more efficient extractive methods new techniques to hedge gold futures community initiatives lessening the impact of environmental damage
Laser scanning ore sizing systems to infer size distributions of reclaim "over ore" on high speed conveyors to optimise SAG Mills (these operate 24/7 @ roughly $36,000.00 per hour in super sized mines).
Better targeted exploration techniques; eg: Holden / Kovesi / Dentith - "Using fancy wavelets on aeromag data to find teh colour" (obligatory deadwood reference).
GPS enabled fleet management to optimise usage & maintenance & avoid million dollar tyre fires on the big tonka toys.
Robot fleets with either autonomous or remote drivers.
They'll be plenty of discussion, boozing, whoring & two-upping over these very issues @ Diggers & Dealers 2013 I'd guess.
Well I am collecting links as part of my industry analysis, and this is what I have bookmarked as worthwhile:
http://www.minalliance.ca/pdfs/Minalliance_100_innovations_e... http://www.saimm.co.za/Journal/v081n07p212.pdf http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/12/12/gol...