Search Documents

By T. E. Warren, K. W. Bowles

"IntroductionTHE PROBLEM of producing synthetic liquid fuels from coal and other raw materials is of increasing importance in Canada as well as in the United States. This is due, to a large extent, to the continually increasing demand for gasoline and other liquid products which are now obtained solely from petroleum. The United States has reached a position where domestic supplies of crude petroleum must be augmented by imports and Canada is still a long way from self-sufficiency. In the event of war, there might well be an immediate need to find supplementary sources of liquid fuels. It is, therefore, expedient to consider alternative sources of production now -well in advance of the time when supplies of petroleum may prove inadequate to meet requirements.The purpose of the present paper is to give a short review of the history of liquid fuel production from coal, to describe briefly the research sponsored by the Federal Government on the coal hydrogenation process, and finally to evaluate the present status and future trend of the synthetic fuel industry, with special reference to necessary research work.History of the Oil-From-Coal IndustryThe history -of coal liquefaction began in 1913, in Germany, with the work of Frederick Bergius. His first approach to the subject was not deliberately planned."

Jan 1, 1952

By Garston Blackwell

Abstract - During geostatistical estimation of block grades, the kriging process produces a measure of error, the kriging variance or the kriging standard deviation. Estimation of the block error depends on the semi-variogram model for a deposit, which reflects fundamental characteristics of a deposit such as (1) nugget effect, (2) range of influence of grades, (3) different local spreads of data as a function of average grade (proportional effect), (4) nested structures, and (5) underlying anisotropies in the data; this model may be affected by sampling or assaying limitations, however. Because the kriging error incorporates so many features of both the deposit and data to be used for estimation, it may offer a substantial improvement on block classification over traditional procedures such as data density. Practice indicates that the relative kriging standard deviation (RKSD) is particularly useful for block classification in measured, indicated and inferred categories. Plots of RKSD in plan and section also can be used to demonstrate where extra drilling and sampling would be most advantageous for upgrading the class of some blocks. Moreover, the use of grade and RKSD filters can show where material near cut-off grade is poorly defined, indicating sampling target areas to improve block classification in the vicinity of the ore-waste boundary.

Jan 1, 1998

By The Staff

Introduction In this paper it is proposed to discuss briefly some of the problems confronting the management of a gold mine in choosing a method of milling to recover the gold from various classes of ore. In order to simplify the discussion, the more common types of gold ores are classified from a metallurgical point of view as follows: Class 1?A: Free-milling ores which require only relatively coarse crushing. B: Free-milling ores which require finer grinding to release the gold. Class 2?A: Gold ores which contain the gold partly in the flee state and partly associated with a small amount of iron sulphide, and which do not require fine grinding. B: Gold ores similar to 2A, but which require fine grinding. Class 3?A: Gold ores containing copper in quantities insufficient to interfere to a serious extent with cyanidation. Gold ores containing copper in sufficient quantity to interfere with cyanidation but in which a large proportion of the gold is in the free state, the remainder being chiefly associated with the copper mineral, chalcopyrite. Gold ores containing copper and other sulphides, such as pyrite, etc., in which the gold is principally associated with these sulphides.

Jan 1, 1931

The Cooperative Research Centre for Mining Technology and Equipment (CMTE) is funded by the Commonwealth Government, by its mining research members Ñ the Universities of Queensland and Sydney and the CSIRO1, and by its industry members Ñ BHP Coal, RioTinto R&TD, Hamersley Iron, Mining Technologies Australia, Pasminco, Shell Coal, WMC Resources, Advanced Mining Technologies, and Aberfoyle. The Centre conducts work aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Australian mining industry. The current work is focused in four areas: new mining and drilling systems, geological sensing, automation, and equipment maintenance and reliability. This paper describes much of the work in these program areas that relates to metalliferous mining.

Jan 1, 2001

By E. Faria

"The Santa Rita mine is located in north eastern part of Bahia in Brazil and is owned and operated by Mirabela Mineração do Brasil Ltda. Typical SABC circuit was designed as the preferred option for the 4.0 mtpa (500tph) to produce a P80 of 125um for flotation. Although the SAG was originally designed to operate with conventional radial pulp lifters, later it was fitted with Outotec’s Turbo Pulp Lifters – TPL (Latchireddi, 2005). The milling circuit commenced commissioning on the 24th of October 2009 and the milling circuit achieved the nameplate capacity within days. with small and relatively simple measures to rectify. Since commissioning, the SAG mill has been working in fully autogenous grinding (FAG) mode with no balls (in contrast to the estimated 10% ball charge) and has been consistently treated up to 650tph.This paper examines the comminution design process, the operating philosophies, start-up experiences, post commissioning optimization and future development works. An evaluation of mill performance relative to the design criteria for the project life to date is also included."

Jan 1, 2012

By E. Thomson

This type of microscopic investigation, although still in its infancy, has already found practical applications in several different phases of mining activity. The study of the transparent minerals in rocks, by means of the ordinary petrographic microscope, has for long been a very useful supplement to observations in the field, but the opaque minerals, until recently, have had to rest content with a more or less superficial determination with the hand-lens or the blow-pipe. In a great many cases, particularly where the association of metallics has been somewhat complex, this has been entirely inadequate, and the determination of these opaque minerals under the micro- scope, has opened up a new field of scientific investigation that bids fair to surpass, in practical value at least, the micro-scopic determination of the rock-forming minerals. As the details of this kind of microscopy are possibly not entirely familiar to all mining men, it might be well to outline them very briefly before dealing with the practical directions in which this method may be applied. The ordinary petro-graphic microscope, with but one extra attachment, will serve for this work. A small reflecting device, called a vertical illuminator, is inserted immediately above the objective lens. This reflects the light down to the surface of the specimen and from here the light is directed up the middle of the microscope tube to the eye. As it is desirable that the maximum amount of reflection should be secured from the surface of the section, it is first polished and set in a position perpendicular to the vertical axis of the microscope.

Jan 1, 1924

By I. M. Marshall

A review of technical literature covering Canadian mining emphasizes the advancement and changes that have been made in mining practice. However, current technical publications rarely outline basic principles or state definite rules that govern profitable mine operation. it may be argued that the broad principles of mining have long a go been outlined in various handbooks, text-books, and periodicals, and that these principles never alter. This is in great part true, but modern machinery, improved meta1-lurgical practice, and other advances, have in part modified these principles or changed the manner of their application. Many engineers hesitate to state specific rules, because it is so easy to quote an exception to a rules that any such statement appears to lose weight upon its very utterance. The exception to rules, and the reluctance to formulate rules, has forced such maxims as "the only rule in mining is the point of a pick," and "gold is where you find it". As an illustration of rules and their exceptions, one might quote the time-honoured maxim that a mill should not be built before a shaft has been sunk on a property in point of fact, Canadian mining history is replete with examples of wasted capital where a mill was built before a shaft had been bottomed. Y et this past year has seen a property enter profitable production whereon the building of the mill was started before the shaft was sunk. Instances such as this should not be accepted as evidence that a rule has been overthrown, but rather as an exception to the rule. The case cited pays tribute to the application of the diamond-drill combined with the correlation of sound geology. Incidentally, both these features emphasize a modern trend in the development of Canadian mining properties-a trend that is perhaps worthy of further comment. It is such trends that affect the principles of mining or modify their application. It is with such that this paper deals, at ]east in part. It is hoped that the statement of principles and the opinions herein outlined will be of sufficient interest to arouse discussion.

Jan 1, 1939

By C. Jewell, G. H. Rupay

"67 - 2:15-3:00Regeneration of Hydrochloric Acid from Waste Pickle Liquor Using a Fluidized Bed Reactor System. G. H. RUPAY and C. JEWELL, Dominion Foundries and Steel Ltd., Hamilton, Ont.The disposal of acidic waste liquors from pickling processes has always been a problem for the steel industry. With increased awareness toward environmental control and the problems acidic wastes create, processes utilizing recovery and regeneration of the waste acids are becoming more popular. This paper describes the Keramchemie/Lurgi process for regenerating hydrochloric acid from waste pickle liquor using a fluidized bed reactor system. The process parameters are outlined, together with a brief description of the equipment. This is followed by a discussion of the operating problems and concludes with economic data."

Jan 1, 2000

By H. Wotruba, L. von Ketelhodt, M. Kowalcyk, C. Kleine, M. Robben

Sensor-based sorting is a financially and technically viable technique that is operating with little or no water and relatively little power consumption. Sensor-based sorting has already proven its operational stability at two gold applications in South Africa. Sensor-based sorting cannot only turn waste dumps and diluted mining blocks into reserves. The implementation can also cause a decrease in specific operating costs of mill and mine when for example replacing selective mining by bulk mining methods with subsequent sorting. Successful installations, operational experience, test work data and flow sheet integration from mine-to-mill underline the impact and potential that sensor-based sorting can have on the gold mining and processing industry.

Jan 1, 2011

By W. R. Horn

"WHAT I PROPOSE TO DO is to review or report very briefly and generally on the most important subject areas of environmental concern within the mining industry and to indicate the progress being made. First, however, it seems to me both appropriate and necessary to refer to what I said in an address to the CIM Annual Western Meeting, in November 1971, in Vancouver. At that time, I tried to convey: that the awareness and alertness of this far-flung and diversified industry was sharply on the up-swing; that the knowledge of helpful technology for the abatement of pollution by water and solids was significantly increasing; that most mines were doing something about it; that many had already achieved a recycling of process water to a really significant extent; that progress was being made - though not without considerable difficulty - on the large-scale neutralization and subsequent chemical treatment of acid- and metals-bearing waters; that increasing work was being done by individual mining companies on methods for the vegetation of completed tailings impoundments; and that it had been possible to develop a meaningful estimate of the amount of money to be spent by the industry on environmental control measures during the period 1971-75 (as much as $500,- 000,000 ) . Reference was also made at that time to the constructive work in hand toward the fixation, elimination or dispersion of sulphur from smelters and to the considerable attention which was being given by the indust(y itself toward in-plant problems, e.g., dust and noise. Finally, note was taken of the fact that the inclusion of environmental control costs in the pre-operational financial provisions of new mining operations is now established practice."

Jan 1, 1973

By Michael Boyle, John Zeni

"The Blind shaft boring method is a mechanised process of excavating large diameter vertical shafts downward from the surface. It is a rotary drilling technique eliminating any requirement for personnel to enter the shaft or access underground workings during drilling and lining phases. Excavated material is delivered to surface carried by a flow of circulating fluid through the centre of drill rods. The drill assembly is suspended from a large A-frame rig and powerful winch at ground level providing vertical thrust to a hard rock cutter head. INTRODUCTION The Southern Coalfields Ventilation Shaft was constructed at a mine, 45 km north-west of Wollongong. The 5 m finished diameter (6.2 m drilled) shaft reaches a final drilled depth of 517 m, the deepest, fully lined blind bored vent shaft to date in Australia. Operated by a mining company in the Southern Coalfields, the expanding mine required a new ventilation shaft and associated surface infrastructure to service future operations. An assessment of future ventilation requirements for the coal seam operations identified a need to improve the capacity and reliability of the existing underground ventilation system in order to ensure a safe and efficient underground working environment. Installation of the new upcast ventilation shaft was determined to be the most cost effective and reliable solution to provide adequate ventilation for underground operations. The completed shaft is smooth and fully lined with steel/concrete composite liners that are hydrostatically sealed. The shaft lining is designed to meet the mine ventilation requirements for a service life of 20 years. The shaft intersects the top of the working section of the coal seam at approximately 513 m of depth. This includes the shaft collar depth and shaft bottom profiled intake section.PROJECT METHODOLOGY AND INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICE The shaft was drilled using the blind bore method, an innovative construction technique and an alternative to the traditional methods of sinking deep and large diameter shafts, such as raise boring and conventional drill and blast shaft sinking. The blind bore method allows the shaft to be drilled from the surface down without anyone having to enter the shaft or the mine during the construction process. This is by far the safest method of shaft construction and is especially suitable for difficult ground conditions where there may be unstable or water-charged strata. As this method involves drilling from the surface downward, shafts can be completed ahead of the underground mine development. Thus, allowing underground operations to focus on development and production without the conflicts of managing ventilation priority for underground contractors and mucking out spoil from excavation workings."

Jan 1, 2019

By Jiuhua Xu, Shuiku Jia, Weiren Sun

"The Jinqingding gold deposit, situated in the east Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong province, is typical of the pyrite-quartz vein gold deposits in the Muping-Rushan gold belt of China. The gold deposit is controlled by a great NNE fracture zone and is composed of several lenticular orebodies within the fracture rone occurring in the Kunyushan granite massif. The Kunyushan granite massif was formed by the replacement of the Archean Jiaodong group.The main minerals associated with gold are pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite; the gangue minerals are dominated by quartz, sericite, microcline and calcite. The mineralizing event can be divided into four stages: (1) pyrite-quartz; (2) quartz-pyrite; (3) siderite-polymetallic sulfides; and (4) calcite-quartz. Gold occurs mainly as native gold and electrurn in stage I and stage II. There are some evident differences between pyrite from major stages of gold mineralization and that from minor stages; these include differences in crystal forms, size and composition of fluid inclusions.Wallrock alterations consist of sericitization, silicification, pyritization and potash-feldspar alteration. Five alteration zones can be distinguished from unaltered granite (zone 0) to vein lodes (zone IV). Au and Ag increase rapidly from zone 0 to rone IV, Cu increases continuously, while Pb and Zn increase slowly. R-type geological factor analysis indicates that the Au, Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn bear a close relationship to wallrock alteration."

Jan 1, 1994

"The ventilation-related risks from mines with elemental sulphur include dust explosions, spontaneous combustion with emission of heat and toxic sulphur dioxide or hydrogen sulphide gases, reactions with nitrates, corrosion, acid water, and pyrophoric reactions with naked iron or other metals. Elemental sulphur will form explosive mixtures in air at lower dust concentrations and at lower ignition temperatures than coal or sulphide dusts. Potential controls include primary ventilation circuit design, control of dust deposition and static discharges, enclosing steel surfaces, inert stone dusting, FRAS ducting, humidifying the air, alternate stench gas, self-contained self-rescuers with goggles, careful siting of underground infrastructure, controls on explosives formulations and procedures, mining method selection, controls on surface temperatures and protection of equipment, careful materials selection for ventilation seals and changes to worker clothing and training.INTRODUCTIONSulphur (“Brimstone” in biblical times) is one of the world’s most important industrial feedstocks and is used in a wide range of chemical processes and industries. Until the early 20th Century, most of the world’s production of sulphur came from ‘conventional’ underground mines in Sicily (Demetra produzioni, 2006; Bellia, 2006). This was a hazardous activity. The Frasch solution mining process replaced traditional underground mining of sulphur until the late 20th Century. Most of the world’s production of elemental sulphur is now as a by-product from sour gas produced in petroleum refineries and natural gas installations (Anon, 1993). As such, there is considerable experience in understanding and managing the hazards of elemental sulphur in chemical plants and surface transport.Whilst rare, underground mines with high elemental sulphur contents (as a gangue mineral) create an unusual range of mine design and operational issues, including many ventilation-related ones. The key hazards from elemental sulphur include: primary and secondary elemental sulphur dust explosions, fires and burning (with emission of heat and sulphur dioxide or hydrogen sulphide gas), reactions with nitrates used in explosives, corrosion of steel and other metals, generation of acid water (especially at higher water temperatures), and pyrophoric reactions with naked iron (e.g., ground support, ladderways or underground fixed plant) or other metals including silver and copper (e.g., used in electrical components and equipment)."

Jan 1, 2019

By Denni Hoffmann

"Banded iron formation rocks associated with massive sulfide lenses in the Broken Hill Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag deposit in the Namaqualand Metamorphic Complex, South Africa, were investigated with respect to the geochemistry of manganiferous silicate-rich bands. Two common varieties of these are: amphibole- and garnet-rich iron formation bands. The results reveal that the former are enriched in Fe, Mg, Cu, Co and S. The garnet-rich bands are enriched in Mn, Ca, P, Pb and Ba with significant detrital contamination of Ti, AI, Zr, Cr, Y, V, Ni and Nd.The silicate-rich bands have compositions, in terms of, Si/AI, SilFe, FelMn, LalCe and Co/Zn, comparable to submarine chemical sediments which precipitated from hydrothermal fluids. The garnetand amphibole-rich bands are interpreted as ""evolved"" and ""immature"" hydrothermal sediments, respectively. The latter resulted from rapid precipitation after exhalation, whereas the former had a longer residence within sea water. The silicate-rich bands both exhibit increasing Mn/(Mn+Fe) fractions, which are consistent with a variation expected from proximal to distal depositional settings. The prevalence of garnet-rich bands over amphibole-rich bands is interpreted as the result of injection of hydrothermal fluids from a single vent situated along the northwest margin of the Broken Hill deposit."

Jan 1, 1994

By H. J. McQueen

Pyro-reduction of ores to metal products developed markedly through the industrial revolution into the great depression. Nineteenth century resource and environmental sustainability were haphazardly improved by many process changes, although the motivation was primarily reduction in labor, feed stocks and fuel. Some notable achievements were coke and hot air for blast furnaces (later from waste heat stoves), puddling of wrought iron and steel ingot production with convertors advancing into oxygen use and continuous slab, billet and strip casting. Although advances in one sector were often counteracted by fall-backs in others, there was progress in that the resource consumption and pollution per unit of production was decreased. Improvements in the 2 decades following WW2 were mixed but popular notice of environmental hazards forced governments to legislate pollution controls and initiate steps in resource conservation. The energy crisis of the 1970’s saw an industrial energy-saving campaign and legislation of technology assessment procedures. Up until mid 18th Century, the training of iron masters depended on apprenticeship with some formalized knowledge from medieval books such as those of Biringuccio (1540) and Agricola (1556). The advances were very slow partly due to absence of scientific concepts of the smelting process. Nevertheless, some iron masters succeeded in improving the process and described procedures to instruct others. With the surge of steam power and the reverberatory puddling process for ductile wrought iron (WI), machinery changed from wood (iron strap reinforced) to WI machinery. With the clarification of the reduction and oxidation mechanisms by Cavendish and Lavoisier (~1780), productivity in iron production surged. The mechanical testing and microscopy of Kirkaldy (1862) spurred understanding of processing and properties of WI and steel. The various forms of C in steels were determined by chemists at the end of the 19th Century. It also became possible to control metal and slag chemistry in the open hearth furnace. But understanding of the transformations during heat treatment of steel only came in the first decades of the 20th Century.

Jan 1, 2012

By D. Kong, A. Klyashtorin, L. McGilp, I. Wilson

This work reports on applying iron oxide coated sands media in an experimental permeable reactive barrier to remove uranium species from uranium containing water. A field experiment was conducted at the legacy Gunnar uranium mine & mill site that was abandoned in the 1960s with limited to no decommissioning. The flooded Gunnar mine pit presently contains about 3.2 million m3 of water contaminated by dissolved U (1.2 mg/l), Ra-226 (0.4 Bq/l), and minor concentrations of other contaminants (As, Se, etc.). The water is seeping over the pit rim into Lake Athabasca posing environmental and health concerns. Iron oxide coated sands can be used to immobilize uranium species through an adsorption process. Methods for preparation of hydrous ferric oxide sorbents and their supported forms onto silica sands are described. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD) were used to characterize the physical-chemical properties of the sorbent. The monolayer uranium uptake capacity (Qm) was estimated through the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Adsorption kinetic experiments were performed in a lab environment before moving to a field trial. Based on these lab results and the input on field-scale appropriate geometries, a pilot permeable reactive barrier was fabricated and a field test conducted near the Gunnar pit in June 2019. This pilot test provided technical data and information needed for designing a full-scale permeable barrier based on the iron oxide coated sands, which may be applied for in-situ water treatment at Gunnar and other legacy uranium sites.

Jan 1, 2020

By Alexander Levran

The main thrust of this presentation is to illustrate the growing contribution of solar energy to the mining industry by replacing existing mechanical and pneumatic tools and equipment with more effective and efficient electrical tools due to the increased efficiency and lower cost of solar energy generation. LCOE (levelized cost of energy/electricity) for solar energy is becoming highly competitive with other conventional sources of energy. The distributed architecture of solar power plants allows the supply of energy to highly remote and abandoned geographies. We will focus on the trend for this contribution to the mining industry over the next three years. Water desalination and delivery to the mining area will be topic of discussion regarding the contribution of solar systems in Latin America (LATAM) and other geographies. INTRODUCTION Increasing price pressure on the mining industry has generated a strong interest for mining companies to investigate energy costs and consumption. Currently, energy costs in mining economics contribute15% to 25% of the total commodity cost. In the past, most mines were operated by diesel gensets. Very high logistics costs for diesel supply, high and fluctuating diesel prices and theft led to very high energy prices. To overcome this problem, the mining industry has turned to solar energy, employing two main solutions: (i) adding a small scale (single level MWp energy supply) solar to an existing diesel system to create a hybrid solution operating as a microgrid environment; and (ii) replacing the existing diesel system with a large scale grid connected photovoltaic system financed by utilities or private IPP owners that signed a long-term power purchase agreement (“PPA”). In both applications, the near-term trend is to add storage and weather controls to optimize the electrical performance of the system. Use of concentrated solar solution (CSP) in the past was employed in a few remote sites to provide electrical energy to the mines. Currently this technology is not competitive with the photovoltaic (PV) systems. In some installations we have seen usage of a small hybrid system that is designed as relocatable, containerized and delivers scalable electrical power. In addition to the evolution of electrical energy sources, we see the trend of reduction of energy consumption in the mines by optimizing energy efficiency and generating load shifting solutions. Many studies of electrical energy in the mining industry support the growth of this trend in the mining industry.

Jan 1, 2019

By R. Ramirez

Atlantic Copper Refinery (Huelva, Spain) has operated the ISA permanent cathode technology since 1995. The current production rates are 260,000 t/y cathodes and 730 t/y anode slimes. These slimes undergo an atmospheric leaching in which their copper content is reduced from an average value of 24 % to 16 %. In June 2005 an optimization study of the leaching conditions was carried out aimed at lowering the copper content in the slimes to less than 8%. At the same time, a new mixer (Outukumpu Technology GLS-mixer) was installed in one of the three leaching reactors. As a result of the improvement of the leaching performance and to prevent the return of tellurium to the tankhouse, a cementation plant was commissioned in July 2005 to ensure a Te content below 50 ppm in the Cu-rich leachate. This paper describes the results of the improvement of the leaching conditions and the operation of the new tellurium removal plant.

Jan 1, 2007

By Geoffrey Gilbert

Rossland is in the West Kootenay district; 5 miles north of the International boundary and 4 miles west of Columbia River at Trail. The first claim in the district was located in 1887; but there was little activity until 1890; when the showings that later became important were staked and development began. Production increased rapidly from 1; 800 tons in 1894 to a peak of 360; 000 tons in 1903; and averaged 286; 000 tons for the next 13 years. It declined sharply in 1917; and continued to decline until the closing of the main mines in 1928. Between 1933 and 1941 leasers mined a further 137; 000 tons. Total output has been about 6; 200; 000 tons; with average recovery of 0.47 oz. gold; 0.6 oz. silver; and 1 per cent copper. The total value was $82; 500; 000; of which aboµt three-quarters was in gold; the camp still leads the province in total gold produced. Ninety-eight per cent of the tonnage came from a small compact area worked by four inter-connected mines : the Le Roi (39 per cent); Centre Star (25 per cent); War Eagle (24 per cent); and Josie (10 per cent); all now owned by the Consolidated Mining and Smdting Company of Canada; Limited.

Jan 1, 1954

By D. A. MacLeod

DURING the past fourteen months, dust surveys have been made at thirty-six mines in the Province. These surveys are made to determine the concentration of dust in the mine atmosphere, the flow of air through the mine, the methods adopted to prevent the generation of dust, and the measures taken for its elimination. When high concentrations of dust are encountered, suggestions are given for its prevention ?and elimination wherever possible. Dust sampling is absolutely necessary to determine the effectiveness of any measure taken in the prevention and elimination of dust in the mine workings. Consequently, more time has been spent on this phase of the work than on any other. The apparatus used is the Devers circular konimeter and Zeiss microscope. At various mines, the Zeiss konimeter is used, and the dust counts taken by the two instruments have given results that are closely comparable; so much so that either instrument can be used with confidence and the results obtained will compare in accuracy with those obtained by the methods used in Ontario and South Africa. Before the Workmen's Compensation Act Amendment Act was passed in November, 1936, most of the mine operators were already keenly interested in the prevention of silicosis. This interest has been intensified at all the mines, and measures have been adopted to decrease the amount of dust in the mine atmosphere. Several operators have spent a large amount of time and money in bettering these conditions, and have met with decided success. Practically all others are adopting the known methods of prevention, suppression, and elimination of dust, that apply to their ?particular mines. To prevent the production of dust in underground workings should be the first, as it is the most important, aim, especially during the time the men are underground. An atmosphere free of dust cannot be obtained, but measures can be adopted to lower the concentration that is found? in the average mine.

Jan 1, 1939