3 November 2015
Ben Hagemann
Australian Mining
The 2015 Australian Mining Prospect Awards were a grand success last Friday, with a range of Australia’s most innovative and productive miners and service providers recognised for their achievements.
Doray Minerals’ Andy Well was named Overall Mine of the Year, a mine which has made Doray one of the highest grade and highest margin gold producers in the country.
Hard Rock Mine of the Year went to CMOC Northparkes copper mine for breaking new production records in 2014 with 6.1 million tonnes processed.
Coal Mine of the Year went to Anglo American for their Moranbah North operation, which has had a high degree of success in safety with eight years LTI free, and recent improvements in production from 6.8 to 6.9 million tonnes annually.
Gina Rinehart was recognised with an award for Contribution to Mining thanks to the development of the Roy Hill Iron Ore mine, the culmination of years of planning which will see its first shipment of product leave Port Hedland before the end of the year.
Mrs Rinehart’s award was also granted for her authorship of two books in support of the mining industry, and her role in founding the organisation Australians for Northern Development and Economic Vision (ANDEV).
Kalgoorlie resident Moya Sharp was also highly commended in the category of Contribution to Mining for her work in creating the Western Australian Virtual Miners Memorial, which is partnered with the physical miner’s memorial at the WA Museum in Kalgoorlie, a record which currently contains the names of 1484 individuals who have lost their lives in service to the WA mining industry.
The Young Achiever of the year, Carbine Resources executive director Patrick Walta was not present to collect his award, which to the amusement of all was picked up by a very senior proxy.
Walta joined the Carbine board in 2014, and has been instrumental in driving the plans to restart operations Mount Morgan, which has the potential to become one of the lowest cost gold producers in Australia, as well as one of the most environmentally focussed.
Global Aquatica was recognised for environmental excellence thanks to their Bioaquatica system, which converts acidic water into drinking quality for release or recycling, with the contaminants converted into recyclable products which can be sold by the mine at a profit.
Manager of the Year went to Dawid Pretorius, general manager at Glencore’s Clermont Coal Mine, where he has worked since 2011 towards the current record of 804 days LTI free through a direct engagement strategy called Visible Felt Leadership.
Rox Resources was named Explorer of the Year for their ongoing achievements, with four nickel sulphide discoveries in the Fisher East ultramafic belt, the result of targeting work done by Will Belbin and Ian Mulholland, 500km north of Kalgoorlie.
Support group Mining Family Matters won the award for Community Interaction, in recognition of their success in joining with Wesley LifeForce Suicide Prevention Services to create the Rock Solid Suicide Prevention Program, a national initiative aimed at boosting emotional resilience and preventing suicide in the male-dominated resources industry, particularly those working Fly-in, Fly-out.
Custom Mining Products also did well out of the night, taking the awards for Excellence in Mining Safety as well as Innovative Mining Solution.
Custom’s Duckbill Ejector enables safer pallet handling underground, attaching to a LHD loader and operated from the cabin to minimise manual handling and product damage.
Custom was also rewarded for their innovative Drill Water Capture System, which captures and seperates spent drilling water from fines at a rate of 1800 litres per hour, all in a single 10kg unit with no moving parts.
Minerals Processing of the Year was handed to Columbus Group for their Water Wall system, which efficiently cuts a solid rock face into tetrahedrals and octahedrals for direct feed into a processing mill without explosives and without primary crushing.
Abergeldie Complex Infrastructure won Contract Miner of the Year for their work on the Southern Coalfields Ventilation Shaft near Wollongong, which included installation of more than 8000 tonnes of shaft liners.
The awards night was not without its controversies, with appearances by Greenpeace supporters who [according to event staff] attempted to gain access to the event by stealing printed name tags for ticketed guests and trying to bypass security.
Courtesy of Australian Mining
