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By B. P. Mohanty, D. A. Shores

During the induration of fluxed taconite pellets, alkali salts deposit on the grate support bars, causing severe corrosive degradation of these alloys. To determine the source of these deposits and to understand the mechanism by which the salts are conveyed to the grate bars, a study of the reactions between fluxed pellets and combustion gas was carried out. The study focused on the thermodynamics and kinetics of several processes associated with induration; namely, oxidation of magnetite, calcination of flux, and the formation and gaseous transport of various alkali salt species. Both theoretical and experimental techniques were used. It was concluded that the principal source of alkali salt deposits is alkali chlorides, which are present as contaminants in the flux and/or residue from contaminated washwater. The pathway from pellet to grate bar involves the following steps: evaporation of chloride salts within the pellet; diffusion of salt vapor out of the pellet, aided by the outflow of CO2 from calcination of the flux; convective transport by the combustion gas with concurrent (partial) conversion to alkali sulfates by reaction with residual SOX in the combustion gas; and condensation of salts on the grate bars.

Jan 1, 1998

By R. C. Shodde, R. D. La Nauze

Major societal and industry changes over the last four decades have influenced the management of technology in the minerals industry. From the authors' experiences in both private and public sector R&D, the paper analyzes the range of strategic and structural changes and provides examples of some key technology delivery responses. For those charged with managing technology, the two key challenges facing them over the next decade are (I) moving technology development from a cost focus to a value focus (that is, from "how much long-term research can we afford?" to "identifying and capturing the value created from R&D”) and (2) the recruitment and retention of key talent. THE NEED TO ADAPT "Change is slow and gradual. It requires hard work, a bit of luck, a fair amount of self- sacrifice, and a lot of patience (Greene 1998)." Since the 1960s the world has changed and the minerals industry has had to adapt to the changing circumstances. In the '60s, minerals were there to be discovered and fortunes to be made; in Australia, the World War I1 embargo on exporting iron ore was lifted and the Western Australian iron-ore boom commenced, to be followed by the exploitation of the Darling Range bauxites; copper, lead, zinc and nickel were discovered and mines developed. The Australian dollar was worth US$1.11 whereas today it is around US$0.65. The oil crisis of 1976 sharpened focus on the sensitivity of the minerals industry on energy costs. By the late 1970s The Club of Rome was predicting the imminent demise of certain key metals-a prediction that has not been fulfilled-though the signs of the shift

Jan 1, 2004

By Donald A. Dahlstrom

If you have ever driven on the Autobahns of Western Germany, you are well acquainted with the "fast lane." There is no speed limit; there are only two lanes in the direction you are going, and if you choose to drive in the fast lane, you had better be prepared to drive faster than anyone or someone will tailgate you with a constant screeching horn until you move to the "slow lane." The prize for this mastery of the fast lane is some kind of a "macho" feeling and getting to your destination sooner than your competitor. This has some comparisons with today Is liquid-sol id separation. We've certainly had our moments in the fast lane but we've also had other countries forcing us into the slow lane at times. It can be very embarassing when someone almost runs over your back and then shakes a fist at you as you shakily scatter to the much slower and overcrowded lane. Because of necessity, there will be many new improvements and added requirements in the next decades into the 21st century and beyond. Those countries and industries that can maintain the pace in the fast lane will be successful while the others may well be relegated to the non-competitive lane. Before considering what will be the challenges in the future for competitive liquid-sol id separation performance, it would be wise to review progress over the past forty years in this area. The author has to admit his ancient age and believes he can act as an evaluator of these many advances. To place the beginning of the 40 years (the author predates his initiation into liquid-sol id separation by one more year), the United States was still building smelters and operating them with little or no sulphur dioxide removal , practically

Jan 1, 1989

By D. M. Kjos

Large-diameter autogenous and semiautogenous grinding mills represent the primary thrust of the expanding grinding technology. In spite of initial difficulties, large autogenous and semiautogenous mills have reached an acceptable level of technology that provides the mineral engineer with a reliable, low cost means of ore comminution. A successful milling installation begins during the design stage of the grinding mill and the plant in which it is to be installed. This is particularly true in autogenous and semiautogenous mills. Critical mill and plant design factors should be considered while the mill and installation are still only "paper." Various current liner designs will be discussed ranging from lifter bar/plate to integral types. Modes of operation such as "high-low" will be considered. Liner maintenance procedures ranging from laydown area in plant design, proper mill shutdown methods, to installation and bolt tightening complete the equation to yield optimum performance possible for any particular grinding application. The objective of this paper is to discuss trends in wear materials, designs, and operating practices, and to provide some guidelines for good practice as we move through the 1980s. We will put together concepts that relate to the designs, materials, and applications so that higher performance can be obtained by the operator for his specific application. The concepts are shown as being in series became they are dependent on each other to achieve the desired performance: designs times materials times application results in higher performance (Arnson, Parks, and Kjos, 1983).

Jan 1, 1987

By P. D. Georgescu

Gold, like no other metal, has a fascinating and special place in the world. It is used in a range of every day applications essential to modern life. Gold has long been considered the most precious metal in the world. Gold is used mainly for making jewellery as well as for dentistry, adornments on building and artistic expression. For thousands of years it has been used as an ornament of kings, a currency and standard for global currencies, and more recently, in a wide range of electronic devices and medical applications. Gold?s many unique properties have secured in a central role in history and human development. Today, more often than not, gold is extracted from ores. It occurs in vein and alluvial deposits and is often separated from rocks and other minerals by mining and processing operations. Some of these processes cause environmental concern (cyanidation, amalgamation, roasting). Besides primary gold ore resources, a series of secondary resources can be taken into account and processed for gold and silver recovery. There are two main types of waste produced. The first type is process waste, which includes tailing consisting of processing residues and waste rock. The other type is refuse from other different processes and recyclable materials. Among other secondary resources and/or by-products containing precious metals, which have been studied some processes and technologies with low ecological impact are presented in this paper. Heaps and tailing ponds resulted from gold-bearing ore exploitation and processing, refractory gold-bearing pyrite concentrates, slag resulted from electrolytic slime melting, gold-bearing chlorous slime are taken into account. In order to establish environmental friendly technologies for precious metals recovery from these secondary resources, laboratory experiments have been carried out on a pilot scale and in some cases on semi-industrial scale by applying specific technological processes, namely hydro-gravitational concentration, bio-oxidation, non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (microwaves), solubilization without utilizing cyanide and gold recovery by ion-exchange resin. This paper presents the research results, technological principles as well as the possibilities of applying combined processes in order to treat different secondary gold-bearing resources.

Jan 1, 2006

By T. C. Rao, N. Suresh, M. Vanangamudi

Experiments have been conducted on a 76¬mm water-only cyclone treating cowl below 2 mm size having different proportion of -0.075 mm fines. The effect of cone angle of the cyclone (compound cone) has been analyzed on water split, separation of -0.075 mm fines, separation of coarse solids, and on separation behavior of individual size ructions of the feed. It has been noted from the results that there exists a linear relationship between the flow rate of water in the feed and flow rate of water reporting to overflow stream. This relationship is independent of the cone angle and, with changes in the fines content in the feed, only the intercept of the straight varies, keeping the slope constant. Further, it has also been found that the percentage of fines below 0.075 mm reporting to the overflow is directly proportional to the percentage of feed wafer reporting to the overflow. This relationship is found to be independent of the cone angle and the fines in the feed. The performance of the water-only cyclone has been analyzed by plotting partition curves for different experimental conditions. In addition to this, the Rosin-Rammler equation has been fitted to the partition curves of the hulk feed and individual size-fractions. Tile analysis of the results has revealed that the specific gravity of separation increases with increase in the cone angle of the cyclone while it decreases with increase in percent fines present in the feed. Mathematical relationships have been developed to relate the variation in SG50 with cone angle and percent fines in the feed.

Jan 1, 1990

By Adrian Smith

14.1 INTRODUCTION From the time the last recoverable gold is extracted from ore on a heap leach, the ore - now spent ore - changes from being the resource, indeed the raison d'etre of the operator, to a potential liability. The spent ore contains process chemicals and constituents leached from the ore both in the interstitial pore water in the heap and on the surfaces of spent ore. If these chemical species were released to the environment, it could have a potential impact on the quality of both surface water and groundwater resources. Accordingly, the spent ore must be left in a condition where it does not present a potential environmental liability. This can be accomplished either on a decommissioned pad or, if the heap leach is operated as a load/unload scheme, in a waste facility. In general, the residual cyanide level in the spent ore is the perceived controlling factor when determining whether the leached material is suitable for abandonment. Regulatory authorities set permit conditions for heap leach abandonment in terms of residual cyanide levels, for example, Smith and Struhsacker (1987). This chapter discusses cyanide degradation and methods for detoxifying a heap leach in order to meet regulatory limits/permit conditions for abandonment. Cyanide degradation and detoxification by "natural" processes are described initially, based on the chemistry and geochemistry discussed in Chapter 13. This leads to a review of chemical treatment processes for detoxification of spent ore. The advantages and apparent disadvantages are then appraised. 14.2 NATURAL DEGRADATION AND DETOXIFICATION For the purposes of discussion, "natural" detoxification processes can be divided into two alternatives: • Passive abandonment (the so-called "do nothing" option); and • Water In the first alternative, the spent ore is merely left on the leach pad to age; the second alternative involves the flushing of the spent ore with water.

Jan 1, 1988

By David R. Quigley, Patrick R. Dugan

First reports of microbial coal solubilization appeared in the early 1980's (Fakoussa, 1981; Fakoussa and Truper, 1983; Cohen and Gabriele, 1982). These degradations, which occurred at ambient temperature and pressure, resulted in a dark brown to black viscous liquid and required days to weeks to occur. Rates and degrees of coal biodegradation varied from coal to coal. Hard coals were not extensively degraded (5-7%) while low-rank coals such as Leonardite, a sublignite, were completely solubilized. A correlation between degree of weathering or oxidation of coal and the coals susceptibility to biological attack was observed. This led to oxidative pretreatments as a method to enhance microbial degradation of coal (Strandberg and Lewis, 1986). Products of microbial degradation of coal are water soluble solids that do not have significant solubilities in organic solvents (Wilson, et. al., 1987; Quigley, et. al., 1987; Quigley, et. al., 1988a). Solutions of solubilized coal did not separate or form precipitates which suggested that they were true solutions and not colloidal suspensions. Biosolubilized coal contained more oxygen than starting material suggesting that microbial attack of coals involved oxidative cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds. This small change in oxygen content was the only change observed in coal structure during the biosolubilization process. Many coal solubilizing microorganisms have been isolated. Some are lignin degrading organisms such as Phanerochaete chrysosporium and various Streptomyces species (Gupta, et. al., 1988; Wilson, et. al., 1987). This was not unexpected since the structures of lignin and low-rank coals are similar. These organisms produce an enzyme complex, ligninase, that utilizes hydrogen peroxide to oxidatively cleave the bond between a and ß carbons of an aliphatic chain bound to an aromatic nucleus. Another important organism is Trametes versacolor (syn. Coriolus versacolor, Polyporus versacolor). Even though this organism produces a ligninase (Dodson, et.al., 1987), coal solubilization has been attributed to the enzyme laccase (Pyne, et. al., 1987). Laccase utilizes molecular oxygen to oxidatively cleave a - ß bonds using a mechanism similar to that observed for ligninases (Kawai, et. al., 1988). Other coal solubilizing microorganisms have been isolated from coal outcrops (Ward, 1985; Ward, 1988), but enzyme activities responsible for coal solubilization have not been identified. Research at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory has focused on those mechanisms involved in coal biosolubilization. An

Jan 1, 1989

By M. S. Kabibwa, E. K. C. Chanda

In planning for the future, Nkana Division deepened the Mindola sub-vertical shaft which was commissioned in 1994 in order to access the 30 Mt of ore between 1274 and 1570 m levels. The Nkana Synclinorium which is estimated to contain 250 Mt of ore is being accessed from the vicinity of Central Shaft. These areas are being planned with the intention of maximizing the use of computers in geological modelling and mine design so as to overcome the inadequacies of manual planning techniques. As a result, there is an increased demand for quality output from the computerized mine planning system the division has been developing over the last few years. A new workstation comprising the Hewlett Packard HP 71 51100 MHz and a CRX graphics monitor was acquired in 1995 together with the LYNX (version 3.09 and version 4.0) Mine Modelling System. Currently the workstation is being used for geological modelling and mine design for the Zerofold at Central Shaft and the Mindola mining at depth project. AutoCAD and Mine Works Planner have been added to the sys- tem configuration. Mine Works Planner is likely to replace Lo- tus123 for mine scheduling tasks. Computer applications in the area of mine planning at Nkana has led to considerable time savings and improved efficiency in areas formerly performed manually and has allowed speedy processing of data that would otherwise have proved too time consuming. Nevertheless, a lot of work still needs to be done in the areas of geostatistics, stope design and financial modelling of mining options. For the foreseeable future computer based planning will operate parallel to manual methods until such a time as sufficient personnel are proficient in the use of computer systems. This paper describes the program of computerization at Nkana Division, reviews current applications and the benefits and experience gained and discusses the promise of current and future developments.

Jan 1, 1996

By Anna Marabini

This paper provides a summary of the studies performed over a period of more than fifteen years by the Italian National Research Council's Mineral Processing Institute in Rome to develop applications for the use of chelating reagents in the flotation of metallic minerals. A description is given of the various phases through which the studied progressed, starting with the combined use of commercial chelating reagents and a neutral oil and then moving on to the synthesis of new long-chain chelate collectors for the flotation of sulphide and oxidized Pb, Zn and Cu minerals. After a series of preliminary tests which confirmed the possibility of floating various metallic minerals with commercial reagents containing chelating groups exerting specific action on given cations, the studies were addressed to the development of a theoretical method of choosing chelating groups that exert selective action on one metallic mineral rather than others. The theoretical approach was based on thermodynamic data concerning the chemical equilibria in solution. The validity of the method has been proved in numerous cases by flotation tests on pure minerals. Subsequently the research was directed towards the design and synthesis of reagents with a mixed aliphatic-aromatic structure containing chelating groups for Pb and Zn and an alcoxyl chain of various length, position and configuration. The flotation results obtained on oxidized and mixed Zn-Pb ores provided interesting pointers for designing the nonpolar portion. The structural criteria identified via these studies were interpreted on the basis of chemical and steric considerations. A description is given of a new synthetic chelate collector which is effective in the selective flotation of Cu minerals from complex sulphides. The fact that this reagents is more selective than xanthate is demonstrated by comparative flotation tests on actual ores.

Jan 1, 1994

By Elvin R. Beach, Jaroslaw Drelich

Pull-off forces were measured for 8-9 pm diameter polystyrene (PSI particles on smooth spin- coated polystyrene films and hexadecanethiol (HDT) self-assemble monolayer surfaces using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Three parameters were controlled during experimentation: (i) the maximum applied load pressing the particle onto the substrate was varied from 50 to 4,000 nN, (ii) loading/unloading rate for the particle to attach and separate from the substrate varied from 0.01 to 9.3 Hz, and (iii) contact time for particle to reside on the substrate surface before retracting the particle to separate it from the surface changed from I µsecond to 200 seconds. the pull-off forces increased with increasing applied loading, increasing loading/unloading rate, and increasing contact time for the PS particle on PS film and on HDT monolayer. The PS particles experience elastic and plastic deformations duringpull-08 force measurements. Plastic deformation is primarily associated with flattening of surface irregularities. The results obtained in this research suggest that the particle-substrate contact areas of the magnitude comparable to those predicted by the JKR contact mechanical model can be reached in the AFM experiments by using high applied loads and long particle-substrate contact times. This result re-opens the prospect of' using AFM for studying surface energies of deformable micro-particles, even if the micro-particles have small irregularities on the surface.

Jan 1, 2003

By Stanislaw Wasilewski, Zdzislaw Krzystanek

The CMC-3 new generation system for continuous methane monitoring enables on-line measurement of methane concentration within the range of 0-100% CH4 with a great autonomy of operation. In principle the system has been worked out in the asspect of hazard detection in mines endangered with rock and gas outbursts. But after last crash in the Halemba colliery, according to the recommendation of the after-accident committee, the system was directed to this colliery for operational tests. The paper describes construction and functions of this system and gives some results of tests conducted at the Halemba colliery. The results point out the necessity of using monitoring equipment of continuous operation in mines of high dynamics of methane emission. INTRODUCTION Commonly used in Polish coal mining the methane monitoring systems of CTT/63/46 Up or CMM-20 and CMC-1 type are based on cyclic measurements with 4-minute repetition of measurements. This period has been stated sufficient from viewpoint of methane emission dynamics under normal exploatation. In these systems, automatic switching-off electrical power is performed by the surface station, i.e in case of detecting exceeded concentration value the station generates control pulse signal which actuates the switchng-off devices CRA and IZZO. Such a way of disconnection causes a considerable time delay, up to several minutes, in electric power break at hazardous areas. In the methane monitoring system with the new CMC-3 station, the different phylosophy of operation has been applied. Measurement of methane concentration is performed in a continnous way. In case of exceeding the alarm value, immediate control of the IZZO unit directly by methane monitor follows and consequently energy break without necessity of communicating with the surface station. Alarm values are set directly in methane monitor. The system ensures central powering of underground equipment from the surface, and in case of power failure the methane monitor equipped with battery operates autonomously for about 12 hours. Such an extention of the methane monitor funtionality has been achieved thanks to the use of internal microprocessor controller. The system with the CMC-3 station has been worked out in the aspect of methane hazard detection in mines exposed to gas outbursts. But after last gas explosion, according the desicion of the After-accident Commitee, the system was installed in the Halemba coliery where it underwent operational tests. Besides

Jan 1, 1993

Acid mine drainage (AMD) forms when sulfide minerals are exposed to oxidizing conditions in coal and metal mining, highway construction, and other large-scale excavations. Iron sulfides common in coal regions are predominately pyrite and marcasite (FeS2), but other metals may be complexed with sulfides forming chalcopyrite (CuFeS2), covellite (CuS), galena (PbS), and sphalerite (ZnS). Pyrite commonly occurs with these other metal sulfides thereby causing AMD where Cu, Pb, and Zn are mined. Upon exposure to water and oxygen, sulfide minerals oxidize to form acidic, sulfate-rich drainage. Metal concentrations in AMD depend on the type and quantity of sulfide minerals present. The drainage quality emanating from underground mines or backfills of surface mines is dependent on the acid-producing (sulfide) and alkaline (carbonate) minerals contained in the disturbed rock. In general, sulfide-rich and carbonate-poor materials produce acidic drainage. In contrast, alkaline-rich materials, even with significant sulfide concentrations, often produce alkaline conditions in water. Approximately 20,000 km of streams and rivers in the United States are degraded by AMD. About 90% of the AMD reaching streams originates in abandoned surface and deep mines. Since no company or individual claims responsibility for reclaiming abandoned mine lands (AML), no treatment of the AMD occurs and continual contamination of surface and groundwater resources results. The oxidation of iron disulfides and the generation of acidity occur through several reactions (Stumm and Morgan, 1970). The chemical equations can be found in Caruccio and Geidel (2000). If any of the processes represented by the equations were slowed or altogether stopped, the generation of AMD would also slow or cease. The equations show that 1000 Mg of rock containing 1% sulfur, all as pyrite, would yield upon complete reaction 31.25 Mg of acidity. Therefore, 31.25 Mg of 100% CaCO3 would be required to neutralize the acidity. The alkaline content of overburden determines whether there is enough neutralization potential (NP) to counteract the acid produced from pyrite oxidation. Of the many types of alkaline compounds present in rocks, only carbonates and clays occur in sufficient quantity to effectively neutalize AMD. A balance between the acid-producing potential and neutralizing capacity of an overburden sample will indicate the ultimate acidity or alkalinity that might be expected in the material upon complete weathering. Accurate prediction and control of AMD before surface mining require an understanding of three important factors: 1) overburden geochemistry, 2) method and precision of overburden handling and placement in the backfill during reclamation, and 3) the postmining hydrology of the site.

Jan 1, 2002

By Daniel McConvey

Who is the Investor? -Mainly institutional, including resource funds, other mutual funds and pension funds. -Some hedge funds. -Retail investors. -How important is the reserve disclosure to these investors? -Do these investors know the difference between a reserve and a resource?

Jan 1, 2003

By F. C. Turin, T. L. Friend, A. G. Mayton, J. S. Jaspal, W. J. Wiehagen

This paper describes the serious injuries that have occurred to bulldozer operators working at domestic coal, metal and nonmetal mines in the United States. A serious injury is defined as one that results in either a fatality or in lost work time. Examined were 873 injury records compiled by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The time period covered was 1988 through 1997. These injuries resulted in 18 fatalities and 31,866 lost work days. All of these injuries occurred to dozer operators while they were performing common production tasks. An injury classification system was developed to code the narrative information that describes the circumstances surrounding the injuries. Jolts and jars accounted, for 604 or 70% of the serious injuries to bulldozer operators, and jolts and jars accounted for 75% of the workdays lost. Vertical jars comprised the largest set (354 incidents) of jolting and jarring injuries. In more than half of these incidents, the operator was backing up the dozer. Working near an edge carries significant risk for fatal injuries. Of 116 incidents where the dozer fell over an edge, rolled over or fell into a hidden void, 14 (12%) resulted in fatal injuries. In cases where the dozer operator either jumped or was thrown out of the cab in a fallover or rollover, seven out of 17 of the operators were killed. This study finds that further reductions in injury risk would require more widespread use of seat belts; consideration (and maintenance) of the seat and seat suspension systems that might reduce injury risk from jolts and jars; research interventions to assess the effect of alternative engineering designs to dampen or isolate the effects of shock and vibration; and continued attention to skilled performance, i.e., the integration of hazard awareness, recognition and response with dozer operational skills.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. Plesha, A. Zubelewicz, K. Connor, T. B. Belytschko, O&apos

INTRODUCTION The Northwestern University Rigid Block Model (NURBM) has been extended to explicitly model dilatant behavior of rock joints. By incorporating dilatancy, the resistance to shear displacement and slip, which previously was limited to simple Coulomb friction, along edge-to- edge contacts is now provided by contact roughness as well as frictional resistance. The explicit formulation is based on concepts presented by Plesha (1985) in which a plasticity-based phenomenological approach was used to model dilatant joint behavior. This approach has been modified to allow for joint closure upon reversal of shear deformation. After presenting a brief description of the new joint constitutive relationship, model behavior will be illustrated with two examples. The first involves a simple two-block model to simulate a cyclic direct shear test of a single joint. The second example involves simulation of a large cavern in a moderately jointed rock mass subjected to cyclic excitation. It will be shown that in- creasing joint roughness increases cavern stability by interlocking of adjacent blocks. JOINT CONSTITUTIVE RELATIONSHIP Within NURBM adjacent two-dimensional rigid blocks interact along their common edge-to-edge contact with contact forces transmitted at the contact midpoint. The contact constitutive relationship was originally restricted to a Coulomb friction yield criterion with no tensile stresses permitted along the smooth contact surfaces. The local coordinate system for any contact is described as shown in Figure 1 with the elastic stresses and displacements related by the linear- elastic constitutive law: [ ] The contact microstructure has been modeled as Patton-type saw-tooth surfaces such as shown in Figure 2. Sliding can be active along the right asperity with angle aR and length lR or along the left asperity with angle a and length lL. In general, aR and aL will difkr as will lR and lL but for purposes of this paper it has been assumed that these angles and lengths are identical. By a simple transformation, the microscopic asperity stresses can be expressed in terms of the macroscopic contact stresses [ ] If Coulomb friction is assumed along the asperity surfaces, the plastic slip condition will be [ ] where µ is the friction coefficient with the convention that compressive stress is negative. When F is negative, the behavior is elastic and when F is zero, slip can ensure. When plastic slipping does occur, it is assumed that the relative tangential and normal displacements between the two contacting rigid blocks are additively composed of recoverable elastic parts and nonrecoverale plastic parts, [ ]

Jan 1, 1986

By Randall E. Brown

Irrigation simulates a climate change so that crops can be grown that otherwise would not thrive. The abundant sunshine and warm weather of many arid regions induces a rate of growth in excess of that in cooler, moister regions. Hence, the arid part of eastern Washington, traversed by the Columbia River, is admirably suited to irrigation. The Pasco Basin lies in south-central Washington at the south end of the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The Basin, because it lies in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains, receives only 6 to 10 inches of precipitation a year with somewhat greater amounts, commonly as snow, on the higher hills. Recent extremes included 3 inches of precipitation from August 1967 to August 1968, and 12 inches in the succeeding "12 months. Most of the precipitation falls during winter. If it were to fall in summer or were evenly distributed throughout the year, evaporation rates probably would produce a true desert.

Jan 1, 1971

By H. Kempton

New methods for remediating metals-contaminated groundwater include in-situ emplacement of highly adsorptive substrates to permanently retard solutes. Substrates are introduced by sequential injection of soluble components that precipitate in the aquifer, forming a permanent high-retardation zone. This method overcomes the factors that limit pump-and-treat remediation; i.e, long-term source loading and slow desorption. Column tests demonstrated efficient substrate emplacement, increasing retardation coefficients of Cr(VI) by 20 and As(V) by 40. Similar effectiveness is expected for other heavy metals. Simulations using a coupled advective-geochemical model accurately matched substrate emplacement and arsenic attenuation, allowing extrapolation to other constituents and larger-scale applications.

Jan 1, 1999

By C. M. Walck

The Rosebud district is located in the Kamma Mountains, southeast of the townsite of Sulphur, Nevada. Since discovery in 1989, LAC Minerals, in joint venture with Equinox Resources, has delineated a resource containing approximately 570,000 ounces of gold and 5,500,000 ounces of silver. The deposit is of the volcanic-hosted epithermal quartz-sericite type. Mineralization occurs in tabular zones in and along the hanging wall of the South Ridge fault, and in cross-cutting high-angle structures. Multiple stages of discontinuous stockwork gold-and silver-bearing quartz-calcite-clay veins cut variably clay-altered, silicified, and sericitized rhyolitic Miocene volcanic rocks.

Jan 1, 1993

By G. Hwang, S. Park, H. Kim, J. Choi, P. Seo

"In the mineral processing, clay minerals have negative effects on the flotation of valuable minerals. In this study, we investigated how the floatability of malachite (CuCO3·Cu(OH)2) is affected by presence of the clay minerals in the fundamental aspects. Flotation experiments were conducted by using Na2S and PAX (potassium amyl xanthate), and the floatability of malachite was compared between the cases in the presence and absence of clay minerals. The results showed that floatability was greater in the absence of clay minerals than in the presence of clay minerals and decreased with increasing weight percent of kaolinite under same conditions applied. In addition to examine how clay minerals affect malachite floatability, we conducted flotation experiment with changing clay adding order. The results indeed showed that malachite floatability was affected by clay adding sequence. INTRODUCTION The demand of copper is growing as industrial development increases, but mineral resources are limited. Therefore, studies for Cu oxide flotation are being conducted to improve their recovery(1-3). However the mining industry is well aware of the difficulty in treating copper ores in the presence of clay minerals(4). Clay minerals have unique properties and these properties may affect flotation. In the previous studies, the effect of slime coating of clay minerals on flotation was investigated(4-6). For example, Zhao and Peng (2014), Peng and Zhao (2015), and Arnold and Aplan (1986) found that clay slime coating on chalcopyrite, chalcocite and coal surfaces through the electrostatic attraction reduced surface hydrophobicity and then depressed the flotation. Other researchers have also reported clay minerals have impact on pulp rheology. Especially in the case of bentonite, pulp viscosity increased with increasing amount of bentonite and the higher pulp viscosity have deleterious effect on copper recovery(7, 8). However, these studies only focus on slime coatings and pulp rheological behavior. Forbes et al. attempted to decoupling rheology and slime coatings effect on flotation but this study has limitation that individual role of two clay species either attached to mineral or suspended in bulk solution was excluded(9). Hence, in this study, we aimed to investigating the effects of individual clay (suspended and attached) on malachite flotation."

Jan 1, 2016