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By Sivilay Sayavong, David Puller, Julian Gatward, David Hard, Martin Stanley

"AbstractThe Thames Water Tideway Tunnels programme involves the upgrade of London’s combined sewer and storm water system. The first section is the Lee Tunnel between the Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (STW) and the Abbey Mills Pumping Station. This will intercept the overflows currently discharging to the River Lee and has the capacity to store and transfer 350,000m3 of storm water and sewage. The project required 4 shafts and a 6.9km 7.2m diameter tunnel. The shafts are some of the largest ever constructed in the UK, with diaphragm walls up to 98m deep and 1800mm thick. As a result of the innovative methods of diaphragm wall design and construction adopted the 4 very large and deep shafts were able to be excavated and completed safely, with minimal water ingress and with extremely high quality.MVB, a joint venture of Morgan Sindall, Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche are delivering the £635m contract with Thames Water’s Project Management Team in a collaborative manner under an NEC contract. Mott MacDonald, Morgan Sindall UnPS & Bachy Soletanche are acting as designers.Some of the important advances in diaphragm walling made included:??Diaphragm wall design to both EC2 & EC7 taking into considering the assessment of chalk stiffness, high hoop stresses, large multiple openings and non-axisymmetric loadings.??Formation of shafts as a faceted circle from a series of overlapping panels, with primary panels up to 7.2m wide demanding concrete volumes up to 1300m3 be poured in one go. Overlapping secondary single bite panels cut into the grade C50/60 concrete.??Excavation of the full geological stratigraphy of London making bentonite management complex.??Panel verticality of 1:300 required over the full depth. The results achieved this and in many cases exceeded expectations with some panels coming in at up to 1 in 800 with the majority at 1 in 400 to 1 in 500. The project is also the first in the Soletanche Bachy Group to take data from the ultrasonic drilling monitor used to check the verticalty in electronic format in order to create 3D CAD as-built drawings.??Each diaphragm wall panel was reinforced over its full depth. Up to 18 separate pieces of reinforcing cage had to be installed in primary panels. Cages underwent a full range of temporary works designs to check that lifting, splicing and placing could all be undertaken safely. Fibreglass was used in the tunnel portals in the shafts to ease breakthroughs."

Jan 1, 2014

By Priyadharshini M. R., Premalatha K

"Abstract With the development in the construction of heavily loaded structures, the necessity of pile foundations has increased. For the transfer of heavy loads, it is mandatory that the piles need to be socketed in the underlying rock strata. The load transfer in bored rock socketed piles is by end resistance or the combination of shaft and end resistance which in turn depends on the length of the rock socket. The determination of socketing length of the pile at present is mostly based on a few factors which affect the pile load transfer mechanism. The effect of all the possible factors involved, need to be studied in proposing guidelines for the design of rock socketing length of the pile. Analyses are carried out using finite element analysis software (PLAXIS 3D Foundation) to understand the influence of the thickness of overlying strata for different socket lengths of piles in weak rock. From the load settlement curves, the influence of the overlying soil on the rock socket length isobserved and an effective rock socket length is proposed.IntroductionThe determination of socketing length of the pile at present is mostly based on a few factors affecting the pile load transfer mechanism, which sometimes give a better design and sometimes an uneconomical design. Too much socketing length results in more construction time and higher costs. Therefore, the effect of all possible factors involved need to be studied in proposing guidelinesfor the design of t h e r o c k socket length of the pile.The factors that affect the termination criteria of the rock socketed pile are the capacity requirement, thickness and properties of the overlying soil, characteristics of the founding strata, drilling tools used, roughness of the rock socket and nature of loading.A comprehensive study was performed to understand all the above mentioned factors in different types of rocks. In this paper discussion is made on the settlement results, specifically the influence of overlying sand of different densities above a weak rock. The influence of stress developed is not discussed, keeping in mind the size of the paper under study."

Jan 1, 2014

By Nicolas Denies, Gust Van Lysebetten, Bart Lameire, Jan Maertens, André Vervoort, Noël Huybrechts, Flor De Cock

"Abstract Originally developed for ground improvement works, the deep mixing method (DMM) has increasingly been applied in recent years for the realization of soil and water retaining structures and as alternative to traditional foundation solutions. From practice, there is a real need for practical guidelines dealing with the execution, the design and the control of such applications. With the aim of developing such guidelines, the BBRI ‘Soil Mix’ project was initiated in 2009. Within this research project, deep soil mix (DSM) material from 38 Belgian construction sites has been tested. In spite of the large advances in the mechanical characterization of the DSM material, one major issue remains the representativeness of the typical core samples in comparison with the real scale behavior of the soil mix elements. There is among others the question of the influence of the unmixed soft soil inclusions on this behavior and the issue of the scale effect which must be considered in the design. In order to investigate these questions, 8 large scale UCS tests and 17 large scale bending tests have been performed on excavated soil mix elements. The present paper discusses results of this experimental campaign, presents some research perspectives and highlights different aspects related to the design of soil mix elements for the realization of retaining wall or foundation solution.INTRODUCTIONSince several decennia, the deep mixing method (DMM) has been used to improve the strength and deformation characteristics of weak soils. In recent years, deep mixing has increasingly been applied – in Belgium and in other countries – for the realization of soil and water retaining structures and alternative foundation concepts. With regard to the execution of the DMM, one can refer to the European standard EN 14679 on deep mixing (2005) that was elaborated under the umbrella of CEN TC 288 “Execution of special geotechnical works”. However, from practice, it has been experienced that this execution standard does not provide enough pragmatic information and guidelines, in particular for the more recent applications of the deep mixing method (with retaining and bearing functions). The same need by the sector for guidance rules linked to design aspects in the context of Eurocode 7 was experienced as well. With the aim of developing such guidelines and in order to provide feedback to the European standardization platforms, the Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI) has initiated the BBRI ‘Soil Mix’ project (2009-2013) in collaboration with the KU Leuven and the Belgian Association of Foundation Contractors (ABEF), the Belgian branch of the EFFC. Within this research project, deep soil mix (DSM) material from 38 Belgian construction sites, with various soil conditions and for different execution processes (CVR C-mix®, TSM and CSM), has been tested (Denies et al., 2012)."

Jan 1, 2014

By Zhuofei Yang, Jidong Kang, David S. Wilkinson

The fatigue behavior of AM60 high pressure die casting magnesium alloys was studied in a straincontrolled manner. The fatigue test was interrupted every 2,000 cycles for X-ray tomography scanning. The specimen was removed to be scanned on a desktop micro-CT system. The value of using X-ray tomography in a fatigue properties study was assessed with respect to porosity, cracks and fracture surfaces. The 3D analysis and model results showed porosity could be well measured and modelled in 3D. Defects bands are made of pores under 50 µm in volume-equivalent sphere diameter. Larger pores are randomly distributed in the region between two defect bands. Observation of cracks by X-ray tomography occurs in three ways such that the 3D model gives the best illustration of crack-porosity interaction while the other two methods have better detectability on crack initiation and crack tip observation. X-ray tomography is also of value in failure analysis on fracture surfaces. By summarizing X-ray tomography data during fatigue testing and observing fracture surfaces on a 3D model, a better understanding on the crack initiation, crack-porosity interaction and the morphology of fracture surface is achieved.

Jan 1, 2014

By P. E. Hand

Coal is a complex heterogeneous commodity that can be mined in a number of ways and needs to be processed to a homogeneous quality that satisfies the customer?s requirements, while attempting to maximize revenues. Only a small proportion of coal is suitable for metallurgical use. Export coals cover a wide range of qualities and some coals can be used optimally in the raw state for energy production. Critical quality parameters vary and can be a combination of heat value, ash, volatiles, sulphur, phosphorus, sizing, amongst others. The level of beneficiation is generally dictated by the washability of the coal, mining contamination, and the target product quality. The steps in the coal chain covered in this paper comprise exploration, mining selections, production, the washing process, and product delivery. Many points of sampling are needed to maximize yield at the correct quality, and some of these will be described in the paper. Keywords coal chain, coal beneficiation, sampling.

Jan 1, 2014

By Jason Weck, Alper Turan, Ali Chehadeh

"Rapid expansion of urban areas dictates the need to expand/rehabilitate the existing buried infrastructure at the same rate. The technical challenges such as variable soil and rock profiles, high groundwater tables and limitations imposed by the built environment combined with present fiscal and schedule limitations necessitates the implementation of fast and cost effective construction methods. Since drilling procedures and equipment allow the construction of overlapped pile systems in almost all subsurface conditions, the secant pile walls have become a cost-effective shoring option for such infrastructure expansion/rehabilitation projects. The secant pile walls constructed in a circular plan layout to form a vertical shaft provide unique advantages since they act as a compression ring. Secant pile walls require stringent drilling tolerances be achieved in order to provide structural support and to work as a compression ring in addition to a groundwater cut-off wall.This paper outlines design methodology, installation procedures and verification techniques used for the secant pile compression ring for the Waterloo Landfill Pumping Station No.2. The secant pile compression ring had a 6m inner diameter with over a 20m wall depth and over 18m excavation depth. The details of subsurface conditions, analytical and numerical methods used in design are presented here. The details of the monitoring system are introduced and results of monitoring are presented and compared with analytically estimated and numerically simulated quantities. The results presented in this study are considered to be of interest to those involved in design and construction of vertical circular shafts."

Jan 1, 2014

By J. Matos e Silva

"Abstract Although one can think that it is very low the probability of a seism occurrence during the execution of an excavation in an urban lot protected by a diaphragm wall curtain, reality shows that whenever a seism occurs in an urban area several diaphragm walls will be affected by it. So it is advisable to consider the seismic action when designing a diaphragm wall curtain. The paper refers the main information about the seismic design of diaphragm walls according to the Eurocodes 7 and 8 and to the Portuguese Norms related to them (respectively NP EN 1997-1 2010 and NP EN 1998-5 2010), as the Eurocodes consider the possibility of each European country to adopt their own seismic parameters as the seismic risk is different in each country. Thus the so-called National Document of Application (in our case the Portuguese Norms) prescribes the seismic local parameters.1 - EUROCODES AND PORTUGUESE NORMS PRESCRIPTIONSAccording to Eurocode 8 - Part 5 and to the related Portuguese Norm NP EN 1998-5 2010, seismic actions on soils should be quantified adopting the Mononobe-Okabe method that gives goodapproaches when compared with reality.From paragraph 7.3.2.2 of the referred Norm, the horizontal seismic coefficient kh will be:"

Jan 1, 2014

By D. Wolfe, R. Cleminson

"The Aurora North mine has been operating for more than ten years, and is the source of over half of Syncrude’s bitumen production. The hydrotransport systems at Aurora experience high rates of wear, and mission lengths on current slurry pumps are nominally 1,500-2,000 hours. Recent work has enabled a better understanding of the significant adverse effect of large particle impingement damage to impeller vane leading edges - which is the known life determining issue for Aurora hydrotransport pumps. A new pump design has been developed and installed at Aurora, incorporating significantly increased impeller diameter and pumping vane lengths. The new pumps are expected to triple Aurora’s previous mission length for hydrotransport pumps. Part II of this paper will share actual hydraulic and wear performance observed in the first several months of operation, and draw comparisons relative to what was expected for these pumps in design / development.INTRODUCTION Slurry Pumps are Critical Equipment at Syncrude Slurry pumps are a key component in Syncrude’s operations. In a typical Aurora application, each 5000 HP pump stage helps move over 8,000 dry tonnes per hour of oil sand, plus an equal volume of process water that has been added to create the slurry. The average impeller life in oil sand hydrotransport service at Aurora has been nominally 1,500 to 2,000 hours, or 12 to 16 million tonnes of oil sand pumped. Generally, the slurry pump application at Aurora has proven very difficult to improve due to the unique combination of high sand abrasivity, 125 mm (5”) large particle top size (lumps), and high flow rate relative to basic pump size; a factor that results in unduly high impeller vane leading edge speeds for the service conditions."

Jan 1, 2014

By A. R. House, G. W. Shepherd

Newmont USA Limited owns and operates the Phoenix Mine near Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA. The existing milling facility has operated since 2006 (House, 2010). Following the startup of the milling operation, and coupled with the upswing in the copper market, Newmont realized that Phoenix had no process option to treat transition and oxide copper ores. This meant that potentially revenue generating ore would be mined as waste. With no system in place to treat the transition and oxide copper, work began to determine the most feasible approach. After evaluating multiple options, the flow sheet was set for a runof- mine (ROM) heap leach pad and solvent extraction/ electrowinning plant (L-SX/EW). This paper will discuss the eight years of successes and challenges with developing the copper L-SX/EW plant and achieving commercial production of copper cathode.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. Matos e Silva

"Abstract The paper refers five examples of executed diaphragm walls with one to five levels of anchorages. For each example a comparison is made between the results of the design using the traditional criteria and the ones obtained by using the Eurocode 7 and the Portuguese Norm related to the EC7 (NP EN 1997-1 2010), as the Eurocodes consider the possibility of each European country to adopt their own geotechnical parameters as these may vary from one country to another. A comparison is also made with the behaviour of these diaphragm walls during its construction phase; so the values from the design that were adopted in the construction are listed in tables 2 to 6 in the “Construction Options” columns. From the referred examples the author presents his conclusions.1 - INTRODUCTIONIn the so-called “traditional criteria” the soil parameters (dry unit weight, angle of internal friction and cohesion) have values obtained through tests or empirically. It is assumed that the characteristic values of the soil parameters adopted in Eurocode 7 are equal to the soil parameters adopted in the calculations by the “traditional criteria”. In the present paper the design according to the EC7 was made considering only the ultimate limit states and the respective Cases A1 and A2.The partial coefficients used for the actions in the present paper were those on Table 1:2 - CONSIDERED EXAMPLESThe five examples correspond to the situations of figures 1 to 5, and the respective results are summarized in tables 2 to 6.For all the considered examples, that are case histories, a simplified method published by Matos e Silva (March 2000) was adopted. This method attains good performances when compared with other more sophisticated ones as the finite elements and the elasto-plastic methods as described in a paper published by Matos e Silva (2000). All the obtained values were compared between them and with the so-called “Construction Options” that were the values adopted by the designers of the considered examples. For the wall bottom length calculation two possible situations were envisaged:"

Jan 1, 2014

By C. Daly

"The Faculty of Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) offers a core first-year engineering design and innovation course,ENGG1000, undertaken during the first and second semesters. This course is highly regarded in the sense that it provides an introduction to many concepts and activities that students will experience over the four-year minimum for which they are undergraduates at UNSW. Approximately 1400 students enrol in the semester 1 course across the Faculty, typically 80 of which undertake the Mining Engineering stream. Students in teams of between six and eight design and construct a physical model to represent an aspect of their chosen discipline. For example, in 2013 the mining engineers designed and built a model dragline. This paper concentrates a major aspect of the course - the involvement of team members in group activities and the development of the associated skills of peer assessment and peer review as the course progresses over a period of 12 weeks.The term ‘peer assessment’ in this paper refers to the requirement for students to assess the design components of their peers. This course has a structured requirement in terms of how a successful design is a result of a sound design process rather than a ‘try and see’ approach. Each student must describe in detail the process they undertook to achieve their final design - hence the approach is independent of the discipline and/or project selected.Peer review is a process whereby students review the contribution of their team members to the overall design. This activity encourages team involvement and interaction. The final assessment mark can be moderated by the outcome of this peer review, although it is run twice during the semester. The first ‘run’ is for feedback only during week six and hence no moderation is undertaken.It was found through consultation with students and from questionnaires that both processes are well accepted and highly regarded by students, as they give them a degree of ownership of the assessment process. In addition, the processes provide rapid and relevant feedback on the progress of individual students.Peer review and peer assessment are also considered to be very valuable tools for use in courses in succeeding years. For instance, many of the courses in mining engineering rely heavily on group assessment tasks."

Jan 1, 2014

By Michel Ruel

"This paper describes how to make advanced control choices when difficult processes need improvement. The decision-making process involves choosing between a rules-based approach and a model-based approach as well as weighing benefits and drawbacks, complexity and simplicity, investment and results. This paper will present briefly each solution: basic control, advanced regulatory control, model predictive control, and expert systems such as fuzzy logic controllers and neural networks. The article then proposes a decision tree for selecting the most appropriate approach. A table will compare usage, development, commissioning, maintenance and lifecycle costs for each approach. Finally, conclusions and suggestions will summarize the methodology.INTRODUCTION Advanced process control (APC) is a popular topic. How can one decide whether advanced control should be added to an existing system? Advanced control is used to improve performance, stabilize production, handle constraints, protect equipment and manage grade changes. Most plants use feedback controllers, usually PID (proportional, integral, derivative) controllers. It is common to develop special control schemes to handle more complex processes. In classic PID process control, a controller brings a single value close to a set point using a single manipulated variable. On the other hand, APC brings several values close to optimal targets simultaneously using several manipulated variables. APC's four main strategies are advanced regulatory control, model predictive control (MPC), fuzzy logic and neural networks. Simple solutions are always preferred. Complexity will be increased if performances (production, quality, etc.) are below par. Profitability analyses should be conducted to validate project viability. Needs—not trends—should dictate choices! Before increasing complexity, it is important to define needs, goals, technical support, budget, etc. All these approaches entail strengths and weaknesses. Building a project based on technology rather than needs spells trouble."

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Sokolov, E. Hasikova, V. Gostilo, V. Titov

Introducing online X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzers in the mining and processing industries can lower costs and improve the representativeness and speed of analysis. The applicability of the CON-XTM industrial conveyor XRF analyzer for continuous measurement of potassium content in process materials was demonstrated at various stages of potassium muriate (MOP) production. The CON-X analyzer produced reliable and accurate results for sylvinite ore (27–36% KCl), MOP cake after flotation (88–97% KCl), and NaCl residue (1.5–5% KCl). Tests of the analyzer at an MOP-producing plant showed a < 0.5% difference between online and laboratory results.

Jan 1, 2014

By Rodney Hundermark, July Ndlovu, Lloyd Nelson, Phillimon Mukumbe, Paul van Manen, Whitey Seyanund, Bart Pieterse, Bertus de Villiers, Diale Mokwena

The 2003 redoubling in power to 68MW on the Polokwane Smelter furnace represented a significant intensification in platinum group metal (PGM) smelting. Combined with onerous ‘green’ PGM concentrate smelting requirements, this yielded conditions unusually corrosive to copper coolers and refractories. This presented unexpected operational and design challenges to reliable crucible operation and maintenance. Combined with specific operational control intervention, development of protective coatings has led to the life of water-cooled copper components improving from 9 to 40 months. The furnace matte endwall was extended in 2010 to address accelerated wear of refractories and the potential risk for contact of copper components by superheated matte. An 18 month planned endwall rebuild cycle has been demonstrated (versus catastrophic failure within 9 months). Finally, benefits including lower energy consumption, improved metal recoveries and higher productivity resulting from operational and in-house design developments will be described, that justify “Celebrating the Mega-scale” in PGM smelting.

Jan 1, 2014

By Alessandro Bertero, Stefano Valagussa, Filippo Maria, Wesley Schmutzler, Leoni

"Abstract The Deep Mixing Method (DMM) represents a viable solution to improve the adverse geotechnical properties of foundation soils. Differences and the importance of performing pre-construction laboratory and field tests will be highlighted. Comparative analyses and interpretations between the various lab and field stages, along with accumulated information about soil properties and QC results, allowed fine-tuning of the production parameters throughout almost the entire project.Two projects where the US Army Corps of Engineers selected the Deep Mixing Method (DMM) for the required stabilizations, and a third project completed in Italy, will be illustrated:•,?the LPV 111 Project (New Orleans - LA – USA); DMM was used for groundimprovement/foundation strengthening and consequently stabilize and support the burden of the new levee.•,the Rio Puerto Nuevo Project (San Juan - PR - USA); DMM was applied to improve the soils adjacent to a 90” forced sewer main relocation and to improve the soils for the base of a new drainage channel•,the new Italian high speed railway project (Florence Italy); DMM technology was applied to realize a a TBM break in/break out, foreseen originally by jet-grouting.IntroductionThe Deep Mixing Method (DMM) represents a viable solution to improve the adverse geotechnical properties of foundation soils. The effectiveness of working parameters depends largely on the physical and mechanical properties of the soil to be treated. Therefore, well designed laboratory and field test programs, aimed to disclose the interaction between the site-specific soils and the mixing parameters, are essential to achieve the desired end product."

Jan 1, 2014

By Hong Yong Sohn, Miguel Olivas-Martinez, Zhixue Yuan

A novel flash ironmaking process that directly reduces iron oxide concentrate particles by gas is under development. The goal of this work was to study the possibility of reoxidation of iron particles in various gas mixtures. As the product iron cools down in the lower part of the flash reactor, conditions may become favorable for reoxidation because of equilibrium and high reactivity of iron particles. The effects of temperature (823 – 973 K) and H2O partial pressure (40 – 100 pct., Ptotal = 86.1 kPa) on the reoxidation rate were examined. The pressure dependence was first order with respect to water vapor, and the activation energy was 146 kJ/mol. A complete rate equation that adequately represents the experimental data was developed. For oxidation in O2-N2 mixtures, the effects of temperature (673 – 873 K) and O2 partial pressure (5 – 21 pct., Ptotal = 86.1 kPa) were determined. Reoxidation in pure CO2 was also investigated at 873 – 1073 K for comparison.

Jan 1, 2014

By Vinay Kumar, Manis Kumar Jha, J. Rajesh Kumar, Archana Kumari, Rekha Panda, Jin Young Lee

Rare earth metals (REMs) play a significant role in the manufacture of permanent magnets, fluorescent lamps, catalysts, medicines, super alloys etc. Recently, China, which controls 97% of world trade in REMs, imposed restriction on its export. Consequently, the global demand of REMs is escalating and is expected to exceed the supply by 40,000 tonnes annually. Present review paper reports the flow-sheets of commercial processes based on pyro-hydro and hybrid techniques as well as systematic research for process development to recover REMs from primary and secondary resources. This review paper also reports the recommendation and future prospective to fulfill its demand and supply gap keeping in view environmental prospective.

Jan 1, 2014

By F. B. Kuhnow

When performing blasting operations in open pit settings, energy is released and transmitted through the geology. Some negative effects can have significant impacts on mining operations and adversely affect mine production. This technical paper presents recommendations for blast design to prevent damage due to ground motion from blasting on adjacent concrete structures of underground operations. The paper includes a case study describing a problem regarding an open pit mine expansion and asks whether production blasting will damage concrete shaft structures due to blast stress waves and blastinduced ground motion. Based on the results, a set of criteria is provided to implement in current and future mining operations that involve blasting near underground concrete structures. A set of techniques on how to improve vibration levels for safe operations is also presented. Knowledge of particle velocity and wave propagation for site-specific circumstances to determine a safe level of vibration is recommended. Emphasis is placed on making use of electronic detonators and early delay detonators to achieve successful levels of vibration. A dynamic analysis is necessary to determine if vibration from blasting can damage the concrete shaft structure. When reinforced concrete structures are subject to blast loading, both concrete and steel are subject to very high strain rates. As opposed to static loads, when subject to high strain rate loads these materials increase their strength significantly. In fact, they increase by more than 50% for reinforcing steel, by more than 100% for concrete in compression, and by more than 600% for concrete in tension. This finding is of significant importance in mining operations because it allows an increase in flexural capacity of individual members as a result of high strain rates. Therefore, an elevated ground vibration (PPV) or particle velocity is permissible when blasting takes place near concrete structures.

Jan 1, 2014

By K. M. Mohamed, R. K. Zipf

The shear strength properties of generic cement foam material and cement foam/concrete interfaces were examined at three testing scales. In laboratory direct shear tests on specimens with average shearing area of 0.006 m2 (10 in.2), the cement foam material had average peak and residual shear strengths of 0.88 MPa (128 psi) and 0.39 MPa (56 psi), respectively. Depending on the concrete strength, the cement foam/concrete interfaces had peak and residual shear strengths ranging from 0.71 to 0.81 MPa (103 to 117 psi) and from 0.27 to 0.29 MPa (39 to 42 psi), respectively. In laboratory direct double shear tests on specimens with average shearing area of 0.084 m2 (130 in.2), the cement foam/concrete interfaces had average peak and residual shear strengths of 0.17 to 0.30 MPa (25 to 44 psi) and of 0.11 to 0.23 MPa (16 to 33 psi), respectively. In large shear tests of simulated cement foam seals with the Mine Roof Simulator (MRS) test frame, cement foam/concrete interfaces with shearing area of 1.486 m2 (2,304 in.2) had average shear strengths of about 0.08 and 0.16 MPa (11 and 23 psi) along the roof and floor interfaces, respectively. The average shear strength through the cement foam material was 0.38 MPa (55.3 psi). Finite element analysis of the large seal tests and the back analysis of the shear strength of full-scale cement foam seals conducted at the NIOSH Lake Lynn Laboratory confirmed shear strength of about 0.14 MPa (20 psi) along the seal/rock interfaces. The study concluded that the structural analysis of cement foam seals should be based on their residual shear strength determined from small laboratoryscale tests of the cement foam/concrete or rock interface and not be based on their peak strength.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. M. Dowo

The widespread environmental damage caused by slimes dam construction requires rehabilitation as one of the key management strategies towards land restoration. From the time when Mhangura Copper Mine in Zimbabwe was shut down in 2000 due to viability problems, no follow-up studies were carried out on the slimes dams to assess their development with respect to ecosystem function and longterm recovery. The ecosystem function analysis (EFA) method was thus employed to achieve this end. EFA is a monitoring procedure that establishes how well an ecosystem functions as a biophysical system through the use of rapidly assessed field indicators. The field procedure makes use of simple visual indicators that are related to various soil surface processes. Conventional sampling methods are used to collect the vegetation data. The data was first analysed using landscape function analysis (LFA) software packages and then with various multivariate statistical techniques. In total 27 species were recorded from 14 families; 21 of them occurring in the acacia woodland and only 8 on the slimes dams. Hyparrhenia sp. was the dominant grass on Dam 5 and Imperata cylindrica dominated Dam 6. Acacia saligna was the most abundant tree species on the dams. The tree layer on the slimes dams was not as developed as the grass layer. The rehabilitated slimes dams converged with the natural woodland for the LFA indices of stability, nutrient cycling, and infiltration, which suggested a high level of functionality. The main factors affecting the sustainability of the rehabilitation are postulated to be fire, grazing, and tree harvesting. The study contributed to the importance of, and methods used for, assessing ecosystem function on rehabilitated slimes dams in Zimbabwe, which are often ignored as most efforts focus on the establishment of vegetation on the dams. Keywords ecosystem function analysis, EFA, mine tailings, rehabilitation, monitoring, Mhangura Copper Mine, ecosystem function.

Dec 1, 2013