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By K Lee, L Mann, J Bygrave, G Sheldon

Ausmelt is supplying commercial quantities of an alkyl hydroxamate flotation collector AM28 for flotation of oxide and supergene base metal ores and tailings. AM28 is a non-hazardous product used as a ten per cent to 50 per cent solution in dilute potassium hydroxide. It is a selective flotation collector for oxide or oxidised base metal minerals and replaces conventional sulfidisation for oxide mineral flotation. At Radio Hill, the AM28 is used in conjunction with traditional sulfide collectors, which allows simultaneous flotation of oxide and sulfide copper minerals. The Fox Resources Radio Hill copper concentrator near Karratha, Western Australia, is currently configured to treat supergene copper ore sourced from the West Whundo open pit. This Archean VMS type copper deposit has been deformed and remobilised with uplift, erosion and weathering to form a significant supergene zone. The sulfide copper minerals present in the upper zone are digenite and chalcocite with lesser chalcopyrite and covellite. Oxide copper minerals present include cuprite, with lesser malachite and azurite. Gangue minerals include quartz, talc and chlorite. Plant trials at Radio Hill are reported for supergene West Whundo ore, where the AM28 was stage added into the circuit at nominally 80 g/t. Plant data over three months shows the copper recovery increased consistently from around 50 - 60 per cent to above 70 per cent when AM28 was added. This has been proven statistically. The grade of the concentrate was consistent with and without AM28, at nominally 22 - 24 per cent copper.

Jan 1, 2007

By H. R. Babitzke, H. Kato, R. E. Siemens, G. Asai

The purpose of this investigation was to develop a wide variety of columbium and tantalum alloys and to determine their suitability for use at elevated temperatures . Sixty - nine columbium and tantalum alloys were investigated . For this study , columbium was alloyed with two or more of the following : nium, tungsten , vanadium , titanium, and zirconium . Tantalum was alloyed with vanadium or hafnium, or hafnium and carbon . The fabricability was determined by an arbitrary procedure . Hardness measurements , elevated - temperature tensile properties , and oxidation- resistance studies were made . Of the alloys studied , Cb - 15 Hf - 5W, Cb - 15Hf - 5W- 10Ti , Cb - 15Hf - 10W- 10Ti , Cb - 10V - 5W, Ta - 30V , and Ta - 20 to 33Hf exhibited excellent high - temperature properties . These alloys were not only easy to fabricate , but they also had good oxidation resistance and excellent high- temperature strength .

Jan 1, 1964

By Wen Tao Liu, Tong Tian, Fu Sheng Niu, Xiu Man Liang

In order to address the difficulty of accurate segmentation of froth images of different sizes, a method of froth image segmentation based on highlight correction and parameter adaptation is proposed. First, a machine vision system on a single-cell flotation machine is built to collect froth images. Homomorphic filtering is used to improve the uneven brightness and shadow of the images. Fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering is then utilized to classify similar highlights that belong to the same froth. After Otsu threshold segmentation, a parameter-adaptive morphological operation is used to extract the marker points and edge bands and correct the froth edges in the original image. Finally, the modified image is filtered by morphological reconstruction, and the highlight mark is used as the local minimum point for watershed segmentation. Three sizes of froth images are segmented in comparative experiments. The results show that the proposed method is suitable for the segmentation of froth images of different sizes. The position of the extracted segmentation line is close to reality, with average over-segmentation and under-segmentation rates for froth images of 2.6% and 6.8%, respectively. The froth image segmentation performance is stronger than that of the other methods examined.

By C. Stamberg, W. McGuire, R. C. Carlson, L. W. Vollmer

"The selection of materials and pre-cautionary measures for handling natural gas and condensate containing aqueous hydrogen sulphide are presented. Based on the results of a pilot production test and laboratory studies, together with several years . of operating experience, it was found that the behaviour of materials in sour gas environments can be predicted sufficiently accurately for engineering purposes.The selection of proper materials is essential for preventing sulphide-stress cracking. Where high strength materials are not required, low car-bon steel is used. Components requiring high tensile strength and hardness characteristics should be made from K-monel or properly heat-treated carbon-manganese-molybden-um and AISI 4140 steels. Welded connections are a potential source of sulphide-stress cracking. Consequently high quality welding and strict inspection are suggested as the most economical precautionary measures available.A maintenance program based,. where possible, on visual inspection of equipment and/or test spools located at strategic points should be used to follow weight loss and putting corrosion in sour gas environments. If severe weight loss or pitting corrosion is encountered, inhibitors have been found to be an effective deter-rent."

Jan 1, 1960

By J. O. Stephens

During the late 1940's and early 1950?s, the Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Division built and demonstrated a residual oil-burning locomotive on six eastern railroads. Plans were made to convert to burning pulverized coal, and a single combustor was operated at a full-pressure condition in the laboratory for about two years. During the mid-1960's to mid-1970's, there was considerable interest in coal-burning MHD and a combustor was developed which would also be applicable to combustion turbines. In the early 19801s, the BCR National Laboratory (BCRNL) became affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh, and a program was begun, supported by the Stare of Pennsylvania, to develop an all-purpose combustor for use with industrial and utility boilers and eventually with combustion turbines. In this paper, we review the work of almost 40 years, indicate our present position, and propose steps to be taken leading to efficient and environmentally acceptable power generation from coal, and specifically to coal-burning locomotives.

Jan 1, 1986

By R. S. Dean

Boron compounds have been considered for many years as possible additions to iron and steel. A very recent use of boron-steel rods was for the control of neutron intensity in the graphite-uranium pile at the Clinton plutonium plant(130).4/ Norris(129) reports that slags containing boric oxide reduce the ferrous oxide content of steels and thereby the aluminum required for deoxidation. Boron is not considered an alloying element, but minute amounts produce what is often called a "needled" steel. The study of a series of iron-boron alloys by convenient steps, starting with iron containing no boron, indicated that boron was a hardening agent and made the iron very difficult if not impossible to forge. Then came the discovery that very minute traces of boron are quite different from the smallest amount previously thought worthy of study.

Jan 1, 1946

By A Halim

"There is still debate about who should ultimately be responsible for the ventilation system in anunderground mine. The Queensland Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2001, states that adedicated ventilation offi cer is the person, while Western Australian Mines Safety and InspectionRegulation 1995 states that it is the mine manager who is responsible; the ventilation offi cer actsas the managerÆs principal ventilation advisor. This paper outlines a comparison between bothapproaches."

Jun 1, 2012

By M P. Sandy, V Louchnikov, V Eremenko, M Orunesu, O Watson

"Surface support is a key component of most ground support systems which are applied as a means of reducing the risk of rockfall occurrence and maintaining serviceability of mine development. Surface support has two primary functions: distributing the applied load throughout the system by providing connection between rock bolts retaining smaller rocks that unravel between rock bolts.Confinement is also provided to the rock mass, which may increase its capacity to resist further degradation or loosening.Surface support has been routinely installed in most underground mines around the world for many years, yet the operators are still not always certain which type is best suited for deformable ground conditions. A number of factors need to be taken into consideration prior to selecting the type of surface support liner, such as its capacity, availability, practicality of installation, manual handling and loading conditions (static or dynamic) to ensure the system’s optimal performance in terms of safety and costs.This paper presents an overview of the surface support types currently used in underground mines in Australia. Shotcrete, weld mesh, high-tensile chainlink mesh, reinforced weld mesh and high energy absorption (HEA) mesh are discussed. A detailed description of each system is provided in terms of capacity, energy absorption, installation cycle and costs. The cost of each system has been normalised to the units of energy absorbed. The information presented in this paper can be used by underground operators as a reference guide when deciding on suitable surface support type for deformable ground conditions.CITATION:Louchnikov, V, Sandy, M P, Watson, O, Orunesu, M and Eremenko, V, 2014. An overview of surface rock support for deformable ground conditions, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2014, pp 57–66 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 24, 2014

By Lyman Moore

This Bureau of Mines report describes 2nd evaluates iron ore resources in California and Nevada and analyzes the California and Japanese iron ore markets in which these resources will be used. The competitive position of California-Nevada ores, in these markets, was estimated by comparing regional iron ore prices, production costs, and transportation costs with those of foreign suppliers. Resources were determined to be sufficient to produce the equivalent of 585 million tons of 64-percent iron pellets at a price of less than $15 per ton delivered at California ports. Much higher tonnage could be produced at higher prices. Iron ore requirement of the California iron and steel industry will increase to an estimated 15.9 million tons by the year 2000. A study of the iron ore production potential of California-Nevada deposits and of out-of- State sources indicated that this ore requirement can be supplied most economically by California-Nevada ores. Iron ore import requirements of the Japanese iron and steel industry will increase to an estimated 150.0 million tons by the year 2000. A study of price trends in this market indicated that very little California-Nevada iron ore will be sold in Japan after 1973 when existing sales contracts expire. Iron ore-exports might be economically possible if ore could be transported from California to Japan at ballast rates as backhaul on existing petroleum shipping.

Jan 1, 1971

By Donald W. Ross

Petroleum oils of widely different grades have long been clarified or decolorized by contact with fuller's earths. More recently, so-called activated clays have also been used for this purpose. Still more recently ouch clays have been used in the form of nodules termed "catalytic pellets." Clays of varied appearance and from different localities possess the desired bleaching qualities, but evaluation of such clays, so useful to the oil industry, has not been simple. Previous methods of identification and evaluation have largely followed procedures of production methods and were not primarily based upon the fundamental properties of the clays. Thus) a false assumption has grown up that) bleaching clays probably have no common properties on which a-method of comparison can be based. Fuller's earths and activated clays have a large absorptive capacity for the color constituents of petroleum and its products decolorizing is accomplished by bringing the oil into intimate contact with the clay and later separating the decolorized oil from the clay with its load of absorbed coloring matter. Former practice in absorbing "color" was to use the clay as granules or In' powdered form. More recent practice is to use clay pellets that are more abrasion-resistant than the granules. The oil is either filtered through a bed of clay, percolation method, or agitated on contact with the clay, contact method. Viscous oils are decolorized at an elevated temperature, so that their viscosity is lowered to the point at which thorough contact with the clay is insured. Nonhumidifying, nonoxidizing gas, such as dry steam or dry nitrogen, is used to seal such hot oil masses from the atmosphere.

Jan 1, 1948

By A. E. Hilder

Introductory The following pages present the results of field investigations, laboratory and commercial tests, drilling, surveying, and preliminary development of the refractory clays which have been discovered recently in the township of Kipling, at the foot of Long rapids on the west side of the Mattagami river about 57 miles north of Kapuskasing and approximately 7 miles north of Smoky Falls, the terminus of the privately owned railway operated by the Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company, Kapuskasing (see Figure 1). Investigations on the clays of northern Ontario have been carried on over a period of seven years by officers of the Ontario Department of Mines, and I am indebted to the information published by that Department in reports by W. S. Dyer and A. R. Crozier, as well as?by Professor R. J. Montgomery, of the Ceramic Department, University of Toronto. It was, in large measure, the data given in the 37th, 38th, and 42nd Annual Reports of the Ontario Department of Mines that led me to make a personal investigation of the Mattagami River clays, with the result that we now have a commercial undertaking that will develop eventually into an industry of considerable importance in supplying the central manufacturing districts of Canada with refractories that heretofore have been largely imported from the United States. An extract from the 42nd Annual Report of the Department, Part III, 1933, page 75, reads as follows: "As for the refractory clay, the deposits are undoubtedly very large, but what is urgently needed is a deposit near the railway under sufficiently shallow overburden for recovery by stripping'. Having previously made an investigation of the clays adjacent to the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario railway, and these clays proving unsuitable, I turned my attention to the outcrops of refractory clays on the Mattagami river, first reported by Keele in 1919. This area offered possibilities within the economically permissible distance from rail transportation.

Jan 1, 1935

By M. M. Fine

The flotation work on samples from nine fluorspar properties in Crittenden and Livingston Counties, Ky., reported herewith was part of a wartime project that resulted in increasing the supply of metallurgical-grade fluorspar. The samples were tailings, dumps, and waste rock that had been rejected in previous milling operations. All were treated successfully by flotation to yield metallurgical-grade concentrates with recoveries ranging from 77.5 to 98.3 percent of the fluorite. After the laboratory testing, the results of which were available to the owners and operators of the properties, many of the tailing ponds and rock dumps were milled. The real value of this report, therefore, is to show the operators of gravity concentration plants the possibilities of re-treating waste products by flotation either at some future time or currently with the gravity

Jan 1, 1948

By T. M. Barczak

One of the primary goals of Bureau of Mines research is to reduce the cost of coal mining by improving the efficiency of longwall supports. One method of achieving this goal is the optimization of stress distribution within the support structure, resulting in a lower overall weight, more fully stressed shield. However, before stress optimization can be initiated, load conditions must be defined that cause maximum stress in the various support components. A finite-element model of a longwall shield was used to identify these critical load conditions. These load conditions were then evaluated in the Bureau's mine roof simulator (MRS) by instrumentation of a longwall shield and measurement of strains in each of the shield components. The critical (canopy-base contact) load conditions were identified that can cause structural failure at less than rated shield (hydraulic yield) capacity. Comparisons were made between full-contact and partial-contact load conditions. Other parameters investigated included the stiffness of the contact material, changes in shield geometry, rate of load application, and effects of horizontal constraint. Conclusions were drawn regarding the structural integrity of the major shield components and potential for stress optimization.

Jan 1, 1987

By M. L. Wang, S. R. Short, E. M. Daniloff, E. L. Petsonk, D. M. Mannino, G .. R. Wagner

"Background—It has been suggested that health related job selection is a major cause of the healthy worker effect, and may result in inaccurate estimates of health risks of exposures in the working environment. Improved understanding of self selection, including the role of airway hyperresponsiveness, should improve accuracy in estimating occupational risks.Methods—We evaluated symptoms of the respiratory tract, lung function, occupa¬tional and smoking histories, and airway responsiveness from a cross sectional sur¬vey of 478 underground bituminous coal miners and non-mining controls. Workers with abnormal spirometry were excluded from methacholine testing.Results—Methacholine responsiveness (= 15% decline in forced expiratory volume in one second) was associated in both miners and controls with reduced ventilatory lung function and an increased risk of respiratory symptoms. Miners with the longest duration of work at the coal face had a low prevalence of methacholine responsiveness, compared with miners who had never worked at the coal face (12% v 39%, P < 0.01). Throughout their mining careers, miners who responded to methacholine were consistently less likely to have worked in dusty jobs than miners who did not respond to methacholine.Conclusions—These results provide evidence that workers who are employed in dusty jobs are less likely than their unexposed coworkers to show increased non-specific airway responsiveness, pre-sumably as a result of health related job selection. Surveys of workers in which responsiveness data are unavailable may underestimate the effects of dust exposure on respiratory health."

Dec 1, 1996

By C. O. Swanson

"OUR INTEREST in estimates of world reserves of lead and zinc is focussed mainly on the information they give about the sufficiency of metal supplies for the future. However, we soon realize that the estimates can be interpreted in several different ways. Accordingly, it is necessary to have some under-standing of the elements represented by a compilation of world re-serves, and we will start by examining the accuracy of the estimates and what they attempt to measure.Variations in Estimates of the ReservesIf we study the estimates of world reserves that have been published in recent years, we note immenediately that they vary over a considerable range. For example, an article by Shea in 1947 gave world reserves as about 36 million tons of lead and 60 million tons of zinc. Shea did not in elude the United States but I have added to his totals the estimates made by the Bureau of Mines for that country in arriving at the foregoing figures. For approximately the same date, the American Zinc Institute and the Lead Industries Association reported world reserves as about 50 million tons of lead and 77 million tons of zinc. A comparison of the two sets of figures shows a mean variation of 30 per cent. For individual countries the difference between estimates can be even larger. A few years ago the estimate of Canada's reserves made by the United States Bureau of Mines was 7.4 million tons of lead and 14.0 million tons of zinc, while the Gordon Commission reported 1 O. 7 million tons of lead and 26.0 mil-lion tons of zinc. In this case the mean variation was 55 per cent."

Jan 1, 1960

By John D. Smart, John W. Sager

The following paper is an evaluation of the instrumentation programs on recent Corps of Engineers tunneling projects. The authors have first-hand knowledge of the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain Complex (NCMC) Expansion Project. Information on the other projects comes from conversations with those directly involved in the instrumentation programs and from referenced reports. The specific objectives of this paper are: (1) to state the purposes of the instrumentation programs, (2) to discuss the benefits gained from the instrumentation, and (3) to present conclusions from this study that will provide guidance to those planning instrumentation on future projects. Presentation of detailed descriptions of the projects and instrumentation data is limited to that necessary to the accomplishment of the above objectives. NCMC EXPANSION PROJECT The NCMC is located at a depth of approximately 800 feet in Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs, Colorado. For the current expansion project new chambers were mined to accommodate a new diesel power plant and associated cooling and air handling equipment. During 1971 some 55,000 yd3 of granite were mined through existing access tunnels for this expansion. A model of the new excavation is shown in Figure 1. The light shaded areas are new openings, and the dark areas are portions of the existing operating complex. The large chamber to the right is the power plant chamber and has a span of 67 ft, a height of 50 ft, and a length of 172 ft. The other large chamber on the lower level is the cooling tower chamber and has a span of 38 ft, a height of 45 ft and a length of 185 ft. The small chamber on the upper level has a span of 20 ft and is 27 ft high and 140 ft long. Other major excavations are the 18 ft diam air tunnel

Jan 1, 1997

By J. Brian Eby

As is generally understood, the word geophysics means literally ?the physics of the Earth? and the science of geophysics is therefore that which treats of the study and measurements of the various physical properties of the Earth. The broad and general study of the elastic, the gravimetric. or the magnetic properties of the Earth as a whole belongs to the general science of geophysics. The detailed application of this science to rocks of shallow depth and in small areas for the purposes of ascertaining data on their character and structural attitude gave rise to the present well-known science of ?applied geophysics.? Since the discovery of enormous new quantities of oil, gas, and sulphur has been by far and wide the principal benefaction of geo-physics in the United States, this paper will refer only to geophysical methods employed in the search for these particular minerals. The application of methods and appliances originally used for geophysical research to the solution of the practical problems of finding new oil-fields, plus the counterflow or new and highly refined techniques and Instruments from the company and consulting geophysical research laboratories and into non-economic geophysical research, has provided another case of that gen-eral cycle of events which is familiar to all scientists. That this closed-circuit flow or scientific current has been tremendously important to the whole science of geophysics is probably well known to all members of this audience, but the gen-eral status of the exploratory geophysical arts as now used In the search for new oil-fields, the scales on which different methods are being used, the magnitude of the costs involved, and the far greater magnitude of the practical results achieved may not necessarily have come so directly to your attention. It is, I understand, for this reason that this paper has been sug-gested, and I shall seek to provide the information requested by using as case-illustrations those changes in the oil-reserve picture for the United States as a whole, and for the Gulf Coast, California, and Illinois Basin regions in particular, which have occurred in the period of the past 17 years, during which time oil-field discoveries have proceeded at a rate which served to build up known and readily-available (or proven) oil supplies to a reasonable figure, and have dispelled the fears of a serious oil shortage during any period for which valid fore-casts can be made. Not that geophysical-prospecting methods have alone been responsible for this transformation, but they have an indispensable and leading part in the picture of exploration and production-to which geophysics, geology, engineering, and general technical progress have jointly made contribution. So far as the United States as a whole is concerned, its total proven, probable, and possible oil reserves (discoverable and recoverable by then-known methods) were estimated at about nine billion barrels in 1920, whereas proven reserves alone are now com-puted at about 16 billion. In 1920 the driller in ?wild-cat? territory was faced with the knowledge that for every new oil-field opened by a successful well, from 20 to 100 unsuccessful wells would have to be drilled and, in some territories, that the chances for a discovery were really less than one in 100 for new drilling, in contrast to which may be cited the record for the past year in parts of Louisiana where the 67 wells drilled opened 16 new oil-fields, that is to say, where the score of hits to misses was increased to approximately one out of four.

Jan 1, 1940

By Ali Tabeshian, Ragnhild E. Aune, Reza Beheshti

Today’s lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are found in more than half of the hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the marked, all-electric vehicles, and nearly all consumer electronics. As a result, recycling of LiBs will be a strategic necessity in the near future. In the present study, the feasibility of application of conventional aluminum recycling process (secondary aluminum production) as a suitable process for treatment of LiBs was studied. The overall idea is to recover aluminum, copper and lithium from a mixed waste stream of LiBs and aluminum scrap. A two-stage process, consisting of a preheating step and a melting step, were tested on cell phone batteries mixed with pure aluminum in a ratio 1:10 and the distribution of elements between the metal phase and the slag phase evaluated. The obtained results are compared and discussed based on the thermodynamic calculated by the use of the FactSage™ software version

Mar 1, 2017

By Steve Kral

"Liebherr, as most anyone involved with the global mining industry knows, is one of the world’s largest makers of mining and construction heavy equipment. The familyowned company has been around since the 1940s and, according to Stefan Heissler, by the end of next year, will employ about 44,500 people worldwide. Heissler is a member of the board of directors of Liebherr International AG.It all started for the Switzerland-based company when Hans Liebherr first recognized a need for heavy equipment in the construction industry, Heissler said. His first product, introduced in 1949, was the TK10, a mobile crane that, at the time, was a groundbreaking innovation to the heavy construction industry. From there, the company began its growth into a world-leading heavy equipment manufacturer that always relied on innovation.In October, Liebherr gathered a group of mining and construction magazine editors in Leoben, Austria to take a look at the company’s latest addition to the global mining and construction markets. On the mining side, Liebherr provided a demonstration of its T-236 100-t (110-st) haul truck and the PR- 766 50-st (55-st) crawler tractor. The one-day demonstration took place at the Erzberg iron mine near Leoben, where both machines are being proven.The Erzberg Mine, operated by VA Ersberg, has been in operation for about 1,300 years and is said to be Europe’s largest surface mine. It employs about 230 people and mines about 12 Mt/a (13,200 million stpy) of ore, producing about 3 Mt/a (3.3 million stpy) of fine-grained iron ore.T-236 rigid-frame truckThe new T-236 rigid-frame dump truck, with a diesel electric drive system, is Liebherr’s entry into the 100-t (110-st) class and is the first in this class with a four-corner, oilimmersed braking system. The haul truck was first introduced during the 2016 MinExpo in Las Vegas, NV. The unit has since successfully completed its testing phase and is currently in its first field operation trials at the Erzberg iron mine in Austria."

Jan 12, 2017

By Jorge A. Vargas

El proyecto Antapaccay es un depósito tipo pórfido-skarn de Cu (Ag, Au y Mo) perteneciente a la División Sur de Xstrata Copper, donde se tiene planificado la explotación a través de dos tajos abiertos denominados Norte y Sur. Para ello, se realizó una extensa campaña de investigaciones geotécnicas con la finalidad de determinar los parámetros geotécnicos y el comportamiento geomecánico del macizo rocoso presente y así evaluar la estabilidad de los taludes de diseño. En ese sentido, el presente textoseñala los análisis geoestadísticos (variografía) de los parámetros geotécnicos empleando el método de interpolación espacial kriging, presenta el modelo geotécnico a través de los parámetros geomecánicos de resistencia, así como la metodología seguida en los análisis de estabilidad con el método rígido plástico bidimensional de equilibrio límite.

Sep 14, 2009