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By Cyrus W. Field

The Pacific Northwest as defined in this review comprises an exceedingly large and geologically complex terrain that occupies the 'Western Cordillera mobile tectonic belt. This metallogenic province is approximately 2100 miles long and 350 to 500 miles wide. It extends north-northwest from northern California and Nevada, through western Idaho and Montana, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and southwestern Yukon Territory, to southern Alaska, and west from the western flank of the Northern Rocky Mountains to the continental margin (Fig. 1). Many detailed and thorough exploration programs that have been conducted by mining and petroleum companies for over a decade have demonstrated that porphyry-type deposits are both numerous and wide-spread throughout this province. Although the Granby Mining Company extracted about 34 million tons of copper sulfide ore from Copper Mountain during the period 1900-1957, intentional large-scale production of porphyry-type ores was first initiated in 1962. It began at Bethlehem Copper Corporation's East Jersey orebody in the Highland Valley District of south-central British Columbia, approximately eight years after Mr. H. H. Huestis rediscovered that broad zone of copper-molybdenum metallization and recognized its potential significance.

Jan 1, 1973

By E. Valdiviezo, J. F. Oliveira

Adsorption of residual flotation reagents onto equilibrium fluid cracking catalysts is a promising method of purification of flotation process water. In the present paper, adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), dodecyl ammonium chloride (DAC) and sodium oleate onto a spent catalyst from petroleum industry was studied by analysing the residual concentration of the surfactant after contact with the zeolite catalyst. The adsorption of the DAC was rather low but SDS and sodium oleate presented a high affinity for the catalyst surface. The loading capacity was 4.2 kg/ton for SDS and 5.5 kg/ton for oleic acid. After the treatment of the loaded catalyst with a HCI 1 N solution these surfactants are desorbed and the catalyst may thus be regenerated. This would be an additional advantage to its low cost, not to mention its condition as a discarded product and its availability in large tonnages.

Jan 1, 1995

By John A. Cordes, John J. Schanz

INTRODUCTION The economic structures of industrialized countries require a continuous supply of reasonably priced and appropriately processed nonfuel minerals. As a result, national policy makers are sensitive to real or perceived threats to the effective operation of these commodity markets. Their most persistent concerns can be subsumed into the related political economy issues of supply availability and marketplace stability. These concerns are not new. For over a century the "global struggle" for mineral resources has influenced national policies and international relations (Eckes, 1979). During the past two decades the complexity of these issues, if not their place on national political agendas, has increased. Dramatic changes in the structure of mineral industries and in the nature of international economic relations have redefined policy needs and response options. This paper focuses on how selected OECD countries have responded to nonfuel mineral industry issues over the past twenty-five years. Particular emphasis is placed on the impact these policy decisions have had on the size and location of productive capacity and its utilization rates. The results, perhaps, are not surprising for this group of market- oriented economics. While individual cases of significant impact are easy to identify at various times in most countries, the overall importance of policy decisions has not been great. This is especially true for the past decade when excess capacity reached unusual highs of magnitude and duration. Macroeconomic forces and market structure changes played much more important roles. PERSPECTIVES ON THE ISSUES OECD nations dominate the international nonfuel minerals marketplace as producers, consumers and traders. In 1986, these twenty-four countries accounted for 75 percent of the Western world's export trade value in minerals, ores and metals. They imported 88 percent of the total value. During 1966, the respective percentages were 70 and 94. Japan was the world's largest importer in 1986 followed by the US, FRG, UK and France. The same five countries led the 1966 list except that, then, Japan was ranked fourth. Table 1 ranks the fifteen largest Western exporting nations in the two specified years. It also indicates the growth in current export dollars earned in 1986 compared to 1966.

Jan 1, 1989

By J. B. Boisvert, O. Leuangthong, T. Acorn

Optimizing final pit limits for stochastic models provides access to geologic and economic uncertainty in the pit-optimization stages of a mining project. This paper presents an approach for optimizing final pit limits concurrently over all realizations in a stochastic model and using a risk-management framework to manage the geologic and economic uncertainty. A heuristic pit optimizer is used to find multiple uncertainty-rated pit shells. These uncertainty-rated pit shells follow the mean-variance criterion to approximate the efficient frontier for final pit limits. Stochastic dominance rules are then used in a risk-management framework to further eliminate suboptimal solutions along the efficient frontier. This results in a smaller set of final pit shells that can be further analyzed for production scheduling. Additionally, the original solutions are analyzed for changes in the mining limits, and two regions are targeted as potential regions for further exploration.

By Clarence O. Babcock

A simple robust rock bolt load gage was tested in the laboratory to define its characteristic behavior and to obtain a measure of its performance. The gage uses three vibrating wire sensors crimped 120 degrees apart into the outer surface of a hollow cylindrical steel tube. The resonant frequencies of the wires change as the gage is loaded. This change is read with a Creare meter developed for the Bureau on a previous contract to read borehole stress gage results. A statistical analysis of data obtained defines the variables influencing results. A U. S. patent (3,914,992) assigned by the author to the Department of the Interior was granted October 28, 1975.

Jan 1, 1976

By Salvatore Fancello, Ferruccio Cribari, Amerigo Tanzi, Mauro D’Angelo, Massimo Lodico, Alessandro Bertero, Eliano Romani, Tommaso Gondolini, Fabio Giannelli

"The new metro line “C” entails the construction and rehabilitation of 24 stations and 21,5 km of metro line, 13 of which carried out underground; the new metro line will improve the transportation system of a congested city such as Rome.The new line “C” of San Giovanni metro station will be constructed adjacent to the existing line “A” of San Giovanni station; the new metro line “C” is deeper than line “A” and will underpass the existing station. The underpass project envisages an Artificial Ground Freezing in order to excavate two new tunnels, while keeping trains running in the safest possible condition.In order to allow trains to regularly run to and from the existing station’s line “A”, a temporary structure for rail support, during excavation of the under-crossing tunnels, was installed and a real-time monitoring system was devised in order to control both soil temperature during freezing activities and the existing station’s behavior. The monitoring system has been one of the key to the success of the project.The excavation of tunnels under the water table, with a hydraulic head of over 10 m in not homogeneous soils having different mechanical properties and permeability and below existing sensitive structures, involves special ground freezing sequences and methods, as well as peculiar drilling systems and operations, such as TDDT (Trevi Directional Drilling Technology).THE NEW “C” LINE OF ROME’S METROThe world’s most complex and extraordinary Metro System is currently being built in the heart of Rome. Its underground route stretches underneath the most important monuments, churches and historical buildings.Rome’s Metro Line C is the longest urban underground railway in Italy and it is the first line in Rome to extend further east to the Great Ring Road, thus bridging the gap between the farthest suburbs and the Historical Centre. It is an original project, carried out mostly underground at a depth of 25/30 metres below road level."

Jan 1, 2016

By Charles M. Hauptman

The Karst asbestos deposit, discovered seventy years ago, is 32 miles south of Bozeman in southwestern Montana. The deposit is about one-half mile west of the Gallatin River which flows in a deep V-shaped valley flanked on either side by rugged mountains. The Madison range is west of the river and the Gallatin range lies to the east. A busy all-weather highway, U.S. No. 191, follows the river and is the major north-south route between Bozeman and the Gallatin valley to the north and Idaho and the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park to the south. The asbestos deposit is a large body of serpentinized peridotite in which anthophy11ite.occurs, both as distinct veins and as a disseminated mineral in the peridotite mass. The known exposures of the asbestos-bearing rock occur on a steen south slope at an "elevation of about 7000 feet, an elevation 'which is about 1200 feet above the Gallatin River. Over the years, a number of small companies have attempted to exploit the Karst asbestos deposit without continuing success. The present operator, Galaxy Mining Corporation, has attempted a systematic approach to the problem by utilizing geologic and engineering surveys to determine the economic and technical feasibility of a mine and plant to produce a finished asbestos pro-duct. The results of this work indicate a high probability of success for the project. However the company now faces that dilel1lJllB so common to the non-metallic mineral business; that is, whether to continue a research program of further mineralogical and technological studies in conjunction with detailed market surveys or to rely on the work done to date and embark on a pilot progril1n

Jan 1, 1971

By M. T. Worley

Joint Development Associates International, Inc. (JDA) began humanitarian relief and community development in Central Asia in1992, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Appropriate technology has played an important role in their efforts to assist those segments of society that are most vulnerable to poverty and disease. Three case histories are described to illustrate the successful implementation of simple, but effective technology in community development.

Jan 1, 2004

By Fathi Habashi

OXIDE ORES can be divided into two groups: 1) Simple oxides (Table 3.1). 2) Complex oxides. Those ores containing minerals composed of two oxides; an acid oxide (Cr2O3, Nb2O5, etc.), and a basic oxide (CaO, FeO, MnO), as shown in Table 3.2.

Jan 1, 1970

By C. Widham

Introduction It is generally accepted as dogma that sampling contributes most of the error in gold fire assays. Differences in assay results on pulps from the same sample interval are frequently regarded as evidence of the presence of the so called "nugget effect" of relatively coarse gold particles. It is true that coarse gold particles can contribute to substantial sampling fluctuations. But, while the process of sampling is probably the major source of error, the analytical process cannot be completely ignored as a possible contributor to erratic assay results. To maintain a stable assay process, the analytic part of the system must also be kept in control. One method of monitoring the performance of the analytic system is to systematically assay standard materials, whose sampling characteristics are carefully controlled. Gold assay standards are not prepared, nor can they be prepared, to account for both sampling and analytical errors. It is not possible to send coarse material to a lab for both preparation (i.e., comminution and splitting) and fire assaying and then come to conclusions only about the fire-assay process. Because most gold ores are very heterogeneous, sampling errors would, in most cases, completely mask the contribution of the analytical errors. Assay-standard material is prepared only to assess the accuracy and variability in the fire assay process. Because the objective of the assay standard is to provide information about the fire assaying, it is necessary to control the sampling error of the standard material, so that it is only a minor constituent of the discrepancies observed in any assay results. To do this requires that the particle size of the standard material be reduced to a point where the relative standard deviation of the sampling error (i.e... the standard deviation of the errors divided by the average gold content of the material) is 2% or less. For all but very homogeneous mineralization, this means that the material must be reduced to 100% -150 mesh before the sampling errors are adequately controlled. However, even reducing the particle size can contribute to sampling problems. The liberation of gold may cause segregation that can cause large sampling fluctuations that are not easily controlled while maintaining the desired grade. Because, in most cases, the standard material would already be in the "pulp" state when it is submitted to a lab for assay, it is not possible to entirely conceal the nature of the sample from the lab. This is a problem inherent in using assay standard material. Because of the contribution of sampling to error generation in the assay process, the use of "coarse" material does not solve the problem of submitting a totally "blind" standard to the lab. In the sections that follow, the selection, preparation, testing and use of gold fire assay standard material is discussed. While some may dismiss the production of standard material as folly, it is possible to produce and utilize standard material to stabilize and improve the fire-assay process to produce more reliable assay results. Material selection It is desirable to use material that has as nearly the same metallurgical characteristics as the samples with which the standards will be included. However, this is usually difficult. For many reasons, including the particle size at which a significant amount of the gold mineral is liberated, the sampling characteristics of even -150-mesh material may preclude the use of geologically and metallurgically similar ore as a standard. It is usually easier to get material having desirable grade characteristics with the necessary sampling properties than it is to find geologically and metallurgically similar material with the required sampling characteristics. High-grade standards are especially difficult to find and prepare. This is because, as grade increases, the size of the gold particles usually increases. Larger gold particles are liberated and tend to segregate during comminution, and the homogeneity of the material cannot be maintained. For grades much above 3 g/t (0.088 oz/ton), it is very difficult to find material that has the proper sampling properties. Old mill tailings are likely candidates for assay standards. Some of these have sufficiently homogeneous mineral contents, so that the sampling errors can be effectively controlled. Where mill tailings are either not available or are not acceptable, mineralization that has exhibited homogeneous results in reassays of the pulp material is also a good candidate for the standard. Finally, the mineralized rock being sampled may (and should) be used if adequate homogeneity in the -150mesh material exists. "Adequate" ("acceptable") homogeneity is defined below.) It is important to use standards having a wide range of grades. This alone may preclude the material being

Jan 1, 1997

By Aaron Archer, James Parkes

This paper presents design considerations for the major underground elements of the pending BCRUA Phase 2 Raw Water Delivery System Project. These elements include two Lake Taps; an 8,800 LF, minimum 10-ft OD intake tunnel; a suction chamber with 6 Pump Shafts; a 30-ft diameter, 300-ft deep Main Shaft; a 2,600 LF Transmission Tunnel with 78-inch steel liner; and a 130-ft deep shaft on the Transmission Tunnel. The tunnels and shafts will be excavated through the Glen Rose limestone. The design development included consideration for technical requirements, easements, third party commitments, previous local project experience, and constructability based on contractor outreach.

Jun 13, 2021

By Simon Strong, Tim Brown, Luis Ignacio Sanz Vivanco

"One of the most significant technical and practical challenges facing the tunnel construction team on the Legacy Way road tunnel project in Brisbane, Australia was how to erect the pre-stressed precast concrete slabs to form the smoke duct in the tunnel boring machine (TBM) tunnels. An essential part of the tunnel ventilation system, the smoke duct, extends the full length of the 4.6km long twin, two lane tunnels. The vast majority of the tunnels (approx. 4.3km) were constructed using two 12.4m diameter double shield TBMs. The refurbished Herrenknecht machines broke several world records on the way to completing the tunnel excavation works in just over nine months. With the excavation complete the focus turned to solving the complex civil tunnel fit out challenges. A key component of the civil fit out of the tunnels was constructing the smoke duct in the TBM tunnels which was designed as a precast solution. The slabs which each measure 8.62m long by 2.0m wide by 200mm thick and weigh close to 9 tonne need to be erected above cast in situ corbels whilst other tunnel finishing works continue. The space proofing clearance offered by the design to the support corbels below and the precast segmental lining above was in the order of only 100mm. This paper details the events of how the Transcity JV tunnel fit out team, comprising some of Europe and Australia’s leading tunnel construction specialists, drew upon the global strengths of the existing JV member companies and the global reach of leading TBM manufacturer Herrenknecht to develop an innovative system to solve this challenging problem. This globetrotting story, which starts in Australia, visits Europe and mainland China before returning to Brisbane where it all began."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. K. Das Gupta

The rock laterite was first discovered and described in the State of Kerala, India in 1800 A.D. by Francis Buchanan. It had been used here, and elsewhere in India, for many centuries as a building stone, but in Buchanan's time it was not known that some of these laterites were highly aluminous and could be processed to produce alumina. After World War I India started searching for bauxite reserves with a minimum grade of at least 50% A12O3. By 1960, it was estimated that India had a potential reserve of 245 million tonnes of bauxite, about 10% of which was in the "Proved" category. Subsequent geological exploration now reveals that India has an overall resource of more than 2 billion tonnes of aluminium ore, not all of it bauxite, as defined by earlier geologists. In this paper, the geology, resources and distribution of bauxite and aluminium ore throughout India are described. The generalised stratigraphy, typical laterite and bauxite profiles and summary of the resource position are shown in the attached Tables 1 to 8. It is generally agreed that a tropical to sub-tropical climate, intermittent wet and dry season, good permeability of country rock and suitable drainage, as well as physiographic and ground water conditions are important in the development of bauxite.

Jan 1, 1984

By S. L. Bessinger

In the design and specification of a ventilation system for an underground mine, it is necessary to make reasonably accurate estimates of the pressure losses in the various airways of the mine. These estimates can be made with little difficulty for open airways with simple geometric cross-sections, such as those cut by continuous miners or tunnel-boring machines. The situation is much different on a longwall face, where the airway's complex geometric cross-section and the presence in the airway of obstructing equipment having a variety of shapes make it difficult, if not impossible, to estimate pressure loss using traditional methods of calculation. Headlosses in mine entries are calculated using Atkinson's Equation (1). [H = (English) H = (SI) (1)] where H = pressure ,loss, in. of H20 (Pa) K = friction factor, lbf min2/ft"4(Kg/m3) P = perimeter, ft. (m) L = airway length, ft (m) Q = airflow quantity, ft3/min (m3/sec) A = flow cross sectional area, ft2 (m2)

Jan 1, 1987

By Jeffrey A. Holcomb

INTRODUCTION The passage of Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA/Superfund) as well as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and state laws, have placed added regulatory pressures on the mining industry. These laws which focus on the regulation of hazardous substances and wastes for the protection of the public health and welfare and the environment, present the potential for tremendous financial impacts and liabilities on existing mine operators and owners and/or potential mine operators/owners. This paper takes a brief look at these laws and presents an environmental audit procedure to identify environmental liabilities prior to mine land transactions. The environmental audit approach presented is an overview of the procedures that could be used to document, evaluate and inventory existing and/or potential environmental concerns. This audit procedure can be applied to developed or undeveloped properties and at active or inactive mining sites. REGULATORY OVERVIEW Mining environmental liabilities have been addressed in RCRA, Superfund, the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA). Even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that mining wastes will be treated as solid wastes under RCRA and not as hazardous wastes, these wastes could still bring about a great deal of financial liability under Superfund. The catch is if the mine wastes generated contain hazardous substances such as the heavy metals arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, silver, thallium, zinc and others as well as cyanide. Thus, it is not only important for a mine operator/owner or a potential mine operator/owner to know if the mine wastes generated are hazardous, but it is important to know if the wastes contain hazardous substances. Following is a brief overview of RCRA and Superfund and their potential implications. RCRA RCRA, which provides the basis for the regulation of solid and hazardous wastes, is applicable to active mining and milling sites. Within RCRA the definition of a hazardous waste is provided. This definition applies to owners and operators of mining and milling sites if the operator has stored, disposed or treated hazardous wastes on-site. If this is the case and if strict process control and waste management activities are not adhered to, environmental liabilities may be associated with the site. Superfund The 1980 Superfund law can be applicable to inactive mining sites or to inactive sections of an active facility. The provisions of Superfund call for the regulation of hazardous wastes and hazardous sub- stances disposal and release not only by the existing owner, but also for any previous owner. This concept of joint and several liability means that one party, as among many, can be held totally responsible for the costs of hazardous waste cleanup (Haller, 1987). Furthermore, liabilities under Superfund have also been applied back to past acts; thus, several mining properties, active or inactive prior to the 1980 Superfund law, are at risk of being placed on the EPA's National Priority List (NPL) for cleanup. Last years amendments to Superfund, known as the Superfund Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), provided some significant developments for the mining industry. The major requirement of the amendments as it pertains to owners or operators of mining sites is that the EPA must revise its present Hazard Ranking System (HRS). This is important be- cause in most cases the primary reason for several mining sites having been included on the NPL was due to the large volume of wastes generated. As is typical at most mining sites, large volumes of low toxicity wastes are generated and the current HRS model prejudices against this. It should be noted that this provision only applies to sites that are not already on the NPL or have not been proposed for inclusion on the list.

Jan 1, 1987

By R. Venugopal, V. K. Saxena, A. K. Mukherjee

"Coal, iron and manganese ore samples were exposed to different ultrasonic intensities of 250, 300 and 350 W/L for five minutes and to an ultrosonic intensity of 270 W/L for different time durations of 3, 5 and 7 minutes. The ultrasonically treated samples showed reductions in D80 particle diameters of 6 percent for the coal samples, 5.95 percent for the iron ore samples and 35.63 percent for the manganese ore samples during grinding. The ultrasonic treatment was also observed to assist in reducing ash content in the coal product by 8 percent and to reduce manganese losses in rejects by about 5 percent. Ultrasonic treatment was concluded to be capable of assisting in the comminution of friable ores more prominently than the hard and porous materials.IntroductionComminution is an important unit operation in the mineral-processing, cement-making, powergeneration and pharmaceutical industries. But most of the milling technologies are considered to be energy inefficient, with less energy consumed in real size reduction and most of the energy consumed in the machine. This is more critical for the mineralprocessing industry because of the growing need to exploit lower-grade ore bodies and process rejects (Blazy et al., 1994; U.S. Department of Energy, 2005). Low-grade ores require crushing and grinding to liberate the valuable minerals, which are further separated from gangues by various beneficiation methods such as gravity separation, flotation and leaching. Various studies have been carried out to minimize energy consumption during milling by developing pretreatment methods that can initiate new fractures or improve the fracture density in materials before comminution. These studies were mainly focused on chemical additives; thermal, ultrasonic and microwave treatments; and electric disintegration (Klimpel and Austin, 1982; Norgate and Weller, 1994; Bearman, Briggs and Kojovic, 1997; Gaete-Garreton, Vargas-Hermandez and Velasquez-Lambert, 2000; Kumar et al., 2010; Wang, Shi and Manlapig., 2011, Singh et al., 2012).The fragmentation effect of ultrasonic fields in solids has been investigated since the 1950s, and Gärtner was probably the first researcher who attempted it (Gaete-Garreton, Vargas- Hermandez and Velasquez-Lambert, 2000). Sound waves can propagate in solids in the form of longitudinal waves, shear waves and surface waves, and in thin materials as plate waves.In surfaces, fractures and interfaces, various types of elliptical or complex vibrations of the particles make other waves possible. During ultrasonic-vibration treatment, cavitation bubbles nucleate, grow and collapse, generating microjets, whose impacts on the particles initiate microcracks. The ultrasonic waves can enhance the nucleation, growth and coalescence of flaws, caused by tensile or shear stress. The mechanisms operating in the materials and inducing these stresses have been identified as spall and compression-induced tensile microcracks, nucleating at preexisting flaws. These mechanisms are driven by the shock wave and cavitation effects in the surrounding fluid (Chen, Huang and Shih, 2003)"

Jan 1, 2016

By Deepak Malhotra, William F. Riggs, Edward C. Dowling

INTRODUCTION Mining companies are In the business of making an acceptable profit on their Investments, It became obvious in the recent recession that economic profitability/viability depends on being the lowest cost producer In order to compete on a global basis. The burden of achieving this objective falls on the mineral manager. He must strive to produce a salable product in an environmentally acceptable process while continuously Improving the profit margln.(1,2) Metal prices fluctuate on a regular basis. They directly Impact revenue and hence operating philosophy. The mineral engineer needs to develop an optimum operating strategy to meet his overall objectives, One would expect that, In the modem era of complex computer models, it would be easy to develop an economic model to maximize profits and/or cash flow. Discussions with mill managers Indicate that one mine/corporation's optimum operating strategy is not necessarily optimum for another. This paper approaches the problems from basics "Economics 101" and Illustrates the complexity of developing a universal model which can be applicable to all mines. Case examples are used to illustrate the need for better communication to avoid the basic economic fallacy “that optimization of segments leads to optimization of the whole system.” TECHNICAL MODELS Technical models are a prerequisite to the development of economic models because they provide the necessary Input data to these models, The flow of material from a mine through the sale of the finished product is shown In Figure 1. The ore Is mined and milled, and the concentrate can be stored for sale or smelted and refined In-house or at a toll facility. The finished product(s) are held In Inventory until sold either through existing contracts or in the spot market. [ ] Fairly reliable technical models have been developed for mining, milling and smelter operations. Mine plans are developed to provide a good Indication of the relationship between production and cut-off grade. It is easier to change surface mine plans than plans for underground mines. However, there are limits to maximum production that can be achieved with existing equipment. It Is possible that mine benches may not be developed to handle additional equipment, even If It was purchased to enhance production. More often than not, the cut-off grade Is lowered to Increase throughput goals.

Jan 1, 1993

By Hong Zhang, Quanming Li, Gang Li

China, a globally recognized major mining country, holds one of the largest quantities of tailings pond country in the world. The total number of mines in China has been ranked first in the world. It is a major concern for Chinese safety management to give great importance for tailings pond safety, stability and sustainable development. For the past few years, China has increased efforts to investigate and govern discrete issues of tailings and to carry out a series of special renovation and comprehensive treatment actions to improve safety management levels and to decrease the likelihood of tailings pond accidents. In the end of 2015, China successfully eliminated hazardous tailings ponds and dangerous tailings ponds. Moreover, the total number of tailings decreased from 12,273 to 8,869. However, there are still 1,425 "head-top" tailings that threaten the lower masses’ safety. This greatly signifies the Chinese tailings pond safety, stability as well as sustainable development. In turn, this may improve the Chinese tailings life cycle safety management system and help reach the goal of attaining closed-loop management in the tailings pond life cycle. Based on the summary of the tailings pond accidents in both China and other countries from 1961 to 2015, and by analyzing the types and causes of accident, this paper investigated the successful experiences and effective measurements of British Columbia (Canada) and Australia in the tailings pond life cycle safety management. This paper summed up each country’s tailings life cycle safety management requirements and analysed the characteristics and differences of tailings safety management by comparing 5 aspects: tailings life cycle safety management process, main design parameter, construction requirements, monitoring, and the tailings pond closing management. Based on these observations, this paper suggests some measurements to improve the tailings pond life cycle safety management in China, such as strengthening tailings pond safety management, improving tailings classification, increasing design parameter values, establishing mine reclamation fund, and so on.

Jan 1, 2017

By B. E. MacNab

During the past several years, Raymond Kaiser Engineers has prepared numerous studies concerning the technical and economic feasibility of coal exporting facilities in the western United States. Perhaps the most striking conclusion to be drawn from these efforts is that many people underestimate the complexity of the highly competitive, dynamic coal marketing system which includes coal loading terminals as an essential but relatively low-cost link in the energy production and delivery chain. The title of this paper, "The Status of Western United States Coal Ports - An Economic Assessment," should not delude anyone into thinking that the future of western U.S. coal- exporting ports has now congealed into a well- defined economic plan. As this paper will demonstrate, the situation is complex and more dynamic than ever and promises to remain so into the late 1980's.

Jan 1, 1982

"The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (NMHFM) announced the 2018 National Mining Hall of Fame inductees. This year’s inductees, selected by the National Mining Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors, represent exploration, extraction, management, education and research and development in the U.S. mining industry. Their contributions have had significant and lasting impacts on the mineral and mining industry; these individuals were selected for being mavericks, thought leaders, researchers, educators, mentors, wealth builders and philanthropists.Professor John M. Guilbert, Dr. Leo J. Miller, Robert E. (Bob) Murray and Douglas (Doug) B. Silver will join 240 other mining industry luminaries when formally inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame on Sept. 29, 2018. Additionally, the Prazen Living Legend of Mining Award will be presented to the Freeport- McMoRan Foundation. The 31st Annual Induction Banquet and Ceremony will be held at the Ritz-Carlton in Denver, CO.2018 National Mining Hall of Fame inducteesProfessor John M. Guilbert was a renowned geologist and professor of economic geology at the University of Arizona; he had a distinguished 50-plus year career in academia and business. Guilbert, together with J. David Lowell, worked on the most important breakthrough in mineral exploration in the last 100 years, the Porphyry Copper Model. This work, known as the Lowell and Guilbert Model, was utilized by exploration geologists worldwide over the next four decades to discover hundreds of millions of tons of copper metal and numerous profitable mines including the prosperous Bajo de la Alumbrera copper mine in Argentina. Guilbert was a founder of The World Museum of Mining in Butte, MT. He was the recipient of countless awards including the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) R.A.F. Penrose Medal as well as the D.C. Jackling Award from the SME.Dr. Leo J. Miller was a maverick in the mining industry and no armchair geologist. He believed that active fieldwork, on foot with a rock pick, was indispensable for exploration. His basic tenet was to absorb as much information about an exploration target up front, formulate ideas – sometimes novel ones — and then get out into the field to prove those ideas. Miller was known to diverge from the standard interpretation of the geological processes, which formed the mineral deposits, and to apply innovative applications of high-tech tools to more usual exploration programs. This approach resulted in a 50-plus year career that included the discovery of the Kidd Creek massive sulfide deposit and the development of the Lee Creek phosphate deposit; which other explorers had previously given up on, believing whatever phosphate might be present would be too difficult and expensive to mine. The recipient of many honors and awards, Miller received the SME Robert M. Dreyer award in recognition of outstanding achievement in ore discoveries."

Jan 8, 2018