Barrick Australia owns and operates the Cowal Gold Mine, located in Central New South Wales, Australia, approximately 350 kilometres west of Sydney.

The Cowal mine is an open pit approximately 335m deep and operates a fleet of 16 trucks, three diggers, four drills, two D10 dozers, two 16h graders and other pieces of plant. The mine operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; days are divided into two 12 hours shifts.The mine adheres to very strict native title requirements and also strict environmental needs as it is located in the middle of a lake with implications on the water if incorrectly mined. The area is also listed in the Australian Register of the National Estate for its high conservation value.

Leightons Mining is the contracted operator at the Wahana open cut coal mine site in Satui, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Wahana mine is a 24 hour operation, employing over 800 people with three (3) crews over two (2) x twelve (12) hour shifts. The open cut mining is carried out in three (3) adjoining pits with 12 excavators on overburden, 3 excavators on coal, 44 trucks, 5 graders and 16 various size dozers. Unique to this mine is the coal seam; which, when exposed, coal seams are literally thin strips interlaced with dirt.

 A leading offshore construction company offering a comprehensive range of marine construction and support services to the Oil & Gas industries around the globe has a vision of being the largest and preferred provider of offshore services in the industry.

Located in the Tati goldbelt in southern Botswana this open pit gold mine processes ore in a one million tonnes per year carbon-in-leach plant, while a flotation circuit was commissioned early in 2006 to treat sulphides in the ore. 

An oxygen plant was installed in 2007 to increase throughput in the leach plant which had been limited because of the high oxygen demand of the sulphide ore.

Moulding company moves from continuing losses to profit in six months

The executive management of a timber moulding company were frustrated by continuing losses. Site management blamed a down turn in the building industry and high material costs from an affiliated timber mill. This opinion contrasted to their costings which indicated that the company should have been making good profits. Management had problems that they could not readily identify/quantify and could not agree on the best course of action.

Deep in the heart of Nevada is one of the largest gold mines in the United States. The mine not only produces over 33,000 kilograms of gold per annum, but does so with an efficiency which pays handsome returns on the investments made in the processes successfully employed by the 480 skilled mining and production personnel today.

The expansive Nevada desert is rich in mineral deposits of which gold predominates. Approximately 340km north east of Reno is the Turquoise Ridge joint venture gold mine operated by Barrick. In 2003, a $US50 million capital projects program was commenced which included major infrastructure improvements such as:

* Materials handling; 
* Backfill production;
* Ventilation;
* Dewatering; and
* Water treatment

Historically, the mines development rates were not in line with the retreat of the longwall and maintenance was not sure of what was planned or unplanned.

Identifying the barriers to better planning and productivity

• There was a lack of coordinated planning and accountability for each step in the process. Existing systems were used as a record of activities and not driving performance or behavioural issues.

• Maintenance activities were not integrated into the mine plan and planned maintenance activities were not known.

• The use of the work order system was minimal hence historical data was non existent, and therefore operating issues were based on perception rather than fact.

With current production running at 4.8 million tones per annum, coal reserves of 288 million tonnes and demand for energy projected to increase by over 50% in the next twenty years, the outlook for Xstrata Coal’s Oaky Creek No. 1 underground longwall mine operation in Australia looks very healthy yet challenging.

Already mining and exporting high quality coking coal to major steel plants around the world, and especially those in the fast expanding Asian market, Oaky Creek is a key component in Xstrata’s long term business plans.

In August 2005 one of the country’s leading coal producers with extensive coal mining interests and prospects in Queensland and New South Wales brought Jamieson Group on board to assist in the opening of a new underground longwall mine.