Academic literature on the topic 'Mining engineering – Australia'

This article offers a revisionist account of Herbert Hoover's career as a mining engineer, looking particularly at his activities in Australia and China where he first established his reputation and his fortune. The young Hoover went to Western Australia in 1897 to work for the British firm of Bewick, Moreing. Hoover's employers sent him to China in early 1899. He became a partner two years later and returned to Australia to direct Bewick, Moreing's operations there. After his return to London, he grew increasingly involved in financial dealings and gradually withdrew from the business of mining. Hoover's career as a mining engineer coincided with a period when the authority of engineers assumed a new significance; American mining engineers in particular became trusted experts. Hoover was one such engineer, although this article argues that his role was more ambiguous and compromised than earlier studies have acknowledged.

SummaryAfter elucidating the terms ‘mining’ and ‘robot’, a historical background to the problem of mining is described, with emphasis on the use of technology. Various reasons for the increasing utilisation of technology are discussed, as regards the mechanisation of existing operations and those unachievable without new technology. It is asserted that the mining industry has a number of particular features that make increasing mechanisation especially attractive. The point is made that the ultimate stage of the historical tendency towards the use of new technology is fully automatic mining, a goal that may not be realised, however, in the next decade.The above historical discussion is followed by a critical appraisal of the conservative nature of the Australian industry and the study of the various factors that contribute to the slow uptake of new technology in mining.Attention is then concentrated on the general problem of robots and mining. It is shown that worldwide there were no applications of robots to mining up to the end of 1981. A wide study has been carried out to identify some uses of robots in mining, but without success.The next topic to be discussed is the widespread confusion about robots and teleoperators. The fundamental difference between the two is underlined, and particular attention is paid to Thring's teleoperator mining concept (telechiric mining). It is emphasized that telechiric mining will have no significant impact upon Australian mining in this decade.These pessimistic asssessments are followed by claims that in some areas robotic concepts, though not robots themselves, could have a considerable effect on mining automation in the 1980's, both in Australia and elsewhere. The following projects are enumerated as possible candidates for applying robotic concepts: Surface mining; Mine development; Underground coal transport; Coal winning; Coal preparation. In order to make progress, it is recommended that a robotics expert ought to be included in the interdisciplinary teams studying the problem of mining automation.The last part of this paper is devoted to Australia's need for robotic mining. A list of systems involving robotic concepts is presented that may be realised in the current decade. It is maintained that Australia ought to develop a few of such systems for the domestic and international markets, and that the short-term needs of the Australian mining industry are fundamentally different from those of other Australian industries as regards robots. Hence, decisions regarding robots for mining should be made independently from those appertaining to automation problems of other industries.

Understanding the role of labour, underplayed in global production networks (GPN) theory, has guided this research on the mining engineering services sector. During the project, the global mining industry entered a downturn. Asking how mining and engineering firms responded to that downturn is a specific variant of wider questions about the place of labour in GPNs and whether labour can shape the GPNs of which it is part. Based on interviews with union officials, workers and management in Australia, the authors show that cost-cutting by global mining companies impacted heavily on the mining engineering sector, pressuring global and local firms. Labour – be it the work process or workers themselves – was central to how firms reacted. The agency of workers and their union was deeply constrained because of the power of companies in GPNs and the nature of the national state and local economies, areas in need of further theoretical development.