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By P B. Hills, R J. Walton

Geotechnical instrumentation has been implemented as a key step for monitoring and optimising an engineered mine design for managing seismicity at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine. Measurements of displacement, stress change, ground control element load and seismic response of the rock mass allow for back analysis and calibration of critical parameters for feedback into the engineering design loop. Instrument clusters are installed in strategic locations prior to the commencement of stoping in order to determine the nature of the response of the rock mass to stoping. A selection of instruments including instrumented cable bolts and rod extensometers, resistance wire extensometers, hollow inclusion stress cells, vibrating wire stress meters and resistance wire extensometers are used to gather data through a data logging system. The rate at which data is recorded is adjusted to provide more information during periods of anticipated rapid change such as around stope firings or during periods of high seismic activity, and less information during periods of anticipated quiescence. The twofold purpose of the instrumentation is to calibrate the numerical modelling output which forms the basis of the engineered mine design, and to provide an alert mechanism where the behaviour of the rock mass is not what was anticipated, or where the impact of that behaviour may compromise the integrity of the engineered ground control system. The paper describes the location of instrument clusters with respect to stoping, the type of instruments employed and the method of data acquisition. It provides examples of results obtained and illustrates the way in which that information is used to optimise the mine design and manage seismicity.

Jan 1, 2008

By Karine Miranda Bezerra

A presente pesquisa investigou a eficiência dos filmes de polipirrol (PPy) eletrodepositados potenciostaticamente em meio aquoso contendo os Ácidos: Dodecil Benzeno Sulfônico (DBSA) ou p-Toluenossulfônico (pTS) na proteção da Liga de Alumínio 2024 contra a corrosão. Ensaios de Polarização Potenciodinâmica e Voltametria Cíclica obtidos em NaCl demonstraram significativa proteção do Alumínio 2024 quando revestido pelos filmes de PPy/pTS, em detrimento do Sistema PPy/DBSA que sofre o processo irreversível de overoxidação. A Morfologia dos filmes avaliada por Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura (MEV) indicaram que o Sistema PPy/pTS é mais homogêneo e uniforme, quando comparados aos filmes de PPy/DBSA, que apresentaram defeitos estruturais que justificam a menor performance desses filmes na proteção do metal contra a corrosão.

Aug 8, 2018

By Rita D. Sylvester

"THE BUREAU OF MINES was established in the public interest to conduct inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations concerning mining and the preparation, treatment, and utilization of mineral substances; to promote health and safety in the mineral industries; to conserve mineral resources and prevent their waste; to further economic development; to increase efficiency in the mining, metallurgical, quarrying, and other mineral industries; and to inquire into the economic conditions affecting these industries. The organic act of the Bureau, as amended by Congress and approved February 25, 1913, made it the province and duty of the Bureau to ""disseminate information concerning these subjects in such manner as will best carry out the purposes of this Act.""In accordance with that directive, the Bureau reports the findings of its research and investigations in its own series of publications and also in articles that appear in scientific, technical, and trade journals; in proceedings of conventions and seminars; in reference books; and in other non-Bureau sources. The number of these reports, the wide range of subjects they cover, and the variety of mediums in which they appear make the kind of list and index presented III this special publication both necessary and valuable. This issue describes Bureau reports and articles published during the period January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1964. It supplements the 50-year list of Bureau publications issued from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960,2 and the 50-year list of articles by Bureau authors published outside the Bureau from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960.3 It supersedes the annual lists of Bureau publications and articles from January 1 to December 31, 1960/ from January 1 to December 31, 1961,5 from January 1 to December 31, 1962,6 and from January 1 to December 31, 1963,1 The leading general and technical libraries of the United States maintain files of the Bureau's publications. A list of these libraries appears immediately following this introduction. BUREAU PUBLICATIONSBecause some series of Bureau reports contain both free and sales publications, and because the cost of sales publications varies, prices are indicated in the individual listings of all publications for which charges are made."

Jan 1, 1964

By Lincoln A. Stewart

"INTRODUCTION The First Supplemental National Defense Appropriation Act, approved August, 25,, 1941, authorized the Bureau of Mines to investigate sources of raw, material for western production and appropriated funds for that purpose. Numerous iron deposits and prospects in the Western States were investigated. Among those selected for more detailed investigation were tile Apache and Chodiski deposits in Arizona.The United States Geological Survey had examined these deposits in 1929 3/ and estimated that ""the quantity of minable ore reasonably to be expected in this locality will reach 10,000,000 long tons, but it will require prospecting by core drill to demonstrate this quantity with certainty"". C. H. Johnson, a mining engineer of the Bureau of Mines, made a preliminary examination in October 1941 and proposed exploration of the Apache deposit Canyon Creek.A trench sampling project was set up, and work at the Apache deposit commenced in November 1941. Mapping, trenching, and sampling of outcrops was completed in March 1942. Trenches were laid out at approximately 200-foot intervals for about 9,200 feet along the iron outcrop east of Canyon Creek, and channel samples were taken across the iron formation. The outcrop also was explored by trenching and sampling along a 1,900-foot outcrop on the west side of Canyon Creek.The first diamond-drilling campaign at Apache was initiated in May 1942 and continued to January 1943, when work was suspended owing to depletion of funds. Six holes spaced at approximately 500-foot intervals and, 500 feet back from the outcrop on the east side of Canyon Creek were drilled through the iron formation during this period.While this drilling was in progress, the Chediski deposit was mapped, trenched, and sampled. The trenches were spaced at intervals of approximately 800 feet along 10,000 feet of the iron-ore outcrop."

Jul 1, 1947

"Horizontal grinding mills have been used in the mining industry for more than a century, and due to their operational and maintenance simplicity they remain a widely used technology for various stages of comminution. The relative ‘efficiency’ of horizontal grinding mills compared to other comminution equipment is often debated, and efforts to improve the energy efficiency of these mills is an on-going area of attention for process engineers.The discharge arrangement design affects the material transport characteristics within a horizontal grinding mill. Material transport plays a significant role on efficiency of horizontal grinding mills. The magnitude of benefits that can be achieved with efficient material transport in AG/SAG mills has been demonstrated in a Greenfield milling operation at Mirabela Mineração’s SantaRita Nickel operation in Brazil. This grinding circuit was commissioned in October 2009, which was designed as a typical SABC circuit to grind 4.6 mtpa (575tph) to produce a P80 of 125um with 10-12% ball charge in SAG mill. The nameplate design capacity has been achieved in few days in ABC circuit without grinding media in SAG mill, and has been operating in ABC mode. The through has gradually increased to an average of 800 tph and recently 7% ball charge has been introduced to increase the throughput to +900tph.This paper investigates improved material transport using Outotec’s TPL™ (Turbo Pulp Lifter) technology and the opportunities this technology presents when designing horizontal grinding mills. Operational data, with particular reference to energy and throughput optimization, is presented."

Jan 1, 2013

By John E. Leitch

The cost of corrosion as measured by such cost components as the renovation or replacement of coated steel, or the use of expensive coating systems on steel, is considerable. Extrapolating from figures for the USA would place the overall cost of corrosion for South Africa as a figure of the order of magnitude of something over 1% of the GNP. This is a sizeable amount, of which costs associated with atmospheric corrosion would be a significant proportion. The corrosivity of an atmosphere can be defined as the ability of the atmosphere to cause corrosion in a given metal or alloy (International Standards Organization [1]). The ISO Standard 9223 specifies the key factors in the atmospheric corrosion of metals and alloys, and defines categories of corrosivity on the basis of these factors. Prior to the publication of that ISO standard, Callaghan published the results of his twenty-year exposure programme and his excellent corrosivity map of Southern Africa [2]. The present author published updates of the corrosivity map in 1999 [3] and again in 2003 [4]. The summary of the individual areas of corrosivity around Southern Africa was published in the latter paper, and is reproduced here as the following TABLE 1. Of significance in TABLE 1 are the numerous regions of very high corrosivity (C5 or beyond), particularly the rural West Coast shoreline, the North East Coast (KZN) shoreline, and the coastal cities Cape Town, Durban and Richards Bay. The corrosivity map as published is obviously based on much extrapolation as only a small number of points have been measured. During the past three years further measurements have been made, mostly however at the same sites in order to give greater reliability and to monitor long-term trends with changes in pollution. These two aspects are incorporated in this update. There has become available a greater amount of air pollution data for centres in South Africa than was the case some years ago. In this present paper the pollution data are used to extrapolate the corrosivity over areas where little or no direct corrosivity measurement has been made. This methodology is described in ISO 9223.

Jan 1, 2006

By Michael A. Anuta

This report describes the potential for utilization of satellite observations for remote sensing of mine waste disposal areas. Four study sites consisting of metal and nonmetal mining areas in different climatic and physiographic regions of contigous United States were used in this investigation. The mine waste disposal sites consisted of mining of phosphates in Florida, copper in Arizona, silver in Idaho, and coal in West Virginia. Landsat satellite multispectral scanner observations were used together with aerial photographs, ground surveys, U.S. Geological Survey maps, and other ancillary information. Landsat digital data were categorized using automated supervised classification algorithms and an image analysis system. Detailed description of automated classification techniques employed and the accuracy attained is provided together with the results of manual interpretations. The inventory of areas distrubed for phosphate mining and a change detection investigation for-Polk County Florida were also undertaken during this study.

Jan 1, 1982

I have chosen this subject in view of the fact that, while there are many and ample opportuuities of getting reliable assays made, there are but few who are in a position to obtain reliable data on the sampling of minerals and metals my long experience at Port Pirie, where, for five years, I had charge of the Refining and Sampling Mill, showed me how important it was that a correct sample should be taken.Weighing; This, to the ordinary layman, seems so simple that no expert knowledge is needed, but in actual practice there are hundreds of pounds to be lost by the lack of knowledge in this department.(1.) There is the matter of weighing in large or small quantities.(2.) The class of weighing machine used.(3.) The accuracy of weights used.We all know that, say, 1000 tons of ore cannot be weighed in one parcel; but the fewer the weighings the less loss to the seller (and usually wishes it weighed in small lots carefully) for it is a well known fact that the most sensitive scales take a certain weight to show distinctly the indication of the balance, or, in other words, what is known as "the pull of the scales." As for instance, 1000 tons weighed in lots of 1 c. each, taking the pull of the scale as being equal to 1 lb., would give a result of 9 tons loss to tbe seller, and as most of the ore sent to Customs works is worth 5. -£20 per ton-this would mean £180 loss to the careful man.

Jan 1, 1901

By J C. Volkwein, A D. A Hansen, E Sarver, C Barrett

Ensuring that diesel particulate matter (DPM) levels in underground metal and non-metal mines are maintained below statutory limits is an essential requirement of mine ventilation systems. However, despite the cost of providing ventilation, air ventilation rates are usually based upon models, assumptions, or measurements integrated over long durations rather than actual need. Real-time measurement of DPM, interpreted in terms of mine activity schedules, can offer better ventilation management to keep DPM within regulated levels while controlling costs. This work presents data from three demonstration sites with in-mine applications of an environmental particulate sensor that measured black carbon (BC) as a surrogate for DPM.Aethalometers are a class of environmental monitors that measure the light absorbance of aerosol particles at several optical wavelengths. A model AE33 Aethalometer was operated in three separate mines for periods of two weeks, three months, and seven-plus months, and the data was reported in real time as a concentration of BC. Concentration of aromatic organic compounds, which can indicate other forms of combustion, was also reported. The data was used to:- measure the relative efficiency of a new scale-model DPM air scrubber- determine if ventilation could be reduced in a shotcrete loading facility without compromising air quality- evaluate diurnal and weekly DPM levels in a large-entry stone mine. Instrument data were displayed locally and stored for later downloading in all cases. In one mine, the instrument was connected to a local controller, and in another it was connected to the mine’s underground network so that DPM data was presented in real time to a display in the mine ventilation engineering office on the surface.The results showed that the air scrubber removes from 82 per cent to 95 per cent of the DPM; that DPM produced during shotcrete loading is only a minor part of overall DPM levels; and that wide variations in DPM levels exist in the limestone operation. The DPM monitor operated continuously for extended periods in these underground environments. The only maintenance required was the routine replacement of filter tape, typically on a two-week schedule. A sample diluter, which is currently being tested, could extend the intervals between filter changes. The real-time data output of the Aethalometer is appropriate for direct integration into ventilation-on-demand control systems.CITATION:Volkwein, J C, Barrett, C, Sarver, E and Hansen, A D A, 2017. Application of an environmental ‘black carbon’ particulate sensor for continuous measurement of DPM in three underground mines, in Proceedings Australian Mine Vent Conference 2017, pp 143–150 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 28, 2017

By R. Burkhard

Recovery of metals from complex mixed wastes is a challenging task of modem material and waste management strategies. Thermal methods are an important tool in this respect. Plasma turned out to be particularly useful for treatment of complex or toxic wastes and residuals. In order to study plasma processes at reasonable costs, a pilot plasma plant has been used and wastes like ~pent Raney-Nickel catalysts, copper and ah.:lminum drosses, and. other metal containing wastes were investigated. The paper summarizes the most significant findings

Jan 1, 1995

By THEO L. JOHNSTON

In preparing for war , Japan built an iron and steel industry that ranked high with other industrial nations . Deficient in raw materials for making iron and steel , it had to acquire the bulk of its iron ore and much of its coal and scrap iron from foreign sources . Steel manufacture, and fabrication , however , were reserved mostly for the Home Islands , where modern integrated plants produced the implements of war . The vulnerability of relying on imports during the war was recognized early, and steps were taken to exploit iron-ore deposits and develop treatment processes on the Home Islands in order to be as self - sufficient as possible . Although the industry had expanded considerably, the capacity of the large plants still was insufficient for military requirements, so other meth- ods of producing iron and steel were adopted, which in some ways illustrate the desperate effort made to supply the war machine. In developing the iron and steel industry, modern practices of other countries were studied and followed with modifications to suit Japanese con- Aitions. German and American technical ability and equipment played a large part in the program; however, the Japanese had competent furnace technologists capable of obtaining proper equipment performance. For the most part, the standard practice consisted of smelting iron ores in blast furnaces and then refining the pig iron to make steel in open-hearth furnaces. Electric furnaces played an important part, especially in the manu- facture of alloy steels. Various other methods yielded minor but significant production. Among the various other treatment processes used, the production of sponge iron in rotary kilns 'probably was the most important in producing melt- ing stock for steel making. Of special importance was the fact that sponge iron made from low-grade ores contained critical metals, such as nickel and chromium, so that the results were more significant than was generally believed.'

Mar 1, 1948

By R Adamian, F. T. Da Silva, D. H. Gameiro

Schytill and Geldart diagrams were developed for the TiO2-C-Cl2 system at 1 073 and 1 273 K, so as to define the hypothetical relations between particle sizes and chlorine velocity for simultaneous fluidisation of mixtures of anatase concentrate and charcoal for carbochlorination. It was concluded that the operating limits on chlorine gas velocity will be controlled by the behaviour of the reducing agent, mainly because of its lower density. An increase in temperature from 1 073 to 1 273 K will have only a small influence on the fluid-dynamic behaviour of the mixture. For bubble fluidisation, the maximum sizes 0.413-0.478 mm for anatase and 0.529-0.611 mm for charcoal will be adequate. When the particle size distribution is large, fluidisation will be feasible only if conducted in two stages, otherwise the residence time of the small particles in the reactor will be very short. New diagrams will be needed for the gaseous chlorides in the second stage

Jun 21, 1905

By Paul Klaric, Nicholas Bodley

Every blasting engineer or professional can attest to the age-old conundrum of obtaining accurate hole information on a large scale prior to loading explosive charges in a blast hole. Even though the benefits of QA/QC are well known and documented and are becoming increasingly important when digitizing and automating mining operations, the QA/QC process itself has not changed significantly over generations. The current methods where operators deploy measuring tapes of variable standards recording their subjective assessment of hole length on a paper blast map or manually transcribing to a tablet, are unreliable and non-auditable. Additionally, the process in its current form is time intensive, obtaining only moderate results and benefits, making it difficult or impossible to resource in today’s tight labour markets. Often only two data points, depth, and water presence, are captured when visiting the hole resulting in a high cost per bit of data. For these reasons, the process is seldom done on a large scale, let alone integrated. The QA/QC process in its current shape is a gap that will need to be addressed if autonomous blasting and mining is to become a reality.

Feb 6, 2023

By G R. Ballantyne, M S. Powell

A comprehensive Australia-wide survey of comminution energy consumption at copper and gold mines was presented by the authors at the 11th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2012. The database has been extended to include major overseas mines and used to benchmark comminution energy consumption across the industry. The mines included in this study now represent 15 and 24 per cent of the total global gold and copper production respectively, and almost all Australian production. The comminution energy intensity per unit of saleable metal has been presented in a graphical form similar to a cost curve used in economics. The graphical method has been developed to assess the competitive advantage that can be achieved by reducing comminution energy intensity.This benchmarking tool has been applied to three published case studies to assess its applicability. The first case study indicated that a large reduction in size-specific energy (kWh/t -75 µm) was achievable by converting standard semi-autogenous and ball mill circuits to include high pressure grinding roll and stirred mills. The second case study investigated the metal-specific energy reduction historically achieved by Bougainville with the addition of a preconcentration screening plant. The final case study was conducted by Barrick Gold Corporation and involved incremental efficiency upgrades at three of its gold mines: Cortez, Cowal and Mara North. The application of the benchmarking tool to each of these case studies successfully demonstrated the scale and competitive advantage that was achieved by reducing energy intensity.CITATION:Ballantyne, G R and Powell, M S, 2014. Benchmarking comminution energy consumption for improved efficiency, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 95–100 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

By A. V. Corlett

THE use of the diamond-drill hole as a means of breaking clown ore and waste is not new. Years ago, the method was adopted in mines in northern Ontario and in the western United States to reach out to bad pillars, or to remnants of ore left on walls, the winning of which by any other method might be dangerous or too expensive. The practice is still in vogue and has generally proved a success. Of the known mineral deposits in Canada and elsewhere, many are of very low grade. Some are marginal and not even worthy of being classed as 'ore' until some means is found and proved of exploiting them economically. Other conditions being favourable, if a mining method could be found that would give a large 'bulk break' with a sufficiently low cost of development and a low cast of mining per ton, mineral deposits of this latter type might be brought into the classification of ore. We know that any block-craving system whereby the ore may be undercut and allowed to crush and cave will give a very high breakage and low costs. In some cases, however, the physical characteristics of the ore do not lend themselves to this method. In such ore-bodies, the alternative system of 'bulk-breaking' might be aided by long diamond-drill blast holes. We could obtain this 'bulk breaking' by the use of long diamond-drill holes in conjunction with a sub-level system using extremely thick benches, or possibly by the adaption of modified open-pit methods to underground mining. ln fact, if conditions are favourable, the idea would be simply ta open up a slot or free face and break into it on a larger scale with longer holes. The use of deeper benches-that is, using each level as a sub-level and thereby eliminating much development footage, slashing, setting up, and mucking time-would naturally be expected to lead to cheaper mining.

Jan 1, 1940

By F. Bélanger, P. A. Fournier

"Modelling and optimization techniques used in the operation of the Detour Lake Mine leach circuit are contrasted to a 1973 review of contemporary techniques used by a major gold producer. The leach circuit at the Detour Lake Mine was modelled using a full factorial Design of Experiment of stirred tank reactor leach tests using circuit feed. Contour plots of extraction were applied in the plant to optimize addition rates of cyanide and the newly-commissioned lead nitrate system. Contour plot sections were used to understand the impact of sulphur in circuit feed at different operating dissolved oxygen concentrations. The 1973 review paper offers insight into industrially-applied modelling and optimization techniques. In particular, a mathematical model of plant data was developed using multilinear stepwise regression analysis. The model was presented using graphical representations available at the time and applied to optimize the rates of cyanide addition. Off-the-shelf software solutions of today allow mineral processors to quickly and easily visualize data, allowing them to re-allocate time and resources spent processing data to generating raw data and extracting actionable information.IntroductionModelling and optimization in mineral processing is the art of reducing reality through judicious use of assumptions to understand a process and leverage this knowledge to engineer practical solutions to metallurgical problems. Data analysis is at the core of this enterprise.While this paper showcases the modelling work done at the Detour Lake Mine (DLM), the primary objective is to pause and reflect on how far the field has progressed since the 1970’s. A snapshot of state-of-the-art gold cyanidation modelling at that time is a review paper of the Anglo American Group’s capabilities (Brittan & van Vuuren, 1973). The objective of this paper is not a play-by-play of the evolution of modelling and optimization since that time. Rather, it is a comparison of the field at two points in time.In 2016, DLM undertook an extensive bench-scale leach circuit modelling program to better understand the impact of cyanide, dissolved oxygen, lead nitrate, grind size, density, and pH on gold cyanidation (Fournier, 2016). Two major capital expenditure projects were anticipated for 2017: improvements to oxygen control and a lead nitrate distribution system. While the lead nitrate system was planned for construction, the design parameters had not yet been selected. Following the development of the model, plant trials were executed to validate aspects of the model and the methodology was expanded to address other plant issues, in particular the effect of talc chlorite and pyrrhotite in leach feed.The variables of the bench-scale study are summarized in Table 1. Dependent variables were varied using a full factorial design of experiment with two repetitions for each test condition, yielding a total of 300 tests. Test order was randomized to eliminate bias from independent variables."

Jan 1, 2018

By Jr. Gabler

The U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) has developed a computerized commodity flow model for strategic and critical materials This flow model is generic and applicable to most commodities and amenable to updating supply, demand, and/or production data change. The original model, with slight modifications, was used to track the flow of chromium. This report follows the flow of chromium through its metallurgical, chemical, and refractory applications, and highlights areas where significant losses occur because of downgrading, export, or disposal. The study indicates that materials containing 451,769 mt of chromium were consumed, including 99,221 mt of chromium from recycling, Chromium losses from all causes in 1989 were estimated to be 345,347 mt from a variety of areas. These areas and their chromium losses are as follows: processing losses, 38,825 mt; processing-downgraded scrap, 18,227 mt; manufacturing losses, 18,128 mt; manufacturing-downgraded scrap, 56,595 mt; prompt scrap exported, 1,531 mt; obsolete scrap exported, 43,443 mt; recovery losses, 155,529 mt; and recycling losses, 13,069 mt. Recycled chromium-containing material accounted for 22 pct of the apparent consumption of chromium in 1989.

Jan 1, 1994

By F. Matanzo

This guide considers only nine of the many wire rope terminations used in the mining industry so use of the information presented for terminations not specifically addressed can be done, but with some risk. The nine terminations considered are: Flemish Loop with Steel Sleeve & Thimble, Flemish Loop with Steel Sleeve, Wedge Socket, Swaged Socket, Turn Back Loop with Aluminum Sleeve & Thimble, Thimble Splice with Four Tucks, V-Bolt Clip with Thimble, Zinc Poured Socket, and Epoxy Resin Poured Socket. The guide uses pull test data, axial fatigue test data, and data on sensitivity to poor workmanship, to rank the nine terminations with respect to these performance measures. A selection procedure is suggested and illustrated with an example. Failure data is used to identify the common modes of failure of each termination and so help the inspector direct his attention to the likely location for a failure and describe what he should be looking for. The data on which this guide is based is included so that as new data becomes available, the ranking order can be adjusted accordingly.

Jan 1, 1978

By A Mortazavi, M Akhmedya

Mining is recognised as being one of the most dangerous industries in the world due to the difficult working conditions. Working in such hazardous circumstances in an underground mine often results in a variety of accidents. The working conditions at Kazakhstan’s underground mines have deteriorated owing to a lack of a risk-reduction plan and methodology. This paper evaluates different underground mines in Kazakhstan and demonstrates the employed mining method and the observed failure modes. Risk assessment has long been recognised as a valuable technique for preventing accidents. In the underground mining sector, risk assessment tools play an important role in avoiding work-related accidents. However, geotechnical uncertainty is a significant source of severe incidents like stress-induced roof collapse, wedge failure, seismicity etc, which result in human and financial losses. A geotechnical risk assessment performed early in the mine design process might assist justify a different mine design component, such as different support systems for a dangerous location within the mine openings during mining. The goal of this research is to create a damage/failure database aiming at the development of a geomechanical risk assessment methodology. This work identifies a thematic structure linked to risk assessment and management for the examined Kazakhstan mining sector. As part of the developed database, the dominant modes of failure within the Kazakhstan underground mining conditions were investigated. The study will provide opportunities to establish future research objectives for Kazakhstan’s mining industry where there are significant gaps between state-of-the-art research and mining operations in practice.

Nov 29, 2022

By Roger L. Williams

The Bureau of Mines investigated northern New Jersey as a potential future source of yttrium and the rare-earth elements. The studies, consisting of geophysical surveying, sampling, and exploratory drilling, began in the spring of 1959. A total of three and one-half months were spent in the field collecting data. Thirty-three deposits were investigated, of which five demonstrated some potential resources of yttrium and rare-earth minerals. Results indicate that the deposits examined do not contain quantities of yttrium and the rare-earth elements recoverable under present economic conditions. Detailed studies conducted at the Scrub Oaks mine, near Dover, N. J., delineated a yttrium and rare-earth-bearing zone within the magnetite-hematite ore body that represents a potential low-grade deposit. Beneficiation studies on this deposit indicate that a final product, averaging 31.3 percent rare-earth oxides including yttrium, could be produced through amine and fatty acid flotation procedures with 77 percent recovery. Two hundred and eighty-five feet of diamond drill core was obtained from exploration studies conducted at the Bemco prospect in Sussex County. The deposit averages 2.30 percent rare-earth oxides (including yttrium), 0.45 percent uranium and 0.24 percent thorium. Low-grade deposits were identified at the Canfield phosphat2 mine and the Tanners Brook Monazite placers in Morris County, and the Marble Mountain prospect in Warren County.

Jan 1, 1967