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By Carl F. Floe, John Chipman

A YEAR ago the authors published a paper on the solubility of sulphur dioxide in molten copper.1 The data in that paper agreed closely with that obtained by previous investigators, which, however, did not agree with the theoretical predictions for solubility of triatomic gases of this type. It has generally been assumed that the reaction of solution is: [ ] Neglecting the slight change in copper concentration and considering that the concentrations of sulphur and oxygen are both proportional to the volume of gas absorbed, it follows that this volume should be proportional to the cube root of the pressure. It was found that a plot of the volume absorbed versus the cube root of the pressure gave a straight line, but that this line did not pass through the origin. Calculations of the equilibrium constant for the reaction showed that it was fairly constant for pressures above l00 mm. but that actually it approached zero at lower pressures. The conclusion was made therefore that the solubility as determined could not be expressed by Eq. I or by any other simple equation, particularly at low pressures. Other investigators have concluded that the solubility of sulphur dioxide in copper as well as in several copper alloys is more nearly proportional to the square root of the pressure.* Such a conclusion, however, does not satisfactorily account for the results, even when rather complicated mechanisms for the solution are assumed. The highly improbable speculations of Lepp2 and of Schneider and Esch3 based upon hypothetical dissociation pressures of Cu20 and (a; 2S dissolved in copper illustrate the type of reasoning that has been used to account for the discrepancy. In the discussion of the previous paper, the authors pointed out that the discrepancy might possibly be due to impurities in the copper, although the purest form available was used. Further consideration of the problem suggested that the impurities likely to have the greatest effect on the solubility of SO2 in copper were oxygen, sulphur and carbon. Accordingly, further experiments have been made to show the effects of these elements. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS The apparatus used for measuring solubility was essentially the same as that shown in the previous paper. However, since it was desired to make measurements at low pressures, a McLeod gauge was added and 6-mm. glass tubing was substituted for the capillary. This increased the "hot volume" considerably but was necessary in order to obtain good vacuums in a reasonable length of time. A mercury diffusion pump was also installed.

Jan 1, 1942

CHAIRMAN LITTLEJOHN: We have with us this afternoon, Mr. D. W. Rockey, of the Industrial Educational Organization, who would like to occupy a few minutes of our time. There is still an hour left, and there is a lot more talking to be done, and when the time is up you can go. D. W. ROC'KEY (U. S. Vocational Training Bureau, N. M.) : Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I am sorry to say I am not more closely connected with the coal mining game. I am interested in it because I am interested in a great deal of educational work being done in New Mexico. Two years ago, this Institute appointed an Educational Committee to investigate the opportunity for education in coal mining, and you have the report of that committee; it was issued in May 1924. Mr. Littlejohn, Mr. Moorhead of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation, Mr. Dickinson, and Mr. Miller, I think, of the C. F. C I., and Mr. Pryde, were members of that committee. They investigated the work being done in Safety, Training, First- Aid, and other topics, and made a general survey of the educational problems that might be said to be of benefit to the coal operators and to the coal miners. I believe, if I understood Mr. Moorhead correctly, while this report was accepted the committee was not discharged; but everyone seemed to be a little in doubt as to whether this activity should continue. My plea here directly is, of course, to ask that they be made a permanent committee, and asked to report to you at the next meeting in February on what has been accomplished in carrying out the program that was advised by the various companies, and what success, from a standpoint of improved work and financial return to the company, has been had. I believe that the whole trend of your discussion here has shown the need or the opportunity for improved production through education. For instance your mechanical loader the need of men who are experienced along mechanical lines, rather than the old pick and shovel methods, and the need of better understanding of your problems, just as in your safety lamp discussion that came up in the report of your Safety Committee. We have also developed a new phase, a new may of getting at some of your problems at Dawson this year, that has not been covered previously. I want to ask Mr. Holman here to tell you what is being done as a starter. Remember, we have not worked this out. He will tell yon how we are making a preliminary start in training inexperienced miners with the idea of cutting the accident record and keeping the production of inexperienced men at a higher level. If you are interested in that, I would like to suggest that this committee be requested to investigate some of these things very carefully. The State of New Mexico was willing to put five hundred or a thousand dollars into this training program as an experiment. We are willing that the Institute should have the credit for it, but we want it carefully surveyed so at your next meeting or some subsequent meeting, they can say this has been a feasible project and worthy of consideration. Mr. Holman, will yon tell us a little about this? (Applause.) MR. HOLMAN: We had an idea that by putting a green man in the mine with an experienced miner, the green man would probably learn something, and not get into trouble, etc. We decided to take a certain portion of one of our best mines, cross entry room work, and establish an underground school. We picked one of the assistant foremen who was well trained in our particular mining methods, and any green man who was employed was put into this school. He was paid a salary and he trained each and every man. Each man or two men world be working in a room and we paid them the regular contract price; they were trained how to shovel coal, pick waste and various other things. Some would stay in there a month and be transferred to other portions of the mine or other

Jan 1, 1926

By Patrice Favreau

In 1990 the Noranda Technology Centre commenced a project to develop an interactive three-dimensional blast design system using a commerical computer-aided drafting and design package (CADD). The objective was to alleviate the blast engineer from the tedious and time consuming blast layout and design functions normally done by hand. This would allow more time for optimizing blast designs through assessing multiple options. Since several blast design software "tools" already existed at Noranda, the need arose to integrate all the applications into one overall system that shared one common database. The result is BLASTCAD.

Jan 1, 1992

By Adrian C. Dorenfeld, Theodore Balberyszski, Strathmore R. B. Cooke

This paper reports results of studies of sulfidiza-tion of base-metal oxides and silicates with gaseous sulfur, hydrogen sulfide gas and pyrite and of their subsequent flotation with xanthate collectors. It has been established that a 100% conversion of the oxides of lead, zinc, copper and manganese into their respective sulfides is possible and is a function of reaction time and temperature. Sulfidization of chrysocolla (with malachite and azurite inclusions) resulted in a product containing covellite, chalcocite and digenite in proportions depending on conditions of sulfidization. Reacting cassiterite with gaseous sulfur, H2S or pyrite at various reaction temperatures resulted in its partial conversion to a tin sulfide. Flotation of the products of sulfidization indicated that their behavior is similar to that of natural sulfide minerals, the recovery being a function of the con-version of the oxides to their respective sulfides. The gradual depletion of high-grade sulfide mineral deposits has turned the attention of the mineral industry to the recovery of metals from the oxides and silicates. Anionic (fatty acid) and cationic collectors have in some cases made flotation of nonsulfides possible, although, in general, flotation of oxide ores is not as yet an economic process. Consequently, many attempts have been made to sulfidize the surface of the relevant oxide mineral and thus make it amenable to to In recent years, Bautista and sollenberger4 have investigated the conversion of a number of oxides to sulfides by reacting them with molten sulfur. This paper presents the results of .investigations carried out at the School of Mineral and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Minnesota to study the flotation characteristics of some sulfidized minerals. It is divided into two parts: The first describes the sulfidization of a number of oxides and a silicate, and the second presents the flotation behavior of the products of sulfidization. SULFIDIZATION OF METAL OXIDES AND SILICATES Experimental Procedure: SULFIDIZATION WITH HYDROGEN SULFIDE GAS — Sulfidization with H2S gas was carried out in a horizontal tube furnace (Fig. 1). The temperature of the furnace was regulated by means of a Variac and determined with a chromel-alumel thermocouple. The constant temperature zone in the furnace was about 6 in. in length, and it was within this zone that the experiments were carried out. The gases employed were supplied from standard compressed gas cylinders, and passed through a glass-wool filtering tower before entering the Pyrex reaction tube. Gaseous products were bubbled through a water tower (used as a flow indicator) and excess H2S was burned off at the end of the outlet tube. Samples of reagents or minerals were placed in a 3-in. Alundum boat and inserted within the constant temperature zone of the furnace. Nitrogen gas (6 ppm O2 content) was passed through the tubes at room temperature to remove air in the tube, and continued to pass while the furnace was heating up. When the required temperature was reached, H2S was allowed to enter the tube and the supply of nitrogen was shut off. At the end of the reaction period, the reverse procedure was carried out, the samples being cooled to room temperature in a nitrogen atmosphere. The flow rate of H2S gas was maintained fairly constant in all experiments, although the rate was not determined. SULFIDIZATION WITH SULFUR POWDER - To study the sulfidization of minerals with sulfur (liquid or gaseous), samples of the mineral, together with a measured quantity of sulfur powder, were placed in a stainless steel (SS316) reaction vessel (Fig. 2). The reaction vessel was heated in a vertical resistance coil furnace, the temperature being regulated through a Variac. At the end of the experiment the vessel was cooled to room temperature before the sample was removed. Cooled products were leached with CS2 to remove any free sulfur. SULFIDIZATION OF TIN CONCENTRATES - Fifty gram samples of sulfidized tin ore were prepared by mixing -48 mesh Bolivian tin concentrate with -48 mesh Ottawa sand in various proportions and sulfi-dizing these samples with H2S in the horizontal tube

Jan 1, 1969

By Frederick H. Raab

An electromagnetic (EM) system for the location of trapped mine workers at coal-mine (300 m) depths has been developed. The use of such a system in deep mines (1-km depth) requires transmission at extremely low frequencies (ELF) and a reduction in the effective noise level beyond that which can be obtained by acceptable Integration times. Automatic-noise-cancellation (ANC) techniques reduce the effective noise level by combining several received signals that contain correlated noise. Such signals can be obtained either from a remote magnetic antenna or a local electric antenna. During Phase III of this program, real ELF noise data were acquired and used to test the ANC algorithms developed during Phase II. The ELF noise data were obtained from analog recordings made by Develco under another Bureau-of-Mines contract. Digitization was accomplished by an ND converter that was added to a GMRR computer. Phase III tasks Included preparation of software for digitization, computer-computer communication, data processing, and statistical analysis. Useable data were obtained from eleven half-hour tapes containing noise from one axis of the primary antenna and three axes of the remote antenna. The overall average Improvement in SNR was 4.1 dB. However, the average Improvements for the Individual X, Y, and Z axes were 4.2, 11.9, and -1.9 dB, which roughly follow the observed noise power. Nonlinear processing was not effective with this noise.

Jan 2, 1984

By Kefton H. Teague

Olivine was first described and named by Warner in 1790. It is an olive green to greenish gray colored magnesium-iron silicate containing a mixture, in solid solution, of fosterite (Mg2SiO4) and fayalite (Fe2SiO4). Ratios between fosterite and fayalite in olivine are somewhat variable, but in general olivine contains at least 85% fosterite. Specific gravity is variable also, depending on the ratios of fosterite to fayalite. As a rule it is in the 3.2 - 3.4 range. All commercial olivine is obtained from the rock dunite, the most basic member of the peridotite group. Dunites, in addition to being composed primarily of olivine, generally contain assessory pyroxenes and spinels (chromite and magnetite). Dunites', when altered by hydrothermal solutions or metamorphism, often contain alteration minerals such as talc, serpentine, chlorite, vermiculite and amphiboles. In the 1930's and 40's considerable research was conducted on olivine for use as a refractory, plant food raw material, magnesium source for metal, and a source for magnesium chemicals. This research met with only limited success.

Jan 1, 1977

By M. Misra

A sample of thorium-contaminated soil from Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB) was subjected to froth flotation for removing thorium contaminants. A series of flotation tests were conducted to screen and evaluate the reagents. Among the collectors used, sodium oleate exhibited to show the promising results. Preliminary tests showed that a concentrate having activity as high as 5300 pCi/g can be obtained from the contaminated feed soil having activity 800 pCi/g. The volume reduction obtained was 89% and the activity recovery in the concentrate was 68%. The paper discusses the physico-chemical characterization data and the potential physical separation decontamination schemes for the thorium contaminated soils.

Jan 1, 1996

By Young-Dae Kim, Dong-Sic Kim, Jong-Jin Pak, Kyung-Hyo Do

"Sulfur is one of the most harmful elements in stainless steel (SIS) products and the specification of sulfur content is getting more severe for high grade SIS. In order to accurately control the desulfurization reaction in high chromium containing SIS melts, it is important to know the thermodynamic interaction between chromium and sulfur in Fe-Cr melts over a wide range of chromium content. In this study, the equilibrium sulfur distribution, Ls, between a Ca0-Alz03 slag and Fe-Cr-C,.,-S melts were measured under CO atmosphere in the temperature range of 1823-1923 K. The specific effect of chromium on the activity coefficient of sulfur in the melts was determined with the consideration of carbon effect on sulfur. A separate experiment was carried to determine. Ls between a slag and FeCr- S melts (Cr: 0-30 mass%) at 1873K to check the validity of the thermodynamic parameter determined in the present study.IntroductionFerritic stainless steels containing chromium (Cr) up to 30 mass% have been developed for a good corrosion resistance and a high formability to replace austenitic SIS. Especially, Sulfur (S) causes a reduction of high-temperature strength and the hydrogen induced cracking (HlC) in stainless steel for line pipes. [l]Many studies on the desulfurization of hot metal and liquid steel have been carried out for several decades and they used HzS-H2 gas equilibrium technique for measuring the effects of many alloying elements on the activity coefficient of S in liquid iron. However, the study on desulfurization of Fe-Cr melts was very scarce.[2] In order to accurately control the desulfurization reaction of high Cr stainless steel, it is essential to know the thermodynamic relation between Cr and S in Fe-Cr melt over a wide range of Cr content and temperature.In the present study, the thermodynamic interaction between Cr and S in liquid iron was determined by measuring the equilibrium distribution ratios of S between Fe-Cr-C,.1-S melts containing a wide range of Cr up to 30 mass% and a 55 mass%Ca0-45 mass%Alz03 slag of which the sulfide capacity was pre-determined using Fe-C,a1-S melts in the temperature range of 1823-1923 K. The validity of thermodynamic parameter determined in the present study was checked by measuring the S distribution between a Ca0-Alz03-Mg0 slag of known sulfide capacity and liquid Fe-Cr-S alloy at 1873 K. Using Wagner's formalism, the results of experiment were thermodynamically considered to determine the effect of a specific concentration of Cr on the activity coefficient of S in liquid iron."

Jan 1, 2014

By Patrice Favreau, R. F. Ph. D. Professor Emeritus Favreau

After Nobel invented dynamite, blasts were carried out by trial and error, without the use of equations based on the fundamental principles of Chemistry and Physics, although everyone accepted that shock waves were involved; but no equations were available to calculate their intensity. Around 1950 however, M.A. Cook proposed a procedure to calculate the thermochemistry of an explosive, and thus evaluate theenergy released during the explosion of a fully confined explosive. Some blasters then began to use theEnergy Factor; the latter, however, does not subdivide the energy into its three kinds of activities necessaryfor a successful blast, as demonstrated in 1968 by reference 2, namely i) the shock wave which weakensthe rock; ii) the stress field SS which fully fragments the rock; and iii) the release of the stress SS whichcauses the fully fragmented rock to burst out with the velocity necessary to move the rock into the muckpile. The article explains that the way to achieve a successful blast is by insuring that the explosive energy divides properly into the weakening action of the shock wave which is necessary to prevent large collar blocks and toe, and into adequate stress field intensity SS which is necessary to obtain good fragmentation size distribution at the crusher, as well as adequate burst out rock movement to achieve easy mucking.

By R. M. Bird

FEW persons outside of the foundry trade have any conception of the great variety of sands now regularly specified and furnished, nor of the differences in foundry practice frequently resulting from apparently minor changes in sands. Conditions in each locality where the sands are mined and prepared necessitate special equipment designed to perform the work efficiently. The description that follows of the foundry sand producing operations is typical of the areas in New York and New Jersey, and particularly refers to the operations of the George F. Pettinos Co.

Jan 1, 1926

By C. W. Sherman, John Chipman

IN the mathematical statement of the law of mass action, the activity of each substance consumed or produced in a reaction is used to obtain a numerical constant which is characteristic of the equilibrium of that reaction at the given temperature. The activity in many cases is equal to, or proportional to, the concentration. If this is the case, any units denoting concentrations, such as weight percentage or mol fraction, may be substituted in the equilibrium expression. It is even permissible to use mixed units provided only that each unit is that used in defining the activity of the corresponding substance. The indiscriminate use of concentration units in writing equilibrium constants sometimes leads to very erroneous results. On the other hand, what appear to be contradictory results from similar investigations often might be resolved if the activity is the quantity that is used to determine the equilibrium constant for the reaction in question. De-sulphurization serves as an important illustration. Sulphur in lron and Steel The control of the sulphur content of the finished product is one of the oldest and broadest problems in the metallurgy of iron and steel. In general, this control must be exercised through the action of a slag, and for this reason experimental studies of the distribution of sulphur between slag and metal have assumed considerable importance. Under slags of the type found in the basic open-hearth furnace the ratio (% S)/[% S] does not in general exceed about 8. Under blast-furnace conditions, however, de-sulphurization ratios of 50 to 100 are readily obtained, and under laboratory conditions using similar slags, the ratio may be as high as 400. The fact that blast-furnace metal is much more readily desulphurized than is molten steel rests upon two distinct phenomena. The first of these is connected with the slag reaction. In the open-hearth furnace, the equilibrium in the following reaction places a definite limit on the sulphur content of the slag: S + 0-- = 0 + S- - where the symbols underlined indicate elements dissolved in the liquid metal, while slag constituents are represented as ions. The high oxygen content of the open-hearth bath prevents this reaction from proceeding far enough to effect good desul-phurization. In the blast-furnace process, however, the oxygen activity is limited by the presence of carbon in the metal and in the coke bed and the controlling reaction becomes: S_+O- + C_=S- + CO(gas) [2] The second phenomenon which contributes to the easier desulphurization of blast-furnace metal is the effect of high concentrations of other elements. These elements, notably carbon, silicon, and phosphorus, increase the thermodynamic activity of sulphur several fold. As a result of this increase, the escaping tendency of sulphur from the metal phase is increased and its removal facilitated. Previous Studies It becomes, therefore, a matter of importance to determine the effects of various elements upon the activity of sulphur in the melt. The experimental approach to this problem has been made through the equilibrium between sulphur in the melt and gaseous atmospheres containing hydrogen and hydrogen sulphide. The reaction and its equilibrium constant are written as follows: S + H2(gas) =H2S(gas);K1 = -- [3] Pn2 • as where the symbol a, represents the activity of the sulphur in solution in the metal. The understanding of the chemical behavior of sulphur in steel and pig iron rests on a firm knowledge of the binary system Fe-S. A number of studies of the equilibrium have given closely agreeing results from which the activity and free energy of the dissolved sulphur may be found. The recent paper by Sherman, Elvander, and Chipman1 includes a discussion and quantitative comparison of the results of several of the significant researchesr-" on dilute solutions of sulphur in iron. The results of this study indicate that the relationship between the ratio Ph,s/p+ and the percentage of sulphur in solution is not a linear one. This

Jan 1, 1953

By Paul B. Barton

Unconventional mineral deposits are those that differ significantly from productive deposits in mineralogy, grade, or geologic setting. Thus, the initial representatives of each deposit type are, by definition, “unconventional” until they are exploited. The “unconventional” status changes to "conventional" because of economic shifts (e.g., bulk silver ores), because of technological innovations (e.g., froth flotation), or simply through the recognition of, and production from, novel mineral concentrations. Heretofore the discovery of new deposit types has been almost entirely accidental, but the long- established concept of the geochemical cycle provides a nearly untouched opportunity and challenge for the application of geochemistry in predicting novel, potentially economic, mineral concentrations.

Jan 1, 1983

By W Kendall

Ore sorting has the potential to reduce the feed to wet plants and in the case of complex orebodies that can significantly reduce the water, energy and reagent consumptions and resulting operating costs for the project. The application of ore sorters has sparked renewed interest and application in the precious and base metals mining industry in recent years as a result of the continuing development of new sensing technology and very fast information processing that is making ore sorters applicable to a much wider range of ores and larger scale operations. The application of ore sorters involves a range of trade-off decisions that have economic impact upon the benefits of ores sorting to the project under consideration. This paper will present some typical trade offs to be considered and their impact in a particular project setting. CITATION: Kendall, W, 2018. How economics drive the application of ore sorting, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 24–27 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By Zuhair Ibrahim, Dan Tillema, Ali Reza

This paper details the investigation of a fatal explosion that occurred on April 8, 2011 at a magazine used to store fireworks in Waikele, HI. The fireworks had been confiscated by the Bureau of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement after they were informed that a container shipped to the United States contained illegal fireworks. Four groups of cardboard cartons that were marked as 1.4G (consumer fireworks) were determined to be consistent with the more explosive 1.3G type, commercial display fireworks. The subcontractor retained to destroy these fireworks stored the shipment in the subject magazine and was in the process of disassembling them on the day the explosion occurred.

Jan 1, 2014

By J Cornejo, A Pinochet, C Caviedes

The ore extraction rate and the incorporation of new areas are key operational parameters. In massive deposits mined by caving techniques they both control the cave back geometry, which is mostly responsible for the induced stress state around productive levels. Early detection of deviations from admissible geometries will prevent stability problems related to geomechanical hazards, helping to improve safety and working conditions and reduce the potential for lost reserves.This paper describes a mine planning tool currently in use at the El Teniente mine. This tool involves the control of the cave geometry based on rules that have been defined as a result of different studies and experience collected during the operational history of the mine.This mine planning strategy achieves an extractive mining process with lower risk than conventional planning methods, ensuring ore reserves extraction if followed as planned while reducing unexpected changes in mining sequences.CITATION:Cornejo, J, Pinochet, A and Caviedes, C, 2016. Geometric control for strategic mine planning at El Teniente Mine, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 191–196 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

By H. M. Howe

§ 24. Introduction.—This paper discusses the chief existing data as to the temperature, in iron-carbon alloys, of Ae3, the upper limit of the transformation range when in equilibrium, as distinguished from Ac3, the temperature at which the end of the transformation is noted in heating up, and from Ar3, that at which its beginning is noted in cooling down. The former is in fact carried above Ae3 and the latter below Ae3 by lag. I touch incidentally on the influence of manganese on Ae3 (§ 29, p. 614). The sections, tables, and illustrations are numbered consecutively with those in the accompanying papers by Howe and Levy on Determination of the Position of Ae3 in Carbon-Iron Alloys, and by Burgess, Crowe, and Rawdon on Thermal and Microscopical Examination of Professor Howe's Standard Commercial Steels, to which the present paper forms a sequel. § 25. The contradictoriness of our present evidence is shown by grouping it together in Fig. 14. For instance, both Goerens and Meyer (Series 2) and Meuthen (Series 12) used practically stationary temperature, and thus reduced the influence of lag very greatly; yet Ae3 for 0.32 carbon steel according to the former investigators is 894", but according to Meuthen it is at or below 770°, a discrepancy of 124" or more. In view of our ability to measure these high temperatures within a few degrees, the existence of such a discrepancy is as unwelcome as it seems needless. I attack the thankless task of bringing some order out of this chaos. In Part 11. (§§ 29 to 39) I consider the chief causes of error. In Part III. (§§ 40 to 48) I apply certain corrections to some of the existing data, review those data, weight them, and calculate a prob-

Jan 1, 1914

The structural design of a mine haul road involves the determination of cover thickness requirements above the in-situ or sub-grade material. The specification of these layerworks is a critical component in the overall road design process. Poor design often leads to premature failure of the road, safety is often compromised and productivity and equipment service-life will certainly decrease. Historically, the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) cover-curve design method has been widely applied to the structural design of mine haul roads. More recently, established mechanistic design principles have superceded the CBR approach to haul road design, using a multi-layer model to represent the various road structural layers. The structural design and associated layer thickness requirements are then determined following a maximum strain criterion. This paper develops a case-study evaluation of the CBR cover-curve and mechanistic design methodologies and through a comparative analysis of layerworks and materials, highlights how improved structural design can be achieved mechanistically.

Jan 1, 2011

By Fernando Romero Lage

"Crushing and screening theory and application has remained fairly consistent in the last 50 years. The application of such equipment is guided by varied formulaic conventions and rules that due to the entropic nature of the process, remains more an art than a science. The variability of conditions creates an environment in which trial and error becomes the principal means of process balance and control. This paper illustrates some of the theories behind the process, plus other assumptions, postulates, myths and misconceptions that exist within the crushing and screening industry.INTRODUCTIONContinuous material balance calculations are habitually performed in the design of new comminution circuits as well as in the valuation of existing circuits. A continuous material balance calculation is one in which the input rate of material is equal to the output rate for each unit functioning in the circuit. At continuous analysis, there is no accumulation or losses of material within the system, as it is when performing a discrete event analysis.In order to produce viable and manageable mine-to-mill material, whether it is ready to leach or ready to mill, we must reduce the material in a series of stages. The power demand increases as the material size decreases, as it is when folding a piece of paper successively. As with the paper, there is a crushing size limitation that is a consequence of the mineral properties such as work index, moisture, viscoelasticity, etc. Comprehensive knowledge of crushing plants in both the aggregate and the mining industries show that, after three stages of crushing, a particle size distribution originating from a blasted deposit can be reduced from an nominal maximum size of 500 mm to a nominal maximum size of 12 mm. if the last stage of crushing is set in closed circuit, the screen openings will be able to yield a smaller top size.Achieving steady and continuous material balance poses major difficulties as crusher lose their settings, screens blind or peg, and material characteristics change geographically or seasonally. Overloading conditions in crushers and screens are nothing but counterproductive, and the net losses of an unbalanced circuit can be overlooked when mining operators are paying a lot more attention to the evermore complex systems downstream.It is not simply the crushing of the mineral but achieving the right size for the downstream milling process that will yield the maximum amount of energy savings."

Jan 1, 2010

By Jorge Beim

Helical Piles are increasingly being used to support and rehabilitate structures subjected to compressive axial loads. Traditionally, empirical correlations between installation torque and load capacity of helical screw piles are used as the field quality control. Load tests, however, are always recommended to validate the installation process and design methodology. This paper describes a test program performed on helical piles installed at the National Geotechnical Experimentation Site of the University of Massachusetts - Amherst campus (UMass-Amherst), well known for its deep varved clay deposit. Seven of these piles were submitted to Dynamic Load Tests using the Pile Driving Analyzer® (PDA), and also to Static Load Tests. Good agreements were obtained between the results of the dynamic and static load tests, encouraging the use of the former testing method as a viable alternative to the latter for determining the compressive load capacity of helical piles installed in cohesive soils. The results of the load tests were also compared to the predictions based on torque correlations, resulting in correlation coefficients which were higher than the ones traditionally used.

Jan 1, 2012

By David Dardick

Tround International Inc. is developing rock excavation and drilling devices which utilize a simple patented mechanism for firing frangible projectiles. This system launches a salvo of three projectiles with every shot in automatic sequence. Studies conducted by Physics International Inc. have demonstrated that firing projectiles into hard rock such as granite creates fragmentation which is much faster and cheaper than conventional drilling and blasting. The Tround salvo approach enhances this further by a controlled stresswave interaction created by a slight time difference during impact of the individual projectiles. The University of Maryland is conducting additional studies to optimize these parameters.

Jan 1, 1981