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By Duane H. Haley

The century we live in has been an eventful time for the Third World, particularly the country of Peru. Although it will take one or two generations more to see its end and fully evaluate its scope, it is already clear that during the twentieth century, Peru has entered a dynamic industrial, economic, social, and political revolution. This century has seen the end of old governments, and the introduction of reforms which radically change complex traditional patterns. It also has marked the beginning of an era in which the government has elected to undertake, as a national effort, most of the future economic growth of Peru. For the most part, large multinational mining companies, which have helped to discover and put into operation large mineral and ore deposits in Peru, have been sympathetic toward this philosophy. Most big foreign companies, in addition to capital, brought with them to Peru an efficient technology, modern management, and an effective organization for the further processing, sales, and distribution of refined commodities. Nationalization of all basic resources, including mining, is the, trend-not, it is hoped, to the detriment of established technology and production.

Jan 1, 1974

By E. T. Laker, John C. Loretto

This chapter deals with the process piping aspects of moving slurries in mineral processing plants and the transportation of slurries such as tailings and concentrates over longer distances. The basic data required to select the process piping is given together with an example of line sizing and material selection. Alternative piping materials are discussed together with pumps and pumpbox design and the types of valves and other fittings available to the process piping designer. The long distance transportation of slurries is briefly discussed and a number of references given on this, including papers on actual installations.

Jan 1, 1978

By G. P. White, J. M. Jones

Introduction Computer simulation is a technique that has been around for many years. Its applications include designing steel mills, planning space shots, or even developing ways to beat the casinos in Las Vegas. However, the use of computer simulation in surface coal mining is fairly recent. To promote its use, several government agencies, including the US Bureau of Mines, Forest Service, and Department of Energy, contracted with universities and private companies to develop computer simulation programs for surface coal mining. Some of these developers include McDonnell-Douglas Electronics Co., Pennsylvania State University, Montana State University, Fluor Mining and

Jan 1, 1985

By T. K. Matthews

Minerals are mined as a one-time crop, and the processing of one ton of ore results in there being one ton less to be recovered from the deposit. Although some minerals occur in greater abundance than others, they are to a greater or lesser degree exhaustible. Depletion Allowances One of the distinctive features of the mineral industries is the allowance for depletion. The depletion allowance is a much maligned and misunderstood principal of our tax structure. Although imperfect in design, it has nevertheless served as a constructive incentive for the development and expansion of the minerals industry.

Jan 1, 1969

By Dermot Macaragh Ross-Brown, Brian Stimpson

Borehole information is often the only source of information on rock conditions at depth during the stage of feasibility studies of a project, and from this data the rock mechanics engineer would like to make some quantitative estimates of rock mass cohesive strength. While judgement and experience will usually play a paramount role at this stage, simple tools for estimating rock mass cohesive strength would be an asset. In this paper, an approximate technique is suggested for assessing the cohesive strength of a randomly jointed rock mass from borehole data on fracture intensity and intact rock strength.

Jan 1, 1980

By Edward Skewes

In view of the importance of the Cripple Creek district, the large amount of the publications concerning it, and the circumstance that many members of the Institute reside in it, or are familiar with it through repeated visits, it is surprising that our Transactions should have remained so long without any contributions on the subject. The same observations may be made with regard to the Witwatersrand, in South Africa, the other great productive gold-field of recent development. And I suppose the explanation is the same in both cases, namely, that the members of the Institute persoilally acquainted with the

Jan 1, 1897

By M. F. COOLBAUGH

WHEN I was asked to speak on the subject of leaching, I did not realize that a complete summary of recent progress in leaching had been given by Stuart Croasdale. I shall try to give some other phases of the subject that were not touched by Mr. Croasdale. Not all metallurgists are in harmony as to their methods of treating metals. If they were it would probably mean lack of progress. They can be divided into two classes-the pyrometallurgists, using fire means, and the hydrometallurgists, or those using leaching methods. Conflict is always good for progress; we have it in politics, and in religion there are fundamentalists, and those who are not fundamentalists. As representing pyrometallurgy, may I hope not to be classed among the fundamentalists. The leaching of ores is not new. The leaching of ores for the recovery of metals, however, is quite new. The older leaching was simply to recover the salts. Agricola, back in 1555, I think it was, outlined a great many methods of leaching for the recovery of salts. They called them solid juices at that time. There was no real competition, however, between leaching meth-

Jan 1, 1926

By Francis P. Sinn

IN the zinc smelting industry the year 1947 seems to have been one of putting one's house in order rather than one of any material technical development or radical change in operating conditions. Labor generally has been in better supply but several plants report a scarcity of skilled workmen. Some plants continue to operate on the basis of a six-day week and will probably continue to do so until labor is more plentiful. Only one plant is known to have operated on a curtailed basis because of labor shortage, but here the difficulty was lack of proper housing facilities. Necessary materials and equipment for much-needed maintenance and modernization have been in short supply so these programs have often been delayed. Laborsaving devices of the "Payloader" type have been more generally used for handling materials. Slab zinc production was discontinued during the last months of the year at Danville, 111. and at Langeloth, Pa. Both of these plants used the Hegeler type of furnaces fired with producer gas. It is understood that the rolling mill and possibly the acid plant at Danville will continue to operate. At Langeloth acid will be produced from

Jan 1, 1948

By R. C. Gifkins

The ideas expressed in this paper interest me very greatly, partly for their own sake and partly because they are very close to some speculation I have recently made concerning grain boundary diffusion. This is in a paper describing an extension to Mott's "island" theory of the grain boundary, to be published shortly.37 The facets or islands of good fit are identified in terms of specific crystallography, as in the model put forward by Brandon et al., and the bad fit between them is suggested to be interlinked "channels" of relaxed vacancies, associated with grain boundary ledges.

Jan 1, 1969

Improvement of drilling operations through the development of new, unconventional drill bits is a prime research target at Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. Sandia is currently focusing efforts on four new bit designs which its engineers believe may eventually improve penetration and reduce operating costs. The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) has budgeted $500,000 in support of this program to date. Two of the drill bits-one that chips rock with high voltage spark discharges, and another which fires small projectiles into the rock ahead of a regular roller bit-are designed to increase both penetration rates and downhole bit life.

Jan 8, 1975

By Roberto Pimentel de Souza, Helder Zenóbio

VRD started producing pellets in 1969 with one 2-million-t straight grate plant. In the beginning of April 1973, the second unit came on stream with an additional capacity of 3 million t/a of pellets. In January 1977, the third unit started, bringing the annual capacity to 8 million t/a. In the coming year (1978-79), three more units, 3 million t each, are expected to begin production. CVRD's experience with different binders and additives is described. Over the years several kinds of pellets have been produced to satisfy market requirements. General quality information is given for each.

Jan 1, 1981

By W. H. Nielson, L. S. Diaz

Several techniques are presented to adjust small errors inherent in data collected from material balance measurements on the flotation process. The basic technique used is a Lagrange multiplier adjustment of the filtered data taken from the equipment measurements. The raw data are adjusted such that material balances are closed. The adjustments to each data point is inversely proportional to the square of the standard error of measurement. Problem areas in equipment utilization are discussed. Typical results from on-line measurements are presented. This technique can be applied to either on-line process measurements or metallurgical test data.

Jan 1, 1973

By B. Stimpson, D. M. Ross-Brown

Borehole information is often the only source of information on rock conditions at depth during the stage of feasibility studies of a project, and from this data the rock mechanics engineer would like to make some quantitative estimates of rock mass cohesive strength. While judgement and experience will usually play a paramount role at this stage, simple tools for estimating rock mass cohesive strength would be an asset. In this paper, an approximate technique is suggested for assessing the cohesive strength of a randomly jointed rock mass from borehole data on fracture intensity and intact rock strength.

Jan 2, 1979

By Merle L. Bowser, Lawrence W. Scott, John N. Murphy

The environmental status of underground mining operations is critical to the health and safety of the miners; particularly in a large mine, the multitude of interacting parameters that can favorably or adversely affect the environmental status makes the manpower requirement of the routine checking of specific areas and conditions a formidable one. While the concept of environmental monitoring for miners has been considered for some time, until recently the availability of sensors to reliably measure the parameters of interest severely limited the utility of such systems. The status of sensors for mine use and the evaluation of enviornmental monitoring systems is reviewed.

Jan 1, 1980

By Miroslaw Hajdasinski

Estimation of the economic effectiveness of industrial development projects including mining ones is generally made on the basis of the discrete model of the value changes in time, although the character of these changes is similar to the continuous model. In this paper an attempt has been undertaken to investigate the problem of the value equivalence of both models exemplified by a construction of an underground coal mine. An effort has been made to determine the errors which for different estimation criteria appear in result of the application of the discrete model. Theoretical considerations have been supplemented with practical conclusions.

Jan 1, 1977

By Walter Riethmeier, Arthur J. Lynch

The future of plant design in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy is discussed in relation to present trends and the future need to build plants that will treat larger tonnages and lower grades of ore. The future equipment and plant design of crushing, grinding, screening, classification, flotation, magnetic concentration, gravity concentration, hydrometallurgy, thickening, filtration, tailings disposal, health, safety, environment, and materials of construction are discussed. Future plants are expected to follow upon present evolutionary trends. The impact of escalation, energy costs, and increased regulation of the industry is foreseen as a major influence on plant design.

Jan 1, 1978

By George Scott

MANY requests for information as to the possibility of washing coals to some predetermined percentage of ash or sulfur have suggested that the producers aim to satisfy some degree of purity set by the user of the fuel, rather than to attain the greatest economic benefit to all concerned. This paper is written to show that the highest economic purity of washed coal can be determined from washability studies of the raw coal, costs of mining and washing coal, and data on the effect of ash and sulfur on the value of the coal for the particular use for which it is intended.

Jan 1, 1929

By K. V. S. Sastry

This paper summarizes recent research on the kinetic aspects and process behavior of agglomeration in balling circuits. The physical concepts underlying agglomeration, the mechanisms responsible for size changes during agglomeration, and a generalized population balance model for agglomeration systems are summarized. Experimental techniques for investigating the batch balling behavior and for simulating the balling- circuit operations are reviewed. Further, the effect of such operating variables as feed moisture, bentonite content, and the rate of feed addition are discussed. An approach to the computer simulation of the agglomerating circuits is shown and the importance of such models in process engineering is discussed.

Jan 1, 1977

By Wayne L. Dowdey

With proud humility and keen anticipation, I accepted the office of President of the Institute one year ago, and it is with a great deal of pride in you-our membership that I make this report. You are the reason for a productive and prosperous year for AIME. Superior, good or satisfactory results were experienced in 1978 from almost everything we did as a leading engineering technical society. I recognize and pay tribute to the WAAIME organization. Their work is vital to our efforts, and their programs have proven effective. WAAIME can depend upon our continuing support.

Jan 6, 1979

By J. H. Scaff, J. E. Kunzler

The measurement of the electrical, thermal, and magnetic properties of metals at low temperatures, primarily in the range of liquid helium below 4.2°K, is a powerful tool for investigating many of the fundamental properties of the metallic state. Such measurements also have many practical applications, particularly as an analytical tool. One example of the practical utility of such measurements is illustrated by a short study we have made of the low-temperature resistance of copper used in preparing varistors. Copper-oxide varistors are prepared by the thermal oxidation of copper. This results in the

Jan 1, 1959