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By K. Kawagishi, K. Matsumoto, Y Koizumi, H. Harada

A new burner rig for cyclic and hot corrosion testing of Ni-base superalloys and high-temperature coatings has been developed at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan. The concepts of the rig design include: use of kerosene as fuel, easy operation for materials research and multi-specimen testing capability per test run. The burner rig consists of six blocks including combustion block, corrosion-solution injection block, furnace block, specimen block, controller block and outdoor facility block. During verification testing, it was confirmed that the rig had accurate specimen temperature control within ±1? from 600 to 1100? and automated easy operation. Cyclic testing of several Ni-base superalloys was conducted. The results from 50 cycle testing indicated that a new NIMS alloy developed for 1700? class gas turbine had higher oxidation resistance than CMSX-4. This new burner rig testing capability at NIMS can be very useful for future oxidation, hot corrosion and coating durability studies.

Jan 1, 2010

By Christoph Mueller

Mining operations are characterized by cost pressure and cycling product prices. A high potential for enhancing efficiency is the integration of all single steps of the mining working chain into a production process structure to make advantage of an optimized flow of material and information through the ?moving ore factory?. As modern mining machinery today is controlled electronically and even already operated autonomously, a smooth and cost efficient flow of data in the mining process will be crucial for cost efficient future mine operations. Therefor, the International Rock Excavation Data Exchange Standard (IREDES) was launched by major players in the industry. The task of this initiative is to define a ?common electronic language? for easy and standardized data exchange between mining machines and central computer systems. As in other industries, this standard is expected to have significant impact on the use of automated equipment. It shall provide easy ways of using multi vendor machine installations in data controlled mining processes. At the same time it reduces cost for individual development of interfaces for all parties involved. Standardized data exchange is also a crucial precondition to integrate the mining process into enterprise level modeling, cost analysis and decision finding systems. The standard?s technical architecture is open and flexible for future applications. It uses modern XML technology enabling easy data exchange with commercial databases as well as open on line networking. The IREDES work is carried out by the initiative members working jointly together in the technical work groups. Prototyping implementations of the Drill rigs profile are currently going on. Further profiles under development cover LHD?s/Loaders/Trucks and Explosives Chargers. The first official release covering the Drill Rigs profile is planned for the end of 2002.

May 1, 2002

By D. W. Euler, B. J. Clauzier

"Implementation of an effective energy management system will reduce energy costs without impacting negatively on production.The energy management system must be designed to complement the operation and be integrated with the organization. It must be reliable and easy to use but most important, it must have an accurate and timely feedback reporting system to allow the operation to take appropriate action.Falconbridge Limited was one of the first three companies to be awarded the energy monitoring demonstration program in May 1987. The program is sponsored jointly by the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Ontario Hydro.This paper describes the approach taken by Falconbridge Limited to implement the Onaping Area Energy Management System.IntroductionThe objective of the project was to implement an effective energy management system, capable of reducing energy costs without impacting negatively on production.Energy management systems must be designed to complement the operation and to be integrated with the organization. The system must be reliable and easy to use, but most importantly, it must have an accurate and timely feedback reporting system to allow the operation to take appropriate action."

Jan 1, 1990

By W. Dolsak

Introduction Alternative bolting injection resin Hollow bars, rebars, and cable bolts Results from an in-house product development project Sept. 2011 to Feb. 2013 Goals Introduction of a newly developed bolting silicate injection resin as alternative to cement grout based injection systems Definition of easy-to-use pumping devices and installation accessories Accomplishment of installation trials and performance evaluation

May 1, 2013

By Roger Davieds

FACT: a company?s profitability (or loss) is directly related to the efficiency and effectiveness of its maintenance operation. Fact: in order to contribute in a positive manner, maintenance must understand what its true purpose is in the organization. It is easy to say our main purpose is to increase: ?equipment uptime ?OEE ?asset life cycle We all understand this; so does management.

May 1, 2010

By M. Ataka

Magnesium alloys are not easy to plastically deform at room temperature and may suffer from edge cracking at high reductions, especially during sheet rolling. In this study, the authors attempted to improve the rollability by the low-temperature hot rolling method, in which the rolling temperature range is lower than that of hot rolling, and also by the edge-heating method, which locally heats sheet edges.

Jan 1, 2006

By Christoph Mueller

?Globalization and the impact on mine operations? is one of the themes of the 2003 annual CIM meeting. Global mining business in practice always means to act with local base material resources in order to reach the mining company?s global business goals. On the other hand these operations are characterized by cost pressure and cycling product prices. Driven by actual prices, local product markets and local production cost, one time one mine can be most efficient while under different circumstances another mine will be the most efficient producer for the same customer [PENSWICK, 2001]. Therefor in the future the most profitable mining companies will be those who have permanent ?real-time? control on their actual production cost level. Certain approaches are under way to provide reliable modeling tools for aiding mining companies in highly complex decision finding procedures. A high potential for enhancing efficiency is the integration of all single steps of the mining working chain into a production process structure to make advantage of an optimized flow of material and information through the ?moving ore factory? [WIGDÉN, 2001]. Crucial to all these activities is the ability of getting reliable, just-in-time information from the entire mining production chain. As modern mining machinery today is controlled electronically and even already operated autonomously, the theoretical preconditions for the data acquisition is already fulfilled. But up to now, there was no way of cost effectively exchanging the process information with databases, simulation tools and other enterprise level software. Any data exchange problem had to be solved by individual and expensive software development projects. To solve these problems, the International Rock Excavation Data Exchange Standard (IREDES) was launched in 2000 by major players in the industry. The task of this initiative is to define a ?common electronic language? for easy and standardized data exchange between mining machines and central computer systems. As in other industries, this standard is expected to have significant impact on the use of automated equipment. It shall provide easy ways of using multi vendor machine installations in data controlled mining processes. At the same time it reduces cost for individual development of interfaces for all parties involved. The standard?s technical architecture is flexible and open - also for future applications. It uses modern technology enabling easy data exchange with commercial databases as well as open on line networking.

May 1, 2003

By W. Almdal

"To compete in the ever expanding global market, companies must continuously improve. Benchmarking, a tool that can help determine where the best areas for improvement are, is more than comparing measures, it is comparing how business is carried out and how decisions are made. The key to success is in integrating benchmarking results into the organization, so that those most affected by the results own them and are empowered to use them as a positive change agent. This is a necessary step to achieving substantive change to practices and achieving optimum performance improvement. IntroductionBenchmarking is a powerful tool that can assist in the continuous goal of improvement. Benchmarking is more than comparing productivity rates or unit costs, it is seeking out best practices and assimilating them into a business to provide a positive change agent.Benchmarking is a continuous process - is time consuming, labour intensive, and requires a lot of discipline. There are no easy answers and no easy solutions, just a lot of work. The results, however, are nothing short of spectacular. More and more companies are adopting benchmarking practices because it is a key tool of the learning organization and will become part of the way business is done, part of the way it is managed. Business must change to stay ahead or to get ahead and benchmarking can accelerate the process of business change. Improvements in an organization can happen faster and more effectively with a benchmarking approach."

Jan 1, 1994

By Osvaldo A. Bascur

Business Challenges ? Many Versions of the Truth ? Lack of Enterprise Visibility (Transparency) ? Limited Communication & Collaboration ? Complex Implementation & Maintenance of software ? End user ease of use of information applications ? Responsive to change ? Access to timely information ? Secure computing ? Maturing Workforce Real time Portal - First of All ? Why Move to a Portal - Portals Recaptures the Business User - Broader Scope - Easy Navigation, World Standard - Features of a Portal - User Profile - Delegation (Secure Delegation of Admin Authority e.g. portal\pat) - Single Sign-On ? HUGE

May 1, 2004

By Bradley Stoughton

It is very easy to reduce iron ore at a temperature well below its melting point and produce a more-or-less-pure metal which can be used directly for implements, tools, or machines. This simplicity has been the cause of much money loss by persons who were so satisfied with the successful operation of a process that they paid all too little attention to the commercial aspects of it. How easy a direct process is may be gleaned from the fact that it was practised with some -success by primitive man, and has been in almost continuous operation in one form or another for a period of probably 4,000 years. The production of steel in ton lots, beginning about 1860, brought a new phase into the economic situation, which, however, had been already greatly modified in 1784 by Henry Cort's invention of purifying pig iron. Direct processes survived both of these revolutions, under special geographical conditions, even up to the last few years of the nineteenth century, but ceased to have any general use as the basis of supply for structural, machine, or tool industries even in countries which could have manufactured iron by a direct process, but, instead, imported the product of established iron and steel processes. And this is still the situation today, notwithstanding the invention of an incredible number of 'new' processes since 1900, most of which are abandoned, and only survived as along as their financial backers were willing and able to Jose money. Probably none of these processes failed to work pretty well, and all seemed to show a handsome profit on paper.

Jan 1, 1930

By Yasser Mohamed

Daily field management of earthmoving operations requires quick and regular decisions for allocating available equipment to different jobs on a project. A general foreman?s day starts with matching several activities with a suitable set of available equipment to achieve the highest productivity and lowest unit cost. Usually, this decision-making process needs to be quick, and depends to a great extent on the foreman?s experience, which varies from one individual to another. Many analytical solutions with various degrees of sophistication and optimization exist to address such decisions. However, adopting any of these solutions is contingent on how accessible and easy-to-use the solution is. This paper discusses the development process of a webaccessible solution for evaluating earthmoving fleet composition and allocation scenarios. The solution relies on discrete event simulation and an optimization backend engine, but introduces the user with a simplified and easy-to-use interface that is accessible from any mobile device, and is customized to specific user?s needs. The developed system gathers most equipment and site-related input data from a company?s information systems to minimize user input. The user mainly needs to formulate equipment and job combinations and allocation scenarios (e.g. soil type, quantity, and hauling distance), according to equipment availability each day. Then the system will evaluate the productivity and unit cost estimates for each scenario, allowing the user to choose the most suitable one. It may also be used to automatically recommend the optimum solution given an available list of equipment. The paper presents the process followed in prototyping the proposed system in collaboration with a major Canadian earthmoving contractor, and customizing it to the user needs within the company. It also describes the overall structure of the developed system and its core simulation model.

Aug 1, 2013

By K. Iturralde

The topic of this article is the automation and robotization in refurbishment processes of industrial buildings. The need to mold these production spaces is quite universal. Particularly in the regions with a high industrial development and with a lack of buildable land, there is a need to convert this kind of spaces into an improved production system. The latest developments can be a useful tool for achieving a more efficient way of reforming this type of construction. On the one hand we have the digital or computerized 3D Laser Scanning (Computer Aided Measurement) that allows an accurate 3D modeling of the entire building. On the other hand, the project management using BIM (Building Information Modeling) could provide an easy design of each of the elements of the refurbishment. Finally, through the production of construction elements using robotics as jig or for CNC (Computer Numerical Control) we achieve a neat production of each element. How can be all those technologies applied in the refurbishment or expansion of industrial buildings? The research takes a first approach and analyzes industrial buildings that can be called generic or not specialized. To narrow the field of refurbishment, three major factors are defined. The first is to minimize the bill of the energy consumption of the buildings. This could be done either insulating the envelope, reducing the waste-volume to be conditioned climatically or creating facilities for energy production. The second is that the refurbishment or expansion of industrial buildings should try not to interfere on the production process that takes place in the building. In other words, the assembly of the elements in the construction site should be quick and easy, causing the least of disturbance at the workplace. Finally, the research makes an approach towards a robot integrated industrial or productive building .

Aug 1, 2013

By H. Weissenbaeck, B. Nowak, M. Oesterreicher, R. Stastny

The producers of certain metals like nickel and cobalt increasingly face a shortage of easy-to-mine and easy-to-process ore bodies. Their focus is shifting towards alternative raw materials which in turn demand new, different extraction techniques. One potential route for processing a ferrous ore with a non-ferrous target metal is atmospheric leaching with hydrochloric acid followed by purification of the pregnant leach solution (PLS). For the separation of iron from the PLS, and, in turn, the extraction of the non-ferrous compounds, the following flow sheet is proposed. Pre-concentration of the PLS, oxidation of ferrous (if present) to ferric chloride, hydrolysis of ferric chloride leading to the precipitation of hematite and the evaporation of hydrochloric acid, followed by crystallization of non-hydrolysable metal chlorides by means of sparging hydrogen chloride into the solution. Hydrogen chloride required in the latter step is produced internally by super-azeotropic distillation of regenerated hydrochloric acid. The liquid filtrate from the crystallization step is recycled to hydrolysis. Depending on the specific composition of the PLS, the hematite produced contains only traces of other impurities, whereas the crystallized mix of non-hydrolysable metal chlorides – containing also the target metal in enriched form – contains ferric chloride only in an amount referring to the filter cake moisture. These crystals can then undergo further hydrometallurgical separation and extraction processes. As an example, this flow sheet is proposed for treating nickel laterite ores. Experiments related to the demonstration of crucial assumptions in the flow sheet are presented. Based on those experiments a mass and energy balance of the flow sheet was calculated and is presented here together with a table of the major consumables in order to provide a basis for an operating cost estimate and other process economics.

Jan 1, 2016

By Sophia Wong

Nickel is used in a wide variety of applications from consumer goods to industrial uses. In many of these uses, nickel contributes to the environmental attributes of the product. The challenge, however, is measuring that contribution, comparing it to the environmental cost of production, and communicating the role of nickel to the customer in a way that is easy to understand. This paper presents the Nickel Institute?s approach to climate change as a global commodity industry association, and discusses where we stand with regard to some of these key questions. It also identifies issues for the nickel industry moving forward ? challenges that are likely to be common to other commodities.

May 1, 2009

By J. Dong

"Xanthate is a sulfide collector that has been widely used in flotation for almost a century. It is inexpensive, easy to synthesize and apply, and produces good metallurgy in the right applications. However, a major drawback of xanthate is that it decomposes easily and generates CS2 gas in transportation, storage and operation, which can be harmful to human health. Also, excessive xanthate in tailings pond leads to toxicity of the process water and potential damages to aqua-life systems. New regulations in Ontario require that the TWA (time-weighted-average) value of CS2 in the work place is below 1 ppm, which is 1/10 of the previous limit. The stringent regulation may eventually sweep other regions of Canada with the increased awareness of healthy working conditions and environment protection. Therefore, it becomes very important to find xanthate replacements which will be “green”, i.e., environmentally friendly.In this research work, a systematic procedure is used for collector evaluation using the Sudbury nickel sulfide ores from Vale’s Ontario operations, starting with the collector properties (MSDS) evaluation, followed by batch flotation tests, miniplant tests, plant trials and economic evaluation. It is found that the most promising xanthate replacement is dithiocarbamate.INTRODUCTIONSulfide mineral flotation has been practiced since the early 20th century. Its industrial importance is well recognized as mineral concentrates from flotation can be economically smelted and refined to provide primary metals. Collectors play a vital role in froth flotation. There are reagents possessing both a polar group that binds them to the mineral surface and a nonpolar group that is oriented away from the surface to attach air bubbles. The introduction of xanthate as a sulfide collector in 1925 was a remarkable development in froth flotation (Keller, 1925). It is low cost, easy to synthesize, water soluble, simple to control in application. Most importantly, it has strong capability and usually good selectivity for sulfide mineral flotation, which have been keeping its application prominent for almost a century."

Jan 1, 2011

By R.P. Edwards, B.C. Flintoff

Froth flotation is one of the most widely used and effective processes for mineral benefication. First introduced in 1911, flotation technology has seen many developments over the past 80-plus years. Innovations in reagent chemistry, equipment design, process analysis and process control have given design and plant engineers a powerful set of "tools" for process optimization. However, it does not follow that all flotation systems are optimized. As Klimpel observes: "The problem with the industrial flotation process is that it is relatively easy to get reasonable results, and relatively difficult to get excellent results." Klimpel [1988] While reasonable was sufficient in the past. competitive forces will make excellent necessary in the future. Judging by the activities in many Canadian plants this transition is already underway.

Jan 1, 1995

By Min-Sung Kang

Excavation and earthmoving equipment mostly operate in accident-prone areas. These areas normally have rollover, confinement, and fall or may be considered harmful work areas due to demolitions and sewage removals. It is inevitable that excavation and earthmoving systems should be developed to secure the safety of operators through unmanned and remote control systems. Therefore, this research proposes a system that enables excavators to be unmanned and remote controlled without any renovation, remodeling, change, or transformation by applying attachable and separable mechanism and modules. Moreover, this research proposes the sensor module to evaluate the dynamic status without processing remodeling or transformation the existing hydraulic drive excavation system by adopting the easy attachable and separable mechanism. The study verifies this proposal based on observed possibility and feasibility through the experiments.

Aug 1, 2013

By Claude Bazin, François Robichaud

The control of the operation of a semi autogenous grinding mill is mainly based on power and bearing pressure measurements. Image based sensors can provide on-line measurements of the size distribution of the ore feeding a SAG mill allowing the control of this variable that impacts the operation of this equipment. This paper investigates the potential of using the information from such type of sensor to maintain a SAG mill feed target size distribution by manipulating the speed of the ore extractors below an ore stockpile. A PID and adaptive predictive controller for the size distribution are studied using a simulator for a stockpile and the equipments used for ore withdrawing from the pile. The proposed controller is found to give a good performance while remaining easy to tune.

Jan 1, 2014

By Guangdong Institute of Resources Comprehensive Utilization, Y. H. Tang, H. X. Hu, T. S. Dong, Z. H. Zhang

"A world class rare metals ore deposit in Africa belongs to a massive granite type poly-metallic pyrochlore-niobium resource. Successful project development in realizing the resource is vital to Africa’s economy and pyrochlore processing technology.The ore properties are quite complex due to the presence of varieties of valuable minerals, fine dissemination and intimate association of minerals and the relative abundance of easy-floatable minerals. The separation of pyrochlore from zircon, calcite and mica is generally considered difficult. Whilst studies have previously been conducted by several independent institutions overseas, no satisfactory process has yet been developed to date for the ore deposit—possibly due to the process designed being too complex; high cost of regents; lower performance.Based on process mineralogy study and extensive testwork, the authors have in recent years developed a new technology—“De-slime—Iron-rejection—Zircon (with calcite) and Calcite reverse flotation—Pyrochlore flotation”. The flow-sheet is characterized by ?1prior removal of slimes and iron minerals; ?2 Zircon (with calcite) and Calcite reverse flotation; and ?3Pyrochlore flotation applying new type of chelating collector GYX3 developed by GZRINM in conjunction with selected regulators and depressants.The process involved in the new technology is simple to implement and facilitates stable operation; the flotation reagent regime is easily adaptable; the cost of main reagent is lower largely because it is easy to manufacture and is environmental friendly. Laboratory test results demonstrated that, for raw ore assaying 0.35% Nb2O5, 0.03% Ta2O5 and 0.45% ZrO2, pyrochlore concentrate grade of >35% Nb2O5 could be obtained with >74% recovery. Meanwhile, the Ta2O5 content in pyrochlore concentrate could be recycled, and ZrO2 recovery >50% could be achieved in zircon concentrate assaying ZrO2>63%—significantly improving the technical-economic indicator. These results were verified in pilot trials of 1.44t/d throughput. The paper presents the new technology in whole, summarizes the key factors affecting its performance and discusses in simple terms the mechanism of separation."

Jan 1, 2016

By Guangdong Institute of Resources Comprehensive Utilization, Y. H. Tang, H. X. Hu, T. S. Dong, Z. H. Zhang

"A world class rare metals ore deposit in Africa belongs to a massive granite type poly-metallic pyrochlore-niobium resource. Successful project development in realizing the resource is vital to Africa’s economy and pyrochlore processing technology.The ore properties are quite complex due to the presence of varieties of valuable minerals, fine dissemination and intimate association of minerals and the relative abundance of easy-floatable minerals. The separation of pyrochlore from zircon, calcite and mica is generally considered difficult. Whilst studies have previously been conducted by several independent institutions overseas, no satisfactory process has yet been developed to date for the ore deposit—possibly due to the process designed being too complex; high cost of regents; lower performance.Based on process mineralogy study and extensive testwork, the authors have in recent years developed a new technology—“De-slime—Iron-rejection—Zircon (with calcite) and Calcite reverse flotation—Pyrochlore flotation”. The flow-sheet is characterized by ?1prior removal of slimes and iron minerals; ?2 Zircon (with calcite) and Calcite reverse flotation; and ?3Pyrochlore flotation applying new type of chelating collector GYX3 developed by GZRINM in conjunction with selected regulators and depressants.The process involved in the new technology is simple to implement and facilitates stable operation; the flotation reagent regime is easily adaptable; the cost of main reagent is lower largely because it is easy to manufacture and is environmental friendly. Laboratory test results demonstrated that, for raw ore assaying 0.35% Nb2O5, 0.03% Ta2O5 and 0.45% ZrO2, pyrochlore concentrate grade of >35% Nb2O5 could be obtained with >74% recovery. Meanwhile, the Ta2O5 content in pyrochlore concentrate could be recycled, and ZrO2 recovery >50% could be achieved in zircon concentrate assaying ZrO2>63%—significantly improving the technical-economic indicator. These results were verified in pilot trials of 1.44t/d throughput. The paper presents the new technology in whole, summarizes the key factors affecting its performance and discusses in simple terms the mechanism of separation."

Jan 1, 2016