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By Nathaniel Arbiter, Robert R. Beebe

The U.S. mining industry - once world dominant and largely independent of foreign sources for most major commodities - has today lost this position, with little likelihood of regaining it. But even though Business foretold The Death of Mining four years ago, the current outlook is less pessimistic because of drastic restructuring of the industry; a major reduction in its labor force, with resulting large increases in productivity; and introduction of improved technology. In the face of this clearly changed climate for domestic mining, it is important to examine the role of the development and research establishment in the industry's future, which raises a complex set of questions: 1. Where and to what extent can new technology assist in the continued survival of the industry ? 2. What is the past record of the research establishment in developing new technology; and what is the industry's record in supporting and adopting it ? 3. In the light of these records, and of the drastic cuts in both research staffs and expenditures, what areas should be the most important targets for new technology? New Technology vs. Old A1 though mineral processing's origins can be traced back through five or six millennia, its modern structure is about 200 years old.

Jan 1, 1989

By Phil A. Keele

"IntroductionGeneralThe Genesee Coal Mine is a joint venture of Fording Coal Limited and the city of Edmonton. The mine supplies thermal coal to the Genesee Generating Station operated by Edmonton Power and is located approximately 75 km southwest of Edmonton (Fig. I).Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, Fording Coal Limited has designed and developed the Genesee Coal Mine. Fording also operates the mine which has a minimum economic life of thirty-five years. Mine development started in the spring of 1987 with the construction of the dragline erection pad and mine service complex. Major development of mining areas was carried out in 1988 with the construction of haul roads, powerlines, topsoil recovery, etc. Mining officially commenced on December 14,1988.The mine produces 1.6 million tonnes of coal per year and employs 65 people. MiningGround conditions have turned out to be very poor, as expected with the majority of the overburden in the first few years a soft lacustrine clay with minor amounts of fine-grained glacial till. To compound matters, what was expected to be a relatively uniform coal subcrop turned out to be a very irregular erosional contact.The coal mined at Genesee is a sub-bituminous Class B thermal coal with approximately 16070 ash, 21% moisture, 8300 Btu/lb and 0.27% sulphur on an as-mined basis.The primary piece of mining equipment used at the Genesee Coal Mine is a M8200 walking dragline. It has an effective operating radius of 100.6 m, a 50.5 m3 bucket, and weighs approximately 3860 tonnes yielding a ground pressure of III KN/m2•Figure 2 illustrates schematically the single pass mining sequence presently employed at the Genesee Coal Mine. The M8200 is used to lift all coal out of the cut, the coal being placed in stockpiles on the prepared pad .This method maximizes coal recovery under the conditions where spoil failures due to poor material would otherwise put men and equipment at risk. The coal is subsequently loaded by the coal shovel operating on the same bench as the M8200 dragline and delivered to the plant as required.All mined areas, as required under Alberta Legislation, are to be returned to an agricultural land capability equal to or better than that which existed prior to mining. Reclamation activities, as a result, are an important and integral part of the mining process. A complete list of the primary mining equipment deployed at the Genesee Operations appears in Table I."

Jan 1, 1994

By Jerry Williams

GEORGE WEINMAN: At this time, our co-chair, Jamie Davis from Phelps Dodge, will come to the podium. JAMIE DAVIS: Our next speaker is Jerry Williams from Phelps Dodge, Morenci. Jerry is the maintenance planning supervisor and is in charge of preventative maintenance and maintenance scheduling. Jerry's group uses predictive tools to monitor and predict the equipment failure throughout the mine, from pumps to shovels to motors, you name it. The title of Jerry's talk is "If You're Not Using Predictive Tools, You're Behind the Curve." I’ll turn it over to Jerry.

Jan 1, 1998

The ASC has a dual role of business facilitator and law enforcer. Only certain types of expert report are of interest to the ASC. The powers of the old Companies Code and the Corporations law are compared. NCSC Policy Release 149 was dependent on the prescriptive powers given to the NCSC in the Companies Code. The Corporations Law does not give the ASC power to prescribe the contents of expert reports. The requirement now is for all necessary information. Research evidence is that some investors want simpler prospectuses while others need more detail. The ASC's examination of expert reports is after registration of primary documents. This leads to a necessity for experts to maintain adequate records.

Jan 1, 1994

By Lucius W. Mayer

WHILE the mind of the financier does not normally run along channels similar to those of his technical adviser, engineers, because of their exactness, are ever more called upon to manage affairs where financial matters are involved. It is, true, not a relatively large number have thus far functioned in this capacity. It is also true that the essentially financial mind could not serve in a responsible engineering position; for to be a successful engineer one requires precise thinking, making due allowance for factors of safety. To be a financier seems to require less aptitude for exact thinking than of enthusiasm and confidence in capitalizing prospective possibilities. Both require imagination, the engineer being, more conscious of the limitations of natural conditions. It is to be regretted that the engineer' stands so far aloof from financial matters. Many consider them- selves successful, as did Steinmetz, as long as their reward is the consciousness that they are giving supreme service to mankind. They are 'generally happy in their work and, like our honored brothers who are teachers, gain their greatest satisfaction, not in the amount of their remuneration so much as in the service rendered society and in the excellence of results achieved. Indeed, these sentiments bespeak character and command respect.

Jan 1, 1924

By K T. Mandisodza, T J. Cartledge

The principal objective of Geotechnical Engineers supporting operating mines is to provide safe working conditions and ensure that pit designs are geotechnically optimised to site conditions and pre-defined stability requirements. Pit slope designs are delivered in advance of pit excavations. Making changes to these designs is usually slow to enact and involves a layered sign-off before implementation, leading to unwanted delays in their adoption and subsequently increased production pressures. When unexpected ground conditions are encountered during the mining process, or short-term mining schedule requirements demand it, changes to these designs may not be easily feasible in certain situations. It is when these scenarios arise that Geotechnical Engineers need to be proactive and consider unconventional options to deliver safe operating conditions while satisfying short-term requirements to the mine schedule. Essentially, the geotechnical short-term strategic designs double-pronged approach supports the mine schedule while providing safe conditions and minimising geotechnical risks for people and equipment. Common short-term strategic geotechnical designs include; slope buttressing, over-steepening cut slopes to increase reserve recovery through unplanned or emergency cutbacks, and accepting risk threat and operating under unstable slopes. When implementing strategic design options, the Geotechnical Engineer must consider the broader implications for such designs. They must think of the plan’s long-term effects on the mine schedule and pit wall stability. Initiating aggressive designs to recover additional reserves to satisfy a short-term scheduling demand could result in-pit wall instability or suboptimal pit layout. Before and during the implementation phase, the Geotechnical Engineer must communicate and engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the plan is executed accordingly and geotechnical risks are effectively managed. Proactiveness to ground response and implementation of risk management strategies will improve safety performance and optimise mining schedules.

Jun 22, 2022

By Daniel Roy, Danielle Bouffard, Antoine Berton, Simon Gariépy

Commissioning a mineral processing plant has always been a challenging task. The process includes pre- operational verification, dry and wet commissioning, and a gradual ramp-up to full production, all of which must be executed within the shortest possible timeframe, requiring numerous highly interdependent tasks to be conducted concurrently. This phase is under scrutiny by shareholders, corporate management, and other stakeholders who are keen to see a return on investment as the operation starts yielding results. Despite extensive documentation in the literature highlighting its significance, the impact of the commissioning phase remains underestimated in contemporary mining projects. This paper provides an overview of the commissioning process and its associated challenges before focusing on a critical success factor: building a dedicated commissioning team with the required competencies and personality profiles. The roadmap to achieving an efficient plant start-up is outlined. Drawing on over 15 years of experience with more than 20 concentrator commissioning and start-ups, a general framework is presented to maximize success. This method emphasizes the crucial role of the operation and metallurgy team in supporting these projects. Finally, insights from Soutex’s involvement in multiple start-ups are shared, offering lessons learned that emphasize best practices and challenges encountered in expediting the ramp-up process while maintaining high Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) standards.

Feb 1, 2025

By M Pyle, R Ch, T Vizcarra, ramohan, G Lane, G Ballantyne

Preconcentration, through gravity separation (Wallace et al, 2015), magnetic separation and particle size (Clout, 2013), has been used in many historical projects to convert low grade material into ore. More recently, pre-concentration technologies such as bulk sorting (Kurth, 2017), screening (Bearman, 2014) and coarse particle flotation (Vollert et al, 2019) have also demonstrated their ability to progressively reject waste through the value chain. These technologies can not only deliver stepchange improvements to the economics of mining operations, but can transform the environmental and social aspects by minimising water and energy consumption and significantly reduce the quantity of fine tailings produced. However, implementing progressive waste rejection requires technologies and approaches to be combined and applied in the right way to capture the value. From a technical perspective, progressive waste rejection introduces challenges related to the orebody, equipment performance, engineering and understanding the value chain from the resource through to final product. From a management perspective, the key issues are related to people and processes, in particular; motivating the business, challenging the paradigms, and introducing new ways of operating within the constraint of existing management structures to manage risks and minimise lost opportunity costs. This combination of technical and management issues means that progressive waste rejection is a complex undertaking for mining companies, yet the reward for the business and other stakeholders is potentially high and should not be ignored. This paper presents how progressive waste rejection can offer step-change improvements to the business case for high and low grade greenfield and brownfield projects based on case studies completed by Ausenco. The paper then outlines different implementation approaches from concept studies to execution to address the various technical and management challenges outlined above.

Nov 10, 2020

By S. Khan, M. Auret

Due to the modernisation of mines, traditional training methods may be supplemented to support the upskilling of supervisors in mines. A project was initiated by the SAMERDI SATCAP programme to demonstrate the “art of possibility” through a modern training methodology. Two exemplar digital supervisory leadership development modules for underground gold and platinum-group metal conventional and modernising mines, were developed for potential uptake by the mining industry. These exemplar modules were exhibited on a digital platform, towards leading and driving mining modernisation. The research adopted a mixed method approach that included a literature review, a review of an existing supervisory leadership development programme, data gathering, a pilot study, and stakeholder validation workshops. The research supported the development of exemplar digitised modules. The two digitised modules were showcased to the industry for potential adoption. Training slides, a facilitator guide, and a training video were developed for ease of use by industry. The training modules are generic and not specific to a particular mine. They may be used by multi-commodity mines, including gold and platinum-group metals, as ‘stand-alone’ modules. They are customisable, through consultation with relevant service providers for specific working environments. The findings indicated that both the traditional classroom training and the new digitised online learning solution offer advantages for supervisory leadership development. Digital learning is not a new concept for supervisors at mines and modern training methods are well-supported by supervisors in the industry. A ‘modernised’ training solution may consider a ‘blended’ learning approach that combines traditional training with digital methods.

Jun 27, 2025

Importance of Strain to Fragment Strength in Blasting Induced Pre-Conditioning When a rock is blasted, cracks propagate through the rock causing the rock to fracture. This paper focuses on applying the results from a series of small scale blasting tests were designed to show the effect that varying blast variables such as explosive type and explosive energy have on the resulting strength of the post blast fragments. It was shown that the velocity of detonation of the explosive product affects the reduction of fragment strength. This has important implications for the downstream comminution process. The observations from these tests are then explained with reference to the principles of fracture mechanics. A simple but effective prediction of blast induced preconditioning is shown.

Sep 13, 2010

By Raymond Rivera

El presente texto describe la evaluación desarrollada por INGEMMET donde se analiza el potencial de los depósitos minerales en el Batolito Andahuaylas, Yauri, así como el potencial de algunas zonas que presenten características geoeconómicas importantes, utilizando herramientas geológicas como geocronología, isótopos radiogénicos, geoquímica de rocas y sedimentos, petromineralogía y geología estructural.

Sep 12, 2011

By Daniel Saint Don, Jacques Dumouchel

QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM)’s heavy mineral sand deposit located near the Village of Fort Dauphin, Madagascar was recently drilled using Boart Longyear Company’s Mini-Sonic drill. Continuous sand core samples were obtained to a depth of up to 30 meters for analysis and compared with the existing drilling data. Results were used as part of a validation process of the resource estimate, based on approximately 1,500 exploration holes drilled to date.

Jan 1, 2005

By Jean J. Abiassi

The Boston Marine Industrial Park (BMIP) VENT 6 project is a cut and cover tunnel, part of the Central Artery / Tunnel (CA/T) in the city of Boston. The BMIP job will serve as the south approach to the Third Harbor Tunnel crossing. The alignment is approximately 2500 Ft long and is made up of four sections starting from west to east: 1. West Tunnel 2. Boat Section 3. East Tunnel 4. Tunnel inside Vent 6 Cofferdam and connection to the Third Harbor Tunnel. The support of excavation (SOE) system for the West Tunnel, Boat Section, and East Tunnel are all a part of this project whereas the SOE for Tunnel inside the Vent 6 Cofferdam was a part of the contract for the Third Harbor Tunnel.

Jan 1, 1994

By Minggao Qian, Jialin Xu, Wenqi Lai, Weibin Zhu

This article advances an innovative concept explaining the connotation and technical system of "green" mining. The important theoretical foundations of "green" mining are the distribution and development characteristics of joints, fractures and bed separations, and the seepage and flow behavior of methane and water in the broken rock strata following coal mining. The main focus of "green" mining technique includes water-preservation in mining areas, coal mining under buildings with bed separation spaces grouted to retard surface subsidence, partial extraction and backfill mining, simultaneous extraction of coal and coal-bed methane, coal roadway supporting and underground disposal of rock waste, underground coal gasification, etc.

Jan 1, 2005

By G. Krogman, C. Walla, B. Wood

The Gebo Mining District (District) is located in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming. Commercial underground coal mining began in 1906 with the arrival of the railroad in Thermopolis, which is located approximately 11 miles to the south. Mining in the District ceased by the early 1970’s. In Fall of 1999, Lidstone and Associates, Inc. (LA) and their subcontractors were retained by the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Land Division (WyAML) to perform an inventory of over 500 abandoned mine sites across Wyoming. During the summer of 2000 field inventory, a 30-foot deep headcut (Figure 1) and sink-hole were noted in the West Fork of Sand Draw (WFSD), immediately west of the Town of Gebo. The headcut and sink-hole were located at the culvert outfall associated with a stream crossing of a relatively well traveled county road. Upon further investigation, it appeared that underground mine workings had been exposed at this location. This resulted in a condition whereby water would be conveyed directly into the mine workings during a runoff event. The exposed mine workings as well as stream capture created a very hazardous condition. The WyAML implemented mitigation measures in the summer of 2000 by constructing a temporary stream crossing upstream of the existing failed crossing. To address this hazardous situation as well as a number of other hazards identified in the District during the field inventory, the WyAML retained PHC Reclamation, Inc. (PHC). PHC was directed to perform a field investigation and develop a Reclamation Plan to address all existing abandoned mine hazards in the District. Federal, state, and private parties own lands within the District. Hazards identified during the investigation included an underground mine fire, open adits, open shafts, subsidence, drainage problems, and coal slack. A Report of Investigation (ROI) was submitted to various regulatory agencies that documented the existing conditions and conceptual reclamation plans to remediate the hazardous conditions. After review of the ROI by the US Department of Interior - Bureau of Land Management (BLM) an on-site meeting was conducted. BLM Cultural Resource personnel declined to approve a District reclamation project until a historical overview of the entire District was prepared. Due to the hazardous situation associated with the WFSD stream crossing, Hot Springs County Road and Bridge Department convinced various state and federal regulatory agencies to allow reclamation of the stream crossing to occur. A decision was made to allow reclamation on privately owned lands within the WFSD drainage. This decision limited the amount of channel that could be subjected to reclamation upstream of the crossing to privately owned lands. PHC contracted LA to perform a geologic, geomorphic, hydrologic, and hydraulic investigation of the drainage to assist in the development of a WFSD reclamation plan. LA’s investigation consisted of four parts: Delineate the extent of mine workings in the area; Identify all drainage structures that required mitigation; Survey a series of channel cross-sections and a longitudinal profile of the impacted channel; and, Develop basin hydrology to assist in the design of a stable reclaimed stream channel.

Jan 1, 2006

By J. Walden, S. Rhoades, R. E. Miller, R. Gibbs, P. Boman

Accelerometers and pressure transducers mounted in suspension components can be used to monitor the ride of haulage trucks. Presently, it is difficult to tell what caused a jolt to the truck using either pressure or acceleration data alone. When information from a Global Positioning System is recorded at the same time as shock pressures or acceleration data, then the exact location of an event can be determined. Mine management can then determine what caused the jolt to the truck.

Jan 1, 1999

By K. Awuah-Offei

The objective of asphalt mix design is to produce a mix with optimal performance using available aggregate stockpiles. Often, this process does not take into consideration aggregate plant stockpile inventories or the cost of aggregate in the mix. This is due to the lack of tools that enable the lab technician or the engineer to optimize the mix for good performance while reducing the cost of aggregate and managing the stockpile inventory levels. The Bailey method provides useful guidance on aggregate gradation selection for optimal performance. This work presents a linear programming model of the asphalt mix design problem. The algorithm is implemented in MATLAB as an Asphalt Mix Design Optimization (AMIDO) program. The program is successfully validated with real-life data. The results show that AMIDO can be used to successfully produce any mix design with known Bailey method ratios. Also, RAP can be included in a design easily by making use of the Bailey method ratios and AMIDO. This work improves the state-of-the-art in asphalt mix design for dense graded mixes and could potentially be modified for other mixes.

Jan 1, 2009

By B. K. Belle

The beginning of 21st century has heralded the global strategic importance, as evidenced by increase in energy prices and energy generation-emission-utilization dilemmas. In January 2008, the South African energy supplier, ESKOM had tabled the concept of power conservation and acknowledged the energy crisis until 2016. The concept is required of all energy users to reduce their electricity consumption, intensify energy efficiency and cautiously proceed with new projects. The generation of energy results in by-products called ?green house gases? (GHGs). To make a positive response to climate change and their effect on the environment, every energy user must ensure efficient energy use through technical and administrative means referred to generally as energy savings. This paper identifies mine ventilation engineering, in particular the electricity consumed by main fan units, as an area of potential energy savings. For a major mining company, electricity consumed by main ventilation fans alone can be in the order of 120 MW. Although a known fan engineering technique but scantly applied technology identified as the Hermit Crab can be seen as a ?quick win? project, due to its success in other industries such as cement and steel. The ?Hermit Crab? technique® involves upgrading or replacement of an impeller - whatever its origin - with a design impeller to suit the actual ventilation requirements, resulting in increased fan efficiencies. The cash flow benefits associated with a case study and its rollout of this technology have been calculated. For a 10% increase in main fan efficiency, would have a net present benefit of US$ 16.08m over 10 years. With the inclusion of carbon credits, this benefit rises to US$ 29.40m in total. Application of other available technologies, viz., composite materials, ventilation-on-demand and variable speed drives are discussed.

Jan 1, 2009

By William W. Odell

In Europe and in certain other foreign countries studies have been made, extending over a period of years, relating to the winning of oil from oil shale. More work has been done in these countries than in the United States, for the reason that a supply of natural petroleum has not been so generally available there as here. Information has been obtained relating to present practices in these foreign lands in the development of a shale-oil industry. It is realized that in the past there has been very little inducement to invest capital in shale-oil enterprise in the United State's because the supply of petroleum has been plentiful; however, the time possibly is not far distant when the utilization of oil shale may be cons¬idered a desirable and financially sound venture, as it may be necessary before long to augment our supply of oil with that recovered by processing shale. The data presented herein portrays at least some of the thoughts of those engaged in obtaining oil from oil, shale in Europe, and they depict some of the results thus far obtained as well as certain plans for further efforts to win oil from shale; it is hoped that those who undertake the development of a shale-treating industry in this country will find useful information in this report.

Jan 1, 1946

By A. Farnoud

Thousands of miners, construction workers, and truck drivers are exposed to diesel exhaust particles. Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) is a probable human carcinogen and stringent occupational and environmental standards have been established or are planned worldwide. Modifications in fuels and diesel engine designs have reduced emissions, but may not be enough to comply with the tightest standards. Post-combustion aftertreatment devices are likely necessary for many engine operators. However, even the most common and well studied aftertreatment devices fail from time to time. The objective of this study was to design, construct, and test an electrostatic aftertreatment device to treat DPM. An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) was designed and constructed to capture DPM from diesel exhaust, and different configurations were tested to optimize its performance. DPM was produced by a 6 kW diesel-powered electric generator and directed to the ESP through a short section of galvanized steel pipe after the muffler. Number and mass removal efficiencies were measured with a condensation particle counter (CPC) and by sampling through a stainless steel cassette and collecting the DPM on Teflon filters. Particle size distributions were measured with and without control using a 6-stage cascade impactor. The experiments were performed with the engine running at idle and also at medium load. The results show that our first generation ESP provides 60 percent mass removal efficiency, and up to 80 percent number removal efficiency. Power consumption was generally low, about 20 to 30 watts, to achieve these levels of performance.

Jan 1, 2009