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By R. J. Heemstra

A method was developed for calibrating photographic emulsions and retrieving working curves for emission spectrography. The values obtained from a digital readout or a recorder chart of a comparator-microphotometer are converted to light intensity values using an emulsion characteristic curve derived from a quartic polynomial preliminary curve. The characteristic curve, consisting of Seidel transform versus the logarithm of intensity, is split into two cubic polynomials at the zero value of the transform, resulting in eight emulsion calibration coefficients. These methods allow use of the calibration curves even at very small and very high intensities, thus extending the range of analysis. Use of a small computer allows rapid calculations. A computer program was written to formulate, code, and file each working curve along with its statistical error. Proper coding of the input data permits the direct printout of the concentration of the elements under investigation.

Jan 1, 1970

By Paula Rodrigues Caumo

A tecnologia da fabricação de aços, nas últimas décadas, apresentou grandes avanços, os quais resultaram em melhorias da qualidade, principalmente no que se refere à remoção de inclusões. As inclusões podem ser responsáveis por prejudicar as propriedades mecânicas por meio da geração de trincas ou fraturas entre outros defeitos. O distribuidor do lingotamento contínuo também pode atuar na remoção destas partículas. A eficácia desta função do distribuidor demanda o conhecimento das características do escoamento do aço líquido de modo que se possa propor modificações na configuração do distribuidor. Esse conhecimento pode ser obtido mediante a utilização de modelos físicos para simular os fenômenos envolvidos. O objetivo deste trabalho é, a partir de um distribuidor com jato aberto, construído em acrílico e em escala 1:1, verificar o percentual de inclusões passantes pelo veio com ou sem a presença de bolhas. O trabalho foi executado com e sem tubo longo, sendo o tubo longo empregado para prevenir o arraste de ar para o interior do modelo. Os resultados foram obtidos por meio do ensaio de remoção de inclusões com o auxílio do ensaio de distribuição de tempos de residência. As variáveis utilizadas neste estudo são: presença bolhas e velocidade de lingotamento.

Aug 16, 2017

By Pingyang Zhang, Caichu Xia, Shuwei Zhou, Yu Zhou, Yongsheng Hu

A lined rock cavern (LRC) is an alternative container for compressed air energy storage (CAES) to store high-pressure air that is later used to produce electricity. A critical requirement of CAES in LRCs is that the inner seal should provide adequate sealing capacity to prevent air leakage from LRCs. In many studies, rubber sheets are applied to build the inner seal. However, air leakage through rubber seals has not been given much attention and rubber seals are usually assumed to be absolutely airtight. Given that rubber is permeable especially under high air pressure, such as in CAES, air therefore leaks through rubber seals during CAES operations. In this study, a numerical analysis was conducted based on the permeation equation of polymers and the governing equations of thermodynamics of CAES caverns to analyze the characteristics of air leakage from CAES caverns through rubber seals. A planned CAES plant in China was considered as a case study. Results show that air leakage rate increases with increasing cavern temperature and pressure during air injection and decreases as cavern temperature and pressure decline during air withdrawal. However, in total, the daily air leakage percentage is in the order of magnitude of 10-3% in a typical operation cycle, which is much smaller than the critical value of 1%. Under a common range of realistic operations conditions, the daily air leakage percentage is still of the order of 10-3%. Therefore, rubber seals can be used to prevent air leakage in LRCs for CAES. However, the experience of Japanese pilot cavern indicates that the specifications for the on-site vulcanization jointing and installation methods of rubber seals still need improvement.

Jan 1, 2015

By Gregory P. White

A number of private companies and universities have developed computer programs which can be used to simulate surface coal mining by dragline. In this paper, we briefly discuss the concept of computer simulation, compare these computer programs with each other, describe the major changes required to convert these programs to an IBM computer system, and analyze their sensitivity to inaccurate input data. We also present a summary of the required data input for each program, core storage requirements, and output results. Sources for obtaining these programs and their documentation are listed at the end of the paper.

Jan 1, 1983

By Ana Maria Gontijo Figueiredo

Muitos dispositivos biomecânicos têm sido produzidos com ligas superelásticas (SE) de NiTi. Na maioria das aplicações, o material é submetido a solicitações mecânicas cíclicas, tornando seu comportamento sob fadiga um parâmetro importante. Neste trabalho são apresentados resultados de ensaios de fadiga por flexão rotativa de um fio SE, ensaiado a seis temperaturas diferentes, sob amplitudes de deformação (?a) variando de 1% a 12%. As curvas mostram que a vida em fadiga do material na fase martensítica estável (ME) é cerca de 100x maior do que na fase austenítica estável (AE). A curva do fio SE se aproxima da curva do fio AE para pequenas ?a e, com o seu aumento, se aproxima da curva do fio ME quando ?a aumenta. As superfícies de fratura obtidas foram observadas ao microscópio eletrônico de varredura e foram calculadas as áreas correspondentes à fratura por fadiga (af). Os resultados mostram que, para o fio nas fases AE e ME, af decresce continuamente com o aumento da ?a. Para o caso do fio SE, af permanece relativamente constante para valores intermediários de amplitude de deformação (2% a 8%). Para uma mesma deformação, af cresce com a redução da temperatura, com o consequente aumento do número de ciclos para falha.

Aug 8, 2018

By Jue Kou, Hongda Xu, Tichang Sun, Shichao Wu, Wenli Han

To investigate the effect of simultaneous change in particle size of raw materials (including ore, reductant, and dephosphorization agent) on the direct reduction process of high-phosphorus oolitic hematite, the experimental research of method with direct reduction and magnetic separation was conducted to investigate the effect of simultaneous change in particle size of raw materials on the final reduction products in the form of mineral composition, reduction speed, metallic iron particle morphology, phosphorus distribution, and powdery reduction iron. The results revealed that under the same conditions of reduction temperature, the raw material particle size affects the mineral composition of the final reduction product, the coarser the raw material particle size, the slower the reduction speed, the lower the metallization rate, and the larger the final metallic iron particle size formed. Under the same conditions of raw material particle size, the reduction temperature affects the mineral composition of the final reduction product, the higher the reduction temperature, the faster the reduction speed, the higher the metallization rate, and the larger the size of metallic iron particles within a certain reduction time. Neither the raw material particle size nor reduction temperature affects the form of phosphorus present in the reduction product. Both the raw material particle size and reduction temperature affect the grade of powdery reduction iron to a less extent, but affect the recovery rate and phosphorus content significantly. At the same reduction temperature, the recovery of powdery reduction iron and phosphorus content gradually decreases with the increase in raw material particle size. For the same raw material particle size, the recovery of powdery reduction iron gradually increases, and the phosphorus content gradually decreases with the increase in the reduction temperature. The results identified the effect of simultaneous changes in particle size of raw materials on the direct reduction process of high-phosphorus oolitic hematite and provide a basis for the selection of raw material particle size for the industrial application.

Dec 20, 2022

By W. R. McClelland

GOLD-BEARING ores, representing many types, are found widely distributed through the Province of British Columbia. They range from those which by their nature may be considered as complex, to those whose mineral characteristics are simple. Those in which the gold is associated with metallic sulphides provide particular milling and metallurgical problems, the solution of which involves not only detailed laboratory investigation but also a careful consideration of economic factors. The location of an ore-body may have a deciding influence on the adoption of a method for the metallurgical treatment. Whether the ore should be treated with the object of recovering the gold as bullion or as a shipping concentrate is often dependent on such topographical considerations as the position of the mine at or near tidewater or within a reasonable overland distance of a smelter. British Columbia is fortunate in having the Trail smelter situated in the southern part of the Province, and the smelter at Tacoma, Washington, is accessible for coastwise traffic. Both of these provide a ready market for most types of gold-bearing concentrate. In order that the results obtained by laboratory tests may give a fair indication of what should follow in mill operation, it is essential that the test sample should represent as closely as possible in mineralogical character and in grade the ore that eventually will constitute the feed to the mill. In the early stages of mine development this consideration is sometimes overlooked and samples of a much higher grade than would be representative of run-of-mine ore are submitted. Flotation tests on such a sample of ore high in sulphides may show a low ratio of concentration, bu.t if the actual run-of-mine ore is lower in sulphides the mill operation will reveal a much higher ratio. The recommendations for treatment based on the results of laboratory tests may have been against concentration, when in actual operation this would be the most suitable method of treatment. Recommendations based on laboratory tests are necessarily from the results of work carried out on the sample submitted, modified only by such other economic or topographical information as may be known to the investigator. This paper deals with a few of the gold ores found in the six mining districts of British Columbia and is based on investigations made in the Ore Dressing and Metallurgical Laboratories of the Mines Branch, Department of Mines, Ottawa.

Jan 1, 1937

By P. J. Remington

Field measurements utilizing a seat pad accelerometer were made on 61 surface coal mining machines in order to quantify the vibration levels experienced by the operators. Those data were combined with information on the statistics of the operating times of those machines in order to compare the operator's vibration exposure to the criteria in ISO 2631, ?A Guide for the Evaluation of Human Exposure to Whole Body Vibration.? The comparison showed that about ha]f of all surface coal mining machine operators can be expected to be exposed to vibration exceeding the fatigue decreased proficiency criterion, whereas only on the order of 15% would be expected to experience vibration exceeding the exposure limit. Detailed exposure statistics are presented and the implications of the results are discussed.

Jan 1, 1983

By G. J. Hartman

The Fort Cady in situ borate mining project involves recovery of boron from a mineral deposit located over 1400 feet below the surface. The resource recovery method is being developed using in situ mining technology employing weak acid solution injected directly into the ore body. As the acid contacts the calcium based ore (primarily natural colemanite), the contained borate values are digested as boric acid. This boric acid solution is then pumped to the surface by use of submersible pumps. At the surface the borate values are recovered as a finely divided solid white powder after a series of chemical reactions and precipitations resulting in the production of calcium borate. The refined product is then sold under the trade name CADYCAL 100.TM All environmental permits for up to a production rate of 90,000 tons per year have now been obtained. These permits required an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for federal lands and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the private portion of the property. Regulatory permitting took over 5 years to obtain all authorizations for this operation. The ore body has an average thickness of 118 feet extending over 273 acres. At a production rate of 90,000 tons per year with only a 70 percent resource recovery allowance, in place reserves are sufficient to sustain production for over one hundred years.

Jan 1, 1997

By K. W. Warren, F. R. Prestridge, B. A. Sinclair

Separating oil from water may seem simple enough, but in fact, tremendous efforts have gone into this common process problem. The petroleum industry is constantly looking for better ways to separate the emulsion of oil and connate water that is pumped from the ground and its latest development, the electrostatic emulsion separator, may find an important offshoot application in hydrometallurgy. The patent-pending OSX coalescer, developed by C-E Natco, recovers entrained solvent from both raffinate and the pregnant strip liquor. It has already undergone successful testing at the Bluebird copper circuit in Arizona and is currently being prepared for testing at a uranium SX plant.

Jan 4, 1978

In 1846 a bill was pending in Congress to reduce, or eliminate, the tariff on coal; the debate caused the same writer to visit the mines on the north side of the James River and to write a letter about them to the same paper.' Omitting the political arguments, his account follows: "July 13, 1846. "Early in the morning we rose, washed, combed, and ate a first-rate breakfast, and then went to the Tuckahoe, mined by Messrs. Sneed and Dietrock. Coal was first discovered here sixty years ago, and mined by Colonel Thomas Randolph, the proprietor of the land. They were worked by him for his smith-shops. Since which time they have been worked periodically, up to the war of 1812, when they were abandoned; and recommenced in 1837 under the management of Dr. W. T.- Scott. Subsequently a Company was formed called Tuckahoe Coal Mining Company, which purchased the whole track at a cost of $30,000. They commenced the sinking of a shaft and went as far as 412 feet, and then pitched the fat all into the fire by hauling off altogether in despair. In 1843 Major Sneed went to work at it, and succeeded. I may here remark that Major Sneed has been the pioneer in this business on the North side of the River, and has sunk more shafts than any other man who has pursued this vocation in Eastern Virginia. The difficulties and expense in sinking these shafts are sometimes immense. The coal on the outcrop or surface is not always a guide to where it may be found imbedded many hundred feet under earth and rock. "The Tuckahoe Pits are on the Eastern end of the coal field, within twelve hundred yards of the Canal, and about twelve miles from Richmond. They employ fifty hands and raise some three hundred thousand bushels of coal per year. It is highly bituminous and excellent for the manufacture of iron. The Tredegar and Belle Isle Rolling Mills are supplied with it. It must be good and of the right kind', or they would not use it. These pits are the only. ones on this side troubled-with gas-of course ventillation is necessary. There is not as much water in this Pit as I have found generally in many others, although they have extended their operations to a considerable distance under ground. I have observed in examining the coal mines, that, where they are sunk over four or five hundred feet, they are annoyed by gas, and where there is a less depth they are troubled with water. It is evident, therefore, that water, in the region of these coal fields, does not run through the earth to any extent, even five hundred feet deep, and the farther you go below that the greater the increase of gas. "We next visited William Cottrell's Pits, situated one mile and a half north of this. He employs some thirty hands, and raises from 4 to 500 bushels per day. "T. & R. Crouch's Pits are one hundred yards north of Cottrell's. This firm employ from 80 to 90 hands, and raise from 8 to 900 bushels per day. They are now

Jan 1, 1942

By E. L. Litchfield

Four short-term studies of practical ignition problems were undertaken and completed during the course of the Bureau of Mines project "Development of Specifications for Intrinsically Safe Equipment." Conclusions were as follows: (1) the most easily ignitible mixture of propane-air in a PTB break flash apparatus is approximately 5.2 percent propane; (2) miniature lamp bulbs to be used in intrinsically safe circuits are about as incendive to coal dust-air as to methane-air and should be tested in gas mixtures containing about 7.0 to 7.5 percent methane; (3) the sodium amalgam contained in high-pressure sodium lamps does not present an ignition hazard for coal dust or methane, where the lamps contain no more than 30 milligrams of amal-gam; (4) the maximum allowable surface temperature of permissible electrical enclosures should remain at 150° C despite efforts by industry groups to raise the value to 200° C.

Jan 1, 1980

By HASAN SERKAN GOKCEN, SERKAN CAYIRLI

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dry grindability of calcite powders in a vertically and horizontally orientable laboratory batch type stirred mill. The experimental results were evaluated using stress intensity analysis. The performance was also compared in terms of mill orientation. The results showed that the d50 values decreased with increasing stress energy down to a certain point and then increased for both milling orientations. Even though the optimum stress energies for both vertical and horizontal orientations were in the range of 1*10−3 to 5*10−3 Nm at 750 and 1500 kJ/kg energy consumption, the product size was finer for the horizontal orientation at the same stress energy value. Additionally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to compare mill orientation (vertical vs. horizontal) for the same mill and under the same test conditions.

Apr 21, 2021

By Luiz Henrique Accorsi Gans

First, this works carries an experimental evaluation for austempered ductile iron (ADI) as a gear material. And second, in order to provide a better understanding of the microstructural effect on the stress state of subsurface regions, a finite element method approach was considered using the submodeling tool in ANSYS 11.0. For this, ADI gears were produced from continuous cast iron bars, heat and thermochemical treated and tested in FZG test rig. The results were compared to those of carburized steel AISI 8620 and induction hardened steel AISI 4140 gears. The wear experiments were performed at the temperature of 90ºC with two torque stages: 135 N.m (running-in) and 302 N.m (steady-state). The time for pitting and spalling on the gears surfaces were measured using image analysis. The results showed a very good potential of using ADI for manufacturing gears, replacing induction hardened steels. Also, the ADI gear with smaller nodules showed higher life for pitting. In contact fatigue tests with severe load, the carburized AISI 8620 steel proved more adequate than the austempered ductile iron, showing that the mechanical properties are critical in the resistance to damage in gear contact. The austempered ductile iron with smaller nodule size showed to be very competitive with wear resistance similar to AISI 4140 steel induction hardened. With ANSYS, it was verified that the nodule size affects the gears life independently of the mechanical properties of the matrix. The results showed that the nodules indicate the presence of a concentration stress, but their size doesn’t affect the contact fatigue life as much as the total amount of nodules, regardless of the ductile iron microstructure. The size and number of nodules affects both the nucleation and the propagation stage of cracks. ADIs with higher amount of nodules have a greater wear resistance. Also, compared to the Hertz contact theory (isotropic material), the presence of graphite nodules indicates a non-isotropic material and made the maximum shear stress point moves toward the surface.

Jul 31, 2018

By Magnus Ek

After the installation of three new converters as part of the recent expansion of the Rönnskär smelter completed in 2000 work continues to further improve the converter operation. The converter upgrade led to an increase in blister copper taps from 150 tons per batch to more than 300 tons. The total cathode copper production increased from 130,000 tons in 1999 to 230,000 tons in 2001, the first year in full production. In recent years focus has been to improve operating practise, maximize the blowing time, extend the converter campaigns hence to reduce the specific brick consumption and improve the converter slag composition.

Jan 1, 2005

By J. R. Craig, T. N. Solberg, M. A. Linden

The central and southern Appalachian Mountains were the major sources of domestically produced gold throughout the first half of the 19th century and continue to yield gold today. Small amounts of gold were probably extracted by the Indians and the Spaniards but the first documented report of gold in the region was made by Thomas Jefferson who found, in the Rappahannock River of Virginia in 1782, a 1.8 kg (4 lb) lump of gold ore that yielded 26 g (0.85 oz). Gold was subsequently discovered in North Carolina between 1793 and 1799, in Virginia in 1806, in South Carolina in 1827, in Georgia in 1829, and in Alabama about 1830 (Becker, 1894-5; Pardee and Park, 1948). Production climbed to more than 933 kg/a (30,000 oz per year) between 1830 and 1852, but dropped sharply after the California gold rush in 1849 as experienced miners moved west in search of bigger and easier stakes. The Civil War briefly halted gold mining in the Appalachians, but production rose to an average of about 249 kg/a (8,000 oz per year) from 1865 until 1878 and to about 404 kg/a (13,000 oz per year) from 1881 until 1915 when it again fell to near nil (Pardee and Park, 1948). Minor resurgences occurred in the 1930s and 1940s. Although there has been no reported production in recent years, it is likely that "weekend panners" still remove hundreds of ounces from streams annually. The total reported production for the area through 1959 is more than 77 t (2.5 million oz). This paper reports some initial findings of a long-term project designed to investigate the mineralogy, chemistry, mode of occurrence, and petrology of gold occurrences in the Appalachians. The goal of the initial phase was to determine the compositional range of gold in the Appalachians as a step toward deciding if sufficient variations were present to allow the definition of "compositional signatures." The very few published data on gold fineness in the Appalachians are based on assays that commonly include gold and silver from several mineral species. Analyses in the present study were performed on individual grains of electrum using a spot size of 10 µm x 10 µm to 100 µm X 100 µm (394 X 394 micro in. to 3,940 X 3,940 micro in.), and thus reveal the true composition of the principal precious metal-bearing phase.

Jan 1, 1984

By J Wen, P Hou, W Yu, M Hu, Z Jiang, C Bai

Vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) is one of the important iron ore resources in the world. High viscosity and low fluidity are the basic characteristics of hot metal containing vanadium and titanium during the ironmaking process. Clarifying the influencing mechanism of the melt viscosity would be a significant issue for the high efficiency smelting of VTM. In this paper, a self-developed melt viscometer based on the principle of torsional vibration theory was employed to measure the viscosity of hot metal accurately. Simultaneously, the thermodynamic calculations and some modern detection methods were also used to investigate the precipitation behaviour of high-melting-point phases in hot metal containing vanadium and titanium. The measuring results show that the viscosity of molten iron gradually increases with the increase of titanium content when the mass fraction of titanium is between 0.09 wt per cent – 0.50 wt per cent. Meanwhile, the viscosity of the hot metal was affected significantly by the vanadium content. When the vanadium mass fraction was higher than 0.30 wt per cent, the viscosity of hot metal increased sharply, which will have a serious impact on the fluidity of the hot metal. Furthermore, it was revealed by thermodynamic calculations that an increase in titanium and vanadium content would result in the precipitation of high melting point phases such as TiC, TiN, VC, and VN in the molten iron, ultimately resulting in a decrease in its fluidity. Meanwhile, it was confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observation that the precipitates in the hot metal were compounds consisting of V, Ti, C, and N elements, which agrees well with the thermodynamic analysis results.

Aug 21, 2024

By N Swiegelaar

Loubert Witbank is a defunct coal mine situated near Ermelo in South Africa. Mining ceased in 1992, and within a short period acidic decant occurred, with a significant impact on the regional catchment. The problem was studied during 1996/1997, and the site remediated in 2001/2002 by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. Remediation involved primarily submerging of carbonaceous material, backfilling of voids, and capping of the site. Acidic water with high iron levels was also neutralised and discharged. The project was used to assess the cost benefit of different options to the downstream users, from which target expenditure was derived for the various improvements. The cost benefit analysis for neutralisation provided a basis for the investigation of low-cost neutralisation options that are robust enough to be applied in a remote environment.

Jan 1, 2003

By W. S. (Steve) Vaughan

The Origins of Joint Ventures in Canada?s Mining Industry ? Among the most important financing structures used in our mineral industry today ? Virtually unheard of in the Canadian industry prior to the 1970s ? Borrowed from the U.S. oil and gas sector where it came into prominence in the late 1930s ? The Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 in effect killed the sale of (equity) shares for financing oil and gas wells and start up mining companies

May 1, 2013

By P. F. Patterson

It is a well established fact that 60 per cent of all accidents in coal mines occur from falls of roof and coal at or in the proximity of the working face. Notwithstanding that this is well known, and has been frequently discussed by mining men, this seems to be the irreducible minimum. It is even said by those in a position to know that the percentage stated is increasing. With this, information before us it would seem that not enough attention is being given to close supervision at the working face, and until this is done we may expect to continue experiencing an increase in the accidents in this area. No workman generally feels that it is more important to finish loading a car of coal than to set a timber for protection, and many accidents happen from this source, not from a lack of knowledge of the dangerous conditions existing, but negligence in taking remedies necessary to remove the danger. It is true that nearly all state laws require the mine foreman or his assistant to visit each working face every day, but with the constantly changing conditions on account of the advance of the working faces, these daily visits may be entirely inadequate to discover possible dangers and prevent accidents. The obvious remedy then is closer and more systematic inspection and supervision of the working faces. Many accidents are caused in mines on account of not enough clearance between the rib and track or between timber and track. On all main haulage ways. there should be a space of at least 30 inches between the rib and track, or timber and track, and on all rooms not less than two feet should be left between the track and upright timbers.. A great deal has been said and written with regard to systematic timbering. We doubt very much the feasibility of adopting any standard of timbering that would be suitable for all roof conditions, and any such system in our opinion would not tend to cause a decrease in the number of accidents. The proper place to put up a prop, regardless of whether it conforms to any established system, is under a piece of loose roof. No habit is becoming more prevalent among miners and other mine workers than wearing gloves, principally flimsy canvas gloves, which afford no protection to the wearers and are the direct cause of many hand injuries. If gloves must be worn, and no doubt they will be as the habit has become well established, then they should be made from some heavy material and should fit the hands fairly snug.

Jan 1, 1923