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By Adrian Moore, Bryan Goodwin, David Fales, David Lam

This paper describes the development of blasting protocols used to successfully create a 450m long blast fractured permeable trench in a basalt aquifer up to 20m thick, at a petrochemical facility in Australia, to enable the remediation of contaminated groundwater.

Jan 1, 2011

By Lis Nunes Soares

A Vallourec Tubos do Brasil é uma siderúrgica integrada com produção de tubos de aço sem costura. A qualidade e o acabamento superficial dos tubos estão diretamente relacionados com o processo de laminação pelo qual eles passam. Um fator extremamente importante para um bom processo de laminação é uma boa lubrificação da peça de laminação, o mandril. Durante o processo de laminação, o mandril passa por várias etapas além da lubrificação, incluindo etapas de aquecimento e resfriamento, que se repetem em ciclos de laminação. Um dos principais parâmetros do processo de produção que influenciam a lubrificação do mandril é justamente o perfil térmico e a temperatura superficial do mesmo. O perfil térmico do mandril afeta a aderência do lubrificante em sua superfície. Visando a melhor compreensão do processo, esse trabalho tem como objetivo propor um modelo matemático em diferenças finitas que descreva a evolução do perfil térmico do mandril durante o processo de laminação de tubos sem costura. O mesmo modelo matemático é validado através de engenharia reversa. A proposta do modelo matemático é ser usado na análise de possíveis métodos de pré-aquecimento de mandris antes da lubrificação, diminuindo ou eliminando assim possível sucateamento de peças e paradas da linha de produção por esse motivo.

Jul 31, 2018

By J. M. Menacho, J. M. Reyes

"Batch and continuous regrind tests were conducted in 3 kW and 15 kW tower mill units, respectively. Single particle size classes of a chilean copper sulphide concentrate were employed in the batch tests, while a fraction of the plant stream was deviated to the continuous unit operated under different conditions.Results are interpreted in terms of the simplified grinding kinetic model energy-based and conveniently adapted to this application. Based on the above figures plus some industrial data supplied by MPSI Inc., a scale-up relationship was developed for the apparent specific rate of breakage siE, as a function of the net power draw P, i.e.siE = siE text (P/P test) 0.089This equation fit very well the available data at the three scales and its application to regrind 4400 t/day of rougher copper concentrate from 70% below 325 Tyler mesh to 95% below same mesh, involves around 30% energy-saving compared to standard ball mill for same grinding task.INTRODUCTIONImpact and abrasion-attrition breakage are two extreme mechanisms present in any grinding system in a proportion defined by specific design and operating conditions. Impact breakage is generally efficient for coarse grinding, while abrasion-attrition is adequate to produce fine particles. Efficiency of conventional tumbling mills decreases as fineness of the product increases, even though distribution of applied stresses is always much stronger than internal force distribution in the particles. On the other hand.in a vertically stirred ball mill like the tower mill, distribution of applied stresses and particle strengths are in the same order of magnitude, making possible nearly ideal abrasion conditions (1).Tower mill configuration includes a cylindrical body vertically mounted and provided with a central screw with flights to produce circulation of balls moved up through the inner region to return down by the external space. Fresh material can be fed into the top , center or bottom in order to assure appropriate agitation of suspended particles. Size reduction and evacuation rates should compensate settling of coarse particles to avoid sanding of the screw. Detailed description of the tower mill and its operation have been given elsewhere (2),(3)."

Jan 1, 1989

By J. C. White

This paper, after a brief introduction giving the history and geology of the area, deals with mining operations at the Copper Mountain mine of Gaspe Copper Mines, Limited. It discusses development operations, and then goes into the mining methods employed, covering drilling, grade control, blasting practice, loading and hauling, and the road and service machines used.

Jan 1, 1969

Aurum Reef Resources is a provincially owned unlisted public company which holds a number of prospecting licences over Otago hard rock historically active minesites. The Bullendale Licence 31 1845 was applied for in 1985, granted 1991, including a DoC special condition allowing re-opening of the historic workings. The underground workings were commenced in 1862 and up to the mine's closure in 1906 some 40 000 ounces were produced at an average grade of 15.5 g Au/t. The purpose of the summer 1991 work programme was to enter the workings in an attempt to observe and sample the mullock between the lodes operated by the early miners. This objective was achieved on the third attempt. Samples were taken and subsequently a contract geologist resampled the workings and prepared a report indicating the Bullendale lode zone to be generally mineralised. Mullock interlode and schist foot-wall consistently returned assays over 0.5 g/t.

Jan 1, 1992

By Frank E. Cash

Published or available data on safety in quarries are few except those pertaining to blasting issued by manufacturers of explosives. During the past 25 years the quarrying industry (including various types of quarries producing many different materials) has had a markedly improved accident experience. The downward trend has not been phenomenal or has it been uniform from year to year, owing to occasional major disasters; but from the information at hand it appears that improvement during the 25-year period has been definite.

Jan 1, 1941

By Thomas J. Ferree

"IntroductionThe objective of this chapter is to provide important criteria relating to the operation and maintenance of spiral concentrators and Reichert cones, so that optimum performance can be achieved and maintained in a mill circuit. Little space will be devoted to the theory of the forces of separation or the technical details of the devices, as that in(ormation is available from other sources. The discussions in this chapter will be presented in a manner that should be interesting and useful to anyone who may be exposed to these methods of gravity separation. It is most important for the reader to understand that each application of the equipment should be considered on its own merit, as no two suites of minerals respond exactly alike in mineral processing circuits. The information herein should be useful as a guide toward increasing the metallurgical efficiency of the processes, irrespective of the type of minerals being concentrated.It is highly recommended that certain tools be made available to the personnel responsible for metallurgical performance of the spirals and cones; these include a set of standard type laboratory screens, a medium quality petrographic microscope, and a vanning plaque or gold pan. These devices, when used in conjunction with a basic understanding of the mill circuit, provide immediate knowledge on the characteristics of any sample in the mill circuit. The information gained by visual evaluation of sized fractions of products can solve many of the basic problems of mineral beneficiation, and at the same time increase the interest of the non-technical personnel associated with the plant operation. There are many problems associated with obtaining satisfactory performance from a mill operation. Many of the problems have to be solved using a technical approach. Some of the problems, however, can be solved with practical knowledge and common sense. It is hoped this chapter can provide a guide to both techniques."

Jan 1, 1989

By Shaoxian Song, Ling Xia, Hongqiang Li, Yubiao Li, Yunliang Zhao, Shaobing Xie

Since human daily demands for fresh water have been increased significantly, the supply of fresh water for the mining industry, especially froth flotation, should be considerably reduced. In addition, stricter environmental standards have been implemented in many countries to reduce the risks due to the disposal of wastewater, many flotation operators have to seek more efficient ways to utilize the limited fresh water sources. Recycling water with high concentrations of impurities is a normal strategy for most of the mineral processing plants; however, water quality should be carefully considered to guarantee a smooth flotation process. Recently, the application of seawater in flotation has attracted much attention due to its availability and abundance rather than fresh water. However, the influencing mechanisms due to the application of seawater in flotation have not been fully understood especially the reactions between mineral particles and bubbles in the presence of high concentrations of cations and anions. This would impede the application of alternatives to fresh water in the flotation. Therefore, this paper reviews the current water sources and the technologies for water recycling in the flotation process. Specifically, the life cycle of water in flotation was proposed. In addition, the strategies including high pulp density flotation as well as the most promising alternatives to fresh water have been discussed in details, with the related mechanisms being demonstrated.

By T. O. King, Y. P. Gupta

The self-diffusion of sodium in two sodium silicate liquids was measured in the temperature range 850" to 1500°C by the capillary-reservoir technique. Radioactive Na 22 was used as the tracer. The total count and autoradiographic methods were used for determination of the total Na 22 depletion and diffusion profiles of the dqy-used specimens. The diffusion coefficients obtained by the autoradiographic technique are slightly smaller than those obtained by a total count method. Error analysis of the two methods suggests that more confidence be placed in the results of the total count method. The experimental results were analyzed in terms of the existing activated rate process theory. The activation energy for diffusion was shown to decrease markedly as the temperature increased. This was attributed to a variation in the heat of activation with temperature, probably related to a change in the distribution of anions associated wilh the cation. In terms of a model, suggested for diffusion in liquid silicates, differences in the aclivation energies for diffusion and electrical conduction may arise from the effect of the electric field applied in conduction measurements. It is generally accepted that liquid silicates consist of cations and an equilibrium distribution of complex anions determined by temperature and composition. Transport properties in molten silicates are of interest, not merely because of their relevance to the kinetics of pyrometallurgical reactions and glassmak-ing processes, but also because they are useful to development of the theory of such ionic liquids. Self-diffusion is one such transport process that may, if studied for liquid silicates of widely varying compositions, indicate structural changes through changes in the activation energy for diffusion. The self-diffusion of calcium, silicon,' sulfur: aluminum, 4 and oxygenS in lime-alumina-silica melts and of iron6 in molten iron silicates have been measured. Unfortunately, the errors in some of the reported activation energies for diffusion are too large to allow firm conclusions concerning structure and the mechanism of the diffusion process to be drawn. The research reported here was a study of the self-diffusion of sodium in liquid sodium silicates. The soda-silica system was chosen since: i) a reasonable composition range can be covered in the binary system at moderate temperatures; ii) suitable isotopes of sodium (radioactive Na 22 and NaZ4) can be obtained; iii) data on the electrical conductivity and viscosity of sodium silicate liquids are available. However, the range of composition actually used in diffusion experiments was limited, to 20 to 35 wt pct soda, by the relatively high viscosity of silica-rich compositions and by evaporation of soda from basic melts. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The capillary-reservoir technique was used, wherein a radioactive tracer, Na 22, incorporated in the capillary melt, was allowed to diffuse out of the platinum capillary tube into a large reservoir of silicate liquid containing a chemically identical melt, but without radioactive tracer. After a specific diffusion time, both the total depletion in the tracer concentration and concentration-distance profiles of the diffused samples were measured by procedures to be described later. The diffusion cell assembly was similar to that used by Koros and King.' The temperature of the diffusion cell was measured with a calibrated Pt, Pt-10 pct Rh thermocouple located at the center of the liquid reservoir. The same thermocouple was used to obtain the temperature profile in the reservoir. The temperature at the top of the reservoir was slightly higher (2°C) than that at the bottom, to minimize convection in the capillary tubes, which were placed, open end up, in the reservoir. Convection was not expected to be a problem since the length-to-diameter ratio of the tubes was about 12:1 and the maximum capillary diameter was 1 mm. The diffusion cell was heated in a molybdenum-wire resistance furnace, previously used by Koros and King, but somewhat modified. A Pt, Pt-10 pct Rh thermocouple enclosed in an alumina tube and located near the furnace winding was used in conjunction with a preamplifier and Micromax proportional controller for temperature control, within 4°C, at temperatures near 1500°C. Before starting a diffusion run, the furnace was heated to the desired temperature and an alumina guide assembly for the capillaries was slowly lowered to within 2 cm of the liquid reservoir. The capillaries were thus heated to about the temperature of the bath. The run was started by lowering the assembly till the open ends of the capillaries were about 1 cm below the surface of the liquid. The run was ended by raising the assembly to about 15 cm above the liquid bath. Later, the sample assembly was slowly withdrawn from the furnace. Six diffusion samples were usually run at the same time. Three runs made with the open ends of the capillaries down were discarded because in the majority of these samples air bubbles trapped at the open end were observed. Some glass adhered to the outside of the capillary on withdrawal. This was carefully removed and used to check that the Na 22 activity in the sink remained at a low level. Materials. Nonradioactive sodium silicates were prepared by melting, in a platinum crucible, weighed quantities of sodium carbonate and powdered silica. To prepare radioactive sodium silicates, Na2 obtained in HC1 solution, was first checked for radioactive impurities by obtaining a y-ray energy spectrum, then the chloride ions were removed by anion-ex-

Jan 1, 1968

By M. Oliazadeh

Spodumene [LiAl(Si2O6)] is the most common and desirable economic lithium-bearing mineral due to its high lithium content. In Canada, there are several spodumene deposits at the development stage that have the potential to help narrow the forecast lithium supply gap stemming from the widespread acceptance and increasing use of electric vehicles. Spodumene processing can be conducted using Dense Media Separation (DMS), flotation or combination of both. If spodumene liberation is sufficient at coarse particle sizes, DMS can be used for primary lithium concentrate production and silicate gangue minerals rejection. If liberation is not sufficient, flotation is then the main processing route for spodumene concentration. Even in cases where DMS is a viable beneficiation option, flotation may still be required to process the DMS middlings and/or the undersize fraction which is outside the particle size range for DMS. Considering flotation as a technique for spodumene beneficiation, there are several alternatives including the use of mechanical flotation cells, column flotation cells, coarse particle flotation cells, and/or Staged Flotation Reactors (SFR), either alone or in combination. Ore sorting can be incorporated at the start of the spodumene flowsheet to remove gangue minerals, particularly amphibole and pyroxene in the early stages. The main objective of flowsheet development for hard rock lithium deposits is to evaluate the ability of these options to produce a spodumene concentrate with a concentrate grade above 6% Li2O, lithium recovery of above 80%, and with the minimum operating and capital cost. This paper aims to describe the various processing options available for the beneficiation of spodumene from hard rock deposits and compare the associated operating and capital costs for each.

By Ta M. Li

How will phosphate producers in southeastern Idaho fare with growing governmental regulations and environmentalism of the late 1970's? With a similarity that is reminiscent of the battles between the coal industry and environmental-conservation groups earlier in the decade, Idaho's future growth and a nation's need for phosphate fertilizer products remain uncertain. The catalyst that brought the issue to the forefront was the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) addressing the development of phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho. Although the final EIS was published in August 1977, resolution of rational and orderly growth in this potentially vital region remains stifled as Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus virtually "sits" on it.

Jan 1, 1978

By Jingcheng Li

Currently many underground coal mines worldwide have installed or been planning to install a tracking system to trace miners mainly for their safety. Although many systems have been reported functional, a lack of sophisticated and systematic error correction methods apparently is still an issue for them; often it results in a low system resolution. To improve the system resolutions, this paper introduces two position adjustment methods for mine tracking systems. The first is an entry-matching method that optimally adjusts an off-course tracking device to the closest tunnel (entry). The second is a distance measurement adjustment method that accurately adjusts the position of a tracking device along an entry according to a measured distance from the device to a reference point. The coplanar node-path network mine model is used as the foundation for the development of these two methods.

Jan 1, 2009

By A. Chieregati

"A heterogeneity study was conducted at Erdenet Copper Mine in Erdenet, Mongolia, to determine the fundamental sampling error associated with blasthole sampling. Using a custom designed sector sampler, six large blasthole samples were collected to perform the test that was developed by Pierre Gy, to estimate the constitutional heterogeneity factor for several types of ore. The study investigated the entire sampling protocol, from mine site to analytical laboratory, and quantified the contributions to fundamental sampling error (FSE) of the various stages of sampling and sample preparation. The total relative standard deviation (RSD) of sampling error was determined to be ±32% and ±49.4% for copper and molybdenum respectively. A classical statistics analysis conducted on the data confirmed the level of RSD. About 95% of the sampling error was produced from only one step in the sampling protocol: when the 1 kg sample was reduced to 50 g sample for chemical analysis. Therefore, it is recommended that the 1 kg sample be reduced to 50g using a slightly different protocol to minimize the FSE. The 1 kg sample should be first crushed to 0.2cm size. A 250g split should then be taken and fine ground. A 50g split should then be taken from the 250g fine ground split. These two simple steps will reduce the FSE to ±7.9% and ±17% for copper and molybdenum respectively. The modified sampling protocol effectively reduces the probability of misclassification of low grade ore to zero. INTRODUCTION The Erdenet copper-molybdenum open pit mine is located in Erdenet, in Orkhon province, Mongolia. The Erdenetiin-Ovoo copper-molybdenum deposit is between 1.5 and 3 km wide, and about 25 km in length (Erdenet Mining Corporation, 2016). Chalcopyrite, bornite covellite and chalcocite are among the major minerals found in the deposit. The mine processes approximately 26 million tons of ore annually. A study was conducted to evaluate the fundamental error associated with the blasthole cuttings and sampling protocol at the mine. The open pit mine uses 215mm diameter Russian drills to drill 17.5m holes for 15m benches. The total weight of blasthole cuttings for a 215mm diameter hole and 15m bench height is between 1.5 and 2 tonnes. This amount of sample is difficult and time consuming to collect and analyze. Therefore, a sector sampler was designed for the Russian drills to collect large samples that were representative of the blasthole cuttings (Ganguli et al., 2016). In order to eliminate the delimitation and the extraction errors, researchers consider sector samplers to be ideal for sampling blastholes (Pitard, 2008; Chieregati and Pitard, 2009). This method was intentionally more rigorous than the blasthole sampling protocol at the mine to ensure that the blasthole cuttings were properly sampled. This study was part of a broader study that also looked at the relationship between particle size and grade. The samples collected by the custom designed sector sampler were very large (195 kg on average), and therefore, sufficient for both studies. The relationship between particle size and grade has been reported in Ganguli et al. (2016)."

Jan 1, 2017

By L. D. Jaffe

IT is now well established that quenched and tempered titanium alloys have much better ductility when the quenching is from a two phase a-B structure, rather than from an all B structure. The corresponding microstructural differences, however, have not been shown in previous publications. Accordingly, specimens were cut from a % in. rod of commercial RC-130A, containing 7.9 pct Mn and 0.12 pct C, which had been previously hot rolled, heated 1 hr at 1100°F, and air cooled. (The same heat has been studied by others." 7 Samples about 1/4 in. cube were heated in helium 1/2 hr at 1450' or 1700°F, quenched in brine, tempered in helium 1 hr at various temperatures up to 1250°F, and quenched in brine. They were then sectioned and metallo-graphically examined, using an etchant of HF-HNO, in glycerine. As quenched from 1700°F, the microstructure observed was clear /3. (Probably also present was U, as the hardness was 400 Vhn, but w is not yet reliably revealed by any metallographic technique.) When the /3 quenched alloy was tempered at a high temperature, a precipitated as a grain boundary film

Jan 1, 1957

By M A. Gontalves, A F. D C Varajpo

The Rio Capim kaolin district, located in the north-east of Parß State, Brazil, constitutes one of the worldÆs largest high-whiteness kaolin reserves for the paper coating industry. It contains, at the base of the main ore, a soft kaolin that gradually changes at the top into a ferruginous duricrust followed by a flint kaolin. The flint kaolin is completely discarded during the exploitation of the soft kaolin. With the view of a more complete beneficiation, aiming at a sustainable development of the minerals industry, the use of this residual flint kaolin has been considered for the manufacturing of zeolites. Zeolites were synthesised from the flint kaolin through a reaction between metakaolinite with soda at 80¦C, for durations of 24 to 144 hours. The transformation into metakaolinite was carried out at 800¦C and was not affected by the titanium oxides. For a synthesis time of only 24 hours, a zeolite 4A very close to its theoretical definition was obtained, whereas for synthesis times longer than 96 hours, a slight formation of hydro-sodalite was also observed. The synthesised zeolites were tested as cationic adsorbents on 0.5 molar solutions of Cu, Pb, Cd and Zn. The adsorption was measured for contact durations of one and three days. It was noted that the exchange kinetics were slow and that the retention was significantly greater after three days than after one day. The retention was greater than 50 per cent of the theoretical exchange capacity for Pb, Cd and Zn, which was different to Cu, where the retention exceeded its theoretical exchange capacity.

Jan 1, 2008

By Terry Keough

Contents for discussion ?Current liner technology ?Innovation of magnetic products ?Development of magnetic wear liners ?Installation and change out method ?Uses and capabilities ?Internal wear liners ?Summary Vulcanized rubber ?Many of you are familiar with using vulcanized rubber to provide wear protection on mining equipment. For years, this was the standard for most mining equipment, and mines spent a lot of money fabricating and lining steel equipment.

May 1, 2010

By Adeyemi Adesina, Subhabrata Mishra, Syed Mohammed Mustakim, Malaya Kumar Jena, Shaswat Kumar Das

Utilization of low-grade manganese ore adopting the carbothermic reduction roasting process is a proven method to produce high-grade manganese ore. To minimize industrial waste and protect the environment, gas cleaning plant sludge (GCPS), which is a solid waste from steel industries, was employed as a reductant to perform the reduction roasting process. The optimum conditions to carry out reduction roasting of the low-grade manganese ore were found to be: a roasting temperature of 950 °C, a residence time of 2 h, 40% GCPS as reductant, and magnetic separation at 5000 G for a manganese ore size of –10 mm. A lowgrade manganese ore comprising Mn grade 31.27% and Fe grade 19.78% having a Mn/Fe ratio of 1.58 containing a high silica content of 26.48% was used for the carbothermic reduction roasting having mineral phases of pyrolusite (MnO2) and hematite (Fe2O3) as found from XRD. The gangue minerals were separated during the magnetic separation, and the upgraded product was obtained, which reached a maximum value of TMn 49.5% with RMn 76.55% and TFe 62.19% with RFe 42.51%. In the study, activated charcoal (AC) was also taken as a reductant for comparative analysis; the experimental results revealed that GPCS performed better than that of the AC, showing potential to be used as a reductant in metallurgical industries. However, the resultedMn/Fe ratio was very low for the reduced sample; therefore, it can be used for smelting along with high-grade manganese ores as a feed.

Mar 5, 2021

By E. Gutierrez-Miravete

Hot pressing processes are widely used to shape metallic, ceramic, and glass components. The process is an essential step in manufacturing ceramic fibre-glass matrix composites. The paper describes the use of computer simulation by the particle method, to the analysis of the deformation and flow of glass during hot pressing. The hot glass is represented by an assembly of interacting particles which deform in response to the applied pressure. The results, which should be regarded as complementary to continuum-based studies, provide useful insight about the hot pressing process.

Jan 1, 1990

By R. A. Pimentel

Complying with reduced dust standards (i.e., less than 2.0 mg/m3) due to quartz levels that exceed 5 percent is presently a critical problem for many continuous mining sections. Results are presented of research which was performed to determine the factors causing high levels of respirable quartz dust and to identify the major contributors to operator exposure. It was found that the significant sources of quartz dust are the drilling of the roof and the mining of the roof, floor and rock bands. Both the miner and the bolter may be on a reduced standard, but compliance is easiest to achieve on the bolter for which improvements in maintenance and operator practices are usually sufficient. At the miner, the problem is more elusive. Research continues to identify operating and mining practices that contribute to the exposure..

Jan 1, 1985

By J. Chipman, N. J. Grant, R. Rocca

D. E. Babcock (Republic Steel Corp., Youngstown, Ohio)—With reference to eqs 7 and 8, at what temperature do they apply John Chipman (authors' reply)—That was 1600°C. Dr. Babcock—You have l x 10-4 as the component for the lime and 1 or 4x10-. Now, is it by dividing one into the other you get the 400? That is assuming equivalent activity on the part of oxygen, sulphur, and magnesia. Dr. Chipman—Yes, they are calculated for 1600. Now, the first one for CaO was calculated before we had a glimpse of Dr. Rosenqvist's paper." If you take his calculation you get 14,000 cal which is very good agreement, but our calculation would be superseded by Dr. Rosenqvist's new data. Dr. Babcock—The state you assume those to be in is the liquid state, as near as you can measure? Dr. Chipman—Naturally it is based on the solid CaS, but if you add the effect of fusion on both sides it just about balances out, so the ratio would be about the same. B. M. Larsen (U. S. Steel Co., Kearny, N. J.)—If we knew the activity of sulphur in the slag instead of merely the percentage, we might be able to find some conflicting factors that balance one another out, and find that the FeO or oxygen pressure effect is really present over the whole range. Dr. Chipman—I am fairly sure we would. The activity of sulphur in the slag and the activity of CaO in the slag, if we just knew those quantities, would enable us to save a lot of this computation and assumption and all the approximations we are doing now. Mr. Larsen—Two other points perhaps should be included: 1—an independent effect of manganese in helping the desulphurization; and 2—the number of mols of constituents or number of mols of ions or whatever there is in the slag could vary with these compositions in such a way that you get dilution effects. Dr. Chipman—You can figure all that in if you want to and it might improve the degree of approximation a little bit. Maybe enough to justify the labor of calculation, inaybe not, but we did not do it. L. S. Darken (U. S. Steel Co., Kearny, N. J.)—The authors have tackled a very complicated problem in trying to tie together in one picture the desulphurizing problem over the wide range of basicity and oxidation level from that of the open hearth to that of the blast furnace. At the present state of our knowledge of slags such an ambitious undertaking necessarily involves the adoption of numerous hypotheses. Their formulation (eq 11) for the higher FeO range

Jan 1, 1952