Australasian Mining Review
Issue link: http://ebook.aprs.com.au/i/26056
46 Going back to nature The mining industry has seen a shift back to nature as site and operation managers attempt to improve occupational health, safety and environment performance while simultaneously reducing their operational costs. M ining sites around Australia have been reviewing their above-ground operations and with the help of the natural ventilation industry have been finding ways to not just improve working environments but also reduce operational costs, improve building life and improve OH&S standards. The benefits that mining sites were gaining from natural ventilation have been clear. Stories of reduced humidity and corrosion in building structures, improved conditions for workers, reduced maintenance and energy costs, and cost savings in the building phase are common. This reemergence of natural ventilation as a real benefit to mining operations has been attributed to companies such as IVR Group, Arcadia and Lowline. Not only being able to provide the mining industry with effective and efficient products, these companies have also provided the expertise, technology and science that have lead to some remarkable outcomes. With natural ventilation industry leaders now offering tailored detailed design to meet project specific requirements, design consultancy and CFD modeling, site and operation managers have been finding it as easy as ever to not just gain the benefits of natural ventilation but also be able to show quantifiable results for their investment. “With advances in computer modeling and our history of expertise in the natural ventilation field, we can show the real benefits that a system can provide and even present a tailored site proposal for them,” IVR Group Managing Director Stephen Bird explained. “For an operations manager to know that they are able to impact on a buildings humidity by a particular percentage, reduce the temperature that employees are working in by a certain degrees, reduce structural corrosion in the building improving building longevity and even outline the carbon footprint and energy savings is unparalleled. And to have this all in a report, it shows them that we are serious about the tangible and quantifiable benefits we can offer to mines and processing facilities across Australia.” It is not just this detailed and tailored approach to every project which has made companies such as IVR Group, Arcadia and Lowline popular contacts for mining organisations. The ability to innovate has also been ever present in their development. Being able to design systems to automatically or manually open and close all or particular sections of the ventilator according to the season, weather, wind, temperature, CO² and other particulate levels, and operating specifications has given mining operations total control of their systems to achieve what they require. Innovation in the natural ventilation industry has not just stopped there it seems with IVR Group at a recent mining conference unveiling the incorporation of its unique roof fall arrest system into its high capacity roof ventilator range. Designed and engineered to Australian Standards, it has given sites the capacity to deal with roof access safety and natural ventilation simultaneously in one package. Combining this with the ability for ventilators to be acoustically treated, the focus on the needs of mining and heavy industry by natural ventilation providers has come just at the right time. Natural ventilation has been around since the sun started to shine and the wind started to blow but it seems that today, companies such as these are now helping the mining industry finally make the most it can out of it.