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By H. Moosberg-Bustnes

In cement-based products, such as concrete and mortars, a balance between the particle sizes of the components must be kept in order to obtain the required material properties, such as workability and strength. Sometimes the aggregates lack the necessary amount of fines, hence fine particles, i.e., filler materials, have to be added. Large quantities of filler material are needed in the production of modern concrete types; one principle of self-compacting concrete (SCC) is, for instance, the use of large amounts of fillers to reduce the friction between the coarser aggregates. Use of by-products such as slag, dust or sludge from the metallurgical industries as filler materials in concrete may help to conserve natural resources and at the same time be an economically positive option. However, to be able to successfully use the available materials they must be suitable for the planned purpose, i.e., they must be compatible with cement. In this paper three different experimental studies of steel-slags will be discussed. The aim of the studies has been to investigate if it is possible to improve the steel-slags properties, by selective screening, fine wet grinding or remelting, so that the steel-slags can be used as mineral-addition/filler material in concrete. Keywords: concrete, filler, steel-slag, modification

Jan 1, 2004

By Constantin D. Pitis

Similarly to notions of constant capital/expenses in business or magnetization power for electric motors an energetic base load (E0) is always necessary to set up a mining process. Denominated as ?non-productive energy? or base load, (E0) is a constant component of the entire energy consumption of the process, while another component the ?productive energy? (Ep) is variable, being function of the production/throughput (M). By using these new concepts, the author creates an energetic model proposing a new method of assessing changes in mining processes (throughput) that can reveal possible energy savings (DSM component) or energy losses. Proposed mathematical model of assessing (E0) and energy savings by using ?Marginal Energy Usage Index? (MEUI) enables creation of historical benchmarks and direct on line energetic (efficiency) assessment of mining processes and/or equipments. The paper analyses the case of assessing possible energy savings that can be obtained by: ?? Improving efficiencies of various equipments (by retrofit) ? reducing E0 ?? Improving the process control or other process changes ? reducing Ep ?? Monitoring persistence of the adopted Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs). For the new plant design, the proposed method enables prediction of Customer Baseline in various mine/process configurations. The method could become part of a ?preventive action? in design process by offering a reliable tool of assessing additional financial effort (Incremental cost) when choosing various higher efficiency equipments and/or processes.

Oct 1, 2009

An intensely sheared and mineralized zone occurs in the quartz dolerite greenstone (or younger greenstone) mass on the western limb of the Kalgoorlie syncline. This zone comprises the western part of the Golden Mile and has produced the greater part of the 33,000,000 oz of gold produced to date from the main mining belts. A study of the general geological and structural features suggests that the lode shear system will continue southward on a pitch similar to that of the main syncline. Although payable ore has been found recently further to the south, the expectation of large quantities extending southward from the present mining areas is problematical.INTRODUCTIONUntil the late 1930's the principal mining activities in the western lode system were centred on three major ore-shoots formed on the No. 4, No. 3 and to a lesser extent on the No. 2 lode shears (Fig. 1). With the gradual reduction of grade in depth on these main ore shoots, increasing attention was paid to the "Minor Lode" system of lode shears known to exist in the same area. A large quantity of payable ore was found on these "Minor Lodes" particularly in the central part of the mining area. In recent years more attention has been given to exploration in a southerly direction.ROCK TYPES AND STRUCTURESThe western system occurs on the western flank of a dragfolded, south pitching syncline. The rock succession consists of Black Flag sediments overlying the younger greenstone horizon which overlies the fine grained older greenstone horizon. The axis of the syncline is regarded as a tight infold of the overlying Black Flag sediments. This infold has been faulted and intruded by albite porphyry resulting in the formation of a composite body of slates...

Jan 1, 1964

By J. F. Neill, O&apos

The manganiferous schists occurring in the vicinity of Kings Mountain, North and South Carolina, suggest significant tonnages of potential submarginal ores. Although some reconnaissance work in connection with these deposits has been reported, no recent information has been published. Evaluation of the schists as a possible domestic manganese resource has not always adequately considered the fact that the manganese content occurs quantitatively both as oxide and as the silicate, spessartite. The Bureau of Mines investigation herein reported includes preliminary studies to indicate the extent of manganese oxide mineralization and to deter-mine the amenability of the material to sulfur dioxide leaching. The field reconnaissance studies suggest a resource containing in one area an average of 6.4 percent manganese as oxide. The procurement of depth information was beyond the scope of the investigation.

Jan 1, 1962

By Shahram Tafazoli

This article presents a novel technology for sensing the size of rocks after blasting in hard rock mines. Blast engineers require rock size statistics to carefully adjust the blasting parameters. The rock fragmentation requirements vary depending on the ore type and crusher specifications. The most popular statistical parameters in the industry are the so-called P numbers (e.g., P80 and P100). A machine vision based system is introduced here for automatic image collection and fragmentation analysis of the material right inside the bucket or dipper of mining shovels. A heavy-duty camera provides the required imaging data to an embedded computer mounted inside the cab. A custom machine vision software continuously analyzes the captured bucket images and stores the suitable ones in local storage which are then fed to a Desktop software for automatic fragmentation analysis. This technology has been developed by Motion Metrics International and is commercially available as FragMetrics?.

May 1, 2009

By Tianzu Yang, Weifeng Liu, Lin Chen, BOYI XIE, DUCHAO ZHANG, HUI XIAO

The oxygen-rich bath smelting process of copper dross was simulated using Factsage software. It was found that the two-step simulation results agreed better with the industrial data, especially in the speiss. Bi, Pb, Sb, As, and Cu contents in the speiss by two-step simulation differed from the industrial data by 0.6 wt.%, 0.8 wt.%, 2.6 wt.%, 7.2 wt.%, and 8.6 wt.%, respectively. Twostep simulation results indicated that the speiss partitioning of Sb, As, and Cu increased from 60.1%, 32.3%, and 27.5%to 81.6%, 67.8%, and 47.2%, respectively, with the smelting temperature increasing from 1050 °C to 1250 °C. While the metal partitioning of Sb and Cu increased from 0% and 2.7% to 15.2% and 13.3%, respectively, with the separation temperature increasing from 400 °C to 700 °C.

Oct 19, 2020

By Nino Catalano

The combination of two top levels of cross-lot braces designed and installed to act as a truss, and vertical post-tensioning of the panels allow the unbraced excavation of a 36' span. Philosophy of Excavation Support System The excavation of interest is for the cut-and-cover box sections of the southern approach to the Third Harbor Tunnel, which is part of the Central Artery/Tunnel project in Boston, Massachusetts. The 60' deep excavation is located very close to an existing building which is supported by piles, as shown in Figure 1. Therefore, it was necessary to minimize ground movement which may damage the building.

Jan 1, 1994

The following is a summary of some of the companies that were exhibiting their products and services at MINExpo INTERNATIONAL 2000. Atlas Copco develops, manufactures and markets rock drilling tools, tunneling and mining equipment, and surface and geotechnical drilling equipment. The company provides a line of drilling products, including production drilling rigs, rock reinforcement bolts and rock drills. Atlas Copco’s Boomer is a series of high-capacity drill rigs that provides economy, production capacity and reliability

Jan 1, 2000

By Paul M. Price

The Mouat mine, Nye, Mont., was reopened in 1953 by the American Chrome Co. under a Defense Minerals Production Administration contract. Operations were terminated in 1961 after completion of the contract. Mining methods employed during this period are described in detail, and cost data are presented by years for 1953 through 1959. Ultramafic rocks of the Stillwater complex in Montana contain the largest domestic resource of chromite, and the Mouat mine has been the largest producer. Mine reserves were estimated in 1960 to be about 4.4 million tons containing 22.5 percent Cr2O3. The chromite deposits occur as a series of overlapping bands or lenses roughly paralleling the steeply dipping layers of the complex. Only two of the chromite layers have proven to be of economic importance. One layer is 2 to 16 feet wide; the other is 3 to 8 feet wide. Shrinkage stoping was generally used throughout the mine, but various methods of ore breaking, stope drawing, chute construction, etc., were tested to improve output and lower costs. Long-hole stoping proved to have limited use. Breasting down benches, developed outward from the center of the stope with air-leg drills, was satisfactory only in wider stopes. At the close of operations, the company had standardized the use of lightweight stopers to advance a flat back by breaking from a centrally located face. Mining costs were reduced 47 percent during 7 years of operation.

Jan 1, 1963

By Lloyd Rowson

??Several factors have led to a review and reoptimization of the Midwest uranium deposit by AREVA Resources Canada Inc., the project operator, on behalf of the owners ??The current proposal is to mine the deposit using open pit methods and then transport the ore by truck on a dedicated road linking the Midwest site with AREVA?s McClean Lake Operation (JEB mill) for processing ??A decision has been made to begin mining the deposit by 2010 (pending regulatory approvals)

May 1, 2008

By M. Dobbins

The advent of the more efficient and effective rare-earth roll (RER) separator in the early 1980?s began a new era of dry magnetic separation. The RER units quickly became the separator of choice within the materials processing industry. Though RER separators are now commonplace throughout the world, only modest advancements have been made to the original design. This paper details recent, more significant, rare-earth magnetic separation developments. These developments maintain the best features of existing technology while minimizing shortcomings. The discussion includes discerning features that aid in better metallurgical performance. Also discussed are improved mechanical aspects that allow for both easier operation and maintenance. Performance details from various test programs are included.

Jan 1, 2009

By M. Soleymani Shishvan

"Continuous mining systems containing multiple excavators producing multiple products of raw materials are highly complex, exhibiting strong interdependency between constituents. Furthermore, random variables govern the system, which causes uncertainty in the supply of raw materials: uncertainty in knowledge about the reserve, the quantity demanded by the customers, and the breakdown of equipment. This paper presents a stochastic-based mine process simulator capturing different sources of uncertainties. It aims to quantify the effect of geological uncertainty and its impacts on the ability to deliver contractually defined quantities and qualities of coal, and on the system efficiency in terms of utilization of major equipment. Two different areas of research are combined: geostatistical simulation for capturing geological uncertainty, and stochastic process simulation to predict the performance and reliability of a large continuous mining system.The process of modelling and simulation in this specific production environment is discussed in detail. Problem specification and a new integrated simulation approach are presented. A case study in a large coal mine is used to demonstrate the impacts and evaluate the results in terms of reaching optimal production control decisions to increase average equipment utilization and control coal quality and quantity. The new approach is expected to lead to more robust decisions, improved efficiencies, and better coal quality management.IntroductionContinuous coal mining systems containing multiple excavators producing multiple products of raw materials are highly complex and exhibit strong interdependencies between constituents. A network of conveyor belts is used for transportation of the extracted materials to different waste dumps or the coal stockpile.Optimal decision-making in short-term planning and production control are impacted mainly by geological uncertainty associated with incomplete knowledge of the coal deposit represented in the reserve block model. These uncertainties cause deviations from expected process performance. For more robust decision-making, understanding the impacts of these stochastic elements plays a key role."

Jan 1, 2016

By Gerald Verbeek, Erick Baziw

Downhole Seismic Testing (DST) is a very popular applied seismology site characterizing tool within geotechnical engineering. A challenging aspect of DST is to characterize the acquired seismic data sets to determine the analysis method that will result in the most accurate interval velocity values. BCE has invested considerable resources into developing Seismic Trace Characterization (STC), which uses various independent parameters of the acquired data at a particular depth. Initial work in this area resulted in the selection of the linearity estimate from the polarization analysis, the cross correlation coefficient of the full waveforms at the particular depth and the preceding depth and a uniquely developed parameter referred to as the signal shape parameter for this characterization. Subsequent analysis in STC identified two other parameters: the Signal-Noise-Ratio (SNR) and the Peak Symmetry Differential (PSD). The paper briefly describes these parameters and then outlines how they can guide the data analysis to derive more accurate results, especially near surface, which is especially important to assess the liquefaction potential in areas prone to earthquakes, such as California. The process will be illustrated with actual data from another area prone to earthquakes, namely New Zealand. 1. INTRODUCTION The near surface characterization of low strain in-situ shear wave velocities (VS) has proven critical for liquefaction assessment. Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which dynamic loading of saturated soil results in the material properties to change suddenly from a solid state to a liquefied state. VS is an important parameter for evaluating liquefaction potential due to fact that it is influenced by many of the variables that influence liquefaction (e.g., void ratio, soil density, confining stress, stress history, and geologic age (Andrus et al., 1997)). Aki and Richards (2002) also outline that the amplitude of ground motion should depend on the density and shear wave velocity of near surface soils and rocks according to the theory of wave propagation. Since the change in density with the increase in depth is relative minor compared to that of the shear wave velocity, the latter is a very useful parameter to represent site conditions (Stewart et al., 1997). Bray (2014) and his colleagues carried out an extensive geotechnical analysis of the catastrophic liquefaction that occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2010 and 2011 and found that near surface rather than deep liquefaction resulted in extensive foundation damage.

Jan 1, 2018

By Eleanor Abshire

THIS PUBLICATION is the third to be prepared as a result of a cooperative project by the Bureau of Ships and the Bureau of Mines for accumulating literature published on zirconium and hafnium. The undertaking also resulted in the establishment of an information center on zirconium and hafnium at the Bureau of Mines station at Albany, Oreg., for the use of research organizations and others. The present bibliography consists of references (with abstracts) to pertinent literature on zirconium. The first publication in this series was Information Circular 7771, Bibliography of Zirconium, published in April 1957. It consists of 969 abstracted reports and 645 U.S. and foreign patents. The second publication, called a supplement to Information Circular 7771, is numbered Information Circular 7830 and consists of 844 abstracted reports and 62 U.S. and foreign patents. It was published in October 1958.

Jan 1, 1962

By M. C. Ruiz, M. E. Godoy, J. B. Rivarola, M. W. Ojeda

The amount of Pd recovered from an exhausted olefin hydrogenation catalyst was found to depend on mixing technique, particle size, carbon percentage, chlorine flow, reaction time and temperature. Pd extraction was total when a sample in the 125-175 micrometre particle size range was chlorinated for 60 min at 723 K with 20 cm3 Cl2/min, for 60 min at 748 K with 30 cm3 Cl2/min and for 30 min at 773 K with 30 cm3 Cl2/min. No C addition was needed; the initial C content of the catalyst was sufficient for total recovery. Pd extraction was also affected by heat treatment in different atmospheres before chlorination. Treatment with O2, N2 and N2 with traces of O2 led to different degrees of oxidation of C and permitted the formation of oxidised Pd species. Thermal pretreatment in N2 with traces of O2 was most conducive to Pd extraction

Jun 21, 1905

By Shachar Magali

This article describes two new concepts regarding the CFA (Auger Cast) piles. The first one, MALI Effect, is an approach to control the casting phase, while the second one, NETA Shear, is a technique which converts the drilling rig into a geo-mechanical tool. We look upon the system of the auger and the ground as a piston inside a cylinder. When concrete (grout) is pumped into that system, an up lift force is generated (We call that force MALI Effect). That up lift force reduces the needed tension in the pull up cable. By analyzing the tension force in the cable we detect the up lift force of the concrete. That pushup force is the product of the real concrete pressure at the bottom of the auger by the area of that bottom. As the area is known, the real pressure is accurately calculated. A control loop which is based on MALI Effect is very sensitive, precise, objective, reliable and easy to be used. All the process is based on pure real physical measurements. The system has no assumptions, no comparisons, no parameters, no zeroing and no adjustments. When we penetrate into the ground like a theoretical screw, for about a meter in depth, and then brake the main cable while rotating the auger, a set of forces generates. As the auger tends to keep penetration, but the cable holds it - a tension force develops (We call that force NETA Shear). Analysis of that tension force shows that it relates to the ultimate shearing capacity of the ground.

Jan 1, 2000

By Simon St J Tose

The objective of this paper and presentation is to review the different criteria and methodology used by AEL and other organisations to create a pre-split design which delivers a stable highwall for the life of that part of the mining operation. It will look at the need to adapt and change the way, size and direction of the production blasts as the mining phase approaches the highwall position for which a pre-split has been created. Key Words: Pre-split: Design; Highwall; Perimeter

Jan 1, 2006

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) Mae Moh coal mine is an open-cut coal mine in Thailand that produces about 16 Mt of lignite annually to generate 2400 MW of electricity. The surface mine pit covers is 4 km by 7 km with mining depths ranging up to 260 m. A large pit slope is formed with the progression of the mining operation. However, massive slides in the pit slope occur often due to the existence weak planes such as faults and bedding, and the weak mechanical properties of the rocks. Hence, 200 m to 300 m boundaries of rock block including coal seams are left in front of faults in order to prevent slides and maintain the stability of the pit slope. As a result, there are significant coal reserves beneath the abandoned area along the pit slope. Moreover, the mined coal seams are very thick and their thickness range from 15 to 30 m.This paper discusses the application of multi-slicing highwall mining system with stowing to this very thick coal seam left around large pit slopes by means of numerical analysis.

Dec 6, 2010

By Brian Hart, Stamen Dimov

"The Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (ToF-SIMS) is unique in that it measures the outermost atomic layers of any material. The technique is particularly suited for determining surface chemical composition of mineral particles. It is most commonly used as a diagnostic tool to measure mineral surface chemical variability in plant and bench top flotation separation processes. Recently, research towards understanding the full capability of the instrument has resulted in the development of new diagnostic applications related to various Au extraction technologies and the development of the ToF-SIMS as a predictive tool for assessing the chemical reactivity of the ore.In this paper we will present a brief review of the ToF-SIMS technique with recent advances in instrumentation and methodologies including:•,?recent developments and advances towards a semi-quantitative approach to the evaluation of mineral surface modifiers (ex. Cu),•,?flotation case studies investigating activator, depressant and collector loading variability within a flotation process,•,?the recently developed chemical reactivity test which we believe has the potential to predict the behaviour of minerals in a flotation test in response to chemical transfer during grinding,•,recent applications for determination of surface Au preg-robbed in carbonaceous materials.A portion of this material has been recently presented at the COM 2009 meeting and at SIMS XVII (see Dimov et al 2009 and Hart et al, 2009).INTRODUCTIONIn flotation seperation surface chemistry is the principal determinant for selective separation of the various mineral phases (Ralston, 1994, Smart et al, 2003). Determination of this hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance by particle therefore requires correct identification and selection of the particular mineral phase(s) followed by a statistical analysis of the surface chemical characteristics of the particles with an estimation of the spread of values (Smart et al, 2003)."

Jan 1, 2010

By S Vianna, K Caldwell, R Silva, T Olson, D Bell

Studies to enhance the FLSmidth forced air machine through changes in the design, showed important improvements through changes in the number of Rotor blades, stator designs, rotor air distribution and other designs features. The main outcomes from this study highlighted that increasing the number of rotor blades increased the selectivity while decreasing power requirements while stators with slots have better results in terms of recovery, flotation efficiency and selectivity than without slots.Also the rotor air distribution makes a difference in the design when comparing different distribution criteria whilst keeping all features of shape and number of blades etc constant. At the most efficient rotor air distribution design, copper recovery reached one of the highest values while keeping good selectivity. The possible explanation for that is the increase in the pump capacity indicated by the increase in the specific power.It was seen as significant that reduction in specific power for some designs tested compared with the then current standard design had an average of 30% less power consumption.As a result, FLSmidth was able to identify new designs that decreased power and improved recovery, as well as, identifying some designs that specifically improved fine and/or coarse particle recovery.CITATION:Silva, R, Caldwell, K, Bell, D, Olson, T and Vianna, S, 2013. FLSmidth flotation developments - Dorr Oliver machines, in Proceedings MetPlant 2013 , pp 413-430 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 15, 2013