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By S. Frisch

Selenium (Se) in effluent waters has become a significant challenge for a number of industries. Toxicity studies and new reports of occurrence have certainly caused increased scrutiny and actions in the mining industry today (Sandy, DiSante, 2010). While initial activity in addressing selenium-laden waters were conducted in the coal mining industry, today a much broader range of mine types are beginning to search for solutions to selenium treatment of their mining waters, including both hard rock mining operations (gold, nickel, zinc, etc.) and soft rock mining (phosphate, uranium, etc.) Throughout North America, new regulations covering selenium discharge are either in place or being developed. While a number of physical/chemical approaches show promise in selenium treatment, when considering optimal cost and treatment efficacy issues, biological treatment ? particularly fixed-film biological treatment - is reported to be one of the most promising approaches to managing selenium-containing waters. Among biological treatment options, the fluidized bed reactor (FBR) has undergone extensive pilot testing for Se treatment in the last three years, including eight pilot programs, and the first FBR system is now operating at a coal mining site. In all tests, the FBR has been shown to be a highly cost-effective approach to selenium treatment based on its physical and performance characteristics. This is consistent with its history for reaching low levels of treatment in similar service for other oxyanions including perchlorate, nitrate and various metals. With the results from the most recent testing, the technology has been shown to be adaptable to an ever-broadening range of influent water conditions and flow rates, in varying terrains and weather conditions. Selenium occurs in various valence states from -2 to +6 (Sobolewski, 2005). The speciation of selenium plays a critical role in understanding the effectiveness of any approach for removal, especially to low levels. Elemental selenium is insoluble and has little effect on living organisms. Colloidal fractions are known to occur. In aqueous environments such as coal mining runoff, selenium is most often found as the oxygenated anions of selenite (SeO32-, Se4+) and selenate, (SeO42-, Se6+). Selenium is commonly found in mining waters in concentrations ranging from 3 to >12,000 µg/L. The U.S. National Primary Drinking Water Standard MCL is 50 µg/L for selenium (EU 10 µg/L; WHO 40 µg/L). The National Fresh Water Quality Standard is 5 µg/L for selenium. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recommended that the National Fresh Water Quality Standard be lowered to 2 µg/L to protect fish, waterfowl, and endangered aquatic species. Several states have followed with enforcement actions at these same low levels. In Canada, permits may require stakeholders to monitor levels in water or biota, or to comply with guidelines, at either the National or Provincial levels, which can be as low as 1 or 2 µg/L in surface waters. Treatment of selenium in all mining waters presents a series of challenges. It can be present in relatively dilute concentrations and in streams with variable and often high flow rates. It can be present in many soluble and particulate forms, which may affect process design and treatability. The conditions of influent selenium-containing waters can vary, with issues such as temperature, pH, total dissolved solids and other contaminants affecting the ability to remove selenium selectively and economically. Treatment of selenium often results in the generation of a concentrated by-product requiring disposal, and re-release from residuals can occur. Beyond these issues, the physical environment of a mining operation can offer challenges such as remoteness and harsh and/or cold weather. Currently available selenium treatment technology (Table 1) includes biological treatment and a number of physical-chemical processes ? such as ion exchange, membrane filtration and adsorption ? that vary widely in efficiency and cost. Most treatment options remain either too costly and/or unproven for selenium-containing streams for reasons that include poor removal efficiency, variability in volume and composition of influents, system sizing and logistics considerations, as well as operating requirements.

Feb 23, 2014

By Walter Valery, Kristy Duffy, Alex Jankovic, Peter Holtham

Hatch’s Mine to Process Optimization projects integrate mining and processing strategies, minimizing operating costs and maximizing overall profit. The methodology involves ore characterization, blast audits, plant surveys, analysis of historical data, and integrated modelling and simulation of mining and processing. Blast designs are tailored according to ore type and the downstream process is optimized for the changed feed. This approach has increased throughput and minimized costs for many operations worldwide. The implementation of this methodology at an iron ore operation that faced challenges with increasing mining strip ratio and ore body mineralogy changes is presented in this paper. The larger stripping ratio increased mining costs and constrained the run-of-mine (ROM) delivery to the process plant. Process performance was affected as the ore mineralogy shifted from predominantly hematite to include greater proportions of magnetite. The project objective was to minimize overall cost per ton mined and processed and maximize profit. Tailoring the blast designs according to ore type and process optimization increased the throughput of all process lines. This provided the potential to shut down one of the five processing line, aligning the mine and plant capacity and significantly reducing the processing costs.

Oct 3, 2019

By A. E. M. Warner, P. J. Mackey

"In 1988, two of the present authors Warner and Vahed [1] were amongst several co-authors on a seminal paper reviewing nickel pyrometallurgical operations of the era. Given that significant changes in the nickel industry have occurred since that time, including the overall political landscape, technology, the overall world energy picture, the countries sourcing nickel and finally the nickel market itself, the present authors considered it timely to provide a 2015 update. In 1988, total world nickel production from sulphide and laterite sources, including production in the former "Centrally Planned Economies"- was about 0.86 million tonnes/a, while in 2014 total world nickel production reached an all-time high of almost 2 million tonnes/a - some 230% higher. On the other hand, while in 1988, about 94% of world nickel was produced pyrometallurgically and of the order of 33% via laterites, today, about 88% of nickel is by pyrometallurgy, with some 41% from laterites, thus showing that more nickel is now sourced from laterites, a trend which is expected to continue.During the period under review, new processing technologies were developed and introduced, along with substantial improvements in both the technologies employed and the scale of operations. Significant productivity gains have been achieved in sulphide pyrometallurgy in part through more efficient mineral processing, particularly in pyrrhotite rejection, and the use of ever larger-scale process equipment. This made it possible to treat lower grade and more complex ores. The significant game-changer from a production perspective was the introduction in the early 2000s of nickel pig iron (NPI) in China via modified iron blast furnace smelting, an old technology long ago cast aside by other nickel producing countries. With the exception of the emergence of this new NPI capacity in China, in the laterite industry modernization and expansion of existing operations has been employed to gain productivity, to cut costs and/or offset the effect of declining ore grades. The NPI technology development has become a game changer in the traditional global supply and demand relationship, opening up a new frontier to supply nickel to low grade utility steel producers. One other key nickel development was the Indonesian ban on nickel ore exports effective in January 2014, thus effectively curtailing NPI production at existing Chinese plants, but on the other hand, potentially prompting new smelting facilities in Indonesia. This paper reviews and updates major pyrometallurgical sulphide and laterite operations worldwide, including changes in nickel extractive metallurgy. It also provides a brief review of new developments in pyrometallurgical operations, with special focus on the NPI process and presents an outlook of the potential future direction of the industry."

Jan 1, 2015

By T. P. Meloy

The behavior of slime-sized particles in a flotation cell is neither well documented nor well understood. In general, slimes (or 'fines' as they will be alternatively called in this chapter) have been either ignored, eliminated, or treated empirically. Recently, however, some good experimental and theoretical work has been done that leads qualitatively to a clearer understanding of the problems involved. Fines are small particles that, owing to their smallness, behave differently from larger particles of the same material. The smaller the particle, the larger is its surface-to-mass ratio. The difference in the surface-to-mass ratio for a micron-sized particle and a centimeter-sized particle is 10,000 to 1. For our purposes we shall arbitrarily define any particle less than 10 µ 10-3 cm) as being a fine. This is generally considered the upper limit of colloidal-sized particles. Recently, the field of colloidal chemistry has successfully used the concept of the double layer to explain dispersion and flocculation of fine particles in a static system. Flotation, however, is a dynamic system due both to the turbulence of the liquid and to the coursing of the bubbles through the cell. Further more, a flotation system is a heterogeneous system in which there are a number of different types of particles which interact with one another. A further difficulty is that no two flotation systems are the same for minute quantities of a variety of common chemicals will alter the behavior of the system. These reasons make reproducible experimental results that can ex- plain fine-particle behavior difficult to obtain. In spite of these experimental difficulties, millions of tons of ore containing a large amount of fines are successfully floated every year. For example, at the Morning mill of American Smelting and Refining Co., a galena concentrate that was 42% -6 µ and a sphalerite concentrate that was 33% -9 µ were floated leaving a tailing that was 27% - 9 µ.l Ores that contain fines can generally be divided into two classes. In the first are those in which the valuable mineral tends to slime, such as galena and hematite. In the other class, one or more of the gangue minerals forms the slime; a typical example is barite. Though the problems due to the presence of fines are often the same in handling the two classes of ore, the method of handling them is different because of economic considerations. Nonmetallic mineral flotation is particularly affected by slimes, by either slime-coating effects or excessive reagent consumption. Though a given gangue mineral may not float under the conditions prevailing in the flotation cell, it may still be able to adsorb the collector. I£ it also slimes, a significant

Jan 1, 1962

By L. R. Willmott

An ethanolamine purification unit for removing carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from Firscher-Tropsch synthesis gas was installed at the Bureau of Mines synthetic liquid fuels demonstration plant at Louisiana, Mo. The unit was a surplus Radford Girbotol unit from the Missouri Ordnance Works modified for a capacity of 90,000 std. cu. ft per hour of synthesis gas at 450 p.s.i.g., operating pressure. The hydrogen sulfide loading of the feed gas was specified at 500 grains per 100 cu. Ft. The unit was designed by the Girdler Corp. and installed by the Koppers Co. Initial operations were conducted far 11 days in May 1951. Thereafter 7 additional runs were made, varying lo duration from 8 to 54 days. The last run was terminated on May 29, 1953, the total time the Plant wars in operation being 219 days.

Jan 1, 1956

By Miguel Angel Ibarra

This paper describes the results of a digital computer simulation study in which the impact of the proposed truck dispatching on the overall mine productivity was investigated for an operating open pit mine. In the study, the existing operation was first simulated for a one-month period, using both the actual time study data and the computed cycle times. By adjusting certain input parameters to the simulation program, the actual one month production was first duplicated through simulation. Afterwards, the operation was again simulated in a dispatch mode. Comparison of simulation results under the dispatch mode, with the initial base case simulation results, showed a definite improvement in overall productivity with dispatching; i.e., approximately 10% gain for the operation. As expected, the results also showed that the extent of possible improvement did vary with the particular pit configuration being investigated.

Jan 1, 1980

By Noel Jarrett

Energy consumption and distribution in aluminum production, conservation accomplishments, and future goals are presented. Electrolysis and electrode manufacture show the greatest promise for major improvements. Means are proposed for reducing waste heat generation in smelting and for conserving energy in anode manufacture by furnace design and substitution of other materials for petroleum coke. Hall-Heroult Process modifications, alternative designs, and the Alcoa Smelting Process are discussed as energy savers. Scrap recycling, more use of aluminum in transportation, and the installation of offshore smelters in less developed countries are shown to be additional means of coping with possible energy dislocations.

Jan 1, 1981

By N. L. ALISON

MUCH has been published on the general subject of metal mine ventilation but, so far as I can discover, few specific data on selection of fan equipment to meet the requirements of a given mine ventilation problem are available. This article is intended to point out some of the more important considerations which influence the selection of such equipment. It will be assumed that the mine operator is able to determine the quantity of air which is necessary in the various parts of his mine to produce the required results and the pressure in inches water gage needed to circulate this quantity of air through the mine. There may be instances in which this assumption is not justified, but the fact remains that, with proper engineering talent, these data can be approximated sufficiently close for practical purposes.

Jan 1, 1930

By O. Moselhi

This paper describes a method for selection of most suitable project delivery systems for capital projects. It expands upon the method advanced by the Construction Industry Institute (CII) in 2003, and incorporates additional decision criteria and project delivery systems in a multi-tier decision computational platform. The paper integrates the analytical hierarchy process to alleviate the inherent subjectivity associated with the assignments of relative weights to selection criteria used in the CII method. It also expands the range of project delivery options to include Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Integrated Project Delivery (IDP). The range of selection criteria was expanded by 60, beyond the 20 criteria of the CII method. Relative effectiveness values are proposed for the added project delivery systems making use of recent project cases in Canada and the USA. The method was implemented in a spreadsheet application. Multiple scenarios were considered for one of the cases presented in the CII study and a sensitivity analysis performed based on the developments made in this paper. The differences in outputs between the CII method and the proposed method are discussed. This is the first decision framework that incorporates both the presently used PPP and the recently introduced IDP, along with the widely used project delivery systems. The developed method allows users to filter out the factors and alternatives that do not apply to the case at hand, based on key inputs at the upper tier. The method is flexible and can easily be expanded upon and customized by the user.

Aug 1, 2013

NEW MEMBERS The following list comprises the, names of those persons who became members during the period June 10 to July 10, 1914: Members ALDRICH, HAROLD W., Supt. of Leaching Plant, Washoe Red. Wks., Anaconda Copper Co., Anaconda, Mont. AYER, FRANK ASHTON, Mine Foreman.. ..Detroit Copper Co., Morenci, Ariz. BELL, ARTHUR F. L., Chief Engr., Associated Oil Co.., 817 Sharon Bldg., San Francisco, Cal. BERGMAN, JULIUS GUSTAF, Mech. Engr., Chief Draftsman, Arizona Copper Co. Morenci, Ariz. BURT, CURTIS F., Min. Engr., Pittsburg-Dolores Mining Co., Rockland, via Yerington, Nev. CALLAWAY SCOTT DAVID, Chem La Harpe Smelter Co., La Harpe, Kan. CAMPBELL, W. C., Min. Engr 4 Princess St., Roodeport, Transvaal, So. Af. CARROLL, GEORGE A., Genl. Mgr Kildare Min. Co., Manson, B. C., Canada. CARUTHERS, JOHN LYTLE, Min. Engr., Asst. Engr., St. Louis, Rocky Mountain & Pacific Co.. Raton. N. M.

Jan 8, 1914

By Dragomir D. Kocic

At its lowest hierarchical level, the mine ventilation control system consists of local systems controlling the concentration of noxious gases in the air currents of various branches of the ventilation network, and of local systems controlling the air flow rates through those branches in which it is not necessary to regulate the concentration of any noxious gases. With respect to the noxious gas concentrations, the manipulated variables are air flow rates, while with respect to the air flow rates - the manipulated variables are aerodynamic resistances of the corresponding branches. Since there is an interdependence between the air flow rates in the ventilation network branches controlled through changes in aerodynamic resistance, the total system of mine ventilation control falls in the class of multivariable systems. The treatment of individual branches of a controlled ventilation network as separate plants presupposes an absolute autonomy of local systems, which is an untenable concept. The present paper is an attempt to break up the multivariable control system of the noxious gas concentrations and the air flow rates into autonomous (mutually unrelated) local control systems. The plant discussed is a ventilation network of arbitrary configuration with a single main axial fan. Because of the complexity of the problems involved, the multivariable control system of noxious gas concentrations and air flow rates has been described as linear, with constant and lumped parameters.

Jan 1, 1980

By Kwong Yung Kwang

This mine, which is sometimes called Tong colliery, from its director, Tong King Sing, is about 80 miles northeast of Tientsin (see map, Fig. 1). Fig. 2 shows a vertical transverse section through the coal-beds. These beds have a dip to the south of about 45' and are interstratified with sandstone, shale, indurated clay and fire-clay. Of the

Jan 1, 1888

By Thomas L. Wright

Exploration activities were maintained at a high level throughout 1966. Numerous significant discoveries and developments in which geologists played an important part were announced. Although the complete results of exploration activities carried out during the year by private companies have not been announced, the following are among the more important developments that have been made public knowledge. In the western states, exploration for practically all of the metals continued at a high rate. Substantially increased interest in uranium occurred this year, and it is felt by many that a real boom in the demand for uranium may come about in the near future. The reasons have been the more rapid acceptance of atomic power than had been anticipated, and that uranium producers can now sell their product to private interests and even foreign countries. A tremendous demand for uranium is anticipated by many, and this has rekindled exploration activity. On the Colorado Plateau, in Wyoming, and in the area around Grants, N. M., a number of companies have undertaken uranium exploration programs, among which are Kerr-McGee, Homestake, Anaconda and Utah Construction. A new uranium orebody in Texas was brought into production early in 1966 by Susquehanna Western.

Jan 2, 1967

By Donald M. Liddell

ALTHOUGH the midday lunches of business associations have been re-echoing the phrases that re- search would lead us out of the depression and that the last place to economize is on research, nevertheless most executives apparently concluded that it was their neighbor who ought not to economize in research, and that in their own plants what had been discovered in 1929-30 was sufficient to lead them out of the wilderness. At any rate, I have discovered much less that seems worth noting, and compared with 1931, the report volume of the committee members is off about 40 per cent, and compared with 1929, about 80 per cent. Evidently there is some hookup with the +tee1 industry as to output, and the Report Reading Committee should investigate this and the relative use of commas and periods.

Jan 1, 1933

By Mohammed Sakr

The empirical relationship between torque measured during installation and pile capacity has gained a wide acceptance in the helical pile industry in the last few decades. This paper presents a theoretical model developed to estimate torsional resistance of cohesive soils to helical pile installation. The proposed torsional resistance model was then used to establish torque factor, Kt, a factor that is widely used in the industry. The results of the study indicated that the Kt factor is a function of the load path (i.e. tension or compression), pile geometry and soil properties. The assessed Kt factors in tension and compression were validated by the results of 74 installation records and full-scale helical pile load tests. A parametric study was also performed to qualitatively assess the relative importance of different parameters that affect the Kt factors.

Aug 1, 2013

By F. D. Rosi, Walter R. Hibbard, R. I. Herron, H. T. Clark, O&apos

Introduction and Previous Work In the search to find a copper-base alloy with high strength properties, it was considered that the addition of a small amount of an age-hardening element to a binary system with useful strength properties might result in a series of alloys of theeretical and practical importance. The copper-nickel system was selected for its basic properties and chromium was added as the age-hardening element in view of the small percentage involved and its decreasing solubility with decreasing temperature. A study of the Cu-Cr binary alloys was undertaken as a preliminary investigation. However, in view of the response of these alloys to heat treatment, the scope of this phase of the investigation was widened.

Jan 1, 1949

By Michael Bowker

Au/TiO2 catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation and tested for the room temperature photocatalytic reforming of methanol in aqueous solution. These catalysts proved to be more active, on a molar basis, than Pd/TiO2. The dependence on loading of gold was different from that of palladium, showing a double maximum in yield at 0.1 and 2 wt. % with low rate below 0.01% and above 10%. A model is proposed for the reaction involving band gap excitation of titania electrons which are used to oxidise the methanol via adsorbed CO. With palladium, photoreforming of CO and water can be achieved, but this is much less effective on gold, presumably due to the much weaker bonding of CO on Au.

Oct 1, 2003

By F. Bourgouin

Thirty-one years ago, African leaders met in Lagos for the drafting of the Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa, 1980?2000. The main objective of the plan was to increase Africa?s self-sufficiency and in this regard, the plan had a section pertaining specifically to redressing the ills of an unproductive mining and minerals industry and harnessing its potential for socio-economic development. However, if we look at the nature of this sector on the continent today, its characteristics resemble the diagnosis of the sector given in the plan back in 1980: lack of information on endowments of minerals; lack of value added in the sector; low development and use of those endowments that are not of interest to transnational corporations (TNCs); and most importantly, low contribution to socio-economic development. The primary consequence of the lack of visible benefits to African states, despite growth and development of the sector in terms of increased mining activity led by Foreign Direct Investment is that countries with mining industries are characterized by dysfunctional internal processes. Improvements in governance, monitored with indices such as those set out in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Millennium Development Goals, and other such ?good governance? agendas, are being asserted. However, before we prescribe the introduction of initiatives or guidelines based upon highly subjective norms which we believe to fit this diagnosis, it is necessary to review how it is that we got to this situation that we are in today. How is it that, 31 years after the Lagos Plan of Action, we have not seen any major changes in the role the industry can play in socio-economic development, despite the vast increase in mining activity on the continent?

Jan 1, 2011

By W. L. Heidenreich

This report describes the methods and results of field investigations conducted by the Bureau of Mines between December 1956 and December 1957 on seven deposits of nickel-cobalt-iron-bearing laterite and weathered serpentine near the west coast of Puerto Rico east and south of Mayaguez. These deposits were named, for purposes of identification, Guanajibo, Punta Guanajibo, Las Mesas, north and south deposits of the Rosario Southeast group, and the west and east deposits of the Maricao Southwest group. In addition, the lower 17 miles of the Guanajibo River Valley was tested at widely spaced intervals for possible concentrations of magnetite and chromite in the alluvial sands. The objective of the investigations was to appraise, by drilling and sampling, the two largest deposits--the Guanajibo and Las Mesas. Testing of the smaller deposits was much more restricted. Field investigations consisted of mapping, drilling with power auger, sampling drill-hole sections, and pre-paring samples for chemical analyses, mineralogical studies, and metallurgical tests. The work was financed jointly under a cooperative agreement by the Bureau of Mines and the Economic Development Administration, an agency of the Puerto Rican Commonwealth.

Jan 1, 1959

Identify abnormal low-frequency blast vibrations. Develop blast design procedures for such adverse vibration cases, including the selection of delay times based on ground conditions, vibration frequency, and structural response. The Problem Research by the Bureau of Mines and others has demonstrated how structural response and the potential for cracking and other damage depends on blast vibration frequency in addition to particle velocity amplitude. The Bureau has published recommended criteria for blasting near low-rise residential-type structures; criteria that specified frequency-dependent amplitudes. The typical vibration frequency from surface mine and quarry blasting is 20 hertz (Hz). Sites have been found, however, that regularly produce ground-roll-type waves with frequencies as low as 4 Hz. The most serious cases arc those where vibration frequencies fall in the natural frequency range for structures of 4 to 12 Hz. Such vibrations have a higher potential for causing, damage to residential structures, particularly at the low end of this frequency range, because of the resulting high strains these frequencies produce in structural materials.

Jan 1, 1990