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The South Wall Base Case Design for Mt Whaleback indicated that along portion of the South Wall a cigar shaped synclinal keel, contain- ing 14 800 m', of Dales Gorge Member ore, would be unkeyed and bed- ding undercut. The dry "ore lobe" slope would be 60m high, unbenched and approximately 170 m long. Stability analyses using specific design parameters established that artificial reinforcement could stabilise the slope and be economically justifiable. To implement the slope design reinforcement for such a complex geo- logical structure it was necessary that all functions pertaining to slope excavation be integrated and co-ordinated within the Mine Geotechnical Section. The objective being to minimise slope damage and thereby optimise the effect of design reinforcement. The successful excavation of the ore lobe in 1988, three years after the introduction of artificial reinforcement, was achieved by strictly main- taining the following parameters. 1. Accurate Geological Model 2. Controlled Perimeter Blasting 3. Controlled Excavation Techniques 4. Quality control -Reinforcement Installation 5. Additional Reinforcement.

Jan 1, 1989

It is a well known fact that the best method of rock reinforcement is to avoid physical ground support. This goal can be achieved by means of: - Increasing the rock structural strength - Geological definition and forecasting. - Sequencing the excavation - Smooth blasting In many cases however, extra ground support is needed in order to maintain safe working conditions. In an open pit, the structural strength of rock cannot be increased by lowering the pit walls due to economical reasons. Economy demands steeper walls and less waste to be hauled to the dump. The geological conditions can also often be extremely poor and unpredictable. For excavation sequencing and smooth blasting there are good possi- bilities, such as cleaning of the pit walls after the main excavation, arul- ing of long small diameter straight inclined holes, use of smooth blasting techniques and lightened explosives.

Jan 1, 1989

On September 4, 2007, Mine Safety and Health Administration, in alliance with the International Union of Operating Engineers and the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers, presented the first annual Mine Construction Maintenance and Repair?s Safety Contractor of the Year Award to Artisan Contracting, Inc., of Cape Girardeau, MO. Eligible contractors located throughout the United States were nominated. Artisan Contracting was nominated by Illinois Cement Company located in LaSalle, IL. Illinois Cement Company is a Division of Eagle Materials Inc., located in Dallas, Texas. Mr. Larry Frankum President of Artisan Contracting Inc., stated, ?While it is gratifying to receive a wonderful award such as this, we must not forget how fragile a good safety record is. We must constantly remain diligent in pursuit of maintaining safe work sites.?

Feb 1, 2008

By E Y. Baafi

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASSM) offers lucrative employment opportunities to the locals of most developing countries. The major drawback of ASSM is its adverse impacts on the environment resulting from improper mining and processing techniques. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has very active ASSM activities. The artisanal and small-scale gold mining in PNG provide employment at local and national levels and the sector is an important source for inflow of foreign exchange into rural communities. However, small-scale mining activities are associated with sensitive health and environmental issues. The process of recovering gold by retorting and heating the amalgam over an open fire is a dangerous health practice. This paper discusses artisanal and small-scale gold mining operations in PNG and their impacts on the local environment.

Jan 1, 2008

By J. Diaz

"Antioquia region, in Colombia, is considered one of the areas with the highest mercury contamination in the world due to its use in gold recovery through artisanal mining, emissions to the environment between 100 and 150 tonnes of mercury are estimated by year. Therefore it became necessary to develop a project in which it was proposed aim to empower traditional artisanal mining community, or in different areas, such as gold mining in the region of Antioquia, in the implementation of safe mining practices and environmentally sustainable, from the introduction of clean technologies, in order to prevent or mitigate the impacts generated by traditional mining on the environment and the communities involved. In order to achieve this training to traditional mining community developed and technical visits to artisanal mining were performed in order to optimize operating processes and promote safe mining practices. In the project more than 1400 artisanal miners were trained.INTRODUCTION In the developing world, a combined 30 million individuals extract more than 30 different minerals using rudimentary techniques. Gold is the preferred mineral extracted by artisanal operators due to its high unit value and its market price, which has increased almost sevenfold over the last decade (Veiga et al, 2014). The artisanal gold mining sector in Colombia has 200,000 miners officially producing 30 tonnes Au/a. In the Northeast of the Department of Antioquia, there are 17 mining towns and between 15,000 and 30,000 artisanal gold miners (M. Veiga, 2010) (Upme, 2014). This production, however, has caused environmental problems, including high levels of river siltation and mercury pollution (Veiga et al, 2014) (UPME, 2007) (Cordy et al., 2013). The mercury contamination in Colombia by artisanal gold mining has been recognized by a number of researchers and local authorities for over a decade estimated that the annual mercury emissions from artisanal gold miners in Colombia in 2007 were between 50 and 100 tonnes, however given recent gold value increases and gold rush activity, current mercury emissions are likely much higher. Colombia is likely the world's 3rd largest source of mercury emissions from AGM after China (240 to 650 tonnes of Hg/a) and Indonesia (130 to 160 tonnes of Hg/a) (Telmer and Veiga, 2008) and is the world's highest per capita mercury polluter (M. Veiga, 2010)."

Jan 1, 2016

By P. Moreno

ABSTRACT: The Maras salt terraces, located between Cuzco and Urubamba in the Andes (southern Peru), are living examples of traditional Incan salt production, where present-day artisanal miners produce salt from shallow pans by solar evaporation. In these terraces, natural spring water, eight to nine times saltier than seawater, is used to produce the salt. The field observations and chemical analyses show that the poorly crystalline traditional salt is finer in particle size and contains impurities such as dolomite and gypsum. These differences are the result of shallow pond depth, contamination from wall erosion, and the nonsequential mode of salt crystallization.

Jan 1, 2011

By B. O. Odera

The Pt-based alloys have a high potential for replacing some Ni-based superalloys (NBSAs) used in the highest temperature and most aggressive environments, and vanadium would be a beneficial alloying element. Six alloys of average compositions Pt-26.6Al-9.1V, Pt-23.1Al-17.8V,Pt-9.6Al-21.1V, Pt-17.4Al-6.4V, Pt-22.3Al-7.9V, and Pt-6.0Al-10.1V (all in at.%) were manufactured by arc-melting and examined in the as-cast condition using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Five samples were heat treated at 1 000°C for 1 500 hours and water quenched, then examined. The phases were identified using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and the identities were confirmed by XRD. In most of the samples, the phases existing in the as-cast condition were different from those at 1 000°C after ~1500 hours heat treatment. A solidification projection, an isothermal section and a liquidus surface projection were determined for the Pt-rich corner.

Jan 1, 2012

By B. O. Odera

The Pt-based alloys have a high potential for replacing some Ni-based superalloys (NBSAs) used in the highest temperature and most aggressive environments, and vanadium would be a beneficial alloying element. Six alloys of average compositions Pt-26.6Al-9.1V, Pt-23.1Al-17.8V, Pt-9.6Al-21.1V, Pt-17.4Al-6.4V, Pt-22.3Al-7.9V, and Pt-6.0Al-10.1V (all in at.%) were manufactured by arc-melting and examined in the as-cast condition using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Five samples were heat treated at 1 000°C for 1 500 hours and water quenched, then examined. The phases were identified using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and the identities were confirmed by XRD. In most of the samples, the phases existing in the as-cast condition were different from those at 1 000°C after ~1500 hours heat treatment. A solidification projection, an isothermal section and a liquidus surface projection were determined for the Pt-rich corner.

Jan 1, 2012

By Dan Yang

Pile foundation designs are performed routinely based on geotechnical information available at the time of design, often with due consideration of large uncertainties inherent to soils and site conditions. These uncertainties frequently are the causes of piles being installed not the same as those designed, especially by factors beyond quality assurance and quality control. With a variety of both satisfactory and unsatisfactory pile test results from these nonconforming piles, the design engineers are required to examine the foundation performance as a whole against the project design requirements before signing off on them or calling for potentially costly remediation. Over the years, as-built analysis has been a consistent way of dealing with pile non-conformity and damage in our practice, avoiding many construction delays and it is an integral part of our pile foundation design. In this paper, the key elements of an as-built analysis along with several major bridge projects are presented.

Jan 1, 2010

By A. R. Kiani-Rashid

In this paper, the effect of aluminum content on the formation mechanism, volume fraction, morphology and particle size distribution of graphite has been investigated. Addition of aluminum on ductile iron causes some fundamental changes in iron-carbon phase-diagram and as a result, improves the graphite formation during eutectic transformation. The results reveals that aluminum compounds have been formed in the core of graphite nodules, thus aluminum plays an important role in the formation of graphite nodules. Furthermore, it is indicated that an increase in the aluminum content also leads to an increase in the number of graphite nodules and a decrease in the nodules size. By using EPMA, the segregation of aluminum and silicon between graphite nodules has been studied

Jan 1, 2010

By Tim Neil, O&apos

Introduction On the banks of the Columbia River, about halfway between Seattle and Spokane, sits Wenatchee, WA. It calls itself "the apple capital of the world." And it has a gold mining history that dates back to the 1880s. It was just outside Wenatchee - three blocks outside, to be exact-that Asamera recently dedicated its $60 million Cannon underground gold mine. At full production, it is estimated the Cannon mine will yield between 5 and 5.6 t/a (160,000 and 180,000 oz per year) of gold. That would make Cannon the largest North American underground gold mine to be brought into production this year. Cannon should also be among the top 10 of all North American gold producers. Asamera officials project Cannon's operating costs at about $4.8019 ($150 per oz). At that rate, the mine should also be one of the lower cost and most profitable gold mining operations in North America. One reason for low operating costs is low electric power costs. The Cannon operation will be paying about 2.5 cents per kWh for hydroelectric power supplied by the Bonneville Power Authority. Proven and probable ore reserves at Cannon are in excess of 4.7 Mt (5.2 million st). Reserve grades average 7.29 g/t (0.21 oz per st) of gold in three ore zones, in order of discovery - B, B West, and B North. The ore bodies could have been mined by open-pit methods. But underground mining was chosen for environmental reasons. In addition, the rich B North ore body extends beneath a nearby horse stable and arena. The Cannon mine area comprises some 20 km2 (5000 acres) in Chelan County. The mine site is located at the 305 m (1000 ft) elevation in Dry Gulch at the base of the Cascade Mountains. The initial estimate of mine life for the Cannon operation is eight years, depending on gold prices. But Asamera officials believe the Wenatchee area has excellent potential for future gold discoveries. Asamera, Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, owns 51% of the Cannon property, through its wholly-owned Asamera Minerals (US). Breakwater Resources Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia owns 49% of the operation. The Cannon mine is named in honor of longtime Asamera, Inc. executive and current company director, geologist Donald G. Can¬non. It was he who first brought the Wenatchee property to Asamera's attention and urged the company to pursue it. Asamera is a major explorer and producer of oil and gas. Its Cannon operation is the largest and most significant to date in its mining division, according to Rob¬ert G. Welty. He is Asamera's chairman and chief executive officer. It should be noted there was an element of serendipity involved in Cannon's development. The development program be¬gan when geologist Cannon visited the Wenatchee area. He was visit¬ing old mining districts. He liked what he saw. The Cannon property was eventually optioned for ex¬ploration, including a modest drilling program.

Jan 12, 1985

Asarco's Sacaton unit, located near Casa Grande 45 miles southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, was brought into production in February 1974. Ore reserves are estimated at about 48 million tons at 0. 95% copper. Mineralization of the orebody comprises both sulfides and oxides, with minor amounts of gold and silver. Preproduction stripping of 40 million tons of overburden was accomplished in less than two years. Mining is done at the rate of 9,000 stpd ore with a waste-to-ore ratio of 4.6 to 1. 0. The mine is developed on 40 ft benches, and by 1979 underground block caving methods will be phased into the operation at a depth of 1900 ft. Ore is mined in the pit two shifts per day, seven days per week, and is hauled with 85 ton trucks to the primary crushing plant. Trucks dump their loads into a 165 st capacity pocket equipped with a chain curtain which controls the ore flow to the 6 ft 6 in. wide by 24 ft long (2. 0 m by 7.3 m) vibrating feeder grizzly. Grizzly bars are inclined at a 5º slope on the first half of the 0 feeder and 10 on the last half. Grizzly bars have 6 in. (13 mm) spacings which pass 60 to 70% of the mine-run ore. Grizzly oversize drops into a 48 in. by 60 in. (1. 22 m by 1.52 m) primary jaw crusher. Both the grizzly undersize and crusher discharge are collected on a 42 in. (1.07 m) conveyor belt operating 398 fpm (121 mpm) for transport to the 4,750 live st intermediate storage area ahead of the fine crushing plant. Capacity of the Sacaton primary crushing plant is a nominal 1150 stph (1043 mtph). It operates fourteen shifts per week with an effective crushing time of four hours per shift. An economical open-air design was used, but an enclosed operator control room is located on the upper level where the dump truck, feeder, and crusher can be observed. Oversize rocks are removed from the feeder or crusher by the 10-ton bridge crane. Direct operating costs for this well-designed primary crushing plant, including labor, power, supplies, and maintenance, are only 3.5 cents per short ton. An interesting feature of the Sacaton orebody is that the non-sulfide copper minerals, which are less prevalent than the sulfides, occur intimately with the sulfide minerals; for this reason, all ores as mined are treated in a flotation circuit using sulfidizing methods for oxide recovery.

Jan 1, 1978

By M. G. King

In 1982, Asarco operated six smelters and refineries producing primary copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold. At that time Asarco was still reliant on its custom smelting and refining roots and mined only 25% of its smelting and refining capacity for copper and 10% of its lead smelting and refining capacity. By 1992, Asarco had been reshaped to become largely an integrated primary metal producer operating four smelters and three refineries. Zinc is no longer refined and the mining capacity has been increased to meet 100% of copper smelting and 50% of lead smelting needs. Only one custom smelter is in operation. This paper describes the metallurgical changes and challenges which have occurred in this restructuring of Asarco's operations while maintaining Asarco's position as one of the largest non-ferrous metals producers in the world.

Jan 1, 1993

By Tim O’Neil

Until about three years ago, Asarco's copper business consisted predomi¬nantly of custom smelting of ores and concentrates produced by other mining companies. Since then, the company has been transforming itself into a fully integrated producer in copper mining, smelting, and refining. In doing this, Asarco has lowered its costs and restructured its operations and finances. Now, Asarco hopes to complete this process by spending $260 million over the next three years, to expand and modernize its copper facilities and boost production by some 40%. The capital spending program includes: • $130 million at the Ray mine about 113 km (70 miles) north of Tucson, AZ, to expand mining capacity and install an in-pit ore crusher, mill, and concentrator; • $100 million, to expand the mining capacity at the Mission Complex located south of Tucson, AZ, and refurbish the adjacent, idle Pima mill and concentrator. (Asarco had earlier exercised an option to purchase the Pima mill for about $6 million); and • $30 million, to modernize the copper smelter in El Paso, TX, with a new flash smelting process. The new program is in addition to a recently completed first-phase expansion of the Mission mine, mill, and concentrator. This $13 million debottlenecking of existing operations in¬creased production capacity by 46% or 24.5 kt/a (27,000 stpy), to 79 kt/a (87,000 stpy) of copper in concentrates. In addition, a previously an¬nounced $12 million expansion program at the Ray mine is scheduled for completion in early 1990. It will expand mill capacity, to offset the anticipated effects of increasing ore hardness as the pit deepens. Ray produces 68 kt/a (75,000 stpy) of copper in concen¬trates and an additional 36 kt/a (40,000 stpy) of electrowon copper. By 1992, when Asarco's expanded and modernized copper facilities are operating at capacity, the company's mine output will have increased by 67 kt/a (74,000 stpy), to 263 kt/a (290,000 stpy) of contained copper. That will be enough to provide all of the feed required for Asarco's two copper smelters - by then, both of them modern, state-of-the-art facilities. Asarco's expansion and modernization program will further reduce costs and provide added assurance that the company's copper business will be profitable at the bottom of the cycle, according to Chairman Richard de J. Osborne The Ray mine portion of the new program will include construction at the mine of a new mill and concentrator, with a capacity of 18 kt/d (20,000 stpd) of ore. These new semiautogenous grinding mills and large capacity flotation cells will augment the present 27.2 kt/d (30,000 stpd) concentrator located 29 km (18 miles) away, in Hayden, AZ. A 29 km (18 mile) pipeline will be built to carry tailings in slurry form from the new Ray mill to the present tailings pond. Concentrates from the new facility will be shipped by rail to Asarco's Hayden copper smelter. Ray's present 27.2 kt/d (30,000 stpd) crusher, adjacent to the open-pit, will be replaced by a 54.4 kt/d (60,000 stpd), portable in-pit crusher and conveying system. This will reduce the more expensive ore haulage by truck. The Ray project is scheduled for completion by 1992. It will increase the mine's annual output of copper in concentrates by an additional 33.5 kt/a (37,000 st), to 102 kt (112,000 st). And the project could mean an additional 400 jobs at the 730 employee Ray operation. Work at the Mission Complex involves reactivation of the Pima mill and concentrator and expansion of mine output sufficient to provide ore to both the Pima mill and the present Mission mill. In 1985, Asarco purchased the Pima mine, which occupies one end of the Mission pit. The work at Mission will increase its annual capacity by 33.5 kt (37,000 st), to 112 kt/a (124,000 st) of contained

Jan 1, 1989

By K. Parameswaran, A. Veek, A. Fernandez, P. Safe

ASARCO LLC (Asarco) Hayden Copper smelter, in Hayden, Arizona, has operated continuously (except for minor labor and economic curtailments) since 1912. The current plant configuration comprises INCO flash smelting, Peirce Smith (P-S) converting and fire refining/anode casting. In order to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide promulgated in June 2010, the Hayden smelter had to increase overall sulfur fixation from approximately 95 % to 99+ %, requiring a retrofit of the existing converter department and upgrade of associated emissions controls systems. The Converter Retrofit Project (CRP) involved replacing the five existing 13’ diameter Peirce-Smith converters (2 blowing, 2 hot standby) with three new 15’ diameter Peirce- Smith converters (1 blowing, 1 hot standby) to allow for more effective process gas capture using the existing acid plant contact section. Significant upgrades were made to the acid plant wet gas cleaning section and converter primary gas handling system to improve capture performance, reliability, and sludge handling. In addition, a new tertiary gas capture system was installed to further minimize fugitive emissions from the converter aisle. The existing furnace tapping ventilation ESP was replaced with a new baghouse to enable at least 50% SO2 removal using high-surface-area dry lime injection, which was also implemented on the existing converter secondary gas baghouse system. The first two converters and all gas handling system improvements were started up in April 2018, and the third converter was brought online in November 2018. This paper presents the regulatory context; genesis and rationale for CRP; detailed description of the project; challenges during commissioning; system improvements implemented, and design considerations made, and systems performance and process optimization achieved since startup.

Jan 1, 2019

By Shane Yanagisawa

The Mineral Creek Diversion Project is at the Asarco Ray Mine Complex, about128 km (80 miles) east of Phoenix, Arizona. The new tunnel will intercept the waters of Mineral Creek about 2,134 m (7,000 ft) upstream from an existing tunnel. The 5.74 m(18.83 ft) hard rock TBM will break into the old tunnel about 2,162 m (7,090 ft) in from the old portal after mining 3,888 m (12,753 ft). The TBM will mine through a series of igneous and metamorphic formations including volcanic tuff, soft volcanic ash, massive diabase, fractured quartzite, and schist. The TBM will hole through into the existing 4.88 m (16 ft) dia. horseshoe tunnel where the TBM will be disassembled and removed from the tunnel.

Jan 1, 2001

By S. A. McGhee

Introduction ASARCO's Ray Operations include an open-pit copper mine in the Mineral Creek Mining District of Pinel County. The district is located in east central Arizona, 132 km (82 miles) southeast of Phoenix, AZ, and 126 km (78 miles) north of Tucson, AZ. The mine lies 8 km (5 miles) north of the Gila River in Mineral Creek Valley, between the Tortilla Mountains to the west and the Dripping Springs Range to the east. The rich copper deposits of the Mineral Creek mining district were first noted by a US Army Officer in 1847. The Ray Copper Company was the first major operation in the area. The company was named after the Ray mining claim, which was one of the earliest recorded claims. After decades of sporadic and unsuccessful mining ventures, the Ray Consolidated Mining Company was formed in 1910. The company introduced one of the first successful block caving operations in the world. In 1933, the Kennecott Copper Corporation acquired the Ray Consolidated Mining Company and continued operation of the mine under the same name until 1943, when the property was renamed the Ray Mines Division of Kennecott. Underground mining continued until 1955, when the mine was converted to an open pit operation. In November 1986, ASARCO Inc. purchased the Ray Mines Division and related facilities from Kennecott. The purchase also included the Hayden concentrator and the Ray Smelter, located approximately 32 km (20 miles) from the Ray Mine. This paper summarizes the 54,400 tpd (60,000 stpd) in-pit crusher and overland-conveying system and the 24,200 tpd (30.000 stpd) copper SAG concentrator and tailings disposal system constructed at ASARCO's Ray Complex - Ray Operations. General description of facilities The Ray concentrator includes a sulfide SAG concentrator, a "relocatable" in-pit primary-crushing plant and overland-conveyor system, a concentrator tailings-disposal system and plant ancillary facilities, The major elements of the project include: • A relocatable Fuller-Traylor in-pit 1524-mm (60-in) x 2261-mm (89-in) primary gyratory crusher at the 442 m (1450 ft) mine elevation. The crushing plant has a nominal capacity of 54,400 tpd (60,000 stpd) of sulfide ore. • A 1524-mm (60-in) wide x 1253-m (4110-ft) long overland belt conveyor, which runs from the in-pit crushing facility to a transfer station serving both the Ray Concentrator and the existing Hayden concentrator railroad load-out facility. • A 1524-mm (60-in) wide x 152-m (500-ft) long stackerbelt conveyor, which delivers a nominal 27,200 tpd (30,000 stpd) of ore from the transfer station to a 23,600 t (26,000 st) live-capacity coarse-ore stockpile serving the Ray Concentrator. • A nominal 27,200-tpd (30,000-stpd) concentrator, including semiautogenous grinding, flotation, copper concentrate filtration and associated plant ancillary facilities. • A tailings disposal system. Flotation tailings are pumped from the Ray Concentrator to a 122-m (400-ft) diam. thickener, located 4.8 km (3 miles) southeast of the Ray Concentrator site. The thickener overflow is pumped to two 76.2-m (250-ft.) diam. concrete process-water reservoirs. The thickener underflow, at 45% solids, is pumped to a new tailings disposal site located at Elder Gulch. • An HDPE-lined temporary-containment area to collect material from Ray Concentrator plant upsets and local storm-water run-off from a 100-year, 24-hour rain event. •A reclaim-water system from the Elder Gulch tailing pond area to the Ray Concentrator. • A 610-mm (24-in.) diam. x 31.9-km (19.2 mile) long fresh-water pipeline from the Hayden fresh-water-well field system to the Ray Concentrator. The overall process design criteria for the new Ray Concentrator is based on a nominal throughput of 27,200 tpd (30,000 stpd) of ore at 90% plant availability. However, based on the maximum performance capacity of the installed grinding equipment, it may be possible to achieve a sustained operating level in excess of 36,300 tpd (40,000 stpd) when processing soft ores. The balance of this paper will cover the major process systems including:

Jan 1, 1995

By John J. Sense

The Mission unit of the American Smelting and Refining Co., located 20 miles south of Tucson, Ariz., is a high-volume, 15,000 tpd operation which utilizes a relatively light equipment fleet. As such, management is very conscious of the mechanical and operational availability of the equipment in use. One of the key items in attaining this efficiency is a complete and reliable record of mechanical and operational machine availability which is an invaluable guide for: 1) Estimating future equipment and personnel requirements of an operating property. 2) Planning an expansion program of an operating property. 3) Estimating equipment and personnel requirements of a new property. 4) Selection of replacement equipment. 5) Comparison of separate operating properties.

Jan 3, 1964

By P G. Self, M D. Raven, R A. Eggleton

Investigation of an abandoned quarry near Rowland Flat in South Australia identified asbestiform antigorite as the fibrous serpentine mineral mined during the 1940s to 1978 for filler applications, not amphibole asbestos or chrysotile as reported in earlier investigations. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) of individual fibres were used to confirm the identification. Chrysotile is widely regarded as the only asbestos mineral in the serpentine group. Further work was done therefore, on the geology and mineralogy of the occurrence, and the health implications were reviewed. A zone of antigorite alteration, with associated talc, is traceable for 750 m along strike of recrystallised dolomitic siltstone within Woolshed Flat Shale of Neoproterozoic age. The antigorite formed, in part, by replacement of prismatic crystals of probable tremolitic amphibole. The deposit is proximal to the Williamstown Fault and the serpentine-talc alteration is possibly due to fluids expelled along the fault during late-stage deformation in the Early Palaeozoic Delamerian Orogeny. The antigorite comprises white to pale green bundles of lath-shaped fibres that occur either as randomly- arranged equant patches after amphibole or as cross-fibre veins, both intimately mixed with calcite. Highly fibrous product was mined from the weathered zone where calcite was leached during weathering. Gentle grinding releases fibres with a high aspect ratio (>10:1) that show a wide range of fibre thickness, including a significant proportion of fibres <0.25 ¦m width. Toxicological studies on fibrous antigorite from Poland and Italy indicate that the carcinogenic potential of this form of serpentine is similar to amphibole asbestos. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) techniques readily distinguish antigorite from chrysotile. Determination of asbestiform habit and confirmation of antigorite mineralogy is most reliably done using electron microscopy, preferably with SAED capability.

Jan 1, 2008

By R. W. Winson

Asbestos is the generic name given to a group of fibrous mineral silicates found in nature. They are all incombustible and can be separated by mechanical means into fibers of various lengths and cross sections, but each differs in chemical composition from the others. The commercial grades of asbestos consist of a spectrum of lengths and sizes and are not definitive as are most organic fibers. It is generally recognized that there are two main groups of asbestos. The first only contains the fibrous serpentine called chrysotile and comprises about 94% of the world production of asbestos. The second group contains five minerals in the amphibole series+rocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite. The latter two have no commercial importance. Properties Physical The structures of asbestos fibers have been studied intensively over a number of years. X-ray diffraction patterns have been used as a means of identification and classification. Low angle X-ray scattering techniques have shown that chrysotile fibers are "hexagonally close packed" and parallel to each other, having cross-sectional diameters varying from 18014 to 300A units, while the amphibole fibers are many times larger in cross section. Electron micrographs of the more common types of as- bestos are shown in [Figs. 1-4]. [Fig. 1] illustrates the softness and flexibility of chrysotile which make it suitable for textile-type products. For a number of years there was considerable controversy over the exact nature of chrysotile fiber, but the photographic evidence in [Figs. 5-7] clearly show that it is tubular in structure. The curvature is the result of the mismatch in the dimensions of the silica [Si,O,l and brucite [Mg(OH),] layers which are on the inside and outside, respectively, of a double sheet. This curvature had been predicted by Pauling (1930) years ago based on the molecular dimensions of the two component structures.

Jan 1, 1975