2. Dr Richard Langford Geological Survey of Western Australia
Managing Abandoned Mine Sites in Western Australia — Creating the Inventory
Dr Richard Langford
Geological Survey of Western Australia

3. Acknowledgments GSWA team, 1999-2003
Don Flint, Roger Cooper, Nick Adamides, John Downing, David Townsend*, Richard Langford, Warren Ormsby, Heather Howard, Mark Doyle, Bob Gozzard*
Mining Ops–SHED support in DME-MPR-DoIR
Contract geologists for field season
Tim Major, Matt Zengerer, Virginia Cameron, Colin Strickland, Steve Risbey
GIS support
Liesma Kukuls, Nathan Eaton, Geoff Williams
Mining company support and data
* Database/application development

4. Scope and data acquisition
Why are we mapping abandoned mine sites?
How far have we got?

5. Changing land use Increased interest Active promotion
Rehabilitation and urban development
Mineral exploration
Active promotion
Tourism
Golden Quest Heritage Trail

6. Abandoned Mine Sites definition
Sites of historic production
Excludes mines that have closed since 1990
Notices of Intent (introduced in 1986)
Environmental Management System (introduced in 1990)

7. Abandoned Mine Site project objectives
Accurately document historic mine sites in WA
Identify safety or environmental hazards for each feature
Assess heritage value of features and sites
Improve understanding of mining history and mineralization
Provide data for decision-making by government, community and industry
hazard, heritage, environment
land use planning, resource development

8. Assigning priorities 10 km of towns/communities
1 km of important roads
Kalgoorlie district
Further revision needed
Tourist trails
Upgraded roads

9. Progress to end of 2003 field season
Project commenced in July 1999
11,411 Historic Mine Sites (MH) in MINEDEX
4,102 MH completed (36%)
4,247 MH (37%) are High Priority
3,194 High Priority MH completed (75%)
107,720 features
29,046 photographs
Project commenced in July 1999
11,411 Historic Mine Sites (MH) in MINEDEX
4,102 MH completed (36%)
4,247 MH (37%) are High Priority
3,194 High Priority MH completed (75%)
107,720 features
29,046 photographs
Project commenced in July 1999
11,411 Historic Mine Sites (MH) in MINEDEX
4,102 MH completed (36%)
4,247 MH (37%) are High Priority
3,194 High Priority MH completed (75%)
107,720 features
29,046 photographs

10. Future progress – whole of WA
11,411 Historic Mine Sites
25 to 50 features at each site
>400,000 features?
~100,000 photos?
3 field geologists
50 to 100 features per geo per day
15 years to finish all?
2-3 years for High Priority only?

11. What information are we collecting?
Database content
What information are we collecting?

12. Mine Site Feature Groups
Underground
Opencut
Shallow Workings
Collapsed Shaft
Infrastructure
Dump
Rehabilitated
Under Infrastructure

13. Feature Types (subset of Groups)
AD Adit
ASH Ash dump
BM Battery/mill
BU Building
CD Collapsed drillhole
CH Chimney
CO Costean/trench
DM Dam/sump
HW Headframe/winder
LP Leach pad
MA Machinery
MSH Multiple shafts
OS Open stope
OTIN Other infrastructure
PI Pit/quarry
RD Rubbish dump
RS Rock and soil dump
RT Ramp/tramway
SF Shaft footing
SFT Shaft
SUUG Subsidence
TADU Tailings dump
TR Town remnant
TS Topsoil dump
WD Waste dump
WE Well

14. Important parameters - Depths
XS Extremely shallow 0 to 0.5 m
VS Very shallow 0.5 to 1 m
MS Moderately shallow 1 to 2 m
MD Moderately deep 2 to 5 m
DE Deep 5 to 10 m
VD Very deep 10 to 20 m
XD Extremely deep >20 m

15. Other parameters Visibility, Visual impact, Overall condition
Length, Width, Height
Strike, Azimuth, Dip
Bund extent, maximum, minimum height
Edge stability, Base condition
Excavation method
Fences, Signs
Shape, Revegetation
Underground access, timber condition, headframe condition
Underground seal type, condition
Water condition
Ramp condition
Dump material, dispersion direction/distance
Mine notes, Field notes

16. Mobile mapping solutions
Technological changes or improvements since the mapping started in 1999

17. Software and hardware 1999–2002
MapPad Release 4
RIA TerraSystems
Predecessor of ArcPad
Cassiopeia CE device
Active GPS connection
DGPS then GPS post-SA
Visual CE application
Pocket Access database rather than shapefiles
Synchronized to MSAccess 97 database on notebook

18. Hardware — August 2002 on External antenna Satellite phone Water Food
EPIRB
Whistle
Compass
Digital camera
External power
Symbol PPT2800
LinksPoint clip-on GPS
Ruggedized (4’ to concrete)
Colour screen for outdoor use (bright sunlight)
Microsoft Pocket PC 2002 operating system
64 MB RAM/32 MB ROM

19. Software — August 2002 on ArcPad 6 ArcPad Application Builder
Simple editing
Microsoft XML Notepad
Windows Notepad

20. AbMines application Currently six pages VBScript runs behind
Automatic download of GPS projected and geographic coordinates
Data saved to shapefile
Advantages
Faster data acquisition
Easy text entry – dropdown and free-text
Faster data downloading

21. WABMINES data management
In the field:
Data (shp, dbf &jpeg) are downloaded to a notebook computer each evening
Verification of data is undertaken in ArcView 3.2a
Verified data are merged with data collected previously into a single, master ESRI shapefile
Daily data are retained and archived to CD
In the office:
Textual data are further verified and validated
Textual data and digital photos are uploaded into GSWA’s corporate Oracle database

22. Kalgoorlie case study
Mapping mining activity with our mobile mapping technology using historic maps and orthophotographs

23. Buffers around Kalgoorlie
Within 50 km of Kalgoorlie
2235 HM Sites
1595 high priority HM Sites
57,742* Mine Site Features
In 4 map sheets
961 high priority HM Sites
20,861* Mine Site Features
* September 2002
50 km

24. Geological Map of Kalgoorlie 1902
10 Chains to 1 inch
1:7920
4 sheets, scanned
Georeferenced using ERMapper
RMS error m
Mining features sketched or surveyed

25. Data on 1902 GSWA map Geology Quarries Wells and tanks
Shafts, some with VD and name
Costeans
Hannan’s Tree
500m

26. Urban field mapping
1902
1949
500m

27. Urban field mapping
2000
500m

28. Other uses for WABMINES
Tenement holders for rehabilitation programs or mineralization trends
GSWA products – mineralization mapping
Missing persons
Heritage Council
Prospectors – old plant or possible gold targets
New – tourism?

29. Beyond the inventory — hazard management
Creating the inventory is not an end, only a means to an end
Establish a stakeholder advisory panel
Management options
Education/awareness program
Publication of guidelines
Prioritise and rank hazards identified
Develop funding proposals for action
Develop partnerships with industry
Incentives for action

30. Summary
About three-quarters of the highest priority sites have been completed.
Improvements in the hardware, software and database have increased the quantity, quality and accessibility of the data.
The WABMINES database has the potential to assist mineral exploration and land use planning, in addition to the primary safety, environmental and heritage objectives.

31. Mapping the unknown deposit