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By A. G. Matyas

Process improvements which have reduced the lead content of slag from the Brunswick lead blast furnace are described. Microscope examination and electron microprobe analyses, supported by the results of slag settling and viscosity tests, showed that typically about 70% of the lead in the lead blast-furnace slag was present in the form of entrained prills of metallic lead. The total lead content was found to increase with the magnetic susceptibility of the slag. Measurements in the furnace settler indicated the presence of a magnetite-rich layer between bullion and slag, arising from high magnetite levels in the slag. This layer was believed to inhibit the settling of entrained lead from the slag. Tracer tests showed that the average slag residence time in the settler was less than 2 minutes. Improvements in coke quality and sizing, which led to a reduction in the slag magnetite content, and the installation of a larger settler and a continuous Roy tapper, have all contributed to a significant decrease in the slag lead content.

Jan 1, 1977

By Robert E. Loftus

"The author discusses the growth in the use of ocean-going bulk carriers for the transportation of mineral commodities, and predicts future trends. The various types of tonnage carriers are described, along with the special discharging gear used, the costs involved and the duties of some of the personnel.THE FIRST CONSIDERATION in planning the ocean transportation of minerals is the type of vessel to be utilized. The modern 'Bulk Carrier' bas proved to be the most successful vehicle for the purpose. I would there-fore like to describe this fleet in some detail and at-tempt to show the impact that the bulk carrier bas bad on the movement of bulk materials."

Jan 1, 1968

By A. G. Spencer, A. D. Taylor

This paper discusses some of the advantages and problems associated with the selection of large unit equipment for a metallurgical plant. A given flowsheet and material balance for an iron ore concentrator is assumed. Then two plant designs are developed, one utilizing a number of smaller-size equipment units and one utilizing the largest available equipment units. The mechanical and electrical problems are discussed and a comparison of capital costs is made. Finally, brief consideration is given to a plant de-sign using units larger than those which are currently available.

Jan 1, 1968

By P. M. Dranchuk

"""PLANET EARTH seen from space appears as a fragile and limited life-supporting system in a vast emptiness. That such a view is, in fact, an accurate one is now more widely accepted than it was not long ago, before Earth's problems of over-population, overconsumption, limited resources and environmental degradation attained the limelight. The danger is that a government and public now deluged by doomsday prophecies and bemused by equally confident reiterations that technology will cure all may hesitate in coming to grips with the problem, in the hope that, given time, it will go away."" With these words, Preston Cloud begins a recent editorial, in Science(l), in which he presents a brief resume of some of the findings of the Committee on Resources and Man of the National Academy of Science-National Research Council(20.Their report, which is based on a two-year study by an extremely competent group and consists of some 250 pages of text, is even more far-reaching and sobering than the report on Energy Resources(3). It begins by quoting Sir Macfarlane Burnet as follows:""There are three imperatives: to reduce war to a minimum; to stabilize human population, and to pre-vent the progressive destruction of the earth's irreplaceable resources.(4)"

Jan 1, 1971

By Frank Otten, Jochen Greinacher

"In July 2017, Deilmann-Haniel signed a contract with IOO Slavkaliy to sink two 750 metre (m) deep freeze shafts for the Nezhinsky Potash mine in Belarus. This is the second shaft project where this technology is employed after two over 1,000 m deep shafts for a potash project in Saskatchewan, Canada, have been sunk by the application of the Herrenknecht Shaft Boring Roadheader (SBR) technology. Developed to sink shafts for green field projects in soft to medium hard rock, in frozen or unfrozen geology, the machine technology utilizes a roadheader-type cutterhead on a telescopic boom to mechanically excavate the rock, and a pneumatic mucking system to convey the muck from the face into the buckets. This leads to a manless face during the sinking cycle and thus a significant improvement in terms of workplace safety. For the Nezhinsky project, the SBR design was significantly modified in close cooperation between Deilmann-Haniel and Herrenknecht, based on the available experience and the special requirements of the project. Such modifications have been for example the adaptation of the Pneumatic Mucking System to cope with wet material as well as dry as originally planned or the shaft lining moving from shotcrete application to jump for and tubbing installation for which a step-change hands-off tubbing erector for the placement of segments was designed. Further modifications to optimize the machine technology for the requirements during shaft sinking were applied on the two machines for the Slavkaliy project as well as several revisions to match the special project requirements. The SBR is suitable for soft and medium hard rock up to 100 MPa UCS. The main design limits are maximum weight of the machine with 400 tonnes and length or height of 50 m due to the depth of the pre-sink. The Pneumatic Mucking System was changed in all components, sheaves and rope arrangement were redesigned and the concept of the hoist system was also re-engineered. The SBR in Belarus is configured for a daily sinking rate of three metres and all systems behind the cutting boom are not the bottle neck of the whole system. The works on site started in November 2017 including freeze hole drilling, construction works, site setup, installation of hoists winches, permanent headgears and other components required for sinking. The SBRs arrived on site in June/July 2018 and were preassembled on surface and then lowered into the 50 m pre-sink. SBR #1 started full face sinking in mid-December 2018, and SBR #2 in late January 2019. By the end of February 2019, the machines were at 150 m and 100 m depth respectively, and achieved up to 3.6 m/day concrete lined shaft. The SBR and the sinking system, the experiences, problems, technical solutions and performances of this challenging project will be presented in this paper."

Jan 1, 2019

By G. J. Heferen, A. Pranowo, N. J. Aslin, P. O. Eriksson

Glencore Technology (GT) has over four decades experience supplying stainless steel cathode plates (“cathode plates”) to the electro-refining and electro-winning industry. Cathode plates are typically the single biggest capital investment in a refinery. Refineries may view cathode plates as fixed asset or consumables depending on their operational characteristics. This paper examines the issue of cathode plate life and the strategies and philosophies used by different plants in the management of their cathode plate asset. Some plants operate with their original plates after more than 20 years. Others accept high turnover and regular maintenance as normal operating practice. Reference data are provided on plate life for various operating plants including benchmark plants achieving best-practice plate life and operating cost. The role of the electrode handling equipment on cathode plate longevity is also examined, including latest developments in Cathode Stripping Machine, robotic copper stripping, and full-automation production cranes. The ability to identify and manage the population of plates in service is also critical for maximising plate life and minimising its overall operating cost. This paper discusses a novel and unique RFID system for tracking and managing cathode plate inventory. INTRODUCTION Permanent cathode plates The adoption of permanent stainless steel cathode electrodes in the electro-refining of copper was the most significant process development since the first commercial electro-refineries were built in the late 19th century. It provided significant improvement over the labour intensive and complicated starter sheet system. Copper grows over the permanent cathode blade for a number of days before being stripped, and the permanent cathode can be returned straight back to cells for the next cathode cycle. Glencore Technology (formerly Mount Isa Mines (MIM), then Xstrata Technology) has been manufacturing permanent stainless steel cathode plates from the late 1970s with the birth of ISA PROCESS™, and the Kidd process that came one decade later. Invented and commercialised by Mount Isa Mines, the ISA PROCESS™ was first implemented into Copper Refineries Limited (CRL), Townsville, in 1978. The KIDD PROCESS by Falconbridge evolved in the 1980s and was first implemented into the Kidd Creek Tankhouse, both operations converting from traditional copper starter sheets.

Jan 1, 2019

By J. E. Danoczi

ABSTRACT A diamond processing plant is being designed for the Star–Orion South diamond project in central Saskatchewan. Key to the plant is diamond liberation, which occurs in the comminution section and is the process of breaking up kimberlite rock as gently as possible to minimize diamond damage, particularly in larger, high-value diamonds. Kimberlite from the crater area of a volcanic pipe is generally softer than kimberlite from the diatreme zone. Softer kimberlite, comprising the majority of Star– Orion South deposits, can be readily broken up using abrasion and attrition by autogenous grinding mills, the preferred comminution method for minimizing diamond damage.

Jan 1, 2013

By J. Bouchard, A. Desbiens, M. Maldonado, R. del Villar

ABSTRACT: Despite many years of practical applications in mineral processing plants, the potential of column flotation has still not been fully exploited. The challenge in measuring some key variables is certainly an important contributing factor to this situation. Reliable online measurement of variables, such as the froth depth, bias, gas hold-up, frother concentration, bubble surface area flux, and bubble size distribution, provides opportunities for the application of various advanced control strategies and real-time optimization based on an economic criterion. For several years, Université Laval’sLaboratoire d’observation et d’optimisation des procédés researchers have been working on these opportunities. This paper describes the most recent advances and current research trends.

Jan 1, 2011

By R. L. Every, A. G. Fonseca

"Sulphur deposition on the internal wall of a pipeline is caused by the temperature effect on the solubility of sulphur in the carrier fluid and is not due to particulate sulphur present. Deposition can be completely eliminated by proper insulation of the pipeline to prevent ""cold-spots"" and the resultant temperature gradient necessary for sulphur to precipitate from solution. Friction head losses for sulphur-condensate slurry systems are quite acceptable from a technical and economic standpoint and, in fact, are less than many present commercial slurry systems. Slurry transportation of sulphur in a hydrocarbon pipeline is a viable possibility and promises to have economic advantage over currently accepted transportation modes."

Jan 1, 1972

By A. Brown

IN INTRODUCING the subject of rock pressures, it may safely be assumed that mining men are only too familiar with the physical effects of strata stresses that accompany the extraction of minerals. It may be further assumed that they have, as individuals, arrived at certain conclusions regarding their nature, based upon years spent in observing such phenomena and in learning how to continue mining in spite of them. Such hardly won experience forms the core of what is often referred to as 'pit sense'. This essential type of knowledge is not ?based on theoretical considerations, nor can it be found in text books. It is highly individualistic in nature and almost impossible to pass on from one generation to another in terms of precise rules for guidance. It is this aspect of individual judgment based on practical experience that has led to the significant phrase The Art of Mining.

Jan 1, 1956

By M. Dupuis

It has been previously demonstrated [1,2] that using selective collector bar rodding has a big impact on the uniformity of the current density at the top surface of the cathode block and hence on the intensity of the horizontal current in the metal pad, The present study investigates the impact of using selective collector bar rodding on the MHD stability of a 500 kA aluminium electrolysis cell, For this purpose the recently developed MHD package for the aluminium reduction cell time dependent behavior is used.

Jan 1, 2005

By Leslie S. Weldon

THE Lake Shore mine has been developed by two vertical shafts, with level intervals at 200 feet to the 2200 level and at 125 feet below this horizon. A main cross-cut joins the two shafts on all levels to the bottom of No. 3 shaft, and opening into these cross-cuts are the ore passes and sand passes, which are completed from surface To the 4450 level. In the west part of the mine, additional connections have been made between No. 1 and No. 2 veins, through which the major part of the ore from No. 2 vein west is routed to drifts in No. 1 vein. With the lesser amount of stoping on No. 1 vein, this arrangement permits better haulage to be maintained. The ore passes are driven at 50 degrees from the ends of short cross-cuts off the main ones and are broken through to the levels above at the mouths of the short cross-cuts, to allow for dumping on each level. The passes are controlled at each level by ball-and-chain gates and deliver to crushers and thence to loading pockets, shown in Figure 1. That system is quite flexible in that it is possible to by-pass the crushers at any station and load from either shaft at a number of different pockets. The sand passes are driven from the main cross-cuts at the same inclination as, and parallel to, the ore passes. Each is equipped with a chute and dump hole, so that waste or sand fill may be loaded or dumped at each level. A transfer door, hinged on the bottom, is installed opposite the chute for by-passing fill from one level to the next, and in the closed position protects the opening at the top of the pass. The dump hole situated beside the transfer door is protected by a grizzly with 10-inch spaces. Waste rock may be withdrawn from the system through No. 3 shaft loading pocket at the 2950 level to a waste bin on surface. Levels are developed by drifts in No. 1 and No. 2 veins for their entire lengths. Subsidiary breaks are followed at a later date, when full information has been obtained by exploration, and a considerable amount of development by sub-drifts is carried out in the upper part of the mine, particularly in more or less erratic sections of No. 1 vein.

Jan 1, 1936

By Erwin L. Zodrow

THE AUTHORS welcome this timely opportunity to comment o n a paper by MacLean and Merner (" Room-and- Pillar Mining at the Prince Mine of the Cape Breton Development Corporation " , ClM Bulletin , June 1978, pp. 59-62) concerning the rock falls and their relation to "a change in the strata". First, however, it is proper to express our gratitude to the Cape Breton Development Corporation, and in particular to A. R. MacLean, for making it possible for us at the College of Cape Breton to start two new collections. The first of these is a fossil plant reference collection from the Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton (Upper Carboniferous period) , and the second is a documentation of the role o f pyrite in the formation of hydrated sulphates (samples from No. 26 Colliery, 1-B Mine, and the Prince Mine at Point Aconi). Conditions of sedimentation in the deltaic-type basin of the Upper Carboniferous time in the Point Aconi area were such that on the (coal) swamp, now represented by the Stubbart (or Hub) seam , (a) clays of varying thickness and extent were deposited , (b) biogenetic sulphur was introduced and (c) flora were buried. These are essentially the culprit s that make rock falls possible and at the same time predictable over large areas (in the present mine). The clays lithified to become shale, and biogenetic sulphur combined with iron to become pyrite (marcasite?), which exists as nodules and in fine-grained layers.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. B. Kang

Magnesium has poor ductility at temperatures lower than 225°C and, as a result, Mg alloy sheets are produced via fairly complex thermomechanical processes consisting of numerous sequential steps of hot (warm) rolling with low reduction and intermediate recrystallization annealing operations. In context of the present study, a simple technology for the fabrication of magnesium sheets by hot (warm) rolling was applied to various magnesium alloys. The misch metal addition in those AZ alloys was done to evaluate the deformation behavior. Tensile tests were carried out for those AZ alloys after applying different heat treatments. The precipitation of ß phase (Mg17Al12 phase) induced different microstructures with various cooling method from solution treatment temperature, and also with various annealing treatment temperatures.

Jan 1, 2006

By P. C. Benedict

"The Island Mountain mine is at the southeast end of Island mountain; across Jack of Clubs lake from the Cariboo Gold Quartz mine.; The orebodies consist of quartz veins and pyritic replacement deposits in limestone. To December 31; 1944; there has been mined 296; 273 tons of quartz-vein ore averaging about 0.34 oz. gold a ton; and 101; 002 tons of sulphide ore averaging about 0.83 oz. gold a ton; a total of 397; 275 tons averaging 0.46 oz. From this; 175; 985 fine oz. of gold and about 26; 450 fine oz. of silver were recovered; having a value of $6; 510; 521.More than 95 per cent of the production has come from a band 500 feet wide along the contact of the Rainbow and overlying Baker members and extending about 100 feet into the latter. Evidence that the Rainbow belongs stratigraphically above the Baker is presented later in this paper. Both members are most variable lithologically, and individual beds and whole series of beds pinch out in short distances. In part, at least, this is due to squeezing out incidentally to intense folding. No section can be claimed with assurance to be really representative. However, both memb.ers are composed predominantly of quartzitic rocks. Both contain argillaceous quartzite, argillite, limy quartzite, limy argillite, limestone (marble), and minor amounts of highly ankeritized rocks believed to be igneous sills possibly originally approaching diorite in composition."

Jan 1, 1954

By M. E. Wilson

"The property of McWatters Gold Mines, Limited, is in the east-central part of Rouyn township and about 6 miles east-southeast of the town of Rouyn. It includes 35 claims, the group of 5, staked originally, and 30 claims acquired in later years. The Rouyn-Val d'Or road and the Noranda Senneterre branch of the Canadian National railway both pass within a few hundred feet of the mine.The group of claims in which the mine occurs was first staked in 1922, but gold was not discovered until August 1932 when a schistose zone including veins of quartz carrying considerable free gold was laid bare in a stripped area in the northeastern part of claim R.11604. Diamond drilling undertaken in 1932, and continued into 1933, shouwd that the gold extended for at least 1,000 feet along the strike. A 3-compartment shaft was sunk to 418 feet in 1933. A mill having a capacity of 50 tons a day was constructed in 1934, and enlarged to 150 tons in 1935. Production began in 1934 and continued without interruption to June 1944. Except for a few diamond drill holes, there have been no operations on the property since that time. The maximum depth of the mine workings is 1,50) feet. A total of 368,013 tons of ore having a value of $3,946,752 and an average grade of $11.04 was mined during the years of operation.GEOLOGYThe ore mined from the property occurred within the south limb of an eastward plunging syncline of volcanics and sediments cut off on the north by the Cadillac-Bouzan Lake fault. Because the rock formations within the syncline have been severed from those outside with which they were originally continuous, their correlation is based almost wholly on lithological similarity. They include an irregular middle zone of conglomerate and greywacke underlain by north and south bands of andesite agglomerate and andesite tuff, in which lenticular bands of pillowed andesite are included."

Jan 1, 1954

Although Canadian bentonite is competitive in quality for most uses, it has not been accepted for the pelletizing of iron ore concentrates. In 1962, Canada consumed about 10,000 tons of imported bentonite for this use. By the end of 1965, the planned domestic consumption for this purpose alone will probably be more than 100,000 tons a year, valued at about $3 million. Consequently, a challenge exists for the establishment of a Canadian source of high-quality bentonite for pelletizing. Such a bentonite would also be suitable for the two other major applications -well drilling and foundry use. Brief mention is made of such topics as the identification, 1noperties, occurrences, exploration, applications, technology and laboratory testing of this clay. In particular, the type of bentonite in demand, the geological horizons warranting exploration, and simple preliminary test methods are discussed.

Jan 1, 1964

By M. Sengupta, A. A. de Gast

"With rapid deterioration in the urban environment caused by air pollution, the possibility of chemical reaction between dimension stone and the industrial waste gases present in the ambient atmosphere remains. The chemical reaction can cause expensive damage to building stone; it is essential that a stone evaluation for use in construction should assess the possibility of this type of decay. This paper endeavours to develop testing procedures for evaluating stone decay in polluted environments. Such tests can accompany other standard tests used in dimension- stone evaluation."

Jan 1, 1972

By Iwueze Anaekperechi Rose

The International Labor Organization has declared mandatory adequate provision of safe workplace and safety for all workers in all occupations including the mining sector. Early scientists like Agricola (1559) who studied the health of Miners, found that there are peculiar health problems associated to their work and working environment. This unsafe working condition was one of the major factors that resulted to the Industrial revolution in England and eventually led to the establishment of regulations and laws guiding operations in all workplaces and workers in England and all over the world. Recent studies by Heinrich suggested chains of events of safety issues in the mining sector. Occupational injuries, accidents and ill health have huge social and economic implications on workers, their families and communities. Top mining top issues are respiratory diseases, noise, explosives, ventilation, fire, and explosion. However, one of the principal mechanisms for achieving Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) goals and mapping the future is government regulations of employers. In Nigeria, the situation is not different; mining operations are equally hazardous and have far reaching implications. In 1995 the Ministry for Solid Minerals was established to focus on the development of other categories of mineral products ranging from gold, coal, uranium, and tantalum deposited across the country. Prior to this an Act of Parliament Act Cap 121 of 1946, was in place to regulate amongst other contents mining safety. This was subsequently reviewed following the incidence of Lead poisoning resulting from small scale miners processing gold ore highly contaminated with lead in Zamfara state (northern Nigeria). Hundreds of children died as a result of exposure to lead poisoning, it was clear that the regulations were not sufficient (details to be discussed). However, advances have been achieved in mining engineering since then. A review team was constituted to provide a more stringent law to regulate mining operations in Nigeria. The strategies for mapping the future of OHS in mining engineering will employ amongst others setting and adopting ISO/ILO standards and enforcement; providing technical assistance; and establishing sustainable developmental structures as surveillance and compensation. The management systems approach was also developed as a result of cases of accidents. The accepted international standards guidelines and requirements will be proposed. Furthermore in mapping the future for Mining Engineering, it is suggested that most countries have their own management strategies and legislation to improve safety of workers through greater consistency and efficiency of OHS programs. Some American researchers came up with the Safety Engineering Model. The Australian Mining Council of mineral and petroleum resources after the Catastrophic Maura Disaster developed the National Mine and Safety Framework. In Canada, after the Hillcrest mine disaster in 1914, Allan shaft coal mine catastrophe in 1918, Westray mine explosion in 1992 and other disasters, Occupational Health and Safety Act R.R.O 1990 was sufficiently developed to provide adequate safety conditions and standards. In Nigeria after the disastrous Zamfara lead poisoning, which claimed the lives of hundreds of children due to exposure and lack of appropriate safety measures, stringent measures were developed by the federal ministry of Justice to address and regulate mining process in Nigeria.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. Lee

As the usage of BIM increased in the construction industry, some construction owners started exploring the use of BIM for maintaining their facilities. Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBIE), a spreadsheet data format suggested in 2007 to manipulate building information, is considered as one of the solutions that would facilitate the process of transferring information from BIM to applications for facilities management. Several BIM and Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) applications offer functions to export or import the COBIE data. To facilitate the process of generating the COBIE data out of Building Information Model, some add-in applications, such as COBIE Toolkit for Revit, also were developed. However, most of these applications handle a limited amount of COBIE data. Professionals using these add-in applications therefore sometimes end up spending a significant amount of time to add additional data manually to the COBIE data file. To automatically get a data-rich COBIE file, we developed a prototype application that extracts information from Revit, which is one of the BIM authoring tools, stores them in an external database, and then produces the COBIE file using information stored in the database. We applied our application to a pilot project and produced 8 COBIE worksheets automatically, which demonstrated a significant amount of time saving. This paper presents how our prototype application produces 8 COBIE data sets automatically. It also addresses our attempt to handle more COBIE data sets.

Aug 1, 2013