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By Robert M. Weidenhammer

For years before the war, Coal had the reputation of being a sick industry. Currently it is operating at peak production and succeeding pretty well in keeping out of the red. But, says Mr. Weidenhammer, it will have a relapse as soon as the war ends unless (1) working capital can be built up; (2) it gets the support of the people and Congress; and (3) a truly long-range national fuel policy is formulated.

Jan 1, 1943

By Erwin Pink

It has been pointed out in a previous publication' that, for a given strain rate, serrated yielding can be observed only at certain test temperatures. Fig. 1 shows the results obtained for polycrystalline and re-crystallized tantalum, Va group in the periodic table of elements, where serrations in the course of deformation match the decrease of total elongation. However, there was no evidence of repeated yielding when testing molybdenum or tungsten, VIa group, at similar conditions, i.e., annealed and air-cooled samples (serrations have been found in quenched tungsten2). The reason for the observed serrations in the stress-strain curve are dissolved impurities on interstitial sites of the lattice. Of importance is the concentration of oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, which are in random solution. Two methods to calculate the limiting concentrations for serrated yielding have been evaluated and applied with more or less success in estimating the role of carbon and nitrogen in mild steel.3 J. Friedel4 has given two equations, which determine the upper and lower strain rates i for the appearance of serrations at a certain test temperature: W denotes the binding energy of the interstitial atom, -1 ev for refractory metals;5 e' the portion of continuous strain in the discontinuous stress-strain curve, measured as -3x10-3; b the Burgers vector, c the concentration, see Table 11, in atom fractions; p the dislocation density, -2 X l09 per cm2 at an average stress ?, -15 kp per mm2 at medium strain. k stands for the Boltzmann constant, T for the absolute temperature, and D for the diffusion coefficient. Table I. Eq. [1], for a given strain rate, determines the minimum temperature, and [2] the maximum temperature, below or above which no "dynamic strain-aging" can occur. According to the calculation, which uses the given quantities, serrations should only be observed within the cross-hatched temperature regions in Fig. 1, and this is in good agreement with the experiment. The effect of varying impurity concentrations is indicated schematically in Fig. 2: only Eq. [I] is affected. Setting Eq. [I] equal to [2], one can calculate the limiting concentration cmin which first causes serrations. The second method uses the aging condition by Cottrell and Bilby6,7 \£i/ \ n. a / where n(t) is the number of impurity atoms, which segregate at a dislocation line of 1 cm length after the time t (t in our case is the time between "repeated yield drops" in the serrated curve, or, the time until the above mentioned strain E' is obtained, i.e., -1 sec for medium intensity or serrations). no is the number of impurity atoms in 1 cm3 and A = Qb4ep[(1 + v)/(l - v)], derived from equations given in Ref. 7. p is the shear modulus, 18,800 kp per mm2 for tantalum, 12,200 for molybdenum, AE the tetragonal distortion caused by interstitial impurities in a bcc lattice (approximately 0.4 for both tantalum and molybdenum) and v Poisson's ratio (0.35 for tantalum, 0.30 for molybdenum). From Eq. [3], combined with the condition for a pronounced yield drop as formulated by cottrel16 (at least one impurity atom segregated at the unit length of a dislocation), again a no min, and hence the concentration Cmin can be calculated.

Jan 1, 1970

By George L. Heath

This paper is devoted chiefly to the coal-fields of the western part of the province of Chili and the eastern part of the province of Shansi; but the outline of this belt will give some idea of the extension of the coal-fields over northeastern China. This part of China is topographically divided into: (1) the mountainous peninsula of eastern Shantung; (2) the coastal plains, extending W. and SW. from the gulf of Pechili; and (3) the mountains and table-lands N. and W. of the coastal plains. The plains extend N. and W. from the gulf to within from 10 to 25 miles of the Great Wall, while their SW. extension covers western Shantung and reaches W. along the Yellow river almost to the southern boundary of Shansi. A line joining the mapped coal-fields, shown in Fig. 1, almost gives the western boundary of the plains; since these areas lie on the border of the plains—except the Tsê Chou field, which is on the table-land, 20 to 25 miles from that border. The coal-fields which have been mapped and investigated by the author are shown in Fig. 1. The one at and around Tongshan is known as the K'ai-p'ing coal-field; the one W. of Peking has been called the Wang-p'ing coal-basin; the one SW. of Pao-ting and N. of Chêng-ting may be called the Lingshan coal-field; and the one at and around Tsê Chou is known as the Tsê Chou coal-field. I. The K'ai-p'ing Coal-Field. As is shown in Fig. 2, most of this field lies in the coastal plains, and is therefore covered by alluvium and loess, which have buried the older rock-beds, and the more gentle and older topographic outlines, to such an extent that most of the re-

Jan 1, 1902

By Robert L. de Beauchamp

The Bureau of Mines reviewed aluminum chloride technology to determine the problems associated with its preparation from minerals, and to ascertain the best areas for research to solve these problems. Commercial AlC13 production processes are described and the ?state of the art? for the preparation of AlC13 from aluminous materials is evaluated. Areas for further research are indicated.

Jan 1, 1969

By A. W. Gauger

DESPITE many handicaps and in the face of many discouragements anthracite and bituminous coal producers continue to supply the needs of the nation now vastly multiplied by the demands of the greatest war of all time, total output being about 620,000,000 tons of bituminous and 64,445,000 of anthracite. The progress made by this industry during the national emergency reflects more credit on all connected therewith than will ever be given. Not only has the industry been called upon to produce more coal than ever before but it has also sent representatives to England to study and advise on methods for increasing production there, and has co-operated with other Allied Nations by welcoming engineers sent to this country to study American practice. One noteworthy development has been the growth of strip mining in the

Jan 1, 1945

By T. Koulomzine, R P. Jaeggin

The claims now held by Mount Wright Iron Mines Co. Limited were acquired by staking in 1956, 1957 and 1958, i.e., some time after the major deposits of the Quebec Cartier Mining and Normanvi!le Mining Co. (formerly Quebec Cobalt & Exploration Ltd.) were already discovered and partly outlined. The choice of the location of the Mount Wright hold-ings was governed simply by the -availability of ground still open to staking and by its proximity to properties held by major iron companies. Mount Wright Iron Mines had no previous knowledge of the geology and no aeromagnetic results were available to it to guide the choice of areas to be staked. In order to explore the newly ac-quired claims it was decided to make a grid of widely spaced magnetic profiles on the ground rather than use aeromagnetics. This afforded the possibility of making some geological observations simultaneously with the geophysical measurements.

Jan 1, 1961

By O Rojas

The Telégrafo copper – gold deposit is located in the Centinela district of the Antofagasta region in northern Chile. Telégrafo is a porphyry copper deposit of Eocene – Oligocene age which has a total mineral resource in measured, indicated and inferred categories equal to 2.6 billion tonnes with an average grade of 0.38 per cent copper.Currently the project is in the prefeasibility study phase, including an infill drilling campaign to improve the knowledge of the deposit that should result in an improvement of the mineral resource classification. In this context was decided to review the classification criteria in order to optimise the drill hole density necessary to support the project.This paper presents an application of conditional simulation to evaluate the risk related to drill hole spacing, using a geostatistical approach that mimics the process of evaluation of resources from the perspective of geological modelling and grade estimation. The first step of the approach is the generation of conditional simulations using the available samples to generate several plausible scenarios of the deposit in terms of copper grades and geological units. These scenarios are considered as the unknown reality of the deposit and sampled by synthetic drill holes in order to replicate the geological model process and copper resource estimation. In this way it is possible to establish differences between the possible scenarios and the generated resource estimation models for several simulated drill hole spacing alternatives. These differences or errors can then be quantified in terms of estimated mean, metal content and tonnage over different production volumes.The resulting errors were useful in assisting the decision making process related to the design of drill hole spacing for each category of mineral resource in the Telégrafo project, and to redistribute the budget associated to the drill campaigns for the next stage of the project.

Aug 22, 2011

By W A. James

The use of spectrographic semi-quantitative analysis has recently been of considerable value in establishing the geological relationships in a complicated orebody. The principal minerals found in the Mount Pleasant orebody are cassiterite, stannite, sphalerite, molybdenite, wolframite, chalcopyrite and galena, associated with arsenopyrite, pyrite and fluorite. In addition to the large number of minerals, a further com-plication is the non-uniform distribution of the economic minerals, with one mineral being the only one present in major amounts in one area and another mineral being predominant in another area. At the same time, all minerals are present to a minor extent throughout the deposit. This heterogeneity made it advisable to analyse all exploration samples thoroughly. Analysis by conventional means would have resulted in prohibitive costs. By the use of emission spectroscopy, however, it was possible to obtain, quickly and relatively inexpensively, a reasonably comprehensive picture of the orebody un-der investigation.

Jan 1, 1963

By John Henderson

FOR some time now the most commonly accepted description of liquid silicate structure has been the "discrete ion" theory, proposed originally by Bockris and owe.' This theory is that when certain metal oxides and silica are melted together, the continuous three dimensional silica lattice is broken down into large anionic groups, such as sheets, chains, and rings, to form a liquid containing these complex anions and simple cations. Each composition is characterized by "an equilibrium mixture of two or more of the discrete ions",' and increasing metal oxide content causes a decrease in ion size. The implication is, and this implication has received tacit approval from subsequent workers, that these anions are rigid structures and that once formed they are quite stable. The discrete ion theory has been found to fit the results of the great majority of structural studies, but in a few areas it is not entirely satisfactory. For example it does not explain clearly the effect of temperature on melt structure,3 nor does it allow for free oxygen ions over wide composition ranges, the occurrence of which has been postulated to explain sulfur4 and water5 solubility in liquid silicates. In lime-silica-alumina melts the discrete ion theory is even less satisfactory, and in particular the apparent difference in the mechanism of transport of calcium in electrical conduction8 and self-diffusion,' and the mechanism of the self-diffusion of oxygen8 are very difficult to explain on this basis. By looking at melt structure in a slightly different way, however, a model emerges that does not pose these problems. It has been suggested5" that at each composition in a liquid silicate, there is a distribution of anion sizes; thus the dominant anionic species might be Si3,O9 but as well as these anions the melt may contain say sis0:i anions. Decreasing silica content and increasing temperature are said9 to reduce the size of the dominant species. Taking this concept further, it is now suggested that these complexes are not the rigid, stable entities originally envisaged, but rather that they exist on a time-average basis. In this way large groups are continually decaying to smaller groups and small groups reforming to larger groups. The most complete transport data 8-10 available are for a melt containing 40 wt pct CaO, 40 wt pct SiO2, and 20 wt pct Al2O3. Recalculating this composition in terms of ion fractions and bearing in mind the relative sizes of the constituent ions, Table I, it seems reasonable to regard this liquid as almost close packed oxygens, containing the other ions interstitially, in which regions of local order exist. On this basis, all oxygen positions are equivalent and, since an oxygen is always adjacent to other oxygens, its diffusion occurs by successive small movements, in a cooperative manner, in accord with modern liquid theories." Silicon diffusion is much less favorable, firstly because there are fewer positions into which it can move and secondly, because it has the rather rigid restriction that it always tends to be co-ordinated with four oxygens. Silicon self-diffusion is therefore probably best regarded as being effected by the decay and reformation of anionic groups or, in other words, by the redistribution of regions of local order. Calcium self-diffusion should occur more readily than silicon, because its co-ordination requirements are not as stringent, but not as readily as oxygen, because there are fewer positions into which it can move. There is the further restriction that electrical neutrality must be maintained, hence calcium diffusion should be regarded as the process providing for electrical neutrality in the redistribution of regions of local order. That is, silicon and calcium self-diffusion occur, basically, by the same process. Aluminum self-diffusivity should be somewhere between calcium and silicon because, for reasons discussed elsewhere,' part of the aluminum is equivalent to calcium and part equivalent to silicon. Consider now self-diffusion as a rate process. The simplest equation is: D = Do exp (-E/RT) [I] This equation can be restated in much more explicit forms but neither the accuracy of the available data, nor the present state of knowledge of rate theory as applied to liquids justifies any degree of sophistication. Nevertheless the terms of Eq. [I] do have significance;12 Do is related, however loose this relationship may be, to the frequency with which reacting species are in favorable positions to diffuse, and E is an indication of the energy barrier that must be overcome to allow diffusion to proceed. For the 40 wt pct CaO, 40 wt pct SiO2, 20 wt pct Al2O3, melt, the apparent activation energies for self-diffusion of calcium, silicon, and aluminum are not significantly different from 70 kcal per mole of diffusate,' in agreement with the postulate that these elements diffuse by the same process. For oxygen self-diffusion E is about 85 kcal per mole,' again in agreement with the idea that oxygen is transported,

Jan 1, 1963

Newmont Australia Limited has for some 15 years mined a number of large open cuts associated with the Telfer Gold Dome deposits. The principal ore body exploited has been the East Flank of the Main Dome where a very high grade gold reef deposit of mixed metal sulphides, grades in excess of 20gA Au, has been mined in conjunction with dissemi- nated mineralisation contained in the overburden material. The main ore body has been under review for some years as an under- ground mine, however due to the ore body widths of less than 1 metre and a dip generally less than 35 degrees and a very weak host rocks earlier studies all resulted in a continuation of open pit mining activities. In early 1988 it was recognised that open cast mining would not be able to mine all of this valuable resource and a feasibility study was commenced to come up with a practical and economic approach to underground mining.

Jan 1, 1991

By A Parbhakar-Fox, B G. Lottermoser, N Fox

"Determining the deportment of economic and environmentally significant elements in sulfidic mine materials (eg ore, gangue and waste) requires the use of advanced microanalytical techniques, including electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS). Sulfidic boulders were sampled from an acid rock drainage impacted ephemeral stream adjacent to historical copper-silver workings at Baal Gammon, northern Queensland. The abundance and deportment of a range of trace elements and precious metals were analysed in these samples. Whilst many of these elements represent a potential environmental risk if leached from sulfidic rocks into streams in the surficial environment, significantly some of these elements (eg In, Sb and Co) represent specialised metals that are currently considered to be in critical supply.Sulfidic waste rock material at Baal Gammon is dominated by chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and pyrite. Microanalytical investigations revealed that chalcopyrite contains significant quantities of In, Sn, Ag and Zn either substituted directly into the crystal lattice or occurring as discrete sphalerite and stannite inclusions. Arsenopyrite, which may comprise more than 50 per cent of some boulders, is notably enriched in Sb, Co and Ni but also contains inclusions of sphalerite, chalcopyrite and stannite. In contrast, pyrrhotite contains no trace elements of economic significance, but instead represents a likely contributor to acid generation during oxidation in the surficial environment. Trace metals (eg In, Sb, Co, Ni, Zn) are liberated during sulfide oxidation of these boulders in the surficial environment, generating a metal-rich, low-pH leachate.Fe-oxides precipitated as rinds on the surface of these boulders under low pH conditions also contain abundant As, Bi, Sn, Cu and Zn. Abandoned or historical mines represent potential sources of metalliferous drainage that poses potential environmental risks to water and habitats. However, sulfide-rich historical waste rock, stockpiles and processed waste (eg tailings) at abandoned mines may also represent significant sources of critical (eg indium) or other significant metals (eg Sn) that if liberated economically could improve environmental conditions in and around abandoned and historical mines.CITATION:Fox, N, Parbhakar-Fox, A and Lottermoser, B G, 2016. Critical and Deleterious Metal Deportment in Sulfidic Waste Rocks, Baal Gammon, North Queensland, in Proceedings The Third AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (GeoMet) 2016, pp 173–182 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jun 15, 2016

In high-volume mining operations, preventive maintenance programs that include standardized replacement wear parts can boost equipment availability and lower unit costs. Meeting the daily production targets depends heavily on keeping equipment working as close to full time as possible. This is the case at one medium-sized western surface coal operation producing approximately 2.7 million t/y (3 million stpy). The mine, located in western Wyoming, removes in excess of 8 million m3 (10.5 million cu yd) of highly abrasive overburden each year. According to the mine superintendent, "Abrasion at this mine is some of the worst I've ever seen. Shovel points can wear out in little more than one shift. Dozer blades some- times last two weeks, but can wear out sooner. And ripper points really take a beating. If we can replace this fast-wearing iron with small pieces that go on quickly, we think that's the way to go."

Jan 3, 1978

By Hugh Douglas

This paper discusses the financial health of the U.S. mining industry and its ability to meet the future raw material requirements of this country in the context of resource independence. The title of this paper begs several questions, and three will be raised here. The answers to them will form the basis for discussion. The three questions are: What does one mean by resource independence. How is the U.S. mining industry defined. How is financial health measured.

Jan 1, 1977

By Christoph Pichler

A special desulphurization slag accrues during the processing of iron ore to steel, which is needed to generate high quality steel. Sulphur removing is done by different technologies, but the most common one is the generation of a high sulphur containing slag by sulphur affine elements. Currently, this desulphurization slag is partly recycled, however, huge amounts are still dumped. To utilize this desulphurization slag for future purposes, a recycling process must be established. Therefore, first characterization of this material started some years ago at the Chair of Nonferrous Metallurgy, Montanuniversität Leoben. Subsequent trials in lab scale size were performed, also some investigations for different treatment steps were evaluated, starting with a parameter study in a hot stage microscope at various gas-atmospheres. Finally, the developed recycling process concept was verified in pilot scale trials to confirm the new recycling technology. Due to the successful treatment process, also a patent was applied.

By Syd S. Peng

In the past few years, the numbers of underground coal mines in this country using longwa11 mining method have been dramatically increased. In the latest count there are approximately 90 10ngwa11 faces amounting roughly 8% of the total underground production. Meanwhile, shortwall mining adapting longwa11 powered supports to 'coal mining and handling systems in room and pillar mining is also gaining importance in the Appalachian coal field. Although there are only 7 operating shortwall faces so far, indications are that it will be increasing steadily. Modern longwall faces are highly mechanized and productive. One of these key elements that contribute to the success of modern longwall mining is self-advanced powered supports. There are several types of powered supports. Frame type is two sets of one to four hydraulic legs supporting beam-type roof canopy and floor base. However, chock type is more popular and connected to broad roof and base structure. Shield supports were introduced recently but proved to be highly successful (1). A shield support consists of two hydraulic jacks mounted between a base plate and a gob shield. The base plate is hinged to gob shield which is in turn hinged to roof canopy.

Jan 1, 1977

By R E. McIvor, K M. Bartholomew

Classification system efficiency (CSE) is a simple, powerful metric that provides a comprehensive measure of classification system performance. CSE directly quantifies the amount of coarse solids in the mill, and as a result, also directly quantifies the percentage of mill power being used effectively. In this manner, it is an effective, practical grinding energy efficiency metric.Three independent variables drive CSE: circulating load ratio, sharpness of classification, and classifier bypass. Due to practical downstream constrains on per cent solids, improvements realised by increasing circulating load reach diminishing returns as sharpness of classification and bypass deteriorate in the most commonly used classification device, the hydrocyclone. This combination of effects leads to the use of CSE, and its relationship to operational economics, as an objective circuit optimisation criterion.Its simplicity in measurement makes CSE a useful tool for the plant metallurgist, and it is not subject to a great amount of experimental error. CSE provides the plant operator a fast, simple, and effective means to evaluate the performance of the plant classification system. Improvements in CSE relate directly to circuit throughput and energy efficiency. This paper, through description and plant case studies demonstrates the power and utility of this emerging grinding system optimisation metric.CITATION:Bartholomew, K M and McIvor, R E, 2013. Classification system efficiency - a comprehensive closed-circuit grinding optimisation metric, in Proceedings World Gold 2013 , pp 389-394 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013

By Fredy Gutiérrez, Nilton Apaza

En el año 2012, a causa de la situación inestable de la operación y por contar con una visión no muy proyectada al crecimiento organizacional, Raura se encontraba inmersa en una situación económica muy crítica y a punto de declarar su cierre. Por ese motivo, se replantea la visión estratégica de la operación y se alinea a la filosofía de la excelencia operacional por etapas. La principal apuesta de Raura es ser considerada una empresa de clase mundial, para lo cual, bajo un nuevo enfoque de gestión, en los últimos 5 años se implementaron diversas decisiones estratégicas que tuvieron impactos positivos. Así, se logró ser una de las operaciones más rentables de la división minera del grupo Breca.

Sep 20, 2019

By Celine Y. Zhang, Chloe J. Feng, Charles Q. Jia, Donald W. Kirk

Oil sands petroleum coke (OSPC) is a by-product of coking - a high-temperature process that converts the mined bitumen to the synthetic crude oil (SCO). For every barrel of the SCO produced, about 20 kg of OSPC are generated. Over 70 million metric tons of OSPC have been produced and stockpiled as a result of the development of oil sands industry in the past few decades. Unlike conventional petroleum coke, OSPC has uniquely high impurity contents, particularly sulphur (~ 7 wt%) and metals (e.g. vanadium at ~0.15 wt%), which has hindered its large-scale applications as a solid fuel. Vanadium is a valuable metal that is widely used as an alloy for strengthening steels. The stockpiled OSPC contains about 100,000 tons of vanadium, while the world’s production in 2013 was only 75,600 tons. At the current price of $25US/kg, the OSPC-bound vanadium represents a total value of $2.5 billion US dollars. In this work, we investigate the technical feasibility of extracting vanadium from OSPC. The work focuses on the characterization of vanadium in OSPC and the conditions for effective extraction of vanadium from the OSPC.

Jan 1, 2015

By M. J. Kanda, T. R. Stacey

Thin spray-on liners (TSLs) have been used as sealants and rock support in tunnels for over 25 years. Laboratory tests have indicated satisfactory properties that can provide adequate strength, adhesion, toughness, and elasticity as part of rock support systems in mining excavations. These characteristics are, however, not always demonstrated in practice, when mine environmental conditions do not correspond with laboratory environmental conditions. The shortcomings of TSLs experienced in the mining industry have raised concerns, resulting in scepticism from some operators regarding their utilization. The research described in this paper aims to investigate TSL performance in environmental conditions similar to those experienced in mines. Brazilian indirect tensile (BIT) specimens were prepared from precast shotcrete and coated with TSLs. The specimens were then exposed to different environmental conditions for up to 112 days before BIT testing under various conditions: laboratory room temperature and humidity; saturated room temperature; and combined saturated and high temperature (50°C). Additional uncoated shotcrete and TSL BIT specimens were prepared for comparison purposes. The results of the BIT tests showed that environmental conditions have a significant influence on the tensile strength enhancement of shotcrete by TSLs. Water-based TSLs are most likely to be suitable for high humidity environments, although their performance decreases at higher temperatures. Numerical modelling of TSL-coated BIT samples confirms the potential limitations of designing TSL support based only on laboratory testing carried out under room conditions.

Jul 1, 2021

By H. S. Venkatesh R. Balachander, G. C. Naveen

During the construction of a 1020 MW underground hydroelectric project in Bhutan a huge rock fall took place in the Downstream Surge Chamber (DSC) during March 2016. The total quantity of rock in the fall area is estimated to be about 1,50,000m3 (2.6 billion cubic feet), out of which about 25,000m3 (0.44 billion cubic feet) of muck was removed. The removal of muck was stopped apprehending that the cavity formed due to the rock fall may get further aggravated leading to widening and destabilising the adjacent transformer hall cavern or it might day light as the top cover was about 190m (623 feet). As the fall has virtually blocked the 314m (1030 feet) long cavern and divided it into two different chambers (south and north), and that the muck cannot be disturbed, it was decided to erect concrete wall on either side of the fall up to the cavern roof and then later address the filling of the cavity with appropriate fill material. As the access to the DSC was there for the southern side it was decided to extend a cable tunnel which was terminated at a distance on the north side of the cavern by D&B so that once it gets punctured into the north wall of the DSC it can be used to access the fall from this front too. This is a unique situation where in every blast approaching the DSC, the parting between them is diminishing and hence the tunnel blast will be exerting axial load on the parting wall leading to dynamic transient loading conditions and buckling may take place on the northern wall of DSC. This paper describes the various drill blast combinations adopted for successful excavation of this tunnel.

Jan 1, 2019