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By R. I. Iacobescu, Y. W. Chiang, A. Van Audenaerde, R. M. Santos, T. Van Gerven, P. Knops

In this work, we explore a novel mineral processing approach using carbon dioxide to promote mineral alterations that lead to improved extractability of nickel from olivine ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4). The precept is that by altering the morphology and the mineralogy of the ore via mineral carbonation, the comminution requirements and the acid consumption during hydrometallurgical processing can be reduced. Furthermore, carbonation pre-treatment can lead to mineral liberation and concentration of metals in physically separable phases. In a first processing step, olivine is fully carbonated at high CO2 partial pressures (35 bar) and optimal temperature (200 °C) with the addition of pH buffering agents. This leads to a powdery product containing high carbonate content. The main products of the carbonation reaction include amorphous colloidal silica, chromium-rich metallic particles, and iron-substituted magnesite ((Mg1- x,Fex)CO3). Carbonated olivine was subsequently leached using an array of inorganic and organic acids to test their leaching efficiency. Compared to leaching from untreated olivine, the percentage of nickel extracted from carbonated olivine by acid leaching was significantly increased. It is anticipated that the mineral carbonation pre-treatment approach may also be applicable to other ultrabasic and lateritic ores.

Jan 1, 2014

By E P. Graham

Orebodies occur in an infinite variety of grades, shapes and sizes, and take many millions of years to grow. When extraction starts there is only one possible end -the mine sooner or later will run out of ore and shut down. If the mineral industry is to supply the ever increasing demands of modern civilizations, more and more metals must be found and mined. This will require a never-ending search for ore, and the development of every economic body, large or small. To justify the mining of a small orebody, it first of all must pay its way. If the size of the burden imposed by the capital cost estimates is not carefully worked out, an otherwise promising situation could be killed. The very nature of mining, as a transient industry, re-leases a steady stream of good used equipment, and the trained personnel to install and operate it. All manner of plans and layouts, which can be utilized at a new property, are available. Working these and other economies into the estimates will sometimes make enough difference to give a prospect the green light.

Jan 1, 1964

By Lloyd R. Nelson

The feasibility of producing low carbon (LC) ferromanganese (FeMn) by lime-'ore' melt refining of high-grade ferromanganese silicon (FeMnSi) was investigated. Thermodynamic simulations demonstrated significant benefits in moving from a single-stage ladle operation to a two-stage counter-current reladling operation (to emulate the commercial Penin Process). The theoretical alloy silicon content was predicted to be refined from 1.57 to 0.005 per cent silicon, at a 6.2 per cent higher manganese yield (yield predicted to increase from 82.3 to 88.5 per cent). Extension of this counter-current refining principle, to a multistage Counter-Current Reaction Launder (CCRL) was investigated using the Slag Metal And Gas Klnetics (SMAK) software to model the mass transfer kinetics of the multicomponent coupled reaction system. Simulation results suggested that commercial production of 50 000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of refined LC FeMn, containing less than 0.5 per cent silicon, at manganese yields of up to 90 per cent, should be feasible in a compact CCRL (7 m long by 0.7 m wide).

Jan 1, 1994

By Barara Rose

Presentation Outline ?Introduction of BMS ?Resource Integration Process ?Methodologies ?Tools ?Case Studies ?Zone 01 : 725 SOZ ?Zone 16/17 : 1000 NRP ?Conclusions

Oct 1, 2010

By R. D. Brown

"Finance Minister Donald Macdonald's budget of May 25, 1976 featured a restructuring of the anti-inflation profit controls and a grab bag of tax changes, some of direct interest to the mining industry. All Canadian taxpayers now will be permitted to write off immediately 100% of mineral and oil and gas exploration expenses included after• May 25, 1976 and before July 1 1979. The cost of acquitting Canadian resource property after May 6, 197.4 from a federal or provincial government will now clearly be included in Canadian development expense, and provincial drilling and exploration incentives received after May 25, 1976 will not reduce exploration and development expense for federal income tax purposes. Under tough new anti-inflation profit controls, all controlled businesses, except distributions, will essentially have one uniform set of rules for• determining allowable profit margins; this allowable margin will be determined by product line or by over-all net margin and will be 85% of the higher of the margin obtained in the five years preceding October• 13, 1975 or the one year preceding May 1, 1976. The basic capital cost allowance system is to continue, but many rates will be revised. The ability to offset losses created through claiming capital cost allowances on leased equipment, etc. against other income will be ended with respect to transactions entered into a/te1• budget night. Miscellaneous other tax changes will raise the low rate base for Canadian-controlled private corporations to $750,000 increase retitement plan contribution limits and reduce the rate of branch tax imposed on branches of corporations resident in a country with which Canada has a comprehensive tax treaty to equal the withholding tax rate on dividends under that treaty."

Jan 1, 1976

High Pressure Grinding Rolls Scale-Up and Experiences

Sep 13, 2010

By John E. Lens

How much trouble can narrow vertical fissures in bedrock cause on a shallow bedrock site? Enough trouble so end-bearing H-piles range between 8 and 100 feet long in a single pile cap and tiebacks range from 40 to over 100 feet long within a 10 foot wall span. Sloped bedrock surfaces also complicated the tieback installation as the drill casing followed the sloped rock surface while drilling and caused unanticipated bending (and sometimes breaking) of the drill string. Warned via pre-construction rock probes and cores reaching over 80 feet deep at the Winooski, Vermont project site, the design and construction team expected anomalies in pile driving and tieback drilling due to fissures in the bedrock filled with soil and weathered-rock. The degree of abruptness in the variability in the rock surface, and its impact on pile driving and tieback drilling were less predictable. Close monitoring of pile and tieback installation, redesign of pile caps, and lengthened tiebacks overcame these anomalous fissures. This paper shares the lessons learned for overcoming these geologic challenges to benefit designers, contractors bidding the work, and ultimately, the owner, with lower contingencies.

Jan 1, 2006

By Warren A. Sheaffer

THE chief uses for copper are as a conductor of electricity and as the chief component in brasses and bronzes. For such uses, the copper must be of very high purity. H the impurities are zinc, iron, lead, arsenic, or antimony, they can be removed to a great extent by fire-refining. H, however, gold, silver, nickel, or cobalt are present, electrolytic refining is necessary. Electrolytic refining must be preceded by fire-refining and hence all impure copper must be fire-refined. The electrolytic refining of copper is most efficiently carried on when the impurities in the anodes are at a minimum. Some of the impurities tend to deposit with the copper at the cathode, while others remain in solution, decreasing the conductivity of the electrolyte and thus increasing the voltage necessary for refining. Since these dissolved impurities must be removed by continuous purifications, the amount of impurity in the anode copper should be reduced by furnace refining to some predetermined limit. Anode furnace operation aims to reduce these impurities to a minimum beyond which the cost of further furnace refining would exceed that of removing the remaining small amounts of impurities from the electrolyte. The anodes should have a fine-grain internal structure because any pieces of metal becoming detached from the anode during the electrolytic refining are inconvenient to remove from the cells and may cause short-circuits. Impurities tend to disrupt such a structure and thus form zones of weakness during corrosion. When the impurities are reduced to a satisfactory mini-mum, the anode, due to having a fine-grain structure, will corrode uniformly over the entire surface area exposed to the electrolyte. Oxides of the impurities may be volatile, in which case they pass off as flue gases, or they may form viscous slags having a lower specific gravity than molten copper, thus permitting their removal by skimming. Some impurities can be oxidized by introducing air into the bath. Due to the large solubility of oxygen in molten copper, oxygen is distributed uniformly throughout the bath and thus comes into intimate contact with all impurities. The oxides which are insoluble in molten. copper are removed either as flue gases or as slag.

Jan 1, 1942

By Mike Harrington, Tung Vu

The Regional Connector Transit Project is a 1.9-mile-long underground light rail system that will connect LA Metro’s A (Blue), E (Expo), and L (Gold) Lines in downtown Los Angeles. This $1.75-billion design-build project is scheduled for revenue service in Spring 2023. The project consists of 21-foot diameter twin-bored tunnels, a 300-footlong crossover SEM cavern, three new underground stations (at 1st Street/Central Avenue, 2nd Street/ Broadway Avenue, and 2nd/Hope Streets), and cut-and-cover tunnels along South Flower, Alameda, and 1st Streets. This paper, which is the continuation of our previous paper presented in RETC 2019—LA Metro Regional Connector Transit Project: Successful Halfway-Through Completion, will provide insight regarding the construction of major components, and the system integration and testing work undertaken for this complex transit project.

Jun 13, 2023

By M. O. Lai

"Metal matrix composite (MMC) with composition of Al-4.Swt.%Cu reinforced by IOwt.%TiB2 or ISwt.%SiC particulate has been successfully fabricated using powder metallurgy technique. Disk, compression and beam specimens were prepared with (a) layered structure containing ductile Al-4.Swt.%Cu with brittle Al-4.Swt.%Cu/TiB2 or Al-4.Swt.%Cu/SiC layers, and (b) homogenous constituent with composition of Al-4.Swt.%Cu/lOwt.%TiB2' The specimens for the fracture toughness measurement were built through three ductile-brittle-ductile alternating layers. For the beam specimens, the layers were built through brittle-ductile-brittle sequence. The brittle layer consisted of Al-4.S%Cu with fixed amount of reinforcement. Fracture toughness testing revealed an increase for layered composites although the total amount of the reinforcement was the same for all disk specimens. The increase in fracture toughness is due to the existence of ductile layers which manifests a strong influence on delaying the occurrence of fracture. It acts as a barrier to resist the propagation of crack and hence increases the fracture toughness of the layered MMC specimens, Delamination in the beam specimens was observed to be due to shear stresses. Fracture surfaces of both disk, compress and beam specimens were characterized using the SEM. IntroductionMechanical and thermal properties can be achieved by the incorporation of refractory secondary phases to constrain the plastic flow of the matrix in a metal matrix composite (MMC). The size of the reinforcement particulate incorporated must be in the range larger than the dislocation cell size and strongly bonded to the matrix (I). Particulate reinforced metal matrix composites hence provide high modulus, improved wear resistance and strength (2-4). Because of the incorporation of refractory phases which are generally brittle, the major limitation in the mechanical properties of MMCs is their limited ductility in comparison to their base metals. Cracks normally initiate from the reinforcement and voids (4, 5). Due to the lack of ductility, cracks propagate rapidly with increase in load. As a result, the interactions between reinforcement particles and propagating cracks have recently been of great research interest (6). In addition, volume fraction of reinforcement and aging condition of the matrix significantly affect the mechanical behaviour of MMCs. In the case of AI-3.5%Cu reinforced with varying volume fractions of SiC particulate, it has been found that the probability of particle fracture increased with increasing volume fraction of reinforcement (7)."

Jan 1, 1996

By C. Carrasco

"Over the last 30 years the average grade of mined ore bodies has significantly decreased while the proportion of waste removal has in many cases more than doubled. This has been identified as prime reason of a major increase in energy consumption and decrease in productivity across mining operation. Metal coarse preconcentration of ROM feed grades by size rejects low grade gangue/waste material in the size range of 10-100 mm prior to grinding, typically before primary crushing. This relies on propensity of metal to preferentially deport in the fine size fractions after breakage. Metal preconcentration by size has the potential to increase energy efficiency and therefore improve mining productivity on unit of metal basis. Results of an extensive belt cut sampling campaign conducted at a major Australian Au-Cu mine operation show that for some samples between 90% of Au and 80% of Cu is in 40% of the mass at -50 mm fraction. This indicates that low grade coarse material can be removed from the circuit, doubling feed grade at half of the tonnage and therefore improve energy efficiency per unit metal produced. This response, however presents significant variability in the same order as other processing attributes such as impact hardness and flotation recovery. This has led to development of geometallurgical laboratory tests using blast hole chips and drill core facilitating mapping and population of coarse metal preconcentration signatures in long term resources and short term production models. Preferential Cu deportment by size at drilling scale can be recognised, however scales up factors are required to transform laboratory results to production responses. At 50 % of mass the drilling products underestimate the belt cut responses by 20-30 %. Bulk sampling campaign with blast hole and drill core samples spatially related was also conducted to investigate in more detail the difference between production scale and drilling scale preconcentration responses."

Jan 1, 2014

By Jerold Bishop, Grant Bearss, Aleksey Egorov

"When a shock wave is released in the bottom of a drill hole filled with wet concrete slurry, the result is called an electrohydrodynamic effect, or EHDE. The energy is carried through the fluid with minimal loss because the slurry is an incompressible medium. Repetitive discharges provide a series of energy pulses that compact the soil along the pile shaft and at its base. The process is analogous to repeated applications of low-energy blast densification or to dynamic compaction. In general, the process is not depth dependent. EHDE was identified in the 18th century by an American scientist who observed that a spark between two electrodes placed under water induced a burst of pressure. In 1957, two Russian engineers formulated a process and received a patent for a method of creating a pressure wave by transforming power from an electrical discharge to a mechanical impact. They derived more than 200 applications for technical and industrial processes.In the 1970s, civil engineers at the Engineering and Building Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, began to look at EHDE to improve the capacity of drilled piles. Early experiments showed that electric discharges in a wet concrete slurry mix could create a pressure wave of up to 26 MPa (3700 psi). Later tests demonstrated that this pressure level could be created in a drilled pile hole. The researchers devised equipment and in the early 1990s began to study pulse technology as applied to drilled piles.This application was accepted into the Russian Federation Building Code in the 1990s. The code treats “regular” drilled piles with equivalent bearing area as having roughly half the capacity of a driven pile. However, the code considers drilled piles treated with the EHDE technique a direct “one for one” substitution for driven piles and allows higher values if the capacity is established by static load testing. Hundreds of projects have been completed in Russia using this technology to value engineer drilled pile projects. In several instances, the number of drilled piles installed was fewer than half of the number originally planned for due to the capacity increase that EHDE-treated piles provided.Drilled PilesIn drilled pile construction, the EHDE process creates a mechanical pressure wave that impacts the base and sidewall of a drilled pile shaft. Soft, poorly consolidated or loose soil is compacted by successive pulses of pressure created by electrical discharges. These mechanical impulses are made by inserting a discharge probe into the wet concrete slurry. A discharge across the tip of the probe creates the pulse that travels outward to the sidewall and base of the drilled pile through the incompressible medium of the slurry. The power pack ratings for equipment presently in use are 35 and 50 kJ (kilojoule).Each pressure wave strikes the soil, causing compaction and expanding the hole. Workers apply the pulses until the size of the hole stops increasing. They watch the slurry level during pulsing. When the level quits dropping, further soil compaction in the drill hole sidewalls and base is not possible. After the pulse process is complete, workers insert a rebar cage and the pile is finished.The process does not alter the soil mineralogy. The electrical discharge is internally grounded and does not arc to the sidewalls of the drill hole. Soil is not scorched or altered in any manner; it is only compacted by the pressure wave. This technique has been used in urban areas with no effect on electrical or electronic equipment."

Jan 1, 2009

By G. Wakefield, A. H. Daane, D. H. Dennison, F. H. Spedding

Preparation of pure scandium metal was accomplished by calcium reduction of the fluoride by two methods; a low-temperatzdre alloy process and direct reduction with subsequent distillation of the product. The following properties were determined: melting point: 1181OK; boiling point (calculated): 3000°K; lattice constants at 298°K (hexagonal lattice): a = 3.308 * 0.001 A, c = 5.267 * 0.003A; calculated density at 298°K, g per cm3: 2,990 + 0.007; electrical resistivity, ohm-cm: 299°K, 66.6 ± 0.2 x 10 -6; 373oK, 77.4 * 0.2 x 10 -6; thermal coefficient at 299°K, ohm-cm per deg: 5.4 X x; heat of sublimation at 298°K, kcal pel- mole: 80.79. The vapor pressure was determined as a function of temperature between 1505o and 1748°K, with the data fitted to a straight line shielding the equation: Log Pmm = -1.718 X 104/ToK + 8.298. SCANDIUM, element number 21, was first discovered by Nilson in 1879 and was recognized as the Ekaboron as predicted by Mendeleff. As it is in group III of the periodic table, the general properties are a little like aluminum and also resemble quite closely the properties of yttrium and the rare-earth metals, in both the metallic and ionic form. Although the earth's crust contains approximately 5 ppm of scandium (the element is as abundant as arsenic and twice as abundant as boron) it generally occurs so widely distributed that it has earned the reputation of being very rare. The one exception to this is the mineral thortveitite, which has been found in Madagascar (20 pct Sc2O3) and in Norway (35 pct Sc2O3). Scandium also occurs in small but distinct amounts in uranium and rare-earth ores; the recent larger scale processing of these materials has made some scandium available from these sources. As with other naturally-occurring monoisotopic elements (except Be), scandium contains an odd number of protons and an even number of neutrons. Scandium metal was first prepared by Fischer and coworkers1 in 1937 by electrolysis of scandium chloride in a molten eutectic mixture of lithium and potassium chlorides, using molten zinc as a cathode and collector of the scandium metal produced. The zinc was removed from the Zn-2 pct Sc alloy by vacuum distillation, leaving a product reported to be 94 to 98 pct Sc, with the main impurities being iron and silicon. They reported a melting point of 1400° C for this material. Scandium has also been prepared by the reduction of scandium chloride with potassium metal in a glass apparatus by Bommer and Hohmann in 1941,' resulting in a mixture of metal and potassium chloride; these workers did not isolate the metal proper, but the X-ray diffraction of the slag-metal mixture showed it to be hexagonal with a = 3.30A, c = 5.45A. petru3, 4 and coworkers have recently reported the preparation of the metal in a compact form by the reduction of either ScF3 or ScC13 with calcium metal and subsequent distillation of the product. This process probably yielded a metal of high purity, but they list no chemical analysis nor do they list any of the properties of their product. Previous related work in this Laboratory has been concerned with the production of yttrium and the rare-earth metals and the determination of their physical properties. Because of its similarity to these metals, scandium is being included in this study. PREPARATION OF SCANDIUM METAL The preparation of yttrium and the rare-earth metals may be accomplished by reduction of their fluorides with calcium metal in tantalum crucibles.5 This process leads to the introduction of tantalum (up to 0.5 pct) as an impurity in the higher melting rare earths, but since the tantalum occurs as dendrites, uncombined with the rare-earth metals, its presence is not objectionable in some cases. The preparation of scandium metal in this manner, however, was found to yield a product containing 2 to 5 pct Ta. To obtain a purer product, the following two methods were developed for the reduction of scandium fluoride with calcium metal: i) a low-temperature process utilizing zinc to form a low

Jan 1, 1961

By C. P. Mangelsdorf

When the finely bedded shale frequently encountered over coal seams experiences a separation, the material below the separation must behave like a beam or plate in that it must resist both bending and shear. Be-cause of the weakness in interlaminar shear inherent in such strata, shear deflections that are usually ignored in isotropic beam theory may account for a significant part of the total roof sag. Similarly, when a roof truss is installed in such a roof the upward displacement reducing the sag will have components due to shear as well as bending. Questions asked by mine operators about the installation of roof trusses frequently deal with optimum position, slope, and initial tension of the inclined chords. This Bureau of Mines report examines the effects of those chord parameters on the strain energy of both shear and bending and offers optimum values that will minimize the total strain energy of the immediate roof. Design charts are provided, several design examples are included, and the results are compared with current practice. The effects of in situ stresses are investigated and are shown to be equivalent to an additional load on the beam.

Jan 1, 1988

By P. R. Clifford

Phosphogypsum is a byproduct of the manufacture phosphoric acid. There are approximately one billion tons of phosphogypsum stored in stacks in northern and central Florida. The Florida Institute of Phosphate Research (FIPR) is investigating potential uses of phosphogypsum. These include using phosphogypsum as a road base material, as a soil amendment in agriculture, as a daily cover in landfills, and as a construction material. The results of this research will be presented and will be discussed in light of regulatory barriers to the use of phosphogypsum.

Jan 1, 2002

FREDERICK G. BRENNEMAN Frederick G. Brenneman died of pneumonia at his home at Pottsville, Pa., on November 24. He was in the class of 1912, of the Pottsville High School, attended Bellefonte Academy, and graduated from the Colorado School of Mines, at Golden, Colo., in 1916. He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs; Philip Brenneman and three brothers, Louis P. and Robert C. at home, and John :F., of Camp Merritt, N. J. Mr.

Jan 1, 1919

By J. W. Spretnak, G. Sachs

The: iron-rich iron-nickel alloys have attracted considerable academic interest in recent years. The carbon-free alloys are of minor practical importance, but they are the base of many alloys with various outstanding properties. The iron-nickel alloys, therefore, have been investigated extensively regarding both their structures and their properties. The researches on these alloys up to 1938 have been collected and critically reviewed by J. S. Marsh,l and will be discussed in some detail in the sections of this paper dealing with specific subjects. These numerous investigations have not succeeded in establishing the equilibrium conditions in this system. Alloys containing more than a certain amount of nickel (8 to 10 per cent Ni) undergo the allotropic transformation extremely sluggishly, both on heating and cooling, showing a large hysteresis," which is not dependent upon the rate of cooling and persists even with very slow rates of cooling.3 Honda4 and Merica4 have therefore resigned themselves to proposing a diagram (Fig. I) for practical use, illustrating the structural relations under commercial conditions instead of attempting to establish the true equilibrium diagram. Marsh is less pessimistic and suggests an equilibrium diagram (Fig. 2) which conforms approximately to the facts known about this system. Recent X-ray investigations by Owen-Sully5 and Bradley-Gold-schmidt6 on powdered alloys indicate that the previous work on the iron-nickel system yielded very incomplete results. These investigators agree (Figs. 3 and ,+) that alloys in the powdered form containing more than 8 per cent and up to about 35 per cent Ni decompose into a stable heterogeneous mix-

Jan 1, 1941

By G. Sachs, J. W. Spretnak

The: iron-rich iron-nickel alloys have attracted considerable academic interest in recent years. The carbon-free alloys are of minor practical importance, but they are the base of many alloys with various outstanding properties. The iron-nickel alloys, therefore, have been investigated extensively regarding both their structures and their properties. The researches on these alloys up to 1938 have been collected and critically reviewed by J. S. Marsh,l and will be discussed in some detail in the sections of this paper dealing with specific subjects. These numerous investigations have not succeeded in establishing the equilibrium conditions in this system. Alloys containing more than a certain amount of nickel (8 to 10 per cent Ni) undergo the allotropic transformation extremely sluggishly, both on heating and cooling, showing a large hysteresis," which is not dependent upon the rate of cooling and persists even with very slow rates of cooling.3 Honda4 and Merica4 have therefore resigned themselves to proposing a diagram (Fig. I) for practical use, illustrating the structural relations under commercial conditions instead of attempting to establish the true equilibrium diagram. Marsh is less pessimistic and suggests an equilibrium diagram (Fig. 2) which conforms approximately to the facts known about this system. Recent X-ray investigations by Owen-Sully5 and Bradley-Gold-schmidt6 on powdered alloys indicate that the previous work on the iron-nickel system yielded very incomplete results. These investigators agree (Figs. 3 and ,+) that alloys in the powdered form containing more than 8 per cent and up to about 35 per cent Ni decompose into a stable heterogeneous mix-

Jan 1, 1941

The MineSight Schedule Optimizer (MSSO) is a new production scheduling tool developed by Mintec, Inc. using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) techniques. This tool was developed to solve the short- and medium-term schedule problems for surface and underground mining operations that involve multiple mining areas, multiple processes, multiple destinations and blending requirements. MSSO finds the optimum schedule in each period that achieves the objective while satisfying comprehensive product quality and quantity requirements as well as physical and technical constraints. Using the MineSight Planning Database (MSPD) as a central data hub, MSSO seamlessly works with MineSight 3-D (MS3D) block models and third-party data, MineSight Interactive Planner (MSIP), MineSight Haulage (MSHaulage) and MineSight Activity Planner (MSAP) to prepare data, formulate MILP models, calculate, report, fine-tune, save and visualize schedules. This paper presents the features and capabilities of MSSO. A case study is also given to demonstrate the applications of this new tool.

Jan 1, 2009

By Armando Díaz

Anteriormente, el objetivo de las organizaciones empresariales era la optimización de los procesos productivos a través de una limitada eficiencia en el mercado. Sin embargo, esta situación ha cambiado, dado que para ingresar al mercado y mantenerse rentable, se requiere una mayor eficiencia y efectividad. Por ello, el presente trabajo describe el punto de equilibrio como herramienta en el proceso de gestión, donde se igualan los ingresos totales y los costos totales a cero. Son tres los métodos utilizados para la determinación en el punto de equilibrio: ecuación, margen de contribución y gráfico. En este sentido, se utiliza el método gráfico ya que define las ecuaciones de costos totales y es fácilmente comprensible a todo nivel.

Sep 13, 2001