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By Barry J. Hansen, Ruston A. Ford

Production of mine backfill from the tailings produced in a proposed Crandon concentrator is described. A process has been developed capable of producing suitable fill for the mining method selected for the Crandon orebody. It maximizes the placement of pyrite underground as fill and segregates tailings into pyrite and nonsulfide fractions. To determine the suitability and engineering characteristics of the backfill product for use underground, laboratory and physical stope simulation model testing was conducted. The results of the testing and the application of those results to the design of the backfill system ultimately affecting mine geometry and subsequent mine production will be presented.

Jan 1, 1981

By P. Todd, K. Dever, P. S. Mills, A. A. Campoli

Resin bolt performance is dependent on the size of the resin annulus, i.e., the difference between the hole and bolt radii. The majority of the millions of resin roof bolts installed each year in the United States employ an annulus of 3.175 or 4.775 mm (0.125 or 0.188 in.). Short encapsulation pull tests with resin annuli of 3.175 and 2.413 mm (0.125 and 0.095 in.) resisted an average of 0.08 t/grouted mm (2.25 st/grouted in.) with no significant variation. Resin loses to simulated fractures increased as annulus size decreased.

Jan 1, 2003

By Kenneth R. Dickson, I. Michael Gowring, Gary M. Davey

The Kemano Power Tunnel is currently being constructed by a joint venture of Atkinson, Kiewit, and Commonwealth. The 5.73 m diameter, 16.1 km long tunnel is part of the Kemano Completion Project in British Columbia, Canada which is being developed by Alcan Smelters and Chemicals Limited. The discussion includes the refurbishment and development of Robbins TBM 189-229 previously used at Calaveras (RETC Proceedings, 1987), the logistics of conducting a tunneling operation in a remote area with adverse weather conditions, in addition to a description of the work and the performance details in the various geological conditions encountered to date.

Jan 1, 1991

By Lawrence M. Lenahan

Cleveland's Southwest Interceptor Contracts No. 3 and No. 4 are continuations of Contract No. 1 addressed at the 1987 RETC with geology, equipment, and methods that differ greatly. The two contracts consist of 791 m (4.22 miles) of 3.5 m (11.5 ft) tunnel lined to 2.9 m (9.5 ft), nine access shafts, six drop shafts, and six collection structures. The excavation drive was completed by the use of a 1970 vintage Robbins TBM hybrid for this particular job through the use of both new and old technology. All other excavations were successfully accomplished through drill and blast method in tight residential areas. Concrete lining and connections were completed nine months after holing through.

Jan 1, 1989

By Roshan B. Bhappu

The extraction of gemstones, except for diamonds, continues to be a more or less handpicking type operation all over the world. However, considering the physical properties of gemstones such as density (sp.gr.), color, size, shape, luster, brilliance, reflection of light and the like in contrast to the relatively ‘dull’ physical characterization of the associated gangue minerals, it should be feasible to recover several gemstones using modern mineral processing techniques. This paper illustrates the unique physical characterization of several gemstones and suggests appropriate mineral processing techniques that could be used to recover these precious stones. Special emphasis is placed on the versatility of the Heavy Media Separation (HMS) process for processing of the gemstones. Finally, a few examples of commercially viable operations involved in the recovery of emeralds and rubies are presented.

Jan 1, 2005

By R. V. Ramani

It is common knowledge that there is an endless stream of possibilities, proposals, and projects - each representing a demand on available capital - for improving the mining company's performance measure. It is true that these proposals go through an increasingly stringent evaluation process as they move up the echelons of management for approval. Therefore, there is every reason to expect that a proposal or project accepted for deployment will make a substantial contribution to the organization's performance. The reality, too often, is otherwise. Castle (1985) reveals some significant insights into the difficulties in predicting the performances in the mining industry. A sample of eighteen mining ventures, which have been developed over the years, was selected by Castle to illustrate the problems. The actual performances were compared with the original projection. The sample encompasses both surface and underground mines, a large number of commodities, and a wide geographic distribution. The experiences in these mining projects were analyzed through answers to four specific questions.

Jan 1, 1989

By Y. Topkaya, R. E. Johnson, B. R. Palmer, Jia-Jun Ke, Da-Ping Kang

The kinetics of the leaching of antimony oxide ore (Sb2O4) in aqueous hydrochloric acid solutions has been investigated. This dissolution reaction is a heterogeneous solid-liquid reaction. It has been found that the leaching temperature and the concentration of hydrochloric acid turn out to be the significant influencing factors on the leaching rate. The apparent activation energy for the leaching reaction was determined to be 63.5 W/mol within the experimental temperature region of 50O to 90O C. The experimental results indicate that the leaching process is controlled by the rate of the chemical reaction.

Jan 1, 1993

By D. M. Larsen, N. D. King

Since start-up in 1985, the Cannon Mine has produced and shipped a 170-g/ton (5 oz/ton) gold flotation concentrate to various smelters for gold and silver recovery. Several processes have been investigated to economically produce dore' at the mine site from the refractory concentrate. This paper describes laboratory and pilot scale test work used in the process design and engineering feasibility study of a 73-t/d (80 stpd) pressure oxidation and carbon-in-leach (CIL) facility. The designed pressure oxidation circuit utilizes a series of vertical autoclave units operating at 170°C (338°F) and 1.4 MPa (200 psig). Projected operating costs are discussed.

Jan 1, 1994

By Greg Barfoot, Alex Harrison

Conveyors with multiple drive pulleys of the same diameter and wrap, driven by identical motors through gearboxes of the same ratio, consume different powers. The fundamental issues related to this problem hinge around the drive pulley co- efficient of friction and the intermediate tension. Some basic design concepts will be presented with reference to validity and applicability. The paper will describe some experimental results obtained from multiple drive conveyors in which the drives are spatially separated. The dynamics of tripper drive and linear booster drive systems are overviewed with reference t

Jan 1, 1993

By R. Spears, J. B. Vincent, S. Donald, J. Litaker

Previous efforts to remove and concentrate heavy-metal ions from wastewater streams via metalloprotein affinity metal chromatography (MAMC) were limited to the metal transport protein transferrin. Extension of the technique to the enzymes carbonic anhydrase and carboxypeptidase A, which possess different metal affinity properties, is described. Preliminary results indicate that the technique is capable of selectively removing and separating late first-row transition metal ions from aqueous solution. The results suggest that by properly choosing the matrix, i.e., protein or enzyme, MAMC may he applicable to problems involving a wide range of heavy-metal-hearing aqueous solutions.

Jan 1, 1996

By J. L. Post, L. Borer

Small seams of fibrous tremolite and actinolite commonly occur in many California counties. A number of larger seams of this fibrous material were mined from 1882 until about 1955. The fibers from these mines were used for making acid filters, battery cases and fire-resistant paint. With increasing population, new residential areas are being developed in the foothill regions, leading to increased contact with seams of fibrous amphiboles. These forms of asbestos can be particularly dangerous to human health. Thus, it is necessary to determine the locations of these mines and adjacent veins and to identify the specific amphibole minerals present.

Jan 1, 2003

By Manuel Diaz del Rio

At the present time there are over 5,000 Kms of railway tunnels in existence throughout the world. In many cases these tunnels were built over a century ago using techniques obsolete today. Supervision and maintenance of these tunnels is essential to the economy of each country involved. For this purpose an electro-optical measuring system has been designed incorporating highly complex soft and hardware (15 mW laser, high resolution TV camera and processing computer), mounted on a vehicle. Its job is to scan, record and compare sectional gauge values (profiles) and strains inside tunnels both momentarily in situ and on permanent record, as an aid to the supervision work. From the state of the strains observed, in conjunction with an infrared spectrum of the tunnel lining and soil involved, the mechanical stresses in the tunnel can be deduced by applying the boundary elements method.

Jan 1, 1981

By I. J. Jansen, C. L. Hooks

Successful soil construction involves prepa¬ration of an adequate base, selection of high quality soil ma¬terials, and placement of those materials by means which will establish a continuous macropore network and modest to low soil strength. Where such has been accomplished, experi¬ments reveal row crop productivity on reclaimed land which is very competitive with that on undisturbed land. Inferior productivity and sensitivity to drought stress are experienced where the soils are excessively compacted during construc¬tion. Some deep tillage practices have been quite successful in improving the compacted soils, but it is preferable to avoid compaction as the soil materials are handled.

Jan 1, 1987

By X. P. Zheng, H. K. Lin

During slow-cooling crystallization of iron-making blast furnace slags, most rare earth elements recrystallize in an artificial "mineral" identified as calcium cerite. Scandium (Sc) and europium (Eu), however, concentrate in a sheetlike "mineral." In this investigation, the mineralogy of this sheetlike "mineral" was studied. It was identified as being in the mica group and was called a rare earth-bearing barium fluorophlogopite. One of the objectives of this study was the recovery of this "mineral." The study indicated that it can be effectively recovered from the slag by flotation using dodecylammonium acetate or a combination of dodecyl-ammonium acetate and sodium oleate as collectors.

Jan 1, 1998

By Yoginder P. Chugh, M. Silverman

Premining investigations involve the determination of roof, floor, and coal seam characteristics to delineate areas of troublesome ground control prior to development of a mine. Data obtained can be useful in mine design, equipment selection, estimation of face productivity, development of ground control plans and assessing ground control costs, and in conducting feasibility studies and financial analyses. This paper discusses 1) the causative factors associated with ground instability, 2) how useful data can be obtained for these factors during premining investigations, and 3) analysis techniques to delineate probable areas of ground instability.

Jan 1, 1982

By Konstantinos Theodoridis, Michael Galetakis, Olga Kouridou

Recent advances in Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS) have provided a new approach to the estimation of related quality characteristics, such as heating value, ash content and moisture of coals used for power generation. The basic strategy for developing ANN and ANFIS models for the prediction of missing quality values, is to train the models using an existing quality data set and an appropriate learning method. Statistical analysis results of the estimated values, showed that ANN and ANFIS are not only more accurate than the widely used regression models, but also tends to reproduce the variability of the initial data, while regression models generate a smooth representation of reality.

Jan 1, 2002

By Ahmet Gursoy

Maryland, will be the widest vehicular tunnel ever built by the trench tube method. Careful coordination and planning were required to meet the tight and fast design and construction schedules. During the preliminary design, traditional design drawings were bypassed in favor of 25 preliminary design reports representing major work breakdown structures (tasks). For each task, alternative design solutions were examined and analyzed by means of trade-off studies on the basis of engineering, constructibility, and economic considerations, thus providing an overall conceptual value engineering approach for the entire project. So far, total value engineering proposed by the contractor for Contract I I (largest contract of the project at $245 million) is less than 1.5 percent of the contract value. This is an important indication of the success of the design phase planning.

Jan 1, 1983

By Allyn J. Steward

The 14,350 m (47,000 ft) Mount MacDonald Tunnel is nearing completion. North America's longest railroad tunnel is being advanced from each end by two contractors. This presentation outlines techniques employed by the Manning Kumagai Joint Venture, working from the west portal. Rapid construction was achieved by simultaneous installation of cast in place arch-wall lining and drill and blast excavation. Extensive planning, judicious choice of equipment and efficient crews combined to shorten the original schedule. Manning Kumagai was also awarded the tunnel mid-section as a separate contract. This includes construction of an underground chamber and structure for a unique permanent ventilation system.

Jan 1, 1987

By Neil Runciman, Greg Newson, Nick Vagenas

This paper discusses simulation modelling of underground mining operations at a typical mine in the Sudbury mining area in Ontario, Canada. The PC simulation software, WITNESS Version 7 Release 6.0 by AT&T ISTEL, is used to model the drilling, blasting, hauling and ground support operations. Simulation is used to investigate the development mining cycle and determine the capabilities and flexibility of WITNESS to accurately represent the mining system under consideration. The simulation study discussed in this paper provides a first step in determining the successful application of WITNESS in the underground operational aspects of the mining industry.

Jan 1, 1996

By J. T. Ryan, Wayne H. Griffin

Solutions to typical leaky ventilation circuits such as multiple entry headings and ventilation tube or brattice face ventilation are obtained using the discrete continuous simulation language SLAM II. While the continuous aspect of the language allows exact numerical solution of leaky systems, the particular discrete-continuous interface of this language is easily adapted to space varying geometry and flow parameters encountered in mine ventilation. The ease with which this simulation system is adapted to ventilation problems and the availability on personal computers encourage its wider application in the field.

Jan 1, 1987