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By Fengxiang He, T. Meadowcroft, Yanjun Zhang

Slag from the zinc fuming furnaces contains about 3 percent zinc and 0.1 percent lead. The paper outlines several experimental techniques for recovering these components from liquid fumer slag. The simplest method, remelting followed by a hold period, indicated that a substantial fraction of the metal values was recoverable as a result of fuming into the gas phase, presumable by reduction of the metal ions by divalent iron ions. Following on from this, slag samples were equilibrated with copper, chosen because the activity coefficients of zinc and lead in copper are very low. This improved metal recovery, with substantial amounts of lead and zinc reporting to the liquid copper as well as to the fume. Application of an electrical emf across the slag-metal interface, using a graphite anode and a liquid copper cathode, resulted in further gains in metal recovery.

Jan 1, 2004

By Marcel Vallée

"This text consists of two parts, comments on "Classification and Reporting of Mineral Resources for High-Nugget Effect Gold Vein Deposits," by S.C. Dominy, P.R. Stephenson and A.E. Annels, Volume 10, No. 3, pp. 215-233, and related comments on some features of the JORC Code.This paper is, in many respects, a very elaborate and valuable account of the problems encountered in the estimation and classification of high-nugget gold deposits. However, in some key areas, it appears to fall short of its objective to help "resolve satisfactorily most issues" and "contribute to improved estimation and classification" (abstract). One must realize that high-nugget effect gold deposits constitute a very narrow field, despite the occasional bonanzas. This is a field of mostly smaller sized deposits, where limited success and a significantly higher rate of failure occur relative to larger deposits of mostly lower grade. This is shown by the six deposits described in the paper. Thanks for contributing to greater understanding of these complex and nevertheless challenging deposits."

Jan 1, 2002

By George Booth

In mining operations the cost of timber is an item of much importance, because the life of mine timbers is, in many cases, very short and, as the supply of the better grades becomes depleted, less durable kinds must be used. This, of course, tends to shorten still further the period of service-ability. While it is possible that concrete and steel may, to some extent, take the place of timber in mines, their high initial cost and the difficulty in installation will greatly restrict their use. Moreover, wood, besides being comparatively cheap to handle, possesses other desirable qualities, and for many purposes a satisfactory substitute is hard to find. Both the decreasing supply and the increasing price of timber make its more efficient utilization imperative. AGENCIES DESTRUCTIVE TO MINE TIMBERS Timber used in mines is exposed to destruction from many sources. Wear, breakage, and waste are responsible for much loss. Wood rollers and drum laggings must be frequently replaced on account of the constant wear by ropes. Unprotected timber in chutes and mills is also rapidly worn by abrasion, and track ties in main haulage ways get worn by the feet of mules, cut by ropes, etc. Large amounts of timber are broken by 'crush' and 'squeeze,' and much temporary timber is buried beyond all recovery in pillar workings and in those mines which resort to back filling. Decay and insect attack, however, cause the greatest damage. If not totally destroyed by one or both of these, the timbers frequently become so weakened that they break under the pressure upon them.

Jan 1, 1926

By E. M. Córdoba

The effect of the Fe3+ lFe2+ redox couple on the chemical and biological dissolution of chalcopyrite was studied. All the tests were carried out in stirred flasks with 100 mL of a ferric/ferrous sulphate solution, in the absence or in the presence of bacteria (iron- or sulphur-oxidizing) and at low (35 DC) and high (68DC) temperature. The initial redox potential was controlled between 300 and 600 m V Ag/ AgCI and silver was used as chemical catalyst. The results showed that the oxidizing action of ferric ion on the chalcopyrite was controlled, in all cases, by nucleation and precipitation of jarosites on unreacted particles. The tendency of Fe3+lFe2+ solutions towards equilibrium favours the activities of both ions to be equal. Consequently, the dissolution rate was faster at relatively low redox potentials (between 400 and 500 mY) than at high values (600 mY). In this sense, the presence of ferrous ion in the system is a key factor to control hydrolysis and precipitation of ferric ion. Unlike jarosite, the elemental sulphur produced during dissolution of chalcopyrite was porous and did not act as a diffusion barrier.

Jan 1, 2007

By I. Bakry

Uncertainty is an inherent characteristic of construction projects. Neglecting uncertainties associated with different input parameters in the planning stage could well lead to misleading and/or unachievable project schedules. The objective of this paper is to present a new approach towards scheduling repetitive construction projects while accounting for uncertainty. The paper presents an algorithm that quantifies anticipated delays resulting from different sources of uncertainty in the form of fuzzy time buffers. Through inserting the time buffers in strategic places in a time schedule, the algorithm provides protection against those main anticipated delays. The presented algorithm comprises two integrated components, a scheduling component responsible for producing a basic Linear Scheduling Method (LSM) schedule with deterministic activity durations, and a buffer component that handles fuzzy buffers sizing and insertion. The presented algorithm offers four different buffer insertion techniques covering different cases of interrelations between successive activities. The algorithm is implemented in a spreadsheet application, which automates calculations, yet allows users to fine tune the algorithm to fit the project at hand. With a focuses on highway construction projects as an example of repetitive construction projects, this paper accounts for sources of uncertainty such as weather, site conditions, change orders and equipment related delays. A hypothetical case is studied and explained to further demonstrate how the proposed algorithm works.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. L. Casado-Sánchez

Financial capital is highly volatile and if the investor does not get adequate compensation for the risk faced he may consider withdrawing his capital assets from the company and consequently produce a structural change in any sector of the economy. We study the variation in profitability of assets in terms of the changes that occur in the markets. The choice of models used is justified by the extensive theoretical and empirical use of them throughout the history of financial economics. We have used the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the model based on the arbitrage pricing theory (APT) to determine the beta value. These models have been applied to the monthly returns of 27 mining companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or London Stock Exchange (LSE), using data from the period covered from January 2006 to December 2010. The results of time series and cross sectional regressions for CAPM and APT produce some errors, suggesting that many companies have failed to obtain an adequate cost of capital. Also the results show that higher risk firms tend to have lower profitability. These findings make it unlikely to be maintained over the long term the current status and could drive structural change in the mining sector in the form of mergers.

Aug 1, 2013

By M. Mahdi, L. So, A. MacMillan, D. Metcalfe, J. Woloshyn, D. Sauter, N. Uys, JP. Janse van Rensburg

For city smelters, with limited real estate, efficient slag cleaning furnaces followed by water granulation to produce an iron silicate product is the preferred process approach. Water granulation, however, consumes large volumes of water and requires high maintenance due to abrasive slag/water slurries. Air granulation offers an alternative to water granulation, which eliminates water use and has low maintenance requirements. Although full-scale operation has not been implemented for copper slags, full-scale operation for platinum group metal (PGM) converter slag has been implemented. A review of full-scale air granulation performance for PGM converter slag is provided. Based on PGM converter slag granulation performance, parallels to copper slag granulation are drawn and full-scale operation for copper slag is modelled using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). INTRODUCTION Typical slag management practices in the copper industry include dumping, slow air cooling, and water granulation, as shown in Figure 1. Dumping is the most commonly used slag handling method for most metal production plants, but presents challenges including the requirement for a large slag pit, requirement for expensive/high-maintenance “hot” mobile equipment, risks associated with transportation of molten slag, and no value recovery from slag as a sellable by-product or from slag as a source of heat.

Jan 1, 2019

By J. W. Matousek

Since the late 1800s, copper-nickel ores have been mined and smelted in the Sudbury area. The Canadian Copper Company, the Copper Cliff ancestor of Inco Limited, commenced operations with a blast furnace smelter in 1888. Coal-fired reverberatory furnaces were added in 1911 and multihearth roasters in 1914. The blast and reverberatory furnaces smelted, respectively, coppernickel ores and ore fines until 1930, when a milling process and plant began operating to concentrate and separate the minerals of these two metals. Two reasons for this delay were: (1) the availability of high grade ores suitable for direct smelting; and (2) the difficulties in making the copper-nickel separation. The Mond Nickel Company, however, practiced flotation at its Coniston Smelter site from 1914 to 1930. A bulk concentrate containing six per cent copper and five per cent nickel was recovered from ore of 1.6 per cent each of copper and nickel. Gravity (table) and magnetic concentrates were also produced. Inco Limited (then The International Nickel Company) began laboratory-scale flotation tests on its ores in 1918. This work led, ultimately (in 1930), to the construction of the 7500 tonne-per-day Copper Cliff Mill, designed to recover separate copper and nickel concentrates. Its capacity was expanded to 11000 tpd in 1936, to 18 000 in 1940, and to 27 000 in 1942. Since 1971 it has operated to process only the bulk flotation products from other mills to yield individual nickel and copper concentrates.

Jan 1, 1999

By P. R. A. Andrews

"The sillimanite group minerals, kyanite, sillimanite and andalusite are identified as alumino-silicate minerals with the common chemical composition AIP3.Si02' so that each possesses similar physical properties. Kyanite is the most abundant mineral and mainly occurs in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia; sillimanite occurs in Ontario and Manitoba; and andalusite in Nova Scotia. The main use for the sillimanite-group minerals is in refractory applications for the production of refractory bricks and shapes. In refractory applications, the main performance criterion is the relative percentage of mullite formed within the material during firing. This phase gives a greater degree of resistance to creep deformation and slag attack, and improves the ability of the refractory to withstand high temperatures under load. The beneficiation of refractory silicate minerals has been the subject of many investigations at CANMET, and the former Mines Branch. Eighteen kyanite, two sillimanite, and three andalusite evaluation studies were conducted between 1933 and 1987. A review of some of the more important studies is presented, which includes information concerning mineralogy, beneficiation methods and flotation data."

Jan 1, 1995

By K. Iturralde

Dense transport infrastructure areas lack green facilities, they produce annoying noise and they are big energy consumers. As far as there is no free land or space, adding a vegetal covering to existing infrastructures has become a choice in order to get a more pleasant and comfortable environment. Noise barriers are getting spread all over the highways and sometimes they install photovoltaic panels. Is this just a hype or are there real causes? A green acoustic barrier with an energy generator could be interesting for covering the existing urban transport infrastructures. The specific geometry of the infrastructures requires a personalized product. If we measure the infrastructure environment's characteristics, which are humidity, temperature, sunlight and size, we can create an accurate 3D model. This model would be used for various purposes. For instance, it could be a useful tool to design and fabricate the customized prefab acoustic barriers and plant containers. And it would be helpful for adjusting efficiently the future performance of the vegetation and photovoltaic panels. But the insertion of vegetal elements in infrastructure surroundings can be a tough operation. It requires special skills and techniques. Nowadays, those tasks are performed almost manually and they require a big effort. The prefab containers for vegetal elements would ease the robotic assembly on site.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. M. D. Wilson, W. Petruk, C. Coté

"The behaviour of minerals in the Mount Wright spiral circuit was investigated to find methods of improving iron oxide mineral liberation and recovery. The feeds, concentrates and tailings from rougher, cleaner and recleaner spirals in one mill line were sampled before and after the sizing screen openings were reduced from 2 mm to 1.6 mm. Sized fractions of each sample were analyzed with the MP-SEM-IPS image analysis system at CANMET to determine mineral quantities and liberation characteristics of the iron oxide minerals. Mass balance techniques were used to calculate stream recoveries of iron, silica, total iron oxide minerals, hema¬tite, goethite, quartz, ferromagnesian silicates, and liberated and locked total iron oxide minerals for each sieve fraction.The reduction of the sizing screen openings increased the ap¬parent liberation of the total iron oxide minerals in the screen undersize from 89% to 94% and raised the over-all iron recovery from 84.4% to 85.3%. Apparent liberation of iron oxide minerals in the cleaner sand also increased from 70% to 85%, but the – 75 µm fraction re¬mained the only fraction containing an acceptable amount of liber¬ated iron oxide minerals in each case. Due to limitations of spiral and grinding efficiency it is recommended that the cleaner sand be screened at 300 m, the +300 m fraction be reground, and the – 300 p.m fraction be rerouted to the rougher spirals.The amount of fine liberated iron oxide minerals (– 106 m) lost in the tailings was 46 TPH in mill line 3. This value represents 41 wt % of the free fine iron oxide minerals, or 7 wt % of the total iron oxide minerals in the spiral feed. Further work is needed to investigate the possibility of recovering this material by other methods.Middling iron particles (010 50%) and presumably free gangue in the size range –300+ 75 m tend to be recovered by spirals by entrapment."

Jan 1, 1990

By L. A. Homeniuk, R. Bonnar

"The Athabasca Basin has been the scene of an intense exploration effort since the late 1960s, resulting in the establishment of this area as one of the major uranium districts in the world.The A thabasca Group is of Helikian age and unconformably overlies metamorphic rocks of Aphebian and Archean age. Most of the known uranium deposits have a close spatial relationship with the unconformity, graphitic meta-sediments, major northeast-trending structures and the basin edge. It should be noted that, in regard to the latter, some of the Cluff Lake deposits are exceptions.The pre-Helikian rocks underlying the Athabasca Group have been divided into six Iithostructural domains. The known uranium deposits are concentrated in the Wollaston and Mudjatik domains in the southeastern portion of the basin.The orebodies typically have a narrow high-grade portion below the unconformity and a broader, lower-grade disseminated zone in the overlying sandstone. Over-all grades average over 1% U3O8 and our estimate of known reserves totals more than 400 million pounds of contained U3O8. Some of the deposits have high concentrations of other metals, including nickel, arsenic, cobalt and gold. Ubiquitous chlorite and clay alteration is characteristic of the orebodies.Other Proterozoic basins in Canada of similar ages and having analogous geological settings to the Athabasca have received far less attention. Although little of the known uranium mineralization in these basins is related to the Helikian unconformity, there may be an exploration potential for deposits similar to those of the Athabasca basin.IntroductionThe Athabasca sedimentary basin is located within the Churchill Structural Province of the Canadian Shield in Northern Saskatchewan. The basin is elliptically shaped and is approximately 800,000 square kilometres in area.The objective of this paper is to summarize the various elements in the genesis of the unconformity-type uranium deposits of the Athabasca Basin and to evaluate the comparative potential of other Proterozoic basins to host similar unconformity-type deposits."

Jan 1, 1982

By Michel Noël

Cet article présente une compilation partielle des mesures adoptées pour la fermeture des haldes de stériles pour des mines situées au Canada et en Alaska, et dont le climat comporte des hivers froids. L?article présente également le processus de sélection qui a été suivi pour certaines de ces mines. Les exploitations minières produisent habituellement des quantités de stériles qui peuvent être importantes. De plus, la nature du dépôt minier ainsi que la roche mère vont souvent entraîner des impacts sur l'environnement. Ces impacts doivent être gérés non seulement durant les opérations minières, mais souvent à très long terme après la cessation de l?exploitation minière. Les plans de fermeture de mine doivent par conséquent procurer des solutions à très long terme, voire même à perpétuité dans bien des cas. Le processus de sélection implique souvent l'évaluation des risques liés aux responsabilités environnementales et financières. Il doit considérer l?aspect scientifique, comporter une définition des objectifs, tout en incorporant une gestion des ressources et des plans de travail. La planification de fermeture est essentiellement un exercice de prise de décisions comportant des contraintes. Une matrice de classement basée sur la performance et le risque est souvent développée durant ce procédé pour identifier les options préférées. Les études de cas présentées dans cet article présentent quelques exemples. L?état des connaissances sur le drainage acide minier provenant des haldes de stériles a augmenté considérablement au cours des dernières décennies. Ceci n?a pas nécessairement augmenté le niveau de complexité des méthodes adoptées pour la fermeture. Une approche qui est fréquemment utilisée consiste à stabiliser les pentes des haldes de stériles en abaissant la pente des talus pour ensuite recouvrir les stériles d?une couche de sol pour soutenir la végétation. De telles couvertures empêchent les animaux d?avoir un contact direct avec les stériles, minimisent l'érosion et réduisent l'infiltration à divers degrés. L'inclusion d?un traitement des eaux dépend évidemment de la qualité de l'eau au point de déchargement.

Nov 1, 2008

By D. J. Bowen

"The Great Dyke extends for 540 krn along strike, to unknown depth, and varies in width from 3 krn to 11 krn. Rb/Sr age determinations gives values of approximately 2470 Ma.The Dyke consists of a variety of mafic and ultramafic rocks, many altered to serpentinites. These include, from top to bottom, successions of gabbro/norites, pyroxenites, peridotiteslharzburgites, and dunites/picrites.The layers dip in from either margin, steepest at the edges (20°) and flattening toward the central sections. Four separate complexes are present. From north to south these are termed the Musengezi, Hartley, Selukwe and Wedza Complexes, and are described as 'boat-shaped' or 'pig-troughed'. All are similar in petrological sequences. Physiographically, the Dyke is spectacular in the north, where as a mountain range it meets the Zarnbezi Escarpment. Elsewhere in the central parts there is little surface expression and wide open treeless vleis. Dyke rocks cut through granite and schist belt terrain and are termed 'The Magnesia Belt'.Vast mineral resources exist. These include chrome, asbestos, platinoids, nickel, copper and gold. Up to eleven chrome seams numbered from top to bottom occur in the lower ultramafic sequences. Seams are narrow at 10 em to 30 em but of high grade. The platinum occurs 10 m to 40 m below the norite/pyroxenite contact.A 60 m wide zone of Light Sulfide Mineralization (LSM) of less than 1070 sulfides extends from the lower gabbronorites into the upper pyroxenites. In this LSM, four enriched zones carry up to 5% sulfides. The most widespread is termed the Main Sulfide Zone (MSZ), below which is No. 2, No.3 and No.4 Sulfide Zones. The MSZ carrying pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite is a multielement ore with components of PGE (pt-Pd-Rh), nickel, copper and cobalt, and gold and silver.Extensive exploration programs have been carried out and the intention is to begin large-scale mining. However, with Russia supplying metals to the western markets, South Africa's cutback on production, and an end to the Cold War, delays have arisen."

Jan 1, 1994

By Maurizio Violo, Arjan Beqiraj, Umberto Masi

"Abstract - Four main podiform occurrences of chromite have been distinguished in the ultramafic Bulqiza massif, Albania; they are associated from the bottom to the top with: i) basal harzburgites (lower tectonite sequence), ii) dunitic lens-bearing harzbugites (middle-upper tectonite sequence), iii) layered chromitite-bearing dunites of transitional zone, and, iiii) the stratigraphically lowermost part of the magmatic section. However, only the occurrences hosted by rocks ii) and iii) are economically important.Chromite compositions similar to those of other podiform chromites are bimodal. Thus, chromites from occurrences ii) and iii) are richer in Cr than chromites from the other two occurrences. Accessory chromite disseminated throughout the massif is richer in Fe than orebody chromite, displaying similar range of the Cr/Cr+Al ratios, with accessory residue chromite matching the characteristic (Cr/Cr+Al >0.6) range of type-III Alpine peridotites. Both orebody and accessory chromites show compositional ranges correlating with host-rock compositions, i.e., the Cr-rich chromites are hosted by the most refractory ultramafic rocks. Therefore, the Cr/Cr+Al and Mg/Fetot (Cr/Fetot) ratios of chromite are useful for exploration of high-grade, metallurgical chromite ore at Bulqiza and in other massifs of similar geodynamic setting."

Jan 1, 2000

By Niels Verbaan, Ron Molnar, David Dreisinger

"An acidic chloride leach solution was generated from the treatment of an ore containing the following value elements: silver, gold, indium, gallium, copper, zinc and lead. Iron was also co-extracted into solution as a ferric chloride species. Iron extraction was a significant component of the overall acid consumption of the leaching process. The recovery of iron by solvent extraction and water stripping was investigated. Tri-butyl-phosphate (TBP) was very effective at recovering iron from the leachate. The water strip solution could be decomposed to produce ferric oxide (hematite) and hydrochloric acid for recycle via hydrothermal hydrolysis or pyrohydrolysis.INTRODUCTION The Malku Khota deposit is situated in the eastern part of the Bolivian Altiplano at elevations between approximately 3,800 and 4,580 meters above sea level (Figure 1). The project is located 98 km east-southeast of Oruro, and 85 km south of Cochabamba in a relatively remote area."

Jan 1, 2016

"The South African Mineral Resource Committee (SAMREC), a Working Group of the SAMREC/SAMVAL Committee (SSC), under the joint auspices of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA) developed the SAMREC Code. The Code sets out minimum standards, recommendations and guidelines for public reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and mineral reserves in South Africa. It is applicable to the reporting of all styles of solid mineralization or economic deposit. However, certain commodities, namely coal and diamonds, have specific additional reporting requirements. The Code does not apply to oil, gas or water."

Jan 1, 2003

By Z. D. Hora

Brick shales and refractory clays are mined at Sumas Mountain near Abbotsford. Sholes and stoneware clays elsewhere in the province have not been developed. THE SUMAS MOUNTAIN deposit near Abbotsford, 80 km east of Vancouver, has been in continuous production since 1905. The deposit is exposed in a small outlier and comprises a sequence of alternating beds of clay and sand. Beds are of Eocene age. Within the 400 m thick ness of sediments are seven distinctive conglomerate members, some up to 20 m thick, interbedded with fine grained sediments including claystones and siltstone , or "shales". Shale is quarried to produce a variety of bricks, sewer pipes and similar products; it is also used for cement. Several different shale beds have been mined over the years and exhibit a variety of fired colours ranging from buff-pink grey to deep red; pyrometric cone equivalents (PCE) range from 3 to 20. A layer of fireclay 3 to 4 m thick that occurs at the base of the sequence has pinkish white to light buff fired colour and PCE of 30 to 33. It is used as a 266 primary component to produce refractory bricks. The shale is quarried and processed by Clayburn Industries Limited of Abbotsford. Another similar but smaller outlier of the same geological formation is known from Blue Mountain, about 20 km northwest of Mission. Other ceramic clays in British Columbia are reported from Quesnel (7 m bed of white stoneware clay, PCE 17 to 19), Giscome Rapids (25 km north of Prince George, 10 m bed of stoneware clay to PCE 31) and anaimo-Comox area (buff to red firing "shales", PCE 8 to 10-1 12) . From 1959 to 1974 Cretaceous shale from Saturna Island in the Strait of Georgia was used to produce lightweight aggregate. Similar deposits of expanding shale are known from the vicinity of Duncan on Vancouver Island.

Jan 1, 1984

By L. Long

Stirred milling of nickel laterites offers possibilities for improving liberation and selective size reduction of soft nickel-bearing minerals in laterites. Batch grinding tests were performed in a Netzsch LME4 stirred mill on siliceous goethitic (SG), goethitic (G), and saprolitic (SAP) nickel laterite samples (- 2000 ?m particle size) to evaluate the effect of stirrer speed, solid content, water salinity and grinding time. A fine mineral product (-38 µm) was used to evaluate the effect of selective grinding and Ni upgrade. The optimum grinding time for the highest Ni upgrade was 0.25 min, 0.1 min and 0.1 min for the SG, G, and SAP nickel laterite, respectively. A new feed (38-2000 µm) for each nickel laterite sample was prepared for batch grinding tests under the optimum grinding conditions. Upon grinding the 38-2000 µm feed, the - 38 µm product confirmed the effect of selective grinding and nickel upgrade. Size classification followed by stirred milling is a suggested process for Ni upgrade. The best Ni upgrade result was achieved on the SG nickel laterite among the three samples. The Ni grade increased from 0.85% to 1.37%, with 27.8% Ni recovery. Bottle roll leach tests showed that for SG and SAP samples selective grinding had no dramatic effect on Ni extraction due to the slow leach rate of hard mineral particles. Stirred milling of G sample increased the surface area of goethite, resulting in higher Ni extraction. Gravity concentration through a Knelson Concentrator was not effective in the further treatment of the stirred milling products either due to the poor operating conditions or due to the mineralogy characteristics of the feed samples. The energy requirement in the stirred milling was investigated. The first pass of the signature plots study is critical for the purpose of selective grinding, because the best result on selective grinding is achieved in the early stage of the grinding process.

Aug 1, 2013

By M. P. Tibbs

An autonomous spray application system for a structural Thin Spray-on Liner (TSL) is targeting productivity and safety on underground coal continuous miners by potentially replacing steel mesh, and has broader applications as surface support and confinement in metalliferous mines and civil tunnelling. Polymer chemistry, coating formulation, geotechnical assessment and the autonomous application system are being developed as an integrated package as part of a continuous miner automation project. This polymer-based TSL system has significant benefits over conventional steel mesh skin confinement, including being more automatable by spray application, providing complete skin confinement and active skin reinforcement as a fast-curing composite with substrate, and having effective fire retardant properties for the polymer and the underlying coal. This paper presents a preliminary assessment of distance sensing systems that would enable autonomous adaptation of a nominal spray path to spray a consistent thickness of TSL (nominally 5mm) over an irregular topography. Two alternate sensors are assessed; firstly, a 2D LIDAR mounted on a linear axis is used to produce a 3D surface profile for generating an adapted spray path; and secondly, a robot end-effector-mounted ultrasonic sensor is assessed for wall following techniques to dynamically adapt a nominal spray path.

Aug 1, 2013