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By G. T. Adel

During the past decade, researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have worked to develop a novel flotation process for treating very fine particles. This process, which is now commonly known as [microbubble column flotation] (MCF), has been shown to be very effective in a number of applications related to fine coal processing. These applications include the retrofit of existing preparation plant circuits and the recovery of additional coal fines from refuse streams. In addition, work conducted under the sponsorship of the United States Department of Energy indicates that the MCF process is capable of producing superclean and ultraclean coals from many eastern U.S. coals. This paper describes some of the basic problems associated with fine particle flotation and the design and operational features of the MCF process used to minimize these problems. Also presented are the results of ongoing pilot- and field-testing programs.

Jan 1, 1989

By Fabio Amaya, Andrés Marulanda, Ramiro Gutiérrez, Alberto Marulanda

The behavior of a salt rock mass is strongly related to a creep phenomenon. The amount of creep depends on the level of stress generated in the underground excavation. Additionally, security conditions and the lifespan of an underground cavern excavated under this geological conditions depend on the evolution of creep. Based on the experience of the failure of the Old Underground Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá(Colombia) and the construction of the new one, the theoretical framework to predict the creep behavior of a salt rock mass is explained. The theoretical formulations are calibrated based on actual observations of the material behavior to predict the lifespan of this striking structure.

Jan 1, 2003

By Bob Newbery, Kenneth W. P. Eng. Kolthammer

SUMMARY Reference is made to the reasons for drying and the equipment is described that is available from which the engineer can make a selection. The factors affecting this decision are described. In the case of drying, design and sizing are ultimately developed empirically and no theoretical approach has been advanced.

Jan 1, 1986

By S. A. Bortz

IIT Research Institute has initiated several multi-sponsored research programs. In this paper the methods for developing four of these programs are discussed. In general, a broad area of investigation must be proposed to interest a spectrum of different industries. The work must not touch upon proprietary data and will probably involve a number of scientific disciplines. Thus, the problem to be solved will attract sponsors who need to know more about the area under study but do not wish, as a single company, to commit the resources required to obtain the necessary know-how for their needs. The paper draws on the background of four IITRI multi-sponsored projects: Size Reduction, a study of grinding of material to reduce their particle size; Melt-Formed Ceramics Research, a method of producing dense, polycrystalline ceramics using glass forming methods; Binders in Ceramic Processing, which addresses the problems associated with the use of organic aids for ceramic processing; and a Study in Air Pollution Technology, a program to review and assess pollution control equipment for current and future applications.

Jan 1, 1984

By Paul D. Chamberlin

The evolution of heap and dump leaching has followed the development of agglomeration, materials of construction for leach pads and ponds, solution distribution systems, testing techniques, and state regulations. They are now mature processes. Possible future directions and developments are discussed. In situ leaching of precious metals is waiting to be commercialized. Regulators are reluctant to allow the use of cyanide because of the potential for excursions and operators are reluctant because of the potential for lawsuits. Developments in alternative lixiviants are needed before in situ leaching is accepted.

Jan 1, 1989

By W. F. Hahnert, P. A. S. Ralston

In off-line training of a rule-based controller, the significant measure of successful training is the quality of control provided by the generated rule set. In an adaptive or on-line control environment, performance is also measured by the ability to accurately maintain a satisfactory rule set, but within constraints on speed and/or resource availability. Very small population genetic algorithms, or microGAs, have been proposed as a means of capitalizing on the hill climbing characteristics of faster local optimization techniques while requiring less memory and retaining much of the robustness of traditional, larger population genetic search. A traditional genetic algorithm and a similar microGA are developed and applied to two control problems. The performance of these algorithms is analyzed with respect to (1) the quality of the rules learned, (2) the rate at which learning occurs, and (3) the memory resources required during learning.

Jan 1, 1993

By Chester R. McKee, Amar C. Bumb, Kohei Kawakita

Unlike many other heavy metals, gold can be profitably mined in small operations because of the prices. One mining technique that seems ideally suited for small deposits of gold and for certain large, lowgrade oxidized disseminated deposits is solution mining. Solution mining generally requires lower capital investment and operating costs than conventional mining and milling and is safer and less degrading to the environment. Although gold has long been recovered by cyanide leaching following conventional milling, solution mining as discussed here gained momentum only in the past two decades, during which time alternative lixiviants instead of cyanide have been researched. Chamberlain and Pojar (1981) classified solution mining systems used today as three types, namely heap, dump, and in-situ leaching.

Jan 1, 1990

By A. Maréchal

It has been shown since a few years that the problem of estimating recoverable reserves should be solved by using specialized statistical techniques : whenever the selected blocks are chosen without any other constraint than a cut-off grade criterion, the problem of estimating the corresponding tonnage-grade curve is resolved by estimating the local histogram of block grades. Two major statistical techniques are currently used by geostatisticians to estimate local histograms : the "average conditional distribution" technique (Parker, Journel, Dixon 1979) and the disjunctive kriging technique. (Matheron, 1976, Jackson, Maréchal, 1979). Both have proved to be applicable in practice, with their pros and conconcerning their practibility and versatility.

Jan 1, 1982

By Markus Thewes, Mario Galli

"INTRODUCTIONProject-related studies showed that lab tests are a helpful tool for the planning of EPB tunneling and soil conditioning in cohesionless soils. This type of ground commonly represents the extended application range for EPB shields, which demands for a treatment with additives. Considering soil conditioning with foam, so far, approaches exist for the investigation of the foam quality and of the conditioning behavior of soils (e.g. (EFNARC GUIDELINES 2001 2003)), but not any standards for testing procedures related to soil conditioning. State-of-the-art research on the topic is and was conducted for example in Bochum (Germany) cf. (Budach 2012; Maidl 1995), in Lyon (France) cf. (Quebaud et al. 1998), in Oxford and Cambridge (Great Britain) cf. (Borghi 2006; Peña Duarte 2007), in Delft (Netherlands) cf. (Bezuijen and Schaminée 2001), in Turin (Italy) cf. (Borio 2010; Peila et al. 2013; Vinai 2006), and in Aachen (Germany) cf. (Vennekötter 2012). Additionally, applied science is reported by the tunneling practice and suppliers of conditioning agents. Although the research focus in all these and further studies varied, similar test methods and test series were applied. A standardization of essential properties and testing methods (setup and procedures) however did not take place. The results from laboratory testing can only function as index values for practice because in the studies, production and application of the conditioning agents mainly takes place under atmospheric conditions. Nevertheless, the tests enable basic understanding of feasibility as well as processes and interactions going on during soil conditioning. For recommendations for standardized and reproducible testing see (Budach 2012; Budach and Thewes 2015).The most extensive investigations on the flow behavior of soil-foam mixtures have been performed by using the slump test from concrete engineering, cf. (DIN EN 12350-2 2009-08), which originally is applied on evaluating the workability of fresh concrete. Although this test does not describe the actual flow behavior, it rather represents an index on the workability, very much experience exists with this test method. Besides others, the workability – or flow behavior – of the EPB support medium certainly is a major factor of influence on the properties of the material in the excavation chamber and thus, for effective tunneling with EPB shields, cf. (Galli and Thewes 2014). For a summary of various investigations on the workability of conditioned soils using the slump test and resulting recommended slump ranges see (Budach 2012; Vinai 2006). Thereof, slumps between 10 and 20 cm have been reported as suitable workability for EPB applications. However, there is actually not much known about the real flow behavior of soil-foam mixtures related to rheological properties such as the viscosity (?) or potential yield stresses (t0). These physical values are necessary for a realistic determination of face pressure, for the design of required torques, and for an evaluation of the material flow at different locations in the excavation chamber, in the screw conveyor or on the conveyor belt. To generate a linear pressure distribution at the tunnel face, as it is assumed a priori, a low-viscosity fluid is favorable, whereas in the screw conveyor, a high-viscous fluid is needed for a controlled pressure decrease. On the conveyor belt, yield stress plays an important role preventing deliquescence and spilling from the belt. Attempts in characterizing the actual flowing of soil-foam mixtures have so far only been made by few researchers, the application of rheometry is rare."

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Fig, J. Brune, C. Strebinger, G. Bogin, J. Grubb

"Although it is known that explosive gas zones can form and sustain combustion in a longwall coal mine gob, a complete account of the interaction of the methane flame and gob remains obscure. The goal of this study is to examine the impact of several gob parameters such as packing orientation and void spacing. The impact of ignition location is also detailed. A series of experiments with methane flames were performed in a horizontal cylindrical quartz reactor. The reactor was tested both empty and packed with an obstacle wall consisting of spherical glass beads to investigate the impact of various gob parameters. Results demonstrate that methane burning velocity is sensitive to all parameters investigated, and most sensitive to packing density and ignition location. INTRODUCTION The explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010 and several other underground longwall coal mine fires and explosions show that explosive gases can mix with fresh ventilation air creating explosive gas zones (EGZs). Investigative reports of these fires have found that EGZs are able to move from the gob and into the active longwall face, endangering workers and equipment [1]. Currently, researchers at the Colorado School of Mines are using computation fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to predict the location and movement of EGZs in the gob and along the longwall face [2,3]. It is the goal of this work to validate combustion models [4] that include interactions of the flame and the gob for future incorporation into ongoing CFD modeling of EGZs [2,3]. Throughout the years, there has been significant research investigating how flames interact with obstacles and propagate through porous media [4,5,7-11]. Since there is limited access to the gob in a longwall coal mine (Figure 1), the orientation and size of rocks and void spaces within the gob is unknown. Experiments of a simulated gob have been performed in a large scale flame tube in order to investigate the effect of scale (Figure 2) [4,5]. However, the variation in rock spacing, rock orientation, and void location makes it difficult to determine the impact of each of these parameters on methane flame dynamics. This study aims at gaining a stronger fundamental understanding of gob parameters such as spacing, orientation, and ignition location on methane flame propagation. The results from this study will provide a basis for experimentation in larger explosion vessels and will be used to validate methane combustion models for incorporation into longwall ventilation models of EGZ movement [2,3,4]. BACKGROUND Researchers have been studying flame propagation across obstacles and porous media for many years using various fuels and experimental setups [4,5,7-11]. Experiments have been performed in horizontal chambers with both ends open [7], horizontal chambers that are semi-open [4,11], horizontal chambers with both ends closed [8], and vertical arrangements [9,10]. Due to the variation in experimental setups and methods of characterizing flame dynamics such as flame speed, peak overpressure, or burning velocity it becomes difficult to directly compare results. Flame speed is a property of the mixture and refers to the speed of the unstretched flame front normal to the direction of propagation. This study characterizes the flame by its burning velocity, which is the difference between the flame speed and the speed of the unburned gases just ahead of the flame front. However, some references use the terms flame speed and burning velocity interchangeably. In this study, a semi-open quartz cylindrical reactor was used to determine methane burning velocity, which was used as a basis for comparison to determine the impact of obstacle configuration on methane flame dynamics. The quartz reactor also has the unique ability to allow for flame visualization. These features allow for faster combustion model validation [4]."

Jan 1, 2017

By C. Haycocks

In spite of the increasingly high capital investment required for longwall mining equipment, there continues to be a steady trend towards this form of mining. This move is caused in large part by improved productivity of longwall mining systems combined with greater percentage of coal recovered over room and pillar mining, reduced manpower requirements, and the inherent safety of the system. Longwall mining is most amenable to the greater depths experienced by many mining operations, particularly in the coalfields of the Eastern United States. Two primary problems in the installation of a longwall panel are determining whether a particular seam is suitable for longwall and, secondly, type and capacity of equipment required for such a mining operation. In addition, recent legislation has forced an evaluation of the surface effects of longwall mining with a view to determining what, if any, surface damage might result from extracting any particular panel. These factors must be determined using large and often complex quantities of geological, structural, mining, and surface data. This makes the problem most attractive to solution using the computer.

Jan 1, 1979

By Richard R. Klimpel

The first part of this two-part article summarizes the result of a 10-year, multimillion dollar research and plant testing program involving operating mining companies throughout the world. The program was aimed at developing a better understanding of the influence of slurry rheology on the performance of mineral/coal grinding circuits. Part 1 presents the basic concepts identified, including typical laboratory results showing the influence on grinding behavior of controlled changes in percent solids, particle size, slurry temperature, and viscosity control chemicals. Part 2, in January, will illustrate typical industrial scale test results on both open and closed circuits using the concepts presented in Part 1. Special emphasis will be placed on identifying some industrial operating implications of controlling rheology by different methods. Introduction The industrial-scale practice of wet grinding minerals and coals in tumbling media mills (ball, rod, and pebble) is well-known to operating mineral processing engineers and plant design personnel. Over the last century, considerable experience and data has been collected, correlated, and put into rules or guidelines for successful circuit design and operation. Typical factors influencing circuit throughput that have been analyzed in some depth are mill diameter and length, grinding media size and loading, feed and product particle size, mill power use, and the interaction of classifier type and efficiency with the grinding device. Until recently, knowledge of slurry rheology influence on large scale grinding circuit performance has been limited. Even today slurry rheology effects are essentially ignored in plant design. Indeed, in most plant operations only qualitative guidelines are followed. For example, too thick a slurry causes throughput losses and too thin a slurry uses excessive water or causes water handling problems such as pumping limitations. A search of published literature and numerous discussions with experienced plant operating personnel has shown an awareness that changing the percent of solids in the mill influences grinding or the response of grinding involving fine feeds versus coarse feeds. However, most the work identified relative to rheology effects in mineral/coal grinding was qualitative. Even in the few studies that were more quantitative, the scope of the work was usually too narrow to draw general conclusions. Also, the detailed rheological characterization tied to observed breakage and the combination of laboratory to industrial-scale testing that is required to develop a broad understanding of any factor influencing grinding had not been done. In this environment, this detailed program began in 1967. It had three distinct goals: • To develop a basic understanding of slurry rheology influence on breakage characteristics in the laboratory. • To test general rheology concepts developed in the lab on the industrial scale. • To develop a commercially viable chemical approach to controlling slurry rheology that would lead to the use of chemical grinding additives or grinding aids. The goals have been met, at least in part, this year. A small fraction of the extensive laboratory and plant results have been made available in published literature. Much of the research program dealt with identifying and developing chemical grinding aids, but a lot of useful and practical information on percent solids, particle size, and slurry temperature influence on grinding circuit performance also was collected. The purpose of this article is to present a clear and concise sum¬mary of the results of the entire program. The importance of rhe¬ology control in grinding circuit behavior will be demonstrated using a series of carefully per¬formed industrial scale experi¬ments (both open and closed cir¬cuits) that have not yet been reported in general literature. Mining companies participating in the test program on a proprie¬tary basis have found the informa¬tion in this article to be useful in better understanding and improv¬ing circuit performance. Viscosity Effects in Grinding Studies In this program&apos;s previous labo¬ratory studies, it was shown that there is a consistent pattern of change in specific rates of break¬age of both mineral and coal slur¬ries as slurry fluidity changes. Using the net production rate of material smaller than some spec¬ified size-for example, kg/hr of <75 µm (200 mesh)-as an index of mill production in a standard batch mill test (with a given feed material, feed size, mill, and mill conditions such as constant time of grind), the following facts were established (see Fig. 1): • The normal range of low den¬sity, low viscosity slurry (region A) gave no variation in mill produc¬tion. The measured rates of break¬age exhibited normal first order grinding. • Grinding of a somewhat higher viscosity slurry (region B) could give increased production. The higher viscosity was obtained

Oct 12, 1982

By J. A. Frew, R. M. Glen

Recovery of galena and sphalerite from fine grained lead-zinc ores by flotation normally requires re-grinding to achieve economic recoveries at acceptable concentrate grades. Re-grinding aims to reduce the coarse valuable mineral particles to a size where they float more readily and to liberate the composite valuable particles so that the gangue in these composites does not dilute the concentrate. Besides changing particle size and liberation, re-grinding changes the surfaces of the minerals and thus may alter the rate that mineral particles of a given size and liberation float. A method was developed to apportion the total change in recovery after re-grinding between changes in size and liberation and changes in flotation rates. The flotation behaviour of minerals, before and after re-grinding, was measured by floating samples of plant streams under controlled conditions in a laboratory cell. Results from several industrial lead-zinc circuits indicated that the change in behaviour observed fell into three different categories. It is concluded that the method will indicate whether the focus for optimization of existing plant should be on comminution or flotation, and it will help determine the path for laboratory testing in designing new regrind circuits.

Jan 1, 1995

By E. Rigopoulos

Mining disturbs the environment, even when the ores or the minerals extracted are non-toxic. Silver & Baryte Ores Mining Co S.A (S&B) is committed to minimizing the environmental impacts of its mining activities, by implementing an integrated rehabilitation program wherever it operates. The paper discusses the principles for mining-disturbed land restoration activities on Milos Island for a successful outcome.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. D. Naugle, L. C. Atkinson

Introduction Deep open-pit mines invariably affect the local and regional hydrologic systems. Pit dewatering, occurring during mining operations, puts an obvious hydrologic stress on these hydrologic systems. However, post-mining hydrologic impacts resulting from the pit refilling with groundwater following the cessation of mining activity can also be significant. The prediction of the rate at which the post-mining pit will fill with groundwater is a critical aspect of assessing the long-term hydrologic impacts. Numerical groundwater flow modeling provides a method for predicting the groundwater refilling rate of the pit. The rate at which pit "lakes" fill depends on several factors: •the rate and duration of pit dewatering; •the depth and size of the ultimate pit and •the pre-mining hydrologic regime. These factors can be incorporated into a detailed numerical groundwater flow model that can then be used to assess the effects of dewatering and post-mining recovery on the local and regional hydrologic systems. A sufficiently detailed, numerical groundwater model provides the oportunity to: •account for complex geology near the pit; •assess the impact of active pit dewatering and •predict the long-term impacts of post-mining groundwater flow into the pit. A detailed groundwater model incorporating these items has been developed and applied at an operating open-pit mine. Developed by Durbin and O&apos;Brien (1987), the three-dimensional, finite-element, groundwater flow model was used to represent the hydrologic system of an approximately 253-km2 (98-sq mile) area surrounding the pit. Historical groundwater elevation data, stream flows and meteorologic, geologic and geophysical data were used to establish the dimensions and initial conditions for the model. Steady-state conditions, representing the pre-mining local and regional hydrologic systems, were simulated using the initial conditions incorporated into the groundwater model. The groundwater model was then utilized to simulate various dewatering programs, to predict the filling rate and the groundwater depth in the ultimate pit once mining activities are complete and to assess the long-term impacts on the regional groundwater flow system. Development of pit lake model Groundwater modeling efforts were completed in two phases. The first focused on pit dewatering activities, while the second phase concentrated on the post-mining effects on the hydrologic system. The final estimates of groundwater elevations calculated during the pit dewatering simulations were used in predicting the post-mining recovery of the hydrologic system. The groundwater model was also modified prior to the second phase to account for the volume of rock removed during mining activities. To account for the actual volume of rock mined, the geometry of the post-dewatering model grid was modified to approximate the final pit geometry. The depth and width of the ultimate pit were divided into eight idealized stages that represented significant changes in the bench geometries. These eight stages were then introduced sequentially into the model according to the predicted water elevations within the pit. In this way, changes in the volume and depth of water within the pit were accounted for through time. Once the ultimate pit geometry was accounted for in the model, it was necessary to assign new hydraulic characteristics to those parts of the model grid (elements) that represented excavated rock. The solution of the numerical model requires that finite hydraulic conductivity values be assigned to the portion of the groundwater model that represents excavated rock. Therefore, the calculated groundwater elevations differ, somewhat, between the edges and the center of the open pit. These model-calculated water elevations at the edge and in the middle of the open pit represent the elevation of water that would occur in the pit lake. To minimize the error in the estimated level of water within the pit lake, the hydraulic conductivity was increased to a value that would: •minimize the predicted difference between the groundwater elevations across the open pit and •produce a numerically stable solution. Specific storage is the hydrologic parameter that accounts for the water produced by compaction of the aquifer matrix. To predict the groundwater volume that would flow into the ultimate pit, this parameter was assigned a value equivalent to the compressibility of water. This value of specific storage reflects the post-mining groundwater storage occurring as an open body of water. Additionally, a specific yield of 1.0 was assigned to the pit elements to represent the 100% porosity of the open pit. In

Jan 1, 1994

By Larry DeGraff

With the increase of new mine development in the past several years, many coal mines have decided to self- perform the design and construction for their slope development projects. The development process of determining the proper configuration is challenging, and a major economical consideration. Greenbrier Smokeless Minerals engineering staff and consultants, along with DSI/American Commercial, developed a support configuration that was best suited for their slope. The developmental process took into consideration the length of slope, depth of slope at the high-wall transition, economics of a single or multiple entries, waterproofing, stresses on the steel supports and lagging during the backfilling operation. This paper describes the developmental concept of using a single entry, side by side configuration, using steel ?Banjo String? supports with steel plank lagging, to develop a long term permanent installation in a cut and cover application.

Jan 1, 2009

By Edwin A. Harre, John J. Mortvedt

Plants obtain nutrients from both air and soil. They absorb carbon dioxide mainly from the air, although some carbon dioxide may be dissolved in soil water which is absorbed by plant roots. Carbon dioxide, a gaseous form of carbon and oxygen, supplies the carbon which usually makes up 50% or more of plant structure. Growing plants use water more than any other biological substance. Plant nutrients dissolve in soil water and enter the plant via root absorption. Water is then given off into the air as the plant breathes or transpires. Water also supplies hydrogen and oxygen to plants. Plant roots absorb nutrient cations or anions by contact exchange with soil clay particles. Inorganic or mineral nutrients essential to plants are supplied through the soil. Inorganic or mineral composition of plants usually is less than 5% of their weight. In most crop-growing areas, much of this nutrition is inadequately supplied from soil reserves and must be provided by fertilizers. The role of the fertilizer industry is to provide economical, efficient, good quality fertilizers to improve or maintain soil productivity for optimum crop production. The essential plant nutrients other than carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen which often must be added to soils or plants are categorized as primary nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), secondary nutrients (calcium, magnesium, and sulfur), and micronutrients (boron, chlorine, copper iron, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc). These classifications are based on quantity of nutrients utilized by plants and do not imply their function or degree of necessity. One point of major significance to the fertilizer industry is that not all fertilizer minerals contain the plant nutrients in a chemical form available to the plant. A product which may be considered a fertilizer mineral may require substantial processing or treatment before it becomes useful as a nutrient source or fertilizer.

Jan 1, 1994

By Matthew E. Fowler, Jean Habimana, Roy F. Cook

The West Side CSO Tunnel, Pump Station & Pipeline Project is currently beginning construction along the downtown waterfront of Portland, Oregon. This4.3 meter diameter, 5,500 meter-long soft ground tunnel will be driven along the westbank of the Willamette River adjacent to buildings and utilities and several major pile-supported bridges. High groundwater pressure, extended lengths of gravel to cobble-size alluvium, and the need to control ground loss and surface settlements were key considerations in the selection of slurry tunnel boring machines for the project This paper presents an overview of the numerical modeling that was performed during design to estimate the strains and additional loads in the pile-supported structures and to assess the efficiency of proposed mitigation measures.

Jan 1, 2003

By S. D. Thompson, L. Adler

J.R. Sturgul Thompson and Adler (1988) present a new simulator for use in designing conveyor belt systems for underground mines. Their model uses a large Fortran program to do a Monte Carlo simulation. Their approach is similar to that done by other researchers, such as Stanford (1965) and Newhart (1977). All Fortran based simulation models use an imaginary clock that is advanced a time increment. At each advance of time increment the program has to determine what is to take place in the system. Since many things can take place at different places in the system, this approach requires that a large amount of logic is needed at each step of the program. This, then, necessitates a great amount of jumping between different portions of the program. In fact, the Fortran program, CMBCS, takes up to 15 to 20 minutes to run on the mainframe and several hours for the PC. Such execution times are typical of Fortran based simulation studies. There have been other examples of Fortran based simulation studies in mining. Cross and Williamson (1969) presented a model of a working open-pit copper mine. Fosinato (1982) presented a model of the bucketwheel excavators for the large open-pit mines in Southern Victoria in Australia. These excavators discharge into a complex conveyor system, which can be thought of as being similar, but more complicated than the one modeled by CMBCS. All previous simulation studies using Fortran as the source code have several things in common: they all are very lengthy, often being of the order of 10,000 lines of code and take a great deal of CPU time to execute. The program of Fosinato takes more than 4.5 hours to run on a large mainframe. Also not mentioned by Thompson and Adler is the actual time it took to write the Fortran code. This, too, can be considerable, as Fosinato&apos;s program took several man years to write and de-bug. In order to change it, as the parameters change or as the mine increases, further large amount of time is needed. An alternate to such Fortran based programs is provided by using a special computer language known as General Purpose Simulation System (GPSS). This language is designed to solve a wide variety of discrete event simulation problems and appears to be particularly suited for mining situations as shown by Sturgul and Yi (1987). Although GPSS was introduced as far back as 1961, it has not been used in mining to any great extent. However, the original form was quite crude and inefficient compared to modern versions. Perhaps with the increasing popularity and availability of these recent versions, this will change. Two such versions are GPSS/H for the mainframe and GPSS/PC for the personal computer. GPSS/H allows for interactive usage, such as allowing input data to be entered via a menu. GPSS/PC has excellent graphical capabilities and one can actually view the simulation in progress. In addition, one can halt the simulation and change values of various parameters. If a particular portion of the simulation is in progress via a concept known as "microwindows." These new versions have greatly increased the potential for using the language for mining situations. Mining applications of GPSS have been given by Sturgul and Yi (1987), Sturgul and Harrison (1987), Sturgul (1987), and Sturgul and Singhal (1988). Schriber (1987) presents a summary of the recent advances in GPSS.

Jan 12, 1988

By I. Stavrakas

This work studies the variations of the electric current caused by the application of an electric field on marble samples when they are subjected to continuously increasing mechanical stress at a constant rate up to fracture. The external electric field is applied in a direction perpendicular to the applied mechanical stress. An increase of the level of the electric current was observed when micro-damages started to occur in the samples. The increase of the electric current was approximately 14%. Consequently, the current started to decay abruptly and the sample failed. This electric current recording is compared with the corresponding electric recording without applying the external electric field (Pressure Stimulated Current technique). Both recordings show similar qualitative characteristics. The most obvious of these characteristics are that the electric current starts to develop when microcrack structures start to form due to the externally applied stress. Both recordings show a maximum in the vicinity of fracture.

Jan 1, 2008