Document 3JyVLpLgjKaXvbmmqem17RLOa
FILE NAME Colonial Sugar Refinery CSR
DATE 1960 July 22
DOC CSR114
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Letter to Senior Inspector of Mines Kalgoorlie with Govt Inspection Results from Wittenoom with Dust
Count Tabulation Tables
Sadhana SY
oe mane we
J.
PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT
The Senior Inspector of Wines Hines Department KALGOORLIE
22nd July 1960
Ventilation - Australian Blue Asbestos Limited
Wittenoon
Together with Workmen's Inspector Hunt I carried out an - inspection and airflow survey of the Colonial Mina and Treatment
Plant from 22nd to 25th June 1960.
.
'
Underground
.
, .
Conditions were satisfactory at all working places except
most places where a machineman was employed As can seen
from the recorded dust counts and temperatures nost places where a
machineman was working resulted in above average dust counts high
humidity and a negligible airflow The reason for these factors as
be seen can
from the accompanying plan is that the stope faces are
gouged out forming pockets where I consider it is impossible for the natural air current to satisfactorily ventilate All
scrapers are installed at the marways thus receiving the full benefit of the
air current which flows from the levels via the manways and chutes
if empty into the stopes and thonce
through the stopes to the
exhaust fan Air water spraya aro installed at all passes in the
stopes The northern workings are by far the most poorly ventilated
This is because they are outside the influence of the exhaust fan
appliances It was suggested to the management that workings outside the natural
ventilation circuit should be equipped with secondary ventilating but this suggestion did not meet with very wara appro-
vol
appro-
When looking from the bottom to the surface of the main
adit a noticeable amount of dust appeared to be present in the air throughout As the conveyor system operates in the main adit and th transfer points are fitted with water sprays some of the apparont dust may actually be fog created by the sprays Only one dust count was taken in the main adit this being adjacent the No 6 levol Ross Feeder where wolders were working in the mouth of the
chito A count of 670 p.p.c.c. was obtained but it is doubtful if this concentration would be throughout the main adit As one third
of the total air is drawn down the main adit the intake air is
polluted by
workings
dust
to
a
cortain degree
before
it enters the mine
At the grizzly on each level much dust was caused through
the tipping of ore and would then join the main airflow on each levol and pass through the respective mine workings No sprays werd evident at the various grizzlies although I carnot say for certain
whether or not sprays were installed at theso points
Air Measurements
Ventilation of this mine is still carried on by a Richardson 60 A.F. Class A Axial Flow Fan running at 700 r.p.m. wit a 20 H.P. electric motor driving it The management informed me
that this fan was to be speeded up during the wook following my visit during
Infortunately the new speed was not discussed therefore|
Three main intake areas are at present drawing air viz
Main Adit No 3 Cliff Opening and No 4 Cliff Opening Except the
Exhaust Fan Opening and the above intakes all other
cliff face are bratticed off
openings
Doors are installed at the
to
the
Cliff Openings and both are fitted with locks
^ os&
are kept shut
thereby ensuring they
All major air velocities were measured with the Wilh
Lambrecht Flow Meter The lesser velocitios being measured with th
obtained with Flame Anemometer Unfortunately the readings
the Flow
Metor were found to be well below the true velocities Upon arrival
back at Kalgoorlie a check was made between the Flow Meter and
Tube the Pilot
Lake View and Star Hine
a
Graphs were drawn anowir
Flow Meter velocities and true velocities From these graphs all
velocities recorded at Wittencom have been adjusted adjusted therefore the
volumes shown should be correct
. 4.
Leakage
The recorded volumen at the main points wore as
Hain Adit
No 3 level
No
"
thro No 2
Cliff
It
Opening
It
"
Intake 23,000 cumine , , 24,000 bi
1. .22,500
.
~*
1,000
follows
Total
"
70,500
*
Main Exhaust Fan
65,500
*
area This exhaust reading of 65,500 cfm would be very question-
able because side of
the
reading was
taken
at
the
cliff face
at
the discharg
the fan The position occupied for reading was very
unsatisfactory as a steady flow was not issuing over the whole
Instead a turbulent flow was issuing from the fan which would cause
an erroneous result The intake quantities gave steady flows and
were checked up to three times and each time gave similar readings
ard
therefore I would say the total quantity of air circulating
the mine would be approximately 70,000 cfm Previous years have
shown greater quantities than this but it must be remembered the
mine is increasing in size therefore longer distances to draw the
air resulting in higher pressures for the fan to work against
air pessing Although the quantities shown remained constant throughout the period of the curvey it was noticed that when the wind changed
to an easterly 1.e. blowing directly into the main adit the volume of air entering the edit increased considerably On the morning of Saturday 25th June the volume of air entering the main adit whilst an easterly wind was blowing was measured at 35,500 cumins This represents half the normal quantity of through the wine and as the exhaust fan would be working against thi wind its output must be decreased to some degree Apparently the wind blows from this quarter quite a lot at various times of the year therefore a short vertical evase attached to the fan would be a definite advantage in overcoming the increased pressure caused by
the wind
stopes Volumes measured in the Nos 1 and 2 level Turnouts were
7,000 and 5,000 cumins respectively As all work is now advanced
below No 3 level the above quantity totalling 12,000 cumins is
just going to waste 1.c. passing directly to the exhaust fon
four
Only
stop a are now being worked above No 3 level yet some 17,000
Cumins are being expended from the No 3 level intake and some 5,000
cumins from the main adit intake to ventilate these four
-
seen From the tabulation of dust counts it will be seen that
one of these stopes viz No 3 level 9014 stope has a negligible
through air flow and the other 9017 stope is ventilated by a 24
electric fan from the manway From this it can be
that a
Nos 1 and 2 levels gives a total of 27,000 cumine serving no useful purpose This represents approximately fifths 2/5 of the total airflow 1.c. approximately 33,000 cumina passing into actual
operating stopes which is rather for laor f sg uch e larg- e- large-
open areaG
I consider the greatest danger with the large openings and
the possibilit lack of airflow through most of the working places is
of miners being funed Especially when the machineman fires knock-
off day shift and the scraper driver has to enter the fired ares in
order to rig his
shift
.
blocks
and bog back etc. first thing on ofternoon
ee
eee
ee
SOS
has
ceased
Since my last visit November 1956 the old Wittenoom mill
has ceased operations and a new mill has been erected at Colonial ~
better than line The new mill appears equal to if not
any other
operating plant in this State Every section of the plant is being
kept in spotless condition If any dust or fibre leaks are seen
that particular section is closed down until repairs are effected
All ducting associated with dust extraction is painted grey and all
that associated with fibre extraction yellow From the tabulation
of dust counts it can be seen that most counts are above average
for which no explanation can be forwarded Visually the atmosphere
inside the plant appeared extremely free of dust Very little
fibre was observed in the samples whilst counting but this would be
no criterion as the Watson Konimeter is highly unsuitable for
measuring asbestos concentrations Ken employed at the Bagging
Stations wear dust masks at all times whilst bagging
The duct upon being extracted from the ore is passed through three Rotoclones situated outside the building The Rotoclones are definitely doing a marvellous job in dust extraction but unfortunately the finer particles are not being collocted
Consequently a steady stream of smoko dust is being passed into
atmosphere above the plant via the stacks attached to the Rotoclone
Although this dust has little or effect upon surface operations
it tends to be a source of annoyance as far as underground is concerned This is because when an easterly wind is blowing the dust is carried into the intake openings of los 3 and 4 level Cliff Openings The dust would be expected to have dispersed sufficiently before entering the mine working but unfortunately this is not the
-- -----
RECOMMENDATIONS
1
Doors be erected in Nos 1 and 2 level Turnouts in order to
prevent loss of 12,000 cumins The installation of these doors was also recommended by District Inspector Foichney in his report dated
2
A regulator door be erected at No 3 level Cliff_Opening Cliff_Opening
in order to reduce the quantity of air entering this level
OR
ord
All mamways on the No 3 level south of the manway at
550N be fitted with regulator trap doors together with the
erection of a regulator door south of ord 550 manway These
would allow a full flow of air into No 3 level at the Cliff Opening
and only a desired amount through the various regulators the rest
would downcast to the Main Adit and join the Main Adit Councast air
3
If the regulator door be erected at No 3 level Cliff Open-
ing the No 4 level South of the No 3 Adit would need to be stripped
out in order to take the increased airflow also to lower the
resistance More air could be passed through the No 4 level
regulator door if desired
steam ond
5
Better planning and control of stoping in order to
earleimfianartetoa ospfraervaalsenptracticable the dead pockets which at present
6
Secondary ventilating appliances be supplied to all machi
parties and used to their best advantage ance working faces extend
beyond the through air current
allow until that would 7
_-. A sound mining method of overcoming 5 and 6 would be to
stope the ore by using the Retreat Rethod of Mining is
up and -. then
mine
out
the
northern
block
first
brattice
open
off this section
commence block south of the mined portion and ac
level is completely
full volume air
method ac
pass through the working areas
level the the lovel .
rake is
At present when a rake of trucks is not being used the
left just north of the turnouts On the Ro 5
quantity before and after a rake of trucks was left in
north of the turnout was 12,000 and 4,000 cumins respectively From this it is evident more thought into the positioning of idle trucks
is required
.
9
Piready
instaledSprays to
installed
be
installed
all
level
ore
passes passes
15
not
10
Regarding the dust exhausting from the Rotoclones I do
not think the installation of another Rotoclone will reduce the
dust exhausting to any appreciable degree I consider a cheaper and
more effective means of depositing the dust would be as follows
:
Cut a chamber on large tunnel into the side of the
instal
banks
of water blasts
and
exhaust
the
airflow
gorge from the
Rotoclones into the far end of this chamber The sudden Grop in
the solocity would cause a deponition of dustere
hike wrot
time would The exhoust air from the c coh lla ecm t bonetrhethmoisnt formed by the sprays~
iscue slowly into the
mee
cutting 27a
Instead of
a chamber portion of the old workings
could be sealed off and serve the same purpose
General
During the process of counting the dust particles
particular attention was paid to the amount of asbestos fibre
present
in each sample In both the underground and mill
present
odd strand of fibre was observed
samples only an
short of the main
impracticable Regarding the apparent dust concentration in the main adit
upcasting it there appears nothing can be done Upcasting
s^/itseems highly
at present
0
Ir order to illustrate the dead pockets referred to in thi report I have numbered most of them on the accompanying plan the same number has been placed on the attached tabulation of dust counts for the corresponding working place The numbers have been drawn with blue ink for easy recognition
temperatures recorded
Attached is a tabulation of dust at the Colonial line and Surface
counts
and 22nd
and
23rd
Plantt
State Mining Engineer
PERTH
ASISTANTSISTANT INSPECTOR
INSPECTOR
OF
INSPECTOR
Pee ata d Dan ora AmPaemandtian avd manawa
KV
DATE
AUSTRALIAN
;
23-6-60 23-6-60
|
MINE
ASBETOS
Burface Plant
Colonial
-
TABULATION OF DUST COUNTS
'
:
PLACE
: COUNT
.
Wine Din
160
Picking
330
Primary
470
150 Crusher Secondary
Screens
Floor
.210
|Cyclones Switchboard
540
-
Screna
Cyclones
Station
Station
TEMFICATURI
DRY
WET
REMARKS
.
Vantilated by B.F. om
employed employed
working full capacity
1
Warmsunny easterly
[
|
367949
TABULATION OF DUST COUNTS ;
.
:
STOS ASIE DATE :
AUSTRALIAN
vo . PLACE
TEMPERATURE 4 |
COUNT DAY WET
REMARKI
22-6-60 Colonial
sin
{
!
:
Level No.
No.3
1.8stope 8076.5 76.5 ScrapingThro
L.8.6Stopa
50 .78SoraperThro
:
air
No.3 9014
L.86Stopa
No. .901.7
2
Boring 110 80.5 _76
20.85 73
Thro nagligible
- Thro 4000
:
induced
induced by E.F.
No M .9017
,
4000. Stopo
No.4
#
70 83.5
Scraping
150 75 Temp
140. 77 Scrapingair
No.4
a
110
78 Hand bogging - Venth beinat
3. No.4 Pad
w
250 78 Negligiblo
No. Ls 38
"
No.4
ee bed
X
4 No
22
"
i
No. 5 Bfi
O
430 ..76 64.5 Boring Thro air
Boring Negligibleairflow
210 77.5 74 Boring Regligible
320
70 Scraping Thro air
sa
No.6 No.6 adit Focdor 670
..75 nw Welders Thro air chute
| No_6 Charging 290 ..76 69.5 from
No.6 No.6
Rice
,
-240
Boring EFfrom
No _ Rice
-100
Charging
i
%
<n 23nfwO
veo
ove
No.6 Rise
5 No onl 00 Stopo
No.6 nn
_1_levol
Stope No 5 " x
7 No Ls 19 Ly
C
160- -79.5-
270 .82
-74
Boring
12" EF 2500
75 Boring 16 EFspliti
2500
72.5 Moch bog idle
1500.cfm
140
HO STO CS
75.566.5 75.566.5 Scraping Thro
220- 75.5 Negligible airflo
140- 77
70.5 Charging induced
h
Merry DI Is
DATE
3660 3660
TABULATION OF DUST COUNTS
:
doch y
PLACE
t
TEMPERATURE
DRY
WET
AIMARKS
No Lovel Stope
No.5
|
No. 5 oe 00
No_5_ 20 ft
No 5 cn
oH
No
No. No
19 ' atope W & N
Scraping =. Thro air
Adjacant
79.5 Charging Thro Adjacant
78
71.5 idle Thro
.39
.80.5
78.5
79.5
81.5
;
at
{
T
:
i
eee
ee
ook.
wn
epee oe
<= - ASEASTANZ JNSPRCTcOR OF HINES
ed
warmes
nem
vse
AIR
MEASUREMENTS
A.B.A LTD
& 25th
1960
MEMO FOR VENTILATION OFFICER
wa. The follidng volumes were derived after calibrating our
flow meter and correcting the recorded velocities
Turnout Sth of
awe Nth "
"
Nth of 2020
"_"2050
bad
3,500
2,000 * soo Ct
5,000 2,000 &
fi
500
N11
1,000 *
24,000 ed
17,000 *
@mo *
Mamway to Turnout-- 1 @
No 3
Main Adit isdowncast "9, 5,00
Laval
*
5,00
ooene
Nth of 9020 9050
7,000 5,00 *
een ena
(%&F " NamwayNamway ord
- 8
1050 ord
8
2,000
wane 8
ordord ManwayManway
1,000
_ Cliff Opening Intake a No 3 Adit Intake
---
eoewe
Nth Nth
11
"
thro regulator of 42S to 41 S
"
40
door
1.". Upcast from Main Adit No 4 Turnout- Level
-mee ae
Nth
"
8
It
41 42 43 N
.
tune wee
9th of No 3 Adit
Weat Anum Sa 7 it
22,500 *
19,000
*
3,500
2,000 1,000 6*
3,000 fi
2,000 * 6,000 * 6,000 *
*
4,000 2,000 =O
3,000 8
,
a neeeneremed
:
Nth of 50
i.e. Upcast from Main Adit
-
.
No 5 Turnout Lavel
... Main Adit
&
"
"
we
West supplies
East
Therefore total-
Nth of
"
-
"*
Turnout 51 52
5 500 camina
from No 6
2,500 9 - 6,5006,500
"
5,000
1,500 td]
Lovel
12,000
'
8,000
*
4,000
mete
be
me No 6 Law Upcast into 65 $ "ewe
3,000 *
Nth of 65 S into Fan
4,000 8
and thence Main Adit
Main Fan Exhaust
65,500 '
TOTAL INTAKE
70,500 '
;
Because of the intermittent flow from the exhaust fan thereby
giving a doubtful result the total intake voluma has been taken as correct
The total quantity of ait flowing through the mine has therefore been taken
as approximately 70,000 cumins
_
.
Quantities measured before and after a rake of trucks was left north of No 5 level Turndut were 12,000 and 4,000 cumins respectively
Sgd 7 SDOMONDS
ASSISTANT INSPECTOR OF HINES ws
ita
Mine
LIAN BLUE ASBESTUS
1.60
Colonial
.
.6.60
=,
4
ae g
a
Temperature
Place
Count Dry 1 Wet
No 3 level 9020 L.5 stops
No 3 level 9050 L.s. "
No " 9014
.
,
4 No " 9014
a
uy
No " 9017
No "
No N
4000 L.S. *
, 4
No WH
"
No "
x)
No " 18
4 No
18
a
| No N
.
n No . 28
*
No 6 Main Adit Ross Feeder
Rise No 6 N
No * Charging Station
No *
35
35
No "
25
* Riso
AO 76.5 = 68
78 69.5
110 80.5 20 85 320
70 83.5 75
150 75 75 67.5
140 77 66.5
--
963437372 29
250 80
963437372 29
430 2 96343737229
440 78,5 96343737229
210 77.5 96343737229
320 77.5
670 80 96343737229
290 76 96343737229
240 76 69.5
100 77 96343737229
160 79.5 2
No - Stope
No 6 " 8.228 leval
270 N2
NG
350 = 81.5 72.5
No nannni N
nannnnnnnni
No 3 No , nannnnnnnni , nannnnnnnni : nannnnnnnni &
8.228 Stope
8.228
8.228
8.228
8.228
8.228
.
& .
7792 nannnnnnnni *
nannnnnnnni 8
,
&H Stope we nannni * 7792
i nannnnnnnni 7792
Stope
100 75.5 66.5
220 2222222223 32EJENGENE
140 222223
70.5
250 2222222223 73.5
110 2222222223 32EJENGENE
2 2 2 2 23
72.5
2222222223
32EJENG ENE
600 2222222223 32EJENGENE
2222222223 68.5
360 2222222223
2222222223
.
Remarks
Scraping ~ Thro air
Scraper temp idle - Thro air
- Boring Thro air megligible flow
Boring Thro air 4000 cfm
induced by 24 E.F.
Scraping - Thro air
Temp idle - Thro air Scraping Thro air Hand Bogging - Vent to be installed
Boring - Negligible airflow
Boring Thro air
Negligible Boring -
airflow
!
Boring - Negligible airflow
Scraping - Thro air
Welders - Thro air up chute
Mech Bog - Sat- 12 2F from 2500 ofn
Boring - Sat - 12 EP from 4000 cfm
Charging - Adj thro air 4000 cfx
Rise 5 foot up
Boring 15 from duct To be extended
:
up 12 EF from 2500 cfm Rise 30
from cfs Boring - Sat - 16 " EF split
2500 fr Mech Bog temp idle Sat. 16 EF split i
Scraping Thro air Charging - Negligible airflow Charging - Thro air indu~ edby 12 EF Scraping - Thro air Charging Thro air Adjacent Temp idle = Thro air Scraping Thro air Boring - Negligible airflow Scraping = Thro air
Charging - Thro air Negligible Charging Negligible Thro air
:
vs
wt yl
:
j
:
Sgd ? SIMMONDS DISTRICT INSPECTOR OF MINES
Place
Count
Mine Transformer Bin 160
Picking Station
330
Primary Crusher 470
Secondary Crusher
Switch Board
250
Screen Floor
210
Cyclones Switchboard 540 Screens after Cyclones 390
Bagging Station North 150 Bagging Station South 300
Temperature
Dry 3 Not
Remarks
Ventilated by 12 E 6 Man employed
Not working at full capacity
Hiru
day with
bran...a
Sgd 7 SIMMONDS
DISTRICT
INSPECTOR
T
T
e