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By Al. Valero

This paper quantifies in universal units (energy units), the annual decrease in the mineral endowment of the planet. This is done for some important extracted non-fuel minerals, namely aluminium, cobalt, chromium, copper, gold, lead, uranium and zinc and is compared with the depletion figures of conventional fossil fuels. The results of this study reveal that each year, the decrease of the global non-fuel mineral bonus provided by Nature is 2 to 3 orders of magnitude greater than the loss associated to the burning of fossil fuels. Particularly for 2008, the depletion in mineral wealth of the studied commodities was about 20 times greater than that of fossil fuels. The assessment methodology is based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It quantifies the useful energy (exergy) required to concentrate a mineral from a completely dispersed state in the crust, to the conditions of composition and concentration found in the mines. Exergy can be a useful measure for quantifying the mineral depletion caused by man, as it takes into account the main physical features that make minerals valuable: composition and concentration. This analysis enhances and puts numbers to the importance and necessity of material reuse and recycling.

Jan 1, 2011

By A. C. Noble, D. E. Ranta, J. W. Mustard

Skarn deposits present many unique problems in estimating ore reserves, including difficulties arising from the complex character of the mineralization and intricate ore body shapes resulting from structural complexity. Mineralization within skarns occurs in metasomatically altered carbonate horizons produced by magmatic hydrothermal fluids emanating from intrusive stocks. Deposit formation is controlled by both the presence of favorable host rocks and by proximity of these host rocks to a mineralizing intrusion. Ore controls must be defined to account for abrupt changes in grade that occur between miner- alized and unmineralized horizons. Gradational grade changes within the mineralized zones must also be defined in terms of skarn type and included barren rock to assist in reserve estimation. Defining mineralized limits can be further complicated by faulted, rotated, or folded strata affecting the morphology of an ore body. The MacTung copper-tungsten exoskarn deposit, located along the Yukon-Northwest Territories border in Northwestern Canada exhibits a number of unique properties that preclude a simple mathematical approach to ore re- serve estimation. This deposit is used to demonstrate methods for modeling geologic controls and geostatistical properties for a skarn deposit.

Jan 1, 1992

By K. G. Sutterer, P. T. Wang, R. Sweigard

One possible alternative for the disposal of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) by-products is to use it as backfilling support material in highwall mine adits. The finite element method was used to analyze the variation in stresses and displacements within and around a highwall adit backfilled with FGD materials. The engineering properties of the rock material and the optimum mix of the FGD materials were obtained from laboratory tests. Finite element analyses show that, for the case in question, the roof displacement would decrease about 48% and the peak stress could be decreased by about 58%. The study indicates that fairly weak FGD materials can eventually lead to the stability of backfilled highwall adits.

Jan 1, 1998

By L. L. Newman, K. D. Ferguson

Traditional methods for mine waste management produces two waste streams and the construction of separate disposal facilities. Tailings impoundment design is usually controlled by physical stability problems. Alternatively. the waste rock offers high stability characteristics but hydraulic properties that create ideal conditions for oxidation. The problem of oxidation is significantly reduced for tailings due to a fine texture that augments water saturation. This paper introduces concepts for the co-disposal of tailings with waste rock and evaluates the physical behaviour of an integrated waste system. 'he potential benefits of co-disposal are shown for a typical mine such as Equity Silver.

Jan 1, 2000

By Keith G. Wallace, Daniel J. Brunner

The traditional approach to mine ventilation planning involved making estimates of airflows, including leakage routes, and summing the corresponding pressure drops along consecutive paths in order to determine the fan pressures required. This methodology changed completely with the availability of computers. Mainframe digital computers began to be used for mine ventilation network analysis in the mid-1960's. Their use spread rapidly throughout the world in the 1970's. Mainframe machines were employed owing to the need for high speed numerical procedures and substantial storage requirements. However, during the past decade, the growing availability of low cost but powerful microcomputers has allowed the development of net- work analysis programs that can handle ventilation systems of hundreds of branches, and which can produce results within a few minutes. This paper discusses recent advances in software and hardware development specific to mine ventilation planning. Software developments include interactive data and output manipulation, graphical representation of output, internal checks on input parameters to preset ranges and subroutines which calculate the gas distribution throughout the network from known gas sources. Hardware advances have led to significant increases in memory to facilitate the analysis of large ventilation models, math co-processor chips which greatly shorten run times, and plotter hardware for graphical output displays. Recent software developments make it possible to graphically display output on printers faster than on standard plotters.

Jan 1, 1989

Various computer packages are now available for balancing data obtained from complex concentration plants. It is well established that the filtered data generated by these programs are statistically better than the raw data. However the degree of improvement as well as the accuracy of the estimated variables depend strongly on the propagation of measurement errors through the estimation algorithm. Therefore, for the subsequent use of the filtered data, their confidence intervals are as important as the data themselves. Variance of filtered variables have been derived in a very general way for any arbitrary flowsheet and when data originate from various sources such as flowrates, chemical assays, particle size distributions and pulp percentages of solids. The theoretical formulae are incorporated in the BILMAT package for mass balance calculation and illustrated on various flowsheets involving grinding, classification and flotation. The validity of the proposed method is discussed by a comparison to a Monte Carlo approach, for a simple processing circuit.

Jan 1, 1986

By A. Papandreou

Industrial wastes nowadays constitute one of the most serious threats for the future of our planet. Researchers around the world have very often proposed many kind of solutions in the management problem of industrial effluents. However in most cases suggested solutions are either too expensive to be applied in industrial scale, or they just transfer the problem (e.g. precipitation creates dangerous sludge) and so they create an even greater problem and threat. In the present study the exploitation of valuable hydraulic and adsorption properties of fly ash is studied. Fly ash can easily and cheaply be shaped into stable pellets. After ageing for a sort period of time, these structures can be used as adsorbents for the removal of heavy metals from industrial effluents. Experiments in aqueous solutions have shown excellent adsorption behavior concerning the removal of cadmium, copper, lead, chromium (III) and zinc. The advantage of this technology, except low cost, is that after saturation the pellets can be easily removed from the liquid phase and stabilized in concrete structures without any problem of desorption or leaching. Moreover in these structures a significant amount of cement in the concrete can be replaced by raw fly ash. (Ashcrete as it is called). The utilization of an industrial byproduct as fly ash in the form of pellets as adsorption means and their stabilization with concrete (or ashcrete) combines the useful properties of a solid waste in the treatment of liquid effluents and constitutes a green low cost technology.

Jan 1, 2006

By S. C. Suboleski, R. Zhao

A Simulation/Animation Model (SAM) with several unique features has been developed for continuous mining in room-and-pillar production systems. Initial cut data are generated by the program based on a short list of general section parameters, and is graphically displayed on the screen for checking and editing. This portion of the program includes several intelligent features. For example, a different cut sequence will be generated for uni-directional section ventilation than for bi-directional flow. Once the data are accepted, the entire simulation may be viewed in animation. Effectively, much of the data are checked visually by watching the actions of the mining equipment. Following the simulation, results are summarized as bar and pie charts, as well as printed output. In addition to the extensive use of graphics, the program contains several advances in simulation techniques as well.

Jan 1, 1993

By H. M. von Seebach, M. P. Trubeljal, L. G. Austin

Six US coals and a crystalline quartz were tested in an instrumented laboratory high-pressure grinding rolls machine equipped with 100-mm-diam. rolls. The machine was choke-fed to maximize the capacity. As expected, the specific capacity decreased with increased grinding pressure for each material tested. Among the six coals, there were significant differences in the critical angle of nip, the effective feed porosity and the variation of strain at the gap relative to the grinding pressure. Although a precise correlation was not obtained, the overall effect of these factors was that, at a given grinding pressure, the specific capacity increased as the Hardgrove grindability index of the coal increased. The relationship between the specific capacity and the grinding pressure for a given coal was independent of feed size down to 150 µm. However, smaller feed sizes produced anomalous results, and the flow within the feed hopper was restricted.

Jan 1, 1996

By Warfield Garson

Few, if any, of the non-ionizing radiation health hazards to be found in either surface or underground coal mining are uniquely different because of their being found in the work environment. Hence, they can be considered generally for their bio-effects on the worker when found in the mining work environment. The same may not be said, however, for the lack of non-ionizing radiation and its bio-effects, particularly as it relates to underground coal mining. The term "non-ionizing radiation" refers to various forms of electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths longer than those of ionizing radiation. As the wavelength gets longer the energy of electromagnetic radiation decreases. Therefore, all non-ionizing forms of radiation have less energy than cosmic, gamma, and X-radiation. In order of increasing wavelength, non-ionizing radiation includes ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, microwave, and radiofrequency radiations. The energy frequency and wavelength range of both the ionizing and non-ionizing electromagnetic forces are shown in Table I. To convert the wavelengths of various radiations to Ångström units, one multiplies millimicrons by ten. In a vacuum, all electromagnetic radiation has the same velocity, namely 3 x 1010 centimeters per second. The natural source of radiant energy here on earth is our sun which emits radiation continuously over a wide spectrum. This radiation on average reaching earth ranges from 290 nm in the ultraviolet range to over 2,000 nm in the infrared range with a maximum intensity of about 480 nm in the visual range. You will note this falls into the visible blue wavelength and accounts for our blue sky and blue ocean and deep water effects. We are all familiar with the fact that the passage of solar radiation through the atmosphere to the earth changes the spectrum considerably because the atmosphere absorbs and scatters many of the sun's rays. The ozone in the upper atmosphere absorbs the shorter ultraviolet wavelengths and water vapor absorbs some of the infrared wavelengths. Smoke, dust particles, gas molecules and water droplets scatter the rays, especially those of shorter wavelengths. In addition to the sun, every gas, liquid or solid object at a temperature above absolute 0° radiates energy. Solid objects emit almost continuous spectra. At low temperatures only radiation of the longer wavelengths in the infrared range is emitted, but as the temperature of the object is increased, more and more of the shorter wavelengths are added. This fact is most readily demonstrated by heating a piece of steel. When a piece of steel reaches a temperature of about 1,700° Fahrenheit, it gives off radiation at the red end of the visible spectrum and appears dull red. As the temperature is further increased, the shorter rays are also emitted, until at about 2,100°F, the metal appears white, due to the emission of wavelengths throughout the entire visible range. Gasses, on the other hand, when heated emit radiant energy only at certain wavelengths, which are characteristic of their chemical structure. This latter fact is of importance in underground coal mining as high intensity gas and vapor lamps are becoming more and more utilized for illumination in underground coal mining. The biologic effect of non-ionizing radiation exposure depends upon the type and duration of exposure and on the amount of absorption by the miner. The effects of this radiant energy on the miner fall into four distinct types: (1) the heating effect of infrared radiation, (2) the effect on the eye of visible radiation, (3) the effects of ultraviolet radiation, and (4) the growing potential effects of the misuse of microwave radiation. Each non-ionizing type of radiation will be considered individually. ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION The sun is the major source of ultraviolet radiation, which is of concern in open pit and surface mining at certain seasons and in certain climes necessitating protection for the surface miners under those conditions; nonetheless, there are some man-made sources such as electric arc lights, welding arcs, plasma jets, and special ultraviolet bulbs for illumination underground that demand surveillance in the underground environment to be aware of whether the miners are at risk above the threshold limit values allowable. Since ultraviolet radiation has little penetrating power, the organs that are affected are the skin and the eyes. Ultraviolet radiation is strongly absorbed by nucleic acids and proteins, and the effects in man are largely chemical rather than thermal. Short-term effects on miners include acute changes in the skin. These are of four types: (a) darkening of pigment, (b) erythema (sunburn), (c) increase in pigmentation (tanning) and (d) changes in cell growth. Ultraviolet radiation also causes acute effects on the tissues of the eye. Overexposure can lead to keratitis, inflammation of the cornea, and conjunctivitis. Long-term effects of ultraviolet exposure include an increase in the rate of ageing of the skin with degeneration of skin tissue and a decrease in elasticity. Late effects of ultraviolet on the eye include the development of cataracts. The most serious chronic effect of ultraviolet exposure is skin cancer. Ultraviolet radiation effects are increased by some industrial materials and drugs. After exposure to such compounds as cresols, the skin is exceptionally sensitive to ultraviolet radiation. Photosensitivity reactions occur after exposure to a variety of other chemicals and drugs including dyes, phenothiazines, sulfonamides, and sulfanylureas. On the other hand, we must remember that ultraviolet radiation has an important role in the prevention of rickets. Vitamin D is produced by the action of

Jan 1, 1981

By Betty L. Gibbs

A clear and accurate knowledge of the status of ventilation in an underground mine is essential to continuing safe operation. In a small mine with a few working faces, the problem is simple and can easily be solved by choosing the appropriate fan. In larger, more complex mines the problem of supplying the working faces with fresh air is a problem beyond the scope of 'finger in the wind' analysis. In today's climate of stiffer government regulation and mining company concern for the safety of workers, computer programs which analyze ventilation networks are helping mining companies meet the standards. The development of computer programs for ventilation network analysis is summarized. Early programs were developed at universities or government agencies and required large expensive computers. As computers have become smaller and less expensive, the development or revision of programs for micro computers has become more available. Prices have lowered to the point of affordability even for medium and small companies. A list of ventilation network analysis programs is provided along with a summary of capabilities, costs, and hardware requirements for each program.

Jan 1, 1987

By B. J. Arnold, C. D. Harrison, R. A. Lohnes

More than 544 Mt (600 million st) of coal are handled annually for use by this country's coal fired power plants. Coal is transported in various ways: overland conveyors, railcars, trucks and barges. It can travel short distances or thousands of miles, picking up moisture, freezing or drying. When the coal is received at the power plant, environmental problems with fugitive dust and further handling problems can arise. To ensure that power plant availability is not jeopardized by coal handling problems, the Electric Power Research Institute's (EPRI) Coal Quality Development Center (CQDC) developed a research program aimed at addressing utility coal handling problems. The program has identified key areas, and is investigating the cost and cause of coal handling problems as well as the solutions to these problems. The ultimate goal of the program is to develop a "handleability index" that utilities can use in their coal specifications or hardware for a utility's sampling system to predict handleability and determine if a coal shipment should be accepted.

Jan 1, 1993

By John A. Herbst

Mathematical models of mineral processing unit operations have been developed and used for a variety of purposes. Models, defined as equations which mathematically approximate the behavior of process units, are being employed in simulators to evaluate proposed flowsheets, to investigate flowsheet modifications, to study the effect of variables on circuit behavior, to optimize the performance of circuits off-line, and to compare alternate control strategies (Mular and Herbst, 1978). Models developed for mineral processing operations may be placed in one of two general categories: phenomenological (based on mechanism) and. empirical (based on experimental data only). Dynamic models (including time as a variable) .are useful for control studies, while steady-state models (independent of time) are employed in flowsheet evaluations. Phenomenological models are potentially more flexible and accurate than empirical models. However, models constructed from theoretical knowledge are less easily developed compared to empirical expressions fitted statistically to experimental data. The latter apply only over the range of data acquired. Most often, models used in practice are the result of a combination of theoretical and empirical approaches.

Jan 1, 1979

By D. M. Kjos

Large-diameter autogenous and semiautogenous grinding mills represent the primary thrust of the expanding grinding technology. In spite of initial difficulties, large autogenous and semiautogenous mills have reached an acceptable level of technology that provides the mineral engineer with a reliable, low cost means of ore comminution. A successful milling installation begins during the design stage of the grinding mill and the plant in which it is to be installed. This is particularly true in autogenous and semiautogenous mills. Critical mill and plant design factors should be considered while the mill and installation are still only "paper." Various current liner designs will be discussed ranging from lifter bar/plate to integral types. Modes of operation such as "high-low" will be considered. Liner maintenance procedures ranging from laydown area in plant design, proper mill shutdown methods, to installation and bolt tightening complete the equation to yield optimum performance possible for any particular grinding application. The objective of this paper is to discuss trends in wear materials, designs, and operating practices, and to provide some guidelines for good practice as we move through the 1980s. We will put together concepts that relate to the designs, materials, and applications so that higher performance can be obtained by the operator for his specific application. The concepts are shown as being in series became they are dependent on each other to achieve the desired performance: designs times materials times application results in higher performance (Arnson, Parks, and Kjos, 1983).

Jan 1, 1987

By Rossen Halatchev

The production sequence optimization of open pit mine is a procedure that reflects the exploitation conditions over life of mine. These conditions are determined by the geological characteristics of the deposit, requirements of the mining and processing technologies and economic parameters of the exploitation. From a technological point of view the production sequence optimization deals with two aspects - spatial and time. Each of them plays a tremendously important role in searching for the optimum solution of the problem. This paper treats the time aspect of the production sequence optimization. This aspect is revealed in the context of the problem of the working zone formation of the open pit mine in time. The problem formulation places an accent on the determination of the theoretically possible time distribution of the waste and ore quantities of each bench of the open pit mine. A mathematical solution to the problem has been developed based on combinatorial analysis. The solution provides a multi-variant investigation of the production sequencing with the use of an optimization model developed as a linear programming formulation. The model objective function uses the Net Present Value as a criterion for assessing the effectiveness of production sequencing. A case study is provided for the conditions of Assarel copper open pit mine (Bulgaria) to illustrate the applicability of the approach. The results obtained reveal the complex nature of the variation of the Net Present Value as a function of the mining factor.

Jan 1, 2002

By E. A. Martell, K. S. Sweder

INTRODUCTION Lung cancer in uranium miners has been attributed to alpha irradiation of basal cells of the bronchial epithelium by radon daughters, primarily by 7.7 MeV alphas from polonium-214 (Altshuler et al., 1964). It also has been was observed that for a given cumulative radon progeny exposure, uranium miners who smoke cigarettes have an incidence of lung cancer about 10 times higher than nonsmoking miners (Lundin et al., 1969). It has been pointed out that the large excess of lung cancer deaths among smoking uranium miners is a multiplicative effect (Doll, 1971), which suggested possible synergistic interactions between airborne radon progeny and cigarette smoking. Experimental studies of the complex pattern of interactions between radon progeny, cigarette smoke particles, and the cigarette smoking process are in progress in our laboratory. Preliminary results, reported elsewhere (Martell, 1981), implicate alpha radiation from indoor radon progeny in the etiology of lung cancer in all cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoking produces high concentrations of smoke particles of low mobility and respirable size--particles between 0.5 and 4.0 µm in aerodynamic diameter (see below). The attached fraction of indoor radon progeny is highly dependent on the air concentration of small particles from cigarette smoking and from other combustion sources (Martell, 1981). The size distribution and other properties of radon progeny associated with cigarette smoke particles enhances their effectiveness in the induction of bronchial cancer in man. In this paper we discuss the properties of radon progeny associated with cigarette smoke, the fractionation of radon progeny and modification of their aerosol properties in burning cigarettes, the role of 218Po in these processes, the production of insoluble 214Pb and 212 Pb enriched particles in burning cigarettes, and the consequent differences in the patterns of polonium isotope alpha irradiation in the bronchial epithelium of smokers. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES Experimental methods used in these studies involve the use of small experimental chambers of known radon and radon progeny concentrations in combination with aerosol collection and sizing techniques and sensitive radioactivity detection methods. The use of low-level [ß-] counting for radon progeny determination, providing a measure of 214 Pb plus 214Bi activity, makes it possible to carry out chamber experiments with small radon emanation sources and relatively low air concentrations of radon and radon progeny concentrations in the range from 100 to 1,000 pCi per liter. Thus, for example, in a typical experiment we use a 10 nanocurie 226Ra solution standard in a 10 liter chamber, providing an equilibrium concentration of 1,000 pCi of radon per liter. In small sealed chambers, radon progeny plate out rapidly on the chamber walls, with steady-state concentrations of airborne progeny less than 2 percent of equilibrium levels. This is experimentally convenient because, upon introduction of high concentrations of cigarette smoke particles or small particles from other sources, there is a systematic ingrowth of attached radon progeny, providing a tagged aerosol source of known age and radon progeny composition. In some chamber experiments a 226Ra solution standard of small volume, acidified to O.1N HNO3, was used as the radon emanation source. When used with a bubbler the holdup of radon in an 8 ml volume of 226Ra solution standard at 0.1N HN03 was only 2% of the total radon in the chamber at equilibrium. For experiments with 212Pb-tagged aerosols, we used a dry Ba(228Th) stearate emanation source prepared by the method of Hursh and Lovaas (1967). 226Ra and 222Rn determinations were made by radon gas counting. The 222Rn in a sealed air or water sample is transferred, using helium gas as a carrier, successively through a dry ice cooled trap at -80°C to remove water, through ascarite to remove C02, and through a small activated charcoal trap at -80°C to collect the 222Rn. Subsequently, by heating the charcoal to 400°C, the 222Rn is transferred next to an LN2-cooled capillary trap, and finally into an alphascintillation counting cell of the type described by Lucas (1957). As already stated, radon progeny activities were determined by low-level [ß-] counting, which provides a measure of 214Pb plus 214Bi. The radon progeny samples, collected on efficient Delbag polystyrene micro-fiber filters or on impactor foils, are placed in close, sandwich geometry between two thin-walled flow counters inside shielding anticoincidence counters and a 15 cm thickness of steel shielding. This configuration provides nearly 4II geometry and a low background of only 0.25 to 0.30 cpm. Aluminum absorber was added to provide a combined thickness of absorber and counter wall exceeding 7.0 mg/cm2 to eliminate the variable contribution of 7.7 MeV alphas from 214Po. 212 Pb determinations also were carried out by low-level [ß-] counting, in this case using a combined absorber and counter wall thickness of 9.0 mg/cm2 to eliminate contribution of 8.8 MeV alphas of 21 Po. In each experiment the [ß- ]activity data were corrected for decay to an appropriate common reference time for assessment of activity distributions.

Jan 1, 1981

By M. K. Gangal, E. D. Dainty

The paper describes the use of portable aerosol monitors in determining real-time concentrations of diesel soot and respirable total dust in dieselized mines. The field studies were conducted in a simulated diesel environment in the laboratory where no other type of dust was present, and in four underground mines with multi-diesel machine operations. Two packages for the real-time monitoring of diesel soot were prepared which included two types of aerosol monitors: a Miniram, model PDM-3, and a Sibata, model PDS-1. These monitors utilize the principle of light-scattering to measure the airborne mass concentration in the environment. The monitoring device results were compared against the Time-Weighted-Average (TWA) values produced by the gravimetric filter sampling method, permitting calibration factors to be determined for each field test. Both instrument packages provided comparable results. The instrument calibration factors varied for different tests, which may be due to different material composition, particle size distribution, density and shape of the aerosols. This approach for real-time determination of diesel soot is found to be simple, inexpensive and easy to use. More field tests for diesel soot determination and further research on size distribution of particulates in dieselized mines are required.

Jan 1, 1989

By K. S. E. Forssberg, S. Subramanian, Hanumantha K. Rao

The dispersion characteristics of apatite and magnetite minerals have been assessed based on zeta-potential measurements, using various inorganic and organic reagents, namely sodium silicate, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate and lignin sulphonate. These results highlight that apatite is dispersed to a greater extent vis-à-vis magnetite. Further, the dispersion efficiency of the phosphate reagents is better than that of sodium silicate or lignin sulphonate, for both apatite and magnetite. Batch flotation tests on a high phosphate magnetite ore from Kiruna indicate that higher apatite recovery with minimum phosphorous loss to the magnetite fraction can be achieved using sodium silicate as a dispersant. Although comparable dephosphorization can be attained with lignin sulphonate dispersant, the recovery of magnetite in the non-float fraction is lower, possibly due to the adverse synergistic effect of this organic reagent with the Atrac collector, resulting in the flotation of magnetite. The high intensity conditioning of pulp for up to 30 min resulted in better apatite flotation with <0.015% phosphorous in the magnetite product.

Jan 1, 2002

By K. Irmscher

During the last years, using modular computer models on the software and distributed computer capacities on the hardware side has become quite common in the mining industry. When tackling real mining problems under the condition of heterogeneous systems, however, some problems become obvious: the incompatibility of the heterogeneous platforms in connection with the heterogeneously structured information and the necessity of interpreting the data. Knowledge based approaches are employed for solving different planning problems in the field of mining industry. The main problems here consist in the knowledge representation and data acquisition. Starting point of the investigation form classifications of mining planning problems and the corresponding models which can be transformed into information models for evaluation. With help of an expert system a practical solution is represented. Distributed systems with mobile computing and communication facilities for immediate access can be used as an additional support for planning and processing. On the base of public or private computer networks (including mobile networks) the foundation is given for a computer supported treatment of planning tasks. Additionally the use of teleworking scenarios in regions of mine planning and data collection in geological applications is prepared. Foundation forms a workflow system on an object-oriented distributed platform.

Jan 1, 1996

By Wenhua Wan, Jan M. Mutmansky

Many concerns have been expressed worldwide regarding the use of diesel equipment in underground mines due to the potential health risks associated with diesel particulate matter (DPM). In assessing the risk to the health of miners and designing control strategies for DPM, it is important to know the concentration of DPM in the working areas of a mine. In some mines, significant stratification occurs due to the characteristics of the diesel exhaust, affecting exposure and the ability to measure DPM concentrations accurately. This study outlines some of the concentration profile data obtained during sampling at three mines where diesels were employed. Mine #1 (a gold mine) employed large openings in which a diesel-powered roof bolter was used. Mines #2 and #3 are both room-and-pillar operations with varying conditions. Mine #2 is an experimental mine where two stationary diesels were utilized for sampling purposes, while Mine #3 is a traditional evaporite operation using two mobile diesel vehicles for section haulage. These field studies indicated that some level of stratification occurred in all the mines, but the stratification was not as pronounced in the case of Mine #2 due to the complex pattern of exhaust emissions generated by the vehicles. The stratification seemed to depend on the distance from the vehicle, the mine air velocity, whether the vehicles were moving or stationary, and whether the exhaust was diluted by equipment design features. The concentration of DPM was generally higher at samplers located near the roof and lower at samplers located near the floor. However, this was not found in all cases. This paper provides conclusions on how knowledge of stratification patterns can be utilized in sampling and control of DPM in mine atmospheres.

Jan 1, 1997