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By Mokhinabonu Mardonova, Yosoon Choi

Open-source technology to support Industry 4.0 has become the target of academic research in many sectors. This study reviews the trends of open-source technology, its forms, and some industrial applications. As a case study of the use of open-source hardware and software in the mining industry, this study proposed a low-cost environmental monitoring system for nonmetallic underground mines to support mine safety and occupational health. The system was developed using open-source hardware, Arduino and 3D printer, to design the monitoring device, and open-source software, MIT App Inventor, to develop an Android application for smartphones to enable remote communication with the system. Field experiments were conducted at an underground tunnel and a nonmetallic underground mining site to assess the performance of the system in mobile and static modes, respectively. Although a few limitations related to the precision of the low-cost dust and gas sensors exist, the findings of the experiments show that the mining industry can benefit from open-source technology deployment when considering cost factors.

By Leandro Augusto Viana Teixeira, Angela Avelar, Ruberlan Gomes Silva, Virginia S. T. Ciminelli, Daniel Majuste

Rare earth elements are essential for modern life products and green technologies. Recent supply constraints have boosted the development of rare earth projects after the price peak of 2011. The feasibility of a project depends on the definition of a processing route, which in turn depends primarily on the rare earth mineral, with monazite and bastnaesite representing the two most relevant minerals. Monazite-type ores usually contain high acid consumption impurities, such as iron, aluminum, calcium, magnesium and phosphates, and may also contain prohibitive levels of radioactive thorium in its composition. Based on thermodynamic analysis, the present work discusses the fundamentals of a selective process route for rare earth extraction from monazite ores with high iron content. This process involves sulfation by means of concentrated sulfuric acid and roasting at a high temperature. The route yields high rare earth extraction with low iron and thorium extraction and low acid consumption. Rare earth extractions as high as 80 percent were achieved, while iron and thorium extractions were lower than 1 percent, and acid consumption was lower than 0.34 kg of sulfuric acid per kg of ore. The operational window was compared to the one predicted by thermodynamic modeling, with 700 °C representing the optimal roasting temperature.

By Saul J. Esdalera

The flotation response to amine collector and its adsorption on the mineral surface was studied as a function of pH and collector concentration. The flotation response increased in the order anorthite + intermediate plagih clases + albite, while adsorption of amine obeyed the Freundlich equation r = A.Cn. This adsorption is proposg to be due to a covalent bonding between the AlOH surface pups of the plagioclase altered outer layer and the amino group of the collector. Finally, the study showed thatmtial dissolution of the solid phase provides the necessary conditions for amine attachment on the mineral particles and consequent flotation.

Jan 1, 1980

By V. B. Achanti

This paper deals with the effect of various bit geometric parameters on failure characteristics of rock material. Improvement of rock cutting efficiency of continuous mining machines has been an interesting research topic for the last few decades. In the current study, an automated rotary rock cutting simulator, duplicating a continuous miner, was utilized to study these parameters in the laboratory. Improvement of bit performance in terms of its life, cutting efficiency, dust production and energy consumption has drawn wide spread attention over the years. Research shows that optimizing bit parameters can result in efficient fragmentation of rock. Indiana limestone rock material was utilized in this study while bit tip angle, bit tip size, bit spacing, depth of cut and cutting velocity of rotary drum were varied to investigate the failure characteristics. The cutting pressure, penetrating pressure and the depth of cut were monitored on the simulator during the cutting process. Air borne dust and settled dust were measured for each experiment. Then, the specific airborne dust and specific energy were determined for the each type of bit. Triaxial tests were carried out to correlate the failure angle of the rock in static case to dynamic cutting process failure. The physical and mechanical properties of the rock were also determined in order to assess their influence on the wear characteristics of each bit.

Jan 1, 1998

By Roy L. Klein

The production of synthetic fuels from coal has been pioneered by South Africa. South Africa made a decision in 1975, due to the threat of an oil embargo, to proceed with the construction of Sasol Two, then followed by Sasol Three. South Africa has large coal but little indigenous petroleum reserves. The indirect coal liquefaction process used by Sasol since 1955 is the only commercially demonstrated method available for producing transport fuels from coal. The new plants consume 27 million tons per year of coal from a single mine that now produces transport fuels in sufficient quantities for energy independence.

Jan 1, 1983

By Iain M. Mason

Linear meridional zones of bad roof conditions have been frequently encountered in producing collieries working the Permian age Lithgow seam in the western coalfield of New South Wales. The prediction of such zones ahead of mining is desirable for reasons of both safety and economics. In March, 1981, we carried out an experimental, three-component in-seam seismic survey at Invincible Colliery to discover whether such zones have any unambiguous seismic effect. The underground survey was the first of its kind to be attempted in an Australian mine. The data quality was excellent with the spectra broadband and clear. Polarisation analysis disclosed two modes: one compressional; the other shear horizontal. The SH model was clearly dispersive and well gound to the plane of the seam. Modal velocities decreased by up to 15% at the fracture-swarm site. There is a strong suggestion on the RLS maps obtained here that the distributed fault zone is acting as a composite scatterer of channel waves. The P-SV and SH wave tomograms obtained show, in a general way, the distribution of stress in the coal panel.

Jan 1, 1982

By James J. Broderick

In the production of Pig Iron - Limestone, Coke and Iron Ore pellets are changed to the blast furnace and reacted at approximately 2,800 degrees F. The resultant products are molten iron and a molten slag - not unlike lava. The molten slag stream is channeled into open pits, cooled with water, crushed and sized for various industrial applications. The production of steel from pig iron in open hearth, B0P, BOF and electric furnaces results in somewhat similar slags: but since free lime is normally the flux, the resultant slags are not satisfactory for use in cement pastes. When exposed to water, the lime slakes, expands by 250% and ruptures the concrete. Thus, the slag discussed first is Blast Furnace Slag composed of 30 to 40% Silica (SiO2) Alumina (AL202) 7 to 16% Lime (CaO) 32 to 45% and Magnesia (MgO) 5 to 15%. The oxides do not exist as free oxides but rather as silicates and alumino silicates which are chemicall inert. Since transportation costs limit the area of use, blast furnace slag can only be found in concrete products produced within 60 to 100 miles of a blast furnace operation. Even within these areas where slag is in heavy supply, quite often the use of slag is minimal for concrete aggregate and the major outlet is road base.

Jan 1, 1985

By A. G. Provost

On April 3, 1981, Harrison Western Corporation was awarded a contract by Amax Alloy - A Division of Amax Inc., to sink the Henderson #5 ventilation shaft. The project was located on the Henderson Mine site 88 kilometers west of Denver near the town of Empire, Colorado (Figure I). The Henderson No. 5 Shaft, located in an Alpine environment at an elevation of 3145 meters, was a 9.8 meter diameter concrete lined shaft with a total depth of 793 meters. Work started and continued with Harrison Western employees until January 15, 1982. At that time, Amax made the decision to continue the shaft-sinking with their own labor, and with Harrison Western providing supervision under a management service contract. Shaft sinking continued under this arrangement to October 1, 1982, at which time Amax put the Henderson No. 5 project on standby status until further notice.

Jan 1, 1986

By W. M. Houston

The phosphate formations of the Pliocene epoch were deposited along the coastal shelf of the eastern seaboard. The deposition of the phosphate is thought to be somewhat contiguous along the early shoreline, and the deposit can be more or less traced over an 800 to 930 mile path from the Florida Gulf Coast, near Ft. Myers, to the Pamlico Sound of North Carolina. This is illustrated in Figure 1. Three areas of commercial importance are currently being exploited from this extensive known deposit: 1 - The so-called ?Bone valley? in Central Florida (multiple operations) 2 - Hamilton County in North Florida (Occidental Corporation operation) 3 - Beaufort County in North Carolina (Texas Gulf Sulphur operation)

Jan 1, 1966

By Hugh Douglas

This paper discusses the financial health of the U.S. mining industry and its ability to meet the future raw material requirements of this country in the context of resource independence. The title of this paper begs several questions, and three will be raised here. The answers to them will form the basis for discussion. The three questions are: What does one mean by resource independence. How is the U.S. mining industry defined. How is financial health measured.

Jan 1, 1977

By John W. Nebgen

Surface water quality is determined by complicated interactions between water and land. Runoff--the flow of waters in surface streams and rivers-¬represents the total amount of water collected in a drainage basin or watershed that appears at the outlet of the basin. As the water flows through the basin, it is in contact with land and can pick up impurities from the land. Thus, surface waters are not pure--they contain impurities, or "pollutants," in vary¬ing concentrations determined by the nature of the land which they drain. The composition of surface waters thus tends to represent a steady state equilibrium between interactions of water and land. However, when man utilizes the land in the drainage basin or watershed, the natural equilibrium between water in the runoff and the land is disturbed. Such disturbances usually effect adverse changes in surface water quality, as new equilibrium conditions between land and water are established. These adverse changes in surface water quality can be thought of as "nonpoint pollution." Esti¬mation of nonpoint pollutant loads thus ultimately reduces to determining the magnitude of the differences between water qualities before and after man's disturbance of land within a watershed. The important key in making such an estimation lies in the determination of water quality in the natural or "back¬ground" condition of the watershed. In subsequent discussion in this paper, tools for making an estimation of background water quality will be described.

Jan 1, 1975

By H. Colijn

The trend in the coal industry for many years has been to make everything "bigger and faster" This also held true for loading and storage facilities. Where once a million ton per year mine was rare, three to five million ton per year mines are not uncommon today in the bituminous industry. This greatly increased production, made possible through mechanization, required greatly improved loading facilities just to get the coal away from the mine. Also, there is a trend toward combining production from more than one mine and cleaning it in a single preparation plant. In addition to increased loading capacity, this frequently necessitates raw coal storage and blending facilities. The development of the unit train, more than any other factor, has contributed to the widespread construction of storage and high-speed loading facilities for clean coal. In the export market, the construction of ever larger coal bulk carriers has contributed to a need for faster and larger loading facilities at ports. The present engineering and construction cost of these larger facilities make it essential that the flow and handling properties of the particular coals are fully known. These properties can be measured well in advance and the proper design criteria established. This eliminates costly surprises later on during start-up and operations. This paper will review coal and coal refuse properties, such as shear strength, cohesion, friability, and the flowability of coal and how they affect the design criteria of storage silos.

Jan 1, 1979

By E. C. Winegartner

In producing and selling coal, the coal company is faced with many different parameters by which the quality of its product is evaluated. One type, which we choose to call the economic parameters, includes moisture, ash, sulfur, and Btu's. These are reasonably well understood by both the coal supplier and the customer, and the dollar values can be placed on them. This is the group of parameters of primary interest to most purchasing agents buying coal. A second group of parameters governs how the coal will behave in the boiler itself and is of primary concern to the engineers designing the boiler and to the men who must operate and maintain it. Since we have not yet learned to put dollar values on these parameters, they generally show up in coal contracts simply as cutoff points, the purchaser simply saying that he will not accept coal outside of certain limits.

Jan 1, 1975

By Margaret Armstrong

The increasing cost of developing new mines and the need to mine more marginal deposits have led mining companies to use more sophisticated estimation methods such as kriging. But until recently, coal mining companies have shown little or no interest in these techniques. However, the stringent quality controls which are now placed on coal have led to a surge in interest in improved estimation methods. This can be seen from the -, number of research projects by private companies and governmental agencies on the application of geostatistics to coal reserve estimation. At present, most of these programs are centered on the problem of estimating the tonnage and the average grade (i.e. ash percent, sulphur content, calorific value, etc.) of the coal in-situ. See, for example, Sabourin (1975), Woods (1976, 1979), Pauncz and Nixon (1979) and Armstrong (1980). These studies show that the established techniques of linear geostatistics can be applied successfully to coal deposits. The study by Woods is particularly interesting because he had access to the actual production figures as well as the initial sample data from the no 2 seam in the Greenside Colliery owned by the Anglo-American Corporation. He showed that the estimates obtained by kriging were consistently closer to the actual production figures than those given by three other estimation methods. This confirms the superiority of kriging as a method of estimating block values for coal. Another advantage of geostatistics is that it can be used to determine the optimal spacing between drill holes. An example of this is given by Armstrong for the coking coal deposit in the Bowen Basin, Australia.

Jan 1, 1981

At the 25th Peruvian Mining Convention, the start-up of Antamina was called ?the mining event of the year.? Antamina, one of the largestcopper-zinc mines in the world, began operations in May 2001.Augusto Baertl is Executive Chairman of Compañía Minera Antamina, the operating company. He said in a convention address that Antamina would be in full production in 2002. ?I would like to stress that Antamina is, in every respect, a highly stringent operation, as it intends to be the Peruvianmine of the future,? Baertl said. ?Antamina has set the target of being, and remaining throughout time, a model mine as to technology, environmental practices and social responsibility.? [ ] In the areas of technology and operations, Baertl noted that ?we have incorporated the best engineering design available and state-of-the art technology for mining, grinding and transportation processes, among others.? In the environmental area, he said that ?we have carried out careful environ-mental impact studies and have incorporated modern technologies and methods to control and minimize any environmental impact.? In the social field, Baertl noted that ?our relationship with neighboring communities is being developed under the premises of the social responsibility philosophy.? These include popular consultation processes, environmental committees and conciliation discussion committees. The purpose, he said, is to encourage communities located within the area of influence of the project to find and lead by themselves their path toward sustainable development, beyond the life of the operation itself.?

Jan 1, 2001

By Lawrence A. Browning

In recent years, there has been a growing realization of the importance of ground water as a national resource and increasing concern that this resource be properly managed and protected from a variety of pervasive practices that endanger it. Aquifers have been adversely affected in every region of the country. In dealing w.ith the underground water program, EPA will have the following objectives: to protect human health, and to protect and conserve an important national resource. In pursuing these objectives, EPA will take economic consequences and other national objectives (e.g., energy) into account. EPA intends to pursue these objectives in full partnership with the States. Generally the States should retain the lead in protecting ground water.

Jan 1, 1978

By L. John Minnick

Extraction of crude ores and minerals inevitably produces various by-products either as a result of nonusable residues or as waste by-products from process operations. Thus for each 100 tons of coal extracted in a strip mine operation, one can expect to produce 25 tons, or more, of mine refuse. In addition, the amount of ash produced from the burning of coal will represent 10 to 20 percent of the weight of coal burned. With the advent of lime/limestone scrubbers now being installed on many power plants, an additional by-product is produced that in most instances is equal in volume to the sluiced fly ash. Statistics developed by the National Ash Association have indicated that sluiced waste from power plants in the United States currently exceeds 25 million tons per year (dry basis). Overall mineral industry statistics (copper mines, etc.) indicate better than 200 million tons per year. In the past it was general practice to send most of these waste materials to holding ponds or lagoons simply as a means of disposal or "throwaway" of unwanted by-products. Unfortunately modern society has reached a stage where these large quantities of waste materials are creating monumental environmental and economic problems that need urgent attention. Among these problems are concern for loss of future usable land, pollution of ground water, loss of potential mineral reserves, and loss of opportunities to recycle or use these by-products for the benefit of future generations. An example of the latter is the serious shortages of construction quality aggregates that can be replaced with some of the by-products produced from waste materials from the extractive and chemical industries.

Jan 1, 1975

By Charles K. Presley

This paper deals with drilling large diameter shafts for the mining and construction industry with diameters in excess of 3 feet to more than 20 feet in diameter. It discusses appropriate applications of the rotary drill method, linings for large diameter shafts, circulation systems,, and the limitations of the method. Each specific rotary drill method is determined by the geology of the area, the depth to be drilled and the formation fluids encountered. Shaft lining or casing must be improved to result in lighter weight, higher strength and lower cost. All phases of rotary drilling equipment must be improved to drill shafts in excess of 10 feet in diameter. As these goals are reached, more shafts of large diameter will be drilled by the rotary method for the mining and construction industry.

Jan 1, 1967

By Stephen Utter

This report summarizes the results of preliminary investigations concerning the influence of block caving mining upon adjacent mine openings and discusses possible methods for reducing critical rock pressures and damage to these openings. These investigations are one part of a general study of the rock mechanics of block caving by the Denver Mining Research Center of the Federal Bureau of Mines. The purpose of this part of the study Is to obtain an estimate of the stress concentrations around mine openings adjacent to block caving stopes for use in developing better designed openings and improving mining methods. When mine openings such as slusher drifts, grizzly drifts, and haulage drifts are damaged by rock pressures induced by block caving mining, the mining cost increases, mine production decreases, and ore recovery may be consider- ably lessened. Methods of mining that result in lower rock pressures and methods of design that enable mine openings to withstand these pressures are desirable. The development of these methods, in turn, requires a fuller understanding of the following: The stres concentrations around the mine openings and the changes in stress induced by adjacent mining; the physical properties, such as the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of the rock surrounding the openings; and the support supplied by the concrete lining, timber sets, or other types of supports used in the openings.

Jan 1, 1962

By Raymond L. Zahradnik

Marco Polo reported that the Chinese used "black rocks" for fuel, and recent studies indicate that the Chinese may have used coal in small amounts for two or three millennia previously. The use of coal as a major source of energy however, did not begin until about the twelfth century, when the inhabitants of the northeast coast of England discovered that certain black rocks found along the seashore--and thereafter known as "sea soles" would burn. Since this initial discovery, coal has been mined continuously, first in England and shortly thereafter in present Belgium, France, and Western Germany, and finally in all coal-bearing areas of the world, in ever increasing amounts. The production of coal in the United States began about 1820, when 14 tons were reportedly mined. Since that time the production of coal increased steadily until about 1907, after which the rate has fluctuated between the extremes of about 400 and 700 million tons per year. Bituminous coal and lignite production was 590 million tons in 1974. Value of production was $8. 9 billion. Anthracite production was b.3 million tons with a value of $157.5 million.

Jan 1, 1975