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By A. Delgado-Jiménez, O. J. Restrepo-Baena, G. Aristazabal

"Mining industry as a source of raw material is essential to society however, it lacks of good reputation due to the type of management historically applied to many of its social and environmental impacts. It is argued that this situation has hampered the obtaining of social license to operate of a lot of mining projects around the world. The last considerations are very common in Latin American countries. As a result, the mining sector has understood that the viability of the business long term is associated with more profit for the shareholders but also with activities that improve the livelihoods of local communities, enhance the capabilities of local governments and preserve the ecosystems around the projects. Nevertheless, recent studios have shown that most of the current advances to incorporate sustainability concepts in mining have been mainly focused on control and the prevention of environmental and social impacts of extractive activities. Thus, contributing to the development of territories around mining projects constitutes a fundamental aspect of the business competitiveness through reducing cost and risks of stopping projects, innovating new ways of relationship with stakeholders, improving the level of reputation of the industry as well as its position in the market. However, this contribution requires formal strategies and models that enable companies understand the different resources in the territories where their mining activities are developed and those resource transformations, in order to establish the best way to articulate the project with the territory, pursuing an effective contribution to its development, truly sustainable over time even after the mine closure. CONTEXT Currently in the world but especially in developing countries such as Latin Americans, different stakeholders are increasingly vigilant of how mining companies carry out their activities in terms of socio-economic and environmental management of territories, not only for its impact on the livelihoods of the communities that inhabit them, but also because many demanders of raw materials -both countries and companies- have set sustainability standards as a prerequisite to establishing business relationships with mining companies, such as the recently declared Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 (UN, 2015). Accordingly, decide underinvest or not to invest in sustainability issues carries risks for mining companies. However, invest much in the wrong way may involve the same risks. Managers are concerned to ensure profits, and therefore they decide carefully how to invest in the areas of production, R & D or marketing. Likewise, they should think strategically about investing in initiatives related to sustainability. This if they really want that those investments in fact help to improve the competitiveness of the company. The mining industry benefits from natural capital that extracts, so it should implement strategies that lead to remunerate such benefit to the territories (Almaguer, 2007). One option is through the transformation of natural capital in other types of non-existent capital or poorly developed in their areas of influence. In this way, the value generated by the extraction of underground resources is shared and additionally contributing to improving the quality of life of the communities. Historically, mining industry has been into several problems to achieve this, which represents one of the aspects that has most influenced the current reputation of mining industry in some regions of Latin America. Many communities, local governments and civil society organizations continue to associate this activity with the destruction of the social fabric and ecosystems in the territories, and their opposition against companies working in the areas has led to affect the operational continuity of many projects (Hamann, 2003; Prno and Scott, 2012; Slack, 2012)."

Jan 1, 2017

By G. R. Brunskill

The molybdenite flotation plant at Magma Copper Company, San Manuel concentrator has been in operation since 1956. In January of 1980 the plant was converted from a hydrogen peroxide - ferrocyanide process to the current sodium cyanide - sodium hydrosulfide process. This paper is an operational review of Magma Copper Company's molybdenite recovery circuit, column cell flotation experience and use of on- stream x-ray flourescence analysis.

Jan 1, 1985

The Australian states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, because of their endowment of black coal resources, dominate the production and export statistics for Australian coal. NSW produced 86 million tonnes of saleable coal in 1994, representing a doubling of output since 1980, or a growth of 5% per annum. Asian demand for thermal and coking coal has, of course, driven this growth in NSW. This high Asian demand is forecast to continue and NSW will seek to secure its share. This paper focuses on some of the issues facing NSW in the future, and in particular, examines some of the major new and proposed mining projects.

Jan 1, 1997

By John P. Weir

The coal industry is ever changing. This paper discusses some of the problems which must be faced and the projected economic effects. Challenges include a relatively mature technology, a resource base which has deteriorated significantly in some areas, rapidly escalating freight rates, and a constantly changing regulatory environment, wherein reduced sulfur emissions will probably be required.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. C. Richardson

Barite Worldwide barite production for 1985 decreased 1.3%, while US barite production increased 1.4%, according to US Bureau of Mines statistics. The increase in US production is attributed to heavy demand for oil and gas drilling during the first quarter and an unrealized heavy expected demand in oil and gas markets for the last quarter. Nevada accounted for 82.1% of the 807 kt (890,000 st) of barite produced in the US last year, according to the Bureau. Other producing states were California, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, and Washington. In 1985, the US imported 1.8 Mt (2 million st) of crude barite and 64 kt (71,000 st) of ground barite. China led the way with 43.3% of the total. Imports from India accounted for 21.6%; Morocco, 15.5%; and Thailand, 5.6%. The 1.8 Mt (2 million st) of crude barite imported is an 18.8% increase over 1984. Apparent consumption of barite for 1985 was about 2.6 Mt (2.9 million st), a 15.7% increase from 1984. Due to very low drilling rig activity during the last quarter of 1985, actual consumption is probably less as crude barite inventories at mines and plants increased. According to the Bureau, 90% of barite consumed in 1985 was for the oil and gas market. Paints, rubber, glass, and other chemical uses consumed the other 10%. With the price of oil falling dramatically early in 1986, the outlook for oil and gas drilling looks to be significantly lower than 1985. This lower demand for barite, coupled with the high year-end inventories, should lower both imports and domestic production. Significant lower prices on imported barite are expected, especially from China, Morocco, and India. This also could further lower US production of barite this year.

Jan 5, 1986

By L. B. Phelps

This paper focuses on the use of an integrated mine planing software package entitled "REMINE" which was constructed to provide a project evaluation tool for analysis of remining projects. Coal remining constitutes the affecting of sites which have had a past history of mining and have a pre-existing pollutional discharge. Such sites require a Best Professional Judgement (BPJ) analysis. The program was written to provide such an analysis with flexibility in the mine plans which can be analyzed. The process required for a BPJ analysis will be detailed and mine plan simulation performed to demonstrate the analysis.

Jan 1, 1990

Water contact angles in the air/water/francolite, fuel oil/water/francolite and fuel oil/water/quartz systems were measured to describe the wetting characteristics of these minerals. It was found that white francolite is more hydrophilic than black and tan francolite both in the absence and presence of fatty acid addition. The contact angle measurement results do not correlate very well with the flotation response and it appears that kinetic aspects of the bubble attachment process play an important role in the francolite-fatty acid flotation system.

Jan 1, 1997

By Lynda T. Holden, Philip L. LeHoux

Barneys Canyon Mine is a 1.8 million t.p.y. gold heap leach operation near Salt Lake City, Utah. The gold recovery plant has been operating since September of 1989. Carbon elution is done at atmospheric pressure with a high temperature caustic solution. No cyanide is used in the process. Operating experience is discussed.

Jan 1, 1990

By W. S. Fyfe

Gold is mobilized or made soluble under all crustal conditions given appropriate fluid chemistry with molecules which complex gold. In the surface environment chloride, thiosulphate and a host of organics may mobilize gold. In the epithermal range bisulphide appears effective as shown by the classic studies in the Taupo volcanic zone of New Zealand. In the high grade metamorphic to igneous ranges little is know but it appears that gas molecules in the system CO2 -CO-H20-S-C1 can do the job. Precipitation may occur by changes in P-T-EL-pH or boiling where such changes influence the liquid concentration. Of the known regimes information is good for epithermal systems, poor for surface lateritic environments, inadequate for high-T systems. Gold is often concentrated in bio-systems both living and dead. The influence of biosystems is little appreciated. There is a great potential for the discovery of new types of gold deposits and in particular, gold in weathering environments, gold in very high-T environments, gold in strike-slip faults and thrust regimes, and gold as a by-product in materials like coal and other organic debris. By the year 2500 we may find our noble metal resources in the asteroids.

Jan 1, 1987

By M. Misra

The processing strategy for the effective separation of bitumen from low grade (< 10 weight percent bitumen) Utah tar sands by a hot water process differs significantly from that used for the processing of high grade (> 10 weight percent bitumen) Utah tar sands. Excellent separations (coefficient of separation = 0.9) can be achieved for high grade Utah tar sands by intense hot water digestion followed by a modified froth flotation step. Such a technique is ineffective for low grade tar sands. In order to change the characteristics of the low grade tar sand an attempt was made to enrich the bitumen content of the feed to greater than 10 weight percent by recycle of bitumen concentrate to the digestion stage. However the quality of the separation was not improved under these circumstances. Similarly feed enrichment by heat treating the low grade feed with recycled concentrate prior to digestion did not improve the separation. More successful separations of low grade Utah tar sands were finally achieved by modification of the viscosity of the low grade bitumen with controlled addition of diluent. These results of the hot water separation tests and variations in the quality of separation are interpreted in terms of the physical properties of the bitumen and the surface bonding forces operative at the bitumen-sand interface.

Jan 1, 1979

By B. K. Parekh

Economical dewatering of ultra-fine (minus 74 m) clean coal slurry produced in column flotation to a 20 percent or lower moisture level will be an important step in successful implementation of the advanced fine coal cleaning processes. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness of three dewatering techniques, namely, hyperbaric, vacuum and screen bowl centrifuge, in dewatering of ultra-fine (D50 -25 m) clean coal slurry produced by the &apos;Ken-Flote&apos; columns operating at the Powell Mountain Coal Company, St. Charles, Virginia. he hyperbaric filter using 3 bar pressure and 1650 cake formation angle, provided a filter cake with 23.6 percent moisture with a throughput of 800 Kg/m2-h and air consumption of 868 Nm3/t (460 scfm/t). The vacuum filter with 30 percent submergence provided a filter cake with 27.8 percent moisture with a throughput of 122 Kg/m2-h. The screen bowl centrifuge provided a dewatered product containing 32.9 percent moisture at a feed rate of 450 Kg/hr, however, the solids capture was only 65 percent. Addition of 1 Kg/t of a cationic surfactant provided filter cakes with 19.1 percent, 23 percent, and 34 percent moisture using hyperbaric, vacuum, and centrifuge, respectively. Similarly, addition of 0.5 Kg/ton of copper chloride lowered filter cake moisture to 20.7 percent and 24.8 percent, using hyperbaric and vacuum. With the centrifuge no improvement in filter cake moisture was noted. However, use of 80 Kg/ton of &apos;orimulsion&apos; in the centrifuge provided dewatered product containing 26 percent moisture, and the solids capture increased from 65 to 95 percent. The dewatered product appeared dry and was easily handleable.

Jan 1, 1999

By Gregory M. Rumbaugh, Todd R. Kostecki, Christopher Mark

From 2015 to 2021, five massive pillar collapses occurred at four underground stone mines in the eastern USA. These events resulted in powerful airblasts that damaged mine infrastructure and mobile equipment, seriously injured miners, and disrupted underground travelways. Each of these pillar collapses propagated through the overlying strata, causing a subsidence sinkhole on the surface. Pillar collapses are particularly hazardous for miners because they can occur with little warning and can affect miners that are far from the pillar collapse area. The following case studies show that certain factors may increase the likelihood of a pillar collapse. For instance, each of the 5 events involved at least 12 benched pillars with width-to-height ratios (w/h) of 0.8 or less. This study elaborates on these factors and proposes a framework to assist mine operators where they identify similar hazards.

Jul 24, 2023

By Z. Scopa, E. Tarshizi, R. Setterlind, L. Frost, R. Livernois

"THE MINES OF THE FUTURE The mines of the future present a host of challenges, which may appear exciting or daunting depending on one’s perspective. Whether some sectors of the public recognize it or not, the demand for raw resources is not going away any time soon. In fact, it is rising as global population grows, urbanizes and attempts to steadily increase quality of life. Yes, at the same time that much of the highly developed world is calling for greener goods, reduced consumption, and cleaner production, in other areas there are cries for clean water and sanitation, consistent energy supply, access to health care and education, personal security, and support for basic human rights. The balancing act for sustainable development of our global society is indeed precarious, and the mining community is necessarily a key player. Fortunately, many industry members have accepted this role and the responsibility to provide leadership and a solid foundation for progress. Looking ahead, we need new generations of leaders, many of whom will be mine engineers, which are ready to tackle all sorts of complex problems. There are tremendous needs just for technological innovations. Increasingly tough deposits will require that we continue to expand scale toward “super” pits and “deep” underground mining fully develop unconventional recovery techniques like in-situ leaching and gasification or deep-sea extraction, and seriously consider off-earth endeavors. Such work will take entirely autonomous equipment; novel separations, processing and recycling methods; and systems that can withstand extreme physical conditions – just to name a few. It will also take a level of systems integration never-before seen in our field, complete with big data issues, sophisticated analytics and modeling efforts, and cyber-security challenges. Moreover, increasingly complex environmental problems will require creative solutions. Addressing issues like pollution control across multiple media, emerging contaminants, optimal management of wastes, selective mining, and shared use of resources between mine operations and surrounding communities and ecosystems are among top priorities. Really, a complete paradigm shift must occur, such that our focus is on overall improvement of environmental conditions, rather than minimization of impacts. A similar shift will be required in the social realm. How can we make miners safer and healthier on-site and off? How can we contribute to communities such that they are better off, now and long-term, for having a mine next door? How can we help transform artisanal mining practices to also contribute to sustainable development? How can our work be a factor in increasing economic and political stability? How can we improve the public understanding of raw resources and the need for mining enterprises?"

Jan 1, 2017

By Russell L. Wood

The title of this session seems to have been picked especially for this paper. It is 1984, it is the morning after, and there is one monumental hangover among many if not most of the oil companies that have invested in mining in the past decade or so. How an oil company looks at mining depends on what time period you are talking about. A few years back around the time of investment this is what they were probably looking at: 1. A balance sheet of their own that was beginning to go wild, with many of their commodity prices having already seen increases of two, three, or four fold, and with no end in sight. 2. A need to invest their earnings someplace fast before the stockholders or the government got too interested. And that someplace should be in an industry where their own management skills could be applied. (Only a true cynic would suggest that this is a form of job security) 3. In mining there was an industry amazingly similiar to their own, one working with non-renewable natural resources, dealing with the same types of government agencies, and having the same type of critics and pressures from the general population. 4. An industry that was somewhat backward as compared with their own, and one where a generous ration of the capital and management skills so handsomely bestowed upon the oil industry could be used to great advantage.

Jan 1, 1984

By John A. Reeves

The Coal Creek Preparation Plant is the coal cleaning facility of Mid-Continent Coal and Coke Company. Located three miles west of Redstone, Colorado, and at an elevation of 8,040 feet the preparation plant cleans coal produced at the company&apos;s Dutch Creek Mine and L. S. Wood Mine. (See Fig.1.) Current production is at the rate of 2500 tons per day clean coal. Plant capacity is rated 350 TPH raw coal. Reject rates vary with mining conditions from 8% to 25%. Factors which influenced the design of the coal cleaning facility were the characteristics of the coal, the location in a tourist oriented resort area, and the extreme winters of the area. Lack of areas suitable for settling ponds and the necessity of keeping effluent waters out of the fishing streams dictated a closed circuit plant. Severe winter conditions, which last six to seven months out of the year and temperatures which have dropped to 40° F. below zero on occasions demanded that the plant be totally insulated and enclosed indoors.

Jan 1, 1967

By Rodrigo Jerez

This paper describes a Mixed Integer Linear Programming model that was developed for planning the coal operations at Mountain Coals, Inc., in Kentucky. The model incorporates the use of stockpiles as practiced and allows the operator to find the least cost combination of raw coal feeds, washing densities and blending to produce the different quality coals as required by the coal contracts.

Jan 1, 1984

By Gordon Clark, Basar Arioglu, Nasri Munfah, Sanja Zlatanic, Tolga Togan

"The 13.2 m (43 ft) external diameter, double deck Istanbul Strait Road Tube Crossing is one of the most challenging underwater tunnel projects in the world. Subjected to 11 bars of hydrostatic pressure, variable geology, and being in a very active seismic area, the execution of the project required innovative solutions, sophisticated construction techniques and prudent risk management approach. The 5 km (3.1 mile) tunnel consists of a 3.4-km (2.2-mile) tunnel boring machine- (TBM) bored tunnel, 1 km (0.62 mile) twin NATM tunnels and cut-and-cover sections. The project is being delivered in a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract in a public-private partnership. The technical challenges, coupled with financial and commercial risks required the implementation of sophisticated risk management tactics including the provision of independent design verification. The project was opened to traffic on December 20, 2016, four months ahead of schedule.. This article presents the technical challenges of the project from the design, construction, and risk management aspects..Project backgroundThe $1.245 billion Istanbul Strait Road Tunnel Crossing project, dubbed the Eurasia Tunnel, is one of several major infrastructure projects being implemented in the Republic of Turkey in a public-private partnership approach. The project provides a direct and easy connection between the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul and the heart of its historical district on the European side across the Bosphorus Strait which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. The project improves connections to a wide network of motorways on both sides, increase capacity across the Bosphorus by 100,000 vehicles a day, reduces congestion and saves motorists an average of 45 minutes of commuting time in each direction bringing significant economic benefits to the city and the region. It eases traffic across the strait, reduces congestion, decreases pollutants and emission while maintaining Bosphorus. It is the most complex part of the project with the greatest challenges and risks. Part 2 is 5.4 km (3.6 miles) long consisting of 3.4 km (2.2 miles) of 13.2 m ( 43.3 ft) external diameter TBM bored tunnel under the Bosphorus Strait, 1-km (0.62-miles) of twin NATM tunnels on the Asian side, cut-and-cover transition boxes in the Asian and the European sides and depressed approaches on both sides. In addition, this segment includes the toll plazas, ventilation buildings, and the tunnel control and maintenance facilities."

Mar 1, 2017

By Joseph W. Leonard

Much progress has been made in the application of geostatistics to hard rock ore deposits.1,2,3 4,8 Progress in the application of geostatistics to coal deposits has developed over a period of time out of hard rock technology.5,7 Exploratory drilling in many hard rock deposits is frequently significantly more productive than exploratory drilling in coal deposits. For example, hundreds of feet of drilling and/or many drill setups are frequently necessary to obtain a few samples from a typical 4 to 6 foot thick coal seam. With hard rock deposits, which are frequently thick or volumetric, less drilling dead work is involved in sampling the deposit. To produce a variogram, which is the basic element needed for geostatistical analysis, a few well positioned holes drilled into a hard rock deposit where the core(s) can be divided into many sections can produce a detailed variogram. To produce a similar type variogram in coal, it is necessary to drill many dozens of holes with much of the core length consisting of overburden data which is frequently of only secondary importance. To apply geostatistics to coal, not only are many separate sample sites needed, but frequently a problem exists in that the interval distance between samples cannot be controlled with the ease that hard rock drilling intervals can be controlled where it is only necessary to cut core segments according to some preassigned interval of distance. Because the uses of existing coal deposit samples are frequently handicapped by irregular sample distances and lack of sampling density along certain directions needed for the development of variograms, the application of geostatistics to coal deposits frequently does not proceed with the same efficiency and rapidity as when these techniques are applied to ore deposits. Grid-fitting was developed by the writers, as a logical and evolutionary improvement over the long and successful application of geostatistics to coal seams.6,9 Grid-fitting combines the trending of variance as well as other aspects of probability theory to optimize informational yields from the commonly less productive data derived from coal exploratory programs. Grid-fitting is basically a technique where a hypothesis involving numerous grid patterns, where each pattern is of a given geometry, size and direction is repeatedly matched against actual sample data to determine which match results in the closest fit of the hypothesis to the data. To determine the closest fit, a special index known as a selectivity index was developed. The selectivity index is basically the product of the mean and variance of the variances contained within each of the grids. hence, if SI is the selectivity index then [SI = Xs E (S i - Xs) /N] where [X]s is the mean of individual grid variances Si2 for any pattern of given geometry, direction and size.

Jan 1, 1984

By David S. Young

All pigments and extenders or fillers whether organic or inorganic fall into the following broad general classes: I. Colored II.-White III. Black IV. Metallic A pigment- is any particulate matter that is essentially insoluble and chemically unaffected by the media into which it is dispersed. According to this very broad definition, colored pigments, white pigments, fillers, extenders, and functional pigments would all be included. The particulate size range would also be quite broad ranging from very fine colloidal particles (~0.01µ) to relatively coarse particles (~100.0µ). This broad definition is usually subdivided into more practical divisions which tend to relate the classification of the pigment to its primary function in the system in which it is used. Hence, the word extender implies that its major purpose may be to extend the system.

Jan 1, 1985

By H. L. Lovell

The growing production of fly ash with the many attendant problems of economics, disposal and potential uses suggests an urgent need to consider those properties which are basic in its beneficiation. Fly ash is extremely variable and heterogeneous in all respects except its fine size. Because of its production in huge quantities, it becomes significant as a potential raw material. Detailed data are presented describing particle size and shape, density distribution and magnetic characteristics. The major components include combustible residuals, magnetite and silicates. These data are discussed in terms of beneficiation processes and uses, The results of air classification to produce a uniformly fine-sized low combustible product are encouraging. It is proposed that major increases in the future use of fly ash, must involve some form of beneficiation. Both the coal producing industries and the consuming utilities would benefit from increased utilization.

Jan 1, 1964