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"Mine ventilation is in every underground mine a crucial process to ensure mine safety as well as acceptable working conditions. On the other hand is also a major cost factor depending on air requirement and air resistance. Due to the fact that the special layout of mines develop over time, ventilation systems change as well. This may result in complex systems which are suffering severe problems and low efficiency. With attention to the mine safety and costs, ventilation systems have to be controlled repeatedly and optimized continuously to fit changing conditions. The project “Improvement of ventilation systems in narrow vein mines” has been commenced with measuring and data collection in the Bogala Mine, Sri Lanka. This over 150 year’s old graphite mine consists of about 20 levels. The resulting ventilation system is highly complex and suffers problems like high temperatures and humidity as well as a mixing of fresh and used air on lower levels. To solve these problems and to optimize the system the complete ventilation system had been measured on-site first. The gained data have been used for simulations to develop and select an optimal and cost efficient solution. OBJECTIVE As an important process in mining ventilation is a major cost factor and can determine the economic feasibility of a mine. Due to the production mine layouts develop over time and mines increase in size and depth while the ventilation system becomes more complex and may suffer severe problems and inefficiency. Therefore mine ventilation systems have to be controlled and optimized regarding the general requirement of mine safety and health of the miners as well as the costs. Depending on the deposit type, depth, mining method, climate and as well corresponding laws and regulations the possible solutions are varying strongly. The work carried out paid special attention to the improvement of ventilation in narrow vein mines in tropical climate, in this case the graphite mine “Bogala” in Sri Lanka, South Asia."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Halim, J. Gustafsson, A. van Wageningen, J. Johansson, · J. Lööw, K. Kocsis

A major part of the European Union’s (EU) project Sustainable Intelligent Mining System (SIMS) is investigating the development of diesel-free/carbon–neutral underground mines in order to ensure sustainable underground mining in the future. Replacing diesel machines with electric vehicles in underground hard rock mines has been widely acknowledged by the mining industry worldwide as a critical step to improve working conditions by reducing diesel exhaust–related contaminants, to reduce mine ventilation electrical power cost by reducing mine airflow quantity, and to reduce mine greenhouse gas emissions. All of these are major requirements to achieve sustainable future underground mining practices. A field trial of Epiroc’s 2nd generation of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) at Agnico Eagle Finland’s Kittilä mine was conducted during 2019–2020. Vehicles tested were MT42 mine truck, ST14 Load-Haul-Dump (LHD), and Boomer E2 jumbo drill rig. This paper outlines the improvement of the working conditions observed in the field trial, and the opinions of the mine personnel at Kittilä mine on using BEVs instead of diesel machines. Measurements of atmospheric contaminants and air temperatures taken during the field trial clearly demonstrated a significant improvement of working conditions when BEVs were operating as opposed to diesel machines. This field observation was supported by the opinion of the majority of the Kittilä mine workers. However, some remaining concerns must be addressed before BEVs can replace diesel machines.

Oct 25, 2021

By Xinyang Wang

It is believed that sulfur and volatile matter con-tents in coals are the main intrinsic properties to cause the self-heating of coal. Their oxidation at lower temperatures than that of fixed carbon to initiate coal's self-heating should be quantified. This study is aimed to improve the previous mathematical model developed by the authors for studying the coal's propensity for spontaneous combustion. It enhances the model's ability to consider the effects of sulfur, volatile matter and moisture contents in the coal three important factors affecting the coal's self-heating process. Sulfur exists in coal primarily in the form of pyrite which will be oxidized rapidly under suitable conditions. Volatile matters, higher in low rank coals, are more easily to be oxidized. Heat of water condensation provides initial energy for low temperature oxidation. Heat release rates for pyrite oxidation and moisture condensation are built in the model. Finally, the simulation results in terms of time versus temperature on pyrite oxidation and moisture condensation are validated with the adiabatic testing data respectively.

Jan 1, 2013

By Xinyang Wang

It is believed that sulfur and volatile matter contents in coals are the main intrinsic properties to cause the self-heating of coal. Their oxidation at lower temperatures than that of fixed carbon to initiate coal's self-heating should be quantified. This study is aimed to improve the previous mathematical model developed by the authors for studying the coal's propensity for spontaneous combustion. It enhances the model's ability to consider the effects of sulfur, volatile matter and moisture contents in the coal - three important factors affecting the coal's self-heating process. Sulfur exists in coal primarily in the form of pyrite which will be oxidized rapidly under suitable conditions. Volatile matters, higher in low rank coals, are more easily to be oxidized. Heat of water condensation provides initial energy for low temperature oxidation. Heat release rates for pyrite oxidation and moisture condensation are built in the model. Finally, the simulation results in terms of time versus temperature on pyrite oxidation and moisture condensation are validated with the adiabatic testing data respectively.

Jan 1, 2013

By Xingang Wang

Spontaneous combustion is one of the most important safety issues in the global coal industry. It is considered to be a trigger for explosions in underground mines, especially for gassy mines. This thermal event is not easily detectable in the gob and sealed area. It is also a tough job to find the most likely hot point accurately. Admittedly, determination of the propensity for spontaneous combustion before mining activity should be a necessary step in the design of a mine and ventilation plan. However, due to the complexity of the chemical and physical properties of coal, spontaneous combustion has not been fully understood. According to a proximate analysis of coal, it is believed that sulfur and volatile matter in coal are the main intrinsic factors that cause the self-heating of coal. Their oxidation at lower temperatures than that of fixed carbon to initiate coal?s self-heating should be quantified. This study aims to improve the previous mathematical model developed by the authors for studying a coal?s propensity for spontaneous combustion. It enhances the model?s ability to consider the effects of sulfur, volatile matter and moisture content in the coal ? three important factors affecting a coal?s self-heating process. Based on the law of energy conservation, heat release rates for pyrite oxidation and moisture condensation are built into the model. Finally, the simulation results in terms of time versus temperature are calibrated with adiabatic testing data extracted from the literature for pyrite oxidation and moisture condensation, respectively. From the modeling results, it is found that the higher the pyrite content the coal contains and the more moisture that condenses in an environment with high relative humidity and initial temperature, the higher the potential for spontaneous combustion.

Jan 1, 2014

By Donald G. Foot, Jeffrey D. Mckay

Flotation columns have been readily accepted for use in most sulfide flotation plants: however, recently columns are being used in many other areas. Recent improvements in design methodologies have overcome many operating problems and led to improvements in metallurgy. In addition. Physical improvements in column design have simplified their operation while leading to better control. The Turbo-Air External Bubble Generator has provided a method for bubble size control and variation in air holdup and carrying capacity. These have enabled commercial operations to improve grades and recoveries by optimizing performance.

Jan 1, 1989

By William L. Barnes, Maurice Leiser

INTRODUCTION The literature on project management considerations and techniques for large rail rapid transit projects in mid-1979 was fairly large and getting larger. UMTA was establishing special organizational elements to deal with the subject as it related to those properties requesting capital assistance, and comprehensive project management plans were being requested from those properties as an early step to build confidence in UMTA that the particular project could be planned, designed, and executed efficiently and effectively, thereby using critically short capital assistance funds to best advantage. In the late 60's and early 70's, the choices of models for heavy rail construction would have been quite limited.., and perhaps much simpler than was the case in 1979. One of the writers was with an agency in 1979 in the process of finalizing its organization for project implementation after several years of study and had the opportunity to review the experiences of others at length, presumably to build on the success and to try to avoid the pitfalls and failures. The properties that were surveyed all reported more or less success stories. One could only conclude that there are many ways to organize for a major transit (construction) project and that there is a great variety of viable management structures, but it seemed that chances for success were best where the executing property had prepared a comprehensive project management plan, then resolved to follow it. Perhaps more important, a commitment or prior approval had been sought from UMTA as to the validity of the project management plan, and the property was allowed to proceed without detailed prior UMTA review or approval of all specific intermediate steps. Most important, however, an early overall UMTA funding commitment had been obtained that permitted some reasonable expectation of the rate of funding, perhaps by commitment

Jan 1, 1981

By J. H. Rowland, A. C. Smith, K. A. Teacoach

Current regulations for fire suppression systems in underground coal mines to protect conveyor belt installations have been in place since the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 was enacted. Over time, the coal conveyer equipment being used and ventilation conditions underground have changed significantly, particularly the width of the conveyor belts and the use of belt air at the face. The effect of these new conditions on the effectiveness of suppression systems during a fire is not known. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a study to evaluate the effect of air velocity, water sprinkler activation temperature and a limited water application time on the effectiveness of water sprinkler fire suppression systems to extinguish large-scale conveyor belt fires. The fire tests were conducted using both new and used 1.8-m-wide, fire-resistant rubber belt that met the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) flame-resistant requirement specified in Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations, part 18, section 18.65 (also known as the 2G test). Tests were conducted using standard response sprinklers with activation temperatures of 68° C and 141° C at air velocities of 0.5 and 5.1 m/s. Two tests were conducted at both air velocities for each sprinkler activation temperature, one using a new belt and one with a used belt. The results showed that the suppression system was able to suppress the fires in ten minutes to the point that a miner could extinguish it with a fire hose. However, in several of the tests, the fire reestablished itself a few minutes after the sprinkler water supply was cut off and quickly grew out of control. This report discusses the large-scale experimental configuration, the installation specifications of the fire suppression system and the results and conclusions regarding the effect of air velocity, sprinkler activation temperature and limited water application on the suppression system performance.

Jan 1, 2010

By John A. Meech

In many multiple-sulphide ore flotation processes, it is desirable to concentrate each of the various valuable minerals into separate products. Although there are a variety of techniques and chemicals which can be employed to produce efficient separation, two basic types of flotation circuits are used: The Differential Flotation Circuit and the Bulk/Selective Flotation Circuit. Figure I depicts these two circuits in their most simplified form for the production of two concentrates and one tailing product. If three or more valuable minerals are present in an ore, a variety of combinations or extensions of these two basic flowsheets may be used. There are many examples of the successful application of both circuit types with ores containing similar minerals. Each ore must be tested individually to decide on which circuit is best. However, the following general statements can be made: 1) The differential circuit will have higher capital and operating costs than will the bulk/selective circuit due to higher rougher capacity requirement. 2) The differential circuit will achieve better separation than will the bulk/selective circuit since it is usually easier to reactivate a depressed mineral than it is to depress an already active mineral. If the deactivation problem with the bulk/selective circuit . . in can be overcome, there is a clear economic argument for its use

Jan 1, 1977

By C. Ottergren

A process does not have higher capacity than what can pass through its bottleneck. Acknowledging this, and with the goal to optimize production at a minimum investment, one can use existing equipment, modify the process flow and make a few strategic capital investments. Automatic setting regulation is a technology that allows balanced crusher performance matching minute changes in feed material characteristics. The system makes it possible to utilize the crushers fully at all times. It also continuously and completely compensates for manganese liner wear.

Jan 1, 1999

By C. Ottergren

A process does not have higher capacity than what can pass through its bottleneck. Acknowledging this, and with the goal to optimize production at a minimum investment, one can use existing equipment, modify the process flow and make a few strategic capital investments. Automatic setting regulation is a technology that allows balanced crusher performance matching minute changes in feed material characteristics. The system makes it possible to utilize the crushers fully at all times. It also continuously and completely compensates for manganese liner wear.

Jan 1, 1999

By William B. Thayer, James H. Meinholz

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) has been working since mid-1977 on a fast track to meet a court-imposed schedule to rehabilitate a large wastewater collection and treatment system at an estimated cost of $1.7 billion. Because of glaciation, the Milwaukee area has an extremely complex geologic environment. The rock surface ranges from outcroppings in the northern and western parts of the area to 76 m (250 ft) below the surface at the mouth of the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers. Bedrock beneath the glacial mantle is a thick sequence of early to middle Paleozoic sedimentary rock. To cope with the many complexities of this large public works project, a Program Management Office (PMO) concept has been employed. A Geotechnical Engineering Group was established within the PMO to provide a continuous , unified approach to geotechnical engineering and full disclosure of all geotechnical information in the construction contract documents. It provides qeotechnical engineering to design and construction, develops and maintains a qeotechnical data base, and participates on the claims resource team.

Jan 1, 1983

By J. L. Arola

Since start-up of fluxed pellet production in August: 1987, the Minorca Mine has made a number of process changes to improve pellet quality and productivity. Quality improvements include: 1. Installation of a contraction t:ester. 2. Installation of on-line calcium and silica analyzers. 3. Process autocation changes. Productivity improvements include: 1. A second fluxstone storage bin and feeder. 2. A new vacuum pump and disc filter. 3. A filter aid addition system. 4. Enclosing the filter cake reclaim feeder. 5. A new grate bar cleaner.

Jan 1, 1989

By Allen W. Hatheway, John A. Albritton, Lloyd B. Underwood

Missouri River Division (FORD), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), has completed (October 1982) a study for the U.S. Air Force Ballistic Missile Office, in which desireable and needed changes in contracting methods for underground construction were identified. Due to the importance of geotechnical considerations in such construction, a good number of the resulting recommendations relate to geotechnical considerations. Corps contracts have traditionally served as models for contract documentation by public agencies and in private enterprise. Several standard features of present-day contracting methods were Corps innovations. Corps officials are generally in agreement with the recommendations of the Better Contracting reports published by the U.S. National Research Council (NAS/NRC), through its U.S. National Committee on Tunneling Technology (USNCTT). However, the findings of the 1982 MRD study indicate that additional changes are warranted for underground construction contracting methods; changes that deal specifically with site geological conditions, both known and to be reasonably anticipated, as well as with their associated impacts on construction. The 1982 MRD report identifies the need for nine specific improvements in geotechnical aspects of contracting; improvements based on recognition of geological conditions.

Jan 1, 1983

By Luciano Ramos, Daniel Santos

Igarape Bahia Mine, which is currently the largest gold producer in Brazil, belongs to Companhia Vale do Rio Doce - CVRD and is situated 250 miles south of Belem, state of Para, Brazil. It came into operation in 1992 with the startup of the CIP plant, fed with high grade ore, presently at 3.4gAu/t. The ore is totally oxidized, containing extremely fine particles of free gold. The ore is soft and low cyanide consumer, with a maximum work index of 12kwh/sht. In 1993 a Heap Leaching Plant was set into operation, handling low grade ore of · 1.s g Ault. The Heap Leaching Plant has undergone two major expansions. In 1994 its capacity was raised from lMtpy to 2,2Mtpy and in 1998, with a thorough remodeling of crushing operations, it was raised again to 3.5Mtpy. The CIP plant, which was originally designed with a capacity for l. lMtpy of ore, was expanded to a 2.2Mtpy capacity in 1994. Presently, the CIP plant accounts for most of Igarape Bahia's total gold output, with approximately 220,000oz per year. Igarape Bahia's annual output is around 360.000 oz. Over the last three years, work has been intensified to improve performance of both processes, aiming at maximizing productivity of the two industrial plants. Reduced costs and increased revenues have been given a special emphasis in the unified improvement program. Cost · reduction has involved developing methodologies to rationalize consumption of materials and inputs, while increased productivity has been given top priority as a means of generating increasing revenues. Thus, all of the improvement and development efforts have had a common goal: to increase operating income.

Jan 1, 2000

By C. S. Davis

In being asked to present this paper on the improvements in loading and hauling equipment and the effect on unit costs, Mr. Van De Water, your program chairman, stated that his reason for coming to a contractor was due to the wide experience of, and I quote: "a large contracting firm using a variety of equipment on varying types of earth moving jobs." We people in Utah Construction Company are flattered that Mr. Van De Water singled out our Company for this assignment. Utah Construction Company's participation in open pit mine stripping antedates the 1920's, when overburden was being removed from copper ore in Bingham Canyon, Utah. Our first stripping con¬tract for the Copper Company was finished in 1912. Since that early beginning, Utah has, as a contractor, been engaged to strip and mine iron ore properties, coal properties, copper properties, uranium properties, phosphate,-gypsum, limestone and dolomite properties. And, as you know, the Company has become a major producer of iron ore from Company-owned open pit mines. Utah Construction Company has been instrumental in the evolution of open pit mining tools. Some of the first tools were the old wood and coal fired stream shovels which had to be fired hours before a shift started to insure a full head of steam, providing power to excavate with the then large 1-1/2 cubic yard buckets. Today, Utah's strip mining is done, with 18 cubic yard and 10 cubic yard crawler shovels. Yesterday's horse and mule drawn, iron wheeled wagons, with 1 and 2 cubic yard capacity, which were hand dumped by removing the false bottom, one 2 x 4 at a time, have been replaced by today's- 50-ton capacity, hydraulic, rear dump trucks and giant 40-ton coal haulers. Utah Construction Company used the early fresnes and wheeled scrapers which were horse and mule drawn. Often, an operator holding too tightly to a handle was thrown into his horses when a hard spot turned the scraper, a contrast with today's 20 and 25 cubic yard, self-powered diesel and diesel electric Gargantuan rigs; with power controls that relieve the operator of practically all physical work. This Company has pioneered many of today's advances in equipment with shop made prototypes, features of which were adopted and elaborated upon by equipment manufacturers.

Jan 1, 1959

By George Mandarakas, Johan van Zyl, Karl-Heinz Becker

The world’s climate today has changed compared to 10 or 20 years ago. Many countries face water shortages; water sourcing for mining activities has become harder to secure. ESG’s focus on the industry has made us more aware of the need to preserve and responsibly use the water needed for wet processing in our milling and sorting activities. In a recent greenfield project in South Australia, 10 Gigalitres per annum would be required to process 5Mtpa of magnetite [1]. Published information indicates that the mining industry consumes approximately 12 EJ per year—or 3.5% of total global final energy consumption globally [2] or 3.33 trillion kilowatt hrs. This energy consumption is significant, considering the critical role mining plays in extracting and processing essential minerals for economic development and human progress. The perception of the mining industry is that not only does it consume significant power, but it also consumes a lot of the freshwater in the world. In fact, it consumes approximately 5% [3] of the total freshwater demand. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by 2050, 60% of the world’s population will be living in countries that are classed as water-stressed [3]. As more and more emphasis is placed on renewable energy sources, the amount of water used in mineral processing will increase because more and more raw materials require a water-intensive process. This increases the pressure on the mining industry to try and find water-saving initiatives. As part of this review, recent advancements in magnets have enabled magnetite processing facilities to achieve between 30 to 40% dry gangue material rejection before the wet beneficiation process (grinding and sorting). This reduction in energy consumption allows the reduction of energy consumption. Secondly, there is less material ground in the mills, which requires less water for mineral downstream processing.

Feb 1, 2025

By Ludovico Sebastiao Costa, Luis Albano Tondo, Bonzi Yokomizo Santos, Nelson Roberto Garcia Munhoz

This paper focus on the productivity, cost efficiency and training programmes that have enable RPM to rank as a world class operation in production efficiency and safety achievements. The first step was to commit all senior managers to implementing the NOSA Industrial Safety System based on Management by Objectives. This focused the workforce in a specific, results-driven direction which greatly promoted subsequent performance improvements. The early operations concentrated on increasing throughput via process simplification and removal of bottlenecks. Efforts were simultaneously directed to environment, health and safety as a means to improving the quality of operations. In the last two years, improvements in mining and in-tailings dam management have further improved the cost competitiveness of RPM such as to assure its future in treating the remaining CTBl ore reserves. Promissing progress is being made in developing a viable process to exploit a remaining large resource of B2 mineralisation.

Jan 1, 1993

By Corby G. Anderson

Since 1985, the Sunshine Mining Company has used a patented nitric-sulfuric acid pressure leaching system for production of silver and copper from a refractory sulfide ore body. To better understand this novel process, a program of lab scale testing was undertaken to quantify the effect of system variables on silver recovery. Some of the factors studied include temperature, agitation, acidity, vessel pressure, particle size, percent solids and oxidizer amount. In turn, this knowledge will be applied in actual plant practice to upgrade reaction time, increase concentrate throughput, raise silver recovery and lower reagent costs. A discussion of plant process changes resulting from lab scale testing is included.

Jan 1, 1991

By J. F. T. Agapito

Significant increases in extraction ratio on the order of six to eight percent, equivalent to as much as 142 t/m of panel advance, have occurred at the Big Island Mine during the last five years with the help of a practical rock mechanics program. This increase in resource recovery also has contributed to improvements in productivity. Both conventional and continuous machine mining have been used to mine two flat-laying trona beds at depths of 250 to 260 m in the Green River Formation in south-western Wyoming.

Jan 1, 1988