Mt Keith Nickel Operation is located 720 kms northeast of Perth, Western Australia. The Mt Keith ore body was discovered in 1968 by local pastoralist Jim Jones and forms part of the Agnew-Wiluna greenstone belt.

Type of Operation
Open pit nickel mine, crushing, grinding with gravity and floatation circuits.

Pit dimensions
The planned final dimension of the pit is approximately 3.6 kilometres x 2.2 kilometres, with a final depth of 700 metres. Bench heights: 15 metres.

Monitoring System
Four instruments are in place around or within the pit perimeter, from these locations the instruments can be scheduled via “Autoslope” software and the use of (R.F Industries) radio modems to gather data from each prism group at a pre-determined time.

This fully automated system allows the geotechnical staff the ability to monitor continuously to the 100 plus prisms in most conditions twice daily.

The monitoring system at Mt Keith has become an integral part of the sites safety system and is relied upon to provide accurate data for daily decision-making.

ABM’s operational headquarters are located in Burnie in North West Tasmania. The Savage River concentrator plant and mine are 100 kilometres southwest from Burnie by road. The pelletising plant and dedicated port facilities at Port Latta are located 70 kilometres north west of Burnie. The operations at Savage River and Port Latta operate continuously 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

Type of Operation
Open pit magnetite (iron pyrite) mine crushing and grinding.

Monitoring System
Softrock Solutions (SRS) recently completed an “Autoslope” and “Quikslope” installation for Australian Bulk Minerals.

The two working mine areas North Pit and South Pit are 4 kilometres apart as the crow flies.
Installation of the system involved the use of two radio repeater stations to ensure data could be transferred back to the base/control computer located at the North Pit.

SRS also put in place a semi-automated system utilizing the iPaq, this was primarily for the North pit observations as this area of the mine is monitored less frequently than the South Pit and is only a short distance form the Mine Office.

Located in the Northern Goldfields region of Western Australia approximately 350km north of Kalgoorlie and 30km south of the township of Laverton Sunrise Dam is owned and operated by AngloGold Ltd.

Type of Operation
Open pit gold mine and pressure oxidation and carbon-in-leach processing facility.

Monitoring System
As with other sites the Sunrise Dam pit is broken into areas and groups with the single instrument being moved as required to monitor these groups. The mine is located several kilometres from the control centre.

The system at Sunrise Dam currently measures 150 prisms daily at distances between 700m and 1500m. A Geodimeter ATS is also the preferred instrument at Sunrise Dam for its ability to track to distances in excess of 1000m to a single prism.

The Lihir Gold Mine is located on Niolam Island, in the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. As Niolam Island is the principal island of the Lihir Group, it is generally referred to as Lihir Island.

Lihir Island is a volcanic seamount that rises steeply from sea level to approximately 600 metres above sea level. At its widest points, the island measures 22 kilometres from north to south and 14.5 kilometres from east to west.

Type of operation
Open pit gold mine and pressure oxidation and carbon-in-leach processing facility.

Pit dimensions
The planned final dimension of the pit is approximately 2 kilometres x 1.4 kilometres, with a final depth of 185 metres below sea level. Bench heights: 12 metres and 6 metres. Maximum final pit slope angle: 47°.

Monitoring System
Monitoring is conducted continuously using two Geodimeter ATS Instruments, with data being transmitted via telemetry (radio modem) to a control centre where the data is processed within “Quikslope” software and monitored by geotechnical staff.