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By S. Nakamura, M. Takaoka, Y. Mizuno, T. Kusakabe

"Mercury is produced as a byproduct from gold mines and, historically, has been transferred to recyclers and used for various industrial processes and products. However, under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, adopted in 2013,the intentional use of mercury in processes or products will be minimized in the world. Surplus elemental mercury should be treated as a hazardous waste and consequently, should be converted to a more stable chemical form for long-term storage or permanent disposal. A stabilization method has been developed to react mercury and sulfur using a planetary ball mill. The planetary ball mill can produce high-energy conditions and enable samples to react within a short period of time. A series of tests has been conducted to confirm that mercury sulfide can be produced using a bench scale machine with 2400 mL pot. Under a suitable experimental condition with 25 mm ball diameter, 30%of ball filling rate and 1.05 of molar ratio of S/Hg, a powdered mercury sulfide product was successfully obtained in 60 minutes. The leach ability and atmospheric emission from the product was extremely low. This stabilization method would contribute to an environmentally sound mercury management strategy for the gold industry.INTRODUCTIONDue to its unique physical and chemical properties, mercury has numerous applications, including in industry and medicine. However, mercury and its compounds are highly toxic. For example, in Japan, methyl mercury in waste water caused Minamata disease in the 1950s, which affected large numbers of people (Minamata Disease Municipal Museum, 2001). In recent years, environmental pollution caused by emissions and releases of mercury into the atmosphere, waterbody and land by various emission sources such as coal fire plants, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), non-ferrous metal industries, waste incinerations etc. has also become a significant problem. To protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and its compounds, the Minamata Convention on Mercury was adopted in 2013(UNEP, 2013)Because ground gold ore typically contains mercury at 0 to 100 ppm, mercury is often produced as a byproduct from gold mines (UNEP, 2016). In gold mining operations, mercury can be released from the ore by roasting or by leaching in cyanide solutions and recovery onto activated carbon. According to Yanget al. (2016), 85.1%of mercury in a concentrate was vaporized during a roasting process. Both processes finally discharge elemental mercury as a byproduct. In the USA, more than 100 ton of mercury was discharged from large-scale and industrial gold mining (Miller, 2004)."

Jan 1, 2017

By T. C. Mendenhall

All persons, actively engaged in your profession, must have a natural interest in the subject of weights and measures. All members of the engineering profession have to do with operations of weighing and measuring—some with measuring more than weighing, and some with weighing more than measuring—but all with both of these processes to a greater or less degree. Methods of weighing and measuring have improved constantly from the earliest times and have kept pace with the advance of other technical processes. It is, therefore, believed that you will be interested in a few remarks concerning some of the more recent advances in relation to the establishment of decimal standards of length and mass in this country. Before speaking of this, I will refer very briefly to some facts which may not be very generally known regarding our customary system of weights and measures. Although the yard is universally accepted as the unit of length, and the pound as the unit of mass, it is not generally understood, I believe, just in what respect the yard is the unit of length, or the pound the unit of mass. That is to say, it is not generally known in what degree these units have been legalized by Acts of congress. Doubtless, many of you are familiar with the facts which I will briefly recapitulate. The Constitution of the United States authorizes Congress to establish a system of weights, measures and coinage. The establishment of a system of coinage, as you know, was one of the first acts of the government, and the system then adopted is certainly one of the most perfect, if not the most perfect, that the world has yet seen. But, although Congress had the power to establish a system of weights and measures, it has never yet seen fit to exercise this power; that is to say, Congress has never yet

Jan 1, 1890

By H. D. Hagen, C. E. Nelson

14.1-1. Coal Mining. CORPORATE STRUCTURE. Most coal companies that operate surface mines had their beginnings as basically one-man organizations, with all decisions and controls in the hands of the founder. At the early stage of the company development, it is usually quite possible for one man to handle all management functions as the mining operations generally are quite localized and the founder can have a first-hand knowledge of all facets of the operation. However, with continued growth, the entrepreneur finds that he must limit himself more and more to the top level of management and delegate the day-to-day operation to others. An organization must be developed that provides not only for current operations but also for continued growth of the company through acquisition of coal reserves in market areas that the company desires to serve. In general, a successful coal company engaged in surface mining must develop an organization consisting of the following departments or divisions: operations, sales, engineering, exploration, land, purchasing, financial, and legal. Of course, all of these departments are not required in the beginning. When the company is small, there is much overlapping of functions. For instance, the operating department will handle purchases and the engineering department will also handle exploration and land functions. A growing surface-mining company has generally evolved through the various stages of development into an organization that is typical of large mining companies. An examination of a typical company and its various departments and their functions should give an insight into the organizational trends of surface mining companies. Having begun as a typical one-man organization, a company of today can be highly centralized, with firm control of all phases of the company's operations in the executive offices. This is achieved by having all department heads (Fig. 14.1-I), as well as the senior management, based in central offices.

Jan 1, 1968

By B. Yu, S. Kelebek, C. Gibson, M. Aghamirian

There are a number of high grade niobium deposits worldwide which have been deemed untreatable by flotation due to the very fine grained nature of the in situ pyrochlore, the primary niobium bearing mineral. A known method of recovering extremely fine particles is through the use of chelating reagents such as hydroxamic acids which have a strong affinity for transition metals. However, one of the major issues in the flotation of niobium bearing minerals using hydroxamic acids is the corresponding recovery of other transition metal gangue minerals including magnetite, hematite, and pyrite. In order to better understand the differences in behavior of niobium and iron bearing minerals in flotation with benzohydroxamic acid (BHA) and sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) at a range of pulp temperatures, a Box-Behnken experimental design was employed. Regression models for the global recovery of iron indicated that iron mineral recovery was significantly influenced by both BHA and SHMP dosage. Upon examinination of flotation products by semi-quantitative XRD, it was observed that recovery of iron oxide and sulphide minerals (hematite, magnetite, goethite, and pyrite) was problematic at high benzohydroxamic acid dosage, while sodium hexametaphosphate was mainly helpful for carbonate mineral depression. Iron rich carbonates (likely an iron rich dolomite) largely reported to the tails with increased SHMP dosage.

Jan 1, 2015

By G. Lindkvist

Roasting of concentrates with high impurity levels is normally done in multiple- hearth furnaces where the concentrates are heated with oilfired burners in order to remove As, Sb and Bi before the final sulfide oxidation. Although it is a countercurrent heat exchange process it uses a lot of oil. In order to develop an energy saving, and from a working environmental point of view a less harmful process than the multiplehearth process, pilot-plant tests have been done in a two-stage fluidized bed for partial roasting. The test materials have been As-rich concentrates with 8-25 % As some 5b and Bi. The Cu-content was 0-28 %. The tests have been successful with <0.3 % As,in the calcine and with an elimination of 5b between 80 and 90 %. In order to achieve the proper conditions for good impurity removal, 1.e. right temperature,residence time and sulphur potential, the tests were performed in a special designed roaster. The roaster consists of two beds with the facilities for recirculation of calcine, preheating of the blast, and possibility to use oxygen enrichment. The construction makes it easy to control the reactions that generate the heat in the bed and reduce the amount of dust that passes through the cyclones. As two roasting steps are used, the possibility to obtain optimal conditions for impurity removal is improved and the calcine can either be smelted to a normal matte, or after being dead-roasted in the second stage, be leached in the normal way for gold extraction. The calcine was smelted with slag. The matte and the slag obtained had low quantities of impurities in the matte and a favourable distribution of impurities to the slag.

Jan 1, 1983

By Katsuya Kase, Kaname Takeya, Keaji Ohmori, Yoshiyuki Asakawa

"The reduction-diffusion process (the R-D process) using Ca as a reducing agent has been practiced in industry in the production of the SmCos type, the Nd-Fe-B type and the 1b-Fe-Co type magnetic materials. The advantages of the R-D process are the generally high yield of rare earth metals and the single-stage conversion of a mixture of oxides and metal powders into a product of rare earth alloy powders. On the other hand, one of its disadvantages is the slightly high contents of oxygen and calcium. This disadvantage is remarkable in the Nd-Fe-B type. Singe-phase Nd2Fe14B alloy powders with low content of 0 and Ca, is obtained by choosing appropriate raw materials and performing the R-D process in a controlled way. These alloy powders are very suitable for the production of Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets and expected higher magnetic properties by adopting advanced magnet production method.IntroductionThe hard magnetic rare earth transition metal intermetallics, especially, have attained considerable technical importance. Examples are the alloys based on the intermetallics SmCo5[1], SmC017[2], NchFet4B[3], or the recently developed alloy SnuFe11Nx[4]. The reduction-diffusion process using Ca as a reducing agent has been well known as an economical method of producing rare earth based magnet materials[5]. The reduction-diffusion process has been practiced in industry in the production of the SmCos type, the Nd-Fe-B type and the 1b-Fe-Co type magnetic materials. The advantages of the reduction-diffusion process are the generally high yield of rare earth metals, the single-stage conversion of a mixture of oxides and metal powders into a product of rare earth alloy powders, the elimination of the crushing process of the alloy ingot, the inessentiality to special equipment, etc. On the other hand, one of its disadvantages is the slightly high content of oxygen and calcium. This disadvantage is remarkable in the Nd-Fe-B type. An outline of basic studies of the reduction-diffusion process was reviewed from the particular viewpoint of the production of magnet materials by Ogawa [6]."

Jan 1, 1998

By Geraldo Lúcio de Faria

O sucesso do transporte ferroviário depende, entre outras coisas, da integridade física dos componentes metálicos empregados na via permanente. Um dos mais importantes é o trilho, pois falhas catastróficas deste componente podem gerar graves acidentes. No intuito de desenvolver aços com bom desempenho para esta aplicação, estudos têm sido desenvolvidos para se entender os efeitos de composição química e histórico de processamento termomecânico sobre a microestrutura e propriedades mecânicas dos aços. Neste contexto, este trabalho caracterizou microestruturalmente dois aços de aplicação ferroviária, sendo um Standard e um Premium. Amostras representativas destes aços foram submetidas a ensaios dilatométricos e a cinética de transformação de fases austenita-perlita foi investigada. Por meio dos resultados obtidos, foi possível concluir que o aço Premium estudado possui microestrutura mais refinada e que este efeito é devido, principalmente, à menor concentração de Mn em sua composição química. O menor teor de Mn facilita a nucleação de cementita eutetóide, possibilitando a formação de perlita em tempos mais curtos e temperaturas mais baixas do que no aço Standard. Isto possibilita que o aço Premium, em seu processo de fabricação, possa ser resfriado a taxas mais elevadas do que o Standard sem formação de martensita, justificando sua estrutura mais refinada.

Aug 17, 2017

By R. S. J. Du Toit

SYNOPSIS This paper is based on a thesis dealing with the problem of basing the current rate at which money is collected from mine owners to pay compensation for pneumoconiosis in the future, on the current dust hazard on mines. The certification of pneumoconiotics and the incidence of pneumoconiosis are discussed against the background of existing legal provision for collecting funds for compensation. The various pneumoconiosis indices are considered. In the data analyzed, the only pneumoconiosis index common to a number of classes of mines is the time it takes to develop pneumoconiosis. Sets of dust indices and pneumoconiosis indices are computed. Expressions are derived for the time it takes to develop pneumoconiosis as a function of the dust hazard, and for the collection of funds as a function of the time available for collection. From these two expressions follows an expression for the rate of collecting funds as a function of the dust hazard.

By Leandro Miranda Nascimento

A maior parte da produção mundial de aço passa pela conversão de minério de ferro em grandes altos-fornos, tendo o coque como uma das matérias-primas. Por um lado, boas propriedades mecânicas a quente do coque, como o CSR e CRI, são necessárias para que o consumo de coque seja o mínimo, pois é também, junto com os óxidos de ferro, um dos maiores componentes dos custos variáveis do ferro gusa. As misturas dos vários tipos de carvões minerais utilizados exigem a participação de uma fração Hard, a mais cara e com maior poder de coqueificação, e de uma fração Soft, mais barata e inerte. Logo, quanto maior for a participação do Hard mais caro será a mistura a ser coqueificada. Uma maneira de aumentar a fração de Soft na mistura de carvões, reduzindo o custo da mistura, e ainda assim obter um coque com boa qualidade é aumentar a densidade a granel da mistura. Para isso alguns métodos já são empregados com sucesso, como o Stamp Charging e a Briquetagem Parcial. Este artigo apresenta um novo método, que consiste na densificação da mistura de carvões dentro do forno via dispositivos de vibração. Foram realizadas simulações físicas a frio e em escala reduzida para avaliar o potencial de aumento de densidade a granel da técnica. Os resultados mostram um ganho de aumento de 30% da densidade a granel da mistura.

Aug 17, 2017

By Bruno Alves Resende

Em julho de 2010, a linha de Tiras a Quente da Usiminas, planta de Ipatinga, passou a operar com um novo sistema de controle para o laminador de acabamento. Assim, foi necessário atualizar o simulador offline de set up do Trem Acabador, utilizado frequentemente pelas áreas técnica e operacional. Para isso, toda a lógica de cálculo e formulações matemáticas do sistema online foram assimiladas e empregadas no novo simulador. Os resultados das simulações, quando comparados com os valores gerados pelo modelo online, mostraram-se bastante confiáveis. Sendo assim, conclui-se que o aplicativo desenvolvido está apto para ser utilizado como uma ferramenta de simulação offline do modelo de controle do Trem Acabador. Os benefícios potenciais do uso do simulador são: (i) aumento da produtividade por meio da redução de paradas da linha, (ii) melhoria da qualidade final do produto, (iii) redução do número de experimentos na produção e (iv) ajuste dos parâmetros dos modelos de controle. No presente trabalho são apresentadas e discutidas as características do desenvolvimento, da apresentação e da aplicação desse simulador.

Aug 17, 2017

By Gary R. Gavan

This report presents the documentation and User&apos;s Manual for a data retrieval and report generation computer program. The program operates on a data base containing over 19,000 pieces of coal mine equipment in use in 1976.

Jan 1, 1979

By Fabiano Mendes

Processos industriais de carbonização são tecnologias maduras e operam há mais de 7 décadas. Contudo, o sistema integrado de produção de ferro primário e aços a base de biomassa como fonte de energia e termorredutor, mesmo sendo a alternativa ambiental de menor impacto existente, chega a seus limites tecnológicos, ambiental e econômico, ameaçando a sua sustentabilidade. O grupo Vallourec buscou o processo Lambiotte como base tecnológica para desenvolver seu ambicioso projeto de carbonização contínua, em substituição ao processo artesanal de fornos retangulares de batelada, utilizados atualmente. O esforço experimental de mais de meia década, com a adaptação e profunda reengenharia do processo Lambiotte, que é o que melhor representa esta classe de reatores, para que ele atendesse as condições brasileiras e o uso das espécies de madeira da família dos Eucaliptos culminou no desenvolvimento do processo de carbonização continua Carboval, que demonstrou sua plena capacidade, para atender aspectos econômicos, sustentáveis e de qualidade siderúrgica do carvão vegetal produzido.

Aug 17, 2017

By Peter Riba

Up until ten years ago the industry had arrived at a relatively conventional, and consistent design of coke ovens. Through the years the designers and builders were not being heavily taxed to come up with revolutionary new designs. However, the stimulus for design change was ever present. These stimuli for change are quite important and they are the driving force which produce improvements. The most obvious stimulus to change a design is commercial. To "build a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to your door" is the well used cliche which best befits this philosophy. As in all businesses, coke oven designs require that all of the considerations, which affect the cost or the desirability of the design, be optimized. One way to increase the desirability of the particular design, 1s to make the design in- expensive to operate. Or, put another way, to increase production for the same operating cost

Jan 1, 1980

By R. W. Raymond

WISH to call the attention of the Institute to a curious subject, brought to my notice last summer by Mr. Begger, the accomplished metallurgist of the smelting-works of the Boston and Colorado Company at Black Hawk, near Central City, Colorado. At these works, the richest auriferous sulphhrets of Colorado (particularly copper pyrites) are smelted in reverberatories, together with roasted tailings (iron pyrites), and the gold and silver are concentrated into a new, artificial sulphide, or copper matte, containing $1500 and upwards of the precious metals per ton, and this is shipped to Swansea. I will say in passing, that this shipment of an unrefined product, like the similar shipments from Utah and Nevada to San Francisco, Chi¬cago, St. Louis, Newark, New York, and Europe, of crude argentiferous lead or "base bullion," is not a sign of incomplete metallurgy here, but has a sound business reason. The separation of the precious metals in the West would be more expensive, to begin with ; and then it would necessitate the movement of these metals by express, at high rates and risk, to commercial centres or coining mints, while the base metals having no home market, must be shipped and sold at little or no profit. At present, the gold and silver, safely packed, as it were, in the base metals, are transported with safety as ordinary freight; and the base metals probably more than pay cost of shipment and separation. To return to the Black Hawk reverberatories. On a recent occa-

Jan 1, 1873

By R. W. Raymond

I wish to call the attention of the Institute to a curious subject, brought to my notice last summer by Mr. Begger, the accomplished metallurgist of the smelting-works of the Boston and Colorado Company at Black Hawk, near Central City, Colorado. At these works, the richest auriferous sulphurets of Colorado (particularly copper pyrites) are smelted in reverberatories, together with roasted tailings (iron pyrites), and the gold and silver are concentrated into a new, artificial sulphide, or copper matte, containing $1500 and upwards of the precious metals per ton, and this is shipped to Swansea. I will say in passing, that this shipment of an unrefined product, like the similar shipments from Utah and Nevada to San Francisco, Chicago, St. Louis, Newark, New York, and Europe, of crnde argentiferous lead or "base bullion," is not a sign of incomplete metallurgy here, but has a sound business reason. The separation of the precious metals in the West would be more expensive, to begin with ; and then it would necessitate the movement of these metals by express, . - at high rates and risk, to commercial centres or coining mints, while the base metals having no home market, must be shipped and sold at little or no profit. At present, the gold and silver, safely packed, as it were, in the base metals, are transported with safety as ordinary freight; and the base metals probably more than pay cost of shipment and separation. To return to the Black Hawk reverberatories. On a recent occa-

By Shahriar Vahdani, Andy Herlache, Andrew Bro, Wei-Yu Chen

"The Presidio Parkway Project will reconstruct approximately 1.6 miles of highway, including seven bridges, three cut-and-cover tunnels, and an undercrossing connecting the Golden Gate Bridge to the City of San Francisco, California. The project site is approximately 5.6 miles from the San Andreas Fault, which is capable of producing magnitude 8 earthquakes. Seismic hazards include strong ground shaking, soil liquefaction, ground settlement, and lateral spreading. At the Tennessee Hollow bridge section up to 30 feet of loose sands and soft clays are present. Concerns are raised that standalone drilled piers will experience excessive lateral soil loads from liquefaction-induced lateral spreading pressure resulting in excessive pier head displacement of up to 8 inches. Ground improvement by Cement Deep Soil Mixing (CDSM) is proposed to provide additional foundation stiffness. This paper presents the methodology to: 1) assess the effectiveness of the ground improvement in resisting lateral spreading, and 2) optimize ground improvement design at individual bridge bents based on local site condition. A series of 3-D numerical analyses are conducted and the results show that drilled piers with CDSM ground improvement are capable of withstanding seismic demands from lateral spreading and the lateral pier head displacement is reduced to less than 2 inches. The adopted analytical approach is efficient at modifying design for individual bents and can be considered for future pier foundation design in seismically active areas. IntroductionThe Tennessee Hollow bridge section (Low Viaduct) is an integral component of the Presidio Parkway project which will replace the existing facility with a new multi-lane roadway between the Golden Gate Bridge and the City of San Francisco. As shown on Figure 1, the project site is located about 5.6 miles east of the San Andreas Fault and 12.5 miles west of the Hayward Fault. The Low Viaduct will span over a future wetland habitat subject to tidal fluctuations and potential scouring."

Jan 1, 2014

By Marina de Menezes Lopes

Sabe-se que a presença de ultrafinos em plantas de beneficiamento de minérios pode comprometer a eficiência dos processos principalmente os de flotação, uma vez que fenômenos como o slime coating e o arraste hidrodinâmico das partículas ocorrem fortemente. Além disso, concentrados contendo uma proporção significativa de ultrafinos terão dificuldade de serem filtrados gerando tortas de alta umidade. Este trabalho teve por objetivo estudar o efeito do dispersante AGLP consumido atualmente na planta de beneficiamento da Votorantim Metais Vazante, na flotação do minério silicatado de zinco e avaliar o efeito da sua dosagem na umidade do concentrado final produzido. Para tanto foi realizada a caracterização granulométrica das amostras e conduzidos testes de bancada de sedimentação, filtração e flotação em diferentes dosagens de AGLP. Como era de se esperar, os resultados identificaram que o concentrado de granulometria mais grosseira obteve melhor sedimentação e umidade. Já os testes de flotação indicaram que a dosagem ótima do dispersante em torno de 400g/t garante um concentrado de qualidade, sem perda de recuperação metalúrgica e com umidade adequada para que seja transportado.

Aug 17, 2017

By Léo Daiki Shinomiya

O trabalho apresenta estudos de cenários técnico e econômico para a implantação de uma pequena fábrica cerâmica, através do estudo de caso de uma prospecção de argila vermelha no interior do Pará. O estudo consistiu na execução de sondagem à trado (ST) na área, para cálculo volumétrico da reserva, e recolhimento de amostra para caracterizações em laboratório. A argila coletada foi submetida a análises do teor de umidade, química (Fluorescência de Raios-X) e mineralógica (Difratometria de Raios-X). Um cenário para uma empresa entre micro e pequena produtora de cerâmica foi estabelecido visando estimativas preliminares para um possível empreendimento. A análise de cenários levou a uma possibilidade de implementação de uma unidade fabril de cerâmica com capacidade produtiva de até 140 mil peças/mês. Restrições quanto ao tipo de produto desejado e a característica da argila prospectada devem ser consideradas, podendo ser necessário a mistura de argilas de base “gorda”, com maior quantidade de argilominerais.

Aug 17, 2017

By B. Meddings, O. J. I. Evans

"This paper is mainly concerned with the present and probable future role of hydrometallurgy in the production of base metals.The economic and technological bases of the hydro-metallurgical plants built and operative in the mid-fifties are compared to those in production in the mid-sixties. The trends observed are extrapolated and some estimates made concerning the probable size and type of hydrometallurgical plants which will be operative in the mid-seventies.The impact of emerging socio-economic factors such as pollution control and the market demand for specialized metal products which favour hydrometallurgical recovery processes are also discussed."

Jan 1, 1971

WELCOME to the world-class Cripple Creek district where gold exploration and production continue 95 years after the initial discovery. More than 21 million troy ounces of gold have been recovered, valued at greater than $7.8 billion using today&apos;s gold price ($371/oz). The Cripple Creek district is localized within and around the margins of a silica-undersaturated alkalic diatreme-intrusive complex. The diatreme appears to be comprised of three sub-basins: 1) a sub-basin east of the Cresson (Fig. 1); 2) a southwestern sub-basin between Victor and Cripple Creek; and 3) a northwestern sub¬basin within which the Globe Hill and Ironclad pits (Fig. 1) are located. The recognition of three separate basins was made by G. F. Loughlin and A. H. Koschmann (1935, Fig. 8) who prepared a contour map on the floor and walls of the composite Cripple Creek basin. The northwestern and southwestern sub-basins are apparent due to the discontinuous exposures of a partially exhumed ridge of Precambrian rocks (Fig. 1). The separation of the eastern and southwestern sub-basins was recognized in mine exposures where a fault-bounded ridge line extends from the vicinity of the Ajax mine toward the Precambrian "island" (Fig. 1).

Jan 1, 1986