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GENTLEMEN, I have to thank you very much for the honour you have conferred upon me by electing me President of the Institute for this year. On behalf of resident members, I have to offer the visitors a very cordial welcome to Mount Morgan, and to tell them that all arrangements have been made to enable them to inspect the mine and works at their own convenience, and to supply them with any particulars they may need.It is very pleasing indeed to see such a large gathering, especially on account of the long journeys many have undertaken in order to be present. The first congress in Queensland, about eleven years ago, was attended by a comparatively small number of members, and a rather long time has been allowed to pass in consequence. The large attendance at this meeting encourages the holding of meetings in Queensland more frequently. Owing to the long distances, and the number of mining centres in Australia and New Zealand, we cannot expect to meet oftener than once in six or seven years in...

Jan 1, 1911

By Maria I. De Rosa

Table 19 and figure 7 show the number of fires and fire injuries for surface metal/nonmetal mines by state during 1990-2001. Table 19 also shows the injury risk rates, employees' working hours, and lost workdays. A total of 79 fires occurred in 16 states during 1990-2001 for these mines. Forty-five of the fires caused 44 injuries and 2 fatalities (including 9 fires and 7 injuries involving contractors). The yearly average was 6.6 fires and 3.7 injuries. Sixty-five fires with 31 injuries and 2 fatalities occurred at metal mines, and 14 fires with 13 injuries occurred at nonmetal mines. The Ewhr value was 546 x 106 hr (In = 0.016), and the LWD value was 13,134. Nevada and Arizona had the most fires (19 fires, 10 injuries, and 1 fatality; and 19 fires and 11 injuries, respectively). They were followed by Minnesota (11 fires, 4 injuries, and 1 fatality) and Alaska (6 fires and 4 injuries). Of these states, Alaska had the highest injury risk rate value (In = 0.079). Table 20, partly illustrated in figure 8, shows the number of fires, fire injuries, fire fatalities, risk rates, employees' working hours, and lost workdays by time period. The number of fires increased during the second period, then decreased during most of the remaining periods. The number of fire injuries decreased during most of the periods (a small increase is seen during the last period), accompanied by a decline in employees' working hours during most of the periods (a small increase is seen during the third and fourth periods). The In values follow patterns similar to those shown by the number of fire injuries. Tables 21-26 show the number of fires by ignition source, method of detection and suppression, equipment involved, location, and burning material by time period. Figure 9 shows the major variables related to fires for 1990-2001. Table 27 shows the number of fire injuries per number of fires causing injuries and total fires by year, ignition source, equipment involved, and location.

Jan 1, 2004

By Margaret R. Egan

A study of the combustion emission products of rigid ventilation ducting was completed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The ducting was composed of fiberglass-reinforced polyester resin. Four properties of the ducting were evaluated: (1) propensity to ignite, (2) smoke characteristics, (3) gas emissions, and (4) heat release. Particle sizes, obscuration, optical densities, and production constants for gas and smoke were also calculated. These results provide comprehensive data about the emission products, detectability, and relative hazards of fiberglass-reinforced plastic ducting and other mine combustibles under realistic fire conditions.

Jan 1, 1990

By V

"Recent regulations, as well as a general aversion to central dust collectors within the Powder River Basin Coal user’s community, have created a need for an alternate method for eliminating airborne dust. This paper addresses the capital expenditure as well as the cost of ownership of an integrated point source air cleaning system in comparison to a central collection system. This assessment was conducted by comparing the cost to purchase and operate a central dust collection system and integrated air cleaner system on a typical multiple transfer point application. The central dust collector consists of a negative pressure blower, a series of filter bags, a collection hopper, a screw conveyor to place collected material back into the material stream, and a series of ducts to pull air and dust from individual pickup points. The point specific integrated air cleaners consists of a negative pressure blower to pull dust and air from an application point through a bag-less filter media located at the application point. The agglomerated material is then redeposited into the material stream at point of use without the need for ducting or a central material hopper. The assessment yielded a 54% reduction in capital expenditure and a 26% reduction in operating costs for the same application when using individual dust filters as opposed to a central system. In addition to the lowered cost, there are reductions in risk associated with the elimination of ductwork and the central containment enclosure for collected explosive dust. By the conclusion of this paper, the reader will have a better understanding of the quantifiable differences between a central dust collection system and a set integrated air cleaner systems. BACKGROUND Spillage has always been a problem in the bulk solids handling industry. As long as there have been conveyors, there has been spillage. Spillage is material that falls off a conveyor belt and creates a hazard in the environment around a conveyor belt."

Jan 1, 2016

By T. J. DeMull

The business of heap leaching requires accurate forecasting of metal production from the heaps. Business forecasts typically follow a format that project periodic (monthly, quarterly, or annual) product shipments based on anticipated operating results, e. g., tons of ore placed, grade of ore, and rate of leach extraction. Since revenue and cash flow are dependent on the metal production stream, forecasts of metal production are very important for project evaluation and business planning purposes. Nevertheless, production forecasts, particularly for new heap leach projects, have been prone to errors. The present paper identifies some of the pitfalls that would be encountered in preparing production forecasts for new heap leach operations and provides a checklist of considerations to assist in preparing a forecast. Also, the paper presents a case study of copper production forecasting used for the Sanchez Project, a heap leach operation located near Safford, Arizona, that is presently under development by AZCO Mining, Inc.

Jan 1, 1995

By P. Bandopadhyay, T. C. Rao

Geologically the Indian coals belong to Gondwana formations. Being of drift origin, these coals contain high percentage of mineral matter distributed in finely disseminated form. Indian coal-preparation plants process prime coking and medium coking coals for use in steel plants. Limited resources of good quality coking coals (Table 1) could not keep pace with the rapid developments of the iron and steel industry in India. This resulted in the introduction of coal-preparation technology and the establishment of washeries in India in the last 30 years or so. The first four washeries were set up during the early fifties at West-Bokaro, Jamadoba, Lodna and Kargali. Next came the first non-coking coal washery at Nowrozabad set up by the Associated Cement Company. In 1961, following the recommendation of Central Coal Washeries Committee (1953-54), Hindustan Steel Ltd. had set up five central washeries at appropriate locations, viz Durgapur, Dugda (2 washeries), Patherdih and Bhojudih, so that the raw coal feed having similar washability characteristics can conveniently come from a number of collieries to a particular washery. Subsequently, to meet the increasing demand of metallurgical coal by steel plants, two more central washeries (at Durgapur and Chasnala) and three pit-head washeries (at Kathara, Swang and Gidi) were installed by 1970. The prime objective of washing Indian coking coal is essentially to reduce the ash content. All the washeries in India, taken together have an installed capacity of about 26 million tons of raw coal input per annum. Details of these washeries in respect of their annual capacity, main washing systems adopted and the nature and size of the products are given in Table 2. It can be observed from this table that (1) bulk of the coal is processed in units like jigs HM baths and HM cyclones; (2) only two of the washeries have cleaning circuits for treatment of fines.

Jan 1, 1980

By R. J. Mechin

Top-slicing was introduced in the Pachuca district in 1917 by T. C. Baker, at that time mine superintendent of the Santa Gertmdis mine. There then existed 1200 ft. below the surface, lying between the fourteenth and eighteenth levels (a vertical distance of 354.2 ft.) a block of ore having a length of 295 ft. and an average width of 82 ft. and dipping at an angle of 65°. This block lay in the hanging wall of the vein and consisted of highly altered and fractured andesite, cut through with mineralized quartz stringers. On the foot-wall side, 26 ft. of old filling, left by former operators, was of payable grade. Stoping therein was first undertaken by the square-set filling system, but because of the extremely heavy hanging wall and loose dry filling in the foot wall, all square setting had to be accompanied by spiling, which made the operation exceedingly slow and costly. A system of mining was sought that would eliminate the difficulties inherent to the square-set system in heavy ground and that at the same time would effect the desired economies in mining. After several years, top-slicing has met all the conditions most satisfactorily, so that when similar conditions presented themselves in El Bordo mine, this method was adopted with necessary modifications. El Bordo mine is operated by the Santa Gertrudis company, and is situated about two miles north of Pachuca. Because of the diversity of the orebodies, a number of different mining methods are in use, among them top-slicing. Description of Block of Ore Former operators, when mining the original vein, left in the foot wall ore of too low grade to be profitable at the time; also, considerabe low-grade material was sorted out and stored as filling in the stopes. Some pillars were left in place, either for support or because they were not payable. All this has formed a body of ore that can now be exploited

Jan 1, 1925

By B. M. Bird

For several years the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the University of Washington have been cooperating, in a study of coal tabling. The first pert of the work consisted of experiments using, one of the commercial-sized coal washing tables in the laboratories of the College of Mine. As an outgrowth of this work, hindered-settling classification has been successfully applied in the tabling of coal4, and several important improvements, mainly in the riffling, have been made in the table itself. Both of these developments have resulted in increasing the rapacity and efficiency of the coal-washing table. In order to facilitate further progress in this work an investigation has been undertaken to throw more light on the mechanism of table separation. The final separation of a table is obviously the resultant of several operations; namely, stratification, removal of the top strata or parts of them as washed coal by the cross-flowing water, and removal of the bottom strata or parts of

Jan 1, 1929

By R. B. G. Yeo

Pronounced isothermal martensite formation at room temperature was measured dilatometrically in a steel containing 0.01 pct C, 24.9 pct Ni, 0.26 pctAl, 2.58 pct Ti and 0.25 pct Cb. It is shown that martensite will form isothermally if stabilization of the austenite-martensite transformation is eliminated by removal of carbon. The decarburization of two iron-nickel alloys allows isothermal transformation to martensite to occur at temperatures above their athermal Ms temperatures. In an Fe-22.4 pct Ni alloy, at the 0.008 pct C level, the Ms temperature during air cooling is 85°F higher than that during- water quenching-. At the 0.15 pct C level this difference is reduced to only 5°F. The introduction of carbon causes stabilization during air cooling which lowers the Ms temperature virtually to the same level as determined during mate?. quenching. Thus in the 0.15 pct C alloy, the Ms temperature is almost independent of cooling rate. It is suggested that rival theories of martensite formation should be reexamined in alloys of sufficiently low carbon and nitrogen content to eliminate the complication of stabilization. The Ms temperature of a steel containing 0.01 pct C, 24.9 pct Ni, 0.26 pct Al, 1.58 pct Ti and 0.15 pct Cb, solution treated at 1500°F and air cooled as 1/8-in. diam specimens, was found to be 57 °F. 1 However, when held for several hours at room temperature the steel hardened slightly and became appreciably ferromagnetic. Isothermal transformation to martensite was first revealed by Kurdjumov and Maksimova2 in an iron-base alloy containing 0.6 pct C, 6.0 pct Mn and 2 pct Cu. Most of the other studies of isothermal martensite have also been confined to highly alloyed steels which transform at subzero temperatures; for instance, DasGupta and Lement, 3 Cech and Hollomon, 4 Machlin and Cohen,5 Shih, Averbach, and Cohen.6 Averbach and cohen7 noted a rapidly decaying volume increase at room temperature in a steel containing 1 pct C, 1.5 pct Cr and 0.2 pct V. cina8 and Marshall, Perry, and Harpster9 have described the isothermal transformation to martensite at room and subzero temperature in stainless steels. Kurdjumov10 has recently reviewed the subject, noting that the isothermal formation of martensite can be observed only in the temperature range somewhat below Ms or below -50°C. The isothermal formation of martensite may be characterized as follows: 1) It occurs in steels of widely different compositions, the main prerequisite being a low transformation temperature. 2) The transformation occurs by the formation of new plates and not by the growth of old ones. 3) The isothermal transformation is suppresed by stabilization during slow cooling or holding at temperatures near room temperature. However, the factors governing this mode of transformation are still not fully understood. The formation of martensite isothermally suggests an activated process. The early theories of martensite formation did, in fact, utilize classical nucleation concepts. Kurdjumov 11 first proposed the presence of thermally activated nuclei of different sizes and compositions which would grow if they reached critical size during cooling. This treatment was enlarged and developed quantitatively by Fisher, Holloman, and Turnbull12,13 and was later reviewed by the latter two authors.14 Fisher15 associates Ms with a nucleation rate of one per cc per sec. At slightly higher temperatures the nucleation rate is so low that isothermal formation of martensite is not observed in reasonable times. At slightly lower temperatures the nucleation rate is so high that it could not be suppressed by rapid cooling. By judicious use of parameters Fisher 16 was able to obtain good agreement between classical nucleation theory and the incubation times of martensite formation.4 However the application of these principles to martensite formation in iron-nickel alloys15 predicts that an alloy containing about 30 pct (31 at. pet) Ni would not transform. The presence of an Ms temperature at -223° C in an alloy containing 34.1 pct (33 at. pct) Ni led Kaufman and cohen17 to reject the hypothesis of homogeneous nucleation in favor of the reaction path theory originally proposed by Cohen, Machlin and Paranjpe.18 This theory conveniently explains the formation of martensite athermally but becomes labored when dealing with isothermal formation. Kaufman and cohen19 did explain the isothermal activation of embryos by assuming it to be a result of the expansion of their boundary dislocation loops but this treatment predicts an upper temperature limit of isothermal martensite formation.

Jan 1, 1962

By J. Alton Burks

When acoustical materials are used in a mining environment for noise control purposes, they are subject to environmental deterioration from hydraulic fluid, moisture, and dust. These and other factors can cause physical degradation of the material, which can lessen its ability to absorb sound. In this study, the Bureau of Mines measured the sound absorption properties of 16 different acoustical materials after 4 sample treatments: (1) being kept clean and dry (as received from the supplier), as a control or reference standard, (2) immersion in water and draining, (3) immersion in lOO-pct-petroleum-type hydraulic fluid and draining, and (4) exposure in a coal mine. The last three treatments were used to approximate the type of physical degradation that can be experienced in actual use. The impedance tube or standing wave method was used to measure the normal absorption coefficient. It was found that the absorption coefficient of most materials was adversely affected by the retention of either oil or water, with oil having the greater effect. The only class of materials that was affected by neither oil nor water was neoprene foam.

Jan 1, 1990

By Peter N. Blakey, Thiann R. Yu, Douglas O. Tansey

A flexible, efficient, and relatively low-cost drilling and blasting operation has evolved at Texasgulf Canada, Ltd.'s Kidd Creek underground mine. Located 32 km (20 miles) north of historic Timmins, Ontario, the underground operation utilizes a sublevel open stoping method developed with large-diameter blastholes. Over the years, Kidd Creek engineers have experimented with various drill-and-blast techniques, leading to the present-day practice. Continuing work is being conducted to further mechanize the blasting operation.

Jan 6, 1976

By Osamu Taki

The innovative Soil-Cement Mixed Wall Technique emerged in Japan and obtained recognition in the engineering and construction communities in the 1980's. This technique was introduced to the United States in 1986. It was accepted as the most credible construction technique by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for ground stabilization and cutoff wall work in the Jackson Lake Dam Project, Wyoming in 1987 and 1988. It was also accepted as a remediation technique by U.S. EPA for a Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) demonstration on in-situ solidification/ stabilization. The Soil-Cement Mixed Wall Technique consists of mixing in-place soils with cement grout or other reagent slurries using multiple axis augers and mixing paddles to construct overlapped soil-cement columns. The overlapped column panel is then extended to form an underground continuous soil-cement wall for use as a cutoff wall or a structural diaphragm wall for groundwater control and excavation support. By arranging the column panels in various configurations, the technique becomes a versatile tool for stabilization of soft or liquefiable soils.

Jan 1, 1990

Using a Mark IV surface force apparatus, adsorption of dodecylamine hydrochloride on mica has been studied at pH 5.7 in the presence and absence of octanol. With amine alone, the repulsive forces between mica surfaces are reduced due to charge neutralization and attractive hydrophobic force; however, the latter is of relatively short-range with its decay length less than 2 nm. In the presence of amine and octanol, the hydrophobic force becomes more significant, its decay length being extended up to 6.5 nm. The increased hydrophobicity in the presence of octanol is attributed to the co-adsorption of the neutral surfactant with dodecylamine, which increases the packing density of hydrocarbons on the mica surface. The increased hydrophobicity due to co-adsorption is reflected in the improved floatability of silica when using octanol as an extender.

Jan 1, 1993

By AIME AIME

WHEN the War Production Board issued its order which will end the use of iron and steel in more than 400 familiar civilian articles, the list of those products formed a fascinating and homeric catalogue of the things we use. Articles for which iron and steel may not be used after a 90-day "tapering-off" period are as workaday as office machinery and as frivolous as cocktail shakers. Mostly they are smaller items-the smallest probably are phonograph needles but in the aggregate they will save tremendous quantities of the metal most needed to win the war. In total war there are no trifles. Interesting proof of this lies in the fact that by eliminating manufacture of blackhead squeezers we shall save 110,000 lb. of steel a year. Out of this steel we might have made four 155-mm. field pieces. We might have made a thousand 3-in. trench mortars, 4400 0.30-caliber machine guns, 55 16-in. shells, 110 200-lb. aerial bombs, or three 15-ton tanks with something left over to arm them.

Jan 1, 1942

By M. B. Shongwe, R. K. K. Mbaya, C. K. Thubakgale, P. Mendonidis

"A low-grade nickel-bearing ore was pre-concentrated on a SB40 laboratory model Falcon Concentrator. Three size fractions, -212+125, -125+75 and -75 µm were tested with the intent to upgrade the nickel content by reducing their content of fine silica, which becomes amorphous during leaching. Separation of silica from nickel-bearing magnesium silicate minerals; hornblende, clinochlore and talc, was more efficient in the finer particle sizes, -125+75 and -75 µm, and at high G-forces. For these two size fractions, nickel was upgraded from 0.06 to 0.07%, with a reduction in silica content from 52.12 to 50.71%. Leaching of feed samples prior to pre-concentration resulted in the formation of amorphous silica, indicative of the presence of fine silica in the samples. Leaching of nickel from the -125+75 µm fraction increased with increasing G-force and feed pulp percent solids, while that of -75 µm was not influenced. The optimum nickel recovery was 15.68% to the Falcon underflow, using the feed size fraction of -75 µm, 30 G and a feed pulp solids content of 10% solids, after 120 minutes of treatment.INTRODUCTION A low-grade South African nickel-bearing ore with about 0.06% Ni was previously studied for atmospheric pressure acid leaching using sulphuric acid. The study was motivated by the continuing search for methods to treat of low-grade ores, which appear to be an increasingly important source of valuable metals as a result of a declining production from rich sulphide ores. Nickel is a base metal that is used as an alloy in steelmaking and chemical industries because of its resistance to corrosion (Haudet et al., 2015). Nickel laterite ores with grades lower than 1.50% Ni are considered to be complex ores, accounting for 70% of the global nickel reserves (MacCarthy et al., 2016). Their complex nature may be attributed to the indefinite mineralogy of these ores, in which nickel may occur in more than one mineral host. In some cases, nickel may be finely disseminated in the ore. The grade of such an ore and complex mineralogy do not justify the application of pyrometallurgical methods for extraction of nickel (Zhu et al., 2012). This suggests that there is a need for less expensive alternative methods of extraction. This study investigates the application of centrifugal gravity concentration, using the Falcon concentrator, followed by leaching to determine the effect of pre-concentration of the ore prior to extraction by atmospheric pressure leaching with sulphuric acid."

Jan 1, 2017

By C. H. Sheerin

Remotely located in the jungle near mount Puncak Jaya [16,500 ft (5,030 my), Irian Jaya, Indonesia rests Freeport's Indonesian copper mining operation. Shortly after start up of Freeport's copper concentrator in 1972, lower than estimated throughput was experienced within the crushing circuit. Within one year, Freeport had successfully engineered a solution, and was operating a 5,500 dmtpd wet screening circuit. Today, after 19 years of successful wet screening expansion and operation, the concentrator processes 57,000 dmtpd.

Jan 1, 1993

By Kent Phillips, Meredith Scaggs-Witte, Emily Sarver, Cigden Keles

"After nearly four decades of decline, the prevalence of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP, or black lung) in the United States has been on the rise since the mid-1990s (Laney et al., 2014; Laney et al., 2010; Suarthana et al., 2011; Pollock et al., 2010; Antao et al., 2005; Blackley et al., 2016). Particularly alarming is the number of cases of rapidly progressive disease such as progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) (Pollock et al., 2010; Antao et al., 2005; Blackley et al., 2016; Laney et al., 2017). A recent study by Laney et al. (2017) observed 192 U.S. coal miners participating in the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP) who had been diagnosed with PMF since 2000. Of the 163 (85 percent) that had a normal radiograph on file to use as a baseline, 27 (17 percent) of these individuals had progressed from a normal radiograph to PMF diagnosis in less than 10 years. Moreover, 162 (84 percent) of the individuals in that study worked in Kentucky, West Virginia or Virginia, and 169 (88 percent) had only ever mined underground. Blackley et al. (2016) also reported on a group of 60 PMF cases that were discovered by a single black lung clinic in eastern Kentucky. Since seeking care at such clinics and participation in the CWHSP are voluntary, and could be influenced by a number of factors, there has been some concern that these reports may overestimate the degree of resurgence in severe disease (i.e., versus disease that was previously under-reported). Even so, they highlight a critical need to better understand the cause(s) of disease development and progression — such that effective interventions can be devised.The notable uptick in CWP and PMF rates among miners in central Appalachia has led to this region being called a hot spot for disease (Pollock et al., 2010; Antao et al., 2005; Blackley et al., 2014; Laney et al., 2017). While the geographic clustering has been well documented (Pollock et al., 2010; Antao et al., 2005; Wade et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2013), the root cause is still unknown. Leading hypotheses have focused on the relative amount of rock being cut along with coal in many central Appalachian mines, as there has been a tendency to mine increasingly thinner coal seams over the past couple of decades (Laney et al., 2010; Schatzel, 2009). This shift has likely been accompanied by changes in specific dust exposure factors, such as increased abundance of particularly harmful dust constituents (e.g., silica or silicates) or increased frequency of harmful exposures (e.g., due to work in more risky environments) (Pollock et al., 2010; Blackley et al., 2016; Cohen et al., 2016; Douglas et al., 1986)."

Jan 5, 2018

By J. Aravena, S. Gajardo, M. Ayala, P. Salinas

Both, Teck Carmen de Andacollo (Teck CDA) and Orica, work hard in the implementation of new technologies available in the explosives industry and drilling and blasting techniques, with the objective of sustainable development of their operations, regeneration, and protection of the environment, also considering the welfare and relationship with the surrounding communities. The open-pit Carmen de Andacollo mine is located adjacent to the town of Andacollo. Therefore, both companies together have developed the implementation of different techniques and technologies to mitigate the impacts of mining operations in the community, considering an important part of this challenge to minimize the impact of their perception of blasting by reducing the level of vibrations and sound pressure (airblast), in addition to the control of dust and smoke, strengthening sustainable production in harmony with communities. The technologies and techniques that have been implemented are the installation of airblast and vibration monitoring stations stands out, whose database has records since 2011. Using the vibration database, different models were developed to predict the vibration level of blasting in its design phase, achieving a difference of 4.1% between the estimated and measured values in the last year. Two techniques stand out to minimize the ejection of material, "Hydraulic Dome" and "Dual layer blasting", the first consists of water irrigation on the surface to be blasted and the second is an unconventional blasting technique, which was awarded in 2015 for its results in the environment. Also pre-splitting engineering has been modified in a positive evolution, where through different configurations, the airblast has been reduced by 15% compared with records from 2011 to 2022. Finally, due to the impact of operational restrictions, such as days available to blast, number of holes, and powder factors, the wireless initiation technology was implemented, which allowed reducing the limitations in the loading, generating an improvement in terms of blasted materials over conventional systems. Understanding the restrictions and challenges in terms of impact on communities, the correct implementation of all these techniques is important, and in conjunction with collaborative work, it has been shown and validated that producing in a sustainable and sustainable manner is possible.

Jan 1, 2024

By Robert E. Barieau

In the design of plants to separate helium from natural gas , it is necessary to estimate the enthalpies of the various streams at various positions in the process . This Bureau of Mines report surveys the various methods that have been used to determine enthalpies and gives information on the organizations with such capabilities . The minimum information required for developing an enthalpy diagram is presented , and the relative merits of the various methods are discussed . It is concluded that methods that require no mass flow rate or energy measurements are to be preferred .

Jan 1, 1965

By R. D. Doepker

The dissolution of metals from various metal-mine tailings has been studied through a series of submerged tailings batch tests at U.S. Bureau of Mines laboratories. Tailings selected for this study included both reactive (as determined by column leaching studies) and benign tailings. Metal mobilization in aerated (97 pct saturated with oxygen) samples appeared to be consistently greater than metal dissolution from stagnant (79 pct or 70 pct saturated with oxygen) waters. In the early weeks of the study, sulfate concentrations increased with solid-liquid contact time, while calcium dissolution remained nearly constant. Metal concentrations varied in relation to solid-liquid contact time and aeration. Leachate pH appeared to be nearly independent of solid-liquid contact time for basic tailings. Reactive tailings having both a submerged and a surface component demonstrated increased metal mobility.

Jan 1, 1990