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Jan 1, 1967

The 1999 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the æJORC CodeÆ) became effective in September 1999 and is the latest revision of a Code which was originally issued in 1989, but which has an ancestry dating back to the first JORC report released in 1972. The modifications introduced in 1999, which are briefly discussed in this paper, substantially improved the document, but did not materially alter the fundamentals of the Code, these being the Mineral Resource/Ore Reserve classification framework and terminology, and the requirements and guidelines for public reporting of Resources and Reserves. Codes or guides similar to the JORC Code exist or are under development in other countries, including the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa. It is pleasing to note that the 1999 JORC Code has been used as a model by these countries in developing their latest standards, and has been a major influence in the formulating of international reporting standards. The JORC Code is primarily a document covering the reporting of the results of mining companiesÆ activities to the public. However, mining geologists are interested in practical assistance and guidance in carrying out their duties. The JORC Code provides this in four ways. It establishes a framework within which those preparing and publicly reporting Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates must operate, by setting standards for the classification and reporting of Resources and Reserves and for qualifications of Competent Persons. It establishes the division of responsibility between the companyÆs Board of Directors and Competent Persons with respect to the preparation and reporting of Resources and Reserves, and empowers Competent Persons to materially influence how their Resource/Reserve estimates are reported to the public. It provides an extensive, detailed and practical check list of criteria to be taken into account in the preparation of Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates. Finally, it provides a strong measure of due diligence protection in the event of litigation if it is followed with diligence and honesty.

Jan 1, 2000

By Daniel Barkley

Underground coal mining in Illinois has a lengthy history dating back to the early 1800?s. High extraction underground mining has played a significant role in production through out this time. Modern mechanized longwall mining methods were introduced in the 1960?s and have been in continual use ever since. Regulations governing subsidence from underground coal extraction and the mitigation of resulting impacts to surface structures and surface land initiated in 1983. Despite the history of experience with subsidence, recent plans to longwall in Illinois have stirred public emotions and strong opposition. Anti and pro longwall groups formed and divided a community over the potential economic benefits new mining ventures could bring verses the potential problems associated with longwall mining in productive flat farmland. The debate culminated in a county wide referendum vote on the use of longwall mining. This paper provides an overview of the history of underground mining in Illinois, the controversy that has risen in central Illinois regarding longwall mining, and the efforts to educate the public about regulations that govern longwall subsidence.

Jan 1, 2007

By Constantin D. Pitis

Similarly to notions of constant capital/expenses in business or magnetization power for electric motors an energetic base load (E0) is always necessary to set up a mining process. Denominated as ?non-productive energy? or base load, (E0) is a constant component of the entire energy consumption of the process, while another component the ?productive energy? (Ep) is variable, being function of the production/throughput (M). By using these new concepts, the author creates an energetic model proposing a new method of assessing changes in mining processes (throughput) that can reveal possible energy savings (DSM component) or energy losses. Proposed mathematical model of assessing (E0) and energy savings by using ?Marginal Energy Usage Index? (MEUI) enables creation of historical benchmarks and direct on line energetic (efficiency) assessment of mining processes and/or equipments. The paper analyses the case of assessing possible energy savings that can be obtained by: ?? Improving efficiencies of various equipments (by retrofit) ? reducing E0 ?? Improving the process control or other process changes ? reducing Ep ?? Monitoring persistence of the adopted Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs). For the new plant design, the proposed method enables prediction of Customer Baseline in various mine/process configurations. The method could become part of a ?preventive action? in design process by offering a reliable tool of assessing additional financial effort (Incremental cost) when choosing various higher efficiency equipments and/or processes.

Oct 1, 2009

By V. Rajaram

R.C. Rex, Jr. V. Rajaram's paper does not accurately reflect the status of Eastern oil shale development as it stands today. Today, there are numerous firms and research organizations pursuing development of the Eastern oil shale resource. Details of the current projects can be found in the symposium proceedings for the 1985 Eastern Oil Shale Symposium held in Lexington, KY, in November 1985. Additionally, the comparison of the Paraho and HYTORT processes is invalid because the HYTORT process design used it not an accurate representation of the HYTORT process. I will briefly address this point. It is disconcerting to see the author reference hydroretorting work conducted at the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) (circa 1978) in the introduction, which indicates hydroretorting (the HYTORT process concept) yields of up to 250% of the Fischer Assay oil yield, and then turn around and base the remainder of the paper on the 1981 "Synthetic Fuels From Eastern Oil Shale Report," which depicts the HYTORT process as yielding only 115% of Fischer Assay. Indeed, work conducted at IGT to 1981 indicates commercial oil yields for the HYTORT process would be in the range of 200% to 210% of Fischer Assay. A more thorough literature search by the author would have yielded a 1981 publication by Schora et al., entitled "Update on the HYTORT Process" presented at the Symposium on Synthetic Fuels From Oil Shale in Nashville, TN, October 1981. This paper thoroughly discusses the shortcomings of the referenced study with respect to the HYTORT process. For the interested reader, I can also recommend a June 1984 report entitled "An Economic Comparison of Five Process Concepts for Using Eastern Oil Shale," published by Los Alomos National Laboratory (LA-10106-MS, Parkinson et al., NTIS No. DE84-015981). This study applies a realistic HYTORT design (circa 1982) and indicates that HYTORT is the most econom¬ical method of processing Eastern oil shales (about $20/bbl less than Paraho). Additionally, completion of the HYTORT feasibility study in June 1983 by Phillips Petroleum Co., Bechtel Group Inc., HYCRUDE Corp., and IGT has resulted in development of designs that will make the use of HYTORT on Eastern oil shales even more economic. HYCRUDE Corp., a second-tier subsidiary of IGT, is involved in commercialization and licensing of the HYTORT process and is active in efforts to develop the Eastern oil shale resource. As such, I am disappointed to see outdated material that has the potential for adversely affecting development of Eastern oil shale resources published in MINING ENGINEERING. I can only hope that this response will serve to mitigate any negative opinions that may have been formed. Today, activity in commercializing Eastern oil shales dominates the oil shale scene in the US and indicates a realization of the potential for these shales. Reply by V. Rajaram I appreciate the updates on the HYTORT process provided by R.C. Rex, Jr. I hope that Hycrude's work will lead to the funding of a pilot plant to demonstrate that yields of greater than 200% of Fischer Assay can be achieved in a commercial plant using eastern US oil shales.

Jan 9, 1986

By Sylvain Létourneau

Help organizations maximize the benefits of the data that they collect ? perform scientific research in: machine learning, data mining, statistics, artificial intelligence, soft computing, information retrieval, information systems, and natural language processing ? preferred application areas: Equipment Health Management, Bioinformatics, Health, Web Mining ? today?s talk limited to Equipment Health Management While the aircraft is still in the air, IDS: ? clusters relevant WRN, FLR, and snag (pilot) messages ? identifies probable causes based on TSM and provide links to corresponding TSM pages ? assesses MEL conditions (GO, NOGO, GOIF, ?) ? displays relevant maintenance history, suggests fixes based on similar cases ? Commercialization with MxI Technologies Ltd and Air Canada in 2000

May 1, 2008

By Gary Kahn

In this document the VODR is discussed from a technical point of view and is intended to give the reader a feel for the design of the instrument, its technical specifications, and its limitations. It is not intended as a tutorial on the use of the instrument in the field.

Jan 1, 1989

By F. Lombard

We consider the Grubbs estimation of the precision of an online gauge. Typically, this type of estimation involves independent results from two or more reference instruments (sampling and laboratory analysis operations). The properties of the estimator are then independent of the product variability. However, the use of more than one reference instrument entails significant additional costs. The two-instrument Grubbs estimator, which is based on results from a gauge and a single reference instrument, has the disadvantage that its standard error is heavily dependent on the degree of product variability. We propose a new estimator that has a variance that is more or less independent of product variability. In fact, the variance is typically less than that of the Grubbs estimator based on the use of two reference instruments. In order to function successfully, our methodology requires some prior knowledge of the extent of product variability and of gauge precision. In practice, such prior knowledge is often available and it is a weakness of the traditional two - and three-instrument Grubbs methods that no use is made of such knowledge. The efficacy and robustness of the new method is illustrated by Monte Carlo simulation.

Jan 1, 2012

By Young C. Kim

Introduction and Objective of This Paper Computerized open pit mine models* are more and more used today for feasi¬bility studies as well as for long range mine planning. In fact, using these models is becoming an enforced practice due to various reasons. One main reason is its capacity to evaluate several designs in a fraction of time required by manual effort. Another reason is the necessity to evaluate several. pit designs due to ever decreasing grade of the orebody and increasing financial risk due to smaller profitability margin. In spite of today's accepted use of computer models, very little guidelines are available which the average practitioner can follow either to choose or to build the type of model best suited for his need. Consequently, the objectives of this paper are: 1. To review the current state of the art in the computerized open pit mine models. 2. To provide some suggestions for model selection. 3. To share our experiences in developing a model for a highly irregular copper ore deposit (see Appendix).

Jan 1, 1977

By J. R. Thoenen

This paper outlines briefly results of seismic measurements recorded in the vicinity of quarry blasting under practical operating conditions. The data cover field work done from January to the middle of August 1930, during which time records were made of 61 blasts in 19 quarries. Of the tests made, one was in biotite-gneiss, two in dolomite, two in a flintlike volcanic complex, three in gabbrodiorite, five in trap rock, and six in limestone. One quarry was in Alabama, two were in South Carolina, two in New York, four in Kentucky, five in Connecticut, and five in Massachusetts. Explosive charges ranged from 0.30 pound to 41,900 pounds, and the method of shooting varied from mud caps through hammer and wagon drill holes to churn drill holes and coyote tunnel shots.

Jan 1, 1937

By C. Özgen Karacan

Gamma ray, density, sonic and core logs obtained from two boreholes drilled over a longwall panel in Southwestern (SW) Pennsylvania were analyzed for formation boundaries, log-derived porosities and densities and for rock elastic properties from sonic transit times. Gamma ray (GR) and density logs (DL) were analyzed using univariate statistical techniques and fractal statistics for similarity and ordering of the log data in depth. A Fourier transformation with low-pass filter was used as a noise elimination (filtering) technique from the original logs. Filtered data was tested using basic univariate and fractal statistics, rescaled range (R/S) and power spectrum (PS) analysis to compare the information characteristics of the filtered logs with the original data. The randomness of log data in depth was analyzed for fractional Gaussian noise (fGn) or fractional Brownian motion (fBm) character. A new prediction technique using radial basis function (RBF) networks was developed to calculate shear and Young?s moduli of the formations when sonic logs are not available. For this approach, the filtered logs were used as input to an RBF based upon a combination of supervised and unsupervised learning. The network was trained and tested using rock elastic properties calculated from the sonic log of one of the boreholes. The network was used to predict the elastic and shear moduli of the coal-measure rocks over a longwall coal mine in SW Pennsylvania. This approach demonstrated that it could be used for prediction of elastic and shear moduli of coal-measure rocks with reasonable accuracy.

Jan 1, 2009

By James W. Weaver

The 2,120-foot long cable stayed Penobscot Narrows Bridge that carries US Route 1 over the Penobscot River between Verona Island and Prospect, Maine is supported on four foundation units, one below each pylon and one at each abutment. Due to varying subsurface conditions along the bridge alignment, the structure was designed to be supported on foundations consisting of high-capacity steel H-section piles (Verona Pylon), a mat bearing on a prepared bedrock surface (Prospect Pylon) and spread footings bearing on compacted rockfill (abutments). The 70-foot by 80-foot (plan area) Verona Pylon foundation was designed to be supported by 288, 430-kip design capacity steel H-section piles (HP14x117, 50 ksi steel) driven through up to 100 feet of dense glacial till deposits containing cobbles and boulders up to 3 feet in diameter. The piles were installed using a single-acting diesel hammer (Delmag D62-22) with a maximum rated energy of 165 kip-ft. Thirteen representative piles were selected for dynamic testing (ASTM D-4945) to verify pile capacity, hammer efficiency and pile stresses. Dynamic testing determined that four different pile driving criteria were needed across the site due to variation in the bedrock and soil resistance below the footing plan area. Approximately 4 percent of the production piles were damaged/rejected due to misalignment and/or damage as a result of encountering the cobbles and boulders embedded in the glacial till. The rejected piles were located randomly throughout the plan limits of the foundation mat. Subsequent structural analyses indicated that the foundation was capable of safely supporting the design loads without the need for installing replacement piles. Evaluation of dynamic testing results with signal matching and pile driving records provided valuable information on pile side and tip resistance. Evaluations were made regarding predicted versus actual pile lengths, pile bearing material, distribution of skin friction and end bearing capacities.

Jan 1, 2011

By H. B. Pulsifer

ONE of the most common basic open-hearth furnace products is a simple carbon steel with a carbon range from 0.05 to 0.15 per cent. The material is widely used for sheets, tubes, bars, wire and the innumerable special objects of secondary fabrication. The properties of the material vary over wide ranges, depending on the more exact composition and details of manufacture or treatment that affect its structure. The present paper is a review of those properties and structures that have been found by studying this steel as used in the cap screw industry. At first glance this might be thought a narrow application of the steel, but, since the industry uses the material in the cold-worked, annealed and heat-treated conditions, the title of the paper may be excused for its comprehensiveness. Yet, in studying the wide ranges of properties and structures that preclude a more specific title, there can be no suggestion of completeness or finality. Even a summary of a few years' work is no more than a preliminary survey of a field that will be fertile in scientific data and industrial products for many years to come. An outline of the structures will be given first, then a list of the previous contributions that are at hand and finally some details of the work and related problems, especially concerning this low-carbon steel in the surface-hardened condition.

Jan 1, 1931

By Euzebio De Oliveira

ONE of a recent batch of samples from the Serra da Baliza, in the state of Parana, Brazil, contained asphalt and a dark heavy oil; and workmen on the railway from Porto União to Uruguay discovered asphalt, coming from eruptives that outcrop along the Rio de Peixe. The occurrence f asphalt in the triassic eruptives of southern Brazil, however, has been known a long time, according to Dr. Gonzaga de Campos. It is generally believed that the Botacatú sandstone is always a hard vitrified rock, from the metamorphic action f. the overflowing eruptive contacts. In this region, however, the contact metamorphism is almost nil; the sandstone is slightly hardened in a narrow zone about 20 to 30 cm. wide. In many places, the sandstone is so friable as to be easily reduced to sand, which is used-.in, mortar for building in Guara-puava and Palmas. South and west from Porto União,. this bench of sandstone is about. 50 m. thick, and is capped by a heavy bed. f basic eruptives, many of which are amygdaloids. Dr. Geo: P. Merrill, after studying the triassic eruptives collected by the Coal Commission, reached the conclusion that. "All these rocks are of typical basalt-diabases, not in any essential different other than in structure. An interesting mineralogical phase is its paucity in olivine, which in many cases is completely lacking. Professor Hussak, who carefully studied these rocks and their accessory minerals, decided that in the dikes they are granular (diabase) and, that in the lava sheets, porphyritic (augite-porphyrite or melaphyre), and that the latter pass evidently to normal diabases and are always typical of effusive rocks. The examination f many slides from dikes and sheets leads us to adopt the opinion of Professor Hussak; the rocks of the dikes are of ophitic structure, while that of the sheets show a great variety f structure and may vary from almost granular to basaltic. The great paucity in olivine had been noted by Hussak, who classes as melaphyres, the porphyritic triassic rocks in Brazil which contain olivine.

Jan 4, 1921

By Sam Bang Jr, Rodney Burke

As mining progresses in the West, the depth of material has increased, making highwall stability a major factor in safety and production. The Jim Bridger Coal Mine’has made highwall stability a priority, concentrating on safety as well as increasing and improving production. Overburden depths are increasing dramatically; the geological environment consists of medium to sot? material, faulting, water, and current pit alignment not favorable to joint planes. Angle drilling the presplit at 20 degrees became necessaryas vertical presplit drilling produced wall failures.

Jan 1, 1998

The small-scale surface mining operation in northern regions is typically located in a remote, ungaged basin. With the recent increase in the economic potential of mining, the number of small operations is increasing. The year-to-year variability in precipitation in this region under study is of great concern to mine operators. Some years may yield only 5 to 6 inches of precipitation, while others may yield in excess of 15 inches. Such variability makes placer mining operations difficult to plan, since low water years may result in too little run-off for gravel washing and high water years may result in flooding of mining developments. There are no official streamfloaw records in many watersheds in the northern region containing placer mining claims. However, information from other streams permits calculation of an estimated discharge for a watershed under consideration using average flows per square mile of drainage. It is to be emphasized that these are average or expected figures in reality, one water year may be significantly wetter or drier than another. This high variability of annual precipitation is significant in relation to placer operations because of the large quantities of water required for this type of mining. Some operations can not operate in low water years. In the larger watersheds, operations may continue in low water years but at a slower pace because of longer water collecting times. The high variability of available run-off rakes placer mining in many parts of Alaska difficult to plan on a long range because of the unpredictability of water supplies.

Jan 1, 1985

By Özgür Bezgin

This paper presents observations on the installation of drilled shafts from two construction projects and an academic study with experimental and analytical parts. The construction projects involved the use of pressurized drilling methods. The experimental part of the academic study involved the use of the auger drilling method. The analytical part of the academic study investigated the effect of drilling methods on the soil-structure interaction and the behavior of drilled shafts under lateral loads. The concept of ?free-length? is introduced for the lateral load design of pressure-drilled shafts that are thought to be fully embedded within a soil media. The academic part of the study presented herein was conducted in Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Jan 1, 2009

The Pogo Mine, near Delta Junction, Alaska is a 2500 TPD gold operation employing processes including grinding, gravity, rougher flotation, leach, CIP, and E/W. An OCS(Optimizing Control System) expert control system has been implemented on rougher flotation in early 2008. The OCS system communicates with the Plant DCS(Distributed Control System) through OPC(OLE for Process Control) communication. The initial strategy was to control the flotation cell froth level set points to achieve target froth velocities. This strategy was enhanced by controlling both level and air flow setpoints. The flotation cell air and level are adjusted to reach cell pulling rates (froth velocities). The pulling rate setpoints for each cell are determined based on downstream capacity (concentrate surge tank level). The effect of pH and upstream disturbances is also taken into account in adjusting the air and level setpoints. Feed forward compensation is employed down the flotation row to minimize disturbances.

Jan 1, 2009

By Brad Thrall

"Viceroy Resource Corporation of Vancouver, B.C. has recently developed the Brewery Creek Mine, an open pit heap leach gold mine 55km East of Dawson City in Yukon, Canada. Mineable reserves are 17.1 million tonnes of ore grading 1.45 grams/tonne, containing 24.8 tonnes (797000oz) of gold. Ore processing employs the heap leach technology using run of mine ore. 1996 highlights included construction of 158,000 m2 of leach pad, placing 1.9 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 1.46 gpt on to the leach pad, construction and successful commissioning of the ADR plant, and pouring of the first gold bar on November 15th.Permitting this mine has drawn significant attention because the heap leach technology, while proven in other jurisdictions, has not been used in Yukon where winter site temperatures routinely reach -45 C for extended periods.IntroductionFollowing a comprehensive governmental and public review of the proposed project, a Class A Yukon Water license was issued in August, 1995. Construction started in 1995 and leaching commenced in October 1996. The Brewery Creek Mine is in Yukon, the home of the Klondike Gold Rush nearly 100 years ago. This is the only part of Canada not glaciated in the Wisconsin advance so there is oxide ore resulting from about 80,000 years of weathering -unique in Canada. Discontinuous permafrost is present on site and has required special consideration in the design. Winter temperatures dip below minus 50 C, demanding an approach to mining and leaching that is different than in more temperate climates.Project DescriptionThe mine comprises 8 shallow, largely oxidized gold deposits along a 7km corridor. An 8 year mining program will extract 17.1 million tonnes of ore grading 1.45 grams/tonne, containing 24.8 tonnes (797,000 oz) of gold. The strip ratio will be 1.35: 1. Overall gold recovery is projected at 78%. There will be 2.3 million tonnes of ore placed on the pad annually, with an average of 2.57 tonnes (83, 000 oz) of gold recovered per year. Because of the cold winters, the mine will operate approximately 210 days per year, while the leaching process will operate on a year round basis. Run of mine ore is placed on the heap 150 days per year. The recovery process utilizes conventional sodium cyanide leaching , carbon adsorption, caustic desorption, and on-site smelting. Peak employment during mining is 145 and winter staff is reduced to 45."

Jan 1, 1997

By O. U. Bradley

THE extent of losses, due to evaporation, sediment, and water, in crude oil stored in steel tanks, is a very interesting question, and particularly so at this time, when every reasonable measure should be employed to eliminate all possible losses of this important natural product. Available information on this subject is incomplete; e.g., during the development of the Cushing Field, considerable surplus oil was stored in steel tanks, but from time to time, owing to changes in weather, somelosses by evaporation and short storage room on the leases, these tanks were topped out, thus rendering inaccurate any system designed to determine the average rate of evaporation or other losses of the oil over a given period. , Furthermore, the losses, as shown by the records at the time, as a result of hasty gages, failed to take into account the temperature and gravity of the oil. Losses may be classified roughly as occurring from evaporation, presence of sediment and water, and leakage. The coefficient of expansion and contraction of crude oil, in relation to temperature conditions, is of material importance; also, the rate of evaporation is dependent upon the gravity of the oil, as the escape of the lighter hydrocarbons in fresh Cushing oil, of from 40 to 42 gravity, on a warm day is considerable, and from available records of temporary storage, it is safe to assume that a loss of 1 to 13 per cent. in volume will easily occur in light crude oil of Cushing grade over a period of. 6 months, including the summer season. The presence of sediment, water, and other impurities, in the oil will also cause, more or less deterioration in quality, particularly when the fresh production is run direct from the. gage tanks, or from the wells on the lease to steel storage, as is often the case when an oil field is being rapidly developed. The bad oil will settle to the bottom of the tanks and may be determined by thiefing and running a centrifuge test on the sample. The amount of water in the oil depends entirely on the conditions under which it is produced. Sometimes in large producing wells, with heavy gas pressure, some water may come in with the oil, particularly if the well has been drilled to the top of a water sand. Under these conditions, cut oil is often produced, which, if not settled out, is carried over into the steel tanks.

Jan 7, 1918