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By Christopher C. Jobes

This U.S. Bureau of Mines report describes a system to determine the position and heading of a mining machine during maneuvers in the face area of an operating mine section. The system is the first step in the development of a guidance system for automated mining machines. The position and heading algorithm is described, and a preliminary error analysis is performed. The sensors employed were linear position transducers mounted on a mining machine with their cables attached to points on a stationary reference. Four linear position transducers were used to provide a data redundancy that increased the reliability of the guidance system. The linear position information obtained from the transducers was processed mathematically via the position and heading algorithm to provide the desired position and heading information. The algorithm takes advantage of sensor redundancy to continually test the accuracy of the sensor data. The major sources of error were determined to be the linear position transducers, the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter used to interpret the data, and the sampling frequency of the measurement system. These sources of error were evaluated to determine their inaccuracies for use in calculating the overall system accuracy.

Jan 1, 1990

By N. E. Norman

The big hole drilling industry is a relatively new one. In fact, very little big hole drilling was done prior to 1950. If there is to be a marriage between big hole drilling and mining, we should certainly take a look at the background of the big hole drilling industry. Let us examine the three main features of big hole drilling and determine how each applies to mining. Let's also look at the good qualities and the limitations of each of these character traits.

Jan 1, 1968

By C. Pace, D. Darlington, A. Montera, C. Lingren

"A phosphate beneficiation plant in Utah is using isotope-based Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) technology to analyze the entire slurry streams of the incoming feed and final product in order to adjust the flotation circuits in near real time and optimize the plant output. The plant has gained greatly improved visibility/control and has reduced product variability for improved profitability and product quality. This paper takes a look at the economics as well as application details and the difference this technology provides in a phosphate application. SIMPLOT PHOSPHATES INTRODUCTION Simplot’s Vernal, Utah Phosphate Mine and Mill are located in the northeast corner of the state in the Uinta Mountains along US Highway 191, eleven miles north of the town of Vernal. The phosphoric acid and fertilizer plant fed by the Vernal mine is located 94 miles Northeast of Simplot Phosphates in Rock Springs, WY.At the Vernal plant, loader and shovel mining to 85 Ton capacity trucks is done at an annual rate of 3.8 Million tons of ore. Run of mine ore is crushed in a mineral sizer to minus 14 inch diameter at the rate 11,500 tons a day and transported to the SAG Mill’s 130,000 ton surge stockpile by overland belt. ORE RESERVES The ore is a Phosphoria Formation of sedimentary rock type dating to the Permian Age. The ore body rests over a 25 mile area on Weber Sandstone from the Pennsylvania and Permian geologic period. Layers of Phosphate Rock can vary in thickness from 0.3 up to 2.1 feet, alternating with layers of Mudstone. The eastern edge of the ore’s body Panel “G” runs 16 feet deep with a feed grade of 21.5% P205 with lower MgO diluents of less than 2.79%."

Jan 1, 2016

By Raghoottma S. Pandurangi, Mohindar S. Seehra

"The interaction of amorphous 1ilica particles with several hydrogen bonding agents (H2O, C2H5OH, C7H2NO) was investigated by monitoring the changes in the bulk and surface IR vibrational modes of silica using photoacoustic spectroscopy. It is argued that the intensity of the silanol band at 3747 cm-1 provides (an inverse) quantitative measure of the interaction or surface groups, along with the shift in the broad hydroxyl band, the interaction following the order C7H2NO > C2H5OH > H2O. Index Headings: Silica; Surface vibrational modes; Photoacoustic spectroscopy; Hydrogen bonding agents.INTRODUCTIONThe use of m spectroscopy to study the adsorption on solid surfaces is well documented in the literature.1 2 For example, hydroxylation of a clean silica surface results in the formation of the free silanol group Si-OH, with a sharp IR band near 3747 cm-1• Further hydroxylation produces a broad band near 3500 cm-1, which is believed to result from various hydrogen-bonded silanol bands leading to a multilayered surface structure of few nm.3-5 Earlier studies had indicated a relationship between the surface silanol band and various chemical activities of silica such as cytotoxicity, 7- 9 catalysis, 10-12 and others.13 Recent studies from our group14-in which the intensity of the silanol band and cytotoxicity of silica, heat-treated at various temperatures up to 1095°C, were investigated have provided a strong correlation between cytotoxicity and intensity of the silanol band.Coating of silica by PVPNO (polyvinyl-2-pyridine N-oxide with the empirical formula C7H8NO), a strong hydrogen bonding agent, is known to reduce the cytotoxicity of silica, presumably by chemically blocking the silanol groups from phospholipids.15 This interaction of the hydrogen bonding agents with the silica can be studied by m spectroscopy, and Knozinger16 and Rouxlet and Semples11 have used transmission m spectroscopy to study the effect of various chemicals on the surface IR modes of silica. However, one of the major disadvantages of transmission IR spectroscopy is that the sample preparation (grinding and mixing with KBr and pelletizing) usually distorts the surface modes (see, e.g., Ref. 14) and there is always a doubt about the effect of the sample preparation on the measured properties. In recent years, photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy has become the technique of choice for studying the IR spectra of samples in their natural state, since no sample preparation is necessary.18•19 Moreover, according to a recent paper, 20 the relative intensity of the surface modes in PA spectroscopy of silica particles is much higher than that in transmission FT-IR spectroscopy. Consequently PA spectroscopy is ideal for studying the surface chemistry. In this work, we have used PA spectroscopy to investigate the interaction of three hydrogen bonding agents (C7H8NO, C2H50H, and H20) with the silica surface by monitoring changes in the surface m modes. Our results show that the surface IR modes get perturbed to a larger extent than the bulk IR modes in interaction with the hydrogen bonding agents. Moreover, whereas in the earlier studies, the shift of the broad silanol band near 3500 cm-1 was used as a measure of the interaction with hydrogen bonding agents,16•17 here we show that the relative decrease in the intensity of the sharp silanol band near 3747 cm-1 also serves as a quantitative parameter for the relative surface coverage and surface modification. Details of this work are given below."

Jan 1, 1990

By C. M. McCulloch

The natural vertical fracture system in bituminous coalbeds is called cleat. Cleat orientation commonly controls the direction of mining with major development paralleling the face cleat. Previous researchers have categorized the origin of cleat as endogenetic, relating the origin of cleat to compaction and coalification, and exogenetic, relating the origin of cleat to tectonic forces. In the coalbeds studied for this report it was found that tectonic forces were the controlling factor of cleat formation. Face cleats were formed as extension fractures during structural deformation, and butt cleats, as release fractures during erosion and uplift. The face cleat of the Pittsburgh coalbed rotates from N 80° W in north-western West Virginia to N 57° W in southwestern Pennsylvania; the face cleat maintains a perpendicular orientation to the shifting axial trend of local structures. Cleat orientation in other bituminous coalbeds in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, and Central Pennsylvania showed a similar relationship to local structure. Directional permeability of coal is directly related to cleat. Holes drilled perpendicular to the face cleat yield from 2.5 to 10 times the amount of gas released as compared with holes drilled perpendicular to the butt cleat.

Jan 1, 1974

By KENNETH CROPPER

USUALLY we forget about the things which move along smoothly. There are no causes for worry when there are no troubles. But when troubles arise we must put forth some thought and effort to alleviate them. No one "worries about his automobile until it begins to knock, develop flat tires, or refuses to start. However, when these ailments become apparent we get wide awake on the spot, and do our best to repair the car. So we find ourselves now. The old bus seems to hit all the ditches. There is rough ground on all sides and none of us is able to do anything toward improvement. A state of pessimism stares us in the face, and there is sufficient cause for it. With lead at 3.75 cents, copper about 8 cents, zinc under 4 cents, -and silver about 26 cents, one has a reason for grief. When we think of the 5000 or less men employed in Utah mines and smelters in 1931, as compared with about 12,000 in 1929, the calamity seems even worse. In view of the present economic crisis we cannot even think of new men getting a job.

Jan 1, 1931

By Roderic A. Ellman

The new Woodrow Wilson Bridge (WWB) will replace the existing bridge over the Potomac River to connect Alexandria, Virginia to Prince Georges County, Maryland. The new WWB will extend approximately 1.1 miles across the river, with a 367-ft long bascule span in the main river channel where the water depth is about 36 ft. The subsurface soil profile consists of up to 50 ft of a soft organic silty clay layer that is very vulnerable to scour, underlain by a deep deposit of hard sandy clay. Foundation construction in the Potomac River required the use of cofferdams to allow structural concrete work to be performed in the dry. This paper will the present the types of cofferdams used to construct the foundations for the WWB replacement project. The bridge is primarily comprised of fixed spans in relatively shallow water and a bascule span over a navigation channel in relatively deep water. Foundation construction included the installation of 48? to 72? open end steel pipe piles and cast-in-place concrete pile caps. To achieve the desired bridge appearance, pile caps were required to extend below the water surface and below the existing river bottom in shallow water locations. Conventional steel sheet pile cofferdams with tremie concrete seal were used to construct fixed span, shallow water piers. Selection of deep water bascule span foundation cofferdams was governed by several factors including contraction scour, environmental considerations and cost. Potomac River cofferdams, i.e., relatively shallow depth cofferdams that are supported by the foundation piling were selected. This cofferdam system provided a shallow profile which minimized contraction scour and the amount of filling in the river. Design issues include load selection and cofferdam stability in very soft alluvial soils. Construction issues include erection sequence, tremie concrete mix design and placement procedures.

Jan 1, 2013

By Rony Yupanqui C

El presente trabajo señala el proyecto de remediación de los relaves mineros realizado en la relavera Ticapampa, ubicado en el Distrito de Ticapampa – Huaráz, región Ancash, con el objetivo de remediar los relaves de TICAPAMPA depositados por más de 30 años y que contaminan al río Santa, fuente principal de irrigación del Valle del Callejón de Huaylas. El proyecto comprende la extracción de contaminantes del pasivo ambiental de Ticapampa a través de la flotación de los sulfuros de fierro, y la obtención de un material inerte (con bajo contenido de sulfuros contaminantes) para la fabricación de productos cerámicos por medio de resinas recientemente desarrolladas.

Sep 12, 2011

By Thomas Novak, Philip Johnson, Richard L. Sanford, Lloyd A. Morley

Macintosh use in mine-planning applications lags DOS machines since many users have made significant investments in hardware and training for other environments. Macintosh use is becoming more pronounced in many other industries, and com soft-ware is of at least the quality of that available for DOS machines and many workstations. This paper describes attributes of the Macintosh computer family as related to many mine-planning problems and solutions including software, memory considerations, workstations, DOS compatibility, and networking.

Jan 1, 1993

By P. J. Petit

Changing mining conditions, legislative issues, rising costs, and the constrained supply of skills and electricity in South Africa, have been some of the criteria forcing mine operators and engineers to review the traditional use of compressed air to power underground hand-held drilling operations in narrow-stope, hard-rock mines. In answering the question, 'What is the best way to power this mine?', they have resorted to trade-off studies with results of limited usefulness, because they are site-specific, and use only a few comparative parameters, based on a small data set. This paper aims to provide definitive, objective, and quantitative decision-making approaches to evaluating alternative energy-delivery systems for stoping in narrow-reef hard rock mines, based on primary and relevant criteria. These include quantifiable criteria such as capital expenditure, operating costs, resulting financial returns, energy and water usage, production performance, life-of-mine, etc. Other important criteria with qualitative aspects are integrated. These are safety, health, and environmental concerns, legislative requirements, business risk, technology change, etc. The paper begins with a review of decision-making processes available, and proposes the use of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method as a multiple-criteria decision-making tool and the decision tree based on milestone-driven uncertainties, to validate the selection of the energy delivery system. The results of a multiple-criteria questionnaire completed by a variety of industry experts and professionals, such as production and operation managers, consultants, suppliers, and techno-financial analysts, are discussed. The evaluation indicates the potential for hydropower to be the best solution for narrow-reef hard rock mines, based on current information, mine design layout and production.

Jan 1, 2013

These may be of interest to members examining the collection of ores, etc., from Mount Lyell, which is a feature of the Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition, and may have some value as geological records. No. 7 and No 8 are analyses of samples of footwall rock from the Lyell Tharsis mine. No. 7 is hard, crystalline, fine-grained, and of homogenous structure. It has a dark-red colour, due to ferric oxide (Fig 1); and was taken from a place eight feet east of the ore body and about half way between the 50 feet and 100 feet levels. No. 8 is from the same excavation and from four feet east of the ore body it is softer than No. 7, being easily scratched with a knife-blade, of a deeper dark-red colour, and has a slaty cleavage.

Jan 1, 1902

By A. Broussaud

The paper describes the advanced grinding control system implemented at Newmont Ahafo gold mine, Ghana in 2009 and 2010. It shows how the different components of the Advanced Process Control (APC) system cooperate for increasing plant performance. The SABC circuit processes hard rock from different pits mixed with a variable proportion of oxides. The control strategy is designed to address specific disturbances, including start/stops of pebble crushers, unavailability of oxides, changes in rock size distribution resulting from segregation in the stockpile, and changes in ore type and hardness. The system consists of an expert system per se with extensive use of fuzzy logic, supplemented by an online dynamic model of the process used as a soft sensor, a VisioRock? rock size measurement system over SAG mill feed before addition of recycled pebbles, and an AudioMill? system to analyze the SAG mill sound and detect impacts on liners. All these components are embedded in the same OCS© software platform, which, among other benefits, makes it easy to support the entire system remotely. The paper details the physical constraints and the variables that are manipulated. It describes the control strategy and the contribution of each component of the system. It also describes the project implementation and the performance of the system. In addition to a strong involvement and support of management, the very good acceptance of the operators has been facilitated by the remote access system that made it possible to immediately modify the system each time it was needed during the baby sitting phase. The system made it possible to increase gold production significantly through increases in tonnage and recovery thanks to a better control of the grind size through a stabilization of the secondary ball milling circuit and an improvement of the operating conditions of the classifying cyclones.

Jan 1, 2012

By C. A. Fisher

THE Salt Creek Oil Field of Wyoming occupies a unique position among the major oil fields of this country. Many years before the beginning of actual production in this area, in 1911, it had attracted country-wide attention as a district holding oil possi¬bilities. Even foreign capital, mainly French and Belgian, had sought out this district as having oil values and spent many thousands of dollars 'in an effort to acquire property rights' in this field which was very largely located on the public domain. Owing to inadequate laws governing the acquisition of oil lands on the Federal domain and a careless practice having grown up among oil land locators of that time, a complicated title situation quickly developed in Salt Creek. This condition of uncertain titles together with the isolation of the field from industrial centers were doubtless the two most potent factors in retarding its early development. After actual production began in 1911 governmental regulations, suits between the government, and the locator, disputed ownerships between locators and claim and counterclaim continued to retard the field's development. It is believed that the title situation in the Salt Creek Field, where potential values of such magnitudes were involved, was responsible more than any other factor for the ultimate passage of the government leasing act in 1920 affecting all oil lands on the Federal domain.

Jan 1, 1925

By A Raza, D P. Kohn, D A. Foster, A J. W Gleadow

A large and increasing data base of apatite fission track results from sedimentary and granitic rocks exposed within the south-eastern highlands and along the continental margin ofAustralia provides constraints for the tectonic development of the south-eastern passive margin. The fission track results suggest that many regions of the south-eastern margin of Australia experienced distinct episodes of relatively rapid cooling during the middle Cretaceous to early Tertiary that can be attributed to the effects of rifting. One cooling episode is middle Cretaceous in age and related to denudation of the south eastern highlands from Tasmania to northern New South Wales between ~90 - 100 Ma. Rocks exposed along the present coast line record a later episode of rapid cooling, which is diachronous and decreases in age northward from ~80 to 90 Ma in northern Tasmania to southern New South Wales, ~60 - 80 Ma in central and northern New South Wales, and to ~50 - 60 Ma in southern Queensland. The results are consistent with models suggesting that underplating occurred inward of the rift along the eastern margin of Australia as a result of the onset of continental extension in the Tasman Sea at ~96 Ma. This resulted in a significant change in base level and km-scale denudation of much of the southeastern highlands. Subsequently, as breakup commenced during the Late Cretaceous at ~80 Ma and continued into the Paleocene at ~60 Ma, the second stage of cooling was imprinted on the rocks along the margin. This cooling is probably due to the relaxation of elevated geothermal gradients associated with rifting as well as some denudation. Because rifting was oblique to the present-day coast, different regions record different ages of cooling associated with the rift. The southern regions of New South Wales and Victoria yield ages associated with earlier rifting while regions of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland give ages associated with later rifting.

Jan 1, 1995

By John V. Beall

When a mine has ore averaging 5% lead, 7% zinc, 0.60% copper, 1/4 oz gold, and 6 oz of silver, adequate reserves, power and water, easy access to market, and is situated in beautiful natural surroundings with the advantages of a big city within a few hours drive, there is little left to be desired. Such a mine is the Mayflower mine of the New Park Mining Co. situated 30 miles from Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Mountains near Keetley, Utah.

Jan 1, 1949

The Application of Roasting Pretreatment for Antimonial Refractory Gold and Silver Ores

Sep 13, 2010

By E. R. Maize

[?he scconG rcport of :his st?rI.org 8cdt with o3servatioi:s of conver- gence of roof an4 floor at t!x*re: ?.cc.-.tioris iri til~ ClVucible mine of kke Cru- cib1.o Fuel Co. Data on sl:'ociacnce ?.rd Lztcrcl mwe:~cnt cf the surface were .:lven for two of these areas, cnS it was mentioned that ~lr~~ilar data were being obtained on a ?art of Pe:sc:rlvtzr.ia Fii~l?trr.y FE:, ~i!lic;l pcser: over the third area. 'I'hie hichwc :LEO FasseE over t!lc ITenncoli::. :.line of the Bnckeye Coal Co. 9 milcs to ';he so-lth, cnd at P. l~tcr C'..att: ~.nr?r.,cc?r:cntS *.rere mnd.e to make similar observati on3 there. This y: pr mrnmri:.c n Czto obtnino? at those two locetionn,]

Jan 1, 1941

By L. Galarza

"INTRODUCTION Beneficiation of ores and minerals in a concentrator plant requires a significant amount of water [1] for the grinding and particle separation processes; most of it ends up being recirculated for reuse, slurry pumps are used after crushing and grinding feeding the ore to a classifier to separate fine-grained material (less than 5 mm) from coarse-grained material requiring further grinding. The lower ore grades [2] in the past couple of decades have demanded an increase on power size and efficiency of process machines to maintain a competitive plant throughput; Hydro-cyclone feed pumps to control both under and over milling or grinding are not the exception; Fig. 1 shows a conventional drive train [3] comprising an (1) asynchronous motor (also known as squirrel cage induction motor = SCIM), a high speed coupling (2), a gear reducer (3) and a low speed coupling (4) attached to the shaft of the pump (5), to accommodate the motor rated speed (typically 1800 rpm) to the process requirements (in the range of 250 rpm to 350 rpm), requiring additional components related to the gearbox: instrumentation, maintenance, disposable lubricants and filters, spare parts, thus reduces the overall system efficiency ultimately reflected into CAPEX and OPEX.WHY VARIABLE SPEED DRIVES FOR CYCLONE FEED PUMPS Hydrocyclones or commonly referred as “cyclones” are one of the most important devices in the minerals industry [4]; almost universally used in close-circuit grinding because of their high capacity and relative efficiency, the evolution of Power Electronics made affordable the use of Medium Voltage - Variable Frequency Converters (VFC) for Cyclone Feed pumps in combination with induction motors larger than 500hp (373kW) to gain multiple benefits: - Soft start with minimum electrical utility disturbance = inrush current mitigation - Full Torque available at zero speed for overload startup with pulp solidification after long still stand periods, superior to any other reduced voltage starting method. - Optimum and constant pump speed (independent of the electrical network or load condition), compared to across the line SCIM operation - Flexible Motor Voltage and Speed regardless of the power distribution Voltage and Frequency - Improved Power Factor (close to unitary), over the entire operating speed range"

Jan 1, 2015

By John W. Ahlrichs

Microscope, electron microprobe and x-ray diffraction have been used to provide quantitative evaluation of products from the mill, smelter, refinery and other metallurgical processes. Phase compositions and their quantities are necessary for an adequate understanding of the various products obtained throughout an operation and in laboratory testing. By careful evaluation, important information can be gained in improving recoveries and increasing grades at various stages of processing. Four case histories are discussed in this paper. Quantitative microscopic counting techniques are applied to mill products to determine degrees of locking and liberation of the economic minerals. Rapid, but accurate evaluation aids the metallurgist to develop or improve the grinding and flotation circuits. In the smelter, the identification and quantification of the phases are important for predicting reaction mechanisms and kinetic trends. Mineralogic techniques have been applied to conventional smelter products, and to those obtained in laboratory tests for newly developed innovations to smelting. Small, but important, values of gold occurrences in ore are difficult to determine. Evaluation of gold usually requires special separations into various mineral concentrates, followed by assays and mineralogic determinations of the products. Numerous occurrences of solid solution constituents can be treated as by-products, but often they are deleterious to metallurgical treatment. Most solid solution problems can be unraveled by the mineralogist's tools.

Jan 1, 1981

By W. F. Watts

This report describes a statistical analysis of 41,502 respirable quartz dust samples collected from 1974 through 1981 in metal and nonmetal mines and mills. The goal of this Bureau of Mines study was to identify commodities and occupations associated with high quartz dust exposure so that future enforcement and research activity can be focused on the high-exposure areas. For this analysis, the Bureau used its computerized Mine Inspection Data Analysis System (MIDAS), which contains data on nearly 350,000 air samples, including data for 61 contaminants in 45 commodities. The samples analyzed were collected by inspectors of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MS HA). The data were entered into the MIDAS computer and coded according to commodity, occupation, location, and other categorical information. Occupations an. commodities with high quartz dust exposure were identified by grouping the data by code categories. Workers at sandstone, clay and shale, and miscellaneous nonmetallic mineral mills had the highest quartz dust exposures. Within these mills, occupations with high exposures were baggers, general laborers, and persons involved in crushing, grinding, and sizing operations. Dust concentrations in these mills were not necessarily the highest, but because the dust contained a high percentage of quartz, the health risk from dust exposure was the greatest.

Jan 1, 1984