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By James J. Dowd

The investigation to evaluate the reserves of coking coal in the United States suitable for the manufacture of metallurgical coke is being made by the Bureau of Mines in three parts: (1) To estimate known measured and indicated recoverable reserves of all coking coal; (2) to upgrade marginal coals through effective preparation; and (3) to study the carbonizing properties of coals and coal blends not now widely used for metallurgical coke making. This is the eighth of a series of reports giving the results of studies by counties under part (1) of the investigation. (See appendix.) This report covers Jefferson County, Pa., which comprises parts of Marienville, Hallton, Ridgway, Brookville, DuBois, Penfield, Smicksburg, and Punxsutawney quadrangles. (See fig. 1.) A short resume of the chemical and carbonizing properties of the coals is included. Data on the coal beds in the county were obtained from mining companies, land companies, individual landowners, and other sources of authentic information. A base map for each bed in each quadrangle was made to the scale 1 inch equals 1,200 feet. Maps of mines, locations of drill holes, bed and total coal thicknesses, and the outcrop of the bed were plotted on the maps. With all available data plotted, isopach lines were drawn to limit areas of known unmined reserves in beds 0 to 14 inches thick, 14 to 28 inches thick, 28 to 42 inches thick, and over 42 inches thick, These areas of coal reserves also were divided into "measured" and "indicated" categories. All areas in each thickness range and in each category, mined-out areas, areas excluded from the estimate, and areas outside of the outcrop were measured by planimeter on the base maps. Estimates of total reserves 14 inches and more thick and maps for individual beds were prepared from these data.

Jan 1, 1952

By X. Zhou

In this study, the cyclonic static microbubble flotation column (FCSMC) was investigated for fluorite beneficiation. The structure and principle of the specially designed column are described. Fluorite samples from the tungsten separation tailings of the Shizhuyuan Mine, Chenzhou, Hunan Province, P.R. China, were tested using a small-scale continuous flotation test unit, and concentrates with a fluorite grade higher than 98% were obtained. One rougher and three cleaner stages in the FCSMC achieved the same separation performance as one rougher and eight cleaners in conventional flotation cells. This greatly simplified the flotation circuit and reduced operating costs.

Jan 1, 2007

By Gabriel S. Esterhuizen

This paper addresses the need for a method to compare the effectiveness of different support systems when designing ground support in coal mines. At present, support design methods include empirical methods based on observations of past performance of installed support systems, analytical methods where the roof is typically simulated by elastic beams and numerical model analysis. The approach presented in this paper estimates the relative stability of a support design through geotechnical evaluation of the rock mass and numerical model analysis of the interaction between the rock mass and the support system. Models are used first to simulate the design performance at the expected rock conditions. The rock strength is then reduced until collapse is indicated in the model. The stability factor is then calculated as the ratio of the expected rock mass strength to the rock mass strength at the onset of collapse, and is similar to the well-known factor of safety used in engineering practice. The stability factor can be used to assist in developing a final support design by comparing the effectiveness of various support systems and the stability of excavations under various geological and loading conditions. Examples of the method?s application in three different geological settings are presented.

Jan 1, 2012

Queensland?s underground coal industry, as a whole, has arguably the best gas monitoring systems in the world. Each mine utilizes real time, tube bundle and onsite ultra fast gas chromatograph systems. Queensland?s mining legislation has specific requirements for mine gas monitoring but there is no requirement for all three techniques. Industry has however identified the need for all three and adopted this as a standard, resulting in over sixty thousand gas results collected each day. Automated monitoring systems are programmed to alarm for gas concentrations, gas ratios and explosibility. These alarms are then used to initiate predetermined actions to take control of the situation and prevent the compromise of safety to workers and the loss of resources. Dedicated software packages have been developed to assist in the interpretation of the large volume of results generated. The real time systems are used for real time warning, essential for incidents such as belt fires. Tube bundle systems suit long term trending used for identification of the onset of spontaneous combustion or for the determination of explosibility during the routine sealing of worked areas. Gas chromatograph analysis is used to provide a complete analysis and provides results for hydrogen and ethylene, key gases used in the assessment of spontaneous combustion. It is also crucial during significant spontaneous combustion events and coal fires to use gas chromatography to determine the explosibility status of the underground atmosphere otherwise the severity of the situation is likely to be under estimated. This paper outlines the need for all three techniques for assessing the underground status and outlines advantages and disadvantages of each.

Jan 1, 2009

By Mohan K. Wali

This report, the first in a series of 13 reports, provides a summary of 11 major topics on which individual reports have been prepared. These major topics are: (a) Nature of coal mine spoils, topsoils, and unmined soils; (b) influence of macro- and microclimate on (c) plant production on spoils and topsoils; (d) prediction of aboveground biomass from plant cover; (c) mineral composition of plants; (f) controlled environment studies on plant growth response; (g) microbial communities (h) water chemistry and organism diversity of catchbasins; (i) vegetation and soil development on abandoned, and (j) topsoiled sites; and (k) viability and diversity of seed bank. Based on these investigations, general conclusions and some recommendations are presented.

Jan 1, 1982

By Verya Nasri

The proposed Second Avenue Subway Project in New York City is approximately 8.5 miles long, up to a depth of 120 feet beneath grade and runs the length of the eastern side of the island of Manhattan from Harlem in the north to the financial district in the south. It will reduce overcrowding and delays on the existing parallel line, improving travel for both city and suburban commuters, and upgrading access to mass transit for residents of the East Side of Manhattan. This subway line will have 16 new stations providing transfers to the existing Metro-North commuter rail service and to New York City Transit subway lines and bus services. The first phase of construction includes two TBM rock tunnels 2.4 miles long and two new large and shallow rock cavern stations with clear span openings ranging from 70 to 100 feet and length in excess of 1000 feet with 615 feet center platform, coupled with low rock cover ranging from 20 feet to 40 feet. The design methodology for these large and shallow rock caverns consists of using well known empirical methods for initial estimate of support requirements and then two and three dimensional continuum and discontinuum analyses for verification of the selected excavation sequence and support system. This paper describes the analysis and design methodologies used for the two large and shallow rock caverns with insight into how to overcome the design complexities and construction challenges of the urban underground.

Jan 1, 2008

By H. Takamoto, M. Ichinose

"The basic objectives of mine roadways are to provide sufficient cross sections in order to meet the needs of accommodation of equipment, transport, personnel travel and ventilation. However, many roadways become damaged to the extent of needing maintenance, generally dinting, and in some cases requiring re-ripping. The damaging of a roadway is a result of several factors including geological properties of surrounding strata, method of roadway formation, support systems and so on. Among these factors, strata conditions play important effects on the stability of roadways and other mining activities. Weak rocks cause excessive roadway closures, and water softens some rocks and worsens the closure problem. In Indonesia, over 250 Mt of coal is now produced from almost surface mines. In the near future, some coal must be mined from underground. Unfortunately, the mechanical properties of coal measures rocks are not so good to open underground mines. In this paper, a scientific discussion on the effect of water on the stability of roadways is given on the basis of results obtained by means of in-situ investigation and laboratory tests both in Japan and Indonesia."

Jan 1, 2011

The emergence of China as a global economic power has not been without its birth pangs and the current coal market is testimony to this. Traditionally the coal market has been controlled by mature economies that functioned along balanced lines of supply and demand. The emergence of China and India as major forces in the international market has shifted this balance of power from mature economies to the developing economies of China and India. Of late Chinese Central Government policy has caused wide swings in the supply of Chinese coking coal and thermal coal to the international Asian markets. This has resulted in huge increases in demand for coal from producers in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, USA and Russia. Additionally since the late 1990s the liberalised Chinese economy has been growing by between nine to 12 per cent per annum. The corresponding rise in the standard of living of their 1.4 billion people has resulted in a strong demand for raw materials, initially met by domestic production and more recently met by the importation of raw materials including iron ore, oil, coking coal and thermal coal. Commensurate with this growth in China has been the emergence of India (pop one billion) as another major developing economy in the region. Whilst the Indian standard of living is lower than that of the Chinese, this subcontinent still has some 300 million people with middle class consumption demands. India is a major importer of oil, coking coal and thermal coal. It exports iron ore to China with growth parallel to China (seven to nine per cent per annum). These combined new demands from India and China have put unprecedented pressure on the global supply of coking and thermal coals. These pressures are reflected in the current world spot prices for coking and thermal coals which are at historically high levels. Whilst current demand from China and India is high it is anticipated that new projects will partially satisfy this increasing demand. Expectations are that overall thermal and coking coal prices will rise steadily. This paper seeks to identify the potential effects of Chinese and Indian economic growth on the international markets for coal.

Jan 1, 2004

By Mitchell L. Fong

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District will be extending BART service south along an 8.7-km (5.4-mile) -long corridor in the city of Fremont, California as part of the Warm Springs Extension (WSX). The WSX project will link the existing BART system to the future BART to San Jose extension. A segment of WSX is located in Fremont Central Park (referred to as the Fremont Central Park Subway Project). The Fremont Central Park Subway is considered the most complicated and geotechnically challenging portion of the project with an underground subway box being constructed near the active Hayward Fault which is capable of ground motions up to 0.75 g and is located in an aquifer which is used for water storage and supply. Soil-structure interaction analysis was used in the design of the subway box to resist deformations due to earthquake ground motions. A water-tight excavation support system has been designed to allow subway box construction while minimizing impacts to the aquifer.

By M. M. Cole

An assessment of the combined application of remotely sensed satellite imagery, geobotany and biogeochemistry reveals the complementary value of these techniques in the Thalanga area. The SPOT imagery yields useful information on features of the terrain and discriminates the gossan over the ore zone. Geobotany differentiates geological units and the anomalous vegetation provides visual expression of the surface presence of the ore zone, while biogeochemistry effectively locates its concealed extension below Tertiary sediments and ferricrete

Jan 1, 1991

By Dave Rose, David G. Meadows, Mike Westendorf

"Copper Mountain’s concentrator was commissioned in May 2011. The circuit consists of a 34’ x 20’ EGL SAG mill, a Raptor 900 pebble crusher and two 24’ x 39’6” ball mills. Each mill is equipped with a 2 x 8500 HP dual pinion drive system. The plant was designed to process 1585 mtph of SAG feed. From startup, the mill struggled to meet the required production rates. Over time, a major initiative that involved blasting and fragmentation, optimization of the SAG mill in terms of discharge grates, ball size and slurry density, and operation of up to three mobile pre-crushing plants resulted in significant increases in throughput. In parallel, a number of modeling tools, including JK SimMet, were run based on plant benchmarking exercises. Samples collected at the mine site during ramp up confirmed the very competent nature of the ore with drop weight - A*b values of less than 24 being recorded on a variety of plant feeds and lithologies. After due consideration including demonstration of proof of concept, a new pre-crushing circuit incorporating an XL2000 cone crusher and associated screening equipment was designed, constructed and commissioned at the site in August 2014. This paper reviews the history of the original circuit design, the various optimization steps taken and impacts, together with the final pre-crushing circuit and net results.IntroductionThe Copper Mountain Mine is located approximately 20 km south of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada (refer to Figure 1). The region has a long history of copper mining dating back to 1923. The Copper Mountain camp occurs in the 'eastern volcanic belt' of the Nicola Group (Monger, 1989). It is an alkali copper-gold deposit in which the volcanic strata are intruded by early Jurassic dykes, sills, irregular plugs and zoned plutons (Woodsworth et al., 1992). The stratified rocks are relatively fresh with slight metamorphism in the local contact regions."

Jan 1, 2016

By K. J. Stanaway

Major world ilmenite and rutile accumulations reveal similar regional geology and Proterozoic age deeper crustal source rocks. During crustal collision titanium crystallizes as ilmenite and rutile at buried sites of high pressure and temperature rock metamorphism. Hydrothermal activity can convert titanium minerals to rutile, but titanium migration and enrichment seem only local. Many melts crystallize rocks with iron-titanium oxides in solid solution, but titanium enrichment at economic scale takes place in basic intrusive melts often associated with anorthosites and charnokite. Sedimentary placer enrichments have formed since the Proterozoic with water-resistant ilmenite, and rutile segregating by gravity from quartz sands deposited from flowing water. Placers have residual, alluvial, strand and shallow marine variants. Time, organic acids, and sand permeability play lead roles in the leaching of iron from ilmenite during weathering and diagenesis.

Jan 1, 2005

By L. W. Brandt

The Bureau of Mines, as part of its mission to effect pollution abatement, conducted research to study various means of dewatering Florida phosphatic clay wastes and reclaiming mined lands. The work was done in cooperation with 10 Florida phosphate companies. During this work, a novel technique to effectively dewater phosphatic clay wastes was developed. The solids contained in the clay waste slurry are slowly compressed by moving wire mesh screens through the system. In a typical application, the screens were moved downward, compressing solids ahead of the screens. The rate of movement of the screens is an important variable in the process. It is believed that the moving screens distort the gel structure of the phosphatic clay system and cause the release of water. Samples of 18 clay wastes, including a high-grade attapulgite from beneficiation plants of the Florida phosphate field, were studied using the method. Typical samples were concentrated from initial solids of 4.7 and 11.9 percent to 16.8 and 25.2 percent, respectively, in 3-1/2 days. The high-grade attapulgite sample was dewatered from 2.7 percent solids to 13 percent solids in the same period.

Jan 1, 1980

By Maurice C. Fuerstenau

The kinetics of leaching galena with ferric chloride and ferric nitrate have been examined as a function of ferric concentration, salt concentration, temperature and particle size. Diffusivity of ferric complex ions was also established as a function of ferric chloride concentration and temperature. In the presence of 3 M NaCl, leaching rate is controlled by product layer diffusion when ferric chloride is added as oxidant. With NaCl concentrations less than 3 mole/liter rate decreases with decreased NaCl concentration, and, thus, rate is apparently not controlled by product layer diffusion. It is suggested that rate is controlled by lead chloride solubility at the reaction interface under these conditions. When ferric nitrate is added as oxidant, leaching rate is limited by chemical reaction control. An electrochemical model is presented. Activation energies are 8.1 and 11.3 kcal/mol in the ferric chloride and ferric nitrate systems, respectively.

Jan 1, 1984

By M. E. Wadsworth, T. D. Chatwin

The kinetics of sulfidization of hematite (Fe203) by H2S gas at various partial pressures have been determined over the temperature range of 170° to 500°C. The process was controlled by thin films of pyrite (FeS2) and troilite (FeS) which were protective and formed diffusional layers. At higher temperatures the thermodynamic drive to form FeS2 decreased, and consequently the rate of formation of FeS, decreased. Conditions for the development of thin layers of FeSz consisting of 10 to 100 atomic diameters are presented. Laboratory flotation results on synethetic ores indicate floatability identical to that of pyrite of normal xanthate flotation. The prospect of high-temperature sulfidization of metal oxides using H2S, S, or other sulfur bearing compounds is intriguing as a potential activation process for flotation since the thermodynamics are very favorable for a large number of systems. If the kinetic parameters are sufficiently well understood it may be possible to provide surface sulfide layers a few angstroms thick, thus imparting normal sulfide floatability characteristics to the oxide. For thin layers the total sulfur pick-up would be small except for very high surface area materials but in most cases this sulfur could be readily removed by roasting if necessary. The general reactions for the sul-fidization of metal oxide MxO, to a metal sulfide MpSq using H2S may be written for the three conditions py > xq; py < xq; and py = xq: A large thermodynamic advantage is obtained in many systems because of the relatively large negative free energy of formation of H,O compared to H,S. For the temperature range 2S° to 1500°C &apos; where AFOis the standard free energy and T is absolute temperature. As is evident from Eqs. 4 and 5, the free energy of formation of H ,0 is approximately 35 to 37 kilocalories per mole greater than that for H,S over broad variations of temperature. For oxide-sulfide systems as outlined above, sulfidization may be expected to occur for the conditions: Groups I and 111: that is, if the terms on the right are more negative than those on the left the reaction is expected to occur thermodynamically. The value hFg,(,) is included in Eq. 6 since hFLzs is based upon gaseous S2 rather than the normal reference state, orthorhombic sulfur. The

Jan 1, 1969

By Charles Barnhart

This paper is a discussion of the causes of deflagration in cast blasting and a description of a project intended to demonstrate how changes in six critical parameters contribute to the deflagration chemical reaction. Control of these parameters is key to solving the nitrogen dioxide “orange smoke” problem. Preliminary results of an investigation into the development of a technology addressing the problem of atmospheric releases of nitrogen dioxide during cast blasting in surface mine operations are described. The project is funded by a $600,000 Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Science Foundation and an $80,000 Abandoned Coal Mine Land Reclamation Program grant from the state of Wyoming. The presentation will address the measures required to control the blast chemical reaction so that it does not produce nitrogen dioxide through deflagration. Experimental blast data will be focused on a new shaped charge detonation system designed to instantaneously bring the powder column to maximum velocity of detonation (VOD), thus insuring efficient detonation of the entire colulnn.

Jan 1, 2003

By Ronald Díaz Vásquez

Cerro Corona es un yacimiento porfíritico tipo stockwork con distintas unidades geometalúrgicas y alteraciones producidas por una familia de fallas geológicas que determinaron un tipo de mineralización. A medida que la mina se va profundizando, la roca encajonante será menos alterada. Por tanto, se genera una mayor dureza del mineral, así como problemas con el menor tonelaje de procesamiento. En ese sentido, el presente texto señala una forma de optimizar el procesamiento de minerales de bajo contenido de arcillas y alta dureza, así como la disminución de la malla de voladura.

Nov 1, 2013

The principle activities of the Explosives Research Laboratory from July 1, 1961 to June 30, 1962, are described briefly in part 1. Part 2 gives short abstracts of publications that appeared during fiscal year 1962; in general, the research reported in these publications antedates the report period. Part 3 gives the results of an investigation which, although too limited to warrant separate publication, merits presentation in some detail because of current interest in ammonium nitrate-fuel oil compositions.

Jan 1, 1964

By Sunil Koppalkar, Guillaume Noel, Ahmed Bouajila, Makni Sami, Claude Gagnon

"Gold gravity recovery circuits utilizing enhanced gravity separators have become an integral part of many of the modern gold processing plants. Thus, efforts to improve the operating efficiency have been a topic of interest for metallurgists for many years. As part of this endeavour, a methodology to estimate the portion of gold in the ore that could be recovered by gravity separation (gravity recoverable gold or GRG) was developed at McGill University. It has been reported in the literature that the gold content estimated with this methodology is the theoretical maximum that is available for gravity recovery that could only be approached but never achieved. A comparison of GRG recovery obtained in the laboratory with the actual recovery in the plant shows that plants recover between one-third to two-thirds of the value predicted by the laboratory test.Research conducted at COREM shows that particle shape transformation during grinding is a major cause of the discrepancy (even though the bleed percent processed, the quality of cyclone classification and the operating conditions of the gravity separator also contribute to the difference). To analyze the gold particle shapes and their deportment, samples were collected from different streams of a grinding-gravity circuit in a gold plant and compared to a concentrate sample from the standard GRG test. A particle characterization methodology based on gold morphology was developed. GRG mapping in a conventional grinding-gravity circuit and the transformation of GRG into non-GRG, as mainly explained by gold particle reshaping, will be discussed. The knowledge gained from the shape analysis will be used to develop shape distributions and partition curves for the classification of shapes.INTRODUCTIONGravity concentration using centrifugal concentrators has gained increasing popularity since the invention of the enhanced gravity concentrators in the nineteen eighties. Among these, the semicontinuous centrifugal gravity concentrators are most commonly used for recovering gold and platinum group minerals (PGM) from grinding circuit streams. The benefits of gold gravity recovery are now well understood and the acceptance by the mining industry is overwhelming. The occurrence of reasonable amounts of gravity recoverable gold (GRG) in an ore prompts gold mills to install gravity circuits. Thus, the increased use of gravity concentration has necessitated a better understanding of the behavior of gold in grinding circuits and of the factors affecting the performance of the gravity concentrator (Laplante et al., 1995). Due to its high density (19.3 g/cm3 when pure) and malleability properties, gold tends to accumulate in circulating streams making it attractive for gravity recovery. The gravity recovery units are typically installed on a bleed stream of the cyclone underflow, mill discharge or cyclone feed."

Jan 1, 2011

Data recently released indicate substantial improvement in mineral industry performance for 1984. Business plans to increase plant and equipment spending in 1984 by 14.8 percent, according to a recent survey conducted by the Commerce Department&apos;s Bureau of Economic Analysis (table 1). In contrast, capital spending by all industries declined 4.8 percent in 1983 and 2.3 percent in 1982. The latest estimate of planned expenditures for 1984 is $2.2 billion higher than the comparable estimate based on the survey conducted in late January and February 1984.1/ [ ] Of particular significance to the U.S. mineral industries are the 15.5-percent increase in capital spending planned by manufacturing in 1984 and the planned 18.6-percent increase in spending by durable goods manufacturing, where the largest increases are planned in the transportation equipment (26.4 percent) and electrical machinery sectors (23.5 percent). Capital expenditures in manufacturing declined in both 1982 and 1983.

Jan 1, 1984