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By Mojtaba Ghorbannezhad, Abbas Sam, Soroush Arabzadeh

One of the dewatering methods in mineral processing plant is filtration system. Disk filters are included the porous surface with pressure drop on both sides, Water in the pulp passes through the surface and solid particles remain as a cake on it. Wet concentrate production of magnetite processing plant at Golgohar Mining and Industrial Company with solid tonnage of 160 ton per hour and 49% solid amount contains 166 m3/h of water. In the present study, in addition to studying disc filter performance, the effective parameters on cake moisture were studied using Vacuum Bottom-Feed Leaf method (in the laboratory scale). Optimization was performed using the Taguchi method. The results showed that the cake moisture is reduced by increasing particle size and solid percentage (because of specific resistivity reduction), while the rate of cake formation and its thickness are increased. Also, it was found that by increasing pressure, the cake moisture is reduced and cake formation rate and its thickness are increased. In this study, the effect of fabric texture was also examined. Lowest cake moisture was obtained in condition of using compressed plain fabric with mono-multi filament fibres, pressure at 75kPa, solid percentage of 65 to 70, particle size (D80) equivalent to 123µm and disk rotation speed of 1.25 rpm.

Jan 1, 2014

By P. A. Lindberg

Early Proterozoic ore deposits in the Verde district at Jerome, Arizona have produced 33.7 million metric tons of ore (1893-1975). The United Verde and United Verde Extension deposits produced most of the ore that yielded 1,644,323,100 kg Cu plus large amounts of Au, Ag, and Zn. These deposits are situated on the fractured and hydrothermally altered apex of a large submarine rhyolitic extrusive (Cleopatra formation). Precambrian lithologies are penetratively deformed and at Jerome the Fl folds plunge steep to the NNW. For the past two decades the volcanogenic model has superseded the replacement theory of ore formation.

Jan 1, 1992

By D. B. Gawthrop, A. Taylor, G. St. J. Ferrott

"This paper presents data obtained as part of an investigation of the explosive properties of ammonium nitrate. During the course of the work: it was found desirable to investigate the sensitizing action of nitrostarch in mixtures of ammonium nitrate containing low percentages of this material. Data were derived as to the sensitivity to decomposition by heat and the completeness of detonation and,of detonation of straight ammonium nitrate, as compared with ammonium nitrate-nitrostrarch mixtures containing 1 to 10 per cent of nitrostarch.The ammonium nitrate was a sample of coated material obtained from the salvage of amatol shells. Its analysis was as follows:"

Feb 1, 1930

By Akira Kaneda, Nozomu Hasegawa

"In the Mitsubishi Continuous Copper Smelting and Converting Process, slag/matte mixture overflowed from the smelting furnace is separated continuously in an electric furnace (slag cleaning furnace, CL-furnace). In order to improve the separation efficiency of slag and matte and to minimize power consumption, the design and the operating conditions of the CL-fumace should be optimized. In the previous study, the authors developed a mathematical model for simulating phenomena in the CL-furnace. The model consisted of 3 modules, electric field analysis, heat and fluid flow analysis and the particle tracking method. In this study, the model was partially modified: k -E. model was adopted, and the effects of various conditions, such as furnace shape (including accretion) and scale, electrodes configuration, immersion depth of electrodes, and thickness of slag layer, were evaluated. And the optimum design and operating conditions were discussed.IntroductionUnder the recent environmental restriction, advantageous features of the Mitsubishi process have attracted much attention. The process uses 3 furnaces connected by launders. Mixture of matte and slag formed in a smelting furnace flows continuously to a slag cleaning furnace (CL-furnace), where the matte is separated from the slag. The matte is continuously siphoned out to a converting furnace and converted to blister copper. The slag overflowed from the CL-furnace is discarded. Because the slag contains about 0.6 % copper, improving slag/matte separation efficiency and decreasing copper loss make a great profit. Moreover the process requires a large amount of electric energy, so reduction of electric power consumption brings in enormous benefit.The objective of this study is to optimize the design and the operating conditions of the process, especially the CL-furnace. This will be achieved by developing the mathematical model and clarifying relations between the design or the operating conditions and various phenomena in the furnace. Fig. 1 shows an outline of the CL-furnace. The mixture entering through an inlet is separated to slag layer and matte layer . In order to maintain the temperature of the melt at a predetermined level, 6 electrodes are immersed into the lag and Joule's heat is generated by 3-phase alternating current flowing."

Jan 1, 2000

By R. Hogg

"The problems of sampling particulate materials, and of characterizing the distributions of particle size and composition are reviewed. Requirements for sampling from comminution systems are discussed and a simple formula is presented for estimating the minimum sample size needed. The limitations and errors associated with the techniques available for particle size analysis are evaluated and guidelines are suggested for the selection of appropriate methods. The use of microscopic and macroscopic approaches to the characterization of particle composition are discussed.INTRODUCTIONComminution is a process of particle size reduction in which the goal is to produce a material with a specified particle size distribution from a coarser feed. In mineral processing applications, the product size distribution is often qf secondary importance to the extent to which individual mineral grams can be liberated from one another. However, due to poor understanding of the nature of the liberation process and the lack of reliable procedures for characterizing it, the actual specification is normally in terms of particle size.Particle size distribution can be regarded as the fundamental characteristic of a particulate system. The distributions of particle shape and composition among the various particle sizes present are often sufficient to define the bulk properties and behavior of the system. Description of the distributions of size; shape and composition of the different phases which may exist within individual particles is necessary to complete the picture and is especially important for predicting liberation etc., in comminution processes. It is quite obvious that · the complete characterization of real particulate systems is a formidable, if not .impossible task. Practical characterization procedures should involve ·evaluation of those characteristics which are deemed to be important and which can be measured. In comminution systems, this should ideally include the particle size distribution, the size-by-size distributions of particle composition, and as much information as can be acquired on the internal composition and structure of individual particles. In most cases, of course, we fall far short of even this rather limited goal."

Jan 1, 1988

By A Dunne, R Kruger, H Coleman, P G. Laurens

External and internal challenges in mining are increasing the difficulty and complexity of operating mines. The external mining environment has a big impact on mining operations and is driving the focus on safety, sustainable mining, green issues, profitability and productivity. There is a very high emphasis on ‘reducing cost to improve’, lower mining and beneficiation costs by eliminating waste/inefficiencies (reduce people, use less consumables, multiskilling, etc). The internal mining environment is getting tougher to operate in, with the deposits being more difficult to mine, more difficult to manage due to external pressure along with issues associated with maintaining quality, etc.Technological and environmental developments too numerous to mention, mean that cost control models, reduction in human resource numbers, as well as other drastic measures to curtail expenditure and increase profitability have become part of everyday business. The capability to manage the mining environment in a systemic manner has been lacking and this increases the pressure for performance on those individuals operating and managing mines.Working smarter has become crucial to ensure that businesses optimise the use of their resources, become more safety conscious, more productive and remain cost-effective, while recognising the importance of sustainable mining now and in the future. The logic of determining and managing to the capability of the mining value chain will be examined and the underlying assumptions or beliefs guiding behaviour and decision-making will be highlighted.In order to identify the obstacles in the mining value chain that hinder achievement of its full potential, the following questions have to be asked:What are the factors that influence the performance of a mining value chain?What is the design capacity of the mine?How can the inherent flow and value capacity of a mine be determined?What types of solutions will allow a mine to operate at its inherent flow and value capacity?This article will discuss the way we plan, measure, assess and manage the mine value chain, by addressing the following factors:balanced capacity versus flow and value capacity designthe use of averagingoptimising individual components in a value chain versus optimising the whole value chain.Optimising flow and value through the mining value chain is one of the three pillars of Mineral Resource Throughput Management (MR™). MR™ is an entrenched and academically supported philosophy that has been successfully applied in the past decade in various mines throughout the world by EXXPLEO, a mining and beneficiation consulting company. EXXPLEO has partnered with HCL (a global IT company) to embed the MR™ philosophy, methodology and toolsets into a formal software product called Synchronised Digital Mining (SDM). The SDM system will provide mining companies with a sustainable platform to effectively apply the MR™ principles and toolsets effectively across all operations targeting increased productivity, efficiency and profitability without having to train operations and management staff into expert MR™ practitioners to successfully achieve the desired results.CITATION:Dunne, A, Laurens, P G, Kruger, R and Coleman, H, 2015. Optimising flow in the mining value chain, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 437–442 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

By T. A. Sullivan

High-purity vanadium metal was prepared by electrorefining commercial vanadium in a molten sodium bromide, potassium bromide, and vanadium dibromide electrolyte. Variables investigated were operating temperature, current densities, electrolyte composition, and condition of the anode. The purity of the refined metal was in the range of 99.95 percent vana-dium. Iron and oxygen in the 50- to 250-ppm range were the only major impurities. Metal with hardness numbers of 50 to 60 in the Rockwell F scale was prepared from feed material with a Rockwell B hardness of 90. The arc-melted metal was highly ductile and could be cold-worked into sheet or foil.

Jan 1, 1965

By François Tremblay

It is well known that removal of organic material such ,as Jacquer, paint, plastic prior to melting improves aluminum recovery. In addition to being an important economically, decoating of aluminum scrap has a positive impact on the environment, through better control of gaseous emissions. Most of the existing thermal decoaters for aluminum have been designed to operate with scrap containing a level of organic material lower than 10%. The main field of their present application is for recycling of used aluminum can, where levels of organic material are lower than 4%. Alcan has recently developed a new thermal decoating system in order to extend applications of this process to a much wider variety of aluminum scrap. The new decoater efficiently processes aluminum scrap with a level of organic material up to 50%. This new technology features the use of fluidized bed technology to thermally control the process. This innovative feature improves both performance and control over conventional delacquering systems based on hot air convection. This paper describes the basic principles of the technology and the design of the? first industrial unit commissioned by the Alcan Recycling plant in Shelbyville (TN) at the beginning of 1994. Typical applications and operating advantages are discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

By Ramiro Escudero G.

Since the introduction of column flotation almost forty years ago the column technology has grown into several non-mineral applications such as among others the effluent treatment, soils recovery and de-inking of recycled paper. Recent studies have demonstrated that particular characteristics of the dispersion (bubble size, gas holdup, bubble surface area flux) are needed for a given flotation column duty. In this work, two kind of spargers were tested (i.e., internal and external) using a 4 inch column lab in a two phase system. Results show that the external sparger provides a dispersion with characteristics that include those produced by the two internal spargers.

Jan 1, 2003

By Donald P. Ziegler, James F. Klausner, Srinivas S. Garimella

"By 2015, nearly half the world's population will live in ""water stressed"" areas. Production of fresh water utilizing waste heat from industrial processes has been identified globally as a research priority.About 15% of the electricity required to produce aluminum is lost as waste heat in the off-gas. However, the low temperature (low grade) of the heat limits reuse. The off-gases contain 50-150 ppm SO2 ; tightening regulations coupled with increasing coke sulfur levels are motivating SO2 control, for which seawater scrubbing is attractive for smelters with suitable access.We describe a process that produces fresh water, utilizing the waste heat while scrubbing SO2 . It uses direct contact between seawater and off-gas to humidify the off-gas. The vapor is subsequently condensed. In smelter trials, a unit treating a slip stream produced high quality water in the anticipated quantity, attaining over 95% SO2 scrubbing. Future work involves scaling the process to be economically attractive.BackgroundPopulation growth, coupled with industrialization and urbanization, are increasing demand for water. Water scarcity already affects every continent. Around 1.2 billion people, or almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of water scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water stressed conditions (< 1,700 m3 per person annually) [1]. An assessment by the U.S. General Accounting Office revealed that under normal conditions, by 2013, water managers in 36 states in the USA anticipate water shortages, and that the number might grow to 46 states under drought conditions [2].The obvious choice to alleviate water scarcity is the 97% of available water in the oceans, which is saline and requires desalination for use in biological, agricultural and industrial applications. Technologies developed for desalination include Thermal Distillation, Reverse Osmosis (RO), Electro-Dialysis, and Vacuum Freezing. Distillation and RO are the most commercially prominent. Thermal distillation technologies include Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) and Multi-Stage Flashing (MSF). The report commissioned by the World Bank [3] is one of the many excellent references on desalination technologies. According to the International Desalination Association working paper [4], there were more than 17,348 industrial scale desalination plants installed or contracted by 2004. The total production from these plants is on the order of 8.3 billion imperial gallons per day. RO provides 47.2% of the total capacity. The leading thermal process, MSF, provides 36.5% of the total capacity. Although MSF and RO technologies currently provide the most cost effective means for desalination, their drawback is that they are very energy intensive, and whether or not they remain cost effective strongly depends on energy prices and energy supply."

Jan 1, 2012

By Miguel A. Huamán G.

Los estudios realizados en la última década señalan que los depósitos estratoligados y estratiformes del contacto Mitu Pucará, se relacionan con el evento conocido como "volcanogénico regional", donde se realiza la reactivación del "nuevo volcánico" a través del depósito de la mineralización piritosa y polimetálica. Posteriormente dichos yacimientos piritosos son transformados hasta atravesar los plegamientos, fallamientos, intrusiones y la mineralización cretásico-terciaria. En este sentido, el presente texto señala la reinterpretación genética de dichos yacimientos, considerando las evidencias volcanogénicas, el volumen general de mineral que contienen, distribución y su importancia económica que tienen en la región central del Perú.

Nov 24, 1986

By Xuewei Lv, Yuelin Qin, Guibao Qiu, Chenguang Bai

"Blast furnace slag (BF slag), is the main by-product in the ironmaking process, which contains large amounts of sensible heat. To recover the sensible heat, this paper described the hot experiments which were carried out in a rotary multi-nozzles cup atomizer, where the molten BFS was transformed into granules without water impingement; subsequently, a new method-pyrolysis the printed circuited board (PCB) with the hot BFS particle, was proposed for recovering the sensible heat in this study. The gaseous products were analyzed by gas analyzer. The residual of the PCB was analyzed by FT-IR and XRD respectively, and the obtained slag particles were analyzed by XRD.The results showed that it is a feasible process of pyrolyzing PCB powder with the hot BFS particle. The sensible heat of hot BF slag could be converted to chemical heat and a large amount of combustible gas could also be generated during the process.IntroductionDue to the rising of the product cost of blast furnace iron (BFI) and the increasing public awareness of environmental problems, the steel industries have to focus on the energy saving and emission reduction. Blast furnace slag (BF slag) is a byproduct from blast furnace exhaust temperature of 1450°C or so, is a high-quality waste heat resources. In China, the steel industry produces approximately 220Mt ofBFS per year, and the enthalpy of those slags is approximately equivalent to 13.3% of the whole energy consumption in the ironmaking process[!]. It can be seen, recycling waste heat is an important way of energy saving for iron and steel enterprises. The molten slag was treated by conventional water quenching method without any recovery of heat in spite of its huge potential. Also, the water quenching process consumes a plenty of water, pollutes the air and water[2]. Additionally, the extra energy is necessary for the drying process of slag to produce cement. As a kind of secondhand resource which can be reused, the BF slag contains a large amount of sensible heat. To recover the sensible heat of BF slag, three key problems should be considered, which refer to ( 1) the dry granulation of BFS without consuming water, (2) how to recover the heat of slag particles efficiently, (3) how to use the slag particles after heat recovery."

Jan 1, 2012

By M. Prasad

Growing concern over increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide has prompted new interests in development of materials and techniques for its sequestration. Various research and developmental work on different aspects of carbon capture technology are being extensively carried out worldwide. The main objective of the present work is to synthesize a HAS material having high capacity and robust ability for recycling to capture greenhouse gases with special reference to carbon dioxide (CO2) from the sources from where it is released to the atmosphere. Existing CO2 capture techniques involves the use of solid materials that lack sufficient stability for repeated use or liquid adsorbents that are expensive and require significant amounts of energy. Keywords: greenhouse gases, carbon capture, solid adsorbent, HAS material

Sep 1, 2012

By R Small, S Combrinck, R Lindsay

Maintaining your competitive edge in the growing Australian mining sector today is an arduous task. With an ever increasing demand to extract more ore, safely, complete visibility throughout the blasting cycle has become vital to any operation. To achieve this requires full two way communication with every detonator during the testing and programming cycle, as well as, inside the firing window. Concerned with an increase in the number of incidents involving mining equipment, uncovering and digging into unknown misfires on-sites across Australia, Black Star Mine made the decision to embark on the use of electronic detonators to eliminate this hazard. With this safety goal achieved, the mine set about using the added benefits of electronic detonators to improve their drill and blast processes with impressive results.CITATION:Combrinck, S, Lindsay, R and Small, R, 2012. Eliminating unidentified misfires at Xstrata ZincÆs open pits through the application of electronic detonators, in Proceedings Eighth Open Pit OperatorsÆ Conference , pp 27-30 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 18, 2012

By R. Benito

The publication of the Lerchs Grossmann paper in 1965 outlining a threedimensional graph algorithm for ultimate pit definition set the standard for the mining industry regarding pit optimization. Although the algorithm provides a solution from a static standpoint (i.e., assumes instantaneous mining), it is widely used for commercial packages to generate ultimate pit limits and intermediate phases. However, the solutions delivered are presented in canned reports lacking connection to the original data, which prevents further data analysis and extended reporting. The approach presented in this paper attempts to overcome such barriers by performing openpit optimization through databases. An adaptation of the Lerchs Grossmann graph algorithm is used to generate nodes, arcs and tree structures in customized tables to determine the maximum closure of a graph.

Nov 1, 2013

By L. O. Filipov, N. E. Menad, A. Geneyton

"Zeta potential of synthetic monazites presenting various compositions were measured to investigate the effect of the main lanthanides substitutions on electrophoretic mobility and resulting IEP. The measurements are performed in a CO2 depleted and enriched solutions showing both reduced influence of monazite chemistry and strong influence of ions resulting from the solubilization and dissociation of CO2. The influence of oleic acid on the electrophoretic mobility of those monazites was also investigated. The influence of pH on oleate adsorption was studied using a bubble/particle adhesion system. Adhesion strength measurements were performed on pure synthetic monazite-(Ce) and monazite-(La). An extensive thermodynamic model of monazite in water was developed to highlight correlations between lanthanides hydroxides/carbonates species concentrations in the bulk solution and oleate adsorption. Based on electrophoretic measurements, advanced thermodynamic consideration and adhesion measurements, further details of the oleate adsorption model on monazite surface were proposed.INTRODUCTION Electrophoretic and potentiometric data on monazite and, a fortiori, other rare earth semi-soluble salts such as bastnaesite are extremely erratic (Chelgani et al. 2015). The isoelectric points measured with electrophoretic mobility methods range from 4.7 to 6.5 although sporadic data indicates an IEP (isoelectric point) far from that range. Different explanations are proposed in the literature to explain the IEP variability notably the numerous chemical substitutions that frequently occurred within monazite crystal lattice (Chelgani et al. 2015). Based on lanthanides speciation diagram, several authors highlighted the influence of specific lanthanide species on the flotation performance of rare earth semi-soluble salts when carboxylate or hydroxamate collectors are used. Although lanthanides ions have a great affinity for carbonates groups (Kragten et Decnop-Weever 1987), lanthanide (hydrogen) carbonates were not implemented in speciation diagrams. In this work, an advanced thermodynamic model is proposed to highlight correlation between flotation performance and lanthanide species predominance but also concentrations. Qualitative measurement of the monazite surface hydrophobicity are performed through tests of adhesion of coarse monazite particles onto bubbles. Since flotation and microflotation technics are highly influenced by hydrodynamic parameters, this method was investigated to obtain a sharp contrast between appropriate and inappropriate pH conditions. This paper is to investigate 1) the effect of lanthanides substitution on monazite surface properties through zeta potential measurements, 2) the mechanism of adsorption of carboxylates on monazite surfaces and 3) the effect of CO2 on monazite surface properties and carboxylates adsorption."

Jan 1, 2018

By Luis Palacios Valdivieso

El presente trabajo describe la importancia del costo de operaciones en la producción minera aplicado en la minera Condestable S.A, Lima a través de la reducción de costos en el rubro de la perforación y del uso de los barrenos . En este sentido, el proceso de la perforación que estuvo dirigido por una administración nacional, desarrolló un mejor cuidado y rendimiento de los mismos, prolongando su producción a un 20% y con significativas utilidades para la mina.

Nov 24, 1986

By Miles B. Royer

The experimental blast furnace has attracted increasing interest during the past decade as a practical means for investigating a broad range of blast-furnace smelting problems. Under experimental-furnace conditions, information can be obtained with less expenditure of time and raw materials and, therefore, at lower cost than comparable information could be obtained under industrial operating conditions. Furthermore, the experimental furnace may be operated beyond the range of smooth operation, even to failure, to delineate the limits of operability. Such deviation from normal operating practice would be economically intolerable in industrial operations where production and operating stability might be disrupted. The Federal Bureau of Mines experimental blast furnace at Bruceton, Pa., near Pittsburgh, has been operated and under development since 1951. However, the usefulness of this experimental data to industrial practice was somewhat nebulous in early experiments, and the correlation of the experimental blast furnace with the industrial blast furnace was not known.

Jan 1, 1961

By J. Z. Yuan

The purity of rectorite is only about 70% after preliminary mineral processing, which has limited its application. In this research, different pulp densities, different dispersants, different dispersing methods and purification flow sheets were used to purify rectorite. The results show that it is possible to obtain high pure rectorite clay with the purity above 90% and concentrate yield between 24.9% and 29.4% by the purification process with composite dispersants, stirred mill grinding dispersion and so on. The obtained high pure rectorite can be further used in rectorite nanocomposites.

Jan 1, 2014

By Kamran Esmaieli

This paper investigates the behavior of ore pass walls under impact loads caused by material transiting through an ore pass. In particular it considers the influence of foliation in the rock mass surrounding an ore pass as both a triggering and accentuating cause of degradation. Based on empirical observations in several underground mines a numerical experiment was designed to understand the influence of rock mass foliation on impact-induced damage on ore pass walls. The distinct element method, and in particular the Particle Flow Code (PFC2D) was used to simulate three different rock masses surrounding an ore pass. Each simulated rock mass has similar properties but was defined by distinct dominant foliation (70o, 80o, 90o) along the foot wall. The numerical experiments investigated different scenarios whereby the walls were loaded by a projected rock fragment striking the foliated walls at a constant impact angle and velocity. The damage inflicted by the projectile rock fragment, on the foliated rock mass, was quantified using the number of impact-induced micro-cracks initiated on the ore pass wall. The results of the numerical analysis indicated that the presence of foliation resulted in greater damage zones in the surrounding rock mass. In addition, the extent of impact-induced damage to the ore pass wall increased as the angle of interception between the ore pass wall and the rock mass foliations decreases. This is in agreement with qualitative field observations.

Jun 1, 2012