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By Jeffrey S. Walker

The purpose of this U.S. Bureau of Mines effort was to determine if ground movement caused by mining-induced subsidence is directly transferred to a structure and, if so, how that transfer takes place. Four concrete block walls with foundations were constructed and monitored over an active longwall panel. Three of the walls were located perpendicular to the direction of mining in zones where maximum inclination, maximum tension, and maximum curvature were predicted to occur. The fourth wall was constructed along the centerline of the panel, parallel to the direction of mining. All of the walls and the surrounding ground surface were instrumented with conventional survey monitoring points and extensometer stations to observe the vertical and horizontal movements. The fourth wall instrumentation also included continuously recording tiltmeters. The results of this investigation indicate that these simple structures respond to subsidence in a similar manner as the ground surface. This suggests that once the transfer mechanism is more fully defined, prediction models can be developed to accurately estimate the effect of mining on surface structures.

Jan 1, 1989

By Chenyang Zhang, Zhigang Yin, Jianyong He, Yuehua Hu

"A lot of floatation reagents (collectors, inhibitors and regulators) for the beneficiation of copper ores have been well developed in the past century. However, it is still unclear about the micro interaction mechanism of these flotation reagents with copper ores. In this paper, the interaction mechanism of these flotation reagents with the copper atom on chalcopyrite has been systematically investigated by first principle DFT (density functional theory) calculations. Thirty-four specific common functional groups linked with the same hydrocarbon chain (ethyl) are optimized at a B3LYP/def2-TZVP level, the solvation effect was included with the SMD solvation model. The analysis of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and nature bond orbital (NBO) charge of these reagents reveals their potential applications to other types of copper-bearing mineral. Further investigation of the thermodynamics calculations gives more reliable data to screen collectors or inhibitors for copper-bearing mineral. The flotation results from carefully reviewed literatures are in good agreement with the calculation results. This work might also shed new light on the development and discovery of highly efficient and selective flotation reagents with low cost based on the computational methods.INTRODUCTION Froth flotation,(Shean & Cilliers, 2011) a mineral processing approach, is applied to efficiently enrich valuable minerals from the mixture, which is achieved according to the dictinctive surface properties of minerals. In the past century, researchers have develped an aboundant of flotation reagents by extraction or synthetize, and many carefully selected reagents might die in the bench tests or the pilot tests before the pratice.(Bulatovic & SrdjanM, 2007) Generally, it involves a lot of cost and tedious works by conducting flotation tests to screen flotation reagents. Flotation reagents have been boomed robustly with the developing of the organic synthesis.(Liu, Yang, & Zhong, 2017) Reseachers found the specific properties of a reagent are determined by its functional groups and the length of the hydrocarbon, where the functional group is assigned as the adsorption site to adsorb onto mineral surfaces and the hydrocarbon chain is called as a hydrophobic group."

Jan 1, 2018

By Gustavo Tressia

Neste trabalho foi avaliada a influência da geometria da câmara de acumulação e da relação de extrusão na fabricação de fios de cobre por meio do processo de conformação contínua, Conform. Dois tipos de produtos foram fabricados, sendo um retangular com menor área de seção transversal e outro redondo com maior área. Para a condição do material redondo, dois tipos de câmara de acumulação foram utilizados, sendo uma de maior dimensão, resultando em maior acumulo de material antes da conformação pela matriz de extrusão. Medições de temperatura foram realizadas na matriz de extrusão. No produto final foram realizados ensaios de limite de resistência à tração, escoamento e alongamento. Ao longo da câmara de acumulação e no produto final foi realizada analise microestrutural e de tamanho de grão. Os resultados mostraram que o aumento da relação de extrusão promoveu aumento da temperatura do conjunto e consecutivamente aumento do tamanho de grão do produto final. Ao longo da câmara de acumulação foi observada uma tendência de redução do tamanho de grão até o produto de saída.

Oct 30, 2017

By C. Veloo

"Westmin Resources operates a mine/mill complex at Myra Falls and produces copper and zinc concentrates with minor associations of gold, silver, and lead from a polymetallic, massive sulphide orebody. Mill flotation performance has historically been plagued by periods of uncontrollably high circulating loads leading to low concentrate grades and below optimal tails. This led to a detailed examination of the flotation process. Locked cycle, and pilot plant data are presented. In addition, plant design and commissioning as well as column cell details are discussed. A comparison between actual and predicted performance is also presented. Benefits realized are higher copper and zinc concentrate grades and improved zinc recovery.PrologueMyra Falls Operations is located at the south end of Suttle Lake in Strathcona Provincial Park. Access to the mine site is provided by a 90km paved highway from Campbell River, British Columbia.The mine and facilities are nestled in the narrow Myra Valley between Mount Phillips and Mount Myra. These steep, rugged mountains rise from the valley floor at an elevation of 900 feet to summits of almost 6000 feet. The steep slopes are heavily wooded with fir, hemlock, and cedar up to an elevation of 4000 feet where a transition to alpine meadows occurs. The summits are craggy rock faces, some capped with glacial ice. Myra Creek winds its way through the valley dropping several hundred feet into Suttle Lake. Precipitation is high at over 100 inches per year, which may include up to 10 feet of snow in winter. The temperature may range from 32° C in summer to -18° C in winter.Myra Falls began production in 1965 with the Lynx Mine, supplemented by the Myra and Price Mines in subsequent years, feeding a 950 stpd mill up until the middle of 1985 when the H-W mine was brought into production. The original mill was replaced with a modern 2700 mtpd facility and in 1988 production was increased to 4000 mtpd.Both Lynx and H-W mines are currently in production producing an average of 3650 mtpd. The ore minerals are primarily sphalerite and chalcopyrite, with subordinate galena, bornite, tetrahedrite, and electrum."

Jan 1, 1992

By R. K. Zipf

A method is presented for creating realistic numerical models for practical coal mine ground control. The method includes procedures to collect the necessary mechanical input parameters from a geologic core log, procedures to set up a model and procedures to interpret calculation results. The input parameters come from a detailed geologic core log and extensive point load tests of estimate rock layer strength. A suite of material property input parameters is proposed which allow the user to go from core log to numerical model inputs. Rock bolt anchorage properties are also linked to the material properties of each geologic layer in the model. Following this procedure leads to very realistic calculations of the rock failure process and rock support system behavior. These calculations in turn enable realistic comparison of the effectiveness of alternative rock support systems.

This report summarizes the work performed under USBM Contract No. H0395041. The primary objective of this work was to extend the noise control technology developed under earlier USBM projects to a wider range of load-haul-dump models to evaluate the general applicability of these techniques. Noise control treatments were designed, fabricated, and installed on three Wagner LHDs (an 5T-2B, ST-2D, and an 5T-8A) selected as demonstration machines for this project. The machines were evaluated either in production mines or at the Bureau's Lake Lynn Mine. The results indicate that it is possible to achieve overall noise reductions of between 4 and 8 dB using these techniques. Engine cooling and seal design were determined to be important design issues in such treatments.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. J. Nankee

Coal is our most abundant, low cost energy resource. Expansion of its use is being challenged due to "SO2 emission" regulation with even more restrictive legislation pending. High quality coal reserves are becoming more limited due to greater use in recent years. Aids to allow more use of coal in today's environment include beneficiation of coal before combustion and scrubbing the emissions from coal during combustion. Dow's efforts to help meet these challenges by beneficiating coal include true heavy media gravity separations with chlorinated solvents and liquid/liquid partitioning processes and "Dow Solvent Recovery Technology" to recover the solvent from product (or floats) and rejects (sinks), The objectives of the efforts to clean coal are to reduce sulfur and ash. In this paper, the solvents will be described; a general flow diagram presented; some of the results on upgrading various coals will be described, and projected costs of full-scale plants using chlorinated solvents will be compared to conventional cleaning plants.

Jan 1, 1985

By Kirstin Girdner, Tom BoBo, Brian Norton, John Kemeny

Split Engineering is a truly customer oriented company dedicated to providing quantified fragmentation information of the highest integrity to enable process management and control. Technical decisions, blasting costs, operational efficiency and productivity and equipment performance can all be related to optimum fragmentation. In the past, the lack of an easy, non-disruptive, economical measuring technique has meant that, in most cases, rock fragmentation has not been defined in quantitative terms. Now, the Split-Desktop@ software provides an economical alternative to manual sampling and screening and an objective measure rather than subjective qualitative estimates. This workshop will present the latest features of the Split-Desktop@ software and show users how to quickly get quantifiable results from their blast fragmentation. A step-by-step demonstration will display the software’s flexibility, user-friendly options, and ease of use. Outlining where other mines have benefited from using the Split-Desktop@ software will provide insight to a wide range of software uses and potential applications like creating a database of geologic zone specific post-blast fragmentation information, underground draw point monitoring, stockpile, leach pile, and waste dump size measurement and monitoring, as well as many other applications.

Jan 1, 2000

By D. H. C. Wilton, W. A. Sears

"Abstract-The 682.8 ± 1.6 Ma Tickle Point Group consists mainly of rhyolite flows and tuffs with- in the Avalon Zone of the Appalachian Orogen in Newfoundland. Stratabound massive sulfide mineralization, consisting of pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, occurs at the Winter Hill prospect, where a lower pyritic, Cu-rich zone and an upper Zn-Pb-rich zone are hosted by a carbonate-calc-silicate lens. At the Frenchman Head prospect, stringers of pyrite, minor sphalerite, chalcopyrite and rare galena are hosted by felsic volcanic rocks of the Tickle Point Group .Base metal ratios, metal zonations and the overall stratigraphic framework suggest that these sulfide occurrences represent volcanogenic massive to semi-massive sulfide mineralization (stringer type at Frenchman Head). As such these prospects represent the only known VMS occurrences within the Avalon Zone of Newfoundland. Pb isotope data indicate that galena from the Winter Hill prospect is less radiogenic and older than galena from Dunnage Zone occurrences, and suggest that the Winter Hill mineralization formed in an environment tectonically distinct (exotic) from the Dunnage Zone."

Jan 1, 1996

By N. D. L. Burger

Underwind and overwind protection system concepts for mine hoist shafts were developed in conjunction with and for the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC). End-of-wind operation of mine hoists is the most hazardous aspect of mine hoisting, carrying the highest risk of loss of life, injuries to workers and loss of production. Systems operating mechanically and with local actuation were developed. This was done in order to remove the increased risk associated with dependency on remote or external energy and information supply associated with most existing protection systems. The proposed underwind protection system concept absorbs the energy of motion of a conveyance overrunning the design lower limit of travel by drawing a metal strip through a set of rollers. This action causes dynamic cyclic plastic bending of the strip material that converts the kinetic and potential energy of the conveyance into strain energy of the metal. In the concept design a pair of steel wire rope slings attached to the strips catch the overrunning conveyance and transfer the retardation force. The proposed overwind protection system concept absorbs the energy of motion of a conveyance overrunning the design upper limit of travel by early detaching of the conveyance from the hoist rope. This detaching is carried out via an additional detaching hook activation mechanism fitted at a sufficient height below the spectacle plate to allow the conveyance to retard to standstill under gravity before it would crash into the spectacle plate. The conveyance so brought to rest is prevented from falling by means of jack catches on the conveyance interacting with a rack (toothed profile) fitted on the guide rails in the retardation zone. Scale models (1:10 scale) of both protection systems were designed to conform to established retardation standards. The retardation standards were limited by the requirement of passenger safety in retarding cages. The models were then built and tested in a1:10 scale shaft model. Retardation performance close to the required levels was achieved. The retardation distance required should allow such systems to be retrofitted in most existing shafts. Given the simplicity and robustness of the designs, further development was recommended because of their enhanced self-sufficiency and reduced risk of malfunction. Keywords: underwind, overwind, deceleration, mineshafts, hoisting.

Jan 1, 2004

By Michael Rieber

Commodity transportation by barge is possible on about 25,000 miles of navigable inland waterways in the contiguous 48 states. Barge operations are used chiefly for the movement of bulk raw materials ranging from farm products to iron ore, coal, and other bulky semi-finished as well as finished products such as steel, chemicals and petroleum [3,p.7-9]. The barge industry, unlike other transportation industries, is largely unregulated. This is because all liquid bulk commodities most dry bulk commodities transported by for-hire carriers and companies engaged in private transportation of their own commodities are exempted from Interstate Commerce Commission regulations. As a result, about 15 percent of the total ton-miles of barge traffic each year is under Interstate Commerce Commission regulation [13,p.14-25].

Jan 1, 1977

By K Evtiminova, G Jobson, M Nolte, S Meik

Chelopech Mining EAD (CMEAD) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dundee Precious Metals Inc (DPM) and operates the Chelopech underground mine and processing facility located in Bulgaria. The final product sold is a flotation concentrate containing copper minerals with associated gold and silver. The increase in production from 0.6 to 1.0 Mt/a by 2009 occurred with the original (1975) secondary/tertiary crushing, and primary/secondary ball mill circuits. As part of the mine/mill upgrade project to 2.0 Mt/a, a new single stage semi-autogenous (SAG) mill and ancillary equipment was installed, replacing the original circuits, with commissioning occurring during the first half of 2011. Aspects of the design, commissioning and operation of the new comminution facility are the subjects of this paper.An extensive program of comminution characterisation test work was completed in 2004/2005, which indicated moderate hardness and competency characteristics. The characteristics were considered suitable for a range of comminution approaches which were assessed with respect to power requirements and capital and operating costs. Retention of the existing primary crushing facility, and installation of a new single stage SAG mill located within the existing mill building, was selected as the design for the expansion.An extended ramp-up schedule for the overall concentrator upgrade turned out to be necessary as the comminution and flotation circuits were completed prior to several downstream unit processes (concentrate filtration and tailings thickening), which were required to reach the design mill feed throughput rate on a sustainable basis. This resulted in the opportunity to gradually increase the SAG mill ball charge as necessary, to obtain the throughput corresponding to the various downstream processing constraints.A relatively fine cyclone overflow stream particle size distribution is a feature of the Chelopech comminution circuit that has not been fully overcome with increasing ball charge conditions. However, design throughput has been met even under the finer product size conditions and will be consistently achieved following the commissioning of two further process improvement projects scheduled for late 2012.CITATION:Jobson, G, Nolte, M, Evtiminova, K and Meik, S, 2012. The modernisation and upgrade of concentrator operations at the Chelopech Mine, Bulgaria - Design, installation and operation of the 250 tonnes per hour comminution circuit, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill OperatorsÆ Conference, pp 325-332 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 29, 2012

The purpose of this paper is to describe briefly the clean-up procedure adopted at the treatment plant of Paringa Mining & Exploration Co. Ltd. at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.A clean-up is carried out at the end of each four-weekly period, and all figures subsequently quoted are taken from a summary of the results of the eight periods ending 8th April, 1941.STRAKING AND AMALGAMATIONOf the total gold won 22· 77 per cent. is recovered by straking and amalgamation.The discharges of both the primary and secondary ball mills are pumped over a common set of five ten feet long by three feet wide straking tables, set at an angle of 10 degrees, before passing to the 14 ft. diameter by 30 ft. by 8 ft. Dorr bowl classifier.This classifier is in closed circuit with both of the ball mills, hence the whole of the circulating load of the fine grinding circuit, which approximates to 800 per cent., is required to pass over the straking tables. For convenience in handling, corduroy cloths are used in lengths of 5 feet, and are picked up and replaced by clean cloths at four-hourly intervals. The avaHable straking area provided is, therefore, 900 square feet, or approximately 3·30 square feet per original ton per 24 hours. The density of the pulp passing over the tables is about 54 per cent. solids, the area provided per ton of pulp per 24 hours being approximately o· 2() square feet. Washing of the corduroy cloths is carried out on the day shift only, about 800 lb. of strake concentrate being obtained daily.This concentrate is sluiced from the washing trough on the elevated straking floor to the 4 ft. by 2 ft. diameter amalgamating barrel located in the gold room below.The barrel is of standard design and is rotated at 25 r.p.m. It is charged each day at 4 p.m., and grinding of the strake concentrate at approximately 70 per cent. solids is continued until 8 a.m. the following day. The barrel is then stopped, and the contents generously diluted with water, and after a few minutes rotation some of the slime is carefully poured off through the small discharge hole. This dilution and decantation is repeated until a good deal of the valueless slime has been removed.A further quantity of strake concentrate is then charged to the barrel, which is allowed a further 16 hours grinding period. After again diluting and decanting, approximately 25 lb. of mercury and 15 lb. of lime are added to the charge, which is then given an amalgamation period of 2 hours before cleaning up.By the process of grinding, diluting and removal of slime by decanting...

Jan 1, 1941

By H. J. Bickel

This paper is concerned with general concepts and statistical devices used in projecting overall energy requirements. Particular emphasis is given to the use of individual end- use markets as an approach to developing future overall energy requirements, and translating these requirements into fuel consumption.

Jan 1, 1962

By J. M. Oblak, W. A. Owczarski

A cellular appearing recrystallization product formed by annealing a cold-worked nickel-base super-alloy at 1800°F has been studied by electron nzicroscopy. Prior to deformation, an equilibrium micro-structure of fcc matrix y and cuboidal ,,', Ni (Al, Ti), precipitates of CuzAu structure had been established by an age at 1825°F. The strain-free recrystallization cells consist of very large rodular y' particles in a y matrix. They precipitate is oriented and coherent both before and after recrystallization. The results showed that y' coarsening accompanies recrystallization at 1800°F. However, it does so as a secondary effect and does not necessarily take place at lower temperatures. The structural similarity of this reaction to cellular precipitation in other systems indicates that lattice strain may also play a significant role during some cellular precipitation reactions. THERE have been numerous microstructural investigations of recrystallization in single-phase materials but two-phase systems have received much less attention. The second phase can either remain inert or be altered along with the matrix during recrystallization. If the second phase is an oxidelm3 or a relatively inert pre~ipitate,~, recrystallization is retarded when the interparticle spacing is less than 1 p. Prior to the onset of recrystallization, these materials show a well-polygonized substructure with the subgrain size limited by the interparticle spacing. Since recrystallization by the motion of preexisting grain boundaries6 is not observed, retardation has been related to particle pinning of the subboundaries. This pinning prevents coalescence' or growth8 of subgrains to a critical size (formation of a high-angle boundary) necessary to initiate recrystallization. In a material such as a nickel-base superalloy both y matrix and y' precipitate are altered by the recrystallization reaction. Haessner et al.' studied the recrystallization of a cold-rolled Ni-Cr-A1 alloy by electron microscopy. The material was initially cold-rolled in the supersaturated condition. upon annealing at 750°C, immediate precipitation of 7'occurred. Presence of this 7' greatly retarded the onset of recrystallization which eventually took place by the development of randomly oriented, strain-free grains. The original •/ was dissolved at the recrystallization interface and reprecipitated as oriented, coherent par-tiles in the new grain. Recrystallization caused a refinement of .)' particle size. Recently ~hillips'' investigated recrystallization of Ni-12.7 at. pct Al. Reduction by cold rolling presumably elongated the p' precipitate into lamellae that remained coherent with the matrix. After recrystallization at 600" to 750°C, there was no unusual change in y' particle size al- though there was a tendency toward clustering along the prior rolling direction at 750°C. Above 750°C, the recrystallized grains were generally free of precipitate. Studies in the somewhat analogous Cu-3.23 wt pct CO" and Cu-2 wt pct'2 systems demonstrated that the coherent cobalt-rich fcc precipitate in these alloys obstructed softening, initiation, and completion of recrystallization. The precipitates were deformed into lam~llae during rolling and those of diameter less than 250A remained coherent. Recrystallization took place by the growth of new grains into the recovered or poly-gonized material. In the first study," both matrix and precipitate reoriented in the same manner upon passage of the recrystallization interface. There was no change in particle size or morphology. Tanner and ~ervi,~ on the other hand, observed that motion of the recrystallization fronts was strongly hindered by the pinning action of coherent precipitates in the deformed material. Particles in contact with a pinned boundary coarsened and coalesced leaving a denuded zone in the unrecrystallized region. When the number of pinning points was sufficiently reduced by coalescence, the boundary swept past these particles and through the denuded zone. The authors1' considered this as a variation of discontinuous precipitation with both chemical driving force and deformation strain energy contributing to recrystallization. Preliminary observations by the present authors had revealed that recrystallization in Udimet 700, a nickel-base superalloy, occurred in an entirely different manner. Optical metallography showed that the recrystallized product formed as cellular colonies containing coarse y' particles elongated in the direction of cell growth. In this investigation the structural features of this reaction were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE As-received I$-in. rounds of Udimet 700* were (wtpct) 18.4 15.2 4.95 4.42 3.43 0.06 0.031 0.14 Bal. solution-annealed for 4 hr at 2150" and then fast air-cooled. An initial y-~' structure was established by a 4-hr age at 1825°F followed by a fast air,cool. Essentially the equilibrium volume fraction of ?' at 1825°F is precipitated within 4 hr. Microstructural examination showed no measurable increase in the amount of precipitate after longer aging times. Deformation consisted of swaging to 52 pct RA with 6 pct reduction per pass at room temperature. To reduce the precipitation potential to a negligible amount, recrystallization anneals were conducted at 1800"~ (982"~). Microstructures were investigated by optical and transmission electron microscopy. To prepare foils for electron microscopy, the material was first sliced into 30-mil slabs parallel to the swaging direction. Discs were dimpled and electrolytically cut from

Jan 1, 1969

By R. P. D. Graham

It is almost exactly two hundred years since the foundations of the mining and metallurgical industries in Canada were laid. There '."'as nothing spectacular about this early start. It had to do with the most basic phases of these industries-the mining of coal and iron ore, and the manufacture of cast and wrought iron. At several points along the coast of Cape Breton island, coal seams may be seen outcropping quite conspicuously, and it is probable that they had been observed, and possibly worked in a small way, in very early times. However that may be, these coal seams have the distinction of being the first in North America of which there is any printed record, reference to them appearing in a volume by Nicolas Denys which was published in Paris in 1672. Regular coal mining in the district did not commence until about fifty years later, however. The metallurgists started their operations along the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. Here, at many points between Montreal and Quebec, are to be found deposits of bog iron ore, and in 1 730 a furnace for smelting such ore was established on the St. Maurice river. The St. Maurice forges continued in operation until 1880, and throughout that long period they were famed for the fine quality of castings produced, and also for a-superior wrought iron.

Jan 1, 1924

By M. P. Nesterov

The method of predicting the time-dependent surface subsidence for gently-inclined potash deposits where total extraction using various sizes of yielding bamier pillars was discussed.

Jan 1, 1998

By Lewis Blanchard Brown

It is my purpose in the following paper to describe the south-central part of Siberia, with special reference to its geology and the mineral deposits. This region is known politically as the Achinsk and Marinsk districts of the Tomsk Government. It is situated among the Altai mountains, in. ]at. 50° to 55O n and long. 87O to 93O E., not far from the northern frontier of Mongolia, and is divided as follows: Mining Districts.—(1) The Tomsk mining district, including the political districts of Altai (belonging to the private crown lands of the Russian Emperor) and Marinsk; (2) the AchinskMinusinsk mining district, including the political districts of Achinsk and Minusinsk; and (3) the North Yenisei mining district, situated in the northern part of the Yenisei political district of the Yenisei Government. Fig. 1 is a map of the Tomsk mining provinces, showing the useful mineral-deposits, excepting those of gold, and giving the routes of the railroads and post-roads connecting the various districts. Political Divisions.—The Tomsk Government is sub-divided into seven " oojesdy " or districts, as follows: Barnaul; Biisk; Kuznetsk; Kainsk; Kolyvan; Marinsk; Narim; and the Altai district (private land, as above). The Yenisei Government is sub-divided into five "oojesdy" or districts, as follows : Erasnojarsk ; Kansk; Yenisei; Achinsk; Minusinsk. Concerning the geology of the region, in addition to the record of my own observations, references will be made to the works of earlier writers. These have been consulted for the purpose of comparison, as regards the districts which I have actually traversed, and for the purpose of completing my account of such portions as I have not been able to visit.

Jan 1, 1904

By D. Kidby, A. Briggs

"Vitrokele ™ is a synthetic adsorbent, using chelating groups on large polystyrene beads, developed in Canada over 7 years ago, and first commercialised in 1985 to recover noxious metals from plating wastes.Pilot plant trials have been performed in Australia and Canada to demonstrate the recovery of cyanide and removal of metal cyanide complexes from gold plant effluent using Vitrokele1 M 912. The pilot plants comprise a simple adsorption train (similar to a CIP circuit) followed by complete elution facilities, so that loaded Vitrokele™ can be stripped and returned to the adsorption circuit.An account of these campaigns is provided, showing the reduction of total CN levels from over 200 ppm to less than 0.5 ppm and Cu levels from approximately 100 ppm to less than 0.3 ppm in treated tailings.Comparisons between pilot plant results and laboratory test data are given and probable future work on the process and its application to the gold mining industry is discussed.INTRODUCTIONThrough millions of years of evolution, life forms have developed specialised molecules with exceptionally high affinity and selectivity for various metals such as iron, cobalt, zinc and copper.In the early 80's professors at the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University engaged in research on the extremely efficient ways that living cells captured trace metals essential for life.As research progressed, it became evident that the special molecules used by biological systems to capture metals could be synthesized to capture selected metals with similar efficiency from water or other solutions.The technology was first commercialised in 1985 to recover noxious metals from plating wastes with compositions applying the special molecules (chelating groups) on vitreous particles (hence Vitrokele™). To date approximately three commercial Vitrokele™ plants have been installed for treating plating waters in Ontario and Quebec."

Jan 1, 1992

By MEHMET KIZIL, PETER KNIGHTS, ROYAL REA

A 1/20 scale experimental dozer push test rig was designed and constructed to quantify the expected production rates (loose cubic metres per hour) for dozers operating in hard rock bulk push applications. The particle size distribution of the material employed in the test rig was modelled on a fragmented muckpile representative of that for a typical surface copper/gold mine overburden. A commercially available road base material was found to be highly representative of site conditions. Buckingham Pi theory was applied to mathematically develop factors for scaling up dozer productivity parameters, including blade loads and push times. Dozer production rates were investigated for various dozing distances and slope angles. A series of instantaneous productivity curves were produced which are applicable for use in hard rock dozer push operations. Currently, it is difficult to estimate dozer push productivity in hard rock environments due to dozer productivity correction factors that are empirical in nature and provide only discrete, end-point values for a range of operating conditions. The productivity curves produced demonstrate that dozer productivity declines rapidly over the range of 10 m to 40 m. As such, it is recommended that efficient bulk dozing operations in hard rock mining blocks should not exceed 40 m dozing distance. Further testing of muckpile conditions with increased clay and moisture content would be beneficial in order to better understand and quantify the effects of cohesion on hard rock dozer push productivity.

Nov 23, 2021