Search Documents

By W. H. Holtzhausen

The purpose of this project was to compare two underground, batch coal haulers ? battery haulers and shuttle cars ? in order to determine the more viable machine to implement. The specific standards for battery haulers were investigated and compared to the requirements of shuttle cars in order to identify the unnecessary expenses related to the legal requirements that are attached to the machines. Costs such as running costs, capital costs, and maintenance costs were researched and compared over a typical life of machine. Average production rates and breakdown times were obtained and used to determine which machine would be more reliable in achieving the required annual production.

Jan 1, 2014

By Lj. D. Andric

By the micronization-milling of the material, the size and the structure of its particles are changed and it comes to the increasing of the potential energy of the system as well as to the chem-ical activity of the material what is the result of an increased free surface and of the concentration of the grate defects, that is of the internal energy of the system. All these changes that are reached, show that new characteristics of treated materials are got by micronization process. Controlling the process of the micronization and by purpose directing of the new characteristics of the activated materials, we can have the positive effects and use them in more technologies. Talc is important nonmetallic mineral raw material that is widely used as either the basic raw material, or as filler. This has stimulated its technological investigation, as well as the investigation of its physical-chemical characteristics. In this paper are shown experimentally reached results of the physical-chemical characteristics of the talc during the process of the micronization in high energetic mill. In this paper, the optimum conditions of miconization of talc in high-energy-speed rotary mill and its influence micronization on a degree of Fe2O3recovery by hydrometallurgical methodes, are presented. The X-ray analysis of the obtained products showed that high quality talc with low content of can be obtained by these physical-chemical processes In this paper, the principles and application or fine and ultra-fine grinding high-energy attriton mill with small balls, enabling fast, efficient grinding, low energy consumption, short grinding time and easy handling will be described.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. D. Amirova

Cyanide-free technology of complex copper-lead ores flotation may be improved through enlarged range of pH values, enhanced copper recovery into copper concentrates due to additional recovery of secondary copper sulfides, as well as through enhanced efficiency of lead sulfides depression in process of new flotation modifiers-based selective separation. Study of the effects of flotation modifier (of metal nature) on minerals surface conditions proved that the xanthate is practically not adsorbed on the galenite surfaces due to minerals hydrophilization. Joint effects of sodium sulfite and modifier enhance process conditions for intensive galenite depression and at the same time for effective chalcopyrite and chalcosine flotation within a large pH values range (from pH=8 to pH=10). Identified mechanisms carry inference that proposed chemical reagent treating method is very promising for selective copper-lead concentrates separation. Potential use of carbon-containing materials as zinc flotation modifier to enhancing zinc recovery in processes of lead-zinc ores treatment has been studied. In our flotation tests we used Shalkiya (South Kazakhstan) lead-zinc ores containing such impurities as carbon shales, which presence impedes the process of saleable concentrates production and gives rise to excessive consumption of flotation agents due to the xanthate adsorption on the carbon. Lead and zinc concentrates were produced by process stages as follows: ores milled to 95% Cl. -0.074 +0; lead and zinc roughing flotation and further recleaner and testing operations. Test flotation in open process cycle resulted in enhancing zinc recovery into zinc concentrates by 21.1% and increasing zinc content in zinc concentrates by 3.96% that evidences promising potentialities for use of carbon-containing products as additional zinc flotation modifier. Works were carried out under National Program 2003~2005 of fundamental researches ?Physical and Chemical Mechanisms of Interactions in Multicomponent Solid and Liquid Systems Specific for Integrated Processing of Complex Metal-Containing Minerals and Technogenic Raw Materials? and contractual Agreement 2005 Optimization of Production and Technology of Shalkiya Lead-Zinc Ores Processing at Kentau Dressing Works.

Jan 1, 2014

By R. J. Forzatti

The production of sulphuric acid from sulphur generates heat. The majority of this heat is recovered as steam and is often used to generate electricity. Heat not recovered as steam is rejected to cooling water systems. The design of the turbine, condenser, and cooling water systems impacts the overall water, energy, and environmental footprint of the plant. This review considers a conceptual 2000 t/d sulphuric acid plant with several alternative cooling water systems. The review utilizes Hatch?s 4 Quadrant sustainable design tool to compare the alternatives on both an economic and a weighted sustainability scale.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. Deepatana

This study compares the use of an aminophosphonate chelating resin Purolite S950 and a sulphonic acid strong cation exchange resin Purolite C160H to recover nickel and cobalt from the synthetic bioleach solutions. Batch adsorption of metal citrate is performed as a function of metal citrate concentration (15~2000 mg/L) and solution pH (0.01M and 0.1M citric acid). The adsorption mechanism as inferred from the fit to Langmuir (LM), Freundlich (FM) and Redlich-Peterson (RP) models demonstrates that nickel citrate adsorbed onto C160H appears monolayer in comparison to that adsorbed onto S950 exists multilayer. In contrast, cobalt citrate adsorption onto both C160H and S950 agrees with the LM model. The results have shown that loading capacities of nickel and cobalt citrate onto C160H are 60 and 65 mg/g whereas those observed onto S950 are 16mg/g and 6 mg/g respectively. These are achieved in metal citrate prepared in 0.1 M citric acid. Resin regeneration is conducted in using 2 M nitric acid solution. The results show high efficiency of nickel and cobalt citrate elution from Purolite C160H. Findings from this study suggest Purolite C160H is a suitable adsorbent for recovering nickel and cobalt from bioleaching solutions.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. Barsky

The composition of multi-component materials is proved to be unambiguously determined by the composition uncertainty parameter (composition entropy). At the same time, every component, depending on its content, introduces a certain value into this parameter. Quality criterion of multi-component separation is determined by the total change of this parameter for all products obtained as a result of the separation process. This parameter can unambiguously estimate both multi-product separation and complicated schemes of modern beneficiation plants. It can be used to estimate binary mixtures separation, too. During the optimization of multi-product separation, another problem arises, which is not peculiar to binary mixtures. In this case, the total efficacy depends on the order of separation boundaries, as well. In the present paper, a specific example of initial product separation into seven products by six boundaries is investigated. It is clear that with respect to a single boundary, two products only can be obtained. In this case, the separation optimum is shown to correspond to the separation of boundary-class particles equally into both products. We have also established that from the point of view of entropy, the maximal possible separation efficacy corresponds to equiprobable composition of the initial mixture, i.e., the fine product quantity in the material to be separated is equal to that of the coarse product. Three groups of experiments were carried out. In the first group, the boundaries were consecutively specified from the finest to the coarsest one. In the second group, the boundaries were set vice-versa, i.e., consecutively from the coarsest to the finest one. In the third group, no sequence was observed. At every separation stage, a boundary was specified in such a way that the separated material composition was as close as possible to equiprobable one relative to this boundary. Total efficacy was different in all the three cases. In third group of experiments, its value is the highest, which confirms the advanced supposition. The obtained results are phenomenological, ? they can be applied to any processes of solid, liquid and gaseous materials separation.

Jan 1, 2014

By Shuli Teng, Vladimir Sujansky, Matthew Rawls, Ivan Junarsa

In recent years significant advances have been made in chemical processing technology. In particular, process intensification using micro-technology has had some success in changing and improving chemical processes including mixing. Process Intensification is the miniaturization of unit operations and processes whereby a smaller compact piece of equipment takes the place of a larger one at the same given capacity or mass flow rate. This paper summarizes research into the application of the technology for manufacture of high internal phase water in oil ammonium nitrate emulsions (ANE’s) at low energy cost and with very low oil/fuel blend content. The emulsions can be used as precursors for preparation of explosives. The quality of the emulsion prepared was assessed through droplet and crystal analysis and compared with that of emulsions made by conventional large scale jet mixing technology.

Jan 1, 2014

By Darryel Boucher, Raymond Langlois, Neil Rowson, Kristian Waters

The Knelson Concentrator is a centrifugal gravity concentrator composed of a high speed rotating bowl into which a mineral slurry is fed. The rotational motion creates a centrifugal acceleration up to an equivalent of 200 G. Under this acceleration, particles enter fluidised riffles along the side of the bowl, with the fluidisation allowing for the substitution of dense material for less dense. The separation mechanism is not fully understood and questions remain on the optimal residence time, slurry feed parameters and bowl surface profile to achieve a better separation. The positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) technique has been applied to record the motion of a -1700+1180 µm particle of a quartz-gold matrix, labelled with 18F radioisotope while it undergoes concentration inside a 3" laboratory scale Knelson Concentrator (KC-MD3) operated at 60 G. The slurry used was composed of quartz and magnetite. Particle trajectories during the first stage of the concentration process where the heavier particles centrifuge through the increasingly dense slurry towards the riffles of the bowl are shown with respect to time. This work reveals new information on particle motion inside the Knelson Concentrator and the results will be used for validation of developed separation model as well as optimisation of a centrifugal concentrator’s performance.

Jan 1, 2014

By Vasile Murariu, William Pate, John Herbst, Dilek Alkac

"Multiphysics models are essentially first principles models capable of providing very accurate micro scale predictions. The computational requirements for Multiphysics Models are extensive, precluding their direct use for flowsheet simulations. Population balance models get their form from theory but the model parameters have to be provided from experiments. The prediction errors for the population balance models are typically significantly higher than those for the Multiphysics Models but the computational effort for Population Balance Models is typically much less than that for the Multiphysics models. The hybrid model described here takes advantage of the strengths of each of the two primary model types and minimizing the weaknesses of each. The Multiphysics Model is used to perform high accuracy "experiments" that are difficult or impossible to conduct in laboratories or plants. The results of these experiments are combined with standard laboratory or plant data to parameterize and further enhance the Population Balance portion of the hybrid model. The creation of a useful Hybrid Model is demonstrated for a MP1000 secondary crusher. The validation of the hybrid crusher model is also presented. Finally the use of the Hybrid Model is illustrated in a full comminution flowsheet simulator."

Jan 1, 2014

The molybdenum ores currently utilized in China are mostly molybdenum sulfide ores whereas oxidized molybdenum ores, being finely disseminated and difficult to process, have not been exploited and utilized effectively. In this article the beneficiation process of a molybdenum ore occurred in an oxidized ore zone was investigated in order to provide a new way for the development and utilization of the oxidized molybdenum ores in China. The molybdenum mineral in the ore was mainly wulfenite and the associated minerals included barite, limonite, quartz and small amount of cerusite. Limonite in the ore occurred in a crust and honeycomb-like colloidal state and composed the framework for the formation of the other minerals in the ore, which filled the pores in the framework. Wulfenite was mainly fine-grained and occurred in the fine porous crust and honeycomb-like framework. The finely disseminated ore structure made the separation and recovery of the molybdenum mineral in the ore very difficult. On the basis of the mineralogical study of the ore, experiments were conducted to compare the various mineral processing methods for the beneficiation of the ore, including single gravity concentration, single magnetic separation, single flotation, and a combination of high intensity magnetic separation and gravity concentration. The results indicated that with single gravity concentration a molybdenum concentrate containing 5.85 % Mo with a yield of 11.76 % and a Mo recovery of 43.5 % was produced. With single high intensity magnetic separation it was very hard to obtain a molybdenum concentrate product. With single flotation process a molybdenum concentrate containing 7.06 % Mo with a yield of 15.14 % and a Mo recovery of 62.63 % was produced. With a combination of high intensity magnetic separation and gravity concentration a molybdenum concentrate containing 6.46 % Mo with a yield of 11.81 % and a Mo recovery of 42.11 % was produced. In conclusion, compared to the other methods the flotation process can produce more reasonable technological and economical results and is the best process for the exploitation and utilization of the finely disseminated oxidized molybdenum ore.

Jan 1, 2014

By L. M. Wang, G. P. Jiang, Y. Jiang, Liao. W. S.

ABSTRACT The authors measured porosities and permeabilities for cores from a low-permeability sandstone uranium deposit in Inner Mongolia. Features studied included fine pore structure, mineral composition, cation exchange capacity, granule appearance, and cementing features. In general, grading of the grains was relatively poor, which decreased the radii of the pore channels. The pore throat distribution was significantly heterogeneous. Pore channels ranged from small to large, but the lack of large pore channels led to low permeability. Cementation by calcite and clays, including montmorillonite, chlorite, and kaolinite, resulted in pore channel narrowing, further decreasing the permeability of the formation.

Jan 1, 2014

By P. F. Ledwaba

South Africa?s Northern Cape Province houses a variety of gemstone minerals. Diamonds remain the primary gemstone in the province, but there are also tiger?s eye, sugilite, rose quartz, jasper, amethyst, amazonite, tourmaline, and topaz deposits. This paper gives an overview of the tiger?s eye (TE) mining sector in the Northern Cape, with the objective of assessing the potential of TE to contribute to job creation and poverty alleviation in the province. Mining of TE started in 1803, but gained momentum during the 1960s. Mining is conducted on a small-scale basis, and in most cases without any legal framework. The majority of the residents are not benefiting from TE. It has been reported that an estimated R700 000 to R800 000 worth of TE is leaving the country every week through illegal trading. The potential for TE mining to contribute to socioeconomic development is hindered by illegal operations, lack of technical skills and knowledge, exploitation by dealers, lack of market information, community rivalries, and absence of value addition. A multi-stakeholder approach is needed to formalize the sector and reap the benefits. Mintek is spearheading a TE project in the Prieska area of the Northern Cape, which aims to establish a gemmological centre where TE can be beneficiated into saleable and high-value products..

Jan 1, 2014

By W. Y. Liu

A sulfate reducing bacteria strain (named SRB-A) is isolated from sanitary wastewater by using anaerobic technology of Hungate. The studies of physiological, biochemical and phylogenic of the isolated strain are carried out. The colonies of the strain are circle. Cells that are slightly curve, rod-shaped with the size of 1.0~3.0µm in length and 0.8~1.0µm in width. The optimum temperature for growth of the organism is 30~35°C. The optimum pH for growth is 7.0~7.2. Strain SRB-A can use sodium lactate, sodium citrate, sodium acetate, ethanol and acetone as electronic acceptor but can not use glycerol, glucose, sucrose and sodium oxatate. The isolated strain reduces sulfate, sulfide, sulfur, DSMO and FeCl3, then nitrate and nitrite can not be used. The strain has higher tolerance of NaCl, and the optimum growth occurs in the presence of 5%~8% (w/v) NaCl. The result of 16S rDNA sequence analysis indicates that the isolated strain SRB-A is the most similar to Desulfo-vibrio halophilus, and the level of the similarity was 98.4%. The isolated strain has a stronger ability to reduce sulfate, and the level of sulfate reduction reaches about 90% at pH 7 in the liquid medium. 0.6 to 0.8 is the optimum COD/SO42- in the medium for the isolated strain to show better ability to reduce sulfate. At pH 2.5 the level of removal of Cu2+ reaches 96.3%. Under the condition of pH 3.5, the level of removal of Zn2+ reaches 92.6%. When the value of pH reaches about 7, the Fe3+ is precipitated by the formation of Fe(OH)3, and Fe3+ is removed up to 89.4% at last.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. Alldén Öberg

In 2004, LKAB decided to start a basic engineering study in expanding its existing production lines at the Malmberget mine site. It was expected that some of the production lines would become bottlenecks with reference to capacity. In this study, the sorting plant is examined and the results show that several unit operations will be limiting under current operating conditions. An additional purpose with the study was to investigate how replacement of some machines would influence performance and if production plans for the coming years might be achieved. Steady-state simulations using the software Modsim? were extensively used to study process performance for different operating conditions, such as iron content and size distribution in run-of-mine ore. Model parameters were derived from pilot plant data and when possible from ex-isting circuits. A complication for the simulations was the lack of relevant data and therefore some of the initial results were only indicative. The result shows that installation of new screens would give a much better operation, but also new crushers would be an improvement. This, since they can be run with full crusher chamber and tighter CSS. During 2007, most of the proposed remedies were implemented and the result is that the bottle-necks are gone, and the grades and material balances are even better than what was envisioned from the simulations.

Jan 1, 2014

As a kind of collector, Xanthates are generally used to make sulfide minerals hydrophobic in flotation process. Xanthate adsorption on a galena surface has been widely studied experimentally. In this paper, DFT methods were employed to investigate the local adsorption interactions about the collectors,such as ethyl xanthate (CH3CH2OCS2?, EO) and ethyl trithiocarbonate (CH3CH2SCS2?, ES), absorbing on two different PbS clusters. From the results, it can be easily found that, on the edge or at the apex, both collectors, with two S atoms bidentate coordinating on the clusters, have surprising interaction energies, while on the surface, its interaction is relatively weak in the form of monodentate ligand. NBO analysis results reveal that there is at least a covalence bond with sulfur atom about 10% and lead atom about 90% when the absorbed lead is on the lattice edge or at apex, but, if the absorbed lead is on the lattice surface, no covalence band would be found. Meanwhile, the S-Pb bond, formed by the absorbed Xanthate and galena lattice, seems to have much more covalence characteristic than that formed in the PbS lattice inner. Furthermore, those data also imply that the difference of the collecting effect between the EO and the ES may be not notable, because of the similar distance and the interaction energy for the same interaction mode.

Jan 1, 2014

The mining industry worldwide is currently facing a significant restructuring process. In most underground mines, widespread mechanization of the mining processes increases production while reducing staff numbers. At the same time, mining depths as well as the lateral spread of the mine workings are increasing. This ever-changing mining environment requires sophisticated solutions for the design and operation of underground mines. In fact, a reduced number of mining engineers is taking responsibility for everincreasing mine operations. This applies not only to the excavation of the minerals, but also to all other aspects of the mining operation, including health and safety, disaster management, and mine rescue organization. Most mining engineering graduates entering the industry lack experience in mine emergency management. Young engineer trainees must learn mine emergency management and rescue work in addition to their normal training experience on the job. Often, and unfortunately, emergency and rescue training at different mining companies is not carried out to the highest level and standard and with the best possible training outcomes. The tasks and challenges a young engineer faces while being trained in a new position do not leave much room for additional training in mine rescue and emergency management. At the same time, experienced, ?old hands? are retiring and cannot easily be replaced due to limited graduation numbers. Strategies are being developed at mining universities worldwide to train mining engineering students in handling mine emergency situations and to provide hands-on experience for managing potential accident and disaster scenarios underground. Two of these strategies, from the USA and from Central Europe, are presented in this paper. These specific strategies have to be seen under special consideration of the local and regional boundary conditions, but might serve as case studies for mining schools and universities in other countries.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. L. Deutsch

Block model estimates are commonly calculated by the well-established technique of kriging. The mathematics are well established, but implementation details require site-specific considerations. Checking and measuring the performance of the estimates is important to ensure the block model is suitable for its intended purpose. There are different criteria for long-term planning and short-term planning. The implementation of kriging should be checked with cross-validation and assessed for conditional bias and departure from theoretical optimality with the calculation of kriging efficiency. A new expression of kriging efficiency, which compares the kriging variance with the theoretically optimal kriging variance, is developed to aid in this assessment. The assessment tools presented here can be applied in a number of situations; however, ordinary kriging with a reasonably large search performs well in most cases.

Jan 1, 2014

By Fredrik Sarvell, Leo-Ville Miettinen, Veli-Matti Uotinen

"Abstract The continued concentration of building activities in cramped areas of city centres means more underground construction and facilities. Demand to minimize execution time and any kind of disturbance to business, general traffic, people and nearby technical structures is increasing. To answer these challenges foundation business has to develop schedule-wise and technically reliable deep excavation and foundation solutions in vulnerable surroundings and challenging soil conditions.Drilled pipe pile wall – RD-pile wall – is a combination of Ruukki drilled steel pipe piles and interlocking sections. Individual RD piles, typical diameters between 219 mm to 610 mm, are connected to each other with interlocks welded to the piles on the automated welding line at the workshop. The matching dimensions of the drilling system and interlocking sections allow the installation of RD piles through stones and boulders and even into the bedrock, if necessary, in a single operation. Installation is done by a down-the-hole hammer (DTH) using the centric drilling system and oversized ring bits or a drilling system consisting of a pilot bit and reamer wings.RD-pile walls have been used as permanent and temporary retaining walls for different kinds of demanding excavations and structures, such as bridge foundation, as quay wall and as sealing structure in rehabilitation of an existing dam. Rigidity and watertightness of the lower end of the RDpile wall is being researched as well as fire design issues examined. One of the most fascinating RDpile wall solution is to utilize the wall as a permanent underground basement wall. Reliable and rigid connection to bedrock decreases the bending moment and deflection of the wall and good fire resistance in addition to large variety of pile dimensions and steel grades gives possibilities to design and execute a cost-efficient basement wall and foundations without temporary retaining wall works. 1. IntroductionIn northern Scandinavian soil conditions, installation of sheet pile walls, or even secant pile walls, is often problematic due to the existence of hard and large boulders in the overburden, and especially when the retaining wall structure should penetrate to or into the hard bedrock. On the other hand, an efficient and reliable piling technique suitable for the demanding soil conditions described above, percussion drilling, has been developed since the 1960’s, and especially from the mid-1990’s, when the concentric drilling method with the ring bit and pilot was introduced. A new retaining wall application, the RD pile wall was developed by combining that drilling method with the widely used retaining wall solution based on steel pipe piles and welded interlocks (a pipe pile wall normally installed with vibratory or impact hammers)."

Jan 1, 2014

By H. H. Li

Reverse flotation is usually used for hematite/silica or bauxite/clay flotation separation in which the silica or clay is floated and rejected. Some properties of these silicate minerals such as particle size and surface characteristics have significant effect on their flotation behaviours. Firstly, the silicate mineral particles (especially clay minerals) generally have fine particle size (< 5 microns) in their natural states or due to overgrinding and they display poor flotation kinetics, consequently having low flotation recovery. Secondly, the wettability difference on different particle basal planes influences the affinity for adsorptions of different types of chemicals such as collectors or macro-molecule. Common polyacrylamide (PAM) flocculants can be used to minimize the exposure of the most hydrophilic planes of clay particles via hydrogen bonding but they can not efficiently enhance the overall particle surface floatability due to the hydrophilic properties of this type of macromolecules. A novel method to improve both flotation kinetics and surface wettability of silicate minerals has been developed and studied. That is to use a temperature-sensitive polymer, poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM), as a process aid in the flotation of silicate minerals. Unlike PAM polymers, PNIPAM can induce a hydrophilic/hydrophobic transition on the particle surface when the temperature is changed to be lower or higher than its critical solution temperature (CST). At a lower temperature, the PNIPAM adsorbs on the particle surface via hydrogen bond similar to PAM. It induces strong hydrophobic aggregation when the temperature is increased above the CST. Thus, both floc size and mineral floatability are greatly increased. The flotation results show very good flotation performance and the addition of conventional flotation collector was no more required because the increased particle surface hydrophobicity induced by PNIPAM. Contact angle measurements explained the role of PNIPAM in manipulating particle surface hydrophilic/hydrophobic transition.

Jan 1, 2014

By B. Jin

Removal of fluoride and chloride by alkaline washing from direct lead smelting dust which originated from an Ausmelt furnace is reported. The results show that the fluoride removal efficiency increases with an increase of alkaline concentration, alkaline washing temperature and time. The L/S ratio has little effect on fluoride and chloride removal efficiency. A new flow sheet for removal of fluoride and chloride from the dust was successfully proposed according to the results. Fluoride and chloride removal efficiencies are more than 53.68% and 63.18% respectively using the flow sheet under the optimum parameters of temperature 338 K, L/S ratio 3:1 and alkaline washing time of 1.5 h. The contents of fluoride and chloride in the alkaline washing residues can meet the standard of zinc purity as hydrometallurgical materials for zinc processing.

Jan 1, 2014