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By J Palise

As cities become more populated and the need for tunnelling increases, we continue to dig deeper urban tunnels in more challenging ground conditions. At the same time our expectations for durability and long-term performance are increasing.It has become increasingly apparent in recent years that repairing water leaks in tunnels can be very costly and unplanned infiltration can cause undesirable outcomes for long-term maintenance costs, structural durability and environmental impacts. For this reason, tunnel constructors are investing more time and effort upfront into drainage and waterproofing systems.Tunnel membrane systems are becoming accepted as a necessary part of tunnel construction, however the knowledge surrounding selection of appropriate systems, design detailing and installation methods has not increased at the same rate. Currently Australia relies heavily on International Standards from Europe and the United States with no immediate program in place to establish our own locally relevant industry standards.This paper gives an overview of where the industry in Australasia is heading in terms of adopting relevant standards. Current basic waterproof detailing options for drained and undrained tunnels with success and failure of various methods are also addressed. Finally we look at the Brisbane Airport Link as a case study for how tunnel waterproofing contract methods, design and installation issues are being addressed in context with recent projects including the Epping to Chatswood Rail Link in Sydney, Auckland Northern Gateway Tunnel, Eastlink Tunnel in Melbourne and Sydney City West Cable Tunnel.This paper’s primary objective is to propose guidelines for how tunnel waterproofing could be implemented on large infrastructure projects in the future and to map a path for preparing and introducing a ready to use document for selecting appropriate tunnel membrane and drainage systems whilst implementing detailing methods which are appropriate for local conditions.

Mar 8, 2011

By S. Mathieu, R. Mennillod-Blondin, P. Cousin, N. Valle, H. Bouzahzah, P. Marion

The gold deposit of the Lapa mine has a complex mineralogical gold state with coarse and fine native gold, aurostibite and submicroscopic gold within arsenopyrite. A specific mineralogical characterization of the refractory fraction was conducted combining various techniques such as optical microscopy, electron microscopy, electron microprobe and secondary ion mass spectrometry. In parallel, the mineral processing behaviour and the recovery of the refractory gold were studied by pressure oxidation and cyanide leaching. This paper presents the mineralogical methodology developed to characterize the refractory gold distribution within arsenopyrite. These results are presented and interpreted in order to plot gold recovery versus sulphide oxidation. The comparison of the metallurgical behaviour yields predicted from the mineralogical data and the one calculated from leaching tests shows a good agreement and allows mineralogical explanations of the gold metallurgical behaviour.

Jan 1, 2011

By Yasuhiro Konishi

Hydrolytic stripping is the process in which metal ions are simultaneously stripped from a loaded cation-exchange solvent extractant and precipitated as oxides or hydroxides. Hydrolytic stripping is usually effected by contacting the loaded organic phase with water at elevated temperatures. The possibility of using hydrolytic stripping to prepare ceramic powders with controlled size and morphology is now being evaluated for different systems, using carboxylic acid extractants. As part of this work, mathematical models were developed to describe the kinetics of nucleation and growth of nickel ferrite particles. This paper describes the development of the models, along with estimation of key parameters appearing in the rate equations from experimental data.

Jan 1, 1990

By Christopher J. Brown

"Proper ground stability in gate roads has been a critical aspect of success in longwall mining. In particular, the tailgate has proven to be one of the more active mine areas that needs to be managed (Barczak, Dolinar, and Mucho, 1999). As longwall tailgate support technologies continue to be developed and improved, Strata Worldwide has worked to design and manufacture a revised Propsetter to provide additional support capacity and enable applications at greater mine heights. The support is targeted for tailgate applications; however, it can also be used for roof support in various types of mining environments. This paper describes the design changes for enhancing the support capacity of the Propsetter to more closely align its performance with other support technologies currently being employed in longwall tailgates. Balancing changes to each design aspect of the Propsetter was key to successfully improving the roof support load capacity while maintaining controlled deformation. Increasing the load capacity would allow a mine to improve support efficiency with a smaller, less intrusive support compared to support alternatives and to reduce the cost per foot of supported entry. The target support capacity was 80 to 100 tons at two inches of deformation to more closely match the performance of competing tailgate supports, such as the 24-inch-diameter CAN®. To achieve this goal, changes were made to all design aspects of the Propsetter: diameter, wedge cut depth and angle, pod size, and confinement rings. Test results from the NIOSH Mine Roof Simulator verified that these design changes were successful in increasing the capacity of the Propsetter to the 80- to 100-ton range at two inches of deformation. INTRODUCTION Roof support is one of the most fundamental elements of the underground mining process. As materials are removed from the earth, geological conditions will almost always require some form of roof support to keep the extraction area open and stable. Coal mining environments often experience difficult geological conditions that require both primary and secondary forms of roof support to keep the mining environment safe and economical. The secondary support system serves as additional support in the case the primary support system is inadequate. If designed properly, the secondary support system will also assist in maintaining integrity of the immediate roof beam (Barczak, 2000)."

Jan 1, 2017

By Arthur Lake

Within the past few months I have had occasion to visit and examine the area of country in Gunnison county locally called the Gold Belt and extending from the Cebolla river on the west to the head of Taylor Park and the Sawatch range on the east. The region including the "belt" may be hided topographically into two parts, a northern and a southern one. The former is characterized by lofty mountains and deep canons, with occasional parks and wide valleys. Most of it is included in the granitic system of the Sawatch range, with local patches of the Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks, more or less traversed by great bodies of porphyry and other eruptive rocks. The southern portion, on the other hand, is characterized by comparatively low, rounded hills of schist and sahistose gneisses, underlain by coarse, massive granite, which outcrops locally in small, and sometimes in large, patches. These hills also sometimes form table-lands by reason of overflows of lavas, such as andesitic breccia, rhyolite, trachyte and basalt. The leading geological feature is that of a schistose area of width and extent unusual for Colorado. These schists and gneisses are of pre-Cambrian age; but whether assignable to the Algonkian or to some older system has not been determined. The granite which occasionally outcrops from beneath these schists is, I think, of true eruptive character, since its mode of occurrence indicates a once molten, or at least highly viscous or plastic, condition. Thus, we may observe, included in its mass, numerous fragments of schist, almost like a coarse, volcanic breccia. Again, at its immediate contact with the schists, which often stand vertically upon it, the pediments of the latter are fused into the granite, and granite tongues and veins run up amongst the schists, as only a molten or viscous

Jan 1, 1897

By W. F. Boericke

NOT the least interesting sights that New York has to offer the visiting mining engineers are the extensive tunnel operations that are being pushed in connection with the subway construction. While a "hard rock" man might feel at home on these jobs, the engineers driving the subway tunnels have necessarily had to encounter some new problems pe-culiar to the largest permanent mining camp in the country. To drive a heading 36 by 18 ft. in hard rock, with a station section to follow 52 by 27 ft. across-and to do it in the midst of a city's traffic-demands engineering skill of a high order. Not the least of the problems overcome by the engineers in charge was to provide adequate ventilation for the men at the face at all times, so that there would be no delay in the work. With a crew of 40 men (32 drill runners and helpers on the machines alone, working two shifts) a hold-up due to inability to get back promptly to the face after shooting would affect costs quickly. AIR VITIATED BY EXHAUST FUMES FROM MOTOR TRUCKS A complication not encountered by metal miners, but which the subway engineers had to meet, was pollution of the air in the tunnels by fumes from the exhaust of the motor trucks used to haul away the broken rock. As shown in the cut, motor trucks were constantly em-ployed to remove the heavy tonnage broken as the tun-nels went ahead, amounting, according to R. J. Van Wagner, chief engineer of the Del Balso Construction Co., to 48 cu. yd. per ft. of tunnel advance. As the length of the tunnel under his management was 900 ft., it was essential for the safety of the men that suffi-cient air be introduced to dilute the poisonous fumes so that no ill effects would be felt for the entire distance that the trucks had to travel. The presence of the ex-haust fumes was especially noticeable on foggy days.

Jan 2, 1928

By L. H. E. Weyher

A mine is essentially a vast materials-handling system. All other systems found in the mine exist to one degree or another to support the materials-handling functions, from the cutting at the face to the hoisting in the shaft. In this chapter computerized planning of underground materials-handling systems will be examined by dividing this function into: (1) the planning of the production section, and (2) the planning of underground rail or belt haulage from the production section to the shaft, slope, or surface. While alternative divisions might focus on the different materials- handling functions, i.e., production, supply, and manpower transportation, historical computer analysis has focused on the various systems rather than functions. The emphasis in this chapter is directed toward coal mine applications; however, most of the programs and methods are equally applicable to other underground mines. Markedly different methods are encountered in each system, and moreover, marked differences exist in the nature and the degree to which the materials-handling subsystems in each interact with the environmental or support systems. The most intimate interaction exists at the faces where geologic, human, and machine performance factors are closely related and constantly varying. In view of this, the planning of the materials-handling systems for the face will usually stress flexibility, while the outby materials-handling systems will generally place decreasing emphasis on flexibility and more on system reliability, capacity, and cost effectiveness. Thus, hoisting and main haulage systems are generally designed and constructed as permanent installations and cannot be readily changed, whereas secondary haulage systems and face operations are relatively mobile. These differences may have considerable significance for the mine planner in making technical and financial comparisons of alternatives to provide the scheduled mine production.

Jan 1, 1979

By AIME AIME

FRANCIS ANDREW THOMSON was born in London, Dec. 21, 1879, coming to the United States by way of British Columbia where he lived until he matriculated at the Colorado School of Mines. When only sixteen he was inducted into the mining industry as apprentice assayer and millman at the Victoria Metallurgical Works. Following his training at Golden he had more practical mining and milling experience at several properties in the West, and studied a little as well at the Royal School of Mines, in London, and at the Ecole des Mines, in Paris.

Jan 1, 1939

By S. Geerts, J Davidson

The purpose of the experiment was to determine detonation characteristics of various improvised explosives. The test consisted of detonating a pipe filled with an explosive compound inside of a plywood arena. The pipe will be located in the center of the arena to ensure even distribution on the witness panels. Details on pipe dimensions, weights of the pipe and explosive, and the density were recorded prior to testing for use in the model calculations. The same size pipes were used throughout to minimize the variables inherent in testing. The plywood witness panels will capture the fragments so that penetration data was obtained, primarily the surface area of impact and depth of penetration. Through the use of the penetration data in conjunction with a mathematical model the original fragment velocity was determined. The mathematical model was developed to measure lethality of fragments from explosives and was modified to determine the original fragment velocity instead. From this model other variables such as the Gurney velocity were calculated. This test was done with an explosive compound that was commonly found, and numerous improvised compounds. In order to guarantee accurate data all of the explosives used for testing were cap sensitive, to eliminate the need for a booster charge which would introduce many unknown variables. The one common explosive compound that was used was C-4 which has known data in order to show accuracy of the model and calculations. The other 5 compounds chosen will not have this data as they will primarily be improvised mixtures.

Jan 1, 2011

By A. F. Lee

Dr E. C. Hanekom (Visitor): Two years ago we used the bubble pick-up technique as developed at Anglo American Corporation for screening candidate flotation agents prepared in our laboratories. It was obviously necessary to know to what extent the technique gave reproducible results and a statistical evaluation of the test method was made using a mineral sample provided by Anglo American Corporation. A bubble of 2.0 mm diameter was used and the measuring graticule was divided into squares (units) with sides of 5.0 mm at 25 X magnification. The mineral granules had diameters from 53 to 74 mm. The bubble was loaded by depressing it against a layer of mineral grains to give an arbitrary but constant compression of 0.4-0.5 mm. It was rolled five times through 2 mm horizontal displacement. The bubble was then lifted, its load compacted by gently stirring and the projected area measured in squares (units) on the grid. Each substance was tested at 5 ppm concentration in distilled water at five points in the pH range 3-6. With these standardized conditions of operation the reproducibility of the test was studied. Four materials were tested and at each pH value the procedure of forming a bubble, picking up granules and counting the units was repeated ten times. From these results the standard deviation for a single count at any pH value was calculated for each material (Table 1. The coefficient of variation of approximately 3 per cent was relatively low and it was decided that further refinements in the counting procedure would be of doubtful benefit with the present apparatus. Similar experiments were carried out with 12 sample materials. In this case the bubble formation and pick-up were repeated four times at each pH value, the mean value was calculated for each set of four observations and final pick-up values for the materials were obtained by selecting the highest mean count. Each test was completely repeated a number of times as indicated in Table 2 and the standard deviation calculated. The results allowed the selection of the more promising materials and the rejection of poor performers at the 95 per cent confidence level. All tests were carried out by one operator. Some evidence was obtained that the method is sensitive to operator bias. In conclusion it can be said that from all the results analyzed it would appear that once operation conditions are fixed (viz operator, pH control) the precision of the method is adequate. The author wishes to thank Messrs African Explosives and Chemical Industries Limited for permission to publish these data. G. S. Stander and C. J. Kooij (Visitors): We must congratulate Mr Lee for this most interesting and useful development of the pick-up experimental method. It certainly provides research workers with an instrument which makes flotation more of a science and less of an art. We visited Mr Lee at his laboratory where he gave us a demonstration of the bubble pick-up instrument and technique as developed and improved by him.

Jan 12, 1969

By John A. Mathews

During the prosecution of the aircraft-production program in 1917 and 1918, the writer visited many plants engaged in the manufacture of motors, planes and parts, in carrying out his duties as chairman of the Committee on Aircraft-engine Forgings. On several occasions, when the question of expansion was discussed, it was noted that there was confusion in the use of the terms: the true coefficient of expansion, a physical constant, and distortion in hardening. One engineer, referring to a steel shown in the accompanying table, stated that he could not consider it for crankshafts because of its excessive coefficient of expansion, while another steel, also Iisted in the table, was said to be especially good because it had no coefficient of expansion, since it came out of the oil bath perfectly straight. Many years ago one of our employees designed a new oil furnace; when asked what became of the products of combustion, he replied: "There ain't any, we burn them all up." While the coefficient of expansion is not without its effect in volume changes in hardened steel, it is not a determining factor in the matter of distortion and going out of shape. Irregular heating, uneven furnace bottoms, and carelessness in withdrawing the part from the furnace, as well as the manner in which the part enters the quenching bath are of greater moment. Generally speaking, also, steels of relatively low hardening temperature will distort less than those requiring higher hardening heats. The coefficient of expansion must be considered in engineering design most frequently when different metals or alloys are used in the same construction. For example, the difference of expansion between a steel crankshaft and an aluminum crank case might be of real importance and a steel with no coefficient of expansion would be much less desirable than one with the normal coefficient. About 15 years ago, the writer made many determinations of the coefficient of expansion at low temperature ranges, usually between 20' and 100" C. Among the materials tested were: Pure forged electrolytic iron, 11.73 parts per million for l° C.; cast aluminum (99.93 per cent. AI.),

Jan 1, 1922

By John A. Mathews

During the prosecution of the aircraft-production program in 1917 and 1918, the writer visited many plants engaged in the manufacture of motors, planes and parts, in carrying out his duties as chairman of the Committee on Aircraft-engine Forgings. On several occasions, when the question of expansion was discussed, it was noted that there was confusion in the use of the terms: the true coefficient of expansion, a physical constant, and distortion in hardening. One engineer, referring to a steel shown in the accompanying table, stated that he could not consider it for crankshafts because of its excessive coefficient of expansion, while another steel, also Iisted in the table, was said to be especially good because it had no coefficient of expansion, since it came out of the oil bath perfectly straight. Many years ago one of our employees designed a new oil furnace; when asked what became of the products of combustion, he replied: "There ain't any, we burn them all up." While the coefficient of expansion is not without its effect in volume changes in hardened steel, it is not a determining factor in the matter of distortion and going out of shape. Irregular heating, uneven furnace bottoms, and carelessness in withdrawing the part from the furnace, as well as the manner in which the part enters the quenching bath are of greater moment. Generally speaking, also, steels of relatively low hardening temperature will distort less than those requiring higher hardening heats. The coefficient of expansion must be considered in engineering design most frequently when different metals or alloys are used in the same construction. For example, the difference of expansion between a steel crankshaft and an aluminum crank case might be of real importance and a steel with no coefficient of expansion would be much less desirable than one with the normal coefficient. About 15 years ago, the writer made many determinations of the coefficient of expansion at low temperature ranges, usually between 20' and 100" C. Among the materials tested were: Pure forged electrolytic iron, 11.73 parts per million for l° C.; cast aluminum (99.93 per cent. AI.),

Jan 1, 1922

By Q Shu, T Deng, B Yan, B Song, D Wang

In view of the lack of phase equilibria data of vanadium-bearing oxide system and the desirability of them for design or optimisation of vanadium extraction process, the phase equilibria relationships of V2O3-FeO-SiO2-CaO(15 mass per cent) system were determined experimentally and then an isothermal section phase diagram of this system was constructed. Totally, 81 samples of different composition were equilibrated at 1623 K for 48 hours in iron crucible under Ar atmosphere. The equilibrated samples were quenched quickly in cold water, and then the phase constituents of all the samples were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD) combined with electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) measurements.

Aug 21, 2024

By AIME AIME

T HOUGH Ira B. Joraletnon has not had an eastern address since 1907, he is a New Yorker by birth, having been born at Antwerp, in the northern part of the state, on July 27, 1884. He got his scholastic training at Harvard, which gave him his A.B. degree in 1905 and an A.M. two years later. For the next fifteen years except for the war period, he was with the Calumet & Arizona Mining Co., with headquarters at Warren, Ariz., being assistant man- ager when he left that company in 1922. During the first World War he spent a year and a half in France, where he achieved the rank of major in the signal corps, air division.

Jan 1, 1941

By W. Ayvazoglou

A large number of organizations interested in the search for mineral deposits have adopted the magnetic method of geophysical prospecting, as it has proved to be the most simple, convenient, and rapid, and at the same time the least expensive in comparison with other methods. According to the last statistical data, about two millions square kilo¬ meters were explored in the United States by different geophysical methods. Ninety-six per cent of this area was prospected for oil and 4 per cent for minerals. Detailed exploration by means of the magnetometer has been carried out over about 85 per cent of this surface. The great advantages offered by this method resulted in the fact that the magnetometer was tried out in most places in which geophysical methods were applied. The main purpose of such e:rploration is to obtain the maximum knowledge valuable to the geologist; therefore good geological interpretation of the results of measurements is important. The possibility of drawing practical conclusions from a map representing the results of the study of the terrane depends greatly on the accuracy with which the measurements are made. The purpose of this article is to show the different sources of error by which the work of an operator may be affected and to discuss the means by which the carrying out of a magnetic survey may be improved.

Nov 1, 1931

By Roshan B. Bhappu, Zeki M. Dogan

Two magnesite ores containing 3.15% and 8.73% SiO2 and a calcined magnesite product assaying 2.6% Si02 were first reduced in size to -20 mesh by roll crushing. 'They were then treated dry on a high intensity magnetic separator to reduce their silica content by rejecting iron-stained silicate minerals in the magnetic fraction and obtaining marketable magnesite or calcined magnesite as a nonmagnetic product.

Jan 1, 1975

By John E. Young

U.S. Steel Corp.'s Winifrede mine is operated by Lynch District in the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky. This region is characterized by narrow finger ridges and precipitous slopes, which present both an opportunity and challenge in the design and selection of coal-handling facilities for the movement of coal from the section belts to the railrod cars. Lynch District selected diesel-powered locomo¬tives and 100-ton articulated cars capable of negotiating sharp curves. The drop¬bottom mine cars are equipped with longitudinally hinged doors that are auto¬matically opened and closed. Lynch District selected a large-diameter steel-lined borehole for lowering the coal approximately 1000 ft from the seam level to the valley floor railroad load-out point. Taking advantage of gravity, the presized coal is "lowered" vertically approximately 720 ft to existing entries of a previously abandoned mine. The coal is then conveyed horizontally into storage. The coal¬handling facility from the mine-car dump to the railroad load-out point is fully automatic through use of tone control. TV cameras are installed along the facility to continuously monitor the strategic points. The diesel locomotives are either directly operated or remotely radio-controlled, depending on the functions Per¬formed. U.S. Steel Corp.'s Winifrede mine is operated by Lynch District in the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky. This region is characterized by narrow mountain ridges and precipitous slopes which present both an opportunity and challenge in the design and selection of coal-handling facilities for the movement of coal from the section belts to the railroad cars. The narrow finger ridges precluded use of under¬ground haulage and, thereby, presented the opportunity to use high-capacity equipment on the outside bench. The precipitous mountain slopes, steepest at the Wini¬frede seam horizon, presented a challenge to select a solution for lowering the coal approximately 1000 ft from the seam level to the valley floor railroad load-out point. It was evident from the start of planning that these two factors predominated; namely, rail haulage and coal lowering, and solutions to these would determine the final design of the Winifrede mine coal-handling facilities. The Winifrede mine derives its name from the Wini¬frede Seam which comprises the total reserve recov¬erable from this facility. The seam is 5 ft high with a good siltstone bottom and competent shale or sandstone roof. The seam is at an elevation of 2700 ft where the mountain ridges are long and narrow. This configuration of the reserve was ideal for conveyor belt installation to transport the coal from the working face to the outside bench. The preclusion of underground rail haul¬age permitted an opportunity to review the type of locomotive power and to select high-capacity equipment without the limitations associated with underground systems. Since the basic electrical design of the mine was al¬ternating current, with rectification to direct current for shuttle cars required only in the face areas, there was no point in bearing the burden of additional cost of dc trolley installation. And, since the haulage would re¬quire only a few tunnels to negotiate sharp points and to reach the back side of the reserves, diesel power was selected for the haulage locomotives. To provide stability on the almost continuously curv¬ing track and to provide the maximum width of haul¬age equipment, both locomotives and mine cars, stan¬dard railroad gage was chosen to offer the largest choice of equipment. The decision was made to select a standard 45-ton railroad diesel locomotive but to lower the cab height to reduce tunnel excavation requirements. The mine car was the next challenge. Past experience in Lynch operations indicated that drop-bottom cars would be a successful application with the free-flowing coal. The search was for a drop-bottom car within the dimensions of the locomotive to discharge the coal in the shortest time. Numerous types were considered and visits made to various sites to observe cars in operation.

Jan 1, 1972

By Nelson SOUTO, Nicolas LEGRAND, Christian COUNHAYE, Don EARLEY

The work is motivated by the automotive customer requirements for a roughness with high peak density (RPc > 75 peaks/cm) on steel sheet surfaces to maintain a good strip surface finish after painting. For that purpose, a new approach is utilized to compute roughness transfer and predict final roughness on uncoated steel sheets (average roughness, skewness, peak density) as a function of temper rolling conditions. The approach is based on the Monte Carlo method combined with the Abott curves and an auto-correlation function to numerically generate roughness profiles for roll and strip respectively. To compute the roughness transfer due to the interaction between roll and strip surfaces during rolling, a composite Abott curve that combines roll and strip Abott curves is used with an asperity crushing model integrated with a rolling model. This enables simulating two roughness transfer mechanisms in the roll bite: the strip asperity crushing mechanism by roll roughness and the strip asperity ploughing mechanism due to roll-strip interfacial sliding speed. The model shows the importance of considering the two mechanisms to predict roughness transfer correctly when strip elongation is high, typically a few percent, and roll bite friction is low. In these conditions, the forward slip at the exit of the roll bite tends to erode strip roughness significantly and decrease considerably the peak density on the strip. For lower elongation levels (~1%) and high roll bite friction, the ploughing mechanism becomes negligible and roughness transfer is controlled by the crushing mechanism only. With these two mechanisms, the model reasonably predicts the evolution of average roughness and peak density over a wide range of temper rolling conditions (new/worn work rolls, hard/soft grades, various elongations), but skewness is more difficult to predict for some trials.

Oct 1, 2019

By M. Ziegler

The article deals with the use of a digital twin in the assessment and optimization of a conveyor system in the Chilean copper mine. This example shows that a digital twin is initially just a new (albeit powerful) tool with which the system behavior can be examined. The benefits for the customer arise through the system identification and automatic detection of critical deviations from the target state. This knowledge allows mine management to react and coordinate operational and/or maintenance counter measures to insure optimal performance of their conveyor system. The information derived from the BeltGenius digital twin also allows mine management to gain a clear perspective of the overall efficiency of their conveyors, which will be invaluable for future conveyor component selections.

Mar 2, 2022

By R. V. Ramani

Control is a vital management function by which operations are brought into compliance with predetermined standards to achieve the goals of an enterprise. Events that are characterized by a low degree of expectation, avoidability, and intent necessarily have a low degree of control. Such events are difficult not only to predict but to control as well. Fortunately, very few industrial situations fall into that category of events. It is an axiom of control technology that in order to control, one must first measure; further to measure, one must know the characteristics of the subject (or environment) upon which the measurement must be made. Finally, if measurements are to be made reliably, the influences that affect the measurement must be known and, if possible, understood. The complete control cycle therefore consists of the following: (1) defining the objective, (2) planning to achieve the objective, (3) putting the plan into practice with appropriate instructions, (4) measuring variables or parameters of interest, (5) transmitting and transforming the measurements to analyze the system's status and to predict the future outcome, (6) comparing these with the defined objective, and (7) determining and taking corrective actions to bring the actual results closer to the objective. The management principle underlying the control cycle is the principle of management by exception. The application of the principle and the frequency with which corrective actions are taken vary according to the purposes of the review and control. For example, the control of a machine operation (e.g., truck on a haul road) may require adjustments and therefore data, analysis, and decisions, in intervals of seconds whereas the review for ore-grade control may take several hours. Reviews, on the other hand, for cost control may be done in intervals of weeks or months. In any case, three specific purposes of the control cycle are: (1) to correct the operation so that it follows the accepted plan closely, (2) to evaluate the operation and predict future outcomes in light of changes in the environment or of more experience, and (3) to review the objectives and modify these to be reasonable and realistic.

Jan 1, 1979