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By Charles Bruce

Three years ago, at a reception given during the Steel Institute meeting in New York, I heard the remark, "A new formula must be found for foreign investment." This was immediately following the takeover of U. S. Steel's Matilde operation in Bolivia. Recently, at the World Mining Congress in Lima, Peru, the subject of foreign investment was still a lively topic of conversation. The nationalization of the copper mines in Chile and recent trends in the "Third World" have made all but a few extremely wary of investment anywhere other than in the ?stable? countries. Now, the fallibility of this philosophy has been demonstrated in such "stable" countries as Canada, Australia, and Ireland. Yet, nationalization is not new to us. The events in Chile were classified as disastrous to the affected companies, but so were the effects of nationalization to the majors in Bolivia in 1952. Mexicanization of the mining industry in Mexico was considered impractical by many. Now, those who accepted it are finding it to be workable.

Jan 1, 1975

By M. F. Corcoran

Rapid advances have been made in the past few years in the application of automatic controls and instrumentation to iron ore pelletizing plants. Present practice in applying instrumentation and control to the Grate-Kiln system of iron ore pelletizing is described. Major control points and loops are tabulated. Future trends in the application of digital control including computer data logging systems are described.

Jan 1, 1965

By Charles W. Rountree

Industrial Engineering in the industrial world is a relatively new field, having been conceived about the turn' of the century by Frederick W. Taylor, who was not satisfied with the hit-or-miss methods of evaluation and estimation. Through crude Industrial Engineering techniques never before used, he completely changed the bricklaying industry so that work accomplished was more than doubled. To help us better understand what we mean by Industrial Engineering, I think a very simple definition Is in order. Industrial Engineering is a scientific approach to problems in cost, production and operations: and is designed to provide a means of increasing producitivity and reducing costs through standards measurement and standardization of the best methods, practices and equipment, There are many complicated definitions, but pure and simply, it all boils down to providing the means for increasing productivity and reducing the cost. Industrial Engineering has been applied in manufacturing since Frederick W. Taylor?s time and in the last 20 years has grown in stature by leaps and bounds. It is a basic function of successful manufacturing companies and is an accepted fool firmly entrenched in manufacturing organizations. You may know of some successful manufacturing companies that do not employ Industrial Engineers as such, but someone in that organization is doing Industrial Engineering work. They have standards and controls whether they call it Industrial Engineering or not. The manufacturing industry has benefited from this tool; other wise, it would have been discontinued long ago.

Jan 1, 1958

By Haydn H. Murray

In 1967 a large kaolin deposit was discovered on the Jari River, a tributary of the Amazon, in the territory of Amapa in Brazil. The kaolin occurs in the Barreiras Series of Pliocene age and is part of the Belterra Clay. The kaolin was drilled and tested, and today a modern processing plant is producing over 150,000 tons per year of high quality paper coating clay. Some of the problems associated with the mine development, processing, personnel, and marketing of this remote kaolin deposit are discussed. The mineralogy and physical properties of the Jari kaolin deposit are also described.

Jan 1, 1981

By M. G. Ayat

A novel tracing technique employing specifically prepared trace particles has been applied to coal preparation separatory systems. The technique employs individually prepared trace particles representing specific known sizes and densities of coal particles. These trace particles are injected into the feed, to the processing circuit, and are then detected at locations in the coal product and refuse streams. It is anticipated that on-line input of the generated partition data will be linked with computer technology to provide rapid analysis of the processing efficiency, and to allow for process control. This tracing technique can revolutionize many processing operations from the diagnostic viewpoint as well as from the coal processing standpoint.

Jan 1, 1986

By E. A. Noble

In the Western Coal Region, successful reclamation of surface-mined areas includes the protection of groundwater sources. To accomplish this, a complete understanding of the geohydrology of the affected area is imperative. Successful mine design also calls for careful attention to geohydrology. Because the Western Coal Region is semi-arid land used mainly for farming and grazing, groundwater is a particularly sensitive topic. It is especially sensitive where the lignite scheduled for mining is itself the aquifer supplying the farms and ranches. Such is the case throughout much of the Western Coal Region, particularly where there are no near-surface sand and gravel aquifers that are commonly found in the glaciated portions of the Region. Just as mining can adversely affect groundwater supply, so can groundwater adversely affect mining. Mine flooding and highwall instability are examples of this. But, mine operators must realize that procedures they use to remedy geohydrologically-related mining problems can have a dramatic effect upon ground- water conditions in areas adjacent to the mine. A logical precaution is to require the acquisition of complete baseline data prior to making the first cut. We recommend that the mining plan not only incorporate the reclamation plan, but that they be developed as one plan.

Jan 1, 1976

By William N. Poundstone

Since World War II, when off-track mining became popular, mining machinery has undergone much change. However, the change has been basically to make the machines more powerful, more productive and more reliable. Little change has been made, in this period, in the basic mining system. While steady improvement was made in productivity until the passage of the new Federal Coal Mine Health & Safety Act, I believe that the cost Co benefit ratio of further improvement from this basic approach of improving the existing extractive tool is not as promising as I believe may be obtained from a new approach. Consequently, six years ago Conoco and Consol undertook a comprehensive long-range R&D program to see if improvements of a more basic nature could be made in underground mining. We concluded early in our program that while many things currently limit the rate of production such as the rate at which roof can be supported, time needed to advance ventilation systems, time required to clean up and rock dust, time required to maintain and service equipment as well as time lost due to haulage deficiencies, that the key to improvement was a truly flexible continuous high capacity haulage. With face equipment in use today, mining rates can be increased with such a haulage system where the ability to support the roof exceeds the ability of conventional haulage equipment to remove the coal. More importantly, if we could develop such a system, it would set the stage for development of far more sophisticated methods of mining at the face than exist today, and as new and more dependable mining machines and methods are developed, continuous transportation will enable the gains envisaged in production to be realized.

Jan 1, 1974

By K. Papke

Nine western states contain significant barite deposits, but most deposits are in Nevada, which has been the principal western producer for more than three decades. Nevada produces about 85% of the total United States production, but about one-half of the barite consumed in the country is imported. Approximately 95% of the barite is used in drilling muds. Sharply decreased oil and gas drilling, starting in early 1982, severely depressed the domestic barite industry. Other problems for western barite include long distances to the areas of major drilling, high railroad-freight rates, and increased barite imports. Bedded deposits, formed by submarine exhalative processes, account for almost all western production, and reserves are large.

Jan 1, 1983

By David G. Chedgy

The Meadow River No. 1 Preparation Plant, owned by Sewell Coal Company, a subsidiary of the Pittston Company, was commissioned in the spring of 1974. The plant is designed to process 400 TPH of 5" x 0 raw coal. The 5" x 114'l fraction is processed in a Heavy Medium Vessel with the 114 x 28M reporting to Deister Tables for cleaning. The 28M x 0 fraction is cleaned in flotation cells, with the froth going to clean coal vacuum filters and the tailings to a static thickener where the underflow is reclaimed on Refuse Filters prior to disposal. The noise dosage a worker receives is determined by the ratio of the length of time the worker spends in a particular noise environment divided by the noise exposure in that particular environment. If the worker is exposed to several different sound levels, his total dosage would be the sum of each of the individual dosages. The equation for determining the dosage is: [ ]

Jan 1, 1976

By Renee Y. Allee

The Chino open pit mine, concentrator, and smelter are located in Grant county in Southwestern New Mexico. Chino Mines Company is a partnership, two- thirds owned and operated by Kennecott Santa Fe Corp., and one third owned by MC Minerals Corp. (Mitsubishi) of Japan. The concentrator, with a design capacity of 37,000 tons of copper-molybdenite ore per day, was commissioned in July, 1982. Further design modifications have resulted in an increase in throughput capacity to 42,000 tpd

Jan 1, 1986

By Brij M. Moudgil

Separation of dolomite from apatite, because of nonselective adsorption, cannot be achieved by conventional froth flotation technique. Results obtained in the present study also indicate, that this can be attributed to the depletion of the collector molecules due to complexation with the calcium and magnesium ions, dissolved from the two minerals. However, it has been established in this investigation that conditioning the material at pH 10, followed by reconditioning, without any additional collector, at pH 4, results in selective flotation of dolomite from the mixture. The recovery of apatite, in the proposed reconditioning process, is much higher than with the conventional conditioning under similar pH conditions. The mechanisms involved in the conventional conditioning, and the reconditioning process are presented.

Jan 1, 1983

By Andrew W. Jenike

There used to be a time when bins were designed for total volume and placed in any available place of the plant. Poke holes were provided and feed was maintained by manual prodding, lancing, hammering, and by various mechanical flow-profiting devices. Little thought was given to what occurred inside the bins and why materials did not flow. Indeed, such mental effort was hard to justify while low-cost manual labor was plentiful, quality standards low, and rates of feed moderate. The past fifteen years have seen a drastic change in these conditions. We all know that labor for hard manual work is becoming unavailable at any wage, level. Standards of product uniformity are continuously rising. This uniformity is just as important in a fine ore feed to ball mills as it is in a cattle feed or in a flour mix. Rates of feed now frequently exceed 2,000 tons per hour per feeder. At that rate there is no time for, lancing or prodding. An efficient storage, plant contains a known available volume of bulk solid, and feeds it at the required time, at the prescribed rate, and without degradation of the product. A storage bin may also perform other functions such as blending of different grades, degasification of aerated, powders, isolation of different gaseous media. A contact bed of particles flowing by gravity in counter-current with a gas or liquid may be used as a continuous reactor. Gas or liquid pressures can be simply contained by, a sufficient head of flowing solid.

Jan 1, 1968

By Felix Schmid

ABSTRACT Lateritic bauxite deposits of economic size and grade in Sierra Leone occur on granulites of the Kasila series. The high grade trihydrate ores of Mokanji are exploited by SIEROMCO since 1964. Remaining reserves are small (2 million tons) and operation moved over to the Gondama deposits of similar grade. Port Loko bauxite reserves are estimated at 100 million tons and are of relatively lower grade. It is planned to treat this ore locally into alumina. Guinea's bauxite reserves exceed those of any other nation. They occur as hard lateritic bauxite covers on plateaus of the Pre-Cambrian sedimentary formations and on doleritic intrusions. The genesis is still controversial. The Sangaredi mine has produced high grade ore for the last 10 years. Friguia exploits a relatively lower grade ore at a rate of about 2 million tpy to be treated in their local alumina plant. Kindia ore is mined at a yearly rate of 2,5 million tons since 1974. Untouched reserves at Ayékoyé and Tougué/Dabola are estimated at 6,000 million tons.

Jan 1, 1984

By B. V. Cooper

The word "research" has been used in the title of my presentation somewhat against my better judgement. There are many definitions of the word. But the one I like best comes from Webster's New World Dictionary. It reads: "Careful, systematic, patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to discover or establish facts or principles. ..." I like that. In only 9 words, the definition conveys to me the very essence of what should be going on either in or for the coal industry. Unfortunately, not enough coal-related research is going on. And much of what is being done is, in my view, not really as effective as it might be.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. A. Stanley

Researchers at BCD Technologies and the University of Alabama have applied three statistical techniques to the information contained in a large database of measurements from a phosphate ore processing plant. The rust, Principal Components Analysis (PCA), replaces many measured variables with a few fundamental and un-correlated variables. The second technique, Projection to Latent Structures (PLS), is an extension of PCA that explores the relation between variables identified as either independent or dependent. The third technique, Cluster Analysis (CA), is applied to the results of the PCA or the PLS calculations, and identifies individual data clusters that represent uniform operating conditions in the plant. All three statistical methods can be seen as geometrical operations on the data viewed as points in space. A Viewer gives a corresponding graphical presentation of the data points. This paper describes the use of the above three techniques and the Viewer to explore part of the phosphate flotation database.

Jan 1, 1998

By James McManus

The Lornex mine is located on the Southern slope of the Highland Valley in South Central British Columbia. The large low grade deposit was discovered in 1964; stripping began in 1970, and the mill started commercial production in October of 1972. The orebody is classified as a complex porphyry type having as major constituent quartz diorite, with varying amounts of quartz, grano diorite, and porphyry. A substantial degree of alteration is evident in the host rock, and this became the key factor in major equipment selection for the grinding section. A pilot plant was constructed on the property capable of treating 100 TPD of ore. The ore was mined to be as representative as possible of the entire orebody by sinking a shaft and cross cutting the deposit underground.

Jan 1, 1975

By D. A. Bird

Water chemistry data were used to identify the sources of ground-water and surface-water inflow to the IOZ block cave mine. Water samples were collected to obtain vertical and lateral hydrochemical profiles within different levels of the underground workings. Water chemistry data were evaluated in conjunction with geologic and structural information to define controls on locations of ground-water inflows, and to select targets for drilling and interception of water. Drilling has intercepted water-producing zones that were previously unidentified through mapping and drilling. The program has resulted in a reduction in water inflows to the block cave area.

Jan 1, 1998

By Ed L. Schrader

Kaolin of the Georgia-south Carolina "Clay Belt" are used in a wide variety of filler and extender applications. Sane applications specifically require the performance enhancement delivered by incorporating kaolin into the product formulations. Other applications are less specific in requirements for an inert mineral filler. In order to be a feasible candidate for filling and extending, a mineral or mineral product must be generally inert (except where specific interaction with the filled medium is desired), inexpensive, easily handled and transported in a variety of forms, accessible to a broad segment of the desired market, and must exist in sufficiently large ore reserves as to assure production for many years. Of course, more precise requirements are necessary in specific applications of a prospective filler material.

Jan 1, 1985

By L. G. Martin

Early mining at Manhattan demonstrated that blasthole assays alone were insufficient to control the disposition of material. A program was began using controlled blasting, intense sampling and panning of crushed samples, fire assay checks, and geologic inspections to sort material in the pits. Statistical data confirms that the method provides effective control at minimal cost. This cost is easily offset by additional tonnage found in areas considered to be waste.

Jan 1, 1980

By F. W. Metzger

Coal quality control in mining and mine planning has always been important and has become even more essential in recent years due to environmental considerations. The primary consumers of the sub-bituminous coals found in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming are electric utilities that require low sulfur coals to meet government air quality regulations. Electric generating plants are designed to burn coal of a specific quality, and the supplier of that coal must be able to guarantee shipments within specified quality tolerances. Over the past several years, Exxon Coal USA and, more recently, The Carter Mining Company, a division of Exxon Coal USA have established an evaluation and development program to accurately define the geology and quality of their coal properties. This requires an adequate drill hole density so that detailed correlations of the coal seam and the lithologic sub-units, of the coal seam can be made. These units must be recognizable in the core and also on geophysical logs.

Jan 1, 1981