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By B. Stewart

Recent ore pass failures have underlined the need for improved designs, standards, structural monitoring methods, and better hang up prevention and removal techniques. Researchers at the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are investigating methods to improve safety during transport of ore in ore passes. Design criteria and hang-up prevention and remediation strategies involve studies of the effects of static and dynamic ore and waste rock loads on chutes, walls, gates, and support structures. Particle flow analysis methods were used to simulate the response of various ore pass designs to a wide range of ore loading conditions. A full-scale mock-up of actual ore pass and chute assemblies was duplicated and tested for load response. Data from a particle flow code and the mock-ups were com-pared. Loads on an active ore pass chute were measured.

Jan 1, 1998

By Alan Boughey

The world's largest grinding mill operates at the Cadia Hill Mine in Australia. Svedala Industries supplied the 12.2-m- (40-ft-) diam, 20-MW Cadia gearless, semiautogenous grinding mill (SAG). This was a leap of more than 40% above the largest operating SAG mill. This article reviews the significant items involved in the development, design, manufacture, installation and operation of this mill. Description of the Cadia project The Cadia Hill Mine is located 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Orange, in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. The mining lease covers about 3,100 hm2 (7,660 acres) of the Cadia Valley. The Cadia deposit is a large, homogeneous, low-grade, porphyry-type, gold-copper resource. Current reserves stand at 202 Mt (222 million st), grading 0.73 g/t (0.02 oz/st) gold and 0.17% copper. They contain 146.2 t (4.7 million oz) of gold and 347 Kt (382,500 st) of copper. The operation consists of openpit mining and ore processing to produce gold bullion and a gold/copper concentrate. The operation processes 17 Mt/a (19 millon stpy) of ore to produce 91 kt/a (100,300 stpy) of concentrate and 9.1 t/a (293,000 oz/year) of gold. The plant operates two 12-hour shifts a day and had a targeted availability of 94%. The plant facilities include a copper concentrator, o water supply system, an openpit mine, tailings pipeline and dam, and a concentrate pipeline and dewatering facility located in Blayney, about 35 km (22 miles) from the concentrator. Significant features of the process plant include o primary crusher and stockpile, a reclaim conveyor system feeding, the Cadia SAG mill (Figs. 1 and 2) and two 6.7-m- (22-ft-) diam ball mills (Fig. 3). A portion of the gold is extracted in a gravity circuit. The balance is extracted with the copper in the flotation section of the plant. Concentrate is thickened and piped about 35 km (22 miles) to the filter plant and rail loadout facility located in Blayney. Tailings are pumped to a tailings dam and process water is reclaimed from the tailings dam. The water system is designed to control and capture available runoff from local creeks, and to store these waters in dams and weirs. In addition, a major portion of the water for the process plant is treated effluent from the city of Orange and a smaller portion from Blayney Mill selection. The low-grade ore posed a dilemma for Cadia. To achieve a satisfactory economic operation, large-scale processing was required. The selection of the mills, equal to the largest designed and operated at the time, gave a plant configuration consisting of two 11.1- x 5.8-m (36- x 19-ft) SAG mills and three 6.1- x 9.1-m (20 x 30-ft) ball mills. This configuration did not provide the most satisfactory economic model for the project. A review of the single line configuration indicated that a significant reduction in the overall capital cost of the plant could be achieved by increasing the size of the mills and reducing the quantity. Increasing the size of the mills,

Jan 1, 2001

By Jr. Zink

An economic and operational evaluation of the unrecovered metal, physical conditions, and chemical environment in a leach pad should be made prior to decommissioning. This evaluation will help determine the possibility and method of secondary and/or enhanced metal recovery and the method(s) to be used for detoxification and heap closure. The evaluation requires quantitative sample collection in a locally variable, yet grossly homogenous material. An assessment of a valley fill heap leach pad was made using a technique borrowed from placer technology called sonic drilling. The sonic drilling technique produced very satisfactory core recovery and sample quality. At this site, drilling results demonstrated that the method of heap construction produced expected features after extensive long term leaching. Rather than a uniformly homogenous pile of metallurgically depleted crushed ore, an assemblage of solution channels, un-oxidized sections, unleached areas, and compaction due to various factors, were found. These conditions are thought to represent a normal, rather than unique, situation for a valley fill heap leach. The lack of this information can have a significant impact on the economics and methods of heap re-handling and ultimate closure.

Jan 1, 1992

By U. Thorley

This paper presents an overview of surface mining activity in the Canadian oil sands and how the mine operators interact with the province of Alberta's Mine Financial Security Program (MFSP), which took effect April 1, 2011. The MFSP approach to reclamation assurance results in the government of Alberta sharing a portion of reclamation liability through the majority of an oil sand mine's life. In order to determine the potential fiscal magnitude of this shared liability, an examination of the expected costs of oil sands reclamation activities through a study of corporate asset retirement obligation (ARO) liabilities and other corporate disclosures is presented. The province of Alberta's Environmental Protection Security Fund (EPSF), which formerly secured oil sands mine reclamation activities is discussed. Reclamation costs in the oil sands are poorly understood. The MFSP provides what it characterizes as a conservative estimate of C$75,000/ha, while corporate disclosures by Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. place expected costs at C$180,000/ha. There is significant risk associated with the apparent uncertainty surrounding reclamation costs.

Jan 1, 2012

By S. K. Jena, S. Singh, B. Das, N. Dhawan, P. K. Misra, D. S. Rao

"Iron as an impurity in pyrophyllite ore affects pottery, ceramics and tile quality. We carried out the characterization of a pyrophyllite ore sample using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and wet chemical analysis. The study revealed the presence of 2.15% iron oxide (Fe2O3 ) along with silica and alumina as the major components, which constituted around 90% of the total sample. We carried out the removal of iron from the pyrophyllite using magnetic separation and acid leaching and found that wet high-intensity magnetic separation (WHIMS) could remove 28% of iron values while oxalic acid leaching could remove up to 99.3%. The leaching kinetics of iron removal and the effects of pulp density, acid concentration, leaching time and temperature were also investigated. The optimum conditions for leaching were found to be leaching time of 60 minutes, temperature of 90°C, pulp density of 5%, oxalic acid concentration of 0.3 M, and particle size below 100 microns. Iron dissolution from the pyrophyllite sample can be best described by the diffusion of ions through the product layer of constant-size spherical particles. The breakdown of the pyrophyllite structure was evident from the FTIR and TGA studies. The activation energy of the leaching process over the temperature range was calculated to be 43.47 kJ/mol. IntroductionPyrophyllite is a naturally occurring phyllosilicate mineral composed of aluminum silicate hydroxide [Al2Si4O10(OH)2] as the major component and often associated with other minerals such as kaolinite, mica, quartz, rutile and epidote. It occurs in fine-grained sericite schist that is quarried as pyrophyllite (Pandit et al., 2008). In India, pyrophyllite occurs mainly in Madhya Pradesh state, Uttar Pradesh state and the Keonjhar district of Odisha state (Harpavat, 1995). Pure pyrophyllite is a highly desirable material for various applications due to its unique properties. It exhibits high refractive behavior, low thermalelectrical conductivity, low expansion coefficient, low hot-load deformation, low bulk density and high corrosion resistance to molten metal and basic slag (Rieger, 1997). It is used in the ceramics, refractory, foundry, electrical-insulation, sanitary-ware, glassmaking, pesticide and rubber fields. Compared with clay, it has lower thermal conductivity and coefficient of expansion, making it more suitable for refractory applications (Harben, 2002; The Minerals Yearbook, 2011)."

Jan 1, 2015

By C. Heckman, M. S. Moats, A. Luyima, W. Cui

"Chloride ions and their interactions with two organic smoothing additives – Cyquest® N-900 and HydroStar® 4208 – during copper electrodeposition were explored using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results revealed that chloride ions, up to a concentration of 40 mg/L, depolarized the copper deposition reaction. A combination of chloride ions and Cyquest N-900 inhibited the depolarization reaction during copper electrodeposition. It is proposed that the chloride ions acted as bridging ligands between copper and Cyquest N-900. Addition of HydroStar at a concentration of 2.5 mg/L depolarized the copper deposition reaction when no chloride ions were present. This behavior did not change with the addition of chloride ions at the concentrations tested, indicating that chloride ions and the polysaccharide do not interact.IntroductionElectrowinning is a major production method used to obtain high-purity copper. In modern tankhouses, copper is electrodeposited onto stainless steel blanks and then stripped, washed and bundled for delivery. Significant improvements in the quality of electrowon copper have been made over the last few decades. Additives, temperature, current density, electrolyte concentrations and agitation are known to influence the quality of copper electrodeposits (Jenkins and Eamon, 1990).The influence of chloride and organic additives on copper electrodeposition has been the subject of considerable research. The addition of small quantities of chloride and organic additives has been recognized to significantly improve the properties of copper electrodeposits. These additives are critical in the prevention of dendrite growth and the production of smooth, dense cathode deposits.Chloride ions have been reported to catalyze the copper reduction reaction and assist in the production of uniform deposits (Lakshmanan et al., 1977; Sun and O’Keefe, 1992). Moreover, it is generally agreed that chloride ions depolarize the copper deposition process at low (several millimolar) chloride concentrations. This is because chloride ions catalyze the reduction of copper (II) ions to copper (I) ions (Cu2+ ? Cu+ + e-) in the rate-limiting step of this process (O’Keefe and Hurst, 1978; Ilgar and O’Keefe, 1997; Hebert, 2005; Shao, Pattanaik and Zangari, 2007)."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. Rodgers

The Pinto Valley concentrator of BHP Copper Inc. restarted its sulfide mining operations in September 2007 to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates. During the plant production ramp up, the copper/molybdenum circuit quickly reached the copper grade and recovery targets, but the production and quality of the molybdenum concentrate continued to be a challenge. Even though several improvements in the molybdenum circuit were completed, the final molybdenum concentrate did not meet contractual specifications. After reviewing several options to improve grade and reduce contaminants, the installation of three flotation columns were chosen. The column design and construction were done using in-house craftsmen and engineers. Ten days after commissioning, the columns successfully reached a steady operation and began producing molybdenum concentrate to the required specifications, that is, high molybdenum tenors and low copper and iron content. The Pinto Valley operations, are comprised of the Pinto Valley concentrator, the Pinto Valley dump leaching and a solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) plant. The concentrator operated from 1972 to 1998 when mining and milling operations were curtailed for economic reasons. The SX/EW plant continued operations for copper cathode production. After a cessation of mining operations of almost 10 years, Pinto Valley operations began a restart project in January 2007, to bring the mine and the concentrator back into production. Copper concentrate production started in October 2007 after refurbishing and upgrading the facilities with a new DCS system and filter plant. The daily targets of the concentrator were to treat 56.7 kt (62,500 st) of ore, produce 762 t (840 st) of copper concentrate containing 27.5 percent copper at recoveries of 86 percent and produce 2.2 t (2.5 st) of molybdenum concentrate containing more than 80 percent MoS2.

Jan 1, 2010

By R. C. Burtan

Long before the dawn of recorded history, man began to dig into the earth's crust in a never ending search for useful materials. It has been well established that prehistoric man discovered flint. "The Flintstones" were aptly named. The flintknappers of southern England and Wales still exist today in ever dwindling numbers as they seek out chunks of flint. It is a well known fact that more than half of the earth's crust is composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2), also known as silica. Silica and silica containing materials have a great many uses in modern society. However, this material is potentially extremely hazardous to our health. Centuries before the Christian Era, Hippocrates wrote of a lung disease common to those who mined in hard rock. It is obvious to us that he was describing silicosis. It is also apparent from ancient writings, that the Egyptians were aware of this malady. Dioscorides also wrote on this subject in the fifth century, B.C. It is undoubtedly the oldest and best studied of the occupational lung diseases. It was certainly described by Agricola in his "De Re Metallica" published in 1556, in which he described lung disease among hard rock miners. This publication, I'm sure, is of special interest and perhaps known to many of you in the mining community. The original document was written in Latin and was translated in 1912 by two gentlemen, Hoover and Hoover. One of these translators was Herbert L. Hoover, a former president of the United States, who made his living before his presidency as a mining engineer.

Jan 1, 1984

A comparison of gold, platinum and sulfide ion selective electrodes was made in this investigation for determination of Eh in solutions containing sulfide ions as a model system. The comparison was made in terms of the accuracy of the measured response, response time, pH dependence, and reproducibility of measurement. In addition, the sensitivity of each electrode towards changes in sulfide ion concentration was measured in terms of the change in measured Eh per decade change in concentration of sulfide ions. On the basis of a detailed investigation of the electrode processes occurring at the surface of gold and platinum electrodes, it was postulated that within the pH range investigated these electrodes respond to changes in the hydrosulfide ion, HS-, concentration in solution. In comparison, the sulfide ion selective electrode is known to respond to changes in the sulfide ion, S-, activity in solution. Although the potentials measured with gold and platinum electrodes were mixed potentials, pretreatment procedures can be used to obtain a signal suitable for process control. For control of sulfide ions in flotation pulps, the use of a gold electrode pretreated at 1.0 V with respect to a standard hydrogen electrode is recommended.

Jan 1, 1990

By Peter L. Dunn

With the advent of new high-strength magnetic materials, rare-earth magnetic separators have become more common place for processing heavy mineral sands. In many instances, rare-earth magnets have replaced conventional separators such as electromagnetic cross-belt and induced-roll type machines. This paper will present the results from a detailed test program developed to evaluate the performance of rare-earth drum and roll separators for processing heavy mineral sands. The effect of machine design parameters, such as magnetic element configuration and separator diameter, will be reviewed in light of these test results. The impact of basic operating parameters (i.e. feed rate and roll speed) on separation efficiency will also be presented.

Jan 1, 1999

By Joseph E. Worthington

Increases in the price of gold starting about five years ago, and rapid fluctuations since then, have caused a substantial popular interest in the noble metal. Gold prospecting had been at low ebb since the end of World War II in most of the United states except for a flurry of activity in Nevada occasioned by the Carlin and Cortez discoveries. The last five years, however, have seen a great awakening of interest in gold exploration as well as an opportunity for education for many explorationists in the geology and other vagueries of gold deposits. The present writers have participated over the last few years in a search for gold deposits throughout the United States. This search was greatly influenced by the geologic studies of Dr. Wm. Spence at the Haile Gold Mine in South Carolina as reported in a companion paper. Spence's studies resulted in definition of a geologic model that has proven useful in a number of other geologic environments in the united states. These programs were all carried out under the auspices of Cyprus Mines Corporation and permission by Cyprus to present these results is gratefully acknowledged. The writers, however, reserve for themselves all responsibility for the results and conclusions. The exploration program to be described began in the southeastern United States. Spence's studies provided a reasonable basis for interpreting and understanding the geology of the Haile deposit and also provided a means for predicting additional occurrences. This concept was then expanded to other gold occurrences in the Piedmont and became an effective tool for evaluating other prospects. Finally it became evident that the concept could be applied in some western gold districts. The following discussion will then include descriptions of other Piedmont examples and a few western districts that also appear to fit the pattern.

Jan 1, 1978

By Thomas M. Lynberg

WIDCO is a surface coal mine located near Centralia, Washington. The WIDCO preparation plant processes over 7 million tons of run- of-mine coal each year with a product yield averaging 72%. In the jig type preparation plant the fine refuse amounts to approximately 130 dry tons per hour of 28mesh by 0. This fine refuse material is thickened in a 160ft. diameter static thickener with the use of lime as a coagulant and organic polymer as a flocculant. Once thickened the fine refuse, which is predominately bentonitic clays, has been dewatered and disposed of using several different methods. These methods will be discussed and include vacuum disc filters, ponds, solid bowl centrifuges, belt filter presses and experiments with electrokinetic dewatering.

Jan 1, 1981

By L. R. Gremillion

Chemical and mineralogical data on 25 apatitic phosphate ores of diverse origins from commercial deposits around the world were widely variable. From 14 to 18 chemical constituents of each sample were determined, and each sample contained 4 to 10 mineral phases. Altogether there were 34 different mineral phases, many of which occurred in only one sample. The samples contained varieties of francolites, fluorapatites, and mixed hydroxyl-fluorapatites. The apatite compositions calculated from the chemical data showed that certain types of substitutions were characteristic of different apatite varieties, but every variety had some degree of substitution of (CO3)2 for (PO4)3 and the P2O5 contents of the apatites ranged from 35.1% for a North Carolina apatite to 41.9% for a Missouri apatite. In a concentrate with a grade of 32% P2O5, the North Carolina sample should contain about 8.7% gangue and the Missouri sample about 23.7% gangue. To optimize the digestion process of a phosphate are, it is necessary to consider the dissolution behavior of the different mineral phases during acidulation and the effects they may have on the chemical properties of a fertilizer intermediate. In the production of wet-process acids or superphosphates, the acidulation of certain minerals may cause foaming and formation of sludge, filtration, corrosion, and handling problems.

Jan 1, 1978

By A. E. Torma

The efficiency of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans in the desulfurization of a high-sulfur content New Mexico coal was demonstrated. The optimum condition of process variables were found to be pH = 2.3, particle size = 38 µm, pulp density 14.1% (W/V) and temperature 33.9°C. Larger scale experiments carried out with these optimum conditions resulted in coal desulfurizations above 97%, while in sterile controls this was only about 10%.- The rate of desulfurization was described with an exponential expression with respect to the effects of coal particle size. The effect of pulp density on coal desulfurization was quantified by a Monod type equation. The apparent activation and deactivation energies, the frequency factor and temperature coefficient were derived from the effects of temperature to be ?aE - 11720 cal mol-1 and A = 30.44 mol dm-3s-lin the range of 20 - 35°C; ?Ed = 43930 cal mol-1 and A = 9.82 x 10-39 mol dm-3s-1 in the range of 35 - 45°C; and Q10 = 1.94 in the range of 20 - 30°C. The thermodynamic values [(?G+, ?H+ and ?S+)] of the activated complex were calculated. The generalized second order regression equation relating the degree of biodesulfurization of coal to the leach parameters was shown to adequately predict coal desulfurization within the range of process variables studied.

Jan 1, 1987

By H. M. Brennecke

A new hydrometallurgical process has been developed to recover copper from sulfide ores. Copper is leached in a staged reactor system utilizing nitric and sulfuric acids at 105°C. Iron is removed from the pregnant liquor as a jarosite and cathode copper is electrowon directly from the purified pregnant liquor. The spent electrolyte is recycled. Nitrogen oxides evolved from the leach are reconverted to nitric acid and are also recycled. Sulfur is rejected as S°, jarosite and gypsum. The process is highly versatile and can recover precious metals, molybdenum and zinc, when these elements are present. Continuous, integrated, semi-pilot plant operations using chalcopyrite ores demonstrated 99% copper leaching and production of cathode grade copper. Economic evaluation shows that the process is competitive with pyrometallurgical and other hydrometallurgical processes.

Jan 1, 1978

By Jr. Raleigh

As part vi the development of the Coal Quality Expert (CQRN) --a computer program capable of predicting the impacts of coal quality on power plant performance, costs, and emissions control--several nationally important coals are being characterized to augment the coal quality database associated with the software. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) under the Clean coal Technology Program. Since 1989, CQ Inc. (a subsidiary of EPRI) has characterized seven bituminous coals from Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky and Oklahoma and six sub-bituminous coals from the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Montana and Wyoming. Coals from the PRB region--being burned more frequently in Midwestern and southern power plants to reduce emissions of sulfur oxide compounds--can sometimes contain significant concentrations of potentially toxic elements. Although no limits were imposed on air toxics emissions from fossil-fuel fired utilities by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, future regulations may be implemented at the conclusion of Federally-mandated emissions studies. One possible result is that any increased utilization of coals, including those from the PRB, may depend on the potential for removing toxic trace elements prior to combustion.

Jan 1, 1993

By Robert O. Vernon

Urban sprawl, and all its attendant problems, is upon us. In Florida, and much of the rest of the world, this has been intensified by a special problem - the coastal zone - a land of high-intensity urbanization localized where the sea and our citizens interact. Florida is blessed by a long coastline of beautiful beaches, indented by estuaries, lagoons and spring fed rivers. Rocky and sand covered islands invite habitation. A large and varied fauna and flora make recreation an avocation and work a pleasure. Accompanying these people are all the sustaining, and satellite industries that find the climate, labor, and commodity markets, cheap water transportation, and natural resources to be attractive. It is estimated that by the year 2008 a megalopolis will stretch down the Atlantic Seaboard from Georgia to encompass the Keys and extend along the Gulf to Alabama. This city will be fenced by the sea on one side and by the water management works, necessary to provide the water supply for this complex, on the other. What can we do about increasing the amount of water available for this population and decreasing the resultant wastes??? Rarely has there been tendered a more favorable opportunity for a coordinated planning and development project that will provide public access to beaches and multiple use of the coastal lands. Florida, as a peninsula swept by ocean breezes, having a largely indigenous water supply and only the beginning of the pollution of estuarine and coastal waters can cope with air, water and coastal dissipation and pollution, if we have a beginning at providing a constant water supply and at limiting pollution. This answer would appear to lie underground, where the porous limestones are interbedded with impervious fine-grained sediments and ground-water that circulates through these aquifers empty to the ocean and Gulf along the continental slopes.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. Larsson

In the pursuit of increased safety the mining industry has worked to develop systems for remote control and autonomous operation of both stationary and mobile equipment. This paper reports on a newly developed system for teleoperation and autonomous tramming of LHD (Load-Haul-Dump) mining vehicles that not only increases the safety of the operators, but also has the potential to increase productivity.

Jan 1, 2010

By S. K. Bhatt

This paper reviews major developments in continuous haulage technology for underground coal mines. Haulage systems, both in use and development, are investigated through a comprehensive literature search and visits to mines and manufacturers. The systems include flexible conveyor train, mobile conveyor, multiple-unit continuous haulage, extensible, and belt turning systems. Strengths and weaknesses of the systems are assessed in light of their operating under remote control and their application to the computer-assisted continuous mining machine being developed by the U.S. Bureau of mines. Through mining scenarios, candidate haulage systems are conceptualized to be consistent with the capabilities of the mining machine.

Jan 1, 1990

By Justin R. Patts, Andrew B. Cecala, A. KYLE LOUK, Emily J. Haas

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the former U.S. Bureau ofMines (USBM) have given a significant effort over the past four decades in researching and developing engineering controls and interventions to reduce mine workers’ dust exposures during the bagging and palletizing of industrial minerals. Workers performing manual bagging and palletizing of 50- to 100-pound bags typically have some of the highest dust exposures of all workers at mining and mineral processing operations. This paper will provide an overview of available dust control technologies for bagging operations and present the findings of a recent case study that was conducted at four different industrial sand operations to identify the current types of bagging and palletizing technologies being used and to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing workers’ exposures to respirable crystalline silica dust. An evaluation will also be performed to determine if further reductions in respirable dust levels can be achieved by incorporating additional modifications or improvements into the existing technology.

Apr 3, 2020