What’s your Business Growth Score?
1. Planning for Growth
2. Business Structure and Management
3. Cash Flow
4. Exit Strategies
Author: yinghui
Visual Capitalist outlines “how coal from hero to zero” in only five years.
There was a time in the not so distant past that coal was the unquestioned all-star of the energy mix.
Just over a decade ago, coal-fired power generated more than 50% of U.S. electricity. Coal is cheap and found almost everywhere, but it’s also extremely easy to scale with. If you need more power, just burn more coal.
However, the decline of coal has been swift and unprecedented. That’s why it is expected that by 2020, only 22% of electricity will be generated from the fossil fuel.
WHAT’S BEHIND THE DECLINE OF COAL?
While there is obvious environmental pressure on miners and utilities in the coal business, the number one coal killer is an unlikely source: hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.
These two technologies have led to a natural gas supply boom, making the United States the top natural gas producer in the world. From 2005 to 2010, natural gas mostly traded in a range between $5-10 per mcf. Today, excess supply has brought it to a range between $2-3 per mcf, making it extremely desirable for utilities.
This year, for the first time ever, natural gas has surpassed coal in use for power generation in the United States. The EIA expects natural gas and coal to make up 33% and 32% respectively in the energy mix for 2016.
HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN
Not surprisingly, shrinking demand has led to a collapse in coal prices.
The decrease in revenues have slashed margins, and now equity in some of the biggest coal miners in the world is almost worthless. Similar to some oil and gas companies, many coal miners accumulated major debt loads when prices were high and demand seemed sustainable.
Now major US coal miners such as Peabody Energy and ArchCoal have been obliterated:
| 2011 | 2014 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOTAL | $44.6 BILLION | $10.6 BILLION | $0.045 BILLION |
| Peabody | $19.7 billion | $7 billion | $0.030 billion |
| Arch Coal | $6.0 billion | $1 billion | $0.006 billion |
| Alpha Natural | $10.7 billion | $1.6 billion | $0.003 billion |
| Walter Energy | $8.2 billion | $1 billion | $0.006 billion |
The top four miners have lost over $44 billion in market capitalization from their recent peaks in 2011.
That’s an astonishing 99.9% decrease in value, and possibly exemplifies the decline of coal better than anything else.
Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist
Innovations from other industries will enable a more sustainable mining industry
As mining company profits continue to be pressured by the uncertainty that remains in the global economy, the industry is on a quest for innovation to help increase productivity.
The mining industry tends to be slow in adopting new technology, but given the state of the industry – change is paramount in order to survive. By employing new technologies used by other industries, mining companies can better manage their businesses and their bottom line. As such, we can learn from other industries use of innovative technology to improve mining.
By looking to other industries, the mining industry can incorporate new applications into existing technology for improved productivity. More advanced simulation and 3D technology, as well as big data and the interoperability of systems, must be used at each stage of the mining cycle to improve productivity and output levels. Bold moves are needed to propel the industry forward.
To understand where mining can look for innovation, it is useful to examine what has led to successful transformations in other industries. Take, for example, Toyota – it became the world’s largest and most successful producer of automobiles by becoming an agile business – one that rapidly adjusts itself in light of changing demand and economic conditions. In essence, it put the framework in place to become a much more sustainable business. It started at the very bottom of its business by establishing operational stability to gain better control over manufacturing processes.
To become agile and sustainable, mining companies need to achieve operational stability – the predictability of expected mine production, costs, and performance levels. This requires mining and plant processing activities to function at higher levels of productivity and efficiency so that conformance to plan is always realized.
The quickest avenue to improved operational stability begins with reducing the variability in the planning and execution of mining and processing, which requires comprehensive planning, optimised scheduling, and disciplined work management.
Stability increases throughput, reduces waste and associated costs, and ensures production and quality targets are met. The key lies in harnessing operational data. While “big data” may be produced in mining in terms of volume, it must become visible, analysable, and it must be made actionable to executives, mine management, and frontline workers. If it is, the path to mining execution excellence, and eventually business agility, is paved. Enabling technology from other industries is one of the most important requirements to begin the journey.
Establishing predictability in operations is the first step towards transforming mining businesses in a meaningful way. Without control over operations, attempts at becoming agile may not deliver the desired value. If mining businesses do not understand how healthy their operating processes are (including their inputs, plans, equipment, labor, and supporting activities), and how well they are functioning in the now, they will continue to waste resources (capital, equipment, labor, and even the mineral assets).
Decades ago, the manufacturing industry established processes and systems to support operational stability, setting a foundation for agile decision-making and dramatic transformations. Today, companies from a wide variety of industries can design, simulate, and manage their businesses by leveraging seamless collaborative environments, connecting their operations, employees, suppliers, and even their customers. This technology exists today for mining companies, if they choose to embrace it.
One of the most significant challenges mining operations face is conformance to mine plan. Achieving it often requires scrambling to make up shortfalls and increasing expenditures. Significant productivity benefits can be gain by reducing instability.
If planning and operational data is used effectively, it can provide rapid insight into how well activities are performing, enabling fast adjustments as operating conditions change. The analytics operational data enables will also drive continuous improvement.
Mining Execution Management Systems (MES) / Mining Operations Management (MOM) platforms, which integrate data from every mining data source on the site, enable superior work management through increased visibility and control over performance. Companies can expect up-to-the-minute tracking and management of: mining and processing activities; equipment; maintenance; labor; support; and other inputs and outputs.
Mining companies can update activities and tasks between scheduling cycles; gain real-time visibility into capacity, availability, and performance; and better manage activities, tasks and/or priorities to account for changes in production and unexpected events. In addition, they can instantly communicate new and updated work orders wherever they are required, provide efficient handover of incomplete activities and tasks between shifts, and obtain assurance that activities and tasks are completed to specification (sequence, time, duration, tons, grade, maintenance, safety, regulatory compliance, etc.).
When connected to scheduling systems, the benefits of MES/MOM in mining are amplified: linking to scheduling ensures continuous feedback loops are part of the scheduling process for production, blending, waste, maintenance, and support schedules. This allows for adjustments to be made rapidly, within shift, which keeps production on track.
While MES/MOM systems are not yet widely employed in the mining industry, manufacturing and other industries have used them for decades. In these industries MES/MOM has played an enabling role in conformance to plan by reducing variation in processes. We understand how 3D technology from other industries can be applied to the mining industry, and how it can enable operational stability by reimagining how productivity is addressed through next-generation technologies. Some of the results of borrowing technology from other industries include a 2-4 per cent increase in operating margins and reduced variation to plan by 20 per cent or more. One mining company, alone, has improved mine production output by 44 per cent and doubled mine production.
Another aspect of achieving stability is improved collaboration to drive planning. Bombardier, an Aerospace company, provides an illustration of how significant improvements can be made to engineering. We partnered with global aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace to develop more innovative aircraft in response to intense competition and changes in the aviation industry. 3D models became the central source of all product information for Bombardier, integrating internal teams and worldwide development partners. Bombardier rolled out a global platform that enabled geographically dispersed teams to collaborate anytime and anywhere, with each contributor able to access up-to-date information in the cloud. The results were a 62 per cent drop in the time taken to develop multiple iterations of existing designs, 95% less time for engineering calculations and 80 per cent less time to locate design information.
Advanced simulation also has a role to play in aiding the mining industry. Sydney-based mining consultancy, Coffey, has used our SIMULIA software, widely used in automotive, oil and gas and other industries, to improve both open pit slope stability for their rock mechanics analysis and underground safety.
There is plenty of opportunity for innovation in the mining industry, and numerous proven technologies used in other industries that can be deployed today. The examples presented here are just but a few of what is available.
How machines destroy and create jobs
“There’s just doesn’t seem to be many blacksmith jobs these days.”
At first glance, this would be a ridiculous thing to say. Of course there aren’t many blacksmiths around. We live in a modern society and machines do a way better job of making things from metal anyways.
However, it also raises an important point.
What if machines are better at driving long-haul trucks? What if machines are better servers at McDonald’s? What if robots did your taxes for you?
While some of these ideas are contentious today, in the future we may look back thinking that our fears were ill-placed. The truth is that the job landscape is constantly in flux as technology changes.
Some of today’s jobs with high automation potentialmay be the future “blacksmiths”, and we should not be surprised if they go away. The best thing that we can do is to understand these trends and build a set of skills that will be in demand in any market.
THE TREND IS YOUR FRIEND
The following graphics from NPR shows the evolution of jobs over time in the United States.
The first divides jobs into four main categories: white collar, blue collar, farming, and services. It shows how the composition of the overall job market has changed over the last 165 years:
This second graph shows the same information, but plotted by the total number of jobs.
There were 10 million farmers in America in the early 20th century.
Now there’s closer to one million, and yet those farmers produce way more food. Technology may have “killed off” the majority of farm jobs, but at the same time new technology created jobs in the service, blue collar, and white collar industries.
We may now be at a similar inflection point for other careers – this interactive graphic shows some of the jobs that have been on the decline in recent years.
In 1960, a whopping 11% of the workforce was employed in factories. Today only 4% are employed in factories.
In the late 1970s, almost 5% of the workforce was secretaries. Today, we’re at about half that, but professionals can be just as productive without a secretary thanks to better computer software.
Yes, there are globalization issues at play here as well, but even a modern domestic factory such as the Tesla Gigafactory (which has the largest building by footprint in the world) will only employ about 6,000 people. The majority of the work will be done by robots.
And while it seems scary to think about the rise of machines and a faster pace of technological advancement, it’s important to recognize that these types of sweeping changes to the job market have happened throughout history.
The point is, try not to be the 21st century version of a “blacksmith”.
国际钢丝绳制造商合并
Rope businesses merge to form Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group
The Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group began operating yesterday, following the successful merger of Bridon with Bekaert’s rope business. Thenew business employs some 2,500 people in 17 countries combining unrivalled industry expertise, portfolio, scale and global reach.
The new Bridon-Bekaert CEO Bruno Humblet, said: “We are delighted that the merger is now complete. The new group combines Bekaert’s existing strength in the regions of Americas and Australia and Bridon’s strong market position in Europe and the USA.
“Bridon-Bekaert Ropes Group (BBRG) will offer a broad range of additional services, as well as strengthened expertise to customers, buildingon the proud history of both businesses in providing quality products and services.
“This combination will leverage the scale and complementary strengths of Bekaert and Bridon and will pursue value creation for our customers.”
With worldwide manufacturing operations, sales and distribution centres, BBRG will ensure accessibility and services within close reach, customized to specific local demands and challenges. It is a “global technology leader in the manufacture of wire and fibre rope solutions for the world’s most demanding applications.”
“We are looking forward to building the group. Our primary focus will be to deliver the very best performing products, accelerated innovation programs and unrivalled services,” added Humblet.
Newmont divests $1.3bn Indonesian mine
Newmont Mining has entered an agreement with PT Amman Mineral Internasional (PT AMI) to sell its interests in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PTNNT), which operates Indonesia’s Batu Hijau copper and gold mine.
Newmont’s 48.5 per cent interest in PTNNT is valued at $1.3 billion; with the deal seeing $920 million paid at closing and $403 million in contingent payments.
Nusa Tenggara Mining Corporation is also selling their ownership stake to PT AMI.
The company’s president and CEO Gary Goldberg said, “Selling our stake in PTNNT for fair value is aligned with our strategic priorities to lower debt, fund our highest margin projects and create value for shareholders.”
The move is set to close following regulatory approvals in the third quarter. It is also subject to other conditions including government approval of the transfer and resolving all tax matters.
Newmont has generated $1.9 billion from the sale of non-core assets and since 2013 has decreased their debt by 37 per cent. In 2015, they acquired the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine in the US, and added five million ounces of gold reserves.
Its projects in Australia, USA, and Suriname are set to add nearly one million ounces of profitable production over the next two years.
The sale follows BHP divesting its 75 per cent stake in Indonesia’s IndoMet Coal, exiting the country completely.
2016年矿山发展趋势3
Tracking the 2016 Trends – Part 3
The third of a ten part series examining the trends that will drive the mining industry in 2016.
3. China’s economic transition
“If you believe that China is one of the most significant factors in the global mining market – whether it be capital, consumption, stockpiling, project construction or its announced infrastructure initiatives – then it’s imperative to pay attention to the economic and political issues shaping the country’s future,” Deloitte Canada’s global leader for mining M&A advisory, Jeremy South, stated.
Because of this China and its demand still remains at the heart of the global resources industry.
China once consumed 60 per cent of all seaborne iron ore, and despite its waning appetite it still has the largest influence on many metals due to its overwhelming demand for raw materials – relative to other nations.
However, unlike many other nations China has a highly interventionist government, which dictates market controls.
“Beyond interfering with the free movement of markets, the government’s fiscal intervention may threaten its ability to fund new programs designed to spur future growth,” Deloitte reports.
In particular, the mining industry has been keeping a close on three primary initiatives: the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), created to fund a range of commodity intensive energy, transport and infrastructure projects across Asia with a capital pool starting at what the Financial Times believes is US$100 billion; the One Belt, One Road program designed to spur trade between China and its neighbouring countries along the Silk Road; and the megacity project, which aims to link Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei into a single city of 130 million people.
Despite these transparent plans, China’s trade regime remains opaque, with Deloitte stating that “without access to transparent official data, miners remain in the unfortunate position of making forecasts based on potentially flawed information”.
The 13th five year plan released in March has given some clarity on the nation’s direction.
Some small steps have been taken in the country to address glaring oversupply issues – which many majors are now addressing by focusing on lowering output guidance – by shutting underperforming or low quality operations.
An official at China’s human resources and social security ministry said the nation’s coal and steel industries expect to cut around 1.8 million workers as it seeks to reduce capacity, and address the growing stockpiles in the country.
The latest plan to slash the country’s coal and steel workforce came only days after Chinese coal companies pushed the government to set a price floor for coal to protect against bankruptcy and stem job cuts.
The country plans to reduce around 500 million tonnes of coal production over the next three to five year, mainly by closing more than 5000 coal mines around the nation and relocating around one million workers, setting aside 30 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) to aid relocation of the workers.
China also has also announced it will not approve any new coal mines for the next three years.
These swift, if brutal, movements appear to already be paying dividends for the nation.
New data by Citigroup predicts the coal price may rise by 20 per cent on the back of these changes, as coal production falls around nine per cent, more than offsetting the predicted 3.4 per cent decline in demand.
In terms of iron ore, the rallies seen in the first half of 2016 have lifted the price out of the doldrums experienced in late 2015 to settle around the US$55 per tonne watermark, which provides a stronger foundation for continued growth in the market, although it does put the industry at risk of more marginal players returning to the sector and adding to the oversupply issue.
A national focus on copper intensive industries as part of its six strategic industries is also boosting the base metal’s future.
According to Wood Mackenzie, China’s plan to generate 15 per cent of its total GDP from industries such as IT hardware, energy storage and distribution, and new energy vehicles (which according to BHP Olympic Dam asset president Jacqui McGill uses three times as much copper as conventional vehicles) all bode well for copper.
This may drive reinvestment into its own coal and base metals industry later in the year, however most pundits believe China will focus its investment efforts outside its borders, spurred by long-term currency weakness driving them to invest in foreign assets before the yuan is further devalued and they lose purchasing power.
“This may lead to a short-term increase in outbound direct investments from Chinese state owned enterprises interested in both mining companies at the later stage of the production cycle and fixed asset investments in infrastructure that improves over time,” Deloitte said.
This has been evidenced by China’s Zijin US4298 million cash investment made in Barrick Gold’s subsidiary, and China Molybdenum’s recent spree – acquiring Anglo American’s Brazilian niobium and phosphates operations for US$1.5 billion and Freeport McMoRan’s holdings in the world’s largest copper and cobalt resource, the Tenke Fungurume mine, for US$2.65 billion in cash – only further vindicating market forecasts.
This short term resurgence is unlikely to be the new normal, with Goldman Sachs stating, “We find that the likelihood of a sustained improvement in Chinese demand during 2016-17 is low, and we remain strongly of the view that the structural bear market drives that have contributed to metals declining 20 per cent over the past year and 50 per cent over the past five years remain intact.”
However Deloitte has outlined a number of ways in which miners can prepare for upcoming incipient shifts.
One of the major methods to right the downturn is to not expect a return to double digit growth rates in China.
“Companies seeking to navigate the new normal must now plan for scenarios in which China is unable to return to its previous levels of importing and consuming commodities,” Deloitte’s report stated.
“Capital allocation, economic feasibility studies and even cost management programs will all need to be recontextualised in anticipation of more limited Chinese growth rates.”
Following from this, it encouraged miners to develop plans relative to China’s investment initiatives such as the AIIB; One Belt, One Road, and the megalopolis, playing a role in the development of these programs.
拉斗铲维护技术
Dragline maintenance optimisation
Ryan Sharp and Arnold Williams at BMT WBM, a subsidiary of BMT Group, believe that a sustained increase in production can only be truly realised when robust maintenance procedures are in place. Taking a closer look at draglines, they consider the current maintenance challenges and highlight how technological innovations can help optimise and in some cases, reduce maintenance and inspection workloads.
Recently, much of the focus has been on devising upgrades to existing machinery to help improve production capacity through increasing payloads and reducing cycle times.
However, increasing payloads and reducing cycle times often have the effect of reducing the service life of machine components and structures due to increased duty. With resistance to ‘avoidable’ downtime, too often payloads are increased and cycle times reduced without the required machine upgrades being installed, based on the expectation that the increased maintenance cost and effort required would be more than justified in consideration of the increase in production.
The approach towards maintenance has often been ad-hoc and ‘conventional’ with maintenance plans for a piece of equipmentoften simply put together on the basis of recommendations or instructions obtained from the OEMs for the operation in the original machine configuration. As a consequence, certain preventative maintenance tasks have become standardised, remaining somewhat unchanged and unreflective of the change of duties or increased loads handled by the upgraded plant and machinery.
With strong emphasis on mining machinery availability and the continuing trend towards operating at increased rates of production, this ‘conventional’ approach is no longer sustainable and mining companies must now look at using every available tool and technique to improve maintenance practices. Although the OEMs will provide maintenance departments with guidelines for servicing plant based on the specification on which it left the factory, what many operating companies do not consider is the effect that increasing the machine’s capacity or duty cycle will have on reliability and the required maintenance.
Often, machines will be upgraded to operate significantly above their original design loading. Such upgrades create specific issues that cannot necessarily be dealt with in the traditional way, i.e. when something breaks, you simply replace it, or when it cracks you weld it. This approach simply does not work when a machine has been pushed beyond the original design specifications as it leads to an unacceptable ‘Mean Time Between Failures’ (MTBF). When increasing the load, it’s important that the implications of this change are duly considered and thought is put into how you ensure the original design reliability is maintained to avoid further issues in the future. Otherwise failure rates will increase and availability will begin to fall away. A smarter approach to maintenance is certainly needed.
Advances in technology are noteworthy and have certainly impacted the way in which maintenance departments operate. The tools that are available for engineers are getting faster and more accurate. Whilst in the past, if there was a structural failure, it may have taken two to three weeks before a decision could be made as to whether to shut down production to fix the problem or continue operating the machine, with today’s structural modelling and analysis tools such as ANSYS, Femap, IDEAS, LS-DYNA and Abaqus, these decisions can be determined much more effectively and efficiently.
BMT WBM has been involved with dragline maintenance issues and improvement strategies for over 40 years. Key areas of failure include boom, mast and roller circle. A more sophisticated approach to maintenance can, in some cases, reduce maintenance and inspection workloads and extend the fatigue life of these structures. BMT WBM has completed numerous Finite Element Analyses identifying high stress and fatigue prone areas of dragline structures. A map can then be created to guide maintenance inspectors on where to focus their attention, ultimately reducing the time needed for the inspections.
While maintenance planning in mining has been systematised for many years, techniques such as Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) which have been used over the last 40 years in other industries, including aerospace, are being increasingly applied to mining machinery maintenance. RCM techniques can help identify the component failures that impact availability most significantly and thereby, enabling appropriate solutions to be devised.
One recent example where RCM principles have been followed to significantly improve the reliability of mining machine operation on a Marion 8200 Dragline is where a substantial revolving frame floor upgrade was carried out in order to design out ongoing structural cracking issues. The cracking originated from large floor penetrations and propagated across the machine. The maintenance effort required to keep up the repairs were onerous. The problem stemmed from a pre-existing deficiency of the OEM design in this area and the accumulation of fatigue damage through a long service for the machine. Further, in an effort to increase production, the mine was intending to increase the suspended load and was concerned about further exacerbating the problems in this area. BMT WBM used a combination of field measurements to obtain the actual working stresses and analysis to propose a substantial design upgrade for the floor. The upgrade was implemented during a major maintenance shutdown for the machine. Currently, this upgrade has been in place for approximately six months.
Working closely with Westmoreland Coal Co, BMT recently deployed its innovative DuraCluster modification and repair scheme which dramatically improves the fatigue performance of cluster joints on existing tubular dragline boom designs. This involved replacing a number of fatigued boom clusters with DuraCluster to demonstrate both ease of installation and operational suitability.
Once implemented, this modification for tubular boom draglines significantly reduces maintenance and inspection workloads and dramatically reduces the problem of long-term fatigue cracking associated with the existing cluster design. BMT was able to offer both reduced downtime and outage costs. Once installed, DuraCluster also reduces the risks to operators and maintenance teams in having to lower the boom and carry out complicated weld repairs with limited access. Installation for Westmoreland was successfully completed in the allocated time frame and the dragline returned to duty.
The long booms of draglines comprise a number of tubular chords with interconnecting lacings welded to the chords at cluster joints. Stresses are concentrated at the cluster joint weldments and over time, fatigue cracking becomes endemic. This methodology prevents the need to cut and replace windows in lacings by removing the problematic design detail and improving load paths. Furthermore, DuraCluster can dramatically extend the fatigue life of dragline booms by reducing the stress concentrations.
A boom replacement can cost in the region of $20 million and would require a three-month machine outage. With BMT’s modification and repair, the cluster design can be upgraded in around one week per cluster, depending on the extent of chord repair required, while multiple clusters can be modified simultaneously. With equivalent repair costs reduced to approximately $2 million, this is an extremely attractive incentive for mining companies. While DuraCluster provides a step change in life to cracking for tubular boom construction, it is equally applicable to tubular masts.
The innovative design allows lacings to be cut away from the chord, providing easy access to remove damaged or previously-repaired material. The exposed chord can then be inspected and fully weld repaired before installing the plate. Full patent rights for the DuraCluster design have been granted in Australia, South Africa, India and North America and discussions are taking place with potential clients in all these territories.
Another area of significant technological advances made over the past 15 to 20 years is the dragline slew bearing, also known as the roller circle. The roller circle and the supporting structures immediately above and below are vital mechanical and structural component of the dragline. Installation and maintenance activities in these areas carried out to a poor standard can lead to large amounts of cracking in the tub and the revolving frame and very poor bearing life. BMT WBM has developed supporting and repair techniques ensuring that the welding and machining of the upper and lower rail pads are done to a very high standard resulting in good bearing load distribution and long roller circle service life.
Coal’s formation is a window on an ancient world
As the world moves to combat climate change, it’s increasingly doubtful that coal will continue to be a viable energy source, because of its high greenhouse gas emissions. But coal played a vital role in the Industrial Revolution and continues to fuel some of the world’s largest economies. This series looks at coal’s past, present and uncertain future, starting today with how it’s formed.
Love it or hate it, coal played a crucial role in launching us into the modern world by fuelling the Industrial Revolution. The byproducts of that role were, of course, the rise of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere and dangerous levels of air pollution in the big coal-fuelled cities.
But despite its insidious influence on the climate and our health, coal has a lesser-known positive side to its otherwise dark soul. It has provided us with some stunning fossils.
Geologists have known for centuries that coal is an accumulation of plant material that, once buried in the Earth’s sedimentary layers, gets compressed by gravity into a denser, compact form. Yet, in recent years, scientists have hotly debated the early phases of coal formation.
The discussion hinges on whether coal formed due to the absence of certain organisms that actively break down the woody tissues of dead trees, or whether other non-biological factors were the reason.
Contested origins
Coal starts its cycle of formation with the accumulation of plant material in swamps or bogs. Decaying plant matter that builds up at the bottom of bogs or swamps is called peat. After other sedimentary layers bury the peat deposit, the weight of these sediments builds up and compacts it.
Other chemical and physical processes also alter the peat, including pressures exerted by tectonic forces as continents move and crash into one another. These processes eventually turn the layers of compacted peat into rock we can mine.
Pure black coal, richer in organic carbon and tempered by heat and pressure, is called anthracite. Brown coal, or lignite, is mostly just compressed peat and has more sediment mixed in with plant matter.
Coal has formed as very large deposits at certain times in Earth’s prehistory. So much so that Reverend William Conybeare, the esteemed British geologist of the early 19th century, first named the Carboniferous or “carbon-bearing” period (359 million to 299 million years ago) after the distinctive coal deposits of Britain in his book of 1822.
These great coal swamps formed in what were the Earth’s first great forests. They were home to many varieties of giant amphibians and early reptiles and huge insects, as global oxygen levels were very high at this time.
Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences website
For many years, scientists believed that coal formed in such large deposits at these times because certain fungi that helped break down the lignin, or woody tissues, had not yet evolved. The molecular clock estimates for the appearance of these fungi, called Agariomycetes, suggest they should appear in the Permian period (299 million to 252 million years ago), after the formation of the vast Carboniferous coal deposits.
A new theory
But this doesn’t account for the huge amounts of coal that formed in much later geological periods, such as the Cenozoic, over the past 65 million years. And a new study, led by Matthew Nelsen of Stanford University, takes issue with this model, as well as presenting a new hypothesis for coal formation.
The study authors argue that coal formed in the Carboniferous period consists dominantly of plants such as horsetails, or Lycophytes. These trees grew to enormous sizes and their periderm, or outer cuticles of the trunk, lack lignin, so wouldn’t be affected by the absence of lignin-degrading fungi. Their argument points to the biochemical composition of the plants having little to do with how coal accumulates.
The distribution of coal deposits through time is seen in the chart below of the estimated total volume of coal in North America. Large deposits of coal also accumulated during the age of dinosaurs (Mesozoic Era, from 252 million to 66 million years ago) and during the first half of the Cenozoic period (between 66 million and 30 million years ago), well after the predicted first appearance of lignin-degrading fungi.
Prof. Kevin Boyce, with permission.
The paper argues that tectonic factors are the most likely reason such big coal deposits built up at certain times. Large basins fill up with thick sedimentary piles when continents collide and mountain-building occurs. Some really excellent fossils have been found in such coal deposits, although the acidity of coal often dissolves bones.
The best-preserved fossils are those caught in the cleaner sediments laid down by streams between coal seams. Such fossils are routinely uncovered as part of coal mining. Several of the large fossil amphibians that lived in the Carboniferous swamps have been found this way.
A famous site at Nyrany in the Czech Republic was discovered because the director of the natural history museum there had coal delivered to heat his room. Splitting the coal sometimes yielded well-preserved fossils of early amphibians, so he could add scientifically significant specimens to his collections without leaving his office.
Perhaps the most famous fossils found in a coal mine were uncovered at Bernissart in Belgium. Many skeletons, representing 33 individuals of the large plant-eating dinosaur Iguanodon, were found there in 1878. These skeletons were among the first complete dinosaurs ever found.
Although coal is much maligned because of its byproducts from combustion, the factors responsible for coal accumulation also give us fossil treasures from the past. To stop coal mining would undoubtedly mean many good fossils remain in the ground. But the long-term health of our planet is a bigger priority.
This is the first article in our series on the past, present and future of coal. Look out for others in the coming days.
John will be online for an Author Q&A between 2:30 and 3:30pm AEST today (Wednesday 8 June, 2016). Post any questions you have in the comments below.
John Long, Strategic Professor in Palaeontology, Flinders University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
New dry iron ore processing technology developed
Inauguração da planta da New Steel, NS3, na Mina de Fábrica da Vale, em Ouro Preto.
© Washington Alves / Light Press
The mine tailing dam spill at BHP and Vale’s Samarco iron ore operations last year killed 19 people and had devastating effects on the environment.
Occurring in Minas Gerais, a south-eastern Brazilian state, the spill injured more than 50 people and contaminated the water supply of several towns.
But can these tailings dam environmental disasters potentially be avoided with new processing technologies?
Brazilian company New Steel have developed a new dry iron ore tailings process to make mining more environmentally sustainable.
It involves the dry recovery of iron ore fines and super fines from mining wastes, low grade run of mine (ROM), or compact itabirite.
The method does not use water to process iron ore, instead it transforms mining tailings – with low iron content and no commercial value – into high iron content and low contaminants, making it economically viable.
As iron ore must be composed of grades of at least 58 per cent, mining companies stack the lower grade material on tailings dumps.
This material with low iron content is then processed and iron is separated from other materials, particularly silica (sand), from these stacks. In doing this, the company can produce a highly pure iron ore concentrate in an industrial scale by obtaining a premium product of up to 68 per cent iron, as well as being able to make use of particles as small as 0.01mm, thus generating high recovery rates compared to existing methods.
The moisture content of the ore is reduced through a mechanical stir dryer (using natural gas or biomass), and is classified into various fractions. The ore is then separated magnetically using a magnetic separation unit (FDMS).
The drying process increases particle segregation, with the technology’s air classifier able to separate particle sizes down to 0.01 mm. Whereas existing dry separation processes work for relatively coarse particles greater than 0.55mm, the FDMS technology can separate fine particles up to 0.01mm, increasing efficiency.
The technology aims to improve the recovery of iron ore still contained in wastes or low grade ROM making it possible to obtain iron ore concentrate with 68 per cent iron, and ultimately providing high metallurgical and mass recoveries.
New Steel CEO Gustavo Emina said, “Before the invention, the only technology available to raise the content of very fine iron ore particles was flotation, but flotation is water-sensitive and is not economically sustainable in the current scenario of pricing, making any new project unfeasible, as it demands high spending.”
Emina explained to Australian Mining, “In this dry process no water is used thus there is no need for tailing dams.”
This will have significant benefits compared to wet processing methods as the effects of tailing dam bursts have not only been felt in Brazil, but more recently in the Solomon Islands as well.
The collapse of the dam on the island’s Gold Ridge mine released millions of litres of toxic water containing arsenic and other heavy metal tailings into waterways towards communities further downstream. The project, sold by St Barbara to local landowners, already faced a number of previous environmental concerns due to heavy rainfall, flooding, and cyclones with its tailing dam close to collapse. Last year the government declared the mine a disaster area after tropical cyclone Tracey brought heavy rains that filled the dam to near overflow.
Emina further outlined the advantages of the process; such as heightening the value of otherwise marginal deposits and increasing the output and export capacity of iron ore producers through beneficiation of their mining waste.
It reduces the impact on the environment by storing and recovering tailing stockpiles to produce a higher ore grade, and avoiding environmental issues associated with tailing dams such spills and seepage.
Other advantages include a low energy consumption rate and its ability to increase the life of a mine. Dry processing plants also have a reduced size compared to traditional facilities.
As the waste generated after the iron ore is extracted is mainly sand, it can be used as a byproduct in the construction of houses, schools and other facilities, enhancing its sustainability.
“The greater efficiency of the FDMS generates a dry clean waste with five per cent iron that can be used by the cement or ceramic industry,” Emina added.
The technology has been undergoing trials since 2010 in Brazil with the company’s operation of the first experimental dry processing plant in Minas Gerais.
The Brazilian Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) ranked the patent application as a Green Patent due to its sustainability. New Steel also received an award in the innovation category at the international Platts Global Metals Awards, considered the ‘Oscar’ of mining.
The patent has been approved in the United States and is also being processed in 26 other countries.
Negotiations to implement the new technology in the US are underway.