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By Dale C. Matthews

The Getchell Gold Hine is located about 40 miles northeast of Winnemucca, Nevada. Gold was discovered at the mine in 1934 and production was started in 1938 and ended in 1967 for its first phase of operation. Gold production during this period was about 800,000 ounces. In 1983, FirstHiss Gold Inc. purchased the property and initiated an exploration program that proved minable reserves of about 1,300,000 ounces of gold remained in the mine. During the exploration period, metallurgical testing was conducted to determine the most economical process that could be utilized for recovery of gold from the very refractory ore. After extensive investigation, pressure oxidation of the ore was selected, Engineering for the new plant commenced in 1987 and construction was completed in 1989 at a cost of about $87,400,000.00, not including financing cost.

Jan 1, 1990

By A. Smithson

It is generally accepted by British mining engineers that coal will continue to be worked by the. advancing or retreating longwall system for the foreseeable future. At the coal face, the emphasis will be on better machine utilization; increased equipment reliability; modular design and more standardization; remote control and monitoring; and a continuing drive to increase productivity and safety. Improvements at the face can be sustained only if there are corresponding improvements in efficiency elsewhere in the mine. Coal handling systems, for example, must be able to accept increased tonnages without creating bottlenecks. As workings move further from the shafts, the time taken to transport men and materials must be kept within reasonable limits. Development drivages must he on schedule to be ready for the planned opening of new faces, and face ends must keep up with faster moving faces.

Jan 8, 1981

By L. J. E. Hofer, L. F. Zeiler, D. A. Giardino

The Jones Trickett Ratio (JTR) is generally used in investigations of fires and explosions for the determination of the composition of the fuel. This paper takes a close look at the JTR and finds it unreliable and ambiguous for the determination of fuel composition. A new index is presented, termed the (H/C) Index which uniquely determines the fuel composition. The (H/C) Index is simple to use requiring only the results of a single gas analysis of the combustion products. Experimental data testing the (H/C) Index for methane, propane, ethylene and coal dust are given, showing that the Index unambiguously determines the composition of the fuel. The (H/C) Index is also applied to the gas analysis data of several mine fires, illustrating how the Index changes with the progression of the mine fire.

Jan 1, 1993

By Pedro D. Lasota

Chile leads the world in copper production with an annual capacity nearing 2 Mt (2.2 million st). Most of the country’s copper production, about 74%, is mined by open-pit mining methods. Open-pit mining also accounts for a major portion of Chile’s production of other commodities, including iron, gold, silver and coal (Table 1). Chile’s mining boom began 10 years ago and is expected to continue through the end of the decade. From 1980 to 1990, copper production in Chile increased 48.7%. During the same period, gold production increased 303%, silver production increased 119% and coal and iron ore production increased 163.7% and 6.6%, respectively (Table 2). It is estimated that copper production will be in the order of 2.3 Mt (2.5 million st) by 1996, when new projects now under construction come onstream. Gold production could reach 35 t (1.1 million oz) and coal production could increase another 1 Mt/a (1.1 million stpy). Open-pit mining has played a significant role in Chile’s minerals production growth. The expected increases in mine operations will come about mainly through new open pits or expansions of existing surface operations (Table 3). However, the number of open-pit copper mines will decrease from 74% to 66% of the total number of Chilean mines. Gold mines will increase from 63% to 69% of the total, while coal mines will go from 41% to 59%. Most all of the present iron ore production is from surface mines and will continue that way.

Jan 1, 1992

By Patrick M. Hurley

The spreading-ridge, or accreting plate margin, is the primary conduit of metals delivered to the earth's surface. Isotope ratios of lead show primitive mantle values at these sites, indicating that this is true. We can use lead isotopes in any mineral deposit to indicate the degree to which the metal is "primitive" in the sense of having been uncontaminated with U-enriched crust or "crustal" in the sense that it has been cycling at the earth's surface since earlier times. The reason for this is that the upper continental crust has an enrichment in the ratio of U/Pb over that in the mantle, so that old continental leads have a larger radiogenic component. The primitive metals delivered to the surface at the spreading-ridge are transported on the oceanic plate until they reach a subduction zone. Here they become cycled in the "orogen". However, in this process the primitive metals are mixed with metals from the continent so that the average lead isotope ratios are between those in the mantle and the average upper continental crust. Subsequently a part of the metals in the orogen may become fixed in a new block of continent. However there are processes which continue to uplift and erode ancient continental regions so that there is a continuous feeding back of metals to the orogen. We have therefore a cycling of metals from the existing continental crust into the orogen where they are mixed with new contributions from the spreading ridge and mantle.

Jan 1, 1977

In a world dependent in part on the consumption of depletable natural resources, development of new areas of mineralization is a necessity for replacing those reserves. Exploration, which is the initial task of replacement, is an information-gathering process which supplies input for management decisions on mine development. If the demand for resources is the driving force of exploration, then the scientific basis for its pursuance is the hypothesis of anomalous mineralization in a metallogenic province, which is tested by measuring physical characteristics of natural phenomenon. The resulting data are reduced, analyzed, and interpreted to locate expressions or responses associated with possible ore bodies. The process is, in fact, repeated in ever increasing measurement detail to increase the accuracy and precision of information for decision making. Exploration ceases when management makes the decision to develop a mineralized area, to hold a property for more favorable market conditions, or to drop a property because it is not economically viable.

Jan 1, 1979

By William M. PhD. Schafer

The net acid generation (NAG) pH method is an important analytical tool that supplements static and kinetic tests for assessment of the acid generation risk of rock samples. This method is useful because it is simple, rapid and cost-effective; it combines features of the static and kinetic tests; and it can be conducted at mine assay labs. The NAG pH test is particularly effective for operational testing programs used to classify, selectively handle, and route potentially acid-generating waste rock. The NAG pH procedure is based on a 24 hour oxidation of a pulverized rock sample with hydrogen peroxide and subsequent measurement of the sample's pH. If the NAG pH is below a critical value, determined empirically, then the sample has the potential to generate acid in the field. The critical NAG pH value is typically within the range of 3 to 4.5, but the exact relationship between NAG pH and potential acid generation should be determined individually for each mine site, based on comparison with results of acid base accounting, humidity cell tests, and mineralogical analyses. Calibration and use of the NAG test for predicting ARD risk at several mines are described in this paper.

Jan 1, 2000

By Nasri Munfah, Raymond E. Sandiford

"Superstorm Sandy (Sandy) created a storm surge that inundating many of the tunnels that pass beneath the Hudson and East Rivers. The tunnels are vital infrastructure links for the economy of New York City and the northeast region. The sea water, which contains highly reactive salts, caused significant damage to electrical and mechanical systems. In addition, the salt water inundation left corrosive precipitants on the tunnel linings and on and within electrical duck banks. After the salt water was evacuated from the tunnels, condition assessments were performed using a state of the art approach involving high resolution laser scanning, digital imaging, and thermal imaging. These scans were performed prior to hands on inspections. The damage assessment concluded that, although the tunnel structural linings were not damaged, the interior elements of the tunnels needed major rehabilitation to arrest the continual deterioration of the structures. This paper details the state of the art approach used for these tunnel inspections. INTRODUCTION On October 29, 2012 Super Storm Sandy flooded a large number of both transit and vehicular tunnels in the New York Metropolitan area. The region’s transportation network was severely disrupted. The storm damage is estimated to have been in excess of $30 billion, and with the tunnels out of service, the local economy was losing hundreds of millions in economic activity. Restoration of these tunnels was a very high priority and the resulting expedited restoration process did not always provide adequate time for comprehensive condition surveys. This resulted in many of these surveys being conducted after service restoration. Inspecting highly trafficked transit tunnels is challenging and the logistics of working in short night outages led to a rethinking of the conventional inspection approach. Traditionally, visual and tactile methods are first used to inspect tunnels and then quite often followed by LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) scanning and perhaps infra-red scanning. For multi-mile tunnels, the time required to visually map tunnel features can be quite extensive. By performing the scanning first and then performing the visual and tactile inspections, one is able to use the scan data to identify the specific areas that need detailed inspections. This approach was used quite successfully for a number of the NYC tunnels."

Jan 1, 2016

By Ulf Marklund, Manfred Lindvall

Fighting the challenge of diminishing ore grades, low base metal prices and a changing pattern of ore supply, Boliden has now taken the second generation of the fully­autogenous grinding concept on stream, Using new design and a highly-developed process control system the benefits of conventional two stage autogenous grinding technology are obtained with a wide range of ore types. The APC grinding system has been developed further. A new design of the Boliden Pebble Extractor together with an advanced control strategy make the performance of the APC concept superior to all other grinding systems with any ore quality. The capacity and simplicity of the autogenous grinding concept is equivalent to the best SAG installations but the operational costs are up to 25 % lower than for SAG or other primary ball or rod mill systems. The concept is as flexible as conventional crushing and rod mill installations but investment and operating costs are of the order of 25 % lower. Also, from the metallurgical point of view, the different types of autogenous grinding system outperform all other comminution systems including SAG. From 1989 to 1991 four fully autogenous grinding sections have been installed at various concentrators at the Boliden company. Old crushing plants and rod and pebble grinding circuits have finally been replaced by highly productive and cost-efficient autogenous grinding equipment. Significant savings in operational costs have already been reported. Power consumption and maintenance costs have been reduced significantly. Productivity expressed as milled tonnes per operator has been improved. Metallurgical results have developed favourably.

Jan 1, 1992

By Heflin. L.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, WMATA, has constructed over 92 revenue miles of rapid transit facilities including some 14 miles of rock tunnel and 12 miles of earth tunnel. The system map is shown in Figure 1. During construction it is not unusual for contractor to encounter ground conditions resulting in major problems and extra cost. Problems such as major rockfalls and a "stuck" boring machine in squeezing rock are not unusual. In recent years, faced with additional tunnel construction projects, the Authority has sought newer tunneling methods which might be less costly. One new method which has been tried is NATM, the New Austrian Tunnel¬ing Method. NATM, which is applicable to both soft ground, mixed face and rock tunneling, relies on miners and comparatively small machines to excavate in conventional ways, but it is unique in its methods of obtaining "stand-up" time at the excavated face and its method of using shotcrete as an initial lining, frequently with a drainage system to reduce hydro-static pressure on the final lining. Lower costs result from use of a cast-in-place concrete liner, and from a reduction in the number of work operations at the mine heading which provides better daily production. WMATA has recently completed three twin bore tunnels constructed by NATM technology. The first was the Wheaton Tunnel and Section, followed by the tail track tunnel to total some 4200 linear feet cut through jointed rock up to 270 feet below ground surface, and the last was in soft ground at Fort Totten. A

Jan 1, 1993

By Robert J. Wise

The mine plan for an underground longwall mine plan usually requires a longwall panel conveyor that begins operation at its maximum length and gradually shortens over the life of the panel. Current mine plans around the United States require initial panel conveyor lengths of up to 4500 m (15,000 ft) and capacities of up to 3.2 kt/h (3500 stph). Because these conveyors are constantly being moved from panel to panel, their components must be as compact and light as possible, and the design must be flexible enough to be modified as new terrain and conditions are met. In the past, when drive horsepowers or belt tensions were exceeded due to conveyor length, a new flight would be added, including additional belt storage units. In some cases, this led to as many as three flights installed in a single longwall panel. As the longwall retreated through each flight, mining was required to stop during removal of the drives and storage units. This sometimes meant several days of lost production. Intermediate drive technology was developed to eliminate this excessive downtime and still keep conveyor belts, motors, pulleys and other components as small as possible. With intermediate drives placed along the carrying side of the conveyor, belt and motor sizes are kept as small as possible, and only one storage unit is needed. Most importantly, as the longwall retreats through a booster drive station, it can generally be removed in a regular downtime slot and no additional production time is lost.

Jan 1, 1993

By Heribert F. Broicher

As of 1998 German companies have been engaged in research and development of LIF analyzers for rock identification, i.e. for the fingerprinting of rock by the analysis of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF). Test work in Germany, Sweden and South Africa showed the potential of this new technique, which operates online and in realtime (1). In 2003 the Finnish company IMA Engineering Ltd Oy commenced building and marketing LIF analyzers under the trade name OreSpex. Today, one OreSpex analyzer has been installed in the Kiruna Mine, Sweden to check the phosphorus content of train loads. In 2004 a second OreSpex analyzer was built for dilution control in the Argyle Diamond mine, Australia. In 2005 another LIF analyzer will be used for test work in various mines in the US. The principles of the technology and status of ongoing work are presented.

Jan 1, 2005

Africa is rich in natural resources, much of which remain untapped. Despite that, international mining companies have largely stayed away from the continent due to political instability in many countries, lack of infrastructure and the inability to gain control of mineral deposits. Today, optimism is growing concerning African mining. Many of its nations are moving toward privatization of their mining industries. They see it as a way to improve the lives of their populations and become politically stronger. Ministers from 22 African nations were Denver, CO in June for the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's Fourth Annual African Mining Investment Symposium. The three-day symposium drew more than 400 mining executives and government representatives. Foreign mining investment in Africa is on the increase. In 1996, international mining companies spent about $418 million on exploration. That is more than double the $190 million spent in 1994. Mining executives say the mining climate in Africa is improving because countries are privatizing the industry and rewriting mining laws that encourage natural resource development. They estimate that private mining firms now control about 80% of mining today. Mine development will help lift the living standards for Africans, the ministers said. The average income for ordinary Africans is about $500 a year. If this new mining boom continues, citizens of nearly all African nations will reap the benefits of better infrastructure and government services, as well as more higher paying jobs, the ministers said. They also issued a word of caution to mining companies attempting to join in the African boom. Concerns are being raised about the treatment of villagers and the environment. In the past, foreign companies would "behave about like colonial masters," said Gerald Ssendaula, natural resource minister for Uganda. Africa is in a different position now, he said. "Now we are solving our own problems." Mining companies must respect local communities or risk creating unrest that will threaten fragile new governments, said Akolang Tombale, chief geologist for Botswana. On the other hand, he said villagers must accept that mining development will benefit them. "They feel these are their natural resources. There must be a mutual interaction between the companies and the people."

Jan 1, 1997

By Rich Perry

HARRY HINDS: Our second speaker today is Rich Perry. Rich is the manager of leach and dewatering at Newmont Gold Company's Carlin operations. He has been the operator of Newmont's refractory leach development program for the past three years. Prior to joining Newmont in 1994, he was plant superintendent at the Big Springs and Jerritt Canyon Roasting Mills for Independence Mining Company. He graduated from the University of Nevada's Mackay School of Mines, and has lived with his wife and three children in Elko, Nevada, for the past 12 years. Please welcome Rich as he presents "New Facility Design Engineering: On-Site Versus Engineering Companies' Offices." RICH PERRY: Newmont Gold Company has been mining and processing gold ore at its Carlin, Nevada, operations since 1965. Processing is done using oxide milling, heap leaching, and whole ore roasting methods. Newmont began development of refractory leach processing technology at its research and development facility in 1988. The R&D staff focused on developing processing methods for low-grade refractory gold resources at Carlin that could not be economically processed by refractory milling methods. The term refractory ore refers to those ores that contain quantities of sulfides and/or organic carbon that result in low recoveries using conventional cyanide leaching. The R&D staff developed two potential processes deemed worthy of further testing: heap biooxidation to liberate gold occluded by sulfides and ammonium thiosulfate leaching for gold recovery from carbonaceous preg-robbing ores. These were piloted in small heaps by the staff of the R&D and Carlin metallurgical labs from 1990 through 1994. By 1994, Newmont's R&D and metallurgical staffs had unlocked the chemistry and kinetics of the two processes, and it was decided that the operations group would be brought in to begin development of a commercial plant. A project manager at Newmont's Denver office was assigned to the project. Scale-up issues such as biooxidation leach pad design; on/off heap heights; handling of various ore types during stacking and reclaiming; operating costs; and environmental, health, and hygiene concerns using a new process chemistry remained unanswered.

Jan 1, 1998

By T. G. Melkus

A Setaram C-80 heat flux micro- calorimeter was used to study the surface and interfacial properties of fine coal particles in water containing flotation agents via heat of immersion measurements. Heat of immersion (?Himm) is usually a small exothermic quantity and can be used' to characterize a solid in terms of its relative hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity. The effects of coal type, surface oxidation, mineral matter content, kerosene concentration, and pH on the wetting characteristics were investigated. Results obtained from the calorimetry experiments correlated well with results from independent flotation experiments.

Jan 1, 1987

By John W. Greene

ennec?tt's Bameys Canyon Mine personnel developed an mnovahve process to extract gold from a small (1.8 million tons) sulfide ore zone in an oxidized ore body located at the Bameys Canyon Mine. This approach consists of extracting the sulfides from the ore via flotation, shipping the concentrate to Kennecott's new smelter, and mixing the flotation tailings with the oxide ore, agglomerating the mixture, and stacking the resultin tailings/oxide ore combination on the heaps. Conventional heap leaching technology is utilized to recover the gold from the mixed materials. Overall, the total gold recovery from the sulfide ore is esti­mated to be 90%. This approximation is based on a smelter gold recovery of 98% from the concentrate and an 88% recovery from the tailings during heap leaching

Jan 1, 1996

By F. Lincoln & B. Rodier, G. Poniatowski, N. Kawashima, T. J. White, J. H. Kyle, G. F. Eaton

The history of Australia is a narrative of the discovery and development of its mineral wealth. The gold strike at Ballarat, Victoria, in 1851 transformed the colony by triggering the first great influx of migrants to Australia, and the development of subsequent mineral discoveries lead to a vast resource industry. However, beneficiation of base and precious metal ores carried with it an environmental penalty, not addressed until the last quarter of this century. In particular, the extensive deposits of gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc reside in sulphurous ores which often contain arsenic, antimony and mercury as significant contaminants that are released as unwanted by-products during smelting and refining. Until recently, these toxic concentrates were discharged to the atmosphere or receiving waters, collected in tailings ponds close to the smelters, or dumped at sea. Although such procedures . were acceptable in the past, more stringent environmental controls have required a re-examination of these practices and encouraged intensive efforts to develop enduring solutions to the disposal of these wastes. From this research has emerged a promising new generic technology called Xtaltite (pronounced crystal-tight). In this approach, geochemical principles are employed, first, to reduce the toxicity of heavy metals to low levels, and second, to identify and engineer suitable repositories for the permanent disposal of the consolidated waste form. In this paper, we emphasise the application of Xtaltite to the disposal of arsenious smelter fumes derived from gold winning. The principles ofXtaltite will be described and its technical and economic performance compared with conventional technolo­gies.

Jan 1, 1995

By Lee W. Saperstein

P.L. 95-87 contains explicit demands for land-use planning in its reclamation and designation sections. Both sections require recognition of local land-use plans; however, the sections are not well integrated. Accommodations to these planning requirements may be found in suggestions based on British mineral planning practice. Better links can be created among local land-use planners, the state's permitting authority and designation office, and mine designers. Mining companies should take more interest in local land-use plans and in resource inventories; states should consider devolving to local government responsibility for accepting mine permit applications and designation of unsuitability petitions.

Jan 1, 1982

By R. L. Nielsen

The thematic mapper (TM) aboard Landsat II records image data at seven wavelength intervals or bands. Three record the visible region; three record reflected IR energy. A false color image combining bands 7, 4 and 2 rendered as red, green and blue respectively provides maximum discrimination of rock types in arid regions. Structural analyses and interpretation defines regional structures, large volcano-tectonic features intrusive complexes, all which localize mineralization. Special digital processing using the ratio: Band 3 / Band 1 can identify limonites and other iron minerals. The ratio: Band 5/ Band 7 identifies clays and alunite. These ratio images show features and patterns of hydrothermal mineral systems: ?patterns of sulfide and alteration zoning in large porphyry systems, and zones of strong silica, quartz-alunite-illite, and pyrite-sericite in epithermal centers. Thus, digitally processed Landsat TM images are a cost effective and rapid means to recognize altered areas and define targets for large mineralized systems.

Jan 1, 1995

By Klaus Beckmann

Gentlemen : My object reads "Longwall Rapid Advance of Coal Mining in the Federal Republic of Germany". It is true that the percentage of coal obtained in your country from longwall faces, with at present 1.2, is still rather low, but it increased considerably since 1966 with 0.4 %. The coal mines of the Federal Republic of Germany ever used longwall as the classical method of coal getting. All attempts to introduce bord and pillar mining did not lead to any wider application of this method. The principal reasons, for this appear to have been: - the deeper depth of our workings, - the wish to keep working losses as low as possible and to utilize the deposits opened up by deep and therefore expensive shafts to the furthest possible degree, - the dense sequence of seams and the mutual influencing of the working points, - the high number of disturbances in the geologically much stressed deposits, - and the necessary considerations to the protection of the densely built-upon surface.

Jan 1, 1970