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By Fred H. Seymour

In spite of the progress made by geostatistical theory over the years, evaluation of low grade open pit gold deposits continues to be challenging. Many Carlin type deposits are modelled from exploration drilling spaced on 10C foot centers. From these drill holes, 50 by 50 by 20 foot blocks containing about 4000 tons of material are estimated. The block size is a compromise between being large enough for a good geostatistical estimation and being small enough for practical pit limit analysis and mine planning. Most of these gold deposits are highly variable and include ore and waste zones that are too small to be properly defined from exploration drilling information. Because of this, selective mining is controlled by sampling closely spaced blast holes where the density can be as high as 50 blast holes per exploration drill hole intercept. Figure 1 illustrates an example of the ore/waste contact definition before and after blast hole sampling. With exploration information only, a tentative ore/waste contact can be drawn between the exploration blocks.

Jan 1, 1989

By David G. Hammond

INTRODUCTION Previous papers and discussions at this conference have already covered the subjects of identification and nature of risks, allocation of risks and contractual arrangements. In this portion of the conference, in the light of topics already covered, we will consider how to minimize risks and how to mitigate losses. Webster defines mitigate as "to make less severe or painful", an apt definition for our purpose! RISK MANAGEMENT POLICY The first thing that must be said about risks, especially in construction, is that they exist and that they don't necessarily fall alike on the just and the unjust. Some risks, i.e., some kinds of risks, must be recognized as inevitable in engineering and construction and therefore must philosophically and realistically be accepted as part of situations to be dealt with. Dealing with means minimizing, covering, and sharing of risks and doesn't mean merely passing off the risks to someone else. While some risks can be avoided, for example, whether the structure will fall down or the excavation will cave in, risks management primarily deals with: A. minimizing risks---whomever risk it may be B. equitable sharing of those risks among the participants.

Jan 1, 1979

By E. A. Wieselmann

In 1970 Texasgulf (Australia) introduced natural gamma radiation logging of drill holes for exploration in the Hamersley Iron Province of Western Australia. Drill hole logs have allowed positive stratigraphic and structural correlations within complexly folded secondary hematite ore deposits and between individual iron ore deposits separated by distances in excess of seventy-five miles. A Neltronics model KPD logging system and gamma-ray sonde are being used to measure the natural gamma radiation of the enriched Brockman and Marra Mamba banded iron formations. The parent banded iron formations are composed of thick, chemically precipitated iron oxide, chert, iron silicate, and carbonate with thin intro-formational clastic horizons. These clastic horizons give a greater natural gamma radiation than the banded iron horizon, and each clastic horizon has a characteristic radiation profile related to its composition and thickness. Because the natural gamma-radiation profile is unchanged during secondary enrichment of the iron formation, the present stratigraphic position of each drill hole can be established and complex folding can be accurately traced in the sub-surface. Gamma ray logging of percussion drill holes has made feasible a significant reduction in diamond core drilling without loss of accuracy. At the same time, it has provided a means of rapid evaluation of complexly folded iron ore deposits.

Jan 1, 1975

By Jerry Grott

Southwest Salt Company is solution mining the Luke Salt Body of probable late Miocene age. The discovery hole, from which the first core was recovered, was drilled in 1968. The deposit was encountered at a depth of 880 feet, and the bit was still in salt at the bottom-hole depth of 4,500 feet. The solar ponds, developed on land formerly dedicated to agriculture, have an annual capacity of about 90,000 tons. Because land values are very high, mining rates and procedures are governed by the need for near-saturated brine to minimize land requirements. Because of the frequency of dust storms, the salt operation uses a unique wet-harvesting method. Most inventory is kept in the ponds under brine and harvested only a few days before shipment. Studies of the nature of crystal growth and the distribution of windblown and brine impurities led to the development of procedures for processing salt of high chemical purity and low insolubles content. Chemical purity exceeds that of most salt produced in fuel-fired evaporators. Salt is shipped from Phoenix as tar east as west Texas and as far west as central California. Occasional shipments have been made to Hawaii and Alaska.

Jan 1, 1987

By Bern Klein, Richard W. Lawrence, Scott Frostad

Laboratory and field scale kinetic testing was conducted to evaluate scaling up of laboratory data. Two 20- tonne (field) cells were monitored for internal temperature, pH, conductivity, volume and rate of flow, and water quality. On a surface are. basis, results showed sulfide oxidation rates obtained using 50-kg cells are more sensitive to changes in aeration than those from 1-kg cells. Correcting the laboratory oxidation rates for field temperatures with a pH 7 activation energy, which is in the field drainage pH range, returned oxidation rates an order of magnitude lower than the field cell rates.

Jan 1, 2000

By M. S. Safarzadeh, V. Agarwal

"The solvent extraction of cerium(III) and samarium(III) from mixed solutions of all rare earth elements (REEs) except promethium using PC88A (2-ethyl hexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethyl hexyl ester), an acidic extractant, was investigated. The effects of aqueous equilibrium pH, various acids (sulfuric acid (H2 SO4 ), hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO3 )), initial metal ion concentration and extractant concentration on the solvent extraction of Ce(III) and Sm(III) were systematically studied. From the experimental results, HNO3 and HCl were found to be the preferred aqueous media for the solvent extraction of both Sm(III) and Ce(III). The most promising experimental conditions of pH, PC88A concentration and metal ion concentration were identified for the extraction of Ce(III) and Sm(III). Separation results showed that H2 SO4 at pH 2 provided the best separation between Sm(III) and Ce(III). IntroductionIn recent years, demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has increased significantly because of their many commercial applications. REEs have especially important high-tech applications owing to their unique physical and chemical properties, and they are used in a wide range of areas such as catalysts, ceramics, magnets, lasers, glass, neutron absorption and alloys. As REEs have very similar physicochemical properties, their separation and purification from each other is challenging and gaining significant interest. Samarium (Sm) and cerium (Ce) are found in different REE minerals, including bastnäsite ((Ce,La,Nd(CO3)F), xenotime (YPO4) and monazite ((Ce,La,Nd,Th)PO4) at major production sites in the United States and China, as listed in Table 1 (Bleiwas and Gambogi, 2013). The most common acidic organophosphorous extractants used for REEs extraction and separation are DEHPA (di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid), PC88A (2-ethyl hexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethyl hexyl ester), Cyanex 272 (bis-2,4,4-trimethylpentyl phosphinic acid) and Cyanex 301 (bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)dithiophosphinic acid) (Sarangi, Reddy and Das, 1999; Surampally et al., 2012; Tian, Jia and Liao, 2013). Out of these extractants, PC88A is known for providing higher separation factors (Acharya, Mishra and Misra, 2015). El-Hefny et al. (2010) investigated the kinetics of the solvent extraction of Sm from chloride media using sodium salt of Cyanex 272 and reported the extracted species to be Sm(OH)A2•2HA. Lee et al. (2005) investigated the solvent extraction of Sm(III) with PC88A and saponified PC88A from chloride solutions and found the stoichiometry of the extraction reactions to be 1.5 with PC88A and 3 with saponified PC88A."

Jan 1, 2017

By F. C. Appleyard

A couple of miles southwest of the town of Saltville in the western tip of Virginia is a little village called Plasterco. Gypsum has been produced in this area since about the year 1815, being originally found as small outcrops at the surface. Production in the early days was very small, and the use of the mineral was limited to that of "land plaster" or ground gypsum which was spread on the land to sweeten the soil. In the late 1800's, a small calcining plant was constructed and the production of gypsum plaster began. About this same time, the surface rock was depleted and it became necessary to begin underground mining operations in order to maintain a continuous supply of raw material. The United States Gypsum Company became interested in this property in 1909, and has operated there ever since, having enlarged the calcining mill and built a plant for the manufacture of gypsum wall-board in the middle 1920's. Production of gypsum continues from underground' mining operations, and the present mine at Plasterco is now about 1,000 feet below the surface, making it the deepest gypsum mine' in the world.

Jan 1, 1965

By Robert C. Ellman

Lignite and subbituminous coals are utilized essentially as mined without beneficiation. Most of the present production is used to generate electric power and the major problem in this use is ash deposition on fireside surfaces. The preparation at existing mines involves principally crushing and screening operations. Blending of production from different locations within the mine is practiced in several mines to control ash composition. Drying and oil treatment for freezeproofing, of lignite are used to a limited extent during winter. Future processing may involve both washing and drying operations to alter ash composition by ion exchange and upgrade the low-rank fuels to higher heating values. Research has been initiated to determine the feasibility of such processing.

Jan 1, 1969

By Hans Smit

The face of mining as we know it is set to change in the very near future as mining companies all over the globe realize the implications of accessing the vast mineral wealth contained on, and under, our ocean floors. With some land based mineral deposits being fully exploited across the world, deep sea mining is set to revolutionize global approaches to the search for precious metals and other sought after minerals. [ ] Previously, the financial implications of deep sea mining outweighed the benefits of access to the mineral rich deposits identified all around the world. The process of marine diamond mining off the west coast of southern Africa started in the late 1950?s by a Texan, Sammy Collins, and subsequently continued by De Beers to the present day, has proven to be an excellent proving ground for the development of technology and mining systems that ensure a sustainable and financially viable business. [ ]

Jan 1, 2008

By L. Yuan, J. H. Rowland, R. A. Thomas, D. Bahrami

Blasting is the main method of production in many non-coal underground mining operations and produces multiple toxic gases as a result. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requires mine operators to measure the level of toxic gases in mines as frequently as necessary to ensure they are below regulatory safety limits. The current practice uses portable gas monitors to check the concentrations of toxic gases after a fixed post-blast time. This paper studies the application of a gas monitoring system in the return entry of a limestone mine to determine a safe re-entry time. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted such a monitoring program in a limestone mine from September 2016 through May 2018. NIOSH/PMRD (Pittsburgh Mining Research Division) is endeavoring to develop workplace solutions to improve detection of and reduce the risk of hazardous conditions. This study showed that the use of gas monitoring in the return air can be a useful tool at the mine operator’s disposal to detect and reduce the risk of hazardous conditions and also to reliably estimate the re-entry time. INTRODUCTION Underground miners are at risk of overexposure to toxic gases from various sources. Production blasting operations using explosives in underground mines are a source of multiple toxic gases that could be harmful and even fatal to humans if prolonged exposure occurs beyond the safe limits. According to Code of Federal Regulations, Title 30, Part 57.5002 [1], metal and nonmetal mine operators must conduct gas, mist, and fume measurements as frequently as necessary to determine the adequacy of control measures to protect miners from overexposure to harmful gases. MSHA will inspect mine operators’ activities to verify the evidence of such measurements [2,3]. Continuous gas monitoring in the return air is an effective way to make sure that toxic gas concentrations at the working areas are kept below the regulatory limits before the return of miners. Toxic gases can enter the mine atmosphere from different operations, such as welding, combustion, and blasting. The main gases produced from blasting are carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Other gases are produced in small amounts and, therefore, were not considered for this study. Related regulatory and recommended exposure limits of CO, NO, and NO2 gases are summarized in Table 1 [4].

Jan 1, 2019

By Alvin D. Cronberg

Silica flotation with amine salts has been a commercial process for years in certain non-sulfide mineral systems. Phosphate rock and feldspar deposits are notable examples. Generally, the quartz is clean and coarse. Primary amines and imidazolines are used, usually in a mole weight range 250-300, ad often fairly impure grades of collectors are satisfactory. As the production of magnetic iron concentrates grew in Michigan, Minnesota, Canada and in foreign locations, the iron mining companies began to explore amine flotation of silica to improve these concentrates. Many of the mining companies, as well as reagent suppliers, government laboratories and university research teams, had already studied amine collectors for silica, but the application to magnetic iron concentrates presented a real commercial opportunity to apply the art. Amine flotation of silica has been accomplished by simple addition of a flotation cell, and possibly a regrind mill, at the end of the magnetic concentration process. The flotation system gave the mill operator a flexible method to control final grade caused by ore variations in the feed. It increased iron content with lower silica, which resulted in lower freight costs per unit Fe and better pellets for blast furnace use.

Jan 1, 1968

By Steve Wirch, Robert Jankowski

The issue of dust control in underground coal mines has been extensively studied by both government and industry. This research work has resulted in many techniques which control the dust or help miners avoid it. Control techniques either prevent the dust from becoming airborne or cleanse the air before it can be inhaled. Avoidance measures minimize the exposure of miners to the airborne dust by blowing the dust away from work areas or making it unnecessary for a miner to occupy a dusty region. One of several successful dust control measures in continuous miner sections is the use of a machine mounted scrubber which cleanses the air and helps to prevent the contaminated air from reaching areas frequented by mine personnel. Research on the application of scrubbers on longwall shearers began in the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. The most successful projects showed only moderate improvement when a scrubber system was mounted on a longwall shearer, and the less successful projects actually increased worker dust levels. There are many reasons that scrubbers have not been successfully applied on longwalls. The most significant of these is that longwalls have across the face ventilation and generally have high face air flows. Scrubbers tend to work best when they are the primary cause of ventilation. Therefore, their capture efficiencies on longwalls tend to suffer because of the exposure of the drums to the primary airflow. Other reasons scrubbers have not been implemented on longwall s include the successful application of an excellent water spray system, effective cutting techniques, and dispersion of dust sources. These techniques can help control drum generated dust, increase production, and limit the relative effectiveness of a scrubber.

Jan 1, 1995

By L. Yuan, J. H. Rowland, D. Bahrami, R. Thomas

Blasting is the main method of production in many non-coal underground mining operations and produces multiple toxic gases as a result. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) requires mine operators to measure the level of toxic gases in mines as frequently as necessary to ensure they are below regulatory safety limits. The current practice uses portable gas monitors to check the concentrations of toxic gases after a fixed post-blast time. This paper studies the application of a gas monitoring system in the return entry of a limestone mine to determine a safe re-entry time. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted such a monitoring program in a limestone mine from September 2016 through May 2018. NIOSH/PMRD (Pittsburgh Mining Research Division) is endeavoring to develop workplace solutions to improve detection of and reduce the risk of hazardous conditions. This study showed that the use of gas monitoring in the return air can be a useful tool at the mine operator’s disposal to detect and reduce the risk of hazardous conditions and also to reliably estimate the re-entry time.

By Armando Alatorre

The Republic of México is the world's largest producer of celestite/strontium carbonate and natural sodium sulfate. It is also a significant producer of flourspar, barite, graphite, sulfur, feldspar, salt and gypsum. New production may be brought on stream for borates, wollastonite, garnet, calcium carbonate and others. The country covers a geographic area of approximately 2 million square kilometers (760,000 square miles), and is divided into seven geological/geomorphological provinces. Less than 20 percent has been explored in detail for either nonmetallic or metallic minerals. This leaves large areas available for the discovery of world-class industrial mineral deposits. In addition to new deposits of those minerals currently being produced, there is exploration and development potential for borates, magnesite, rare earths, nepheline syenite, heavy mineral sands and numerous others.

Jan 1, 1995

By Donald S. Skufca

This chapter focuses attention on major factors pertaining to plant design and general arrangement of equipment. Considered are efficiency of operations, coordination of maintenance and repairs, plant testing of reagents and possible future plant expansions. The design and general arrangement of equipment considers accessibility for maintenance and isolation for repairs, minimum personnel for operations and cleanup, safe working conditions with minimum interruptions to operations. The constant introduction of new reagents requires eventual plant testing and the manner of isolating a “line” or part of the facilities to allow comparisons in the testing of new reagents is discussed. As technology improves and process changes occur, additional equipment or plant expansions are inevitable. Space for these eventualities must be considered while the general arrangement drawings are in the development stages.

Jan 1, 1986

By Satya Harpalani

An investigation was carried out to study the microscopic structure of coal in order to understand the phenomenon of methane migration. A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEH) was used to study the surface and pore structure of bituminous coal taken from an underground mine. Micrographs obtained showed the highly porous nature of coal which explains the large quantities of gases that remain within the pores in the compressed and adsorbed forms. These micrographs further showed that most of the pores within the coal matrix are the 'dead-end' type and do not contribute much towards the flow of gas. The most important finding was that solid coal has a network of cracks and fractures indicating that it is these cracks that are primarily responsible for the gas flow, rather than the pores. The size and distribution of the pores within coal influence the capacity of coal to retain methane but movement of the gas molecules is the responsibility of the microfractures. Any mathematical modeling to simulate gas flow through coal must take this into account. For purposes of modeling, the structure of coal can be considered to have dual porosity. First, the gas molecules are released from the pores and there is a gradual migration towards the fractures. Once the gas reaches the fractures, its movement is eased greatly along these fractures.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. P. Hanten, G. Ramadorai

This paper presents laboratory and pilot plant data on the removal of heavy metals and molybdenum from mining-milling waste water. Molybdenum is removed as an Fe-Mo precipitate by proper addition of ferric sulfate. Heavy metals are lowered by lime treatment. Solid-liquid separation was achieved in both cases by flotation techniques. The Lectroclear electrocoagulation-electroflotation process was used to achieve the desired degree of metals removal. Good correlation was obtained on the laboratory and pilot plant scales. A two-step process consisting of the sequential removal of molybdenum and heavy metals was tested successfully using a mobile pilot plant. Preliminary data on sludge characteristics was obtained and the feasibility of recycling the iron sludge for iron and molybdenum recovery was established on the laboratory scale.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. Herbst, K. Fallenius, G. Poling

Since 1970 a new series of pneumo-mechanical flotation machines has been developed by Outokumpu Oy. The cells have a completely new type of mechanism based on a recently-developed theory of conditions necessary for dispersion of large amounts of air. The mechanism was developed in 3 cu m cells and scaled to 16 cu m cells. Rotor and stator description, scale-up theory, and practical experience with the 16 cu m cell are presented.

Jan 1, 1976

By F. Milton Lewis

In 1977 a paper was presented which reviewed the cost trends in producing copper by conventional processes for five years, 1972 through 1976. In this paper these costs have been updated to include the years 1977 and 1978.

Jan 1, 1979

By S. J. Schatzel, K. M. Ajayi, E. N. Rubinstein, Z. Khademian

This study simulates the impact of a shale gas well casing breach near a longwall mine. Field studies are conducted to measure mining-induced permeability changes over the abutment pillar of a longwall mine, and a geomechanical model is developed in 3DEC, a three-dimensional numerical modeling code, to predict the aperture of fractures in the overburden at the study site. The predicted aperture values are used to determine mining-induced permeabilities and the results are compared with the field measurements. These aperture values are provided as inputs into fracture flow code (FFC), which generates a stochastic discrete fracture network (DFN) model for the study site and predicts the potential shale gas flow to the mine. Results from 100 DFN realizations are statistically analyzed using the bootstrapping method to compensate for notable variation in fracture geometry. The results show a significant difference between the gas inflow for nearby panels due to increase in the induced permeability during mining of the second panel. The average gas flow to the mine was calculated as 4.72×10−2 m3/ s (49 cfm) for a hypothetical breach at the Sewickley horizon during the first panel mining, 8.97×10−3 m3/ s (19 cfm) for a hypothetical breach at the Uniontown horizon during the first panel mining, 2.16×10−1 m3/ s (458 cfm) for a hypothetical breach at the Sewickley horizon during the second panel mining, and 8.07×10−2 m3/ s (171 cfm) for a hypothetical breach at the Uniontown horizon during the second panel mining. Depending on the mine ventilation system, this could result in methane concentrations exceeding regulatory limits. Hence, these findings provide insights into the potential risk of an unconventional gas well casing breach near a longwall mine under shallow cover.

Feb 15, 2023