Australia: Regulatory, Human Rights and Economic Challenges and Opportunities of Large-Scale Mining Projects: A Case Study of the Carmichael Coal Mine

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Sandra Cassotta ◽  
Vladimir Pacheco Cueva ◽  
Malayna Raftopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mine ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Global Perspectives ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Mining Projects

Using the Carmichael coal mine as a case study, this paper explores and analyses the current challenges and potentials of the Australian regulatory framework in designing policies that balance the direct local economic benefits with global environmental concerns and a global common vision about how to manage mining development and energy security challenges. In this effort, it evaluates the current Australian regulatory framework for mining projects, based on two hypotheses: 1) the development of large-scale mining energy projects linked to fossil-fuel resources creates legal challenges; 2) these legal challenges should be analysed in an interdisciplinary approach from both local and global perspectives on law, economics and socio-politics.

scholarly journals Can Multifunctional Landscapes Become Effective Conservation Strategies? Challenges and Opportunities From a Mexican Case Study

Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Ros-Cuéllar ◽  
Luciana Porter-Bolland ◽  
Martha Bonilla-Moheno
Keyword(s):  
Nature Conservation ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Local Conservation ◽  
Coffee Agroforestry ◽  
Multifunctional Landscapes ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Protected Areas (PA) are the main strategy for nature conservation. However, PA are not always efficient for ecological conservation and social wellbeing. A possible alternative for conservation in human-dominated landscapes are Multifunctional Landscapes (ML), which allow the coexistence of multiple objectives, such as nature conservation and resource use. Using the activity system framework, we analyzed whether the ML concept was an operative alternative to PA within an area of interest for conservation in Veracruz, Mexico. Activity systems refer to the set of productive strategies that result from the mobilization of resources and which, within particular environmental governance contexts, shape the landscape. To understand the challenges and opportunities of our case study, we: (1) delimited the landscape according to local conservation interests; and (2) analyzed the role of stakeholders in shaping this landscape. The delimited landscape included areas considered wildlife reservoirs and water provisioning zones. Our results suggested that the existence of local conservation areas (private and communal), combined with shaded-coffee agroforestry practices, made this region an example of ML. Although local conservation initiatives are perceived as more legitimate than top-down approaches, agreements amongst stakeholders are essential to strengthen environmental governance. In specific socio-ecological contexts, ML can be effective strategies for conservation through agroecosystems that maintain a high-quality landscape matrix, allowing nature preservation and delivering economic benefits.

Economic analysis of a hypothetical bamboo-biochar plant in Zhejiang province, China

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 1220-1225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Zhang ◽  
Fang Liang ◽  
Wanhe Hu ◽  
Xiaomeng Yang ◽  
Hongzhong Xiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Small Businesses ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Zhejiang Province ◽  
Internal Rate Of Return ◽  
Present Value ◽  
Good Market ◽  
Forestry Industry

Significant quantities of bamboo waste are generated in Zhejiang province, China. Many small businesses in this area convert this waste to biochar for use as a cooking fuel (in residential barbecues). This case study was conducted to evaluate the potential economic benefits of building and operating an industrial-sized plant in this province, yielding 500 tonnes per year. The researchers developed a conceptual design for a hypothetical biochar plant and then calculated net present value (NPV), investment payback period (PBP), internal rate of return (IRR), and sensitivity analysis. Results show that the static investment PBP would be 2.58 years, the IRR would be 38.8%, and the NPV would be US$ 486,700. The IRR would be higher than the forestry industry benchmark (11%), indicating that a production line of bamboo-biochar with the stated yield not only could generate higher profits, but also could achieve a better return on investment. Thus, this study indicates that there are good market prospects for the bamboo-biochar industry in this region. The influence of sales prices on the IRR was more than that of operational costs, indicating that a large-scale plant should be designed to produce a high-quality bamboo-biochar. Supply chain issues such as transportation distances between locations where bamboo wastes are generated and the biochar plant should be considered in advance when siting new bamboo-biochar plants. The results from this research provide guidance to those considering development of bamboo-biochar plants in other parts of China.

scholarly journals New Curriculum Reform in China and its Impact on Teachers

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linyuan Guo
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Education System ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Complex Dimensions ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Impact

China, the developing country with the largest and oldest public education system, is transforming its education system through a nation-wide curriculum reform. This large-scale curriculum change signifies China's complex and multi-dimensional processes and endeavors in empowering its educational system to meet the challenges and opportunities in the era of globalization. This paper reports on an interpretive case study with a particular interest in understanding the impact of the nation-wide curriculum reform on teachers in urban areas. Findings from this study present the complex dimensions of teachers’ lived experiences during this dramatic education change and shed new insights on the current teaching profession in urban China.

scholarly journals Uncertainty Management Associated With Project Scheduling in Mine Construction: A Coal Mining Case Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Renaud ◽  
Mustafa Kumral
Keyword(s):  
Construction Projects ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Critical Path ◽  
Optimal Schedule ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Monte Carlo Sampling ◽  
Project Outcomes ◽  
Mining Project ◽  
Mining Projects

Abstract Due to the cyclical nature of commodity prices, the profitability of mining projects relies on proper timing. To ensure optimal profits, mines should be brought online at the time, which maximizes the potential value of the asset. In this paper, a coking coal mine construction case is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of scheduling large-scale construction projects with uncertain durations under price cyclicality. Project parameters are obtained stochastically via Monte Carlo sampling, allowing for the influence of uncertainty to be quantified. The critical path method and linear programming are employed to analyze the results and to optimize the construction process, ensuring the maximum value of the mining project. The parameters are repeatedly sampled to obtain distributions of possible project outcomes, allowing for risk and sensitivity quantification. The optimal schedule for construction was determined to be 247 weeks, with a most likely value of $813 million.

Ocropodium: open source OCR for small-scale historical archives

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Blanke ◽  
Michael Bryant ◽  
Mark Hedges
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Accuracy Evaluation ◽  
Historical Collections ◽  
Historical Archives ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Language Modelling ◽  
Model Training

Large-scale digitization projects dealing with text-based historical material face challenges that are not well catered for by commercial software. This article discusses the results of a project to build a scalable OCR workflow for historical collections based on open source tools that is particularly tailored towards use in small-scale historical archives. It argues that open source tools allow for better customization to match these requirements, particularly with regard to character model training and per-project language modelling. We offer insights into our accuracy evaluation results of various open source OCR tools, as well as a case study about the challenges and opportunities of open source OCR in historical archives.

scholarly journals A Case Study on the Gas Drainage Optimization Based on the Effective Borehole Spacing in Sima Coal Mine

Geofluids ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Ming Ji ◽  
Zhong-guang Sun ◽  
Wei Sun
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Coal Mine ◽  
Research Result ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
Gas Drainage ◽  
Field Coupling ◽  
Drainage Time ◽  
Working Face

Based on the dynamic expressions of permeability and porosity of the coal seam derived in the paper, a multiphysical field coupling numerical model of gas migration under the interaction of stress field and seepage field was established. The gas drainage project #3 Coal Seam operated by Sima Coal Industry Co., Ltd., was selected as the study object. Taking different drainage time periods in various positions of drainage holes into consideration, combined with the advance situation of the 1207 working face in the Sima Coal Mine, a mixed layout gas drainage scheme featured with the effective borehole spacing was obtained through the COMSOL multiphysics simulation. In addition, a series of field industrial tests were performed to validate the research result, revealing that comprehensively considering the extraction time of coal and optimizing the layout of extraction boreholes can effectively improve the engineering economic benefits.

Case Study on Economic Evaluation of Biogas Project in Large-Scale Pig Farms

2013 ◽  
Vol 448-453 ◽  
pp. 4412-4418
Author(s):  
Wen Lin Ma ◽  
Xue Qin Li ◽  
Bo Lin Deng
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Social Benefit ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Subsidy Rate ◽  
Pig Farm ◽  
Financial Subsidy

A case of a biogas project built in a large-scale pig farm in Beijing was studied in this paper. The financial evaluation of its economic benefits was calculated by cost benefit analysis. The biogas project can bring about good environmental and social benefit. However, there is little economic attractive without financial subsidy for higher investment of biogas project. When the rate of financial subsidy from government on biogas project is above 73%, the recovery period of investment is shorter than 5 years. It makes a biogas project better economic attractive. The subsidy rate for biogas engineering case was up to 80%. Its recovery period was 4 years, and cumulative net profits 3.02 million RMB, which showed a strong economic attractive.

A Family With Autosomal-Dominant Progressive Sensorineural Hearing Loss

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Halpin ◽  
Barbara Herrmann ◽  
Margaret Whearty
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
The Family ◽  
Patient Will ◽  
Language Pathology

The family described in this article provides an unusual opportunity to relate findings from genetic, histological, electrophysiological, psychophysical, and rehabilitative investigation. Although the total number evaluated is large (49), the known, living affected population is smaller (14), and these are spread from age 20 to age 59. As a result, the findings described above are those of a large-scale case study. Clearly, more data will be available through longitudinal study of the individuals documented in the course of this investigation but, given the slow nature of the progression in this disease, such studies will be undertaken after an interval of several years. The general picture presented to the audiologist who must rehabilitate these cases is that of a progressive cochlear degeneration that affects only thresholds at first, and then rapidly diminishes speech intelligibility. The expected result is that, after normal language development, the patient may accept hearing aids well, encouraged by the support of the family. Performance and satisfaction with the hearing aids is good, until the onset of the speech intelligibility loss, at which time the patient will encounter serious difficulties and may reject hearing aids as unhelpful. As the histological and electrophysiological results indicate, however, the eighth nerve remains viable, especially in the younger affected members, and success with cochlear implantation may be expected. Audiologic counseling efforts are aided by the presence of role models and support from the other affected members of the family. Speech-language pathology services were not considered important by the members of this family since their speech production developed normally and has remained very good. Self-correction of speech was supported by hearing aids and cochlear implants (Case 5’s speech production was documented in Perkell, Lane, Svirsky, & Webster, 1992). These patients received genetic counseling and, due to the high penetrance of the disease, exhibited serious concerns regarding future generations and the hope of a cure.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner--A case study in large-scale design integration

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. McMullin ◽  
A. R. Jacobsen ◽  
D. C. Carvan ◽  
R. J. Gardner ◽  
J. A. Goegan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Design Integration ◽  
Scale Design
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