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By A. G. Ballachey

Introduction This paper will describe the mining plant and underground operations at Quemont. Details of geology and milling are beyond its scope. Papers on these subjects will be prepared and presented separately. A detailed account of the exploration and development, 1944 to 1947, has been given by W. L. Brown (1). Location The mining concessions of Quemont Mining Corporation, Limited, are in Rouyn township, Rouyn-Noranda county, northwestern Quebec. These concessions total about 640 acres in area. They lie within the limits of the City of Noranda, contiguous to, and directly north of, the Horne mine of Noranda Mines, Limited. A large area in the southern part of the property is covered by the north arm of Osisko lake. Production The present operating rate is about 2,100 tons per day. Three flotation concentrates are produced: copper, containing a large proportion of the gold and silver in the ore; zinc; and pyrite, which carries an appreciable additional proportion of gold. The copper and zinc concentrates are shipped to smelters as produced. The pyrite concentrate is cyanided to recover additional gold, after which it is filtered, dried, and shipped for the manufacture of sulphuric acid. The principal revenue metals are copper, gold, and zinc. Silver and pyrite are important by-products.

Jan 1, 1952

By David L. Daniels

The U.S. Geological Survey has for many years been flying and compiling aeromagnetic surveys. The aim is complete coverage of the United States, about half of which is presently done. Colored aeromagnetic maps at a scale of 1:1,000,000 are published as the states are completed; Minnesota and Colorado have been published. Michigan, Iowa, Nevada, Utah, Maryland and Virginia are presently being processed. Some of the most spectacular data collected to date is from the Piedmont of the Eastern United States. I am going to discuss a preliminary aeromagnetic map of the Piedmont region between New York and North Carolina, where coverage is nearly complete. This map has been compiled from many surveys. Flight spacing over Piedmont rocks is 1/4 to 1 mile with flight elevation of 500 feet above ground. The spacing over the Virginia Coastal Plain and Valley and Ridge regions is wider at 2 - 3 miles. Much of the data in Virginia has been produced by the Virginia Division of Mineral Resources. The map is colored on a spectral color scheme with red for the higher intensities and violet the low intensities. Each color represents a 100 gamma interval. Some of the highest intensities are beyond the range of the 13 colors - these are left white. It is necessary, of course, to remove first, the Earth's main magnetic field. The Geological Survey uses the International Geomagnetic Reference Field or IGRF (Fabiano and Peddie, 1969). The use of color in aeromagnetic maps is not new, but then not common. We have found that colored aeromagnetic contour maps are more useful by far than the uncolored versions because they allow the user to instantly compare intensities in widely separated areas and visualize long wavelength anomalies even when numerous short wavelength anomalies' are superimposed. One tends to see only steep gradients on uncolored aeromagnetic maps, the broad anomalies being quite invisible. We feel that colored maps take the place of various mathematically derived maps such as second derivative or averaged maps.

Jan 1, 1973

By F. E. Goodwin

Since the last CIM Zinc and Lead Conference ten years ago, significant technical and market forces have influenced how these metals are used, and the geographic distribution of their uses. Unprecedented price fluctuations have opened competitiveness issues, while the rapid growth of the Chinese market has created challenges both inside and outside China. Recent technical developments in battery energy storage, coatings, castings and chemical applications of lead and zinc will be reviewed together with the influence of these trends on end use markets.

Jan 1, 2008

By Taghi Sherizadeh, Pinnaduwa H. S. W. Kulatilake

"This paper examines the effect of different geological and mining factors on roof stability in underground coal mines by combining the field observations, laboratory testing, and numerical modeling. Observations at an underground coal mine that uses the room-and-pillar mining method showed several failures of the immediate roof, and is used as a case study. Three-dimensional distinct element analyses were performed to study the intrinsic roof failure mechanisms and to evaluate specifically the effect of in-situ stress magnitudes and directions, discontinuity mechanical properties, and variation of pillar to room size on roof stability.INTRODUCTIONThe lithology of the immediate roof with respect to the underground openings plays an important role in stability of the roof in underground excavations. Laminated, or thinly bedded shale, is one of the most frequently seen overlaying strata above the coal deposits. The bedding planes and interfaces have very low or close to zero tensile strength in the direction perpendicular to the bedding planes, and their shear strength is much lower than of the rock layers. As a result, the bedding planes are much weaker than the rock layers. Therefore, due to the stress concentrations caused by excavations, slippage and separation can easily happen along the bedding planes before initiation of failure within the rock layers.In the past, several attempts have been made to understand the mechanism behind the roof failure in underground coal mines. Most of these earlier attempts were based on empirical techniques and continuum based numerical methods that have limited capability in simulating the response of discontinuum rock mass behavior to excavation. Different factors such as the magnitude and direction of the horizontal in-situ stresses, type and mechanical properties of roof rock, surface topography, geological anomalies, gas pressure, slippage and separation of bedding planes at the roof and floor, entry width and excavation sequences are identified as key factors that could significantly impact the stability of the roof. Among all the aforementioned factors, in spite of its importance, the impact of slip and separation of bedding planes on roof stability has not received enough attention from researchers. In a few available numerical modeling studies, the bedding planes are modeled using the continuum based numerical codes such as ABAQUS (Chen, 1999) and FLAC3D (Ray, 2009). However, since the bedding planes among the roof layers become discontinuous during the numerical analysis, this behavior is most likely not be accurately captured by the continuum based numerical models. Chen (1999) conducted finite element analysis to study the impacts of the roof and coal interface slip and the bedding planes slip in the roof on the stress distribution in the roof strata by using the finite element analysis software named ABAQUS. To avoid the complications associated with the finite sliding between two deformable bodies, he limited his study to the two-dimensional finite element analysis (plane strain). He concluded that the slip and separation of interfaces and bedding planes have significant impact on the behavior of the roof strata and without considering the interfaces, the roof bolt functions cannot be simulated properly by using the numerical analysis methods. Gadde and Peng (2005) performed three-dimensional finite difference analysis using FLAC3D software with strain softening material behavior to simulate the cutter roof in an underground coal mine. Their numerical model was fully continuum and no bedding plane was included in the model. They suggested that the strain softening material model can help to simulate the cutter roof failure up to a satisfactory level (Gadde and Peng, 2005))."

Jan 1, 2015

By Zoë Dugdale, Gerald Poplin, Tim Bauerle

"Fatigue presents several challenges for the mining industry. Depending on the specific occupation, daily work or operational setup on any given mine site, mining jobs can have a fair amount of labor-intensive tasks mixed with monotonous and repetitive duties. Combined with the long working hours and shift-work schedules of mining work, the prevalence of fatigue in mine workers may seem rather unsurprising.Mining is certainly not alone in facing the challenge of addressing worker fatigue. Indeed, many of the characteristics above mirror the similarities of fatigue in other industries, such as health care, aviation and security. To the extent that fatigue in mining acts like fatigue in any other industry, then any fatigue management applications, trainings, or interventions in existence can be borrowed from other industries and applied to mining in a cookie-cutter approach. However, some have argued that mining in particular is especially susceptible to increases in the prevalence of fatigue beyond the characteristics listed above due to the multifaceted combination of factors in mining environments associated with fatigue: dim lighting; limited visual acuity; hot temperatures; loud noise; highly repetitive, sustained, and monotonous tasks; shiftwork; long work hours; long commute times due to mine site remoteness; early morning awakenings; and generally poor sleep habits (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2012; Legault, 2011). Legault (2011) in particular argues that it is the combination of these factors simultaneously that can make mineworkers particularly susceptible to sleep deprivation and fatigue in comparison to other industries where these factors are often not present all together. If fatigue looks and acts different in mining, as others have argued, more research is needed to determine if, how, and why worker fatigue might need to be managed differently in mining.While the burden of fatigue on the mining population has not yet been evaluated thoroughly, methods and measures of fatigue management remain a popular point of discussion. Many commercial suppliers and consultancy groups have begun to develop technologically based fatigue monitoring systems (McMillian, 2013). Some technologies can monitor vehicle operators for indicators of wakefulness, such as percent eyelid"

Jan 3, 2018

By J. M. Mutmansky, C. Lee

"IntroductionRecognition of Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis (CWP) as a major occupational disease has affected various aspects of the coal mining industry in the United States as well as in almost all major coal producing countries, Regulations related to the control of coal mine dust forced mine operators to modify their mining and ventilation practices. As the coal production record of the last 15 years shows, this had both direct and indirect impacts on the productivity and production costs.To identify the causes of CWP, many research efforts have been made throughout the world. Most of these studies were epidemiological in nature, attempting to pinpoint exposure and seam variables that affected the incidence of the disease. Other studies have been oriented toward the elemental and mineralogical composition of the coal dust in the mine atmosphere and in the miners' lungs. These studies indicate that there may exist some relationships between the characteristics of the coal mine dust and the prevalence of the disease. Some of the variables that are thought to affect the occurrence of CWP are the mass of the dust in the working place, the rank of the coal, the existence of certain trace elements, the free silica content of the coal, and the existence of other minerals in the respirable dust. A more complete description of these previous research studies has appeared elsewhere (Mutmansky and Lee, 1984).The behavior of particles in the human lung is known to be governed by their aerodynamic diameter, which is defined as the diameter of a hypothetical spherical particle with unit density that exhibits the same settling velocity as the given particle. Because of this fact, the aerodynamic size distribution of coal mine dust is one of the parameters to be determined along with the other physical, elemental, and mineralogical characteristics. The objective of this paper is to establish a strategy for providing coal mine respirable dust samples for characterization purposes using instruments that classify according to the aerodynamic diameter. In addition, several findings concerning characterization methods will be presented"

Mar 1, 1989

By K. Purazrang, P. Musavi Garavi, P. Sh. Naseri, P. Abachi

The fracture behavior of high strength Al7050 alloy was investigated at room and elevated temperatures using small size, V-notched tear (called Kahn specimen) and compact tension, CT, specimens, respectively.To study the elastic-plastic behavior of the alloy, the tensile test was also performed on the sub-sized cylindrical tension test specimen. The microstructure of the alloy was examined using optical- and scanning electron- microscopy. The rupture mechanisms and crack path were also studied by examination of specimens' fracture surfaces using SEM. The microstructure examination revealed equiaxed grains and some elongated grains in rolling direction, with the areas of partial re-crystallized grains where coarse intermetallic particles are mostly found.In general, fracture surfaces were indicative of dimpled ductile type. Considering the fractographs of tensile specimens, the void growth mechanism is also dominant in fracture of these specimens. Nevertheless, in some regions, smooth areas can be observed due to the friction during rupture process. The results of mechanical tests at RT made the evaluation of tear strength to 0.2 % tensile yield strength ratio, as a measure of notch toughness, available. According to elevated temperature, 150°C, test results and plots of log da/dt vs. log KI , the crack propagation behavior over discrete ranges of crack growth rates could be assumed linear and then be obeyed as a power law equation in the form of da/dt = A (KI)n .

Jan 1, 2015

By A. B. Cecala

Enclosed cabs have been used for many years to isolate workers on mobile equipment in the mining industry for health and safety reasons. These enclosed cabs create a microenvironment for workers where they can be either more protected or more vulnerable to contaminants. Over the past decade, the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has performed substantial research efforts to improve the air quality inside enclosed cabs of underground and surface mobile mining equipment. In these efforts, NIOSH has partnered with mining companies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and manufacturers of filtration and pressurization systems in a synergistic effort to reduce respirable dust and improve the air quality inside these enclosed cabs. Various field studies over this time have shown an array of results ranging from very minor to very significant reductions (protection factor: 3-89) in respirable dust levels inside these enclosed cabs. In addition to and concurrent with the field work, NIOSH also performed a comprehensive laboratory study to evaluate all the factors involved in cab filtration and pressurization systems and identified those factors that were most significant for an effective system. From this comprehensive research effort, the key components for an effective filtration and pressurization system have been identified in an effort to provide the best air quality to equipment operators inside of enclosed cabs of mobile mining equipment, thus minimizing respirable dust exposure.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. J. Crowder, A. L. Coulson

Ground support is a significant component of underground mining costs. The rehabilitation of failed support, however, is often much more expensive than the initial installation. This paper investigates whether the right type and length of support can be designed correctly the first time, through forward modelling of the support and the mining process. Back analyses demonstrate how high-quality instrumentation and monitoring can help with the estimation of the post-peak (post-failure) rock mass parameters required for a comprehensive analysis. A hybrid modelling approach combines a three-dimensional mine-wide boundary element model with a non-linear finite element model to allow for the failure process in the rock mass. The back analyses demonstrate that, for the case study site, the post-peak Generalized Hoek-Brown value of mr must be reduced significantly in order to properly simulate displacements observed in instrumentation data. High-quality instrumentation data is the key to post-peak rock mass parameter calibration. The procedures outlined in the paper highlight the need for a new hybrid numerical modelling package that can use the influence of three-dimensional mining-induced stresses to predict displacements in, and potential failure of, rock masses surrounding mining infrastructure in order to radically alter strategic and tactical mine design.

Jan 1, 2007

By G. A. Campbell

This paper considers the international market trends of the rare earths and how they are strongly influenced by the by-product/co-product nature of their mining and processing. The two main economic minerals for the rare earths are bastnasite and monazite. Monazite is primarily a by-product of mining ilmenite and rutile and is affected by changes in these markets as well as the presence of thorium. Bastnasite is a by-product of mining iron ore in China and a stand-alone product in the USA. The paper will use conceptional relationships and empirical data to delineate the various by-products/co-products relationships and how they determine observed international market behavior.

Jan 1, 1996

Large quantities of electrical and electronic equipments are discarded at the end-of-life (EOL) in different industries and house hold applications. Their disposal is creating a challenging environmental problem due to the presence of hazardous metals and non-metallic materials such as epoxy resins and plastics including brominated flame retardants etc particularly in printed circuit boards (PCBs). The recovery valuable metals and separation of hazardous materials from discarded PCBs will not only conserve the resources but also mitigate the environmental pollution. From a recycling point of view for a sustainable society, the studies have been carried out for the recovery of metal values from EOL-PCBs of DVD video players (DVD-PCBs) and vacuum cleaners (VC-PCBs) using physical beneficiation techniques. The concentration of the metals was found to be 43 wt.% and 30 wt.% in DVD-PCBs and VC-PCBs, respectively. Both the PCBs samples were ground in a hammer mill after cutting and their size analysis was carried out. The liberation of the metallic and non-metallic fractions was investigated under the microscope for different size fractions. Subsequently, froth flotation and pneumatic air separation studied were carried out to enrich the metallic constituents. The studies showed the enrichment of metals in coarser particles (-1000 +150 µm) and non-metals in the finer particles -150 µm following mechanical recycling process. A grade of 90 % with 75% recovery was achieved by froth flotation, but lower grade and recovery of 75% and 65% respectively were obtained by pneumatic separation with -1500 µm powders for DVD-PCBs. A grade of 86% metal was obtained by froth flotation with 76% recovery in the case of VC-PCBs. The lower grade of 65% with almost same recovery was achieved during pneumatic separation studies due to lower concentration of metals in VC-PCBs. The studies also showed that the froth flotation is an efficient process for enrichment of metals from both the samples. The process is environmental friendly as no chemicals are employed during entire processing. The higher recovery and grade of metal is expected to be obtained on a large scale beneficiation process.

Sep 1, 2012

By Jingzhong Kuang, Zheyu Huang, Chuanzhou Guo, Pengfei Liu

"In this paper, scheelite and scheelite coated with Pb2+ (SC) were synthesized by chemical precipitation with the help of ultrasonic. The role of the Pb2+ on scheelite was evaluated. Additionally, the dissolution behavior of minerals and the adsorption mechanism of collectors were investigated systematically via SEM, XRD, EDS. The results indicate that the ultrasonic cavitation can promote the formation of scheelite with large particle size and high crystallinity. Due to the exchange of WO4 2- and OH-, the dissolution of scheelite are not in a 1:1 equivalent amount by chemical formula and the concentration of WO4 2- is higher than that of Ca2+ in the solution because Pb2+ promotes the transfer of WO4 2- from scheelite surface into the solution. The dissolution of scheelite is an endothermic reaction and its enthalpy reaches the maximum value of 692.59J·mol-1 at pH=8~10. But the coating of Pb2+ changes the thermal effect of scheelite in the solution and the dissolution of SC is an exothermic reaction with the dissolution enthalpy of -262.30 J·mol-1. At pH=8~10, the adsorption capacity of sodium oleate and salicylhydroxamic acid on the surface of SC is higher than that of scheelite which delivers that Pb2+ contributes to the scheelite surface dissolution and enhances the adsorption of collectors on the mineral surface, thus achieving activation.INTRODUCTIONIn modern society, tungsten is a type of quite important rare metal and also a strategic resource. Because of its low vapor pressure, high melting point, good electrical and thermal conductivity properties, it is widely applied in high-temperature technology, lighting, machine and engine construction (Zhao,Z.W, 2013; Yan, W, 2017; Ilhan, S, 2013). Both scheelite and wolframite are the major tungsten deposits. With the depletion of easily-processed wolframite, scheelite has drawn a great deal of scientific and industrial attention. Scheelite can be recovered by flotation due to the metathesis of polarity and chargeability on minerals surface via adding regulators and collectors."

Jan 1, 2018

By Mason L. Dicks

For many years The Hanna Mining Company has been investigating the flotation of the non-magnetic iron ores located in the Western Mesabi Range of Minnesota.1 During the 1950's a number of anionic iron procedures were evaluated and in the late 1950's and early 1960's the anionic silica floats and the cationic silica floats were tested with improved results.2 The cationic float became more attractive and effective by the use of the improved ether amines. About 1962 a desliming process by selective flocculation was developed by the U.S. Bureau of Hines at Minneapolis', Minnesota.3, 4, 5 This is a very efficient method of desliming and was first tried with the anionic silica float and then the more practical cationic silica float. In the mid 1960's The Hanna Research Laboratory began studies to optimize the selective flocculation process for our ores. This was followed by studies to optimize the cationic silica float after desliming by selective flocculation. This testwork was done on large, 500 to 1000 tonne bulk samples of oxidized taconite which were later successfully piloted at .68t/h (1500 Lbs. /hr.). A program was then begun to test the oxidized portions of numerous taconite drill holes to outline the ore bodies and develop mining plans. This paper will discuss our optimization results of both the selective flocculation and the cationic silica float as applied to our various ores. In addition the pilot plant studies and drill core testwork will be discussed.

Jan 1, 1978

By W. S. Dyer

Introduction In northern Ontario, refractory clay is found on four rivers of the James Bay watershed: the Abitibi, the Mattagami, the Missinaibi, and the Moose. The clay all belongs to the same geological formation ( the Mattagami of Lower Cretaceous age) , and occurs within a structural depression or 'basin', the boundaries of which have never been defined but which appears to cover at least 1,500 square miles of territory. The recently constructed James Bay extension of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario railway crosses the northeast end of the basin at the Onakawana lignite field, which by rail is 126 miles north of Cochrane, 605 miles north of Toronto, and 60 miles southwest of Moose Factory. Smoky Falls, the northern terminus of the railway owned by the Spruce Falls Power & Paper Company, Limited, is 7 miles south of one other point in the basin, i.e., the outcrops of refractory clay, sand, and kaolin at the foot of Long rapids on the Mattagami river. Smoky Falls is 50 miles north of Kapuskasing. In a very early report(l) , Dr. Robert Bell, of the Geological Survey of Canada, described '"light coloured marl in horizontal beds" from the Missinaibi river, and noted that the lignite also occurring in the river was probably :associated with the marls. This was undoubtedly the Cretaceous refractory day. Other early writers noted the occurrence of fire-clays, but it was not until Joseph Keele(2), of the Geological Survey, visited thee region in 1919 and studied the clays that their real significance was known.

Jan 1, 1933

By P. Munjal

"Usage of Supercritical CO2 in place of high pressure freshwater has proven to be a potential breakthrough in the technique of fracturing. Tapping of carbon footprints from feasible sources like industries can be used to manufacture Supercritical CO2 required for fracking. Supercritical CO2, being less viscous than water, creates complex and coherent micro-fractures which can connect many more natural fractures greatly, increasing maximally the fractures’ conductivity leading to an increment in production. The better clean-up property of Supercritical CO2 provides auxiliary benefits of immediate evaluation of fracture zones, usage of an optimized quantity of mesh proppant and elimination of the need of swabbing. Also, Coal has a stronger affinity for CO2 than for CH4. When CO2 is present, CH4 on coal is replaced by CO2. This also ensures rigorous recovery of gas from the coal beds. Use of Supercritical CO2 will obliterate many problems as the CO2 used for fracturing is either sequestered beneath the crust or is recovered at the surface and reused. Therefore, injecting CO2 into coalbeds achieves not only enhanced CBM recovery, but also greenhouse sequestration underground. INTRODUCTION Coalbed Methane At various times in the geologic past, earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas. Due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath the soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, these dead plant remains were compressed. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation, usually by mud or acidic water. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal. The omnibus process of formation of coal, thus, comprises of conversion of dead plant matter into peat, followed by its conversion to lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite. This process of enrichment of coal as it is progressively forced deeper into an ambience with higher temperature and pressure involves biological and geological processes that take place over a long period and is called coalification. During coalification, large amounts of methane-rich gas are generated and stored within the coal on internal surfaces; hence comes coalbed methane. Coalbed methane (CBM), a gas formed as part of the geological processes that are responsible for the generation of coal, is adsorbed into the solid matrix of the coal during its formation process. Coalbed methane is distinct from a typical sandstone or other conventional gas reservoirs, as the methane is adsorbed and not absorbed. The methane is in a near-liquid state, lining the inside of pores within the coal. The open fractures in the coal that result from the liberation of volatile materials (and subsequent contraction due to the liberation) from the coal due to the high temperature and pressure conditions encountered, called cleats, may also contain free gas or can be saturated with water."

Jan 1, 2015

By G. Bonifazi

Mining activities belong to human history, they are lost in the mists of time. They usually impact on large portions of the territory, both directly (exploitation areas and logistic activities directly related to exploitation) and indirectly (exploited material handling, processing and storage areas). As a result, at the end of mine life cycle, dismissed areas usually cannot be directly re-utilized without efficient and well addressed rehabilitation actions. Main goal of the proposed approach was to analyze the results obtained when a set of procedures, based on the collection and the analysis of remote sensed data, is developed to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation of land contaminated by extractive industry activities and to perform a monitoring and registration of the environmental impact of such operations by the application and the integration of modern information technologies, as Earth Observation (EO) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The study was developed in the framework of the EU-Asia program of the European union (EXTRACT-IT Project-Contract No: CN/ASIA IT&C/006 (89870): Application of Information Technologies for the sustainable management of Extractive industry activities) and it was addressed to three different dismissed mine areas in India, Thailand and China, respectively. The results, in terms of methodologies selected, strategies applied and results obtained, are described with particular reference to Fuxin coal mine area in China.

Jan 1, 2014

By Yuemin Zhao, Wenxuan Liu, Maoming Fan, Zhanyuan Long

"Coal is mainly composed of energy-producing elements carbon and hydrogen. In addition to these elements, coal usually contains many other valuable elements, including iron, aluminum, silicon, rare earth elements, lithium, gallium, germanium, vanadium, uranium, titanium, scandium and phosphorus. These coalassociated elements are significantly enriched in coal combustion byproduct fly ash because the majority of the main components, carbon and hydrogen elements, being removed. Table 1 provides the chemical composition range of the main element oxides in 12 Chinese fly ash samples collected from coal power plants located in Northeast China, Northwest China, Southwest China and Southeast China. It can be seen from Table 1 that the major mineral components of different ashes are similar, but the bulk chemistry of different fly ashes may vary due to the changes of ratios of the mineral components in different coals. The major mineral components in various Chinese coal combustion fly ash are silicates, iron oxides and unburned carbon.Chinese coal fly ash usually contains about 5 to 15 percent of unburned carbon, which are generally chars with irregular shapes and wide particle size distribution. In addition to unburned carbon, XRD analysis of four Chinese fly ash samples from Liaoning, Shanxi, Guizhou and Shandong provinces indicates that the fly ash samples are composed of minerals such as quartz (SiO2), mullite (3Al2O3.2SiO2 or 2Al2O3.SiO2), hematite (Fe2O3), maghemite (gamma form of hematite, ?-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4). The mullite and quartz particles are usually present as spherical particles because they are formed by melting clays, feldspars, quartz, calcite and other common minerals in coal during coal combustion. The silicate particles have usually entrapped gas to yield hollow spherical particles because their lower melting point facilitates gas entrapment.The iron oxides are usually spherical also. The magnetite (Fe3O4) is derived from pyrite (FeS2), hematite (Fe2O3), siderite (FeCO3) and limonite (2Fe2O3.3H2O) in the coal. Maghemite (?-Fe2O3) is formed by dehydration of the mineral hydrohematite (?-FeO(OH)) and/or oxidation of magnetite (Fe3O4) during coal combustion. Maghemite (?-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) are strongly magnetic, so they are recovered from Chinese coal fly ash and widely used for coal processing in China (Fan et al., 2005, 2000)."

Jan 3, 2018

By J. W. Horne, W. L. Finley, A. D. Bauer, D. W. Gould

"The Bureau of Mines and the State of Colorado are cooperating in an investigation of the oil shales of Colorado. in this report the yields and the results of analyses of the oil and, gas produced from a number of oil-shale samples from the principal deposits of Colorado and other oil-shale States, are compared with samples from Scotland and Australia, where the oil-shale industry has had its greatest commercial development, and also with a sample from Brazil *here extensive oil-shale deposits are found shale samples were not selected as being representative of the different deposits, but they illustrate the wide variation in the nature of the organic matter of different oil shales.A further study is being made of the chemical composition of the shale, distribution of nitrogen and sulphur. in the products, temperatures at which organic matter decomposes, and the results will be presented in subsequent Papers, With complete data available on the chemical composition of the shales, it may be possible to explain some of the differences in the nature of the products from the various shales,Most of the work described herein was done under the supervision of M. J. Gavin. L. C. Karrick, formerly of .the Boulder laboratory, assisted in the work and gave many valuable suggestions."

May 1, 1924

By John A. E. M. Church

THE prospector's pan was the first implement used for saving gold, and its action is so effective that it has never been equalled for thorough work. Copper plates, blankets, sluices, and amalgamators of several patented designs have thrust it aside, but in spite of all the advances made there is no dispute among experienced men as to the comparative thoroughness of the work done by it and its rivals. When its rivals are doing their best, the pan can take their discarded refuse and prove their inefficiency by producing from it not only gold, but even the mercury which has been lost from the machines themselves. The trouble with the pan has always been that it was only a tool. Man was the machine that moved it. His work was high-priced, the quantity treated small, and it was impossible to use the pan for any but the richest sands. As a consequence the best gold-saving appliance known has been discarded for years and replaced by machines of inferior excellence, but which could more than make up for their limited ability in saving gold by their capacity for treating great quantities of ore. Mr. Peck is one of the old-time amalgamators of the Comstock district, and the first idea of the new machine came to him as he used to pan below the tailrace of his mill. No matter how fine the work of the mill was, the pan invariably proved that better could be done. The tailings always contained gold, silver, and mercury. This state of things is just as true to-day, after all the improvements that have been made, as it was then, and the much-vaunted method of the " Washoe process" consists in extracting 72 per cent. of the gold and silver by one operation, and then repeating this operation half a dozen times to get out about one-third of the remainder. With all the advances of twenty years in milling, there is nothing more crude in metallurgy than the treatment of tailings in many of the large mills of the West.

Jan 1, 1880

By W. van der Merwe

With the gold industry looking to process more complex ores, the online measurement and control of cyanide addition to the gold leaching circuit has become more crucial. This paper compares the two commonly employed "free" cyanide online analysis methods (amperometric and potentiometric end-point silver nitrate titration) with the common site laboratory rhodanine endpoint silver nitrate titration and ion selective electrode methods. Measurement differences between these methods are presented and discussed for cyanide solutions containing copper and zinc with varying cyanide to metal ion ratios. The resulting cyanide available to leach gold is also compared with these measurements.

Jan 1, 2011