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By T. Badrujaman

In September 2005, after 30 years experiencing in operating an ESF using a falling water film shell cooling system, Antam entered the new era in operating an ESF, after completely modernized its ESF No. 2 from a falling water film shell cooling system to a copper cooling system. Further, in the beginning of 2007, Ferronickel plant No. 3, where its ESF also uses copper coolers, was successfully commissioned. By operating an ESF using a copper cooling technology, Antam has to face some challenges to establish the operation stability. Besides that, the chances to maximize the furnace efficiency are greatly opened. The shielded-arc mode of electrode tip is selected to operate an ESF under relatively high furnace power to produce metal having tap temperature below 1500? and slag having tap temperature below 1600?. It leads to electric current unbalance. Further, operating an ESF using a copper cooler system under high voltage as consequence of the furnace power raise increases metal and slag tap temperature. This condition damages furnace integrity fast. Besides that, relatively high metal temperature increases its pressure during metal tapping. It leads to failure in closing the metal tap hole. The main different ways in operating an ESF using a falling water film shell cooling system and a copper cooling system lie in the electrode tip mode, the water specification used for cooler, metal tap block maintenance and allowed metal & slag level in furnace. Since a copper cooler system allows an ESF to be operated by consuming nickel ore having ratio Fe / Ni up to eight and producing slag having relatively high Fe content in slag, an undesirable silicon reversion phenomenon becomes an obstacle in reaching the operation stability. A copper cooler technology lets Antam to take a chance to increase its capacity. Modernizing the ESF No.2 had increased its furnace power from 17 MWh to 25 MWh. Meanwhile the ESF No. 3 can be operated up to 42 MWh. This technology allows an ESF to be operated under relatively high furnace power above 25 MWh safely as well as prolong the campaign life of ESF brick. Further, lowering ESF power consumption, extending the limitation of ratio S/M in nickel ore consumed and adjusting Ni grade in ferronickel product can be gained by applying this technology.

Jan 1, 2014

By Lisa R. Papandrea, David Chen, Walter E. Kaeck

"Construction of the University at Buffalo’s new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (UB-SMBS) required excavation in variable ground to a depth of more than 40 ft adjacent to the NFTA Metro subway and Allen Street Station. Complicating the building design and construction, the new medical facility incorporates the at grade Station entrance building, requiring a combination of temporary and permanent excavation support structures, a complex sequence of ground support installation, and a mix of shallow and deep foundations to accommodate the large floor spans and concentrated column loads introduced by building over and adjacent to the Station entrance. Excavation and foundation construction was challenged by a stratified soil profile with interlayered and sensitive sands, silts and clays and complicated groundwater regime with perched and regional water tables. Efficient construction required ongoing coordination between the design team and contractor, careful field observation, and construction monitoring in several facets of below grade construction. This paper describes the design and construction of excavation support structures and foundations to manage the variable ground, congested site conditions, and complications of building adjacent and above an active subway station. Use of site instrumentation and monitoring data to provide guidance in construction when unanticipated field conditions arise is illustrated. Lessons learned in installation and sequencing of excavation support, groundwater control and foundation construction are also discussed.INTRODUCTIONUniversity at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi heralded the new School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (UB-SMBS) as a future linchpin of UB’s downtown campus that will revitalize the area and enhance western New York’s emerging bio-sciences corridor. The $375 Million, 628,000 square foot, eight story building with two basements is expected to house 2,000 faculty, student and staff allowing UB to increase class size from 140 to 180 students. It will be constructed above the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s (NFTA) Allen Street Station, creating a direct connection to Buffalo’s light rail system. The 200 ft x 400 ft site is bounded by Main Street, High Street, Washington Street and the Roosevelt Apartments and adjoining parking lot at the west, north, east and south respectively, as shown in Figure 2. Groundbreaking for the new building was in October 2013 with the facility scheduled to open in early 2017."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. Kraemer

Consumption of plastics has been growing in both the U.S. and world markets since the mid-1930s. This growth is due to plastics being used to make new products and as a replacement material for existing products. This paper develops an understanding of the replacement process by looking at the use of plastic, specifically PVC, in the construction pipe industry. History details the growth of the plastics industry and a discussion of the material selection process indicates the advantages and disadvantages of plastic pipe. Analysis shows that the use of plastic, as an alternative material for pipe, is having a significant effect on the cast iron, copper, clay, and steel industries. For the purpose of understanding the replacement process, three example residential systems were examined with a lifecycle cost analysis being performed. PVC was the material of choice in 1988 for all systems. Even though disposal cost was the one area where PVC was not the most cost effective, disposal costs were not sufficient to offset the overall advantage of using PVC on an economic basis. That plastic competes effectively with other materials, in terms of material properties and cost, indicates that further work should be performed to understand the impact plastics have on other material markets.

Jan 1, 1991

By The Honourable George Prudham

"I AM PLEASED indeed to be present with you here today and to be taking part in the proceedings of your convention. You have been greeted and welcomed to the Province by Premier Manning who is also provincial Minister of Mines and Minerals, and to this City by Mayor Hawrelak. As Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys in the federal government and as Member of Parliament for Edmonton West, I have been asked to share the honour of extending greetings and a cordial welcome to all.It is a happy coincidence that this representative national gathering, indicative of the growing strength and significance of a great basic Canadian industry, is taking place in the Macdonald Hotel, the new addition of which marks another important step forward in the progress of this City and district.This happens to be the third national convention of the C.I.M. that I •have had the pleasure of attending and I trust that I am not presumptuous in expressing the hope that I will have the opportunity of attending many more conventions of the Institute in my present capacity.Dr. Kidd has bestowed on me a high honour by asking me to be Co-Chairman of this Inaugural Session of the Convention and thus to share with him the responsibility of presiding over the proceedings of this afternoon."

Jan 1, 1953

By Sergio N. Monteiro

Natural lignocellulosic fibers are successfully replacing synthetic fibers in many engineering applications. In addition to well-known conventional lignocellulosic fibers, others with promising properties are now being considered. The present work investigated the mechanical and structural characteristics of a relatively high strength fiber, curaua (Ananas erectifolius) from the Amazon region of Brazil. The results obtained from tensile tests confirmed the superior strength while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis displayed features that justify the possibility of using the curaua fiber as an effective reinforcement for polymeric composites.

Jan 1, 2006

By Ronald T. Mayerle

In-1992, the U.S. Bureau of Mines conducted a mineral investigation of the Anderson Mountain study area, including RARE II area 4-942, in Lemhi County, Idaho. The 7,340-ha study area lies within the Salmon National Forest about one kilometer north of the old mining town of Gibbonsville (pop.: 100). The eastern boundary of the study area is formed by the crest of the Bitterroot Range. The crest also serves as the continental Divide, and as the border between Idaho and Montana. The study area lies within the Gibbonsville Mining District, an important past producer of gold from lode and placer deposits. Since the 1870's, several hundred claims for both types have been located in the study area. Thirty-six current (1992) lode claims and two patented claim groups (one lode and one placer) are wholly or partially in the study area. No placer claims are current. In all, twenty-seven lode and five placer properties in and adjacent to the study area were investigated. Workings on the properties included 2 caved shafts; 36 caved adits; 8 open adits; 120 small pits, cuts, and trenches; and 4 large dozed cuts.

Jan 1, 1993

Block caving is an underground mining method for the profitable extraction of massive, low-grade orebodies. Lately, it has become the mining method of choice, for many mining companies, because of depleted high-grade orebodies, and declining metal market prices. Block cave mining, however, still faces several challenges. Lack of access to the cave remains a major issue in understanding the rockmass response to mining for method optimisation. Improving our understanding of the rockmass response to caving will lead to safer and more productive operations. Combining large datasets from multiple sources with virtual reality scientific visualisation (VRSV) is a viable alternative to understanding complex cave behaviour without access to the cave. This is achieved using immersive environments with the ability to view complex multi-dimensional data (beyond 3D) graphically. VRSV offers a unique platform where it becomes possible to immerse the multi-disciplinary experts, and/or management team, in a virtual mine environment for quick decision making and fast resolution to conflicting conclusions. The underground mining system is complex due to multiple interrelating factors such as geology, excavation geometries, stress and time. Block caving is even more complex than most underground mining methods due to the network of tunnels required, and the use of induced stress, among others. As a consequence of the complexity in the block caving environment, it is vital that the mining system is analysed holistically, as a system, rather than optimizing individual factors one at a time. This paper presents a customised software module developed for use in the Advanced Visualisation Interactive Environment (AVIE) at The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, to enable VRSV investigation into block cave mining systems (BCMS). This approach has the potential to provide a better understanding of the effect of time in in rock engineering, which has proven to be an important factor in hard rock mines (Ma & Daemen, 2006; Malan et al., 1997; Suorineni, 2010) but never validated. This work back analyses the early undercutting phase of a case study block caving operation with the view to understanding time/sequence effects. There is evidence that heterogeneous rockmass time-dependent behaviour governs the seismic response of the rockmass following undercut developments.

Jan 1, 2015

By Panfeng Gou

In order to solve the problems of supporting the roof of the gateroads affected by a fault, the movement characteristics of roof strata must be fully understood. In this paper, a plane stress physical simulation model was constructed to study roof strata displacement and deformation of gateroads driven in the hanging wall of the fault after the coals in the footwall were extracted. The results indicated that, due to the effect of fault, vertical cracks, orienting parallel to the dip of the fault, occurred in the horizontal direction of the model within the areas affected by the fault. The roof strata are discontinuous. On the other hand, non-uniform subsidence of roof strata occurred due to the bedding plane separation in the vertical direction. Roof strata, especially the lower roof strata, dip toward the fault. Failure of the surrounding strata is not symmetrical with the roof and floor close to the fault being deformed severely. In the selection of type of supports for the gateroads, the U-shaped steel supports are superior to roof bolting.

Jan 1, 2006

By W. Kracht

Frothers are surfactants used in floatation to aid generation of small bubbles. Studying events at the moment of bubble creation is a challenge because of the short time frame. This presentation introduces a novel acoustic approach. The technique has the resolution capable of detecting events that occur within 1-2 ms. The transition from coalescence to non-coalescence is tracked as a function of surfactant concentration and gas rate through the capillary. Results are given for some common flotation frothers and n-alcohols (C4-C8). A stress model is used to give a qualitative explanation to the observed action of frothers on coalescence prevention. Results for salt (sodium chloride) are included for comparison).

Jan 1, 2009

By Robert F. Mehl

EXTENSION of physical and chemical methods of research in the study of metallic behavior continues rapidly, particularly in the correlation of behavior with crystal structure, and in the analysis of elastic and plastic properties. The growth of the science of metals during 1933 calls for special comment; the need for special reviews and for textbooks and monographs is now acute, as might he supposed from the number of references appended to this article, a list which is much abbreviated.

Jan 1, 1934

By Luis Palacios Valdivieso

Ante la crisis minera desarrollada en la mina Condestable, se evaluó los factores técnicos, operativos, social y laboral que intervienieron en su decadencia. En este sentido, el objetivo del presente trabajo radica en describir los recursos de estrategia gerencial minera para superar las dificultades de productividad minera a través de cinco temas: cambios en los métodos de explotación, variación de la concepción geológica, proceso metalúrgico, optimización de rendimientos de los recursos y política sociolaboral. Asimismo, se muestra el programa de inversiones que la empresa ha logrado superar paulatinamente ante la crisis del precio del cobre.

Nov 24, 1993

By William G. Ryan, David S. Graham, Dan A. Brown, Rich A. Lamb, Paul J. Axtell

"The St. Croix River Crossing project on the Minnesota-Wisconsin border has been in the process of planning and public debate for two decades, with several changes in alignment. During the course of the earlier planning process in 1995, a drilled shaft load test was performed to obtain preliminary design information. There were some difficulties in maintaining stability within the weak sandstone bearing formation, and the measured axial resistance was relatively low. Subsequent experience by the Minnesota Department of Transportation with similar weak sandstones on the I-35W project suggests that improved construction techniques using modern drilling fluids may offer opportunities for improved performance. During final design in 2012 a second load test program was performed of a full scale test shaft constructed using polymer drilling fluids. The stability of the socket excavation in the weak sandstone appeared to be greatly improved and the measured axial resistance significantly higher.This case history illustrates the excellent performance that drilled shafts can provide in even relatively weak sandstone bedrock as well as the profound influence on axial resistance associated with the construction techniques used. The improved resistance values obtained by the new load test with more recent construction technology allowed the foundation scheme to be substantially optimized with respect to the number and size of required drilled shafts, reducing the size, cost, and risk of the coffercells and footings.IntroductionThe Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has awarded the first phase of a bridge construction project that will cross the St. Croix River between Oak Park Heights, MN and St Joseph, WI. The first phase construction contract involves building the river pier substructures including groups of drilled shafts beneath each tower leg. A general location of the bridge project is provided in Figure 1.Prior to award of the construction contract, two separate design-phase axial load tests were performed on non-production drilled shafts with rock sockets. Both tests were static, bottom-up tests using the Osterberg Cell (O-cell). The first test was performed in 1995 when final design and construction was thought to be imminent. After years of public debate and literally, an act of Congress, design of the project was finally restarted and a second load test performed in 2012. The 1995 test was conducted on the Minnesota bank approximately 900 ft southwest of the St. Croix River bank. The 2012 test was conducted in the river about 2,100 ft northeast of the1995 test location. A plan-view of the project indicating the test program locations relative to the bridge alignment is provided in Figure 2."

Jan 1, 2015

By H. R. Shell

The work on synthetic mica and related subjects is being reported in a series of technical articles (see Supplementary Bibliography), each of which describes some special aspect of the subject. This is the final report on chemical analysis of the fluoride-containing silicates. A condensation of this report has been published (26).3/ Chemical analysis affords one of the best means of ascertaining the final com-position of either a heterogeneous mass or a single pure crystal, particularly where some constituents may be volatile. The analysis of fluoride-containing silicates was not so well known or understood that highly accurate results were commonplace. For example, on synthetic mica a university laboratory reported 11.6 and 9.2 percent fluoride when at least 13.3 and 11.3 percent were present, respectively; a commercial testing laboratory reported 9.14 percent as compared to 12.6 percent; and a glass company reported 7.0 percent as compared to 9.0 percent present. No intimation is made that these analysts could not have done better, but the point to be stressed is that the methods in use were long, tedious, and generally required a certain familiarity for best results.

Jan 1, 1956

By William H. Langer

The annual consumption of sand and gravel aggregate in 2006 in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area was about 76 Mt (84 million st) (USGS, 2009), or about 18 t (20 st) per capita. Quaternary alluvial deposits in the modern stream channel of the Agua Fria River west of Phoenix are mined and processed to provide some of this aggregate to the greater Phoenix area. The Agua Fria drainage basin (Fig. 1) is characterized by rugged mountains with high elevations and steep stream gradients in the north, and by broad alluvial filled basins separated by elongated fault-block mountain ranges in the south. The Agua Fria River, the basin?s main drainage, flows south from Prescott, AZ and west of Phoenix to the Gila River. The Waddel Dam impounds Lake Pleasant and greatly limits the flow of the Agua Fria River south of the lake. The southern portion of the watershed, south of Lake Pleasant, opens out into a broad valley where the river flows through urban and agricultural lands to its confluence with the Gila River, a tributary of the Colorado River.

Jan 2, 2010

By C. Frenzel, N. Blechschmidt

"INTRODUCTION There is no doubt about the time and effort companies put in establishing and maintaining their equipment. However, the question about how these companies can map the benefits comes up. Neither do they have the tools to quantify the benefit of their action, nor do they have the tools to know the actual quality of their current maintenance system. The resources used in the process seem futile to observers. It seems impossible to trace improvements and to get information about the impact of actions in retrospect. Improvements in maintenance performance cannot be recognised by management or shareholders. Thus the necessity for measuring the performance of maintenance systems is given. In this paper ConMoto is systematically showing the strengths and weaknesses of many companies' maintenance management and is providing field-tested proven design elements for measuring maintenance systems and implementing Value Oriented Maintenance. Considering only business assets in production facilities and related machinery out of all investment goods in Europe, you reach a value of around 9.7 trillion euros in 2008. In Germany alone the equipment replacement value amounted to about 1.9 trillion euros [8,10,11,13]. If you calculate a cross sector maintenance costs rate of 4.8 % (corresponding to the average value identified in this study), direct maintenance costs in European production locations add up to over 450 billion euros per year [3]. These figures speak for themselves. Yet maintenance is not only of enormous significance for European enterprises. Our experiences show that maintenance and asset management, particularly sustainability issues, are also increasingly moving to the forefront in the BRIC states, in the Middle East and in many emerging countries. First of all, in order to meet the resulting high quality and cost related requirements of maintenance systems, a comprehensive overview of the issue is needed. This overview is provided by a detailed analysis of 83 companies and production plants from various sectors – with amazing results. SIGNIFICANCE OF MAINTENANCE Current studies show the high financial significance of maintenance and asset management. According to the market study in the Asset Manager [9], in industrialised countries about 10 to 15 per cent of the labour force are employed in maintenance and facility management tasks. In Europe about 40 to50 million people are directly and indirectly involved in retaining the value of machinery, plants, buildings, transport systems and infrastructure facilities. A glance at the costs side also demonstrates the great relevance of maintenance. EU-wide annual direct maintenance costs amount to a total of more than 1,500 billion euros. In Germany alone they are about 250 billion euros. This impressive total is considerably exceeded by indirect maintenance costs caused by technical failures. Indirect costs are estimated to be five times higher (Figure 1). [7,12,14]"

Jan 1, 2018

By H. C. Boydell

Introduction Situated in the district of South Lorrain, some 16 miles southeast of Cobalt, Ontario, and reached from that centre either by branch line of the T. & N. O. railway or by what, for a mining camp, is a reasonably good road, the Keeley mine, owned by the Keeley Silver Mines,' Ltd., has had its history recorded by C. W. Knight (1). Silver was first discovered in South Lorrain, in Woods' vein, on Keeley property, in 1907, and the Keeley mine has been described by Knight (2) and Bell (3). The total production to February 28th, 1930, has been 10,760,107 ounces of silver and 1,285. 434 pounds (weight) of cobalt.

Jan 1, 1931

By Art Cooper

Granulation systems are common in the metals industry. The process of granulating slags, mattes and metals is more than a century old, and a number of different systems have been developed to accomplish this task. These systems have followed an evolutionary path, and may be characterized by common elements in terms of molten material handling, granulation methods and post-granulation processing. This paper will summarize the more common systems used in the metals industry, with particular reference to non-ferrous applications.

Jan 1, 2006

By Sheng-li Wu, Guo-liang Zhang, Bo Su

One of the major challenges for the Canadian Gen IV Super-Critical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) concept is the selection of fuel cladding materials. The Canadian SCWR concept will operate at a core outlet temperature of 625 oC and 25 MPa of pressure with peak cladding temperature reaching as high as 800 oC. Corrosion resistance is an important factor for material selection. Austenitic stainless steels that contain Cr contents greater than 18 wt.% are generally considered to provide adequate corrosion resistance. In this work, the pressure dependence of the corrosion of austenitic stainless steel 310 containing 24 wt% Cr is assessed at 625 C for exposures of 1000 hours to evaluate the suitability of superheated steam as a surrogate for supercritical water at 25 MPa. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) revealed that 310 exposed to different pressure conditions at 625 oC. (i.e., 0.1, 8 and 29 MPa) had generally the same type of the oxide structure, i.e., a Cr-rich oxide with the spinel structure on outer surface adjacent to the water phase. The material exposed at 8 and 29 MPa had a double layer oxide structure, with the outer oxide layer having a much larger grain size, while the samples exposed at 0.1 MPa showed only a single spinel-phase oxide layer. Cr-depleted recrystallized austenite grains were found underneath the spinel phase oxide. The adjacent large-grained austenite substrate had M23C6 carbides in the grain interior. The implications of these results are discussed.

Jan 1, 2015

By Dominic Orf, Gregory Poole

On December 12, 2018 at 4:14 AM EST, an earthquake registering a 4.4 magnitude on the Richter Scale occurred in central Tennessee. According to a survey posted on the USGS website, this earthquake was felt throughout the southeast and even as far away as Arnold Nebraska. That’s over 900 miles (1,448 kilometers) from the epicenter. We recorded the vibrations from this earthquake on 44 different seismographs that were set up with remote access to continuously monitor vibrations from blasting activities. Having this data gave us an opportunity to compare the vibrations caused by earthquakes and blasting. A simple observation of the amplitudes, frequencies, and durations is enough to notice that vibrations from earthquakes are very different than vibrations caused by blasting in mining and construction. We were also able to observe the dissipation of the vibrations from the earthquake and see if the low frequencies, that are typical of earthquakes, dissipate at a consistent rate. Regression calculations were performed in order to see if there was a good data fit and if a specific vibration prediction could be made based on the magnitude of an earthquake. “How does quarry/mining/construction blasting compare to the Richter Scale?” This is a very common question that we get from homeowners when discussing vibrations due to blasting activities. This paper is intended to provide some simple answers for such a complicated question. Both the Richter and Mercalli scales are compared to the particle velocities as they were recorded from this earthquake.

By Ö. Erdem

The investment decision making process in the insurance and finance industries is affected by new advances such as simulation techniques. These advances have improved the discounted cash flow method (DCF). In DCF, a dynamic and flexible model construction is not possible because it does not consider uncertain conditions. Each project should be evaluated taking into account the related uncertainties because the related uncertainties determine the characterization of the project. Related uncertainties can be processed in dynamic DCF, which is applicable to both financial and non-financial industries with different kind of uncertainties, such as power generation and petroleum projects. The dynamic DCF method can estimate net present value (NPV) while managing related project uncertainties with a simulation method like Monte Carlo Simulation. The simulation method is preferred because its output is unbiased. Therefore, a more realistic financial evaluation of the project can be concluded. In spite of the improvement of dynamic DCF, this project evaluation method is not used frequently in mining industry. However, the mining industry is ideally suited to this concept because it is highly dependent on estimations such as orebody size and ore grade. During the project evaluation stage, these uncertainties can be included with the dynamic DCF method. This study aims to contribute to increasing the usage of this method in mining projects. A copper reserve in Turkey is selected as a case study to apply uncertainty assessment for the evaluation of NPV.

Jan 1, 2012