Search Documents

The Red Lake greenstone belt is an irregular mass of lavas sedimentary rocks and intrusives which is approxiately 35 miles long 18 miles wide and 7 miles deep. Basaltic volcamcs are the oldest rocks w1thm the belt. They are believed to have been laid down on an ancient crust which is at least 3 billion (3 x 109) years old and was composed partly of sediments. The basaltic rocks are overlain by acid volcanics and sedimentary rocks which have been complexly folded and are preserved as a down-folded remnant of younger rocks within the older crust. The volcanics and sedimentary rocks of the greenstone belt have been cut by intrusives with a wide range of composition. The emplacement of the intrusives and the accompanying regional metamorph-ism which terminated the orogenic activity in this area are believed to have occurred approximately 2.4 billion years ago. The basalts and many of the basic and ultrabasic intrusives undoubtedly had their source in the sub-crust or mantle. At least some of the granitic intrusives are believed to have had

Jan 1, 1965

By W. Kempson

"As has been noted on numerous occasions, the vertical shafts being sunk around the world are all tending to get deeper as we seek to take advantage of higher grades of minerals which can sometimes be found at greater depths. One of the challenges with these deeper shafts is the requirement to supply services to the mine’s operations at depth as well as the requirement to dewater the mine. Both the supply of water and the dewatering of mines is generally done using piping. With the greater shaft depths, this piping is now required to contain higher pressures as well as to accommodate changes in temperature resulting from normal mine operations. This paper will discuss the requirements for the design of high pressure piping in deep vertical shafts. The discussion will start with the general definition of the systems and the detailed design requirement. Once this is clearly outlined, we will discuss the options available for fulfilling these requirement as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each of the systems. We will finish with the installation recommendations and provide a basis for the maintenance of these systems. INTRODUCTION Piping in vertical shafts is used to provide a number of services in underground workings. These services vary depending on geographical location and the type of the ore body which is being mined. For example, in the Zambian Copper mines, one of the largest requirements for in shaft piping is for dewatering. Similarly in the Gold deposits in the West Wits basin as well as the deep level Copper deposits in Arizona, one of the largest uses for the piping is the supply of a cooling medium to underground workings to create a safe working environment (this can in the form of water or of glycol depending on the application). In South Africa, systems were installed which used the hydrostatic head which is generated from supplying chilled water to mines whose depths exceeded 2,000 m below surface. This chilled water was supplied as a closed system, allowing for high pressures to be generated which was then used to supply useful work (for example, Rock Drills, Face Cleaning and other ancillary services) whose power was traditionally supplied by compressed air or electricity. This system was initially researched by Chamber of Mine in South Africa. The design pressure range of these systems is 14 MPa to 18 MPa."

Jan 1, 2019

By J. M. B. Scarborough

This paper deals with measures taken to maintain effective operation of heavy-duty equipment in open-pit mining. at Pine Point, N.W.T., during periods of extreme cold weather. The points covered include equipment modifications designed to improve cold-weather performance, effective lubrication of machinery that is vulnerable to extreme cold and operating procedures designed to prevent equipment damage.

Jan 1, 1966

By Donald P. MacKinnon

"This paper is a commentary on selected trends within the transportation industry.In general, innovations are taking place within all modes of transport (road, rail and water) serving the industrial minerals industry which will affect future distribution patterns, methods and costs. Significant technical innovations in the transportation of solids by• pipeline will also appear, perhaps in the near future, permitting the transport of specific commodities, including some industrial minerals. However, the timing and magnitude of the commercial exploitation of solids pipelines are heavily dictated by marketing factors and distribution system logistics, as well as by the innovations likely to take place within competitive modes of transport. Competitive technological developments will include increased ship capacities, improved bulk-handling facilities, larger and specialized bulk-handling rail equipment, unit trains, containerization, larger ""off-highway"" vehicles and greater inter-modal integration. Equally significant are some ""soft-ware"" techniques such as the growing interest in total distribution cost concepts. However, the impact of the developments will not be spread uniformly over all Canadian industrial minerals."

Jan 1, 1967

By Liu Tao, Wang Wei, Liao Wenjiang, Yang Weiyan, Tang Bin

Side-blown Furnace technology is a developing technology and was developed very quickly in China in recent years, dozens of reference smelters can be found for the treatment of copper concentrate, copper slag, Lead slag, zinc leaching slag and different kinds of slurry. This paper introduces the working principle of the technology, displays the innovations and specifications of China Nerin's SBF technology, gives examples of the typical reference smelters, and looks ahead to future applications. INTRODUCTION Side-blowing furnace smelting process The side-blowing furnace smelting process (SBF process) is one of the bath smelting process with independent intellectual property rights of China Nerin. This process was originally applied to treat copper concentrate and high-lead slag. The SBF process includes two categories, i.e. to treat copper concentrate and to treat industrial solid waste. Up to now, the SBF process has been applied in around 5 million tons of copper concentrate processing capacity and 20+ plants with high-lead slag reduction process. In recent years, SBF process has been gradually used in zinc leaching slag, electroplating sludge, industrial solid waste (e.g., various metallurgical slag), and electronic waste disposal. The basic principle of SBF process is that the material to be treated is directly charged to bath through charging hole with crushed coal and flux, then, enriched oxygen air would be sent to slag level (Vanyukov/Jifeng style furnaces)or matte level (Baiyin style furnaces) via primary tuyere. In this case, the material completes matte/slag metallurgical reaction of gas-liquid-solid interaction under vigorous mixing, and separate matte and slag at the bottom of furnace hearth. With the help of secondary tuyere, the low-pressure air or enriched oxygen would be provided for secondary combustion in the freeboard. The core of SBF process is process parameter control and engineering design of SBF. Presented as a fixed rectangular type, the SBF is a metallurgical furnace consisting of copper water jackets and refractory material. The SBF is consisting of hearth, middle of furnace and furnace top with the sequence from bottom to top. The middle of furnace itself can be further divided into bath area and post-combustion area with primary tuyere and secondary tuyere at both sides. The furnace hearth is made of refractory bricks, which are fused and rebonded Mg-Cr brick, Mg-Cr brick and clay brick from inside to outside. The furnace top adopts a steel water jacket with charging hole and uptake shaft. The water-cooled partition wall is placed at uptake shaft and near charging hole.

Jan 1, 2019

By Guichao Wang, Geoffrey M. Evans, Graeme J. Jameson

"In this paper we present a new method for studying the detachment of particles from bubbles in a rotating turbulent eddy. The eddy is formed in a wall cavity in a two-dimensional water tunnel with transparent walls. When water flows through the tunnel, a vortical flow field develops in the cavity. The properties of the eddy can be modulated by changing the free-stream velocity of the water in the tunnel. Bubbles are pre-loaded with one or more particles in a fluidized bed flotation device located beneath the vortex cavity. Loaded bubbles are released one at a time into the cavity, and the motion of the bubbleparticle aggregate is studied using a high-speed video camera. The diameters of the particles and the bubbles, and the number of particles initially attached to the bubble, can be varied. The trajectories taken by the bubbles are quite complicated. In some cases, the bubble moves to the centre of the eddy, and particles rotate around its axis. If the rotational speed is sufficient, particles may detach due to centrifugal force. However, other modes were observed, including inertial detachment due to rapid changes in direction of the surface of the bubble, because of changes in trajectory of the bubble as a whole, or because of pulsations and oscillations of the bubble surface. Clusters of bubbles held together by particles were seen to form and reform. In the traditional explanation for the detachment of particles in flotation cells, it is assumed that particles detach from bubbles rotating in an eddy due to centrifugal force (Schulze, 1977). Although the conditions assumed in Schulze's theory may exist, it is only one of a range of phenomena that can lead to the detachment of particles from bubbles in a turbulent vortex.INTRODUCTIONThe recovery of particles by flotation methods is dependent on the particle size. The recovery in the existing flotation machines reaches a peak for particle size, typically in the range of 20 to 100 µm. This size range varies as a function of the particle’s properties (type and composites). For coarser particles, the recovery drops very quickly (Gaudin, Groh & Henderson, 1931; Jowett, 1980). If the upper size limit can be increased for flotation, dramatic savings in the grinding energy can be achieved."

Jan 1, 2016

By Donald E. Archibald, Gerald A. Allcott

"Noranda's Heath Steele Mine is located 35 miles north of Newcastle in northern New Brunswick. Blasthole open stoping with partial delayed filling is the major mining method in use. The selection of stope and pillar dimensions to ensure mine stability was originally subjective. This paper describes the progress made in attempting to rationalize design.One major feature is the fracture pattern. The main orebody now being mined, the B zone, has undergone five periods of folding and each period of folding developed a family of fracture planes which are axial planar to that particular fold pattern.The other major features considered are the calculated increase in stress due to mining and depth and its relationship to measured strain. Experience has shown that ground problems affecting production have usually originated in rib pillars. Field observations of ground deterioration and multi-wire extensometer measurements of strain are tabulated together chronologically for each pillar.A factor representing stress and a common plane of weakness are identified. Graphical analysis is used to determine the effect of the plane of weakness on a typical stress/strain curve and provides a base for the design of pillars."

Jan 1, 1981

By Eliodor Stoian

PRESSURE information has earned a place of recognition to almost everyone interested in oil and gas production. This interest is due chiefly to the multitude of uses to which it can be put. A sub-surface pressure test, conducted for as little as $60, may yield data worth many times its cost. To the uninformed, the testing techniques may seem complex. Fundamentally, however, they consist merely of the application of common sense. At one time, sub-surface pressure data were used only in identifying individual well problems and in finding appropriate solutions. Today, it is generally acknowledged that sub-surface pres-sure .data are essential for the proper evaluation and exploitation of oil and gas pools. The following is a review of significant applications of sub-surface data with regard to: (A).-Development (B) .-Completion and work-overs (C) .-Production (D) .-Reservoir engineering (E).-Proration (F) .Other applications of pressure data of a more general nature.

Jan 1, 1958

By W. Dolsak

Introduction Alternative bolting injection resin Hollow bars, rebars, and cable bolts Results from an in-house product development project Sept. 2011 to Feb. 2013 Goals Introduction of a newly developed bolting silicate injection resin as alternative to cement grout based injection systems Definition of easy-to-use pumping devices and installation accessories Accomplishment of installation trials and performance evaluation

May 1, 2013

"Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) modelling has increasingly being used in many geotechnical and mining engineering problems, the authors believe there is an ever greater demand to provide updated guidelines that address the collection of discontinuity data in the specific context of DFN models. In general terms, the generation of a DFN model requires collecting information on i) fracture orientation, ii) fracture intensity, iii) fracture length and iv) fracture terminations. The International Society of Rock Mechanics (ISRM) suggested methods for the quantitative description of discontinuities in rock masses directly include most of these parameters. However, there are important differences engineers should be aware. To what extent discontinuities can be sampled and which limitations are inherently introduced in the analysis by the sampling methods being adopted represent important aspects that should drive the collection of discontinuity data for DFN analysis; this will require the introduction of a more appropriate set of guidelines bridging the gap between the current, very practical, ISRM methods and the data requirements imposed by the use of new DFN technologies.INTRODUCTIONThe last decade has seen a major increase in use of the Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) approach, both as a stand-alone tool or integrated within more complex geomechanical simulations (Rogers et al., 2014 and Elmo et al., 2014). In particular, the DFN approach offers the opportunity to maximise the use of fracture data collected from mapping of rock exposures and to construct synthetic rock mass (SRM) models. However, the potential of DFN based modelling is limited if there is insufficient care in collecting the necessary structural data at the required engineering scale. DFN models are also subject to the process of data calibration and validation (Hadjigeorgiou, 2012). With DFN modelling becoming an almost integral part of many geotechnical and mining engineering problems, the authors believe there is an ever greater demand to review the process of collecting fracture data in the specific context of DFN modelling.The value of the DFN model depends directly on the quality and quantity of available field data. For example, fracture length (persistence) is an important parameter in DFN modelling; however, this parameter is either seldom available at the pre-feasibility stage due to a lack of exposures (man-made or natural), or engineers have access to limited length data collected along exploratory drifts. Characterisation of rock exposures should also take into account limits of window/scanline mapping techniques with respect to both trace length bias and the effect of cut-off assumptions inherent in the mapping methodology."

Jan 1, 2015

By Dawei Yu, Kinnor Chattopadhyay

In the nickel industry, molten slags produced from a Pierce-Smith converter contain significant amounts of valuable metals in the forms of oxides and physically entrained matte droplets. A slag cleaning step, which takes places in an electrical slag-cleaning furnace, is therefore required to recover the valuable metals as a common practice. Utilization of a waste material from aluminum industry (i.e. spent potlining) as a flux to improve the slag cleaning in terms of both the metal recovery and the operation efficiency was studied by simulation with FactSage program. Results show that the addition of SPL could substantially reduce the slag viscosity due to its fluoride values, thus accelerating the settling of matte droplets. The carbon value in the SPL could also help increase the metal recovery by reducing the valuable metal oxides followed by settling.

Jan 1, 2015

By E. Ghali, N. Sorour, G. Houlachi

"The binary Fe53Mo47 and ternary Fe54Mo30P16 coatings have been electrodeposited from citrate-based electrolyte on mild steel (MS) substrates. The electrodeposition has been conducted for 6 hours at 20 mA cm-2 and 30°C. The electrochemical tests were carried out in chlorate solutions containing 300 g L-1 NaCl and 4 g L-1 K2Cr2O7 at pH 6.4 and 80°C. A number of surface characterization techniques such as SEM-EDS, XRD and EMP were used to study the microstructure of the alloys. The electrocatalytic activity of these coatings was investigated using steady-state polarization and galvanostatic technique. This study revealed that the Fe-Mo-P coating could be considered as a promising cathode material for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The results showed an important decrease of hydrogen overpotential for Fe-Mo-P alloy as compared to that of Fe-Mo and especially MS which is a traditional cathode in chlorate industry. The HER overpotential for Fe54Mo30P16 at current density of 250 mA cm-2 was decreased by 30% in comparison to that of MS (1029 mV), and by 16.5% to that of Fe53Mo47 coating (857 mV).INTRODUCTIONSodium chlorate is used for manufacturing of several daily consumption products. This chemical is mainly employed for the production of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) that is a bleaching agent used in the pulp and paper industry. The ClO2 is also consumed for generation of perchlorates, chlorites and other chlorates, as an herbicide and in uranium processing (Cornell, 2002). Sodium chlorate is produced industrially via following overall formula in un-divided electrochemical cell (Nylén & Cornell, 2009):"

Jan 1, 2016

By Staff

The Tetreault mine, operated by the British Metal Corporation (Canada), Limited, holds a unique position in Canadian mining, being the only steady producer of zinc in Canada east of the Rocky mountains. Its importance in Canadian zinc production may be gauged with some accuracy, since, in 1927, it was responsible for over 13 per cent of the zinc output of the Dominion. In addition, it also made valuable contributions to the production of lead, silver, and gold. Location: Situated in the foothills of the Laurentian mountains, 600 feet above sea level, 20 miles from the St. Lawrence river, and 52 miles due west from the city of Quebec, the property is in the township of Montauban, county Portneuf, Province of Quebec, as shown in Figure I. The municipality of Montauban, immediately adjoining the mine, has a permanent population of 700 people and is six miles by road from Notre Dame station on the main line of the C.N. Rys. between Montreal and Chicoutimi-Notre Dame being n6 miles by rail from Montreal. Connection by 19 miles of dirt-and-gravel road with the Provincial highways' system of Quebec Province, the city of Quebec, which is distant 78 miles, can be reached by automobile in less than three hours, while the distance to Montreal by road is 16o miles .

Jan 1, 1928

By T. Ward, K. Shah, K. Murray

The mining industry is processing deposits with ever decreasing grade at ever increasing operating costs while margins are under constant pressure by material substitution and recycling. We are reaching the point where building it bigger just isn’t good enough as social and environmental constraints become more intense. In response to the growing demands on our industry, Goldcorp has embarked on a journey to increase resources by converting Waste to Ore. Gravity pre-concentration and sensor sorting testwork has been completed on samples from our Canadian operations in order to determine the amenability of our mineralized waste to sorting and upgrading. As expected some material was amenable to sorting and a review of the economics supported demonstration plant testing. The ability to economically sort mineralized waste into ore and barren rock is being demonstrated by Goldcorp. It has been made possible by leveraging the experience mineral sizer manufacturers have gained in the oil sands and hard rock applications, seeking more energy efficient screening machines and embracing the advancements that ore and recycling sorter suppliers have achieved. The paper will discuss the testwork and results achieved to date from both the lab and demonstration plant.

Jan 1, 2018

By V. S. Melamud, A. G. Bulaev

"Sulfide ore processing is characterized by significant losses of metals, for example, with flotation tailings. Therefore, flotation tailings can present an important source of metals. The treatment of flotation tailings is a technological issue due to low content of valuable metals (e.g. copper and zinc) and high iron content. The goal of the present work was to investigate extraction of base metals and gold from old flotation tailings containing 17% iron, 0.26% copper, 0.22% zinc, and 0.7 g/t gold. Chemical leaching in columns with 0.5 to 10% sulfuric acid solutions and bioleaching in air-lift percolators were used for the extraction of base metals. 1% H2SO4 provided high extraction of base metals and best selectivity. Recovery of copper and zinc reached 35% and 40%. Increasing H2SO4 concentration did not lead to significant increase in base metals extraction, but led to increased iron concentration in the pregnant solutions. The 1% H2SO4 leaching solid residues were used for further experiments. Acid leaching and bioleaching did not result in significant increase in base metals recovery. Leaching of the residue with 10% H2SO4 provided extraction of 4% copper and 20% zinc, and bioleaching for 100 days provided extraction of 16% copper and 12% zinc. The recovery of gold by cyanidation from the flotation tailings, the 1% H2SO4 leaching solid residue and residue of two-step acid leaching were 50, 49, and 65%, respectively. The results suggest that acid leaching can be effective approach for treatment of old flotation tailings.INTRODUCTIONAbout 80% of base metals (copper, nickel, zinc) are produced through pyrometallurgical treatment of sulfide ores. Mining and metallurgical treatments of sulfide ores are presently characterized by significant losses of non-ferrous and precious metals into the various wastes. For example, flotation of sulfidic ores yields formation sulfide flotation tailings. These wastes pose a problem not just because of their sheer volume, but some of them may affect local ecosystems. Nowadays, mining and metallurgical wastes can be considered as technogenical source of base metals."

Jan 1, 2016

By Lloyd W. Trevoy

Syncrude Canada Limited is presently studying commercial production of heavy minerals from plant tailings of the openpit A lhabasca tar sands operation. When tar sands are processed and upgraded to synthetic crude oil, heavy minerals can be removed f rom the extraction circuit and beneficiated to provide concentrates of zircon and titanium minerals. Calculated recovery rates indicate that crude oil production capabilities of 105,000 barrels per day would provide 26,000 tonnes of zircon and 114,000 tonnes of titanium minerals annually. The titanium minerals concentrate is a mixture of ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile; it could be used as recovered or upgraded to synthetic rutile. With the consrruction of further synthetic crude oil plants in Western Canada, a large reserve of heavy minerals will become available.

Jan 1, 1984

By Ali Montaser

This paper presents an experimental study conducted to facilitate the use of RFID on construction job sites. The study focuses on deployment settings to provide data acquisition with higher accuracy for indoor location sensing. It provides extension to the state-of-the-art in this field as it addresses the impact of metal media proximity to RFID tags, the reasonable duration for data capturing, number of RFID tags employed and the distance between them. Low cost passive RFID tags were used in the experiments where each tag is used as a reference point with a known location. Five hundred and forty (514) experiments were conducted in lab environment using a 3m by 3m test bed that is dynamically rearranged to generate 15 test beds and a total of 67713 data sets were collected and analyzed. The collected data were captured from nine locations for each test bed at four time intervals. Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) was used as the main attribute for signal measurement to process the captured data. Results of the data analysis performed are studied under four main categories: duration, number of tags, locations of tags and metal interference. The best duration was found to be the 15 second in the test bed with the least number of tags; as the short amount of time to capture data did not allow creation of a lot of interference among the emitted signals. Within each test bed, errors occurred most at points where the received signals were not well distributed in a 360 degree vicinity of the data capturing point. It means that the center point of each test bed resulted in lowest errors and the points located on the extremities led to the highest errors. Finally, metal objects were found to have major impact on the accuracy of the captured data; to the level where reliable values for errors could not be calculated in the test beds attached to metal objects. In summary, the results of the experimental study and related findings are expected to provide guidelines to the users of RFID technology for localization in building construction.

Aug 1, 2013

By Jerry Ran

Many large underground mines using the open stoping method have changed their primary applications of consolidated rock fill (CRF) to paste or consolidated hydraulic fill due to considerations of demand in infrastructure and equipment, system reliability, backfill capacity and material sources. However, some smaller or even large mines still use or consider using CRF for backfill purpose due to factors such as capital expenditure, availability or suitability of other fill types or in some cases local regulatory requirements. As demands on CRF applications diminish among major mining companies, there is a lack of recent literature on application of CRF to open stoping in design and operation. There are several methods being used for fill strength design. Results from these methods have been successfully applied to paste or hydraulic fill. However, the design strength for CRF is much higher than that determined by use of these widely accepted methods. In operation, CRF preparation and placement have significant impacts on the quality of placed CRF and therefore the mining performance. This paper reviews the current fill design methods and their applications to open stoping with presentation of the bench marking data, presents fill failure cases and various CRF preparation and placement arrangements and discusses quality assurance and control programs.

Jun 1, 2012

By F. Q. Su

Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) is a promising environmentally acceptable clean-coal technology. A typical UCG system has two wells drilled from the surface into a coal seam with some separation of injection from production. The wells are connected underground by various linking techniques. After creating a combustion reactor in an underground coal seam, air and oxygen flow through the injection well. Heat energy and gases are collected from the production well. As gasification progresses, the combustion reactor is moved along the linking hole. Using this process, the fracturing activity inside the coal seam serves an important role for enlargement of the gasification zone because the surface area oxidization increases continuously by coal cracking. For effective coal gasification, fracturing activity must be controlled. Moreover, excess fractures inside the coal seam and surrounding rock can induce gas leakage, underground water contamination, subsidence, etc. Therefore, monitoring and control of fracturing activity in underground areas constitute key technologies for efficient and safe UCG. To monitor fracturing activity, we conducted laboratory and small-scale field experiments of UCG using acoustic emission (AE) measurements. UCG model tests were conducted for linking and coaxial types UCG models. Coaxial UCG systems are compact and are anticipated for application in underground coal seams having a complex geological structure. The UCG model consists of a coal block molded in a steel canister (20 liter capacity) with heat-resistant mortar, with a linking hole or a coaxial-hole passing through the coal block. During coal combustion, coal temperatures, production gas contents, and AE activity were monitored under the control of injection-air and oxygen flow rates. Results show that the combustion propagated inside the specimen along the linking hole. Many AE events were generated during coal combustion. The AE activity was related closely to temperature changes inside the coal block. This AE generation apparently results from crack initiation and extension around the coal combustion area under the influence of thermal stress. However, comparing the results from UCG models of linking and coaxial types, the gasification of the linking type model showed an average calorific value as high as 11.3 MJ/m3. The coaxial type yielded an average calorific value of produced gas as only 5.79 MJ/m3. In the coaxial type of UCG model, the combustion region was limited to the area around the coaxial hole. The AE activity was lower than in the linking type model. For small-scale UCG field experiments, linking and coaxial types were tested at an open pit coal mine in Hokkaido, Japan. Using a linking type UCG, 58.2 kg coal was processed in 39 h, with the calorific value estimated as 11 MJ/m3. However, the coaxial type UCG processed 7.0 kg coal in 9 h, yielding an estimated calorific value of 6.0 MJ/m3. These tendencies resemble those of results of laboratory UCG experiments. Results of these experiments demonstrate that AE monitoring is a useful tool to evaluate combustion reactors for efficient and safe UCG systems. To develop a coaxial UCG system, results show that fracture control around combustion reactors is indispensable.

Aug 1, 2013

By Derrick Hunter, Pat Feighan, Keith Chrystall, David Wells

"Equipment which may be remotely operated, has some degree of on-board intelligence, and which for periods of time may operate autonomously, is referred to as telerobotic. Recent advances in electronics, computers and hydraulic equipment have dramatically reduced the cost and simplified the process of converting standard industrial equipment to telerobotic control. The benefits of telerobotic equipment include improved safety by removing the operator from dangerous situations, reduced maintenance costs and increased productivity. This technology has been proven in various military, nuclear, and police applications.The surface mining industry has expressed an interest in automation and is characterized by a willingness to use remotely operated equipment, however, the majority of telerobotic equipment currently in use is experimental or prototypical. Potential applications of telerobotic equipment for surface mining include remote operation of equipment near dangerous high walls and other unsafe areas, utilization of robotic trucks for routine hauling operations, and control of jointed equipment. In addition, component technologies of telerobotic systems are relevant to various forms of condition monitoring, operator feedback systems, and vehicle positioning.Attention must now be directed toward resolving more complex problems associated with enhancing feedback to the operator, improving the man/machine interface, and ultimately, improving efficiency. Removal of the human operator from the work site introduces significant complications in replacing the sensory inputs that an operator normally uses to efficiently run his machinery. These can be difficult to define and even more difficult to replicate remotely and may include restrictions pertaining to vision, hearing, and touch.In cooperation with Defence Research Establishment Suffield and the Alberta Research Council, Robotech Industries Ltd. is pursuing the development of additional technologies to further enhance an operator’s ability to control remote telerobotic equipment. These developments include a head-mounted display, additional control station displays and improvements to coordinated motion control software. Prototypes of these developments are expected to be completed and tested by the fourth quarter of 1997."

Jan 1, 1996