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By Marcus Digre

The autogenous grinding method has been progressively employed in mineral dressing plants during the last 15 years. The term has been used with somewhat different meanings (1), (2), (3). In this paper the author will use it in the most restricted way, for processes where run-of-mine ore (rock) in one step is reduced to a grind product by the action of the ore itself without any other grinding media present. The pebble grinding process where the major part of the ore enters the mill as finely crushed product which is ground further with selected coarse ore pieces acting as grinding media, is not considered autogenous grinding. Processes where a minor amount extraneous media as steel-balls is added to supplement an autogenous mill charge will be called semiautogenous. Other terms need also to be defined. "Mill charge" will be used about the active part of the mill content which performs the grinding, that is the steel balls in ball grinding and the coarse ore pieces in pebble and autogenous grinding. The interstitial nearly finished material is not included in the term "mill charge", and for the wet grinding operations is called the "mill pulp' The term "pebble" will be used for any rounded ore or rock piece in the mill charge whether it is an autogenous or a pebble grinding operation.

Jan 1, 1970

By Rollien R. Wells

The Bureau of Mines was created in 1910 by an act of Congress and subsequently directed to: "...conduct inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations concerning mining, and the preparation, treatment, and utilization of mineral substances with a view to improving health conditions, and increasing safety, efficiency, economic development, and conserving resources through the prevention of waste ..." Under this broad charter, the Bureau's responsibilities have changed and grown from an almost exclusive concern with coal and coal mine safety to the present emphasis on a full spectrum of mineral producing and consuming problems. In the past 30 years, the domestic consumption of coal, oil, gas, metals, and industrial minerals has more than quadrupled, in parallel with the rapid and enormous growth in industrial production. Of the scores of metals and nonmetals essential to the Nation's progress and security, many are scarce and difficult to wrest from domestic sources. Reserves of some ores are dwindling. Available ore resources are becoming leaner and more difficult to treat. In recognition of this many faceted problem, the Bureau has engaged in a continuing quest for new and improved technology to enable economic exploitation of marginal minerals and fuels, to find substitutes for minerals in short supply, and to create better materials to meet the expanding and diverse requirements of the growing economy. The current central concern of the Bureau is focused on meeting projected fuel, metal, and mineral demands at the lowest real cost by recovery from available resources by new and improved technology that minimizes waste, hazards, and social and environmental problems.

Jan 1, 1970

By William E. Mead

A regional investigation to find large supplies of potable ground water was carried out at elevations exceeding 12,000 feet above sea level on the Bolivian Altiplano. The program marked the first application of modern ground water search and development technology in the region, and ended a history of unsuccessful exploration efforts to locate important supplies of fresh water from underground sources. Oruro, a population center of 90,000 inhabitants, and its primary supporting industry - mining, both derived major direct benefit from the results of this program.

Jan 1, 1970

By Arthur B. Johnson

Potassium, is one of the three basic plant nutrients along with nitrogen and phosphorus. There is no substitute for potassium compounds in agriculture; they are essential to maintain and expand food production. Potash is found throughout the world in both soluble and insoluble forms. It is only the soluble forms that are economically attractive to process, primarily chlorides and sulfates, with potassium chloride by far the most important potash salt. Sylvinite ore, a mechanical mixture of sylvite (KCl) and halite (NaCl), is a natural mineral of potassium. This ore is found in commercial quantities in the Permian sin region near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Vast tonnages of high-grade de, low-clay-content ores have been mined and concentrated during the past 40 years; however, these deposits are rapidly being depleted leaving high-clay, low-grade ore reserves of over 135 million tons. These ores, containing 13 to 22 percent K20 and 3 to 8 percent clay slimes; cannot be effectively processed by current commercial flotation methods. The present concentration processes for potash minerals in Carlsbad relate mainly to ores containing 1 percent or less of clay-slimes with a K20 content of 20 to 25 percent to yield products to meet the requirements of the agriculture market, namely, 95 percent KC1 equivalent to 60 percent K20. Discoveries of potash ore in Saskatchewan, Canada, have shifted the emphasis on expansion outside the United States. Presently, the American companies are looking to Canada for future growth, expenditures, and expansion. Four of the seven companies operating near Carlsbad are produces of Canadian potash despite the large investment sons required for shaft sinking and milling installations.

Jan 1, 1970

By V. L. Brant

The estimated total energy demand for the U. S. is 60 quadrillion BTU for 1970 and is expected to more than double by the year 2000. Today the energy crunch is here. It is evidenced by brownouts to conserve electrical energy, and the shortage of gas and oil. Many such headlines, including suggestions for energy rationing, are in the news today. Paradoxically we have an abun¬dant source of energy in the form of coal. Energy consumers, however, are geared to use fuel in other forms. It is the intent of this presentation to discuss processes under development for conversion of the energy contained in these vast coal reserves to more usable forms. Coal conversion to synthetic fuels should be of particular interest to those engaged in mining. Coal consumption in a single conversion plant is expected to range from 10,000 to 40,000 tons per day. Plants will be located at the mine mouth and will operate continuously 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Further, many such plants will be needed., For example, looking at natural gas only, the supply/demand gap is estimated to reach 13 trillion cubic feet per year by 1985. Assuming that gas from coal conversion were to fill only 101, of this gap, 15 plants producing 250 MMSCFD would be required. These plants would consume about 90 million T/Y of coal or 135 million T/Y of lignite. It will indeed be a challenge to mine, suitably prepare, and transport coal at these projected volumes without interruption. Many ideas have been conceived for better utilization of coal and these are in various stages of development. Those supported by public money are covered by the Annual Report of the Office of Coal Research (OCR), Department of Interior. The two processes to be discussed, the Consolidation Coal Company's (Consol) C02 Acceptor Process (1)(2)(3) and The Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mining Company's (PAMCO) Solvent Refined Coal Process (4)(5) are both sponsored by OCR.

Jan 1, 1970

By . A. J. Erickson

The Park City District, one of three major mining districts in Utah, is located approximately 20 miles southeast of Salt Lake City on the eastern slope of the Wasatch Mountains. The district has been in near continuous production since 1869. Production has been sustained from exceptionally long bedded replacement ore bodies in the Thaynes, Park City, and Humbug formations and also from several major veins. District production is summarized below. TABLE NO. 1 Park City District, Total Production, 1869 thru 1968 (Source r Various Company Records) [ ]

Jan 1, 1970

By Fathi Habashi

SOLVENT EXTRACI ION involves two operations: 1) Extraction The metal values in the aqueous phase are extracted by agitation with an organic solvent immiscible in that phase. The two phases are then allowed to separate; the aqueous phase is discarded or recycled and the loaded organic phase saved.

Jan 1, 1970

By David H. Carlson

Mechanical sorting of "poor" rock accumulated from past native copper mining operations has been under study at the Michigan Tech's Institute of Mineral Research for several years. Prior to this work, the poor rock dumps totaling approximately 9 million tons containing an estimated 35-70 million pounds of copper (1) have been considered mainly as a local source of road aggregate used from time to time and consequently of minor value. An electro¬mechanical sorting machine developed by International Sorting Systems Corporation of Santa Barbara, California has been tested for preconcentration of the waste rock before conventional milling (2,3). The ISSC machine has possibilities for underground preconcentration of crushed mine-run native copper ores. The objective of the study described here was to provide information about limi¬tations on sortability due to characteristics of the ore and present crushing practices. When the native copper mines were in operation prior to termination in 1969, two types of ore were produced, amygdaloidal and conglomeritic. In the first type copper occurs in vesicles left by gas bubbles entrapped during rapid cooling of the tops of lava flows. The conglomeritic ore beds consist of rounded pebbles and fragments cemented together by calcite, epidote, chlorite, and feldspar; the copper occurs around pebbles, in cracks, and sometimes as partial or total re¬placements of pebbles. The copper in the conglomeritic ore usually is in finer grain sizes than that in the amygdaloidal ore, and large (plus 4 inch) copper masses are virtually absent.

Jan 1, 1970

By Bert C. Morrison

In 1961. American Smelting and Refining Company was conducting exploration for lead in southeastern Missouri using several geophysical methods. Electrical methods were used in almost every hole drilled during this period. These methods met with only limited success, with one exception. This paper deals with that exception: An Electrical Potential Method used at a single hole to indicate direction to better mineralization. This method was notably successful in the program.

Jan 1, 1970

By M. M. Fine

Development of a process for winning copper from pelletized chalcocite concentrate without matte smelting and converting is underway at the Twin Cities Metallurgy Research Center, Bureau of Mines. The new route from concentrate to metal includes 2-stage fluid-bed treatment; pelletized concentrate (33 percent Cu, 7 percent S) is first desulfurized (to about 0.5 percent S) in an oxidizing atmosphere, and in the second stage the calcine is metallized by reduction with hydrogen. Thereafter, the reduced product plus 10 percent CaO is routed to a smelting furnace to separate metallic copper from the gangue. Recovery and the Cu content of the product at this point are in the 97-98 percent range. The metal must be refined to remove sulfur and iron to make wirebar copper. An important feature of the process is the pelletizing of the fine concentrate into mini-pellets prior to fluid-bed treatment, which has permitted shorter reaction time, decreased dusting, and facilitated subsequent processing.

Jan 1, 1970

By James P. Connell

The Montana Operations of the Anaconda Company constitute an integrated, though geographically separated, non-ferrous metal production complex. The mines are located at Butte and consist of one large open-pit mine, two small underground mines, a precipitation plant for both underground and pit-dump leach water, and the Weed Copper Concentrator. The smelter, located at Anaconda, Montana 25 miles to the west, processes all Butte copper shipments as well as copper materials from both Anaconda and private mines. Copper and zinc are refined at Great Falls, Montana, 165 miles to the north. Other facilities developed over the years include the Anaconda Forest Products Division, the Butte, Anaconda, and Little. Chicago Water Companies, and the Montana Hardware Company. Data processing for these operations has been performed on an IBM 360 Series, Model 30 computer, utilizing a Disc Operating System. This was replaced in September 1970 with a 360 Series, Model 40 128K unit. In addition, some data processing is also done for Anaconda Company operations located at Britannia Beach, British Columbia; Columbia Falls, Montana; Yerington, Nevada; and Twin Buttes and Tuscon, Arizona. The material under discussion in this paper will be concerned primarily with the mining operations at Butte.

Jan 1, 1970

By Howard L. Hartman

In 1969, the OECD conducted a survey internationally to determine the status and needs for research and development in the field of tunneling. The findings also have some validity for underground excavation in general and for underground mining per se. Of the 17 countries responding to the survey, the U.S. leads in the level of support: $21.8 million and 720 man-years of effort over the last ten-year period. The total volume of R/D for the 17 countries was estimated to be $86 million and 5800 man-years. Performance of research was primarily by government agencies and public utilities (70%); the balance was conducted by private organizations and universities (15% each). In the categories of R/D subjects surveyed, three--Wk mechanics, soil mechanics, and geological exploration--outstripped all the rest in priority of effort to date. Ground support, equipment development, excavation, and environmental control received intermediate attention. The subject areas in which the least R/D effort has been expended are materials handling and systems evaluation. For the future, those R/D areas rated the most crucial to achieve technological progress in tunneling were excavation, ground support, and materials handling. The survey findings of tunneling activity indicated (1) a disturbingly low level of R/D activity in the private sector, (2) the necessity for a reordering of priorities in directing research efforts in the future, and (3) a lack of recognition to date of the importance of systems evaluation in R/D activities.

Jan 1, 1970

By D. M. Thayer

In the last decade public awareness of the need for pollution abatement has increased greatly. The concern that had been previously shared by local and state conservation groups has spread to create a national concern for preservation of our non-polluted environmental assets and regeneration of those that have been wasted. Because other current matters such as inflation, civil rights,' tax reform and the Vietnam situation have been the object of most national concern, an extremely strong national pressure base has not been brought to bear on the pollution control crisis. Yes, the word is crisis, for in many areas pollution is of critical concern. One has only to look at Lake Erie, the skies about our major urban areas and many of our major rivers and streams to see this crisis These are not situations that can be corrected overnight. We are faced with two basic problems that should be attacked simultaneously: (1) Cleaning up the present sources of pollution and (2) preventing the generation of new pollution sources. What approach should be taken? As in any engineering problem, the limits must be well defined before a final solution is attempted. Pollution must be defined on a national basis. This means that basic Federal legislation and control is necessary. This should reduce any competitive advantage that can presently be gained by movement of operations from one state or geographical area to another on the basis of differences in local legislation .and enforcement. By giving real numbers as guidelines, selective enforcement can be avoided. As a starting point, for a definition of pollution let us use the following - "Any change in the environment occurring from other than natural causes." This definition may not be satisfactory to all but surely we must be somewhat dramatic in our statements to counteract the present prevailing philosophy. Our statement of this philosophy - "At what level of pollution can we afford to operate?" On the basis of our general definition we would like to state what we feel should be the philosophical statement - "How little can we change our physical environment as a result of operations?"

Jan 1, 1970

By John W. Antalovich

Normally I would like to begin a talk on photogrammetry by defining the word. However modern technology has changed the science so radically that it bears little resemblance to its original definition. Photogrammetry as defined is a science of taking accurate measurements from photography. Today's photogrammetrist, in addition to working with photography, finds himself working with magnetometers, infrared scanners, radiometers, holo¬graphy, lasers, side-looking radar, digital interfaces, computers and countless other modern space age concepts. The modern photogrammetrist is a pilot, photographer, lab technician, mathematician, geologist, programmer, engineer, physicist, and cartographer. His modern instrumentation and many spheres of activity all have a role in the environmental sciences. For example, the magne¬tometer which measures the earth's magnetic fields is used to locate the earth's ore deposits. The infrared scanner captures the heat emitted from the earth to detect ground waters and thermal pollutions. To elaborate on each of his many endeavors would take volumes rather than this short paper. I have elected therefore to discuss what I feel is his most important role in the environmental sciences - that of cartographer.

Jan 1, 1970

By H. E. Cross

In a minerals-recovery context, the object of exercising control over milling operations must be threefold, 1) To achieve maximum recovery at 2) minimum operating costs and 3) making maximum use of installed equipment, Milling is one of a sequence of operations which have as their objective the economic recovery of minerals from mined ores, All operations in the sequence are interdependent and each is both influenced by and itself affects all other unit processes. The part which grinding plays in achieving each of the above objectives is indicated in the following analysis: In South Africa, the most important mining operations are still the gold mines, A vast reservoir of knowledge and experience in treating the Witwatersrand and associated ores has been accumulated. and recoveries are consistently high, However residue values do vary and frequently this is due to fluctuations in the degree of grind, The significance of changes in residue values is indicated by the following example: On a modern mine, the residue values varied from 0,25 to 0,33 dwi; per 2000 lb, during a period of 6 months, The cash value of the gold thus lost varied therefore between $0.44 and $0.58 per 2000 lb, ton. A residue which assays 0.30 dwt per ton would contain approximately 0.26 dwt as undissolved gold and 0,040 dwt per ton as dissolved gold present in residual solution after filtration. This dissolved gold loss is a function of efficiency of filtration and varies from 0.030 to 0,.070 dwt per ton of residue.

Jan 1, 1970

By Elmer H. Citron

The Monterey Coal Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Carter Oil Company of Houston, Texas, recently awarded a contract to build the Monterey No. 1 Preparation Plant, which will be located near Carlinville, Illinois, to the McNally Pittsburg Manufacturing Corporation. The preparation plant will be one of the most modern jig preparation plants in the State of Illinois. Illinois No. 6 coal will be delivered by a 48" slope belt having 35-degree carrying idlers, operating at 650 FPM and operating on an incline of nearly 17 degrees. The slope belt is driven by two 450 BP motors and will deliver the mined coal at the rate of 1800 TPH to a stationary step-type ' screen having six-inch openings. The overproduct from the stationary screen will discharge into a 10' x 24' McNally Rotary Breaker and the underproduct will bypass the rotary breaker. The rotary breaker is equipped with heavy manganese screens with 6 ½" diameter openings. The sized 6" x 0 coal from the stationary step screen and the rotary breaker will be discharged by gravity to a 4%" raw coal incline storage belt. The 48" raw coal storage belt will deliver the 6" x 0 sized coal at the rate of 1800 T?H to an 8000 ton concrete raw coal silo, 70 feet in diameter and 1x7 feet high. The 6" x 0 sized coal will be drawn from the concrete storage silo by seven (7) 36" wide reciprocating plate feeders. Five feeders are to have constant speed drives at a rated capacity of 145 TPH each. Two (2) feeders will have remote con- trolled variable speed drives, to provide a varying feed.

Jan 1, 1970

By E. M. Haynsworth

The disposal of phosphatic clays has presented a problem to the phosphate industry since the mining of phosphate rock first began. As the flotation process was introduced in the late 1920's, the problem of clay disposal was increased significantly since clay is present in proportionally greater quantities in reserves yielding flotation concentrates. Because of their physical character and the tremendous surface area per unit volume, these clays have the characteristic of retaining large volumes of water as they are slurried during processing. The phosphatic clays with which we are dealing consist primarily of apatite, wavellite and montmorillonite. In the beneficiation process, we remove the -150 mesh material as waste. However, the particles are essentially smaller than -325 mesh, and more than 70% are smaller than three microns. The disposal of clay and the recovery of a portion of the water require settling areas with a capacity ranging up to 2 cubic feet for each cubic foot of phosphate matrix mined. According to a recent study by the Bureau of Mines, the average cost for disposal of these wastes is 24.5 cents per ton of, product (U. S. Bureau of Mines Circular 8404). This is a major cost of phosphate rock production.

Jan 1, 1970

By David Hartley

United States Steel Corporation Minntac Mine is located at Mt. Iron, Minnesota, on the Mesabi Iron Range. The taconite pit is two miles long by a mile wide, with a maximum depth of 170 feet. This paper will deal with the radio remote control of locomotives engaged in the railroad haulage of crude ore and waste rock at this property.

Jan 1, 1970

By J. Robert Denny

The impact of the computer revolution--so pervasive in some industries--has been less startling in the mining industry. Computer techniques have been used successfully to provide drill hole calculations, contour maps, and a variety of conventional maintenance scheduling, and accounting applications. But it is our experience that the real economic payoffs lie in the engineering application of computers to mine planning and the use of systems engineering techniques for mine operations. Since 1964, Newmont Mining Corporation has been engaged in systematic research and development of computer techniques in a variety of mine planning applications. The general objective in using computers has been twofold: first, to arrive at a viable, near-optimum plan for mining a particular orebody, and second, to decrease the financial investment by reducing the man-hours required for mine planning. Three major phases in the evolution of these computer techniques for mine planning are discernible. In phase one, the machine capability for duplicating manual drafting and contour mapping was developed. The necessity of including all recognized geologic characteristics is obvious. Capability for properly incorporating structure, stratigraphic trends, and other geological features was a significant aspect of phase one development.

Jan 1, 1970

By William T. Barrett

It is said that Thales of Miletus, 600 B.C.,1 was aware of the attraction of lodestone toward iron and highly magnetic minerals. However, the birth of magnetic concentration followed shortly after the invention of the first electromagnet by Sturgeon in 1825. Sturgeon's magnet was described in the annals of electricity.2 The first attempts to concentrate minerals by the use of magnets date back to about 18473 but the first commercial drum-concentrator was apparently invented by R. Cook in 1849. Credit must also be given to the invention of P. Righter's machine in 1867,5 and to the highly successful Wenström separator devised in Sweden in 1883.8 Since the advent of these early separators there have been virtually hundreds of patents granted covering minor modifications of drum-type magnetic separators. The more important advances from a technological viewpoint have been the design of stable power supplies for d.c. magnets, the advent of ceramic permanent magnets which are now replacing electromagnets for the concentration of ferromagnetic minerals, and advances in general magnet and machine configurations.7 One of the problems facing both the designer and the user of magnetic separators is the evaluation of the body forces acting on particles in the magnetic field of the separator. Perhaps the most elegant method of evaluating the body force associated with a drum-type magnetic separator is that recently suggested by W. F. Brown.8 Brown measures the radial component of the field intensity one-half inch from the drum surface and fits a Fourier series in the angle about the drum axis (Figure 1). Once the coefficients of the series are known, it is then possible to calculate [ ]

Jan 1, 1970