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By M. K. Senicie

IN July, 1937, Asbestos Corporation, Limited, installed an automatic conveyor-belt scale at their King mine, Thetford Mines. The equipment was purchased 'on trial' and its performance has proved entirely satisfactory to the staff. The scale was manufactured by the Toledo Scale Company, of Toledo (Ohio) and Windsor (Ont.) and was installed by one of the Scale Company's engineers. The electrical recording equipment was installed by Keith Mercer, Reg'd, of Montreal, Canadian agents for the manufacturers, the Builders Iron Foundry, of Providence, Rhode Island. The recording equipment consists of a duplex weight-transmitter attached to the scale-head, a duplex totalizer with differential relays, a belt-speed compensator, a rate-of-delivery recorder, and a rate-of-delivery indicator. As it was desired to run the mill at maximum capacity, it was necessary to know the rate of feed at all times, so that any lessening of rate of feed or delays would be recorded and could be corrected. After having determined the rate of feed to the mill (100 per cent capacity), it was required to have weighing and recording instruments which would show: (1) The rate of feed per hour. (2) Any variations .in the load. (3) Any delays and the duration and time of the delays. Rate of tonnage recorders in the mill superintendent's office and at the point of feedi.ng were necessary, as was automatic control between the mill superintendent and the feed man. It was desired to have a permanent record of total tonnage fed per shift or day; weighing and recording mechanism had to have sensitivity to record all previously mentioned conditions. Mechanism had to be of rugged construction, and be so built that it would stay in good operating condition, with the minimum amount of adjustment and supervision.

Jan 1, 1938

By H Arvidson, J Vann

When only wide-spaced drilling is available, for example at concept, prefeasibility and feasibility stages, properly implemented linear estimation (including ordinary kriging) predicts grade tonnage relationships that are over-smoothed compared to final production estimates (and production). Non-linear estimation and conditional simulation are alternative geostatistical approaches that can provide more reliable estimates of the recoverable tonnage and grade from wide-spaced drilling. Non-linear estimation and conditional simulation have been rarely used on iron ore deposits. However, these techniques have had wide application in other commodities such as gold and base metals. Conditional simulation has been used in the iron ore industry (eg Guibal et al, 1997); however, its use here is outlined as a means of generating non-linear estimates, not just its use for variability and drill spacing analysis. As a rule, regardless of commodity, the decision to use non-linear geostatistics will necessitate increased skills and require more time. This decision must therefore be justified in terms of cost-benefit. Such cost-benefit analysis is not straightforward, and to help an approach for determining when linear estimates are inadequate is presented. Recommend in this paper is a well-established non-linear geostatistical approach, the global ædiscrete Gaussian modelÆ (DGM) of change of support, as a tool to establish whether moving from linear to non-linear estimates will materially improve estimate results. Also discussed is the additional use of DGM as a block model validation tool. One specific factor contributing to the lack of application of non-linear geostatistical methods in iron is the added difficulties that arise when conditional simulation and non-linear estimates are required to reproduce the numerous and often important correlations between variables in iron ore deposits. Consequently, presented in the paper is a synoptic review of non-linear estimation and simulation methodologies applicable to correlated variables.

Jan 1, 2007

By G. Bjorling

After complete dissolution of chalcopyrite concentrate in sulphuric acid in presence of nitric acid the excess of the latter is expelled by a surplus of concentrate and the last traces of nitrate removed in the mother liquor after crystallization of the copper and iron sulphates. Zinc accumulates in the mother liquor from which it can be removed by solvent extraction of zinc sulphate as a pair of ions. After dissolution of the sulphate crystals in water the neutral solution is oxidized in an autoclave at 140°C where iron sulphate is thermally hydrolyzed; the iron-free solution is taken to copper electrowinning and the cell acid after partial evaporation recirculated with the mother liquor to the leaching circuit. Total recovery of copper is about 96%; other metals like zinc and iron are concentrated in industrially usable products. At a copper price of about 70 c/lb, the method appears to be profitable also in a small unit.

Jan 1, 1976

By R. H. Church, William E. Webb, Walter E. Pittman, James R. Boyle

As part of the Bureau of Mines health and safety research program, a short-range locator system, capable of locating miners who have become trapped following a mine accident, has been devised, The system consists of a lightweight, low-power radio transmitter incorporated into a miner's cap lamp battery and a directional receiver carried by rescuers. Prototype transmitters have been constructed, and the propagation of their signals has been investigated, The detectability of the signal in underground coal mines has also been investigated, This research indicates that a short-range location system would serve as an economical and practical means of locating miners from within the mine following an accident,

Jan 1, 1984

By E. Gallestey, D. Groenveld, F. Kolb, M. Rozou

"Recent copper price evolution pushes modern mining industry even harder to achieve highest production with maximum efficiency. Operations are bound by numerous contractual and environmental conditions that bring a high degree of complexity to both the operators controlling the process and the plant managers assessing the circuit’s potential and setting the production goals.Advanced process control (APC) for grinding is one important tool to operate this most energy intense area in an optimal way, finding the optimal trade-offs between highest throughput, energy efficiency and product quality based on variable ore properties, production targets and management priorities.ABB’s state of the art control and optimization software platform enables user to design a controller based on model predictive control (MPC). The paper and the presentation show the technology used and the results achieved through an APC controller installed in a pilot project in Aitik (Boliden SA), Sweden. Furthermore, possibilities to interconnect grinding with other areas as stockpile management and flotation with various interconnected APC controllers will be shown. Finally, an example of the return on investment and the payback times based on the increased throughput and better product quality will be presented.INTRODUCTIONDepending on the ore characteristics and the targeted plant capacity, the design of the grinding circuit may vary significantly. Typically, the circuit consists of several mills (rod, ball, SAG, AG) in series and/or parallel with a number of classifiers and sumps at appropriate locations (see Figure 1).The main goal of the grinding section is to reduce the ore particle size to a level that enables efficient separation between gangue and precious metals in the subsiding processing step. The trade-off between quality and quantity has to be made. At the same time, it is also crucial to execute this process at the lowest possible energy and grinding media consumption."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Paviani

The subject of this session is "Equipment Installa­tion, Recent Developments". This is a subject which is not usually addressed at conferences of Foundation Engineering. It is rare to find sessions dealing with the technological side of deep foundations, a subject which only recently seems to have aroused sufficient interest at national and international conferences. It is therefore natural for the subject of "Equipment", or the tools used to implement the various "technologies", to be over­looked or mentioned only occasionally during the discussion of other issues. At conferences, most of the attention is attached to research and to the theoretical interpretation of the performance and behaviour of deep foundations, as well as to establishing the most suitable calculation algorithms and approaches for the study, design and control of foundation structures. It is almost as if the subject of equipment is felt to be less important or, perhaps, that it is considered to belong more strictly to mechanical engineering than to civil engineering.

Jan 1, 1994

By Gustav Jahner, Michael Baltrusch, Norbert Hoffmann

Near the port city of Whitby in the north-east of England, Anglo American (AA) is setting up the deepest mine in the UK, which will have a depth of 1,500m. The purpose of the project is to extract and transport polyhalite, both underground, and to market it globally. As part of the construction works, BAUER Technologies Ltd, the UK subsidiary of BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, constructed three different shafts using the diaphragm wall technique, with depths of up to 120m. In order to ensure the specified vertical tolerance of maximum 200mm, several measurement methods were applied, and the results were documented in a 3D model. Complex de-sanding plant technology and specially developed polymer products were adopted to regenerate the trench supporting bentonite-slurry.

Sep 1, 2022

By D. Millgard

Dennis Millgard introduced the Session by hoping that participants to the Conference would also share their piling problems. He then invited the first speaker to present his paper. Paper 5.1. Pat Kelleher commenced by saying that he belonged to a one hundred year old firm that had experience in the New York Harbour area. They were often asked to assess the integrity of many waterside structures such as piers, walls, and docks which were deteriorating whilst still in use. The earliest structures, built in the 1800's, were on timber piles. These have now changed to Steel H and tube piles and concrete piles. Usually they were called in when the structure was showing signs of distress, or had reached the end of its life but could not be closed. In particular, they had found that marine borers had returned to New York Harbour because of the improved quality of the water. There is now a far greater incidence of attack on the timber piles than when the water was polluted. Repair is usually carried out by encapsulating the pile within the tidal range of about -2ft to +8ft (-0.6 to +2.4m). Reinforced concrete forms, reinforced fibre jackets, or nylon bags are used. Reinforced fibre jackets are used with a protective coat on the pile, while nylon bags prove the cheapest method.

Jan 1, 1991

By P. K. Das, S. K. Singh, C. C. Chang, E. C. Wang, R. B. Roberts

As part of the New York City’s redevelopment of the far west side of mid-town Manhattan, this project will add 1.5 miles of twin bored tunnel to No. 7 Subway Line. The proposed alignment extending from the Times Square Station west beneath 41stStreet turning south under Eleventh Avenue and terminating at 25th Street will include two new stations. The tunnels and station caverns will be primarily constructed in the Manhattan Schist, and will pass in close proximity to several major overly ingstructures. This paper discusses the lithology and structural discontinuities of rockmass along the project alignment, tunnel and cavern rock loading, groundwater hydrology, groundwater quality, groundwater treatment and sustainable design.

Jan 1, 2005

By William A. Riggs

Salt, a non-metallic mineral whose use dates back to earliest history of mankind, and whose uses cover the widest range for any mineral raw material, is generally of widespread occurrence in commercially recoverable quantities in the oceans, in certain sedimentary rocks, in certain lakes, and in certain underground waters. Passing over geological detail, it may be said that, generally, all of the salt in the world has, at least once in geological history, been in solution in the oceans. The total salt content of today's oceans, said to equal 4.5 million cubic miles of rock salt, dwarfs the tremendous volume of salt in the sedimentary rocks. In 1958, United States production of salt was about 22 million net tons and world production about 82 million. About 3 percent of United States production is table salt, with chemical, municipal, industrial and agricultural uses taking the remainder. Mississippi River. Figure 1 has been expanded sufficiently to show also those salt occurrences and producing points which might economically ship salt into these states. Although widespread in occurrence, salt deposits and possible production areas generally show very sharp local boundaries. Salt-for non-table use is susceptible to ?place value?, a common problem in low valued raw materials, where transportation costs often exceed the value of the material f.o.b. the production point. Generally only large capacity mechanized salt producing operations can compete in United States markets, as contrasted to the many small local salt evaporators in less industrialized Mexico.

Jan 1, 1962

By S. Banisi, M. Pourkani, A. Kargar, D. Hamidi, M. Sarvi

"Flotation circuit of the Sarcheshmeh copper mine, which processes 40,000 t/d of ore at 0.9% Cu, consists of rougher, cleaning and recleaning stages. To study the stage recovery of copper, one of the eight identical flotation banks was selected for sampling. It was observed that 17% of copper goes to the tailings and the lowest copper recovery was for particles coarser than 105 microns. The third five-cell unit of this bank not only did not recover appreciable amount of copper but also decreased the concentrate grade. The grade of the last five cells was lower than the feed grade suggesting that mixing of the concentrates of the three units was not beneficial. To alleviate the problem, the concentrate of the first four-cell unit was directed to the cleaners feed box (i.e., by- passing the regrind mill). This increased the overall copper recovery by 1.7 %. Also rather than the current practice of adding the reagents only at the feed tank (i.e., 100-0-0%), various combinations of stage addition were examined. It was found that 75-25-0% addition regime could increase the total copper recovery by 1.3%. At the recleaning stage in order to increase the final copper concentrate grade, a froth washing system was used. To ease the maintenance of the system, a shower type washing system was installed. The optimum wash water superficial flowrate was found to be 0.06 cm/s. Continuos sampling of the recleaners with and without wash water over a period of two months showed an increase of 1.5% in the final copper concentrate grade at constant overall copper recovery.INTRODUCTIONThe Sarcheshmeh copper ore body that may rank as third or fourth largest in the world contains 1 billion tonnes averaging 0.9% copper and 0.035% molybdenum. It is located in southeastern Iran and has been processing 40 000 t/d of ore since 1982. The mine produces 100 000 tonnes of copper and 2200 tonnes of molybednite concentrate per year.After three stages of crushing, the ore with a F80 (80% passing size) of 12.7 mm is fed to eight parallel ball mills in closed circuit with cyclones to produce a product 70% finer than 75 microns. The concentrate of rougher flotation circuit is ground; rougher tails constitute the main component of the plant final tailings. A concentrate with an average grade of 31% Cu (chalcocite and chalcopyrite) is obtained after cleaning and re-cleaning stages. Total recovery of the plant varies between 83% and 87%, depending on operating conditions and ore type."

Jan 1, 2001

By A B. Phillips

This paper details the approach adopted to upgrade the current metallurgical facilities at both the Driefontein and Kloof Gold Mines in the Republic of South Africa. Goldfields Ltd operates eight metallurgical plants within South Africa of which three have recently been upgraded to replace the older technology previously installed, with modern equipment. This upgrade was undertaken with a view to improving extraction efficiencies and to reduce operating costs. The upgrade was undertaken in a phased approach with the first phase focused on the replacement of the filtration/zinc precipitation processes with modern pumpcell carbon-in-pulp technology. Included in this upgrade phase was the installation of an automated hands-free electrowinning cell, which represents the first commercial application of its kind in the industry. The second phase of the upgrade entailed replacement of the multiple comminution stages previously installed with large SAG and SAG/Ball mill combinations. Due to the rapid return on these projects, a fast-track approach was adopted which necessitated the purchase of available good conditioned second-hand mills from both within South Africa as well as in Australia. Goldfields Ltd is a large mining house with gold mining operations in South Africa, Australia and Ghana. A well advanced PGM exploration project is underway in Finland- Arctic Platinum.

Jan 1, 2003

The process of gold recovery by gravity concentration is incorporated in the metal recovery flowsheet at seven Newmont Mining Corporation owned mining operations in Australia, North America and Africa. In 2009 gold recovered by gravity processing was equivalent to nine percent of Newmont's total gold sales of 5.3 million ounces. This paper will discuss these applications in detail including a review of plant flowsheets and presentation of recent operating results. Operating performance will be discussed with reference to ore characterisation procedures, interpretation of results, design considerations and optimisation practices as they relate to the recovery of gold by gravity concentration.

Jan 1, 2011

By H. P. Hermance

The Ely mine, which at one time was the largest producer of copper in the United States, has been idle for the past 30 years. A remarkably continuous ore shoot probably averaging 100 feet wide and 19 feet thick was mined on about a 25° slope for 3,400 feet on the incline. The ore was massive sulfides containing chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pyrite, and sphalerite. The estimated production of the Ely mine is 400,000 tons of ore averaging 3.3 percent copper. Because of the critical position of copper during the recent war, a search for extensions and recurrences of parallel ore shoots at the Ely deposit seemed warranted. The Bureau of Mines surveyed selected areas by geophysical methods, diamond-drilled nine holes, and sampled mine dumps during its investigations, which began in 1942 and terminated in 1946. The diamond drilling totaled 5,229 feet. The logs of the holes include chemical analyses of mineralized sections.

Jan 1, 1949

By S Kowalczuk, S V. L Barrett

The potential for adverse surface settlement during tunnelling in soil and rock poses a significant risk to the successful completion of any tunnelling project. Undesirable ground movement may lead to unacceptable level of damage to surface infrastructure, buildings and the environment, resulting in safety concerns as well as causing significant delays and costs to a project. One of the empirical methods which is commonly used to predict surface settlement in the early stages of a project’s development is the volume loss approach as described by Mair, Taylor and Burland, 1996. This method was developed for use in soft ground; however it has also been applied in weathered and soft rock to provide an initial indication of potential surface settlements along a proposed tunnel alignment. This paper presents some initial thoughts on the use of this method in weathered and soft rock and the associated limitations which need to be taken into consideration when interpreting the results. This includes complex weathering profile cases where the strength and stiffness of the ground does not necessarily increase with depth.CITATION:Kowalczuk, S and Barrett, S V L, 2014. Initial thoughts on application of the volume loss approach for estimates of surface settlement due to tunnelling in weathered rock, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 641–646 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

By AIME AIME

As already announced in the January Bulletin, this publication will be issued during the coming year monthly instead of bi-monthly as heretofore. Among other reasons for this change, it is desired to effect thereby the earlier transmission to members of important papers, lists of candidates for membership, and other items of timely information. Spokane Meeting and Excursions. Further details of the 97th meeting of the Institute have been sent to members in the Circular of May 8, 1909. The list of those intending to go on the excursion is filling up, and since preference in position of state-room or berth is given in the order of application, members and guests who expect to accompany the party and have not yet communicated with Mr.. Theodore Dwight, 29 West 39th St., New York, N. Y., are earnestly requested to do so without delay. For convenience of the members a summary of the additional information is here presented. A special train of Pullman cars will leave Chicago about September 15. This train will be side-tracked at all places visited, and the sleepers will be available for lodging and the dining-car for meals during the entire trip, except during the Yellowstone Park tour. The general cost of the trip per member will be $300, which includes transportation, berth, and meals for the entire trip from Chicago back to Chicago, almost 6,000 miles, and the tour through. Yellowstone Park, occupying in all about 30 days. Special, accommodations on the train will be furnished at the following rates

Jun 1, 1909

By M. B. Fonseca

Risk quantification in grade-tonnage curves is critical for capital investment in mining projects and can be obtained through geostatistical simulations of orebodies. A practical difficulty may arise in multi-element deposits, as the joint modelling of the related attributes using the traditional co-simulation approaches is computationally intensive and may be impractical for use in the industrial environment. This paper presents the construction of risk-integrating grade-tonnage curves for a complex copper deposit in northern Brazil, by jointly simulating its key geochemical attributes of interest: Cu, Fe and K. The joint conditional simulation of these elements is based on Minimum/Maximum Autocorrelation Factors (MAF). MAF is an approach, based on principal components, that spatially decorrelates the variables involved to non-correlated factors. MAF’sspatial decorrelation at any lag distance is the main and critical difference of this approach from the principal component approach attempted in the past. In the MAF approach, the independent factors are individually simulated and back-transformed to the conditional simulations of the correlated deposit attributes that reproduce the cross-correlations of the original variables. Keywords: Joint simulation; mini/max autocorrelation factors; grade-tonnage curves.

Jan 1, 2003

By N. Saeidi

"For a mine section comprising 100 different stoping activities, there are ~10158 different possible stoping sequences to explore in the mine schedule optimization search and this figure is indicative of the challenge posed in maximising profitability through mine schedule optimization. Any viable excavation timetable must satisfy all conditions that will constrain feasible sequences. In general, consideration of additional constraint will tend to reduce profitability. Geomechanical constraints on mine schedules, introduced with the aim of avoiding excavation instabilities, can be established for underground mine schedule optimization processes but, currently, this is done only rather crudely; precedence relations between excavation activities (stoping or development) are encoded to produce particular stope sequence patterns (e.g. ‘chevron’ or pyramidal sequences).The work reported aimed to investigate automated processes for formulation of such geomechanical constraints. The timetable optimization approach to the problem precipitated a fresh look at time dependent, and excavation sequence dependent, deformation. Abundant evidence emerged that supported the notion that any methodology developed that failed to account for such time and sequence dependencies was itself bound to failure. Yet, it was also recognised that any deviation at all from an assumption of linear elasticity for geomechanical numerical modeling, adopted to inform geomechanical constraint formulation, would rapidly lead to impractical levels of computational effort.Thus the approach presented here represents a compromise: the elastic stress fields induced by individual mining activities are computed for each activity, independently considered within a computational domain identical to that of all other activities. These are stored in a database. Instability risk for a specific sequence of mine activities can be assessed through superimposition of stress fields drawn from the pre-computed database. Time stamps allocated to events corresponding to the excavation processes permit the conversion of the sequence of elastic stress fields into a time table of stress fields. For specific locations within the computational domain, the aggregate effect of the sequence of mine activities leads to stress-time histories having a castellated appearance, a result of the near instantaneous response of an elastic medium to the excavation perturbations. Time dependent deformation responses are crudely allowed for through the re-profiling these castellated histories through graphical construction of curved responses, where the curve gradients are related to a viscous parameter. Such curves form the basis for a geomechanical constraint formulation to be adopted for mine schedule optimization."

Jan 1, 2015

By John T. Norton

N order to attempt to arrive at a better under-Jl standing of the whole basic problem of sintering, these remarks will serve as an introduction for discussion that is included and will, perhaps, help to isolate specific questions which need to be answered or to suggest some definite avenues of investigation which should be followed. To bring some sort of logical order into the presentation, I will consider the various types of interaction between the metal to be sintered and the atmosphere which surrounds it, depending upon whether the phenomena are essentially chemical or physical in nature. For example, when the only necessary criterion for the satisfactory sintering of a certain powder is the removal of an oxide skin, then the problem of choosing a suitable atmosphere is primarily chemical; however, if a special surface condition as a consequence of the oxide skin removal is necessary for particularly effective sintering, then the problem becomes a physical one. Of course, the two aspects overlap considerably, but it may be possible to make a distinction in principle if not in practice. The chemical characteristics of the phenomena will be emphasized, since these are the better known. Metal-gas reactions involved in sintering are controlled primarily by the thermodynamics of the processes involved. In which direction will a reaction go and how far before it stops? The answer is to be found in the magnitude of the free energy change associated with the reaction. If a constituent is to be removed from the specimen as completely as possible or if a constituent is to be formed in the specimen as completely as possible, then one chooses conditions which are far from equilibrium so that the reaction is driven toward completion. On the other hand, if the composition is to be maintained at a desired value, then conditions are adjusted as closely as possible to the equilibrium point. This aspect of the problem is susceptible to quite precise analysis, provided, of course, that the significant reactions can be recognized and the required thermodynamic data are available. Conversely, if one asks how fast the reaction goes or how far it proceeds in a given time, the answer is frequently much more difficult to answer in quantitative terms. Yet the rate-con trolling factors of the reactions may be of primary importance in the success of a particular operation, especially where competing processes are at work. Both equilibrium and rate factors must be understood if a clear picture is to be obtained. For instance, in a process for carburizing titanium dioxide, is the difficulty of obtaining a stoichiometric Tic due to a true limitation of the equilibrium or simply to a very slow rate of reaction? An example of this appears in the work of Kalish and Mazza.' They showed that the oxygen content of sintered iron compacts was lower when sintered in pure hydrogen than in the case where the hydrogen was diluted with either argon or nitrogen. The equilibrium oxygen content of the iron would be the same in the two cases, since it is determined by the ratio of the partial pressures of water vapor and hydrogen and this pressure ratio is unchanged by dilution. The rate of oxygen removal, however, under the conditions of a constantly replaced furnace atmosphere, depends upon diffusion and thus upon the concentration of hydrogen in the furnace atmosphere. Possibly the clearest way to illustrate the interplay of these two factors is to consider in more detail some of the typical metal-gas reactions. Adsorbed Gases It is common experience that fine metal powders with their very large surface areas often contain large quantities of gas. This gas, which results from exposure to air or perhaps from some step in the

Jan 1, 1957

By Thomas M. Drown

Remarkable as have been the direct results of Danks's puddler, there are some indirect and incidental results, which are well worthy of study for their intrinsic value and suggestiveness. The success of Danks's machine is due mainly to the nature of the lining and the manner in which it is attached to the walls of the revolving chamber. Herein lies Danks's merit and good fortune. Given such a lining, and the success of the machine, as far as puddling iron is concerned, could easily be predicted. Other important results have, however, been obtained with this machine, which, though clearly explicable, were, nevertheless, unanticipated. These are the increased yield of bar-iron over the pig-iron charged, and the elimination of phosphorus, which, though not absolutely complete, is yet more decided than in the case of hand-puddling. As regards the increased yield, this is merely what we have a right to expect if we consider the puddling process to consist in the oxida tion of the carbon and silicon of the pig by the oxygen of the oxide of iron. That this result is attained, nearly to the extent that the theory requires, in Danks's puddler, and has never been more than partially attained by the most careful experiments in band-puddling, points clearly to the fact that the contact of the molten pig-iron with the oxide of iron is much more intimate and complete in the one instance than in the other. The action of puddling in Danks's machine may be considered to be twofold: first, the removal of the carbon, silicon, and phospho rus of the pig, which is the primary object, and, second, the produc tion of wrought iron direct from the ore, which is entirely an inci dental result. Intelligent metallurgists were not long in recognizing in this latter result a fact of deeper import and greater value than the attainment of a perfect puddling process. A new method