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By H. J. Sohn

Systematic studies were carried out on the adsorption of the silver thiourea complex on activated carbon. The experimental isotherm data fit the Freundlich isotherm equation. The adsorption rates increased with increasing temperature and decreased slightly with the increase of free thiourea concentration. The concentration of sulfuric acid had little effect on the adsorption rate. Adsorption kinetics correlated well with the Elovich equation, indicating adsorption is the rate-determining step.

Jan 1, 1987

By Michelle Pienaar, Musa S. D. Manzi, Thabang Kgarume, Glen T. Nwaila, Raymond J. Durrheim, Abrie Oberholster, Hennie Grobler

The South African Mining, Extraction, Research, Development and Innovation (SAMERDI) strategy was launched in 2019 with the goal of modernizing the mining industry. It comprises three major research initiatives: improvement in the efficiency of extraction and health and safety in current mining operations, development of fully mechanized systems to mine narrow tabular ore bodies in hard rock, and development of extraction systems to break rock without using explosives. The crosscutting Advanced Orebody Knowledge (AOK) program seeks to develop and implement drilling and geophysical technologies that can characterize the rock mass ahead of mining and identify potentially hazardous geological features. This knowledge will be integrated with information derived from seismic monitoring. Mining methods, layouts and rock support systems will be adjusted accordingly to mitigate the risk of rockbursts. Boreholes are routinely drilled ahead of mine workings using diamond-impregnated bits. The drill core is logged to identify lithology and geological structures (especially dykes and faults that may be seismogenic), sample the ore body for grade control, and detect areas that may contain water and/or flammable gas. Methods and technology to improve the efficiency of drilling and maximize the information obtained from the drilling process, borehole core, and the borehole itself are being investigated. A range of geophysical technologies are being developed to map the rock mass from the skin of the excavation to a distance of several tens of meters. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is used to map the geometry of the excavation, including prominent joint, vein and fracture sets and the presence and performance of rock support elements and systems. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is used to penetrate deeper into the rock mass and image joints, fractures bedding planes that influence the stability of the hanging and side walls. Image processing techniques known as ‘seismic attributes’ are being applied to the radargrams to improve interpretation. Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) and various active and passive seismic techniques (e.g. Tunnel Seismic Profiling (TSP), ambient noise tomography) achieve even greater penetration into the rock mass. Finally, machine learning is used to improve the processing and interpretation of seismic and radar data.

Apr 26, 2022

By Evan Dressel, Mark S. Diederichs, Kathy Kalenchuk

As hard rock mining develops deeper over time, there is an increasing need to predict the spatial and temporal distribution of adverse seismogenic rockmass reaction to mining. Real-time monitoring and feedback of mine data are used to tactically manage risk associated with induced-seismicity; however, strategic risk management requires reliable tools for forward predictions of seismic hazard. The forward prediction of seismic hazard is strengthened by understanding of potential seismic intensity, which often relies on well calibrated mine-wide numerical models. This paper uses a case study to explore how future seismogenic potential and the nature of future seismicity can be domained according to numerically predicted stress-strain paths at past seismic event locations. Delineation of high confinement seismogenic volumes vs. lower-confinement, high-strain seismogenic volumes at the mine-scale can be achieved, based on a loading and unloading stress path analogue, to refine understanding of seismic intensity. Practical qualitative and quantitative methods to achieve this delineation will be demonstrated. Once seismogenic mode (high-stress vs. high-strain) is identified, detailed analyses of seismic source parameters demonstrates change in seismic hazard between the domained volumes.

Apr 26, 2022

By Chester R. Harris

With the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) on December 29, 1970 and the formation and growth of the OSHA Agency it spawned, public consciousness of occupational safety was raised. It became accepted that employees had the right to "a safe and healthful workplace". With the possibility of OSHA inspections, employ ers (particularly those with large workforces) began to give serious con sideration to engineering controls, safety programs, and training in a more uniform manner than previously.

Jan 1, 1991

By Frederick W. Bauer

The potential worldwide "market" for metallurgical bauxite is about 94 million MT. The high degree of concentration of the alumina sector, combined with the high percentage of long-term contractual relationships, results in a small spot market with an illdefined price structure. Further segmentation occurs based on bauxite quality and alumina plant design. The potential 'free" market is estimated to be about 18 million MT that represent the requirements of nonintegrated alumina producers. It, too, is covered almost entirely by multi-year supply contracts.

Jan 1, 1984

By K. A. Natarajan, Namita Deo

The interaction of Bacillus polymyxa and minerals such as hematite, corundum and quartz resulted in significant surface chemical changes, both on the cell surfaces and on the interacted oxide minerals. After such treatment, quartz was rendered relatively more hydrophobic, while hematite and corundum were rendered more hydrophilic. Biopretreatment was observed to be beneficial in the separation of silica from hematite and alumina by both selective flocculation and flotation. The possible role of bacterial adhesion and metabilites in the biobeneficiation process is illustrated.

Jan 1, 1998

By Harry Deitzer

Within the industrial marketplace barium sulfate has an established role as a filler or extender pigment for use in a wide array of applications. The focus of this paper is to outline a number of these applications and in each one characterizes those features of barium sulfate which provide value. Following this is a discussion of the process techniques which have been used to develop value from a selected class of barite ores found in southern Missouri. It is appropriate to define some terms which may help in clarifying some concepts as presented. Use of the term barium sulfate refers broadly to the chemical compound BaSO4 Barite will generally refer to the naturally occurring barium sulfate ores and their properties. Barytes, whether bleached or not, will refer to barite ore made suitable for industrial applications.

Jan 1, 1993

By F. Forbes

For many years, the Machinery Division of Dravo Corporation has been designing and constructing bins and hunkers as part of overall plant facilities. We have designed bins to handle a variety of materials including coal, coke, iron ores and concentrates, sintered and pelletized ores, calcined and raw limestone, bentonite, alloys for BOF shops, and even cast iron chips from machining operations. We, along with everyone else in this business, have had our bin problems. The bins either plug, rathole, segregate, wear out, flood the discharge device, or overload it. Surprisingly, sometimes they have worked. As engineers, it has long concerned us that something as important as bin design should be so imprecise and that it has been so conspicuously avoided in research and in literature. In past years, rule-of-thumb design criteria had been to keep the sides of the bins as steep as possible and the outlets of the bin as large as possible. This criteria led to the design of bins with 600 to 700 side slopes and table feeders which were very large. Unfortunately, this meant trying to fit tall, skinny bins into a layout where minimum building height was required for obvious economic reasons. Like everyone else in the industry, we found that this design procedure was expensive and ineffective.

Jan 1, 1968

By Hassan El-Shall, M. N. Ahmad, Ponisseril Somasundaran, C. R. Holland, G. M. Walker, N. Iles, R. D. Chandler, Regis Stana, B. Duddy, Patrick Zhang

Phosphoric acid is a major raw material for the production of ammonium phosphate (AP) that is used as an intermediate in fertilizer production. Impurities within commercial grade wet process phosphoric acid are important in producing a fertilizer granule with good handling properties. The impurities identified as being important are; iron (III), aluminium and fluorine-containing compounds. Results show that the viscosity of the AP slurry produced increases by increasing the amount of impurity in the acid. Bench scale tests have been successfully replicated on a plant scale leading to a better understanding of the composition of impurity levels within phosphoric acid required to produce a high quality, free flowing, hard, spherical and non-caking granular fertilizer.

Jan 1, 2002

By Paulo Roberto, S. M. Roberto, Francisco Valadares Póvoa, Evandro C. Silva

The market of mineral goods worldwide is characterized by a growing pressure on suppliers for better quality products, lower prices and productive processes which are energetically efficient and environmentally friendly. These pressures force the mineral industry to re-think not only the present models of exploitation of natural resources and production, but also their own model of techno- logical development. This paper outlines the model and the experience of Technology Strategic Planning (TSP) adopted by CVRD to face these demands, warranting and expanding its participation in the current markets and developing new businesses.

Jan 1, 1998

By Alessandro Boscaro, Daniele Martinelli, Cristina Gabriela Oñate Salazar, Daniele Peila, Carmine Todaro

"The wear phenomenon in TBM machines is not a simple issue, as many parameters are playing an important role on the consumption of the tools during a tunnel excavation. The action of the wear due to the contact with the soil can occur on the excavation tools, on the cutterhead, in the excavating chamber and on the screw conveyor. The test developed at the Laboratory “Tunnelling and Underground Space Center” of the Politecnico di Torino is aimed to reproduce the interaction between the tools and the excavated material, simulating the excavation conditions in terms of soil conditioning and water content. The test, which is not standardized, is studied to evaluate the wear in a global point of view. The present work starts by testing the influence of the use of chemical agents during the conditioning phase on the drop of the wear phenomenon, in terms of metal weight loss. 1. INTRODUCTION The wear phenomenon of the excavation tools used in TBM tunneling machines is playing recently a major role in the design stage of full-section tunnels in both soils and rocks. Concerning EPB excavation technology, the main issue regarding productivity is the wear of its components (Peila et al.,2012), which increases the so called dead time in the whole process. The friction generated between the components and the ground causes the consumption of the tools and other metallic components in contact with the ground, described as primary and secondary wear by Nielsen et al. (2006a). This leads to downtime, with risky and complicated maintenance operations (Peila and Schulkins, 2009), as occurred in recent tunneling works in Liguria (Italy). The study of this argument in granular soils is very delicate, as it encloses not only the properties of the excavation tools, but also the characteristics of the ground to be excavated (hardness, mineralogy composition, shape and dimension of the particles and moisture content). The penetration mechanism is based on the scraping of the ground, by mean of cutting tools, with its consequent consumption. Concerning the rocks, the excavation principle is characterized by crushing the rock mass matrix by applying high compressive stresses through cutting disks. In such a way, to avoid frequent downtimes and their consequent economic losses, it is very important to study this subject and therefore understand and forecast the durability of the components, in order to try to maximize the productivity of the machine by reducing the frequency of maintenance stoppings."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. G. Sutterer

The prevalent use of coal combustion byproducts in engineering applications has been with Class C and Class F fly ash as admixtures in structural concrete. But, the use of fly ash and bottom ash byproducts from modern desulfurization processes is receiving increased attention. The University of Kentucky has been conducting research into civil- and mining-engineering applications of these products. The studies have included extensive investigation of the geomechanical behavior of the materials and the effect of mineralogy on this behavior. These studies indicate important mineralogical considerations in the selection of materials for a specific application and highlight the importance of quality control before and during usage on specific projects.

Jan 1, 1997

By L. A. Panek

A new pillar strength formula is presented. It incorporates a function [IF] of size and shape that takes into account the size-shape interaction effect as well as the enhanced strength exhibited by wide pillars. Existing pillar formulas, lacking these capabilities, are not suitable for extrapolating small-specimen test results to mine-pillar sizes and shapes. Interpreting compressive strength test results as function of [Y] reveals wide-pillar behavior in much old test data. Model relationships are discussed, along with their scaling implications.

Jan 1, 1995

By Simona Markic

With the aim of environment protection the program package HOMOGEN is used for realizing the planning and noxious components control in the coal produced. Using the program package PRIPREMA the division in levels and transformation (Hermite polynoms) in the N (0,1) distribution are made. By separated kriging 50 m x 50 m blocks are estimated on the levels and detailed distributions of the estimated component content are obtained. The face - longwall face is built in the blocks estimated in this way, and the direction of mining is determined. Using the stochastic simulation the distribution of the estimated production component (e.g. sulfur) on the face is obtained. Simulating the production of all faces in operation the distribution of the estimated daily mine production component is obtained. The estimated depot component is obtained in the same way. This procedure is used in the short-term planning of the estimated component movement for a given period in advance, and also in the daily production control in the case of changing conditions, e.g. the increased atmospheric pressure. The technology is successfully applied to the Velenje Lignite Mine Slovenia.

Jan 1, 1992

By Robert Seal, James J. Rytuba, Michael P. Hunerlach, Roger Ashley, Dean Enderlin

Cessation of open pit mining in 1996 at the McLaughlin hot-spring type gold deposit has resulted in the development of two pit lakes that will be managed as permanent lakes with a total storage capacity of 10,000 acre-feet. The south pit lake developed from alkaline ground water infiltration and had an initial pH of 7.2. It contained high concentrations of boron and chloride, indicating that it consisted of a mix of meteoric and evolved connate waters. Numerous carbon dioxide gas vents were present initially in the shallow south pit lake, but as the pit lake increased in depth, gas venting ceased and carbon dioxide is retained in the lower layer of the chemically stratified lake. Continued increase of dissolved carbon dioxide in the lower layer increases the potential for a limnic eruption. A chemocliie occurs at a depth of 47 m. The upper layer of the lake has lower pH, temperature, and conductivity than the lower layer. Effluent from ore and waste rock piles directed into the south pit lake has contributed to high levels of antimony, arsenic, cobalt, copper, mercury, nickel, and zinc. Iron oxyhydroxide is abundant in mine effluent that enters the pit lake and adsorption onto this phase has lowered the arsenic and antimony concentrations. The north pit lake formed primarily from winter surface runoff. The acidic water, pH 4.56, initially had high concentrations of cobalt, mercury, and nickel derived from weathering products of pyritized serpentinite and shales. Buffering by wall rocks has established a slightly alkaline pH of 7.62. The concentrations of trace metals in the north pit lake have substantially decreased due to continued dilution of the lake by surface runoff and remediation of parts of the pit walls that have been covered by backfill.

Jan 1, 2000

By John T. Crawford

Various open pit limit-analysis techniques have been utilized for many years to design pit limit surfaces. In the last 15 years there have been many advances in developing sophisticated computer methods to aid this process. The extensive capability of the digital computer has led to effective utilization of multiple alternative approaches to problem solving. Computerized open pit limit analysis methods can be applied to a broad scope of long range and intermediate range mine planning and design needs. This paper provides an overview of some of the more important of these applications. While not covered in detail, they are meant to indicate the flexibility and adaptability of open pit limit analysis methods and to stimulate thought.

Jan 1, 1979

By D. C. McDonald, P. R. Whincup, H. Duke

Due to grade, overburden depth and stability and the presence of groundwater it was considered impractical to recover gold contained in unconsolidated palaeochannel sediments by conventional mining, dredging or borehole mining techniques. A series of field experiments was conducted to determine the feasibility of recovery of gold by in situ leaching from sediments located at a depth of about 80 metres. The test wellfield site and plant are described together with field test procedures, results and wellfield rehabilitation procedures. Choice of sodium cyanide as leachant and laboratory testing are discussed in relation to groundwater and sediment chemistry and problems encountered in field tests.

Jan 1, 1989

By S. Veeramasuneni

The recent nonequilibrium electrophoretic mobility measurements by laser-Doppler electrophoresis coupled with the stability and prevalence of collector colloids in soluble-salt flotation systems suggest that the selective flotation of alkali halides is due to the adsorption of oppositely charged collector colloids by heterocoagulation. Previously reported flotation results confirm this surface charge/collector colloid adsorption model. These results also indicate that the sign of the surface charge has a significant effect on the extent of particle dispersion/aggregation. In this regard, the nature of such particle interaction forces at high ionic strengths are examined to improve our understanding of these systems. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is now being used to directly measure the interaction forces responsible for the stability of these alkali halide aggregates observed in optical microscopy studies. Results from this study indicate that, while repulsive hydration forces exist between similarly charged hydrophilic particles, attractive forces exist between oppositely charged hydrophilic particles in high ionic strength solutions.

Jan 1, 1999

By K. Rajamani

A mathematical model based on the pertinent fluid dynamic equations to predict the performance of the hydro cyclone has been developed which will eventually replace the empirical model. Experimental measurements of fluid velocity profiles made in a 75 mm hydrocyclone by laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) agree well their predictions by solving the Navier-Stokes equations numerically. Particle slip velocity and particle trajectory were computed which in turn, yields separation curve of the hydrocyclone.

Jan 1, 1988

By Kuda R. Mutama, Allen E. Hall

A wind tunnel investigation into the fundamental characteristics of jet fan performance is described. The effects of varying fan positioning in a square tunnel cross section are reported for two fan outlet diameters and velocities. Tests were conducted, also for a jet fan placed in a flow developed by an external fan operating in the same direction as the jet fan. The position of the jet fan relative to the tunnel walls was found to affect its performance. Performance parameters were determined and used to formulate theoretical equations based on momentum and energy considerations. The results identified a range of flow ratios which can be used to design an effective jet fan ventilation system and provide a basis for the selection of jet fans for practical mining applications

Jan 1, 1997