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By Stephen van Duin

As productivity in coal extraction demands increase in underground coal mines, the industry is faced with finding new ways to support production without jeopardising safety. In modern mines the capacity and scale of longwall coal extraction has steadily increased to a point that support processes are failing to keep pace. In particular, roadway development is continually placed on the critical path of activities which maintain mine production, so any inefficiency in this area is quickly exposed. Original equipment manufacturers are under immense pressure to modify their machines to be more interconnected with each other, with machine communication and logistical sharing of space becoming a known requirement. This paper looks at the changing trends in mining practice, analysing available technology as well as currently emerging research into hard automation and discusses the need to integrate machinery and processes in order to see increases in productivity and safety.

Aug 1, 2013

By Michael Magerstädt

Material loss by abrasion of contact surfaces of pipes, chutes, pumps, and other equipment in contact with ore is one of the main reasons for downtime of mining operations. Abrasion protection materials in use range from expensive tungsten carbide overlay to hardened steels, ceramics, as well as polymers, particularly polyurethanes (PUR). This paper describes abrasion protection products made from High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers. An interior pipe coating was developed that exhibited outstanding abrasion resistance and an extremely high adhesion to steel. Years of field testing in oil sands tailings as well as applications in slurry lines (e.g., phosphate slurries) have proven the performance of this material. A proprietary field joining process was developed and successfully applied in the field. This joining process requires only one field weld per joint very similar to the joining of uncoated pipe. No internal re-coating is necessary adding savings during pipe laying to the significant savings of reduced down time. Using the building-kit chemistry of polyurethane synthesis, similar high performance elastomers were used to extend the life time of ball mills. An intelligent system was developed in which wear parts contain sensors reporting the actual wear thereby optimizing maintenance interval leading to significant cost savings for the operator. Test data as well as field experience with High Performance PUR Elastomers for abrasion protection in mining are presented.

Aug 1, 2013

By Gurinder Kaur

Selenium (Se) based materials find wide applications in rectifiers, solar cells, photographic exposure meters, data storage devices, xerography and anticancer agents. They are also used in the glass industry to eliminate bubbles and remove undesirable tints produced by iron. In addition, Se is highly reactive towards a wealth of chemicals that can be potentially exploited to convert Se into other functional materials such as CdSe, ZnSe, Ag2Se. Here, we report a review of structural investigations of Se based materials in glassy and nanostructured forms. Glasses having varying amounts of Se and Tellurium (Te) were doped with group IV and V elements such as antimony and tin. Structural changes accompanying the composition variation were characterized with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy. At the same time Se-Te nanoalloys were synthesized in aqueous micellar phase using Na2SeO3/Na2TeO3 as the Se/Te source. Morphology change from nanoparticles to nanoribbons was investigated using Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy (SEM/TEM) techniques. Structural investigations were also done for well defined morphologies of Se based nano-biomaterials obtained in the presence of water soluble protein bovine serum albumin (BSA).

Aug 1, 2013

By Shigeomi Nishigaki

This paper presents quantitative indexes to evaluate operator?s bearing, difficulty in a task, and machine operability when an operator remotely controls a backhoe, and reports the use cases. The quantitative indexes would give her/him the opportunity to reflect on her/his works, and enable us to gain in-depth insight into the teleoperation, and furthermore give us with promising hints to improve it.

Aug 1, 2013

By V. Polotski

Initiated and financed by the Canadian Space Agency, Micro-Rover Platform with Tooling Arm (MRPTA) project has targeted the development of a robotic system with remote control and autonomous navigation capabilities for testing a large variety of analogous planetary missions. Although developed for planetary exploration, the navigation system is highly suitable to such areas of application as construction and in mining. Autonomous navigation system is capable of moving the platform to predefined position(s)/orientation(s) while continuously mapping the terrain, assessing its traversability and choosing most appropriate path to follow. Designed according to the JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) framework, the system consists of several interconnected components. Following components are of particular importance: Pose Estimator (PE), Terrain Evaluator (TE), Map Manager (MP), and Path Planner (PP). The PE uses a minimal sensor configuration consisting of an azimuth gyroscope, inclinometer and wheel odometry. The PE provides reliable pose estimates in spite of pronounced slippage by employing extensive use of fused data. The TE uses a nodding laser scanner which continuously sweeps the area in front of the platform and constructs a ?traversability grid? (TG) of the surrounding area. Multiple TGs are constantly constructed along the platform motion path are combined into a terrain map maintained by the MP. The PP uses this map to compute a motion path Obtained path is executed by the motion controller and remains current until it is contradicted by the most recent map ? at which point it is re-planned. This paper addresses integration issues, lessons learned and also outlines the possible applications for construction and mining.

Aug 1, 2013

By A. K. Debnath

Coal is the mainstay of Indian energy supplies. The many-fold increase in demand for coal puts a huge pressure on augmenting production, primarily from opencast mines. The increase in production necessitates heavy blasting in overburden and coal benches of opencast mines, which poses numerous challenges in carrying out blasting operations techno-economically. Presently, the consumption of industrial explosives and accessories in Coal India Limited (CIL) has touched a whopping figure of $350 million USD per annum and CIL will be spending approximately $1 billion USD between 2012?2013 to 2014?2015 for procuring explosives and accessories. This paper discusses some of key challenges faced in various mines of CIL during blasting, where blast instrumentation at the mine level will prove to a harbinger for practicing blasting engineers. Presently, the problem of scattering in surface detonators and down-the-hole detonators affects the blast performance significantly by increased blast induced ground vibration and reduced fragmentation. The paper discusses a case study carried out at Umrer opencast project of CIL to investigate the effect of scattering by using blast simulation techniques (i.e., JKSimblast) and observing the actual blast results with the help of a high-speed camera and multi-channel high frequency data acquisition systems. The fragmentation assessment was carried out by adopting Digital Image Analysis techniques and using the granularity software viz. Wipfrag. The blast instrumentation in the case study mine resulted in improvement in fragmentation of 12.76% and a direct savings in explosives cost of 28%. Geophysical techniques such as the seismic survey method have been used at Umrer Project, CIL to characterize the rock mass using the Multi Channel Analysis of Surface Waves system for selecting the explosives technoeconomically. The minimum deck thickness for mines of CIL using drill cuttings as decking materials should be 10 D, where D is the drill diameter. The estimation of blast performance on the basis of prescribed Powder Factor (i.e., kg of explosives per m3 of rock) is technically unscientific as the criterion of a good blast depends on many factors (i.e., good heave, loose muck, muck profile angle, ease of digging, uniform fragmentation). The present paper proposes a new methodology for techno-economic evaluation of blast performance. The new methodology involves four significant factors viz. specific energy consumed by the loading equipment, charge factor, productive yield and diggability index for assessing blast performance. The use of user-friendly, accurate, reliable, rugged and handy instruments in blasting will significantly improve mine productivity, equipment efficiency and economics. The improvement in blast performance, even by 1%, will provide a significant savings of $3.5 million USD per annum to CIL. It may be concluded with high degree of confidence that blast instrumentation at the mine level will influence the mine productivity and economics.

Aug 1, 2013

By B. Leonard

As of November 2012, the Alberta government listed 53 oil and gas, oil sands, and mining construction projects either proposed or currently under construction. These industrial plant construction projects have an estimated value greater than 105 million dollars. A common construction method employed for industrial plant projects is fast-track construction, which is used to reduce construction time. Contractors begin fast-track construction with highly generic scheduling information. This high level schedule turns into a lower level schedule as more detailed information becomes available. From a contractor?s perspective, a challenge faced using fast-track construction is the visualization of generic and constantly changing project schedules. This paper discusses the use of a Plant Information Modeling (PIM) system, designed to create a 4D animation to visualize project schedules for fast-track industrial plant construction projects. The proposed PIM system creates a modified project schedule by obtaining specific information from a generic construction schedule. Obtaining the information involves grouping schedule activities in accordance with the level of detail in a 3D model, and the level of detail in a project schedule. The modified project schedule is then used in conjunction with a 3D model to simulate the construction sequence in the form of a 4D animation. This allows for 4D visualization of project activities, installation dates, and crane movements. Furthermore, as engineering reaches completion, the PIM system creates a streamlined channel for schedule information updates to be easily uploaded into the model for a more accurate 4D visualization. Through analyzing a nonmodular construction case study, this paper discusses the successes and benefits of the PIM system for 4D visualization, such as increased productivity, shortened construction time, increased constructability, and decreased field costs.

Aug 1, 2013

By E. Viljamaa

In this research, earlier developed information integration method and novel web technologies are applied to intensify infrastructure construction process control. The applied method uses semantic methods to integrate scattered information that is later on exploited by process management using state-of-the-art web technologies. The applied method and web technologies not only improve the process management situation awareness by integrated up-todate multi-source process data but also provide platform independent access and visualization tool for process data. Utilization of such technologies potentially lead on cost savings, make processes safer and also more environmentally friendly. The integration method also enables intelligent queries to the integrated data making possible to use machine based inferring to the data.

Aug 1, 2013

By E. Trickey

In the mining industry there exists a constant drive for increased safety and productivity and decreased operating costs. This acts as a driver for implementing advanced technology. As more and more mining operations turn to new technologies, an observed bottle-neck for technology advancement has been the limitation of machine vision solutions available. LiDAR has been seen as a possible solution to the machine vision problem. In the past, a few studies on machine vision solutions have been undertaken by various groups involving scanning laser range-finders and millimetre-wave radar. These studies have done little more than highlight the limitations of both technologies in the mining environment. Little work has been done, however, exploring the applicability of LiDAR imaging technology for mining applications. Neptec Technologies Corp. has developed an obscurant-penetrating LiDAR (OPAL) sensor technology which overcomes the limitations faced by traditional LiDAR sensors when operating in a dusty environment, as well as advanced 3D real-time intelligence (3DRi) data processing algorithms that enable the real-time exploitation of 3D imaging data with sensors mounted on moving vehicles. Working with Teck Resources Ltd. and Barrick Gold Corporation, Neptec is adapting the OPAL sensors and 3DRi technology to mining applications. This paper highlights a number of real-time OPAL/3DRi based mining applications demonstrating how this technology overcomes the limitations of traditional LiDAR to provide a real-time machine vision solution that supports mine machine autonomy.

Aug 1, 2013

By Xiang Yu

Hong Kong has a dense distribution of utility services laid under its road network. Utility undertakers frequently demand road openings to install new services and/or maintain existing ones. Road openings can cause troubles to the road network and negatively impact the public interest. Highways Department is responsible for managing road openings in Hong Kong under the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance. Highways Department has spent a lot of efforts to computerize excavation permit processing and utility management. The computerized system has gone through several generations and the current one is called the excavation permit management system (XPMS). On the one hand, the XPMS handles various excavation permit processing functions including permit application/approval/refusal/issuance/extension/termination, fees/costs, permit conditions, and permit period assessment; on the other hand, the XPMS accounts for some important utility management issues such as spatial check, coordination of multiple openings, traffic management, audit inspection, and defect liability. This paper discusses how the application, coordination, and other administrations of an excavation permit are eased by using the XPMS in Hong Kong. Background information such as the governing legal and regulatory framework, and Highways Department?s administrative structure is introduced. The system architecture and advantages of the XPMS are presented. The work procedures and various functions of the XPMS are studied in detail.

Aug 1, 2013

By K. Webb

At both the international and country level, the issue of how the mining sector and indigenous populations should engage on issues of mutual interest or concern has emerged as one of central importance and controversy; involving the mining industry, Aboriginal communities, governments, the courts, and other stakeholders. At its heart, stakeholder engagement is an ethical issue, although it manifests itself in international instruments, domestic laws, industry guidance and agreements. At the international level, the concept of ?free, prior and informed consent? (FPIC), while not subject to widespread agreement on the finer details of evolving definitions, seems to be emerging as an increasingly recognized engagement norm. Within Canada, through a series of decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has articulated a fiduciary obligation of the Crown to consult with and accommodate impacted Aboriginal groups on resource management issues. Provincial governments have been variously attempting to adjust their resource management regimes to stay in alignment with SCC and lower court decisions. Mining sector organizations, working with First Nations partners, have developed agreements to work together for mutual benefit. At the individual mine and community level, there have been instances of constructive engagement, as well situations of physical resistance and legal challenges. The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential impact of new rules under the Ontario Mining Act introduced in 2012 and taking full effect in 2013, which amongst other procedural specifications, addresses the issue of mining industry-Aboriginal consultation in exploration and development activities. Leading up to the passage of the regulations, representatives from some junior mineral exploration companies have been highly critical of the new rules. Similarly, there have been a range of responses to the new rules from some in the First Nations community. The paper will review the regulation in terms of its apparent alignment with SCC decisions and the international norm, compare the regulations with existing mining sector organization guidance documents, and it will draw on the stated perspectives and commentaries of First Nations communities, mining firms, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and others. Building on the foregoing, the paper will provide a preliminary analysis of the perspectives and potential impacts of the new regulation on various stakeholders, and on that basis, possible avenues for further consideration will be suggested.

Aug 1, 2013

By S. Kivrak

The firms in construction industry could not sufficiently adapt the rapidly emerging information technologies in recent years into their corporate structures. Therefore, in an effort to further exploit the benefits of information technology (IT), integration of the experiences and backgrounds of construction industry and the advantages of IT, is one of the most open-ended fields for improvement in this industry. Utilization of IT in the construction sites will positively affect the efficiency, productivity, quality and health & safety issues in the construction sites thus the cost and completion time of the projects. Within this context, augmented reality technology, which brings a new perspective into IT, can be put into the service of construction industry. Augmented reality which has been designed to improve the services in many application domains such as school education, military warfare, military trainings, industrial maintenance, retail and medical, can be defined in the simplest form as augmenting the real world with information from the virtual world. The main aim of this study, which presents an overview of an ongoing project, is to develop an innovative method by making a construction worker, foreman, equipment operator or a site engineer watch a very comprehensive and informative animation which will enable the said staff to perform or supervise all the phases of the activity he or she is in charge for in a more efficient, productive, safer and qualified manner by means of smart glasses using augmented reality systems. In this respect, training material related with the activities in the construction sites will be prepared and with a well-fictionalized scenario, animations exhibiting all the phases and details regarding the related activity (e.g. masonry, formwork and rebar works etc.), method of statement, correct and incorrect applications in comparison-wise manner, will be produced. Therefore, the user will be able to reach the training material, method statements etc. in the animations about the activity he or she is in charge for, enabling him or her to figure out the work as prescribed in the specifications. Basic trainings about the system will be given to target group, i.e. construction workers, foremen, operators, site engineers and managers working in the construction sites to apply the system on sites after all the system was tested. After the testings, to determine the effectiveness of this system, semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires will be conducted among the mentioned target group. Therefore, the potential benefits of this system to the construction industry can be determined. The main target of this study is to implement an efficient, thorough construction management by orienting the staff in the construction sites to perform efficient, safe and qualified works by means of smart glasses that use augmented reality. There are relatively few studies about the implementations of augmented reality technology in construction. The outputs to be attained in the end of the study have the potential of improvement of time, cost, quality and safety parameters by ensuring a qualified, safe, efficient and productive construction management via augmented reality technology in the construction industry.

Aug 1, 2013

By A. J. Antony Chettupuzha

Electronic Product and Process Management [EPPM] systems provide the capability to establish and map information flow between different parties in a construction project as well as model project processes. Much of the information relating to processes and their structure, the actors that operate them, and the data associated with each instance of a process is encapsulated within workflows. The wealth of information contained in an EPPM system can be exploited to extract knowledge that can provide significant cost benefits to construction companies. Workflows provide an ideal medium for the capture of knowledge over the course of a project lifecycle. We demonstrate how this knowledge may then be used to analyze workflows and determine metrics that establish the suitability of workflows to construction processes. We present a conceptual approach to measure the performance of a workflow, its constituent components and evolution, which may be used to lay the foundation for establishing paragon workflows suited to classes of construction activities.

Aug 1, 2013

Energy benchmarking is widely applied across industries to determine the potential to improve energy performance. Unlike the many technologies for which energy benchmarks and efficiency rating systems are already in maturity, benchmarking of mining processes is still in its infancy. Benchmarking energy usage in mining operations, where energy costs are high and represent a significant portion of overall operating expenses, is challenging due to the uniqueness of each mining operation. Mines vary in terms of geology, geographic setting, ore body geometry, mineralogy which impact the mining method, material handling, processing and waste management. In order to gauge the opportunity for reducing the energy intensity of individual operations and also to compare the energy performance of operations on a global scale, the deployment of new benchmarking methodologies, models and frameworks is necessary. As a step towards the establishment of an accurate framework for benchmarking the energy consumption of mining operations, comminution, one of the more energy intensive mining sub-processes, was selected as the focus of a new energy benchmarking method. The methodologies and processes used to onset fragmentation in a rock mass to the crushing or grinding of rock to a size that is suitable for economic extraction are predominantly dependent on the ore properties. For this reason, site specific factors, such as the size reduction requirements and ore hardness were included in an energy benchmark model so that the energy performance of comminution processes at different operations could be normalized and compared on a global scale. Single particle compression breakage has been identified by several prominent researchers in the field of comminution as the upper limit of energy utilization in size reduction processes. For this reason single particle compression breakage was proposed as the basis of a work index for ores to be used as an input for the benchmark model. Overall, the new method showed that the energy benchmark for mineral comminution can be normalized and subsequently compared for a range of mining operations once the ore hardness has been appropriately characterized.

Aug 1, 2013

By S. Hill

For a mining operation, the determination of the best place to build haul roads is typically done by hand, or with the assistance of rudimentary shortest path optimisation algorithms. Straight line, point to point, modelling of costs is often used with distances multiplied by constants that are based on rise of the road between the points. Failings of this approach are that straight line approximations are notoriously poor as they do not take into account areas where a truck cannot travel. In addition, the rise and fall of the road may vary considerably over the truck journey meaning acceleration/deceleration and varying truck speeds are not taken into account. Lastly, the use of rudimentary optimisation algorithms means properties a truck must obey such as minimum turning circles, line of sight restrictions or even that the truck must travel forward at all times are not taken into account. Thus solutions generated may not be feasible, let alone optimal. In this paper we discuss a state of the art parallel Artificial Intelligence tree search technique for solving haul road location problems. As well as the above properties, factors such as road utilisation, cut and fill, and construction costs are taken into account. The combination of advanced modelling and fast computing and optimisation techniques produces significant benefits both in terms of time to generate roads and cost savings. Preliminary results where this method has been used are discussed.

Aug 1, 2013

By Garston H. Blackwell

For ageing open pit mining operations where the economic viability of another pushback is questionable, mine life can be extended by increasing the wall slope. If the steepening is started where ore intersects the pit wall, the capital outlay for waste stripping is minimal. Such a venture must be conducted safely, and a basic requirement would include loading equipment capable of working remotely. In the application described, alternatives in the choice of loader included equipment available on site, or the purchase and assembly of used equipment. Only electric cable shovels were in use at the operation, and it was thought that these would be more capable of digging high muck piles at the productivity demanded by an increasingly efficient mill, and in a challenging environment less suited to a rubber tired loader or hydraulic front shovel. A decision was made to convert an older electric cable shovel to remote controlled operation and to include the application of semi-robotic control. The conversion was completed successfully and is described, along with methods developed for remote operation of a shovel, and the application of various sensors for semi-robotic operation. A plan of operations to mine out several completed double benches and make two quadruple benches with wide catchment berms is depicted. On completion of this task, the working benches developed would be wide enough to operate at near full production. Prior to moving the remote controlled shovel back into the pit, a large wall instability became active, eventually closing the operation. The instability could have been safely mined using the remote controlled shovel.

Aug 1, 2013

By M. Vaccarini

In this paper a possible methodology to supplement a predictive control approach is reported. The benefits deriving from the application of a predictive control on complex buildings lay on its capability of adapting in advance to the conditioning needs of indoor environments. In fact, the mere reactive control is usually affected by response delays, mainly determined by latency intrinsic in systems and by the massive nature of buildings, which slows down their response to changeable inputs. Hence, systems are too often solicited at their maximum power to recover against comfort deficiencies, and high consumptions are had. This paper reports on the application of a predictive approach to the Passeig de Gracia (PdG) metro station in Barcelona, which is a considerably high energy demanding building and where ventilation systems are used to control both comfort and air quality. Although an extensive simulation for estimating energy savings obtainable through that approach is currently ongoing, in this paper we detail the several components which make up a ?predictive control framework? and we perform a preliminary demonstrative simulation. In particular, the whole setup is formed by: a detailed model of PdG, which simulates the station?s ?real state?; a control model, which optimizes a given cost-function; probabilistic predictive models to infer the future state of the systems, given the assumptions on the control actions by the control module. The outcomes of this paper show that the procedure is applicable and preliminary results over a short simulation horizon of half a day are reported.

Aug 1, 2013

By R. Bridge

Mining companies are progressively finding themselves having to develop operations for more complex, deeper ore bodies, which require the use of more complicated mining and mineral processing methods. This coupled with the generally increasing trend of higher capital and operational costs have led to a need in the industry for improving ore body knowledge, mining and mineral processing. Geometallurgy is a relatively new concept that can link the three aspects, and when used effectively it is a method that can produce the necessary information for designing and building operations for reliable and optimum performance. Geometallurgy not only involves the integration of geological, mining, and metallurgical fields, but it can also be expanded to include environmental and economic information to produce a block model that can be used to obtain the best outcome in terms of plant response and plant sustainability. The geometallurgical program should not end once the block model has been populated. A detailed geometallurgical approach should be applied to all stages of the operation encompassing sample selection, through to equipment sizing and production forecasting. It can also become a useful optimisation tool thereby allowing the operation to be proactive rather than reactive against changes in the ore characteristics. With the development of metallurgical performance predictors it is possible to quantify how the ore will behave in the process plant in terms of throughput, recoveries, reagent consumption, etc. Therefore, in terms of responsible mining and sustainable resource development, a geometallurgical approach to operations is the logical step for plant development. In this paper we describe the state of the technology with respect to the application of geometallurgical modeling and its utilisation in the fields of design, forecasting and optimisation of mining operations.

Aug 1, 2013

By S. Aram

Concrete reinforcing requires coordination among many roles: structural engineer, estimator, detailer, fabricator, installer and others. The methods used to define and represent concrete reinforcement elements and assemblies in building information models is crucial in determining the efficiency of sharing data among BIM platforms and the effectiveness of using the carried data in production planning, fabrication and site work activities. Starting from the information items that are required to be provided by BIM platforms, as defined in earlier work, we have developed the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) bound Concepts and Model View Definitions (MVDs) for concrete reinforcement. Furthermore, in coordination with software developers, we propose guidelines for best practices for concrete reinforcement modeling. Implementing these guidelines by software providers will improve reinforcement modeling with regard to various aspects of reinforcement products like geometric representation, placement, and property specifications. The proposed approach is selected as a way to improve functionality of the shared data for production planning, fabrication, project management, and site activities. Guidelines for assigning information to rebar type and instance definitions as well as to rebar elements and assemblies are provided. An efficient method of sharing geometry and property sets among rebar instances of a rebar array is also defined.

Aug 1, 2013

By Heidi Beers

Teijin Limited ? Global technology-driven group operating in six main fields Advanced fibers and composites business group Healthcare business group Trading and retail business group IT business group New business development group Electronic materials and performance polymer products business group ? Listed on Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges ? 150 companies and around 17,000 employees worldwide ? Consolidated sales of USD 9.1 billion*

Aug 1, 2013