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By L Galisson, E Audigé, D Sowers

Establishing a robust geotechnical instrumentation and construction monitoring plan is one of the keys to the successful delivery of the world’s largest soft-ground bored tunnel in Seattle, Washington. The paper describes and provides a return of experience on current and best practice for monitoring tunnelling projects in urban areas. The owner’s contractual approach is discussed to highlight the flexibility of the design-built contract in achieving equal or better solutions by allowing for the use of innovative technics. Special attention is given to the management and involvement of third parties (building owners, utility owners), including the public, to overcome all challenges faced during the installation of the monitoring system in downtown Seattle for over 1000 instruments. Finally, the authors present the strategies implemented for managing the monitoring data and communicating with the owner, contractor and stakeholders.CITATION:Sowers, D, Galisson, L and Audigé, E, 2014. Current and best practice for monitoring tunnelling projects in urban areas – Alaskan Way bored tunnel, Seattle, Washington, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 441–450 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

By M. P. Smith, C. Hughes-Narborough, Y. T. Man

"Money and reputations can be lost in bad projects. Causes of bad mineral processing projects include poor contract definition and purchase of equipment without adequate test work. However, the root cause of many of the problems that can lead to bad projects is not any inanimate object, bad weather or catastrophic natural event but the people working on the projects. Because the people are so critical to the success of a mineral processing project, one must have suitably qualified and experienced people (SQEP) in all key positions. Characteristics that define SQEP include people who have successfully executed projects of similar size before; have undertaken projects treating the same minerals and producing the same valuable products and people who are familiar with designing, operating and implementing the required technologies and unit operations.To minimize the likelihood of future bad mineral processing projects, five recommendations are put forward in relation to the people aspect of a project.1. Attempt to retain SQEP during any down turn in the mining economic cycle so thatthe knowledge and experience can be kept within the industry.2. Increase the effort in attracting young people into the industry and retaining them.3. Set up robust training program to give young professionals a firm foundation of what real life projects and operations are like.4. Provide mentoring and continuous training for people after they have completed their formal graduate training program. Their career progression should be appropriately monitored and controlled.5. People working in projects must be exposed to as many detailed design and other finer issues as possible so that they can comprehend the amount of work required to deliver a project successfully."

Aug 1, 2016

By Nadir Ansari, Brian W. Wilson, Marina S. W. Li

"A hybrid shoring system consisting of cast-in-place soldier piles with Cutter Soil Mixing (CSM) infill panels was constructed for temporary support of a 19.8 m (65 ft) deep excavation in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Deep Mixing (DM) was completed up to 9.7 m (32 ft) in fill, peat, wood waste and clayey silt with embedment in dense till, and soldier piles constructed through the dense till extending to below final excavation level. Two trial CSM panels were installed ahead of production to assist with developing the termination criteria of the CSM panels in the dense till. The constructed depth of the CSM panels was based on interpretation of real-time monitoring data obtained through the Bauer B-tronic system. Inclinometer monitoring data from two CSM panels and two soldier piles, as well as soldier pile survey target data was used to assess and monitor the performance of the hybrid shoring system throughout bulk excavation. The objectives of this paper are to provide an overview of the design and construction aspects of the hybrid DM shoring system and to present inclinometer and pile target data to demonstrate the lateral performance of the CSM infill panels and soldier piles. This paper also discusses the merits of using real-time monitoring data as part of the engineering decision-making process for validating CSM panel construction. BACKGROUND A hybrid DM shoring design was recently completed for a high-rise development in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia for temporary support of a five level basement excavation. Deep mixing was proposed by the excavation and shoring design-build team as the preferred method to construct infill panels between soldier piles because of the speed at which the shoring system could be constructed in variable fill, peat, wood waste and overburden compared with traditional secant piling methods. The development site is generally a truncated triangle in plan, with the longest side of the triangle being approximately 115.7 m (380 ft) long and the two shorter sides being approximately 71.6 m (235 ft) (Hybrid Shoring Wall 1) to 75.0 m (246 ft) (Hybrid Shoring Wall 2) long. The site is bounded by an existing bridge off-ramp structure along its longest side, and by city streets on the other two sides, as shown in Figure 1. The truncated section is approximately 16.8 m (55 ft) (Hybrid Shoring Wall 3) long. Due to project constraints, the hybrid DM and soldier pile shoring system was only proposed for the two shorter sides of the triangle and the truncated section. Traditional secant piles were installed for the longest side. This paper focusses on the hybrid shoring system. A typical detail showing the CSM infill panel with the soldier piles is presented in Figure 2."

Jan 1, 2017

By Long Han, A. V. Kalinin, Xiujian Luo, Xiaobo Wang, Xiaoou Xia

"Inertia vibration crusher is a kind of vibration equipment which crushes ore by vibration. When the inertia vibration crusher works, ore between the two moving jaws is subjected to the high frequency contact force, which is produced by the two moving jaws with high frequency synchronous reciprocating motion. The synchronous motion of the two moving jaws depends on the self-synchronous feature of the inertia vibration crusher. To study the self-synchronous feature of the equipment, the dynamic model was established, in which relative parameters were taken into consideration. The kinematic coupling relations of the assemblies are discussed, and appropriate calculation method is chosen to solve the vibrating differential equation. Whether the two vibration exciter can realize synchronous operation depends on the ability of the vibration system's capture moment. Results show that though the two rotors’ motors and damping coefficients are different, and two jaws’ damping and stiffness coefficients are also different, as angular velocities of the two unbalanced rotors reach a certain value, the vibrating system can be stable. Their angular velocities tend to be equal, and the swings of the two moving jaws can be the same. The horizontal vibration and swing of the frame are large in a few seconds after starting the machine. When the system runs stably, the horizontal vibration and swing vanish, and the vertical vibration is stable. The study and its results can provide reference for the optimization design and parameter setting of inertia vibration crusher and related vibratory equipments.INTRODUCTIONMaterials can be easily broken by using the inertia force of the vibration exciter, which can effectively realize the selective crushing, reducing excessive combinations and the energy consumption, as introduced by Zhang in 2005. The initial micro crack between crystals in the material increases and new cracks can be manufactured because of the high frequency impact and the extrusion of the vibration crusher, so vibration crushing equipment can make it possible for any high strength brittle material to be broken theoretically. Inertia cone crusher and inertia vibration crusher have been successfully used in the treatment of metallurgical slag and construction waste, and it verifies the efficiency of vibration crushing."

Jan 1, 2016

Jan 1, 2009

By Alan R. Buehler

The Bureau of Mines conducted a mineral investigation of the 10,500-hectare Cache Peak study area in 1992; the area had been proposed as wilderness. Bureau personnel examined and sampled prospect workings; 14 rock and 20 placer samples were taken during the investigation. The study area is centered about 40 km south-southeast of Burley. Idaho, in the Sawtooth National Forest. There were seven mining claims located inside the study area, and one additional historical mining claim location. Gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc: Possible resource, poor exposure precludes estimate. Marble: Several million tonnes may be suitable for a variety of uses; markets too distant to favor mining. Sand and Gravel: Several million m3, but markets and transportation costs do not favor mining. Quartzite: Several million tonnes may be suitable for metallurgical purposes; however, markets are too limited to mine. Slabs have been quarried at three localities adjacent to the study area, for decorative stone. Production: In 1979, two tonnes of ore were produced and a plan of operations was submitted calling for approximately 5 km of access road for the Last Chance mine. Decorative stone production was not recorded.

Jan 1, 1993

By M. Hekmati, M. R. Garmsiri, S. M. Hosseini

"SAG/AG mills have been most common choice in grinding circuits last decades. In the most cases, at the discharge of SAG/AG mills, a trommel screen is used that is equipped with baffles to provide appropriate residence time and improve separation efficiency. Using baffles, with the resultant maintenance requirements could lead to decrease in mill availability. In this research, an innovation in the structure of baffles of a trommel is presented. The results show that using new baffles led to 67% decrease in SAG mill downtime due to problems of baffles and 80% decrease in fine particles on recycle conveyor.INTRODUCTIONComminution is a vital operation in mineral processing circuits and it helps to achieve a certain level of fineness in the ore material. About 60-80 % of the overall energy used in mining is consumed in comminution, and this is the reason that much research has been performed in this field (Kochnev, 2008).During the last decades the configuration of grinding circuits has been changing due in large part to the decrease in the grade of mineral resources and the need for large scale, energy efficient processes. The previous configuration of conventional grinding circuits was based on parallel primary circuits (mostly using ball mill), such as the grinding circuit of Sarcheshmeh concentrator plant no.1 (Figure 1). The new configuration of grinding circuits is based on using SAG/AG mills, such as Shahrebabak concentrator plant (Figure 2), sometimes incorporating new technologies like the HPGR. Nowadays, application of new configuration of grinding circuits using large SAG/AG mills up to 40 feet (Allan, Major, Flintoff, Klein, & Mular, 2006), in the minerals industry is continuing increase due to the significant reduction in capital and operating costs, and increase in the plants throughput (Banisi & Hadizadeh, 2007)."

Jan 1, 2012

By Thomas B. Dellinger

Since 1950, rotary-drilled, large-diameter holes, "big holes", with depths to over 300 feet and diameters of over 30 inches have become numerous and widespread. Fifty such holes have been drilled for access shafts to LPG mined caverns, Over 70 holes have been drilled for various other commercial activities. Over 150 holes have been drilled by the AEC for atomic testing purposes. These holes have ranged up to 300-inch diameters with 1600-foot depths, 120-inch diameters with 570-foot depths, and 72-inch diameters with 4800-foot depths. Equipment is now available to drill a wide range of ?big holes? for varied requirements. At least a dozen drilling contractors are participating or have participated in the drilling of "big holes". The accompanying tables show pertinent historical, technical and economic data on over 250 holes. The illustrations to be presented concurrently with this paper show the various equipment and accessories now in use. (See Appendix I for captions of illustrations.)

Jan 1, 1966

By John B. Gustavson

The mineral deposits found in carbonate facies rocks of sedimentary basins include deposits comprised of the country rock itself such as limestone for chemical uses, dolomite for road aggregate, and a variety of other industrial uses of the sedimentary rock. Exploration for new reserves is generally conducted on basis of outcrop investigation, subsurface drilling, and facies change studies while geophysics and geochemistry are not applied. In contrast, rapid development has taken place in the application of both geophysical and geochemical techniques in exploration for stratiform deposits of zinc, lead, barite, and fluorite deposits. This paper will present case histories and show illustrations from such work in the Mid-Continent region. The Metals Division of International Oil & Gas, Inc. has gathered this experience through work over the last three years along the southern margin of the Eastern Interior platform focusing on the states of Arkansas and Tennessee. The exploration work was conducted partially for the Company's own account, partially in joint exploration ventures with mining companies including International Mogul Mines, Ltd., a Canadian company; Bear Creek Mining Company, a subsidiary of Kennecott Copper Corporation; the Mining Division of W. R. Grace and Company, and Boliden-Preussag Exploration, a Swedish-German partnership. We wish to take this opportunity to thank our venture partners for allowing presentation of the various sections of this paper.

Jan 1, 1976

By J P. Evert

Didipio gold-copper mine operation is situated in the island of Luzon, approximately 270 km north of Manila in the Philippines, in an area of high seasonal rainfall. The hydrogeological water flow model implied that there would be high connectivity between regional structures and underground operations. This model predicted that underground mine groundwater inflows were expected to quickly rise as the decline progressed to a peak of 510 L/s. Designing a capital pump station to deal with 510 L/s has its own challenges, however developing the decline down to the required level, always dealing with 300 L/s of water and constructing the pump station is extremely challenging and required a robust water management plan and mine design. When dealing with expected high volumes of water, underground mine design and scheduling plays a key role in protecting electrical infrastructure, equipment, secondary pumps, and the decline from flooding. A good drainage system and controlled dewatering plan is essential for safety and progress. This paper details the dewatering techniques and mine designs required to accomplish decline development with high water inflows as used in the Didipio project. It will describe the learnings and outcomes that are achievable with a flexible design, as new structures are mapped, and water intersections are increased. It also highlights the potential for adaptability in mine planning to provide evolving improvements or to evade problems that are expected from the constant reconciliation of data recorded during development.

Mar 29, 2023

By Nishit Patel

Development work on the use of plasma torches in blast furnace ironmaking was completed in the 1980s. The technology developers planned to reduce blast furnace coke consumption using electrical energy and large scale coal injection through the tuyeres. Since this time, Westinghouse Plasma Corporation has improved torch reliability with industrial experience in solid-waste-to-energy facilities, as well as metallurgical applications. As coke makes up one-third of the hot metal cost, savings efforts frequently seek to lower coke consumption by increasing process efficiency or replacing coke with cheaper fuels. Alter NRG and Hatch assessed the merits of using plasma torch technology to superheat the hot blast. Coke rate savings, electrical purchase requirements, and a financial analysis to implement the torches are presented.

Aug 17, 2017

By Mattos J. L. C

Drilling and blasting with explosives in mining operations near communities require careful planning to mitigate socio-environmental impacts. Ground vibration, noise emission, flyrock, and dust dispersion are factors that may trigger conflicts with local populations. However, large-scale operations demand high productivity and intense material handling, making it essential to balance operational performance with impact control. The adoption of best practices, combined with advanced monitoring and mitigation technologies, enables sustainable mining even in proximity to inhabited areas. This study proposes the use of double and triple-deck blasting techniques with large-diameter boreholes (12 ¼” – 311 mm), addressing the sizing of charges and decks, as well as measures aimed at reducing noise perceived by nearby communities. The approach seeks to maintain the use of large drilling rigs already present in the operation, avoiding costs related to premature equipment replacement or expensive alternatives, while minimizing environmental and social impacts and promoting a more balanced and responsible mining model.

Jan 26, 2026

By Donald I. Kurth

The Bureau of Mines conducted experimental work on comminuting coal. The size distributions of coarse fragments and fine particles were obtained under different modes of energy application--drop, impact crushing, wedge impact, compression, and shear tests. Four levels of energy application were used in the impact crushing and wedge impact tests. Airborne dust and respirable air-borne dust distributions were obtained for the impact crushing and wedge impact tests. Analyses of nonairborne dust and coarse fragment-fine particle distributions were carried out on impact, wedge, compression, and shear tests. The experimental size data on nonairborne dust were fitted to normal, log-normal, power law, Weibull, log-Weibull, and exponential distribution functions. Both the nonairborne dust and the coarse fragment-fine particle size distributions are best described by Weibull distributions. For the impact crushing tests, mean product size was found to be inversely related to specific crushing energy. The particle counts in a given size range of airborne and nonairborne dust were found to increase with increased input energy and specific crushing energy. However, in another sense the particle distributions were independent of energy level; that is, the percent-ages in a given size range were approximately constant regardless of energy level. Respirable airborne dust was related to respirable-size nonairborne dust by a power law.

Jan 1, 1975

The Library of the above-named Societies is open from 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. on all week-days, except holidays, from September 1 to June 30, and from 9 A.M. to 6 P.M.. during July and August. The Library contains about 55,000 volumes, including sets of technical periodicals and the publications of scientific and technical societies. Members of the Institute, with few exceptions, are forced to spend a portion of their time in localities isolated from sources of information. To these the Library can render valuable service through correspondence; letters requesting information-will receive special attention. The Library is prepared to furnish references and copies of articles on mining and metallurgical subjects; to determine the existence of mining-maps, and to furnish general information as to the geology and mineral resources of all countries: All communications should be made as definite as possible so that the information received may be what is desired and not include collateral matter which may not be of interest. The time spent in searching for such collateral matter will be saved, and the information will be sent more promptly and in more usable shape. The members of the Institute. can be of service to the Library by forwarding copies of mining-reports, maps privately issued, and similar material, which will he classified, indexed, and made available to other members. Suggestions for additions to the Library, either by purchase or personal solicitation as gifts, will be welcomed. It is hoped that members while in the city will use the Library freely, and assurance is given that most careful service will be rendered to them.

Jan 5, 1913

By S. Liu

With the development of global economy, the demand of mineral?s quantity and quality are in-creased, valuable minerals are more and more finer and poorer, and the capacity of concentration plant are more and more high. Using large-scale flotation cells can obviously enhance the capacity of treating the mineral, reduce the cost, and increase the economic benefit and competitive ability for the enterprise. BGRIMM advanced advisable technical scheme with optimally parameter and route for the feature of dynamic in large scale flotation machine, and developed the KYF Large Scale Flotation Cells, which have used more than 400. The paper advanced the history, the design principle, the operating principle, the structure feature and the application of KYF flotation ma-chine.

Jan 1, 2014

By W L. Daniels, C Stilson, C Zimmerman

Mineral sands mining for ilmenite, rutile and zircon has disturbed over 1000 ha of prime farmland in Virginia (USA) since 1997 and additional areas are likely to be disturbed in Virginia and North Carolina (USA) over the next 15 years. Full-scale mining operations at the Old Hickory Project in Virginia were initiated in 1997 by Iluka Resources Inc. and restoration protocols have continued to evolve in response to a variety of economic, technical and social issues. Early on, the return of these lands to agricultural row-crop production was complicated by vertical stratification of tails + slimes and lateral variability in soil physical conditions in the reclaimed pits and by limited topsoil return. Virginia Tech and Iluka have worked cooperatively with all stakeholders for over 20 years to review the pre-existing research base, conduct new and innovative site-specific research and thereby provide reasonable expectations of post-mining soil productivity levels. In 2004, Virginia Tech, Iluka Resources and a local leaseholder (Carraway-Winn family) agreed to jointly manage a 45 ha research demonstration farm where the long-term effects of alternative soil reconstruction practices are being rigorously monitored for both row crops (corn and wheat) and forage production. All mined land crop yields are also compared to an adjacent undisturbed exceptional quality prime farmland soil. Row crop yields between 2005 and 2010 were significantly above county average yields (regulatory target level) and approximately 75 - 80 per cent of undisturbed adjacent prime farmlands. The state regulatory authority has recently relaxed its position on the necessity of topsoil return versus use of topsoil substitutes based on appropriate on-site research results and the ability of the reclaimed soils to meet comparative local county crop yield targets. This cooperative effort allows all clientele groups to objectively assess the post-mining productivity of these mined lands while providing an invaluable educational opportunity for the mining industry. CITATION:Daniels, W L, Stilson, C and Zimmerman, C, 2012. Development of effective rehabilitation protocols for mineral sands mining in Virginia, USA, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2012 , pp 97-104 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 10, 2012

By Marco Ojeda, Caio Moreira, Edelink Tinoco

Este documento técnico analiza la viabilidad del uso de un relave minero de la empresa Nexa Resources, cómo componente principal para la producción de cemento. El proyecto contempla dos etapas, en la primera etapa se acondicionan las proporciones de los componentes del relave mediante la flotación para en una segunda etapa hacer el tratamiento térmico del relave acondicionado y así producir el Clinker, que es la materia prima base que se usa para fabricar el cemento.

Sep 29, 2023

By J. Alatalo

Autogenous grinding is a process of reducing the particle size distribution of an extracted ore by using the ore itself as the grinding media. It is a process that is difficult to control and there is a lack of knowledge of the events occurring inside the mill. To find out more about how the mill behaves under different processing conditions, a full factorial test was performed with iron ore in a pilot-scale pebble mill at the LKAB R&D facility in Malmberget. To complement this work, a strain gauge detector was embedded in one of the mill?s rubber lifters, the Metso Minerals continuous charge measurement (CCM) system, and was used to get more information about the charge dynamics. The data from the experiments has been analyzed. For production purposes, an increase in the number of particles smaller than 45 µm can be regarded as a probable increase in the production rate. The analysis shows that there will be an increase in fines at 65% of critical speed, especially when the mill is 45% full. This setting will also increase the power consumption, but improves the grindability of the ore even more. The deflection of the lifters is smaller for lower critical speeds. A higher degree of filling also gives a smaller toe angle and a higher shoulder angle as expected.

Jan 1, 2011

By J. Alatalo

Autogenous grinding is a process of reducing the particle size distribution of an extracted ore by using the ore itself as the grinding media. It is a process that is difficult to control and there is a lack of knowledge of the events occurring inside the mill. To find out more about how the mill behaves under different processing conditions, a full factorial test was performed with iron ore in a pilot-scale pebble mill at the LKAB R&D facility in Malmberget. To complement this work, a strain gauge detector was embedded in one of the mill?s rubber lifters, the Metso Minerals continuous charge measurement (CCM) system, and was used to get more information about the charge dynamics. The data from the experiments has been analyzed. For production purposes, an increase in the number of particles smaller than 45 µm can be regarded as a probable increase in the production rate. The analysis shows that there will be an increase in fines at 65% of critical speed, especially when the mill is 45% full. This setting will also increase the power consumption, but improves the grindability of the ore even more. The deflection of the lifters is smaller for lower critical speeds. A higher degree of filling also gives a smaller toe angle and a higher shoulder angle as expected.

Nov 1, 2011

By A. C. Johnstone

The aim of the study is to determine if pit lakes are a sustainable coal mine closure option in South African. The water balance, chemistry, limnology, and bacterial population of three selected pit lakes were investigated. The lakes are in the three major coal basins of South Africa and are associated with different lithologies and mining methods. The major factors driving the water balance of the pit lakes are direct rainfall, runoff, inflow from old mine workings, and groundwater infiltration, with the major losses being evaporation or discharge onto surface. The study indicated that pit lakes can be designed as ’terminal sinks’ to provide a sustainable mine closure option. The pit lakes sampled have an alkaline pH, and mostly a sodium/calcium sulphate water with total dissolved solids content of less than 3000 mg/l. The phytoplankton and microbiological data indicates that the pit lakes support aquatic life. The study shows that correctly designed pit lakes can be an environmentally sustainable closure option for South Africa’s coal mines. A suggested design manual has been developed to assist mine owners and regulators in developing sustainable coal mine pit lakes as a closure option.

Oct 1, 2021