Industry Link Media Blog

Worthy Parts are getting on board with the WA Rockdrill Club for their second event this year! The Beacon Minerals Coolgardie Day 125th Celebrations Rockdrill Championship. Coolgardie host an annual parade and street festival which draws a crowd of over 10,000 people to the goldfields town. This is the first year since 1996 a rockdrill has been held in the town.

It may seem a strange sport but Rockdrilling was once a staple on the country fairs circuits across Australia. Drillers use Sigma or Panter airleg’s to drill into a concrete face, the fastest driller/s for each event get the title of being the champion of their field. Pitted against rivals its makes for an adrenaline fuelled spectacle with drillers coming from all over Australia and some from overseas. Some events to look out for are the Northern Star Jack n Jill where men and ladies team together & the Maher Mining No Pusher, a challenge of boring through the block with no hydraulic arm, just pure strength and agility!

You can get more information on the event and down load the nominations form here! There is a $14,000 prize pool for this event! We can’t wait to catch up with some mates and cheer on our favourite drillers! See you there?

The Annual Gold Game took place last weekend at the Sir Richard Moore Oval between Kalgoorlie City Football Club and Mines Rovers Football Club . Worthy Parts were proud to sponsor the Colts Team jumper for this fundraising event which benefits the Goldfields Children Charity Inc. Kalgoorlie City took a defeat after a good 4 quarter effort, with player of the match awarded to Mines Rovers Captain Darryl George.

Off the pitch Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan made an appearance at the Kangas Club Rooms to host an entertaining evening of football talk. An estimated $20,000 has been raised from the memorabilia auction and from the sale of the once off Gold Game Jumpers! Well done to all involved from the Worthy Parts team!

DRILLING THE EASTERN GOLDFIELDS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

An estimated 100 million ounces of gold has been calculated in terms of production, resources and reserves in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. With the price of gold on the rise and the global demand reaching 1290 tonnes in the first quarter of 2016, up 21% on last year, there’s seems to be no better time than the present to be involved in the gold industry!

EXPLORATION

Recently there has been numerous announcements of new exploration targets around the district, you would think after a century of gold mining the Eastern Goldfields would be starved of its name sake resource! With an estimated 500,000 drill holes sunk in the region over the century, 480,000 recorded by Placer Dome in 2004, there are still ongoing explorations yielding results that encourage investment. With the technological advances of modern exploration there are plenty of resources available to identify the geology of mines. Collating core sheets, old reports and re logging them along with new exploration findings will allow for a transparent and cohesive database for your explorations projects.

PROVING

We are frequently reminded of the large-scale mining projects; with the current ideal market conditions the small scale gold miners who have been biding their time are now more active and prevalent. How do they get their mine to the stage of becoming a viable mine site? A recent field trip to a small prospect in the Eastern Goldfields allowed Worthy Parts to find out more about the stages from pegging to proving a mine site.

RESULTS

Initial stages a sampling program using an auger as a means of collection is implemented to identify geochemical variations. The method of an Auger program allows for the collection of samples that identify if the three meters surface of a lease contains samples of gold or related pathfinder elements once assayed. If evidence of a quantifiable precious metal is collected a diamond drill plan is developed in which a solid core is extracted from depth for examination on the surface. This process allows geologists to identify and map the rock formations to a depth as much as 1000meters. Pending on the results the next stage is to implement Reverse Cycle (RC) Drill plan which produces dry rock chips. Once these processes are completed mine owners are able to adept to costings and implement a mine plan. It’s this critical point where a mines weight of gold can be established and further investment can be procured to pursue extraction plan the mines life expectancy.

The ability to implement an efficient, reliable machine monitoring system in mining fleets allows for companies to have more transparency when it comes to productivity and downtime. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) can have their own on-board weighing system installed in specific models such as wheel loaders or dump trucks, however there is also an abundance of aftermarket options suitable for several different models or applications. Generally there will be a variety of machinery makes in your fleet, which is why consolidating your fleet to use one software application will have obvious advantages. In a time starved world, having all your productivity data in one program seems a lot more manageable and efficient.

PROGRESSIVE

On-board computerized systems are more prevalent across mine sites and are becoming a key requirement for mining operators in allowing precision performance tracking. In some cases they’re a mandatory technology implemented to track performance and relay feedback to operators. Not only does the technology benefit overall productivity and operations, it also has proven to be a significant tool to address cultural change with operators becoming more safety aware and compliant. On-board computers are a progressive and resourceful tool used to identify trends across a variety of parameters such as payload, machine running hours, dump count, distance travelled, impact/shock, operator abuse, driver/vehicle identification & immobilization.

 OPERATIONS

Worthy Parts Service Provider Dynamic Maintenance Services are a Kalgoorlie based business who repair and rebuild underground mining fleets, they are also the Australian rep for Straintech products from Industrial Strain Measurement CC Australia. The Straintech device monitors and stores payload and production data obtained by its weigh system. The on-board computer teamed with the weigh system captures a variety of production parameters whilst the machine is in operation. DMS have been installing Straintech weigh systems across Australia and have seen benefits in their clients fleet tracking. “Fleet management and live-tracking systems are fast becoming standard procedure for many of our larger mining based clients. The software can provide all relevant information to the Maintenance or Production department in real time whilst the machine is still being operated. This allows everyone to perform their job more efficiently without worrying about data entry, reporting or production loss.” Brett White – Owner Dynamic Maintenance Services, Kalgoorlie