Britain’s coal producers have tabled a five-point plan that they say “will give the nation’s electricity users cheaper, reliable and sustainable power supplies whilst safeguarding jobs, stimulating investment and reducing energy imports.”

Outotec has developed a two-stage partial roasting process to remove impurities - such as arsenic, antimony and carbon - from copper and gold concentrates as a pre-treatment to actual extraction processes.

Monadelphous Group has received a notice of award for a contract with BHP Billiton Iron Ore for construction works at its Port Hedland Inner Harbour Project at Finucane Island and Nelson Point, Western Australia.

FLSmidth has been awarded a contract worth approximately $105 million from the Mongolian company, Mongolyn Alt (MAK) Group, to supply a greenfield copper concentrator for a mine some 500 km from the capital city Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

GIW engineering experts travel frequently to mining sites all over the world, including the oil sands mining operations in Alberta, Canada. The oil sands sites present many unique challenges to mining operations, including extreme weather (such as temperatures below -40o F during the winter.) During visits with oil sands customers, GIW observed the pump houses that customers currently have in operation. Based on these observations, GIW noted room for design improvements that would provide better equipment alignment during operation and ease of maintenance during rebuilds. The existing pump houses allow some mobility, but the houses vary in design and quality. GIW saw this need as an opportunity to provide a better working situation for its pumps and to offer a better solution to its customers. With this in mind, GIW has proposed a portable pump house that is engineered specifically to withstand the conditions in the oil sands mining operations. GIW’s pump house design is innovative and efficient, designed to reduce labour and maintenance costs and to extend pump life. • Standardised design • Plug and play modular design • One design accommodates multiple size pumps • Equipped with crane for maintenance • Requires minimal ground preparation GIW designed a modular pump house that has features never provided before in one single package, it says. Most pump houses are not built by pump manufacturers. They are usually built by companies that construct permanent houses and stick-built mobile houses. The current houses used are not designed with skid stiffness to protect equipment alignment during operational load variations, and pump rebuild work often requires the roof of the house to be removed! The GIW special pump house team includes GIW project managers, mechanical engineers, an electrical engineer, CAD designers, purchasing agent, documentation specialists and quality control inspectors. The project began with GIW engineers modelling the house in 3D. Then, a finite element analysis was performed to ensure the skid had the correct strength and stiffness for the loads it would be exposed to during transport and operation. From the skid that provides the moveable pump system to the foundation the modular pump house and E-house will sit on, GIW personnel were involved. The GIW pump house is equipped with climate control that allows the equipment to operate properly in extreme weather conditions. In addition to climate control, this pump house includes an in-house cantilever crane with truck access, which means the roof can remain in place even during pump rebuild work. The combination of climate control and the in-house crane will considerably ease maintenance and rebuild work during extreme weather conditions. The structure meets or exceeds not only OSHA requirements but also all Canadian and US building codes as well. The house itself is constructed as two modules — one to house the pump (pump house) and one to house the electrical equipment (E-house). It is designed not only to be lifted but also dragged if needed without damaging the house or equipment. The E-house contains all electrical equipment, keeping it separate from the pump house so as to protect it from the vibrations the pump creates and from the bitumen slurry the pump transports. The two units (pump house and E-house) can be bolted together during transport. However, once they arrive at the mining site, they will be taken apart. The two houses will sit 150 mm apart, connected only by electrical wiring. This prevents vibrations from being transferred from the pump house module to the electrical components. GIW engineers worked with a structural engineering firm to design the gravel foundation for the pump house and E-house. For higher pressure applications, additional piers and tie downs are added to carry the additional horizontal forces. Construction of the pump house began in September 2011 and will continue this fall and winter, with a delivery date of February 2012. The pump house must be delivered during the winter months, when the ground is frozen so that the house weight of some 300,000 kg won’t damage the public roads it travels on. GIW has contracted with a company that is highly experienced in moving large equipment for the oil sands operations. The E-house will ship intact, but the pump house will ship in pieces from its origination point in South Dakota to Fort McKay, Canada. The houses will be assembled in Fort McKay and then moved to the mine site.

Forge Group subsidiary Abesque Engineering has received a Letter of Award for the Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning Assistance (EPC) contract for Lynas Corp's LampsUp-WA project near Laverton in Western Australia.

Arafura's Rare Earth production flowsheet has previously been proven at pilot scale. The purpose of this program is to operate at a larger scale to reduce Nolans project scale up risk, optimise equipment selection and verify design data.

The pilot plant testing program performed by Kemetco Research has been successfully completed. The work has confirmed the technical viability of the American Manganese's patent pending hydrometallurgical manganese extraction and EW circuit on a semi-continuous operation basis of the overall flowsheet.

Revolvo, which says it is "the UK's largest bearing manufacturer, [and] has established itself as the market leader for split bearings in South Africa, as a result of the activities of its long standing sole distributor, OE Bearings, and from the fact that Revolvo is the only manufacturer of non ISO- sized SN SD split plummer block bearings to the South African market."OE Bearings serves the South African mining industry, among others.

Mine Site Technologies says the NS50 wireless network switch is the next generation of premier wireless components it has created. It supersedes the WNS (Wireless Network Switch) for application in hard rock mines. The NS50 leverages the proven and widely deployed WNS platform, and expands upon its functionality.

Xstrata Zinc is working with MIPAC on improving production at its George Fisher mine, an underground zinc/lead mine located about 20 km north of Mount Isa in north-west Queensland. The mine currently generates 3.5 Mt/y of ore; a P49 hoisting system accounts for 2.9 Mt/y of primary crushed ore, with remaining ore trucked to the surface.

The approval of this project is particularly significant because it allows for an investigation to be made to determine the source of the existing mine drainage of some 20 gal/min and evaluate the potential for controlling or eliminating this discharge with an underground grouting program which could avoid the need for a discharge permit.