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By R. M. Cox

Pneumatic coal loading and conveying systems provide alternative methods for the safe and efficient mining of the thin, high-grade coal seams found in the Southern Appalachians. Pneumatic systems eliminate most of the health and safety hazards associated with the operation of conventional mining and haulage equipment in small low-coal mines by removing powered mobile equipment from the mine. Ventilation is also improved by the coincidental removal of gas and respirable dust from the mine by the operation of the pneumatic loading and conveying system. Other significant advantages of pneumatic coal recovery systems are relative simplicity, operating flexibility, low capital cost, quiet operations, environmental benefits and ease of automation. The design considerations and field evaluations of experimental prototype pneumatic coal loading and conveying systems installed and operated in small thin-seam mines are presented in this paper. In addition, fundamental design criteria and recommendations for the installation and operation of a variety of pneumatic coal loading and conveying systems that offer alternative coal-recovery systems that alleviate the serious health and safety concerns of current small mine operations are proposed.

Jan 1, 2000

By Cynthia S. A. Wallace, Joseph E. Crawford

The Culberson ore body is a bioepigenetic sulfur deposit located in the Delaware basin. Sulfur occurs in the Upper Permian Castile, Salado and Rustler Formations. Most of the ore body forms a subhorizontal layer within the Salado Formation. Abundant cave fill deposits of Rustler and younger lithologies occur within the Salado Formation and predate mineralization. The cave fill deposits provided porosity zones within the otherwise impermeable sulfate host rock and controlled sites of mineralization. A northeast trending fracture zone near the west edge of the ore body localized some deep mineralization and may have allowed migration of hydrocarbons from depth.

Jan 1, 1992

By Wen L. Cai

This paper examines the effects of different block dimensions and cone bases on the economic open pit limit design based on case studies on a coal deposit consisted of two west- east elongated, near vertical thin seams starting with a base model dimension of 200x170x50 (NX*NY*NZ) with a block dimension of 10mx5mx4m (DX*DY*DZ), the blocks were combined along easting, northing and elevation directions. Two cone bases were used, one with a base radius of 10 meters, the other with a base radius of 0. Two pit design algorithms, one is the floating cone algorithm, the other is an optimum algorithm, were used to see which one of the two pit design algorithms is more sensitive to block dimension and cone base variations. The results are presented and analyzed.

Jan 1, 1992

By F. G. Miller, M. Polat, S. Chander

Flotation was used to achieve improved separation of magnetite from the float and sink products obtained from heavy medium separation and to reduce the load of the medium cleaning circuit. The investigation was carried out in two successive phases. In the first phase, tests were performed on in-plant samples from the Homer City Coal Perdition plant to determine what effects variables such as medium density, particle size and magnetite source had on the efficiency of the process. In the second phase, the optimum conditions determined in the first phase were used to determine the applicability of the process to other selected coals from central Pennsylvania. It was observed that flotation was very effective in the separation of magnetite from coal. In most of the cases investigated, the magnetite recovery was approximately 99% with a magnetite grade ranging from 95 to 99%. The grade of the magnetite decreased as the ash content of the coal increased and the particle size of the magnetite decreased.

Jan 1, 1994

By G. R. S. Smith

In any filtration, it is primarily the filter medium (cloth) and cake filtering properties that control the type of filtration equipment used and filtration conditions. The advent of new types of filter cloths, such as the membrane cloth discussed in this paper, can result in significant changes in filtration techniques and areas of application for filtration. For many suspensions, for instance, conventional filtration is uneconomic compared to gravity separation or not filtering at all (as with product recovery from dilute streams) because the solids are very fine, are hard to retain and build up filter pressure rapidly, and once retained are hard to remove. As a result of the developments discussed here, this is no longer the case. This technique and the use of the membrane filter cloth is well established. This filtration is currently being used for white liquor filtration in twenty-four mills worldwide in the chemical recovery step of the kraft process for producing paper pulp where it is replacing gravity thickeners in new plants. Filters up to 1000 sq. ft. (100 sq. meters) are filtering large volumes of solids from hot caustic solutions. The filtration materials and techniques discussed in this paper open the way to new methods and applications for filtration in the mining industry. It is not the intention of this paper to give a vigorous analysis of the different separations, but to outline some of the ways in which this filtration technique might be used in the mining industry.

Jan 1, 1989

By Alexander N. Winchell

"The waters of Lake Superior flow into those of Lake Huron through the St. Mary's river. The rapids in this river are about half a mile wide and three-quarters of a mile long, in which distance the fall amounts to about twenty feet. Since this was the only obstacle to navigation between the west end of Lake Superior and ports on any of the other Great Lakes except Ontario, attempts were made many years ago to permit the passage of small boats from Lake Huron to Lake Superior by means of canals and locks. The first canal was built on the Canadian side of the river by the Northwest Fur Company in 1797-98. The lock was 38 feet long, 8 feet 9 inches wide and had a lift of 9 feet. A tow path was made along the shores for oxen to track the bateaux and canoes through the upper part of the rapids., The lock was destroyed during the war of 1812 by United States troops from Mackinac Island.The first ship canal, known as the State Canal, was built on the American side of the river in 1853-55, about 750,000 acres of land in Michigan having been granted by congress to a private company as a 'concession for its construction. This canal was more than a mile long, 65 feet wide at the bottom and 100 feet wide at the water's surface. It had two locks, each 350 feet long by 70 feet wide, with a lift of about 9 feet. The depth of water in the canal was about 13 feet and in the locks about 11 1/2 feet."

Jan 1, 1920

By James R. Arnold

Gold Fields Mining Corporation started processing ore from it's Chimney Creek operation in northern Nevada in November, 1987. Since that time production has averaged about 200,000 ounces per year from the milling and dump leaching circuits combined. The events that led up to commissioning of the plant started in January of 1985 when the Gold Fields exploration team drilled their first hole in an area now known as Discovery Hill. The major orebody was located later in the year in what is currently the major focus of activity, the North Pit. Subsequent drilling since plant startup has found another 14 million tons of ore two miles south of the original orebody. This South Pit orebody is currently being stripped and metallurgical testing is underway. Engineering Engineering on the Chimney Creek plant started in earnest in May, 1986. Davy McKee Corporation from San Ramon, California, did both the engineering and the construction management. Before engineering began the entire senior staff of the Plant Department was hired and assigned to the project. Senior staff included the Plant Superintendent, Plant General Foreman, Maintenance General Foreman and Chief Metallurgist. Gold Fields does not employ an internal central engineering staff to design their plants. We feel that the people who design the plant should be the ones who will be required to run it once it has been commissioned. This philosophy affords a continuous accountability from start of design through commissioning and operations. All four of the senior staff spent the most critical phase of the engineering stage at Davy McKee, so the plant is truly a reflection of all four disciplines. In bringing on the Maintenance General Foreman from the start, there was a focus placed on ease of maintaining the plant. Another philosophy that was adopted from the start was that the plant be easy to work in and maintain for both operators and maintenance personnel. Numerous design criteria were given to Davy McKee to ensure this. For example, we required that every piece of equipment could be reached easily with a crane or fork lift. All conveyors were required to have walkways on both sides for ease of maintenance and a minimum of 30 inches of clearance under them for ease of cleanup. Visibility for operators was considered very important and the control rooms and general plant layout were designed with this in mind. A list of about 100 general rules were given to Davy McKee during the early layout meetings and these were held as the general design criteria throughout engineering and construction. While engineering was progressing in San Ramon, California, dump leach test work was being done at the site. Three 6 foot diameter fiberglass columns were constructed and filled to a 20 foot height with low grade ore. Leaching characteristics were determined and the dump leach design was based on information collected from these columns. Construction The major contractors on the project were The Industrial Company for the bulk of the piping and structural, EMKO on the electrical/ instrumentation and Hunewill for most of the earth work and leach pad construction. All plant operating and maintenance personnel were employed eight weeks before startup for intensive training. Instructors were Gold Fields personnel, including foremen, and Davy McKee engineers. On occasion, selected suppliers representatives were brought in to discuss major pieces of equipment. Project completion was targeted for January, 1988 at a projected cost of 78.9 million dollars. Actual startup was about 1 1/2 months ahead of schedule and slightly under budget. Full design capacity was achieved the first full month of operation. Crushing Run of mine ore is delivered to the crusher and dumped into a 90 ton hopper which is topped with a 30" X 30" opening stationary grizzly. Ore is fed to a 50" X 60" Telsmith jaw crusher with a 5' wide apron feeder. The closed size setting of the

Jan 1, 1989

By Eugene L. Foster, Gilbert L. Butler

The successful demonstration of a precast segmented concrete liner in the Lexington Market Section of the Baltimore Regional Rapid Transit System (BRRTS) is an important step forward in our continuing efforts to control tunneling costs in the USA. In addition to its contribution to specific savings in future tunnels, this demonstration project has taught other lessons about the U.S. tunneling industry and about the process of "mainlining" new and improved technology into that industry. This paper will present an overview of the Lexington Market Demonstration Project from its beginnings to the present time. In addition, it will discuss other implications which have an important bearing on the extent to which tunnels will be used in future transportation systems in the USA. THE HISTORY Precast segmented concrete tunnel liners are not new. An unbolted version was reportedly used in New York City in the 1930's. The modern bolted configuration has been in use in foreign countries for more than 15 years. Indeed, consideration of the use of precast bolted segments below the water table in the USA dates back to the BART system in San Francisco in the 1960's. At that time, they were evaluated and it was concluded that the state of the art would not allow segments to be precast to the required tolerances. A secondary grinding operation would be required if water-tightness was to be assured, making them economically non-competitive with steel. Based

Jan 1, 1981

By -Ing. Alexander Dohmen, -Ing. Gunter Hagen

In order to improve the thermal environment in deep coal mines, two principles can be applied: firstly, the reduction of heat flow into the air stream, and secondly, cooling of the air current. First of all one should try to minimize the heat-flow rate into the air stream underground by the mining method itself. German coal mines prefer the caving system of advance longwall mining simultaneously on several levels with ascensional ventilation. The effects of descensional ventilation and different face ventilation layouts on the thermal environment are discussed, besides the effects of pneumatic and hydraulic stowing. Application of all mentioned possibilities together instead of today's common mining method would reduce the Basis Effective Temperature considerably. In the future, hydraulic haulage of the raw coal underground substituting belt conveying may be a mean to improve the thermal environment further on. If the working depth of a coal mine exceeds about 1 000 m, cooling of the air stream under-ground will be necessary in addition to the above- mentioned measures. Generally, in German coal mines different types of indirect-contact air coolers located nearby the face are used. Besides such so-called cooling coils, large-capacity spray coolers are used because they work more efficiently if a great cooling duty is demanded. Common designs of both air cooler types and their possible utilizations are demonstrated. Deep coal mines in the Federal Republic of Germany need up to 30 MW of total cooling capacity. Mostly, the needed chilled water is cooled by large-capacity refrigeration plants placed on surface, underground or in combination of the above locations nearby the shaft. Due to the increasing underground cooling demand, the distribution of the chilled water and the control of the air coolers become more important. The conception of a control system is discussed, which is based on the control of the single air coolers. All air coolers of a mine are controlled so as to optimize the supply water-flow rate with regard to the demanded cooling duty of the coolers. On the next upper level of the control system the whole chilled water network and finally the refrigeration plant is regulated. Present research work deals with the use of ice for cooling mines. There are some unsolved problems in this new cooling concept. Some aspects of making, transporting and storing ice are described. The use of ice may probably reduce the cooling costs of German collieries, which are at present approximately 4 DM per ton of saleable coal.

Jan 1, 1989

By A Pettersson

LKAB owns and operates two of the largest underground mines in the world in Northern Sweden. In Malmberget, with a production capacity of about 30,000 t/day of iron ore, the current main 815 m haulage level is rapidly approaching the end of Its life and plans are being made for its replacement on the 1000 m level. Due to the separation of the orebodies, trucks have been chosen for transporting the ore from the orepasses to the crushers. The trucks currently in use have a capacity of 120 tons. To increase the efficiency of the loaded haul, the new main level will have a favorable slope from the drawpoint locations to the crushers. From the new level the crushed ore will be transported by conveyor to the 815 m level for hoisting to the surface. The paper discusses the planned mining and transportation system.

Jan 1, 1998

By W. J. Wuest, M. J. DeMarco, J. R. Koehler

Yield-pillar-based gate-road designs often fail to provide mine operators with adequate ground control. This is because of the unknowing m is employment of "critically" sized pillars. A "critical” pillar is one that is too large to either yield nonviolently or to yield before the roof and floor sustain permanent damage and is too small to support full abutment loads. To demonstrate the critical pillar concept, afield study of a tapering gate road was conducted by the US Bureau of Mines at the Sunnyside Coal Mines, Sunnyside, UT. Extreme pillar stresses and associated coal bumps characterize the response to first panel mining of a 16.8-m (55.1-ft) wide critical design. Significantly lower pillar stresses, early yielding of the pillar and adjacent panel rib, and an absence of coal bumps suggest that a narrower 12.2-m (40-ft) wide design more closely approaches proper yield pillar dimensions. A probe hole in several 10.6-m (34.8-ft) wide pillars revealed low stress levels and substantial pillar and panel rib yielding prior to abutment onset, indicating a properly functioning yield pillar design.

Jan 1, 1997

By T. V. Durkin

Approximately 1,390 t (44.7 million ounces) of gold have been produced in South Dakota since 1875. South Dakota's mining laws attempt to strike a balance between economic development and environmental protection by promoting mining as an industry while requiring prevention of pollution and reclamation of affected lands to a beneficial use. The mining laws have evolved since their inception in 1971, especially in response to gold mining. The laws have remained flexible to meet changing regulatory needs. Gold production has continued relatively unabated, even in the face of public scrutiny, two mining moratoriums, and isolated environmental problems. The department's system of "one-stop-shopping" for environmental permits streamlines the permit process, fosters quick resolutions to compliance problems, and helps keep enforcement actions out of the courts. Specific case histories at heap leach mines within the Black Hills are presented.

Jan 1, 1998

By Pieter Hoekstra, Jim Hild, Mark Blohm

In the Basin and Range Province of Nevada, geophysics is used to assist exploration for bulk minable gold deposits, particularly over pediments. It is employed for mapping thickness of alluvium and Tertiary valley fill, for mapping covered structures, and for identifying alteration zones. In addition to potential field and seismic methods, three different electrical and electromagnetic methods are frequently used, resistivity-induced polarization, controlled source audiomagnetotellurics, and time domain EM. A review and comparison of the principles of these methods, illustrated by case histories, is the topic of this paper.

Jan 1, 1989

By R. E. Utting

INTRODUCTION Until recently, gamma doses had been largely ignored in Ontario uranium mines. This has been due to the assumption that these doses are small and have been more or less unchanged with time and hence their effects have been included automatically in the epidemiological studies that led to the establishment of radon daughter exposure limits. This assumption had to be challenged for two basic reasons. The first was that radon daughter exposures to miners have been progressively reduced over the years due to improved ventilation and ever more stringent regulations, while gamma exposures have presumably remained relatively unchanged. Therefore it must be assumed that the ratio of gamma to radon daughter exposure has gone up. The second reason is more philosophical. It is clearly inappropriate to make judgements on the significance of a potential industrial hazard when the magnitude of that hazard has not been fully assessed. Having decided that some sort of assessment of gamma exposures to uranium miners must be made, it was than necessary to determine how this should be done. Several options were available, for instance: (i) Wholesale personal gamma dosimetry for all mine and mill workers, (ii) Personal gamma dosimetry only for those workers suspected of receiving the higher doses, coupled with area monitoring to estimate the exposures of other workers, (iii) Area monitoring coupled with dose rate times time calculations for all. This would correspond to the generally prevalent method of assessing radon daughter exposures. It was argued that since radon daughter exposures are the major radiological hazard in uranium mines, to invest resources for assessing a lesser hazard to a greater degree of precision was not cost effective. (iv) Since gamma dose rate is related to ore grade, individual doses could be assigned from knowledge of work location and ore grade. Before deciding which of these options would be most appropriate, it was necessary to have some idea of the magnitude of the problem. Very few data were available in the literature and with the exception of a few spot dose rate measurements, and the results of a few gamma dosimeters issued to selected individuals by some of the mining companies, nothing was available. A rule of thumb of obscure origin is often quoted within the industry indicating that gamma dose rates underground will be about 0.25 mR/h per lb/ton or 5 mR/h per % U. This had been used by some to justify neglecting gamma radiation at least for ore grades of the order of 0.1% or 2 lb/ton, on the grounds that gamma dose rates would be of the order of 0.5 mR/h and therefore give rise to annual doses of only about 10 mSv (lrem). That is, it was assumed that gamma radiation was of limited concern compared to the hazard associated with the inhalation of radon daughters. We were thus faced with the situation of just assuming that no regulatory limits were being breached. This situation could not be allowed to continue. A program was initiated to investigate the gamma doses absorbed by uranium miners in three mines in Ontario, and extensive gamma surveys were conducted in the Quirke 2 mine of Rio Algom Ltd, Elliot Lake; Denison Mine, Elliot Lake; and Agnew Lake Mine, Espanola. Negative reaction was received from several mine company officials to the possibility of all miners being required to wear personal gamma dosimeters due to the logistical difficulties involved, and therefore part of the project was aimed at determining if a reliable correlation between gamma dose rate and ore grade in the work location could be deduced, in order that dose rate times time calculations might be used for gamma dose assessments. The results of these programs provided evidence that the gamma dose for some employees in the three mines investigated may be a significant fraction of the current maximum permissible annual dose of 50mSv (5 rem). When combined with radon daughter exposures in the manner recommended by the ICRP at their 1980 Brighton meeting (ICRP 80) the results indicated that some individuals will come close to the resulting limit and may even exceed it. The results also indicate that is probably not feasible to develop a reliable formula for

Jan 1, 1981

By M. Ericsson

The extractive industries consist of five major sectors: - Mining equipment and services - Dimensional stone - Industrial minerals - Aggregates - Metal mining These industries produce some finished goods but mostly semi-finished products as they feed into other industrial sectors: Basic metals, fabricated metals, construction, chemicals, dyes and pigments, inorganic chemicals, fertilizers, rubber and plastics and non-metallic mineral products. These are the major down-stream industries in this study. Taken together with the extractive industries they form the mineral resource based cluster. The mineral resource based cluster is a substantial part of the Finnish economy: It employs 211 000 persons, 39% of the number of employees in industry. The cluster?s exports account for 20% of industry exports. Value added is 34% of total value added in industry. Investments reach 35% of total industry investments.

Jan 1, 2003

By Anis Farah, Khosrow Aref

Pull-out tests were conducted on cable bolts grouted with concrete, and cement paste. The influence of several parameters on the performance of these cables were studied under loading rates varying from very slow to relatively fast. These parameters include water-cement ratio, cable surface conditions, curing time and embedded length. In addition to being more economical, the results indicate that cables grouted with concrete have higher ductility and ultimate bond strength as compared to those with cement paste only.

Jan 1, 1986

By R. L. Grayson, L. L. Probert

A three-year project focusing on the depth profiling of respirable coal mine dust particles using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis resulted in the development of statistically classified particle-behavior models. The models depict the changing silicon fraction for particles at 5-, 7-, 9-, and 11-keV accelerating voltages, thereby giving a clear indication of the nature of various types of mineral particles. This paper focuses on the results for respirable quartz particles sampled from five underground coal mines across the US. Through statistical analysis of results the relationship between the fraction of surface available quartz in respirable dust samples and coal rank is established for three Pennsylvania coal seams.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. Andersen

The very large quantities of energy used for size reduction in the minerals processing industry necessitate the accurate prediction of comminution machine power draw for optimum plant design. The JKMRC has developed effective models for predicting ball mill, autogenous mill, semi- autogenous mill and crusher power draw. When combined with comminution models they provide a powerful tool for evaluating not only the size reduction performance of a plant design, but its power utilization efficiency as well. This paper describes the structure of the mill and crusher power models. Data from a wide range of equipment types are presented which illustrate the accuracy of these models.

Jan 1, 1992

By J. H. Tylczak, R. Blickensderfer, D. J. Singleton

As part of its research on wear of mining and mineral processing equipment, the US Bureau of Mines evaluated the erosion-corrosion characteristics of 12 alloys in phosphoric acid waste water. Tests were conducted on 2- and 5-cm-diam specimen8 in 12- and 60-cm-diam ball mills by grinding phosphate rock in gypsum pond water with an initial pH of 1.6. For comparison, grinding tests also were conducted in tap water. Static corrosion tests in gypsum pond water also were carried out. For all alloys tested, the wear by erosion-corrosion was greater than the sum of erosion plus static corrosion. A low-alloy, high-carbon steel and a high-manganese, nitrided stainless steel were the most cost-effective materials

Jan 1, 1987

By F. Djahanguiri

The US Bureau of Mines con¬ducted research on underground stope leaching of metalliferous ores. Leaching underground would minimize the environmental impact of ore processing on the surface and would maximize minable reserves. An important aspect of this process is the minimization of pregnant solution losses and groundwater contamination by leach solutions. Bulkhead design and construction are important issues for solution control and stope-leaching economics. A reinforced-concrete bulkhead was designed, constructed and tested for solution control in an underground mine near Idaho Springs, CO. This paper presents the bulkhead-design methodology and construction procedure.

Jan 1, 1997