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By Marcus M. Key

Silicosis among metal miners is an ancient disease, probably as old as mining itself.' However, the primitive forms of mining were not productive of much silica dust, and the short life span of slaves used in mining probably precluded the development of more than a few sporadic cases of silicosis. Early diagnostic terms of miners' asthma and miners' phthisis suggested an occupational relationship and a tubercular component, but little attention was given to silicbsis until the turn of this century when epidemics of silico-tuberculosis arose due to the great expansion of the mining industry in the United States, especially silver and gold mining. The expansion was accompanied by mechanization and the introduction of pneumatic tools, which generated increasing amounts of fine silica dust. Mining communities were crowded and hygiene was poor.' The tubercle bacillus would probably have flourished even without the predisposition of silicosis.' As is so often the case in occupational health, biostatistical analyses first called attention to the problem, and environmental-medical studies later confirmed its existence. The bio-statistical analyses were occupational mortality statistics compiled by the Prudential Life Insurance Company in 1907, showing evidence of excessive mortality from tuberculosis and relationship to dust exposure. I The

Jan 1, 1971

By N. Anacleto, S. Ganguly

Reduction of Groote Eylandt (Australia) and Wessels (South Africa) manganese ores using CH4-H2-Ar gas mixture was investigated in a fixed bed laboratory reactor in the temperature range 1000?1200oC. The extent and kinetics of manganese ore reduction as a function of gas composition and temperature were determined by on-line off-gas analysis using mass-spectrometer and dew point sensor. Morphology of ores and its change in the course of reduction was examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Phases of raw materials and reduced samples were analysed by XRD and EPMA. Manganese oxides were reduced to carbide Mn7C3. High extent and rate of reduction by methane-containing gas in comparison with carbothermal reduction were attributed to high carbon activity in the reducing gas, which was in the range 15 - 50 (relative to graphite). The reduction rate of Wessels manganese ore increased with increasing temperature. Reduction rate and extent of Groote Eylandt manganese ore achieved maximum at 1050oC. The decrease in rate and extent of reduction of Groote Eylandt ore at higher temperatures, particularly at 1150-1200oC, was due to sintering and formation of semi-liquid silicate slag. The optimum conditions for the reduction of manganese ores were established as follows: a) temperature: 1150-1200oC for Wessels and 1050-1100oC for Groote Eylandt ores, b) methane concentration: 10-15 vol%, c) hydrogen concentration: above 30 vol%, (d) size: 1-3 mm. An addition of lime (10-15 wt% CaO) to the Groote Eylandt manganese ore increased melting temperature of slag and significantly increased the rate and extent of reduction at elevated temperatures.

Jan 1, 2004

By M. Schafer

The 6-m- (20-ft-) diameter cast-in-place tunnel lining for Phase 3 of the Mill Creek Tunnel (MCT3) has been completed. This article summarizes aspects of liner design and ad-dresses the construction approach in placing the liner in areas of tunnel that experienced crown overbreak. Tunnel lining production rates, installation procedures and form buoyancies experienced during concrete placement will also be presented. The Mill Creek Phase 3 tunnel (MCT-3) is expected to be completed this year. It is one of the largest tunneling projects undertaken by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) to date. The tunnel horizon is situated within the Devonian Chagrin Shale rock formation at an average depth of 85 m (280 ft). The tunnel was excavated using a two-pass method. A full face, fully shielded, Robbins 7.2-m- (23.8-ft-) diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM) was used to excavate approximately 4,500 m (15,000 ft) of tunnel and facilitate installation of initial supports (first pass). The final lining (second pass) consists of 305-mm- (12-in.-) thick cast-in-place reinforced concrete and integral low flow channel. Seven shafts were constructed on the project. The excavation of the tunnel commenced at Shaft 14 and proceeded down grade to Shaft 9, the terminus shaft. Because of the presence of overbreak in the tunnel crown, measures were required to support the form and counteract the effects of buoyancy during concrete placement.

Jan 1, 2008

By P. W. van Deventer

?Soil quality is the capacity of a soil to function, within ecosystem and land use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant, animal and human health?. In the long-term, vegetative rehabilitation of mining wastes aims at, as far as possible, the proper ecological integration of the reclaimed area into the surrounding landscape, which is sustainable and requires minimal maintenance. A certain succession pattern is therefore needed. Recent ecological concepts recognize the role of the substrate?s quality and nutrients in affecting the rates and directions of succession patterns. Although pedogenesis and eventually soil quality in mine waste are not well known, monitoring of soil quality parameters in kimberlite mine tailings reveal a remarkable establishment and or improvement of specifics oil quality indicators. During the same time the vegetative cover?s total functionality as well as reproductive ability improved. Functions of soil, and thus soil quality, can be assessed at the field, farm, ecosystem, pedosphere, and global scale. It is recognized, however, that management of soil becomes increasingly difficult at larger scales, but for demarcated mine waste sites it is possible to ameliorate and manage and assess soil functions and quality. Therefore the significance of the study is the following: soil functions and quality become inseparable from the idea of system sustainability, and are considered as key indicators of ecosystem sustainability on rehabilitated mine tailings material.

Jan 1, 2008

By M. R. Shahan, W. R. Reed, J. P. Rider

Roof bolter operators may be exposed to high respirable dust concentrations on continuous miner sections with blowing face ventilation when bolting is performed downwind of the continuous miner. One solution to reduce the high respirable dust concentrations is to use a canopy air curtain (CAC) to deliver clean air from a filtered blower fan directly to the bolter operators under the canopies. The influence of CAC installation in the airflow and dust dispersion around the location of the roof bolter operator can be evaluated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This study, performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), considers two scenarios: (1) a roof bolting machine in the center of the entry for installation of the fifth row of bolts from the face, and (2) a roof bolting machine positioned close to the face for the installation of the last row of bolts. In both scenarios, the bolting machine is placed in an environment which contains 6.0 mg/m3 of respirable dust and is ventilated by a blowing curtain with 3000 cfm (1.42 m3 /s) of air. This environment is used to simulate the roof bolter machine operating downstream of a continuous mining machine. Two operation positions are simulated at the same bolting location: dual drill heads in the inward position for two inside bolts and dual drill heads in the outward position for two outside bolts. The influence of the CAC on airflows and dust dispersion is evaluated with the CAC operating at 250 cfm (0.12 m3 /s).

By John F. Gamble

Amphiboles are hydrated mineral silicates five of which occur in asbestiform habits as asbestos grunerite (amosite) asbestos, riebeckite (crocidolite) asbestos, anthophyllite asbestos, tremolite asbestos and actinolite asbestos] and non-asbestiform habits (grunerite, riebeckite, anthophyllite, tremolite and actinolite). The asbestiform varieties are characterized by long, thin fibers while non-asbestiform varieties such as cleavage fragments form short fibers with larger widths. The U.S. regulatory method for counting asbestos fibers (aspect ratio [>]3:1, length [>]5 µm) does not distinguish between asbestos and cleavage fragments. The method biases toward increased counts of non-asbestiform cleavage fragments compared to long, thin asbestos fibers. One consequence of this regulatory approach is that workers can be erroneously classified as exposed to concentrations of asbestos (asbestiform amphiboles) above the U.S. 0.1 f/mL exposure standard when in fact they are not exposed to asbestos at all but non-asbestiform amphibole cleavage fragments. Another consequence is that the known carcinogenic effects of asbestos may be falsely attributed to non-asbestiform amphibole cleavage fragments of the same mineral. The purpose of this review is to assess whether amphibole cleavage fragments pose the same risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma characteristic of amphibole asbestos fibers. We identified three groups of workers exposed to non-asbestiform amphiboles: two groups exposed to grunerite (Homestake gold miners and taconite miners) and one group exposed to industrial talc containing non-asbestiform tremolite and anthophyllite in St. Lawrence County, NY. In addition to assessing strength of association and exposure?response trends in the non-asbestiform amphibole cohorts, comparisons were also made with cohorts exposed to the asbestiform counterpart (positive control) and cohorts exposed to the mineral (e.g. talc) that does not contain amphiboles (negative controls). The cohorts exposed to non-asbestiform amphiboles had no excesses of lung cancer or mesothelioma. Similar results were observed in the negative control groups, in stark contrast to the excess risks of asbestos-related disease found in the asbestos cohorts. The only possible exception is the twofold increased risk of lung cancer where exposure was to industrial talc containing cleavage fragments of tremolite and anthophyllite. However, this risk is not considered attributable to the talc or amphibole cleavage fragments for several reasons. A similar increased risk of lung cancer was found in Vermont talc workers, studied in the same time period. Their exposure was to relatively pure talc. There was no relationship between lung cancer mortality and exposure measured as mg/m3 years and years worked. A case?control study reported that all the lung cancer cases were smokers (or former smokers) and attributed the excess to smoking. There were two mesothelioma cases among the NY State talc workers exposed to cleavage fragments of tremolite and anthophyllite, but talc is not a plausible cause because of too short latency and potential for previous asbestos exposure. The positive controls of tremolite asbestos and anthophyllite asbestos exposed workers showed excess risks of both lung cancer and mesothelioma and positive exposure? response trends. St. Lawrence, NY talc does not produce mesotheliomas in animals while amphibole asbestos does. In sum, the weight of evidence fully supports a conclusion that non-asbestiform amphiboles do not increase the risk of lung cancer or mesothelioma. ©2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. Keywords: Amphiboles; Cleavage fragments; Lung cancer; Mesothelioma; Asbestos; Non-asbestiform amphiboles; Grunerite; Talc

Jan 1, 2007

By Joseph Gildner, Donald J. Phelps, Jürgen Laubbichler, Christopher Tattersall, David McAllister

The Beacon Hill Station and Tunnels portion of the Sound Transit Central Link Project consists of one mile of twin rapid transit tunnels, an underground station, portals and ancillary works constructed in an urban environment. Presently under construction, the station will set a number of North American firsts including deepest soft ground excavation carried out using the Sequential Excavation Method (SEM).Located in highly variable glacial soil deposits ranging from soft, water bearing sands to stiff, slickensided clays, the station complex and running tunnels proved to be technically challenging during design. Meeting these challenges necessitated an extensive geotechnical investigation, a trial shaft, and state-of-the-art numerical analyses to develop ground conditioning, pre-support, excavation support and structural design. A comprehensive risk identification and mitigation program, and innovative procurement strategy were incorporated into the design and contract bid documents.

Jan 1, 2005

By Remo Grandori

The Umiray Angat 13,2 km long tunnel in Philippines have been bored through extremely variable and difficult ground conditions including a number of special events. In particular the following adverse conditions were found: faults in decomposed ground, high temperature rocks, extremely rapid and important convergence phenomena, water inflows up to 800 litres per second. The special El Nino climatic conditions caused a long dry season and lower the level of the lake that was granting the access by barge to the site under the minimum navigable level. Many equipment have had therefore to be transported to site by a 10 ton capacity helicopter, after having been partially dismounted. For the same reason most of the tunnel drive have been bored servicing the site by 1 ton capacity helicopters to transport materials, spares and personnel. In order to overcome the above geological and logistic problems several innovation were introduced and tested in this project. Despite all that difficulties the 13,2 km of tunnel were bored in about 24 months, with a global average of 500 m/month.

Jan 1, 2001

By K Belanger, J. Mclachlan, F. Stober, G. Norval, B. Snider, A. Munsch, T. Koehler, E. Piantino, J. Carlos Queiroz

The project to rebuild the smelting furnaces at the Anglo American - Barro Alto ferronickel smelter, located in Goias, Brasil, was initiated in September 2013. To optimize the capital cost, while maximizing furnace integrity and robustness, a design basis giving flexibility to ore composition variation was developed in order to ensure sustained nameplate production. The resulting capital efficient, fasttracked project execution was accomplished through the creation of an integrated project team of Anglo American and Hatch through FEL 3 and FEL 4 phases of the project. The integrated team addressed the project challenges through a cooperative and versatile approach, created by access to knowledge, experience and systems in both Anglo American and Hatch. The team could operate at an optimized speed of execution, as demonstrated in the FEL 3 and FEL 4 completion durations, as well as efficiently mitigating any risks of increasing cost or delaying schedule by utilizing lessons learned and team knowledge from Anglo American on the original green-field project and Platinum smelters and Hatch on similar reference ferronickel furnace rebuilds. Other critical drivers of project cost minimization and revenue loss/generation (considering production revenue of each furnace) are scheduled durations for construction, commissioning and ramp-up. The integrated team commenced construction, commission and ramp-up planning almost one year in advance of the shutdown and this paper will discuss the strategies developed to reduce risks and optimize the construction schedule to mitigate revenue loss and optimize ramp-up time to sustained operation at nameplate capacity.

Jan 1, 2015

By Ferdinand Roehlich

An evaluation of the use of manually activated, installed,. dry chemical fire protection systems on underground metal and nonmetal mine vehicles is described. In addition, an assessment of the possible health risks posed by the dry chemical extinguishing agents used in such systems is provided. Work involved installation of fire protection hardware on an operating piece of underground metal/nonmetal mine equipment and, via actual fire tests, a determination of the effectiveness of the hardware in extinguishing on-vehicle fires. Two fire protection systems were installed on a Caterpillar 988 front-end loader in St. Joe Mineral's Fletcher mine, near Viburnum, Mo. Both a fully pressurized Safety First CM-20 and a nonpressurized cartridge actuated Ansul A-101 were installed for comparative purposes. Both systems operated satisfactorily during an 8-month endurance trial period which preceded the actual fire tests. Each system was able to extinguish an 18" x 4" class B test fire placed in the engine area of the machine. The health hazards analysis of dry chemical powder consisted of a detailed search of published literature relating to these multipurpose agents. This data was verified via a controlled laboratory analysis of two monoammonium phosphate based powders (Safety First Unikem and Ansul Forey) and an analysis of air samples collected at various locations on the test vehicle during the fire tests. Although the powder was found to be nontoxic, two potentially dangerous thermal decomposition products were identified--ammonia and phosphoric acid. However, later analysis indicated that an operator would not be exposed to dangerous concentrations of either compound if he were to remain outside of the powder cloud. A "Selection and Use Manual for Manually Activated, Fixed Fire Suppression Systems on Underground Metal and Nonmetal Mining Equipment" was prepared both as an, appendix to the report and for distribution under separate cover.

Jan 1, 1977

By Michael B. Mooiman, David J. Kinneberg, Philippe Cettou, Leo W. Simpson, Pierre Ramoni

"The demand for high purity precious metals began with certain industrial applications having uncompromising requirements for quality and performance. As industrial uses proliferated and as the jewelry industry became increasingly sophisticated, the demand for high purity gold has reached the point where 99.99% is now the standard in the marketplace. A similar evolution is expected for other precious metals.In this paper, we examine both the production and use of high purity precious metals, specifically gold, silver, platinum and palladium. After defining what is meant by ""high purity"", we discuss the various analytical techniques used for measuring impurity concentrations. Next, we review process strategies employed by extractive metallurgists to produce high purity precious metals. Lastly, we describe some of the principal applications for high purity materials including thick films, thin films, bonding wire, thermocouples and jewelry manufacture.Precious metals have unique physical properties that, despite their expense (and the ever-continuing search for more economical alternatives), make substitution difficult if not impossible. These physical properties are dramatically affected by small concentrations of certain impurities. As long as manufacturers continue to demand quality and performance, there will be a need for high purity precious metals.IntroductionIn the precious metals industry, the qualifier ""high purity"" describes any specification over and above commodity grade. High purity specifications delineate lower limits on overall metal purity or upper limits on individual impurities or both. Sometimes, if these special requirements become commonplace, either because of improved refining technology or because of market pressures, yesterday's ""high purity"" material becomes tomorrow's commodity. This transition is now occurring with gold bullion and probably will soon occur with platinum and palladium as industrial use of these materials grows."

Jan 1, 1998

By K Williams, W Chen, J Miller

The flow function of an iron ore material governs its flowability characteristics in material handling chains within the resource industry. A uniaxial compression test is able to obtain a flow function more rapidly comparing to the Jenike direct shear test; nevertheless, the results often exhibit lower rankings using the former method. This study aims to investigate the fundamental stress states within the test specimen that lead to this phenomenon, and to introduce a new uniform density specimen preparation method for a uniaxial compression test, in order to achieve comparative flow functions as for a Jenike direct shear test. The minimisation of the wall friction effect and achievement of the critical state when preparing a uniaxial specimen are explicitly discussed. Experimental investigations on flow functions of a suite of Australian iron ore samples were conducted using both the uniform density uniaxial compression test and the Jenike direct shear test. Results from both methods were found to be comparable, providing the specimen exhibits cohesive flow behaviours. The outcome of this research enabled development of a rapid and reliable flow function testing method for cohesive iron ore materials.CITATION:Chen, W, Williams, K, Roberts, A and Miller, J, 2017. Rapid and reliable flow property testing – a modified uniaxial approach, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 149–154 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

CONTENTS PAGE ANDERSON, ARVID E., and CAMERON, FRANK K.-Recovery of Copper by Leaching, Ohio Copper Co. of Utah. Discussed by Thomas B. Brighton, H. C. Goodrich, Arvid E. Anderson, Thos. P. Billings, Frank K. Cameron 2 BEESON, J. J.-Mining Districts and Their Relation to Structural Geology. Discussed by Charles Keyes, Chas. A. Porter 4 DOBBEL, CHAS. A.-Deep-hole Prospecting at the Chief Consolidated Mines. Discussed by G. W. Crane 10 CRANE, G. W.-Notes on the Geology of East Tintic. Discussed by G. W. Crane, H. E. Havernor, N. O. Lawton 11 SACKETT, B. L., BARDWELL, CARLOS, JACOBSON, SIMON, and JENSEN, N. H. Lead Smelting in Utah. Discussed by D. W. Jessup, B. L. Sackett, E. H. Laws 13 BARDWELL, E. S., and MILLER, Roy H.-Pulverized Coal as Fuel for Copper Refining Furnaces. Discussed by L. D. Anderson, E. S. Bardwell, C. P. Crawford 15 WIGTON, G. H.-The Chief Consolidated Volatilization Process and Mill. Discussed by Thomas Varley, S. G. Olmstead, V. O. Lawton, O. C. Ralston.... 16 JESSUP, D. W.-Evolution in the Preparation of Ores for Lead Blast Furnaces. Discussed by W. Spencer Reid, D. W. Jessup, Carlos Bardwell 19 ALLEN, H. P., and MADGE, WM. C.-Chloridizing Mill of the Standard Reduction Co. Discussed by Thomas Varley, H. R. Hanley, H. P. Allen, George H. Dern 20 TUCKER, E. L., and HEAD, R. E.-Effect of Cyanogen Compounds on Floatability of Pure Sulfide Minerals. Discussed by Blarney Stevens 24 Mix, B. E., and BARKER, L. M.-Method of Unloading Ores and Coarse-crushing Practice at Magna Plant of Utah Copper Co. Discussed by W. C. Madge,B. E. Mix 25 KEIGLEY, C. T.-The New Byproduct Coke Plant of the Columbia Steel Corporation. Discussed by W. M. Grant, C. T. Keigley, A. C. Feilder 25 JACKSON, P. W.-Blast Furnace Plant of the Columbia Steel Corporation. Discussed by W. R. Phibbs, H. M. Henton 26 OLDRIGHT, G. L., KEYES, H. E., and WARTMAN, F. S.-Production of Ferric Sulfate and Sulfuric Acid from Roaster Gas. Discussed by G. D. Van Arsdale William E. Greenawalt, G. L. Oldright 27 MAZANY, M. S.-Braden Copper Company Caletones Smelter. Discussed by A. B. Young, G. L. Oldright 36 HARRINGTON, D.-Safety Methods in Utah Coal Mines. Discussed by Edward K. Judd, Otto Herres, Benedict Shubart, A. C. Watts, D. Harrington 36

Jan 12, 1925

By R. Zivojinovic, S. Vujic, T. Tanaskovic

The problem of determining the optimum exploitation life of machinery, namely the optimum time for machinery and equipment replacement, represents a complex and highly responsible engineering task. Taking into consideration the situation prevailing at coal pit mines in Yugoslavia, the tasks of this class are very complex and difficult. To make a decision on replacement of capital equipment and machinery, such as bucket wheel excavators within the mentioned systems, understands a management task of utmost responsibility. It requires high professional and analytical knowledge as well as the reliable arguments, based on multidisciplinary professional approach. In this paper, the authors present their views on the problem of establishing the optimum exploitation life of bucket wheel excavators, offering an algorithm, based on dynamic programming, as a solution. Keywords: Bucket wheel excavators, exploitation life of machinery, optimization, operations research, theory of replacement, dynamic programming

Jan 1, 2003

By Richard E. Otoo, Evan J. Owen, Virginia T. McLemore

Disruption in critical minerals supply chains has resulted in the evaluation of various types of mineral deposits for critical minerals potential. Much of the study on critical minerals focuses on occurrence and characterization, but little research has addressed what concentrations of critical minerals in a mineral deposit are required to make an exploration target into an operating mine. Understanding the cut-off grades of ore deposits being actively mined is one criterion to determine if concentrations in an exploration target are high enough. Cut-off grade is defined as the minimum amount of mineral contained in a ton of ore that is sent to the processing plant. Among many factors, cut-off grade depends upon the size and type of the deposit and mining operation, the processing technique, and market prices. This research does not aim to define cut-offs for determining if a mineral deposit is economic. Rather, it defines estimates of concentrations of critical minerals that could be considered good enough for further exploration. For example, ~2% total rare earth oxide (TREO) is the cut-off grade for Mt. Pass carbonatite, but 500 ppm TREO could be an exploration target for coals.

Feb 1, 2025

By Vern Pfannenstiel

Jan 1, 2005

By Garland E. Likins

High-strain dynamic testing of drilled shafts and cast-in-place piles has become routine procedure in many parts of the world today. Field testing is performed by measuring strain and acceleration records under impact of a falling mass. Wave equation analysis is utilized to design the weight, drop height and cushion of the hammer apparatus to assure a successful test. The Pile Driving Analyzer* (PDA) and CAPWAP* methods are used for data acquisition and analysis. Testing results yield information regarding pile static bearing capacity, structural integrity, and pile-soil load transfer and pile load-movement relationships. This paper discusses application of high-strain dynamic testing to cast-in-place shafts with emphasis on aspects unique to this type of pile. Suggestions regarding minimum requirements for good quality tests are offered. Five case histories reported in the literature are summarized and a sample specification is also included.

Jan 1, 1995

By E. M. Cohn

The literature dealing with the electrical conductivity of solid dielectrics, including all its aspects and its relationships to other physical properties of these materials, is extensive and scattered in many books, phamphlets, and periodicals. It is believed that most of the important contributions to this field up to October 1943 have been listed and abstracted in this circular. Also included are some general references on static electricity. Methods of removing static charges are described; methods of and conditions for measurements of resistivity are discussed; equations for the calculation of resistivity are given; and methods of resistance measurements in Situ are reviewed. Data on the variations of resistivity with changing conditions as well as explanations for them have been collected, and three tables showing the resistivity of various dielectrics at different humidities are included. The appendix contains a short development of the mathematical formulation of the charging and discharging currents due to interfacial polarisation. INTRODUCTION Methods for Removing Static Electricity Of the various means employed for preventing or removing accumulations of static electricity in industrial processes, grounding is the most common and most generally effective. It is a precaution readily applied to stationary machines anti may often be utilized to good advantage to rid persons and portable equipment of an acquired charge. There are many situations, however, in which direct low-resistance grounding cannot be used, either because the charged bodies are insulators or are inaccessible, or because contact to a ground lead might give rise to a hazardous spark. If the charged body is a conductor, contact made to a neighboring conductor, even though the latter be insulated from ground and of relatively small capacitance, may also result in the occurrence of an incendive spark. In such instances, static electricity can sometimes be removed most satisfactorily by means of strong atmospheric ionization produced by radioactive material, X-rays, ultraviolet light, or A. C. high-voltage brush discharge. Where no danger exists from flammable

Jan 1, 1944

By Christoph Mueller

Mining operations are characterized by cost pressure and cycling product prices. A high potential for enhancing efficiency is the integration of all single steps of the mining working chain into a production process structure to make advantage of an optimized flow of material and information through the ?moving ore factory?. As modern mining machinery today is controlled electronically and even already operated autonomously, a smooth and cost efficient flow of data in the mining process will be crucial for cost efficient future mine operations. Therefor, the International Rock Excavation Data Exchange Standard (IREDES) was launched by major players in the industry. The task of this initiative is to define a ?common electronic language? for easy and standardized data exchange between mining machines and central computer systems. As in other industries, this standard is expected to have significant impact on the use of automated equipment. It shall provide easy ways of using multi vendor machine installations in data controlled mining processes. At the same time it reduces cost for individual development of interfaces for all parties involved. Standardized data exchange is also a crucial precondition to integrate the mining process into enterprise level modeling, cost analysis and decision finding systems. The standard?s technical architecture is open and flexible for future applications. It uses modern XML technology enabling easy data exchange with commercial databases as well as open on line networking. The IREDES work is carried out by the initiative members working jointly together in the technical work groups. Prototyping implementations of the Drill rigs profile are currently going on. Further profiles under development cover LHD?s/Loaders/Trucks and Explosives Chargers. The first official release covering the Drill Rigs profile is planned for the end of 2002.

May 1, 2002

Jan 1, 1967