Achievements

For the mining industry today, sustainable development means ensuring the benefits of mining operations balance out adverse social and environmental impact, while remaining economically viable. It’s a tough challenge but one where innovative Australian technology is playing a prominent role. The latest developments in the areas of emissions reduction, geosequestration, water usage and waste are set to help shape the future of sustainable mining on a global basis.

According to Morrie Goodz, Conference Chair for the AusIMM Sustainable Mining 2010 conference being held in Kalgoorlie, using water from ground and seawater and reusing water from the community and industry are important areas. “Our conference has a number of papers that are looking at processes for reusing water or using water that is considered of no use, such as hyper saline ground water,” he says.
“We’re also seeing opportunities to look at technologies that require less use of water. In a lot of processes the heating and cooling of water is very energy intensive. If you can filter out the water and dry it by some natural means before the process that involves energy then you reduce the quantity of energy required to heat or cool the material.”

Increased labour costs, dwindling fuel supplies and the potential for a shortage of vehicle tyres all add to transportation costs. One method that is now being used to reduce these costs while providing environmental and economic benefits is in-pit crushing where the ore is separated while still underground or in the open pit. “If you don’t have to take that waste out of the mine then you impact on a much smaller footprint on the site,” says Goodz. “When you disturb less ground you need less permitting requirements from the government which means fewer delays because permits require time to be processed. The waste material that you don’t need can be used as backfill while it’s still in the mine. This saves an enormous amount of energy and time - and mining becomes more sustainable and efficient.”

An aspect of sustainable mining that Goodz is keen to highlight is people, and in particular women. Women make up 50% of the workforce particularly in the areas of geology, environment and chemistry and often struggle with juggling careers and families. Goodz says he would like to see this part of the mining workforce better catered for. “If we managed our communities better, all those women would have the opportunity to return to work part time. Mining communities should have well developed nurseries, crèches and primary schools. Although it goes beyond mining I think that’s an important aspect of sustainability. We seem to forget that people are our greatest resource.”

In a mining cycle where maintaining profitability is becoming a greater challenge, mining operations are being impacted upon by the operational pressures of competing for scarce resources, especially in regional and remote settings. 

Mineral resource projects are becoming more remote, deeper, and complex in mineralogy and tenor.  Project permitting is dependent upon resolution of those planning and environmental issues that require intensive stakeholder consultation and result in unmanageable delays for the issue of permits. 

Sustainability requires the triple bottom line to achieve the corporate mission, deliver shareholder value, maintain safety and environmental targets, and ensure community and regulatory expectations.  There is competition for scarce internal and financial resources, and challenges in securing stable supplies of infrastructure, services and people.  Projects are being deferred or discarded, because they cannot justify the business model. 

At Goodz GMC “we take pride in Life of Mine solutions that deliver value beyond the foreseeable future.”

There is definitely no lack of enthusiasm at Goodz & Associates GMC Pty Ltd (Goodz GMC), with a large expansion of services into the Goldfields region.

With many technical service businesses withdrawing local offices, Goodz GMC is an example of a geological, mining and engineering services company which has put its future into the West Australian mining industry.

Being the only national geological and mining consultancy with its head office based in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, managing director Morrie Goodz sees supporting local industry and services as a community responsibility.

"We used to have fly-in/fly-out personnel, but we are now a local consultancy". Recently we have expanded our operations with a new office in Coolgardie to assist the Kalgoorlie West projects and an office in Donnybrook to serve the southwest WA projects. We see the region as a growth opportunity with Boddington and Collie nearby.

The main reason for the local expansion has been the success achieved in 3D modelling of old workings to extend the mine life of existing operations, particularly the redevelopment of the Daisy-Milano gold operation - the longest operating underground gold mine in the region after KCGM's Mt Charlotte.

Goodz also doubles as the Managing Director of MacPhersons Reward Gold Ltd where numerous targets have been identified for future expansion coming from new innovative design methods employed by Goodz.

"We have developed a system of merging mining, geological and computing specialists to create dynamic teams with a philosophy of taking traditional shallow underground or open pit operations to much deeper levels."

Top of Page 

Goodz & Associates GMC Pty Ltd (Goodz GMC) has seen one of its greatest successes for its clients, with the acquisition of the Daisy Milano Gold Mine by diversified miner Silver Lake Resources.

As Project Manager, Goodz GMC expanded production at Daisy Milano from 5,000 tpa to 100,000 tpa, and designed the strategies that led to the production of 154,000 ounces of gold from ore grading 16 g/t. Current production has exceeded 380,000 ounces of gold.

Innovative 3D modelling capabilities identified likely zones of repetition of high grade shoots and design of two exploration declines led to significant improvements to stope development and production.

Goodz' geological team developed a new exploration model for the Kalgoorlie Southeast and Mount Monger goldfields that increased the mineral resource inventories from a six month mine life to greater than twenty years.

Managing Director, Morrie Goodz, explained that the innovative methods on both the exploration and stope design fronts laid the foundations for the attraction of the project by major mining houses, with Silver Lake given the green light.

The mine planning strategic design developed by Morrie Goodz could see the Daisy Milano mine becoming historically the largest gold producer in the Kalgoorlie South district, with extensions now going below the 800m depth. It is now the second longest running underground operation at Kalgoorlie.

Some of Goodz GMC's designs have become industry standards. In particular, their 'box-cut portal design' for surface declines has set new parameters in accepted layouts for decline portals.

Environmental and Safety Management is also a key ingredient to Goodz GMC designs. All surface mining designs come with final abandonment provisions, which ensure that the client has no further technical and implementation costs. Environmental bonds are almost eliminated, making projects more feasible for small to medium sized operators trying to minimise start up costs.

The Original Super Pit

The Kalgoorlie-Coolgardie Goldfields have a remarkable history of successful prospectors. In recent years none have been more famous than William "Bill" Powell and the MacPhersons Reward gold mine.

Bill discovered the namesake Powell Mine in 1983 and by 1988 he had mined 6 open pit mines within a 2km strike length. Bill set the foundations of the original Super Pit which is said to have spurred Bondie to the idea of Kalgoorlie's Golden Mile. Bill withdrew the Coolgardie Super Pit project from development until he found the right mining team in 2009. Goodz GMC commenced the process of consolidating the tenement portfolio known as the MacPhersons Reward Group of Mines in 2009 which was completed in 2010.

'It is an outstanding project that is open at depth with no mining below the 50m depth. It is a greenfields project beneath a proven goldfield". The Coolgardie Super Pit has been reborn.

In 2010, twp pits were reopened, a wall cutback and pit floor due diligence was completed. Production was forecast to resume in 2011.

Oldest Mine - Goodz and Associates GMC Pty Ltd (Goodz GMC) has a tradition of reopening significant historical producers and turning them into mines of the future.

We had the good fortune of running Australia's longest continuously operating mine for five years, the Gaffneys Creek Gold Mine in northeast Victoria, at 132 years of operation.

Goodz GMC took over the mine design, and exploration management responsibilities from 1985 to 1990. During that period, the mine went from having a 3-6 month mine reserve life to a 24-36 month reserve life, and experienced a five-fold production expansion.

Conceptual models developed by the mine exploration team led to two 500m deep holes that intersected an unknown repetition of the ore host and laid the foundation to the mine expansion.

IN 2008, Goodz GMC established a program to reopen the A1 Gold Mine at Gaffney's Creek. high grade targets and ore host extensions were identified. Heron Resources have undertaken underground development for the A1 mine using Goodz GMC decline design and geological models.

New expansion - Morrie Goodz repeated this process through the implementation of mining software solutions by Gemcom to define a mineralisation corridor through the Mt Monger goldfield south of Kalgoorlie.

This led to deep drilling exploration along the Milano shear zone and the identification of a 20 year resource inventory. Morrie took over mine management in 1997 and designed the development of a new decline access to replace the shaft haulage operations.

When Goodz GMC commenced their involvement in the project, production was 5,000 tpa. Current production is approximately 200,000 tpa.

Newest mine - The Morning Star Gold Mine at Woods Point, Victoria, operated for 101 years and produced 883,000 ounces at an average grade of 28.5 g/t. It was operated by WMC (GMA) and closed in 1963.

Goodz GMC has been using 3D modelling methods on detail survey, assay and drilling records compiled by WMC, to identify a preliminary target of 4 million ounces.

The mine owner, Morning Star Gold NL, is currently running 3 owner-operator drilling rigs including both surface and underground deep diamond drilling program to validate the mine model. Morning Star has secured tenements over an area that has several extensive mines that have produced >1.6 million ounces in shallow workings.

Tri-party Negotiations

Goodz GMC extended its record of tri-party success with the sealing of the sale of wastewater to mining companies. The deal brokered between the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder, Lion Ore Mining and KCGM allowed for the use of treated effluent for mineral processing. Negotiator, Morrie Goodz said "this was an example where high quality water could be directed to the mining industry where it is needed". The use of treated effluent as process water reduced reagent use and lowers costs.

Goodz GMC has continued its involvement in advancing mine professionalism and safety through continued sponsorship of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy Mines Rescue Competition.

Goodz GMC has sponsored the First Aid and Casualty Awards and has provided staff for support services during underground mine rescue competitions.

Since 1987, Goodz GMC has provided projects, financial support and supervised nine graduate and post-graduate research theses and approximately 60 student projects in earth sciences, civil and geological engineering.

Mining and Environmental Consultants, Morrie Goodz and Robin Lonsdale have been awarded Waterwise Garden of the year 3 times since 2003 for  their native garden in Kalgoorlie. The garden features over 200 species including 60 Eremophila and is a testament to what can be planted in desert soils. The proprietors of Goodz GMC said most of the plant species were native to the goldfields and were commonly selected for minesite rehabilitation projects. The hardiness of native plants to drought and salty conditions aids their ability to get quickly established in a harsh and fragile rehabilitation environment. Goodz GMC has been involved in native plant propagation and site rehabilitation since the early 1990's.