knowledge-based innovation. http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/plans-being-developed-to-increase-funding-for-sa-science-and-technology-2015-05-21/rep_id:3182

Another Goldcorp-like Challenge in Canada Steve de Long, CEO of Integra Gold Corp. announced the Integra Gold Rush Challenge, one of the largest ever mining industry incentive prize competitions. It rivals the now famous Goldcorp challenge of 2000. Integra Gold is using open innovation to find the next big gold discovery on their property located in Val-d'Or, Canada (www.integragold.com). Gold at Val-d’Or, located on the eastern tip of the prolific Abitibi Gold Belt, was discovered in the area in 1923. The surrounding belt has produced more than 135 million ounces of the metal. Adjacent to the town of Val-d'Or is the Lamaque Mine. Opened in 1935, it remained in operation for 50 years, processing more than 24 million tons of ore and 4.5 million ounces of gold. But in 1985 the Lamaque Mine was closed. It remained so until Integra purchased the original land, permits and infrastructure of the old Lamaque and Sigma mines out of bankruptcy in October, 2014. While the initial aim of this acquisition was the milling facility at surface, the truly important part of the purchase turned out to be access to the historical data. Over 6 terabytes of data was discovered, spanning 75 years of mining data from the historic Sigma and Lamaque mines. The Integra Gold team believes the production closure of the Lamaque Mine in 1985 had nothing to do with declining deposits. Apparenlty, the Lamaque main plug had only been mined to a vertical depth of 1,100 meters, while its immediate neighbour the Sigma Mine was mined down to a depth of 1,830 meters, and there were indications that the Lamaque mine still offered significant untapped resources. De Long and his team believe that somewhere within the 2.5-million-year-old geology of the Canadian Shield, there is a major deposit remaining to be discovered. However, it would take years for Integra to analyse the over six terabytes in-house on their own. Integra are looking for a faster and more cost-effective method to analyse and interpret the data to identify additional gold targets. According to herox website Integra are offering C$1million for a discovery. The challenge is currently at the pre-registration stage. Submission criteria and a more detailed schedule will be released when the challenge opens in September 2015 (https://herox.com/IntegraGoldRush)

Consolidated land position: http://integragold.com/i/pdf/Sigma-Lamaque-Acquisition-Presentation.pdf

NEWS From North America

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GLOBAL NEWS

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Sharing the Benefits

NEWS From Australia

The Australian Federal Government delivered its budget on the 10 May. The Australian Synchrotron and the Australian National Nuclear Research and Development Organisation (ANSTO) were the biggest winners. The former was allocated AU$20.5 million to keep it operating in 2016-17. Managed by ANSTO, it is the only such facility in the South-East Asia and Oceania regions. The Government will also provide AU$49.1 million to ANSTO for the development of Australia’s nuclear science expertise, including the management of Australia’s radioactive waste produced specifically from nuclear medicine production and research into areas of national priority. After being on the receiving end of much cutting, CSIRO gets a four-year investment of over $3 billion over the forward estimates. Cooperative Research Centres have had their funding cut - with the government removing $26.8 million over four years to help "repair the budget". This year CRCs will take a $1.6 million hit, although the Budget papers stated $732.4 million would continue to flow to the program in line with forward estimates "pending the outcome of a [Miles] review" which was announced late last year. After copping much flak regarding the possible cutting of funding to the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), the Education Minister Christopher Pyne has taken $150 million from the Sustainable Research Excellence Program to fill the hole and moved it to NCRIS. Sounds like robbing Peter to pay Paul! Mr Macfarlane said the Budget reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to create stronger connections between industry and science, in order to capitalise on new opportunities for economic growth and new jobs, as Australian industry transitions to a new era. “Industry Growth Centres in food and agribusiness; advanced manufacturing; mining equipment, technology and services; oil, gas and energy resources; and medical technologies and pharmaceuticals will help drive the transformation of Australian industry,” Mr Macfarlane said (http://www.business.gov.au/advice-and-support/IndustryGrowthCentres/Pages/default.aspx) The other big news in May was the release of the Miles review on the CRC Programme: A Review of the Cooperative Research Centres Programme. (http://www.business.gov.au/grants-and-assistance/Collaboration/CRC/CRC-Programme-Review/Pages/default.aspx). The Review contains 18 recommendations, all of which have been accepted by the Australian Government. As a result, the Government supports the continuation of the CRC Programme but will implement changes to put industry collaboration and growth ‘front and centre’ and to streamline the funding process. Some key things to consider are: • There is a strong push for CRC proposals to demonstrate collaboration with the recently announced Industry Growth Centres,

namely: Advanced Manufacturing; Food and Agribusiness; Medical Technologies and Pharmaceuticals; Mining Equipment, Technology and Services; and Oil, Gas and Energy Resources (Recommendation 2). When announcing the funding for the CRC ORE II and the Innovative Manufacturing CRC, Minister MacFarlane made it clear that funds can only flow to the new CRC’s once an appropriate MOU has been put in place with the relevant Growth Centres.

• There will be funding opportunities for shorter term (3 years) industry-focused CRC research projects (CRC-Ps) (Recommendation 3). These are in addition to the larger (10 year) CRCs.

• CRC bidders should also look to establish linkages with the new Industry Growth Centres within these five growth sectors (Recommendation 4).

• There will be a streamlined application process (Recommendation 12). • Funding opportunities through the adoption of CRC-like models by other Australian Government portfolios should also be

considered (Recommendation 18). A funding round is anticipated to open in around 6 months; following consultation on and preparation of new CRC guidelines (this process has now started) On May 26 Minister Macfarlane announced that the CRC for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) will receive $34.45 million to fund its ongoing activities in improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of mineral extraction to 30 June 2021. The new CRC for Innovative Manufacturing (IM CRC) will receive $40 million over seven years to 30 June 2022 to assist Australian manufacturers to transition to high-value internationally competitive manufacturing. “CRCs are a highly successful way of bringing industry and research organisations together to apply the latest research knowledge to the real-world problems facing industry,” Mr Macfarlane said at the CRC Association annual conference in Canberra. “The CRCs will work closely with the new Industry Growth Centres to address common goals and priorities, ensuring an integrated approach to overcoming challenges and developing market opportunities for local businesses. “Along with Industry Growth Centres which focus on the areas in which Australia has a competitive edge, CRCs will drive productivity, innovation and collaboration gains, and identify commercial opportunities to exploit global markets and generate new jobs.” The Government is investing more than $731 million over five years for the Cooperative Research Centres to continue their diverse range of research. Since 1991, the Government has committed more than $4 billion in funding to the CRC Programme and supported over 200 CRCs. Source: http://minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/macfarlane/media-releases/74m-boost-minerals-processing-and-manufacturing-crcs

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Europe has come to the realisation that they need mining after all. Historically, Europe has been at the forefront of innovation in mining and metallurgical processing. Europe is well endowed with raw materials, however, for a variety of reasons, concerned mostly with competitiveness issues, the current position is that Europe is reliant on the import of most non energy solid raw materials. Many of the European ore belts contain complex, small scale deposits of minerals that are not viable to mine and process using the traditional large scale mining and processing technologies used in many of the larger deposits available outside EU 28. The development of innovative processes is essential to enable the optimal exploitation of these smaller European deposits. A re-evaluation of the processing steps used in existing technologies, together with the development and incorporation of flexibility and mobility into the equipment, will be investigated in the project Flexible and Mobile Economic Processing Technologies (FAME) (Source http://fame-project.eu/). The project focuses on addressing a number of economic and environmental challenges to improve processing technologies and to recover valuable materials from low grade and / or complex feedstock ore by increasing the range of yields of recovered raw materials with lower energy consumption and minimising mine waste. In turn this will reduce the environmental fingerprint whilst increasing the utilisation of residues. FAME is committed to this approach and proposes to examine the operational performance of the most promising ore resources from those European ore belts that can sufficiently and sustainably contribute to the securing of the raw material supplies; especially by increasing the efficiency of extraction and processing technologies for ores that include Critical Raw Materials that are crucial to the economic development of the EU and which occur in widespread deposits across the EU. The aim of the research and development is to achieve innovation in the processing steps of existing and new technologies rather than necessarily to develop completely new technology from scratch. These innovations will provide the following advantages:

• Energy savings in the physical mineral liberation process • Enhanced separation contrast achieving better flotation recovery • Intensification of the comminution and separation processes • Enhancement of the flotation efficiency of fine particle • Leaching using fine grain activation • Scheelite decomposition using silicate decomposing bacteria • Bioleaching of lithium ores.

This project specifically addresses three different primary ore types: skarn, greisen and pegmatite. These ores carry significant potential for the extraction of Critical Raw Materials. Although these ore types are complex mineralogically and have variable metal grades they are of great strategic significance in relation to the overall resource balance of the EU. The FAME Consortium consists of 17 partners from eight European countries with representatives from industry, academia and governmental institutions as well as advisory partners from industry. The project requires the collaboration of specialists from a wide variety of disciplines including geology, process and mechanical engineering, planning, metallurgy, geotechnical, environmental and others. Small to Medium Enterprises and larger companies play an essential role in driving the key actions (project co-ordination, work package leading) of the project. Some of the Partners hold exploration/mining licences to significant target ore reference deposits in Germany, Czech Republic, France, Finland and Portugal. AMIRA international is cognisant of the growing interest by the EU in research undertaken in the mining space. We are in the process of signing a MOU with the UK based Mineral Industries Research Organisation with the view of collaborating and tapping into the European research capacity and potentially EU funding. We have also partnered with Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy for Mining and Recycling Innovation Association (PROMETIA), based in Brussels, in the Multi-Stakeholder Platform for a Secure Supply of Refractory Metals in Europe (MSP-REFRAM) initiative which has been successful at attracting funding. And talking about European funding of research, on the 28th July the European Research Council (ERC) released its 2016 Work Programme, setting out the ground rules on €1.67 billion of grants, for which researchers from anywhere in the world who are interesting in working in Europe are eligible to apply. The first call was opened on the 29th July. The call for starting grants, with a budget of €485 million and deadline of 17 November 2015, is open to researchers with two to seven years of experience since completing a PhD. The fundamental activity of the ERC is to provide attractive, long-term funding to support excellent investigators and their research teams to pursue ground-breaking, high-gain/ high-risk research. Scientific excellence is the sole criterion on the basis of which ERC frontier research grants are awarded (source http://erc.europa.eu/)

NEWS From Europe

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NEWS From Latin America

The mining industry in South America is affected by the variability of the market, which depends on three factors, the global events that affect everyone, the local political landscape, and the maturity of the deposit. The combination of the above three factors determine local business cycles during which mining companies could move from good earnings to losses, although not necessarily to the same degree for all companies. For a long time, market fluctuations were attributed to the sun spots. The thinking was that sun spots and solar radiation affected production of food for example. Sun spots have cycles of 11 years, and world crises seem to have a similar cycle. Unfortunately for the adherents to this theory, the sun spot maximums in 1990 and 2014 did not cause any particular world crisis. So we have to look at the effect of supply and demand and of course the cost of money as determined by the US interest rates, to understand the global cycles. The majority of the local mining companies, especially those with the bigger copper deposits, have mineral resources for more than 50 years. They suffer the vagaries of both the global commodity cycles as well as the local political changes, and must in bad times prepare their operations for a quick recovery as soon as the good times come around again. There are other important elements that affect the viability of mineral resource over time; the increase of rock hardness with depth, and the decrease in grade. These lead to increased capital expenditure over time in order to maintain the level of production. Companies have to contend also with the change in mineralogy that occurs when the shallow resources are depleted, and primary ore has to be mined. The shallow resources in open pit operations, usually are copper oxide minerals or secondary sulfide mineral, both soluble and easy to process by crushing and acid leaching in heaps or dumps, producing electrowon copper. Once the shallow resources are depleted, then a change in processing is required, passing from leaching, to grinding and flotation, resulting in copper concentrate instead of copper cathodes. The above change, means new infrastructure, usually more expensive than that used for processing the shallow resources, plus the handling of the concentrate which requires pipelines to the port to deliver the concentrate to cargo ships or to smelters. This is not the end of the story however; once the open pit reaches a limit in the ratio of waste to ore another change in operations is required, from open pit to an underground operation, requiring another significant investment. An example is Chuquicamata, the largest open pit in the world, which is moving to an underground operation after 100 years as an open pit operation. In summary, each mine is affected by global business cycles, with various sub-cycles, which do not necessarily affect every operation the same. Today, tools like geometallurgical mapping, can help to anticipate the shift in operations associated with the changing nature of the deposit over time. The overall composite cycle is therefore made up of the external commodity cycles and the local political changes, and the internal mining and processing changes inherent to the nature of the deposit. Some of these events can indeed be planned for if the right ore body information is known. The political cycles and the commodity cycles are difficult to forecast - but through tools like scenario planning it may be possible to plan even for these even though the timing cannot be predicted. In the case of the political cycles in Latin America and Chile in particular, a good guess is two left leaning to one right leaning government, and the external commodity cycle, to take a leaf from a previous generation, follow the sun spots;, perhaps every 11 years may be as good a guess as any.

Enrique Carretero ---------- A New Approach to Artisanal Mining In Peru

Peru is South America’s largest gold producer and exporter. Worldwide, the country also has the fifth highest gold production with 2014 production: 5.44 million oz (5.4% of global production). However, the Peruvian government estimates that illegal mining accounts for about 20% of gold exports. This mining is done by tens of thousands of artisanal, small-scale miners who use outdated and dangerous metallurgical processes. One of the biggest concerns about artisanal mining, much of which is illegal, is the use of mercury for processing the ore. Mercury is dangerous to health and the environment. To tackle the growing environmental concerns and also capture US$305 million in lost taxes, Peru has moved to regulate the industry in a rather novel way. The government wants to ensure that licensed mineral processing facilities using modern technology only purchase feed material from permitted miners. So far 80,000 of 150,000 miners have applied to be part of the scheme. The toll mining process works as follows:

1. Test and select ores from artisanal miners to see what is worth purchasing 2. Buy ores from a variety of miners and build relationships. 3. Prices are set at time of purchase and are at discount to market. 4. Process ore shortly after and sell gold back to the market.

The new approach has several benefits:

• Not dependent on one source of ore. • Commodity price fluctuations have less impact. • Margins are protected. • No cost of production, only cost of processing.

Peru’s gold production of 5.44 million oz (2014) at the average gold price ($1266.40) is worth US$6.9 billion. The artisanal market is estimated to be 20% of this for 1.1 million oz, or $1.4 billion. This means just Peru’s artisanal market is similar in size to the total markets in Mexico, Tanzania, or Chile. With only a few publicly traded toll millers in that market and thousands of more artisanal miners in Peru yet to be formalized, the market has big potential. Compare this to the above markets, where thousands of companies are vying for the same finite resources. Source: http://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-case-for-toll-milling-in-peru/ : Jeff Desjardins on June 9, 2015 The relationship between artisanal/small scale mining (ASM) and large-scale miners can be conflictual and difficult to resolve without some sort of shared vision for sustainable development. AMIRA international with the University of Witwatersrand is developing a project to address the issue. Project P1085 - Building a knowledge base to respond to ASM in Africa will bring technical, social and policy experts together from the fields of geoscience, mining, social anthropology, history, social science, public health, policy and regulation, and business practice to build a knowledge base for ASM initially in South Africa. Working at key sites, cross disciplinary data will be collected in collaboration with stakeholders from government, local ASM groups and the large miners to develop a vision and development scenarios in keeping with the principles of sustainable development. For further information please contact Jeremy Mann jeremy.mann@amirainternational.com

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The 2nd Sustainability Summit to be held in Johannesburg On 29 and 20 September the second Sustainability in the Resources Industry Summit will be hosted at the JSE. After the important conversations that were sparked at last years Summit hosted at GIBS, the organisers are taking the Summit to the next level this year. Organised by members of the industry and the private sector, 'SUSTAINABILITY IN THE RESOURCE INDUSTRY SUMMIT’ themed Embracing the Circular Economy, Mitigate Social Risk & Improve Investor Confidence is pioneering ‘Bridging the Sustainability GAP in the resources and related industries and aims to bring together members and stakeholders of the entire resources value chain to a CALL FOR ACTION on both the opportunity and responsibility to pioneer leadership for change’ (go to summit@blankcanvas.co.za for more information) “We have an opportunity, and more importantly a responsibility, to be leaders and help to set our industry on a new path that will transform our future." - Mark Cutifani, Co-Chair KIN Catalyst: The Mining Company of the Future. "The linear ‘Take-Make-Dispose’ system, which depletes natural resources and generates waste, is deeply flawed and can be productively replaced by a restorative model in which waste does not exist as such – but is only food for the next cycle.” - Ellen MacArthur, round-the-world-yachtswoman. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-cWaRRLh3k&feature=youtu.be) With the prevalent conversations in Cape Town of the African Mining Indaba™ 2015, the conference dedicated to the capitalisation and development of mining interests in Africa, the 2015 Sustainability Summit will focus on fast tracking transformational sustainability and seek sustainable alternatives to the broken business model. DAY ONE - Kicking off with an intense one-day conference, initiated by key players in the resource and related industry sectors, aims to provoke a fundamental rethink on environmental and social issues, workforce of the future and bold modernisation as a vital step in building a sustainable African mining industry, to the building of inclusive wealth, mutually beneficial relationships with workers and local communities, fixing the broken business model, sustainability strategies and operasionalising. DAY TWO - Dedicated to Resilience, Climate Change Response, the Envisaged Future, Ecological Engineering and *Biomimicry. *Biomimicry is a branch of science, a problem-solving method, a tool, a sustainability ethos, a movement, a stance toward nature, and a new way of viewing and valuing biodiversity. AMIRA is proud to be sponsoring this important event.

Seats are limited to so book now: www.blankcanvas.co.za/summit-2015-registration/

AMIRA at the SEG Conference in Hobart

WAXI Conference in Dakar A two day conference on ‘Metallogenesis, Tectonics & Surface Evolution of West African Craton’ is scheduled to be held in Dakar, Senegal on 17-18 September 2015. This conference will highlight the outcomes of the recently completed AMIRA P934A West African Exploration Initiative Stage 2 (WAXI) as well as provide an opportunity for presentations on research by key contributors working across the West African Craton. More information on the conference, including registration details can be found here: http://www.cet.edu.au/education-and-training/short-courses/metallogenesis-tectonics-surface-evolution-of-west-african-craton---senegal-conference This is a rare opportunity to learn how current exploration-related science and understanding has evolved through a successful collaborative Public-Private Partnership co-funded by industry and governments, coordinated by AMIRA International.

www.amirainternational.com

AMIRA will be present at SEG 2015 World-Class Ore Deposits: Discovery to Recovery. The conference is to be held in Hobart, Tasmania from 27-30 September 2015. It promises to be an excellent forum to hear key presentations from leaders in research and industry on the discovery of world-class ore deposits, their geology and the recovery of metals from ores, and cover the issues and controversies that affect exploration. Registration numbers are high for this rare opportunity to network with Economic Geologists from around the world in the (very) southern hemisphere. More information can be found here http://www.seg2015.org/ Come and visit AMIRA at Booth 20 to discuss current and future collaborative research opportunities and see the Global Ore Deposit database.

Conferences

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Sharing the Benefits

AMIRA International is proud to be an Associate partner of IMARC. IMARC is Australia’s only truly international mining event. Uniting the entire mining industry, IMARC is where mining leaders, policy makers, financiers, technical experts, innovators and educators are brought together under one roof. What makes IMARC unbeatable?

• Meet 3000+ Australian and international mining experts, CEOs, government representatives and other industry leaders from over 35 countries ready to discuss.

• Support of the Victorian Government, as well as involvement from all of Australia’s states and territories. • Involvement of Australia’s three leading industry associations, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM),

Austmine and Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA). • Network with key decision makers and influencers through a range of structured events from round tables, one on ones and social

hubs. • Inclusion of Mines and Money Australia – the country’s largest mining investment forum.

To view the full program download the brochure at www.imarcmelbourne.com/brochureAMIRA

Join the conference, learn in our hands on workshops, visit the expo, or showcase your company through one of our speaker, sponsor and exhibition packages.

3 EASY WAYS TO REGISTER

Early Bird discounts of up to $440 off apply until the 14th of August.

Note AMIRA Members receive a 10% discount at time of booking.

Register with your Priority Code: MA970AMIRA10

1. Call +61(3) 9008 5946 to speak to our customer service representatives 2. Email us at info@imarcmelbourne.com 3. Register online at www.imarcmelbourne.com

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SPEAKING, BRAND AWARENESS OR GAINING EXPOSURE IN THE TRADE EXPO? Contact Anita Richards, Event Director, for more information on your involvement.

E: anita.richards@imarcmelbourne.com P: +61 (0)3 9021 2031

www.imarcmelbourne.com

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The demerger of South32 from BHP Billiton was successfully completed during the June 2015 quarter.

The roots of South32 are in the Southern Hemisphere, with a head office in Perth, regional hubs in Perth and Johannesburg, and marketing office in Singapore. The company shares trade on the ASX, JSE and LSE under the listing code of S32, and its operations span the globe, with assets in Australia, Southern Africa and South America. South32 is a globally diversified metals and mining company with a portfolio of high quality, well maintained, cash generative assets producing bauxite, alumina, aluminium, thermal and metallurgical coal, manganese, nickel, silver, lead and zinc. It is the world’s largest producer of manganese ore, and own the world’s largest silver mine. It runs exceptionally high-quality alumina refinery and two modern, cost-competitive aluminium smelters plus one of the world’s leading ferronickel operations. South32 has adopted a regional organisational model with businesses and assets combined into regional business hubs. This reduces a layer of management and devolves more authority to our regional business hubs and facilitates greater alignment with our stakeholders. The head office and Australia regional business hub are located in Perth, Australia; and the South Africa regional hub is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The marketing office is situated in Singapore. The demerger of BHP Billiton has come after a long list of mergers and acquisitions. Many of these resulted in loss of membership for AMIRA, as two members become one. The classic example was of course the WMC acquisition. WMC was a founding member of AMIRA. With the demerger perhaps AMIRA will gain an extra member. We look forward to working with South32 and would like to congratulate the company for their maiden quarterly report. Source - http://www.south32.net/

Nigel J Grigg and Georges J Delemontex’s paper on pre-concentration using the InLine Pressure Jig (IPJ) was selected for the 2015 Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) medal for the most outstanding published paper, article or case study profiling beneficial strategies for eco-efficient comminution. This paper was selected from a field of five shortlisted nominations because of the potential impact of pre-concentration in reducing the energy used in comminution, and the paper’s several quantified examples. Grigg and Georges detail the installation of the Inline Pressure Jigs (IPJs) in gold and polymetallic full-scale applications in the 1-15mm size range. The authors report significant upgrade by the removal of low-grade ores, mainly silicates. The strategy of pre-concentration, either by the removal of gangue material before size reduction, or by separation of material for processing by alternate routes, significantly reduces the energy required for comminution, and decreases operating and capital costs. In addition, it effectively increases the size of the ore deposit. The paper can be downloaded here: http://ad.gekkos.com/

GEKKO Systems paper wins CEEC medal

Alcoa completes acquisition of RTI Alcoa has completed the acquisition of RTI International Metals, Inc., a global producer of titanium and specialises in metal products and services to the aerospace industry. The merger, announced on March 2009, entered into force on 23 July. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each common share of RTI was converted to 2.8315 Alcoa shares. With RTI, Alcoa expands its reach in the area of global titanium and grows in to aerospace, plus adds advanced technologies and materials resources of greater innovation in the aerospace industry, among others. RTI is being integrated as an independent business unit in the engineered products segment of EPS. The new business unit, called Alcoa Titanium & Engineered Products (ATEP), will be led by Eric Roegner who was named President of the ATEP, effectively immediately. In addition, Roegner continues as Chief Operating Officer of Engineered Products and Solutions and President of Alcoa Defense. Source: http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/news/news_detail.asp?pageID=20150309000263en&newsYear=2015

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MEMBER’S CORNER

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Best Practice: an emerging reality Industry leaders agreed to drive forward best practice in mineral processing at the CEEC 2014 Workshop, using two complementary strategies. Endorsing the work of the Global Mining Standards Group, the Workshop delegates embraced the initiative led by the GMSG Industrial Comminution Efficiency team in generating global guidelines for standardised measurement of operating loads. Using standardised measurement processes will facilitate the generation of comparable data, essential to process optimisation. Additionally, the work of Dr Grant Ballantyne (JKMRC) surveying the comminution energy requirements of gold and copper producing mines has provided reliable benchmarking data. This data can be used to compare comminution energy consumption across different mine sites. The comminution energy per unit metal product is presented in a graphical form similar to a cost curve. This simple technique allows individual mines to assess their current operational energy consumption against their peers. Anonymity of the comprehensive, mine-specific data is guaranteed and site to site variability is visualised by constructing an ‘energy curve’. The energy curve displays the potential energy savings and cost benefits of moving down the cost curve into more cost-efficient operating regimes. This approach also allows flexibility in the way comminution energy intensity is displayed (e.g. energy per rock milled or metal produced) thus providing a fairer comparison between sites. The easily recognisable curve format will be used to visualise the variability in energy intensity across the industry. The applications of energy curves are many and varied. It can be used to map the position of the mine as production progresses with year-on-year analysis. Circuit design proposals can be compared to current operational strategies to assess their benefits. Operational efficiency improvements can be mapped to the curve to visually assess the magnitude of energy efficiency gains per unit achievable through various strategies. The efficiency with which the various comminution devices achieve size reduction can be mapped to identify opportunities for improvement and the magnitude of achievable gains. The full report from the CEEC 2014 Workshop may be downloaded from CEEC’s web site.

CEEC Portal CEEC’s mission is to raise awareness of the benefits of alternative mineral processing strategies and installed outcomes as they relate to energy-efficient comminution. CEEC aims to accelerate knowledge and technology transfer with the objective of lower processing costs and improved shareholder returns as a result of improved comminution practices. Funded wholly by the mining industry, CEEC will host the energy curve program on its web site and provide complementary access to this unique program for operators. An industry –good organisation, CEEC encourages the industry to take up this service. The CEEC Board foresee the positive impact this program will have on driving best practice in comminution, achieving improved outcomes for shareholders, mining companies and communities.

The latest CEEC energy curves

Please visit CEEC’s web site to participate in the processing efficiency survey, a free industry service provided by CEEC with the generous support of its sponsors. Survey data is managed confidentially. For more details, please contact admin@ceecthefuture.org. CEEC, a global not-for-profit company, is funded wholly by sponsorship from the mineral industry - Anglo American, Barrick Gold, Beacon Events, Antofagasta Minerals, Gekko Systems, Ausenco, XT, Outotec, Orica, New Gold Inc, Derrick Corporation, Metso, AMIRA International, Mirabela Nickel, MMG, Weir Minerals, Multotec Ltd and Russell Mineral Equipment. www.CEECthefuture.org; LinkedIn CEECthefuture; Twitter @ceecthefuture

CEEC: Processing Best Practice 1. Compare current processing efficiency against

industry distribution by participating in energy curve program on CEEC web site.

2. Adopt the guidelines of the Industrial Comminution Group within the Global Mining Standards Group: metrics and methodologies for benchmarking of industrial comminution efficiency within the hard rock mining sector.

Sharing the Benefits

Ceec’S CORNER

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KEY BODY CALLS FOR STEP CHANGE IN ALUMINA RESEARCH 11 June 2015 One of the world’s leading minerals industry research organisations has shared the outcomes of a new study that show that while collaborative research into the alumina industry is active and progressive, the nature of collaboration must be broadened. In a paper titled ‘pathways to a sustainable future through collaboration’ and authored by AMIRA International’s Program Manager Gray Bailey and Managing Director Joe Cucuzza, a key finding is that a step change is required in order to significantly transform the alumina industry and take it to a new level. The paper was presented at the recent Alumina Quality Workshop forum in Perth, Western Australia. AMIRA International is a member-based organisation of minerals companies and suppliers which develops, brokers and facilitates collaborative research projects. It has been operating since 1959, and has bases in Australia, South Africa, the USA and Chile. The Alumina Quality Workshop is a forum, established in 1988, to bring together the world’s alumina producers and their customers. The authors found that as alumina companies move to cut costs, they risk missing the opportunities and value of collaborative technology development. They report that innovation and collaboration are going to be critical to the development of enabling technologies to ensure the alumina industry is sustainable and companies remain competitive. The authors point out that while two key breakthroughs – the electrolytic process to extract alumina and development of the Bayer process for making aluminium oxide from bauxite – have undergone improvement since the 19th Century, the basic processes remain virtually unchanged. “Historically, the highly-competitive nature of the alumina industry has limited collaboration. Within tight budgetary constraints which now seem the norm in the alumina industry, sharing the cost of potentially process-changing work has to be appealing,” the authors say. Bailey and Cucuzza cite compelling arguments for collaboration in the alumina sector, including the leverage from sharing the reduced research and development (R&D) expenditure, access to the intellectual property resulting from the research, increased R&D flexibility, access to external expertise and world-class research competency, shared outcomes based on focused research, and the opportunity of funding leverage through government assistance. They add: “There is a perception that collaboration will threaten a company’s competitive advantage or that a competitor would get a ‘leg up’ or the administration is simply too hard to organise or manage. Understanding the sources of competitive advantage may allay fears and encourage greater collaboration. Technology development through collaboration makes sense, but the nature of collaboration needs broadening.” Since 1988, AMIRA has developed and managed 42 collaborative projects for the alumina industry. Two recent examples are a project which reduces erosive wear of equipment by slurry flows while the other is to test the hypothesis that the strength of alumina from the Bayer process may be closely connected to conditions applied during precipitation. AUSTRALIAN-LED GOLD PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY PROJECT SHINES 30 June 2015 A long-term and ongoing gold technology research program, driven from Australia since 1994, is delivering global outcomes including lower minerals processing costs, improved recovery of valuable metal and significant advances in environmental management. This program of technology transfer and improvement, dubbed by industry as ‘Project 420,’ is now in its sixth iteration, and is preparing for a seventh. The program focuses on a collaborative approach to software modelling in the metallurgy space, and at a cost to date of just under $18 million (in today’s Australian dollar terms) it is conservatively estimated that Project 420 has improved efficiencies and gold processing modelling to save more than $200 million in operational costs over the past two decades, and has identified opportunities for recovery increases and lowering of losses to the tune of $20 million a year. The project operates under the banner of AMIRA International, the member-based organisation of minerals companies and suppliers which has developed, brokered and facilitated collaborative research projects since 1959. AMIRA International has its Head Office in Melbourne, Australia, and also has bases in South Africa, the USA and Chile. Project 420 spent its early years under the guidance of the Parker Centre, an Australian Co-operative Research Centre which closed in 2012, and since then Project 420 has made its home at Western Australia’s Curtin University, within the university’s Gold Technology Group, under the leadership of Professor Jacques Eksteen. AMIRA’s Managing Director, Joe Cucuzza, says that the benefits and breakthroughs of Project 420 have included development of a suite of software models to simulate and optimise carbon management within carbon-in-pulp and carbon-in-leach circuits, optimisation of grind size for gravity and leach recovery, an integrated approach to deportment of gold in operational circuits, a general improvement in recovery of valuable metal, and a better understanding of ore characterisation. In addition, significant inroads have been made in the area of pre-concentration and coarse particle gangue rejection, allowing a fresh look at low-grade ores. The inroads extend to the developments of new benign leach reagents such as amino acids for the leaching of gold, silver and copper minerals which AMIRA believes may prove to be transformational for the industry. Cont… Page 22

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Amira PRESS RELEASES

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Uncovering Hidden Mineral Resources and New Exploration

In a world-first collaboration the Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC), the Geological Survey of South Australia (GSSA, Department of State Development), mineral explorers Minotaur Exploration and Kingston Resources and drilling company Boart Longyear signed agreements in June 2015 to collaborate on a Mineral Systems Drilling Program (MSDP). The MSDP is aimed at both uncovering hidden mineral deposits in the highly prospective eastern Gawler Craton Olympic Copper-Gold Province (northern Eyre Peninsula), a district widely regarded as one of South Australia’s key emerging mineral provinces, and at developing the new technologies required for ongoing, cost-effective, successful mineral exploration beneath barren cover. The MSDP will trial several world-first technologies developed by DET CRC that aim to deliver real-time information and data analysis during a drilling program. These technologies will in turn enable and guide near real-time decision making. The Wireless Sub will monitor drilling parameters enabling them to be analysed at the drill site and remotely in order to optimise drilling performance and maximise productivity. The AutoSondeTM will provide geophysical wireline log-type data on the nature of the rocks intersected in drill holes without separate mobilization of a wireline logging crew or additional time requirements at the drill site. The AutoSondeTM is deployed into the hole by the driller and analyses the rocks intersected as the drill rods are pulled out of the hole. The Lab-at-Rig® will provide near real-time XRF1 geochemistry and XRD2 mineralogy on drill cuttings, allowing greater confidence in assessing the prospectivity of the drill core. All results will be able to be monitored remotely and permit ongoing analysis of the drilling program informing decisions. The South Australian Government has backed the MSDP’s unique approach to exploration with an investment of $2 million from PACE Frontiers that has been leveraged into a $7 million program through partner contributions and in-kind support. www.detcrc.com.au

AUSTRALIAN-LED GOLD PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY PROJECT SHINES Cont… from Page 21 Mr Cucuzza says that one sponsor representative reports that in the latest and sixth iteration of Project 420, a single mine-site in South America had utilised the technology to realise more than A$6 million a year in cost savings and recovery improvements. Another sponsor, St Barbara Limited, says that guidance from the Project 420 team has allowed St Barbara to direct its focus towards specific cost-saving initiatives which have delivered company-wide savings in excess of $5 million over the 3-year project term. “Improved gold processing knowledge by the plant metallurgists, as a result of the on-site workshops, led to better gold leaching, elution and carbon management practices. This directly resulted in increases in gold recovery and lower plant operating costs,” says Max Briggs, St Barbara’s Senior Project Metallurgist. Each iteration of Project 420 is for a three-year period, with iteration six due for completion at the end of May 2016. A total of 14 member companies across the world has funded the latest program, and they share in the benefits. “This collaborative gold processing technology has allowed member companies to pool and retain knowledge and experience in the gold processing value chain, and benchmark performance,” Mr Cucuzza says. “This project has even led to important environmental and social license advances as a result of modelling the improved use of recycled process water, and control and balance of cyanide in the processing of gold.” Curtin University’s Professor Eksteen says that the current iteration of study is making significant advances in understanding the fundamental issues that affect the flotation of pyrites and the related recovery of gold. “The success of the project has led to the implementation of a graduate training program. With a focus on technology transfer, tailored training direct to mine-sites is now available to increase the capability of site metallurgists to solve complex hydro-metallurgical problems,” he says. Under AMIRA’s patronage, industry is now preparing to implement iteration seven of Project 420, with a focus on enhancing gold mining economics to improve processing and extend ore reserves. In doing so, it will have available to it more than 30 years of knowledge and experience, data bases, models and software. Iteration seven will also focus on reducing the cost of processing lower-grade material and difficult ore types as well as lowering inputs of water and energy, and managing poorer or variable quality water used in minerals processing. It will also focus on improving capital and labour productivity, and maintaining social license to operate. With 20 years of experience, project economics have cumulatively and dramatically improved. Professor Eksteen estimates that the seventh iteration, due to start in mid-2016, is expected to deliver at least a 15:1 leverage on investment for mine operating partners, and a 30:1 leverage for mine-supply member companies.

Sharing the Benefits

Press releases Cont'd from page 21

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Adele Seymon was promoted to the position of Program Director of the Exploration to Mine and Sustainability Business Unit effective 1st July. Adele began her career as a geologist in exploration and near-mine development for nickel and gold in Western Australia. In 2003 she joined the Geological Survey of Victoria as a geoscientist in the mineral resource group, focused on improving the understanding of various gold and base metals mineral systems. She was also the custodian of a number of state-owned mineral resource related data sets and associated assets. From 2010 she managed the mineral resource group, where she was responsible for developing strategies to better understand prospectivity and known mineralisation in Victoria. She also promoted Victoria’s mineral wealth and prospectivity at various national and international forums. Adele joined AMIRA in August 2011 Adele graduated with a BSc (Hons.) in Geology from Monash University in 1996, and has a Diploma of Business (Frontline Management) from the Mt Eliza Centre for Executive Education, Melbourne University Business School.

Farewell to Alan Goode

Dr Alan Goode joined AMIRA as Research Director in 1997. He was appointed Program Manager – Geoscience in 2009. From 1999 he was also responsible for the Data Mettalogenica. In 2012 he was appointed Project Director of Data Metallogenica. As Research Director, and later Program Manager, Alan was responsible for building up the geoscience portfolio. Alan was very successful in developing and administering many signature projects over the years. He was responsible for a total of 39 projects which attracted over $28 million (in dollars of the day). He worked closely with researchers at CODES, University of Tasmania and other Institutions. Alan Goode and Joe Cucuzza created the Biennial Exploration Managers Conference. Alan’s early career was spent as a research geologist, petrologist and geochemist and as group leader for tin exploration, before spending eight years as Exploration Manager Research & Project Development, involved in the global exploration of a wide range of commodities and in the administration of various exploration service groups. He was involved in the discovery of the Nabberu BIF Basin in Western Australia and the Sundown tin deposit in Queensland, and was also Chairman of the Technical Programme Committee for Bicentennial Gold 88, and Chairman of the Australian Government Review Committee for the Baas Becking Geobiological Laboratory. After a short time with Paringa as Consultant Geologist, he spent eight years with Aberfoyle as Manager Business Development, responsible for strategic planning and ground acquisition for gold, copper and zinc in Australia and Indonesia (including for the subsequent Carosue Dam and Sihayo gold discoveries), before becoming a consultant in 1996. Dr. Alan Goode completed his PhD on the Giles Complex in the Musgrave Block in central Australia at the University of Adelaide in 1970, before joining BHP in Melbourne.

Mr John Visser is a 5th generation African who moved his family to Perth some eleven years ago. John graduated as an extractive metallurgist from The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in 1984 and has earned over 31 years’ experience in many commodities with particular experience gained in mining, beneficiation and smelting of iron, manganese and chrome ores, much experience in mineral sands, bauxite, coal and phosphates and a working knowledge of diamonds,

gold and PGMs. He has hands-on experience in smelting and beneficiation plant operations, with intensive experience at all levels of feasibility study, detailed plant design, and some construction and commissioning, with a wealth of experience in many process unit operations. John’s career includes working as a Consulting/Manager Metallurgist for several resource companies (Samancor, Anglovaal Mining and Rio Tinto), as a Principal Metallurgist for engineering companies (GRD Minproc and METS), as Metallurgical and Marketing Manager for various supplier companies within a broad range of commodities and working as an Actuary for Hollandia Reinsurance Group, all of which has provided him with an interesting and diverse career path. John has presented many technical presentations and is a co-author of the Australian government’s October 2009 Airborne Contaminants, Noise and Vibration handbook. John joined AMIRA on 1 July on part-time basis and will initially concentrate on: • Managing P420E to a successful conclusion and

developing the next extension P420F - Gold Processing • Preparing proposal for P1158 - Design for Refractory Gold

Ores • Working with Dr Olga Verezub to build our Iron Ore

Portfolio • Identification of Phosphate processing opportunities

Welcome to John Visser

Adele Seymon promoted

www.amirainternational.com

Farewell to Ileana Inocencio Ileana Inocencio joined AMIRA in 2007 as Project Support Officer to the Geoscience Group. Ileana was invaluable to the affective running of the Geoscience Group, particularly in organising the many Sponsors‘ Review Meetings. Ileana was heavily involved in the delivery of the many successful Biennial Exploration Managers Conferences. Ileana retired from AMIRA on the 17th July. We all wish her the very best for the future.

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Australia - Head Office, Melbourne Level 2 / 271 William Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 Australia Phone: +61 3 8636 9999 Fax: +61 3 8636 9900

Adele Seymon Program Director Exploration to Mine & Sustainability BU Phone: +61 3 8636 9978 adele.seymon@

Africa 9th Floor 5 Hollard Street Johannesburg, 2001 South Africa Phone: +27 11 498 7649 Jeremy Mann Consultant Program Manager Phone: +27 11 498 7649 Jeremy.mann@

Latin America San Sebastian, 2812 Of. 414, Piso 4 Las Condes, Santiago Chile Phone: +56 2 2925 6306 Enrique Carretero Program Manager & Latin America Regional Manager Phone: +56 9 9435 1243 enrique.carretero@

North America PO Box 461028 Aurora Colorado, 80015 USA Phone: +1 303 400 3982 Terry Braden Program Manager & North America Regional Manager Phone: +1 303 859 6754 terry.braden@

Contacts

Gray Bailey Program Manager Phone: +61 3 8636 9920 gray.bailey@ Olga Verezub Program Manager, Innovation & Strategic Business Development Coordinator Phone: +61 3 8636 9973 olga.verezub@

*all email addresses (denoted by @) end with amirainternational.com

Perth - Australia 7 Conlon St, Bentley WA 6102 Phone: +61 8 9358 0777 Chris Ward Program Director Mine to Metal BU Phone: +61 438 822 103 chris.ward@ John Visser Program Manager Phone: +61 409 766 781 john.visser@

Joe Cucuzza Managing Director +61 3 8636 9987 joe.cucuzza@

www.amirainternational.com Sharing the Benefits