Search Documents

By Joseph J. Feiler

Fires in underground coal mines are persistent problems anywhere in the world that coal is mined. Coal fires pose safety and health hazards in the form of mine subsidence, loss of energy reserves, destruction of property and surface improvements, and air pollution. In 1995, the US Bureau of Mines (US-BM), in cooperation with the Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology (CDMG),entered into a contract with Goodson & Associates Inc. (GAI) to design and field test the effectiveness of a new foamed grout technology called ThermoCell. GAI is a Lakewood, CO geotechnical and mining reclamation engineering firm. The company developed ThermoCell to control and extinguish underground coal fires. The viability of the special grout and the technology of application were established during a full-scale field demonstration at the abandoned IHI Coal Mine fire, near Rifle, CO. Following acquisition of additional funding by CDMG in 1999, Goodson returned to the site in April to continue the grouting to fully extinguish the IHI fire.

Jan 1, 2000

By R. E. Gilmore

PREAMBLE THIS PAPER comprises material presented in two separate 'Papers at the British Commonwealth Scientific Specialist Conference on Fuel Research held in London, England, in July, 1950. These papers are now available for publication in Canada, since only essential parts of the conference discussions, in addition to the resolutions resulting therefrom, will be published in the official Proceedings of the Conference. Inasmuch as the information presented concerns Canadian organizations and training facilities for fuel research, it should be of general interest to Canadian scientists, and especially to the Coal Division of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Part I, the alternate title of which is Facilities in Canada for Fuel Research and for Exchange of Information and Staff, does not include research on peat, oil shale, petroleum oils in general, and natural gas, and omits studies of the geology, constitution, and production of coal. Special reference is, however, made to research on the heavy crude oils and bitumen of the Western Prairie Provinces, and particularly to their production and treatment to produce crudes for oil refinery processing.

Jan 1, 1951

By Richard C. Wang

The U.S. Bureau of Mines established a wire rope research laboratory to examine the factors that affect the safety and the useful life of wire rope. In the most recent work, two 32-mm 6x27H flattened strand ropes were degraded on a bending fatigue machine. The two tests were run at constant loads of 285 and 347 kN or safety factors of 2.5 and 2. Nondestructive and tensile strength tests were performed on samples of the ropes to determine the relationship between rope deterioration and rope breaking strength. Neither the area loss nor the number of broken wires measured from nondestructive tests could be used as clear indicators of the loss of strength. However, it was found from the tensile tests for both rope specimens that the strength loss was associated with the reduction of breaking strain. This suggests that measuring the strain of many short sections of a rope in the elastic region may locate the high stress sections and thus delermine the condition of the rope.

Jan 1, 2010

By R. G. Dressler

The design and operation of the Koppers powdered-coal gasifier and its auxiliaries at Louisiana, Mo., are described. This unit was designed to convert 1 ton of coal per hour with oxygen and superheated steam into synthesis gas - primarily carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The first run was made on May 4, 1949. After this, 44 short runs (less than 8 hours each) and 1 long run (lasting 11 days) were made. Total gasification time was 420 hours. The gasifier was not cooled down during the year when these runs were made. After an initial period of test operations and equipment proving, during which 12 runs were made, the effect of numerous variables on gasifier performance was studied. The long run was made primarily to check the equipment in sustained operation. Detailed data from these runs are presented.

Jan 1, 1954

By Eleonardo Lucas, Christ Barriga

The use of saline water, a product of the sea water osmosis process, for the processing of the mineral from the Bayovar Mine in Peru, is part of the process of final disposal of the studied tailings. In this sense, this paper presents an experimental program implemented for the correct evaluation of this fine low-density phosphate tailings, the behavior of six solids contents prepared in the laboratory with limits between the range 8.5% to 21% were analyzed. The results achieved, from settling and consolidation tests by hydraulic consolidation test, attested to the effectiveness, in addition to being representative, based on the analyzes and comparisons instituted and the definition of the compressibility and consolidation characteristics of the phosphate tailings of the evaluation.

Sep 30, 2022

1. The following recommendations should apply to all mines, tunnels and underground quarries, but to opencast quarries only in so far as persons can be exposed to dust injurious to health. General In the present state of knowledge, all duets liberated in mining, tunneling and quarrying operations should be considered potentially injurious to health if breathed in sufficient quantity; dusts containing free silica should be considered specially injurious to health, the injurious particles being below 7 microns in diameter.

Jan 1, 1954

By G. J. Birnie

Introduction The preparation of the following paper has been undertaken in the belief that a description of the development methods and equipment used at Lake Shore, at the present time, will prove of general ? interest. Working depths of nearly a mile and a half in shaft sinking and of more than one mile for stoping operations have imposed problems not encountered at shallower horizons. Among the problems contributing to the difficulty of mining at extreme depths might be mentioned: Rock pressures Ventilation Hoisting Shorter work period at the face Geological considerations In the main, the effects of these factors add to the difficulty of mining at depth, but it is not entirely true to say that each must necessarily become more pronounced as mining operations proceed to greater depths. Corrective measures may, in some cases, retard the effect and in others may even relieve some of the difficulty. It is proposed here to discuss these features in the light of the experience at Lake Shore, and to present, in some detail, the current practice in shaft sinking and in driving ore and waste passes, raises, drifts and cross-cuts.

Jan 1, 1950

By Hyun Soo Kim, Joon Soo Kim, Myong Jun Kim, Jyothi Rajesh Kumar, Jin-Young Lee

Rare earth materials have an ever growing variety of applications in the modern and hitech technology. They apply to many an industry with crucial materials and they provide numerous a customers with benefits. Rare earth materials utilization increasing day-by-day in the worldwide, at the same time the resources is very limited in many countries like Korea. The present general article divided four sorts such as 1) mineral processing of Korean ore deals the gravity, magnetic separation and froth flotation, 2) decomposition and leaching of concentrates included sodium hydroxide fritting, sodium hydroxide hot digestion, hydrochloric acid leaching, 3) separation and purification of rare earth elements in mixed rare earth chloride solution consists reduction and oxidation method, solvent extraction, 4) preparation of rare earth oxide compound from purified elemental rare earth chloride solution having oxalate salt precipitation by reaction crystallization. The last part consists of a summary of the present study.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jerry C. Tien

The rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 chemical (metallic) elements which appear in the periodic table. The group consists of 15 lanthanide elements along with yttrium and scandium (Table 1). They share many similar properties, which is why they occur together in geological deposits. Although commonly referred to as rare, they are really quite common; the reason they are perceived as rare is because it is not common to find them in commercially viable concentrations. These metals are critical to advanced technology, ranging from smart phones to global positions system (GPS) receivers, medical devices and jet engines. They are critical in green, high-tech and defense industries (Fig.1 and 2). Although there have been increasing efforts to find alternative supplies, these efforts have been complicated by the pollution that rare earth mining and processing creates. To extract rare earths minerals from mined ore is a complicated and costly process. The ore is first mined through normal mining process, the bastnaesite, which generally contains a number of minerals of little value, is first removed through a floatation process. The bastnaesite containing the REEs is further separated into their respective pure forms in a separation plant using acid and various solvent extraction separation steps. Each element has its own unique extraction steps and chemical processes. At times, these elements, in the form of oxides, will require reprocessing to achieve ideal purity. The last steps would be to further process into metals first, then alloys for various applications. The entire process takes approximately 10 days. The mining and processing of REEs, if not carefully controlled, can create environmental hazards. This is one of the reasons the Mountain Pass Mine in California was closed down in the 1980s.

Dec 1, 2013

By L. Uotinen, M. Rinne, R. Mishra

Underground mining gives rise to geotechnical hazards. A formal geotechnical risk assessment can help to forecast and mitigate these hazards. Frequentist probability methods can be used when the hazard does not have many variables and a lot of data is available. However, often there is not enough data for probability distributions, such as in the case of new projects. The risk assessment is often subjective and qualitative, based on expert judgement. The purpose of this research is to present the use of Bayesian networks (BNs) as an alternative to existing risk assessment methods in underground mines by combining expert knowledge with data as it becomes available. Roof fall frequency forecasting using parameter learning is demonstrated with 1141 sets of roof fall data across 12 coal mines in the USA. The prediction is nearly identical for individual mines, but when multiple mines are evaluated it is difficult to find a single best fit distribution for annual roof fall frequency. The BN approach with TNormal distribution was twice as likely to fit the observed data compared to the Poisson distribution assumed in the past. A hybrid approach using BN combining multiple probability distribution curves from historical data to predict annual roof fall is proposed. The BN models can account for variability for multiple parameters without increasing the complexity of the calculation. BNs can work with varying amounts of data, which makes them a good tool for real-time risk assessment in mines.

Jun 1, 2021

By William Gleason

"There are signs that the commodity downturn that has battered the mining industry for the past five years is beginning to ease up. As the dust begins to settle and mining companies begin to take stock of the battle, Newmont Mining Corp. will be one that is standing strong with just a few scrapes and bruises thanks in large part to the leadership of president and chief executive officer Gary Goldberg and his right hand man and chief operating officer, Chris Robison.As he closes in on retirement (for a second time) Robison, a third-generation miner from Nevada, took time to speak with Mining Engineering about a 33-year career in which, among other things, he is credited with not just helping Newmont survive the turbulent times but with steering the company to a safer, more productive and more profitable heading.“I think we did it better than anyone else,” Robison said when asked how the company fared during the past five years. “We didn’t talk about it a lot, we just put together a strategy and we delivered.”What Newmont, the world’s second-largest gold mining company by production, delivered since Robison took the position of chief operating officer in 2013 are improvements in costs, porduction, projects and safety.Operating under the mantra of “live within your means,” Robison was pulled out of retirement from Rio Tinto and into a challenging situation at Newmont. The price of gold was in a nose dive from a high of nearly $58/g ($1,800/oz) and heading to levels closer to $38.60/g ($1,200 oz).“Newmont is a big ship that can’t be turned, but has to be steered,” said Robison. “We recognized that we had to set a new course. The direction the ship was going was great for $1,600 to $1,800/oz gold but we were chasing ounces.”Like the rest of the gold mining sector before the falling gold prices, Newmont was focused on volume and was looking for gold wherever it could be found. The slogan at Newmont in 2011 was “7 million ounces a year by 2017.”When Robison came on board it was a different reality.“We had to begin focusing on value over volume as the cornerstone of Newmont going forward,” he said."

Aug 1, 2016

[RESULTS OF THE PRIMARY CONVENTIONAL PERFORMANCE AND COST MODEL OF THE UNIT OPERATIONS OF UNDERGROUND PERCUSSIVE DRILLING AND BLASTING]

Jan 1, 1977

By Kurt F. Weitz

"The number of materials that can be classified as fillers covers an extremely wide range: this paper outlines those fillers of the industrial mineral type that find extensive application in the paint and plastics industriesIn the paint industry, mineral fillers are known as extender pigments. Extenders are added to paint and plastic compositions to (1) lower the cost and (2) rein-force or modify the physical properties of a composition.Commonly used extenders are classified according to chemical type and discussed in terms of the change in physical properties that they impart to a paint or plastic film. Available cost reductions and data on the consumption of extenders in the Canadian paint industry are also included."

Jan 1, 1970

By Rossiter W. Raymond

(Canal Zone Meeting, November, 1910.) THE death of Professor Blake removes the oldest of American economic geologists and mining engineers, and deprives this Institute of one of its, earliest and most illustrious members. To many of us it brings a personal loss also, the loss of a friend. William Phipps Blake was born June 21, 1826, in New York City. -His father, Elihu Blake, was a surgeon-dentist of eminence, a direct descendant of William Blake, who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1630. He was prepared for college at private schools in New York, and entered the Sheffield School of Yale, where he was graduated as Ph.B. in the chemical course, class of 1852, the first graduating-class of the institution. In the same year he became chemist and mineralogist of the New Jersey Zinc Co., and chemist of chemical works at Baltimore, Md. In 1853, lie started the Department of Mineralogy of the World's Fair at New York City. In 1854, 1855 and 1856, he was mineralogist and geologist of the United States Pacific Railroad Surveys of Williamson, Pope, and Whipple, and for the War Department at Washington. His writings, during this period comprise reports on the geology and mineralogy of California and other parts of the Southwest, and constitute well nigh the earliest scientific accounts of the regions described. One of them. was a translation of the Resume and Field Notes of Jules Marcou, of Whipple's expedition. From 1856 to 1859, he was engaged in explorations of the geology and mineral deposits of North Carolina, :and other parts of the country. In 1859, he became editor and proprietor of The Mining Magazine. This was a monthly periodical, founded in 1853 by W. J. Tenny, who conducted it until 1858, when it passed into the hands of Thomas McElrath, a New York publisher, and appeared in May of that year as The Mining and Statistic Magazine, with the name of

Sep 1, 1910

This list is part of the long-range conservation program of the Bureau of Mines and is intended for use by those interested in the Bureau's publications dealing with oil shale and shale oil. The items included represent 51 years of research by Bureau of Mines employees on oil shale and shale oil and are available at any U.S. depository library. DISTRIBUTION U.S. Bureau of Mines report series contain both free and sales publications. An asterisk (*) designates publications for sale. Such publications can be obtained from Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402

Jan 1, 1969

By J. R. Thoenen, J. L. Vallely, M. C. Malamphy

"SUMMARYMagnetic and gravimetric surveys wore conducted over an area of ap¬proximately 1,400 square miles in the bauxite district of central Arkansas. The primary purpose of these surveys was to discover any possible buried and hitherto unknown syenite masses favorable for the occurrence of bauxite and to determine the approximate position of the buried flanks of the known syenite masses which might offer conditions favorable for the discovery of new ore bodies.Those surveys indicated that the various syenite outcrops were domes or bosses on a large batholith and that ether similar domes occurred on the batholith but did net outcrop.Drilling on the local geophysical anomalies proved the presence of 10 buried domes, but only 2 of them were found to project above the upper surface of the Midway clays, a requisite of conditions favorable for the occurrence of bauxite ore bodies. The geophysical data indicated the approximate configuration of the buried flanks of the known syenite coutcrops, and the portions of these flanks that project above the Midway have now been outlined more accurately by drilling.The geophysical surveys have produced evidence permitting the elimi¬nation of a large area as unfavorable for the occurrence of bauxite.Magnetic surveys extending along the Midway-Wilcox contact from Gurdon, in Clark County, on the southwest to Searcy, in White County, on the northwest have proved the improbability of the existence of other syenite masses similar to those found in Pulaski and Saline Counties. A detailed magnetic survey of the Magnet Cove area in Hot Spring County has proved that the syenite mass exposed in that locality is an isolated intrusion and entirely unrelated to those of Pulaski and Saline Counties. This syenite mass does not occur under conditions believed to be favorable for the occurrence of bauxite."

Feb 1, 1945

By J Caron, M Athayde, F Lavoie, R Joyce

Decarbonisation has become a major challenge for the global steelmaking industry, turning towards new technologies aimed at carbon footprint reduction, which on its own accounts for approximately 9 per cent global emissions. The iron and steel industry represents a ‘hard to abate’ sector, where much of efforts are currently being deployed into initiatives aiming to decarbonise the ironmaking through the use of green hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage and state-of-the-art operation of current technologies, while little efforts being deployed to find carbon-efficient solution to iron ore burden preparation, where high-grade iron concentrate will increase in importance to ironmaking regardless of the chosen reduction route. Quebec Iron Ore (QIO), a subsidiary of Champion Iron Limited (Champion), produces high-grade hematite concentrate with one of the lowest carbon global footprints. Still, QIO is partnering with its clients to the development of burden solutions to minimise CO2 emission, in the seek for a decarbonised steel. In a strong technological partnership, Binding Solutions Limited (BSL) has developed a novel, coldbinding technology to provide a cleaner, more cost-effective alternative to induration. The technology allows miners and steel producers to reduce Capex significantly and reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 90 per cent. QIO and BSL have partnered to adapt the disruptive cold binding technology developed by BSL to QIO’s concentrate to produce a high-quality low emissions iron ore agglomerate. This paper describes the efforts taken to further develop BSL’s cold binding technology and its application to QIO’s high-grade iron ore concentrate to produce a hematite cold bonded briquette (hCBB) showing comparable performances with high quality seaborne fired pellets.

Nov 8, 2021

By P. Eger

Minnesota contains a major low- grade copper-nickel sulfide resource within the Duluth Gabbro Complex. Several companies have actively explored this resource. Open pit mining would be required to develop portions of the resource, and as a result, large quantities of sulfide-bearing lean ore and waste rock would be stockpiled. Although the problems associated with high-sulfide tailings and acid mine drainage are well documented, the leaching characteristics of low-grade mineralized stockpiles must be understood for environmental impact assessment, siting, and planning. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and AMAX have cooperated in a research program to study leaching and revegetation -of test stock- piles, Six small (1600 'tons) stockpiles were constructed at the MINNAMAX Project Site and they range in composition from 0.29 to 043 g % copper, 0.075 to 0.09% nickel, and 0.6 to 1.45% sulfur. Two of the stockpiles were covered with mineral soil, one was covered with topsoil, and three were not treated Revegetation plots were established on the piles which received a soil cover. Leachate samples and flow measurements were collected at the base of the piles. Initial results indicate that metal concentrations in leachate samples range from 10 to 10,000 times the concentrations found in the streams of the area. During the first growing season, the test pile covered with topsoil yielded 30% less water than untreated test piles. No reduction in yield was observed for the piles that were covered with the less fertile mineral soil. First-year vegetative growth, expressed as biomass, was four times greater on the-topsoil pile than on the mineral soil piles. The long-term effects of vegetation on leachate quantity and quality continue to be investigated.

Jan 1, 1980

By von Wielligh. L., D. G. Hattingh, M. N. James, W. Thomas

"SynopsisThe process of joining materials by friction is based on generating the heat necessary to create a solid-state mechanical bond between two faying surfaces to be joined. In simple terms, the components to be joined are subjected to frictional heating between rubbing surfaces, causing an increase in interface temperature and leading to localized softening of interface material, creating what is described as a ’third body’ plasticized layer. This plasticized zone reduces the energy input rate from frictional heating and hence prevents macroscopic melting. The plasticized layer can no longer transmit sufficient stress as it effectively behaves as a lubricant (Boldyrev and Voinov, 1980; Godet, 1984; Singer, 1998; Suery, Blandin, and Dendievel, 1994). The potential for this solid-state frictional joining process to create high-performance joints between, for example, dissimilar materials with limited detrimental metallurgical impact, and reduced defect population and residual stress level, has had a very significant impact on fabrication and repair in industrial sectors such as transport. This paper presents a brief overview of the advances made within the family of friction processing technologies that could potentially be exploited in the nuclear industry as alternative joining and repair techniques to fusion welding.Modern friction processing technologies can be placed into two main categories: those that make use of a consumable tool to achieve the intended repair or joint (friction stud and friction hydro-pillar processing) and those making use of a non-consumable tool (friction stir welding). The most mature friction joining technology is friction rotary welding, where a joint is formed between original parent materials only. A new addition in this category is linear friction welding, which opens the potential for joining complex near-net-shape geometries by friction heating. The continuous innovation in friction processing over the last 25 years has led to the development of a number of unique processes and applications, highlighting the adaptability of friction processes for specialized applications for high-value engineering components.IntroductionAssessing the potential for using alternative joining and repair techniques for specific applications in a given industrial sector is informed by an appreciation of the current size and potential growth in that sector. Power generation by nuclear fission has been out of favour over the past few years, due to several high-profile nuclear incidents, e.g. the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, as well as concerns over disposal of nuclear waste and spent fuel rods. However, due to rapid increases in the demand for electricity, coupled with many fossil-fuel fired plants reaching end-of-life, there is renewed interest in installing additional nuclear capacity."

Jan 1, 2015

By W. F. Marshall

This report describes exhaust-emission data from 10 diesel engines: six 4-cycle, direct-injection, naturally aspirated engines; two 4-cycle, direct-injection, turbocharged engines; one 4-cycle, precombustion-chamber, turbo-charged engine; and one 2-cycle, direct-injection engine. These engines were tested over a 3-year period (1968-70). Lowest emissions were obtained with a precombustion-chamber engine. Emissions from the 2-cycle, direct-injection engine fell within the range of emission rates for the 4-cycle, naturally aspirated, direct-injection engines. Excluding the precombustion-chamber engine and excepting one of the 4-cycle, naturally aspirated engines, carbon monoxide emission rates were about the same for all engines tested. Test data on smoke, odor, and emissions of hydrocarbons, oxides of nitro-gen, carbon monoxide, and aldehydes are given.

Jan 1, 1971