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By J. M. Donkers, R. de Groot

The various objectives of dredging at sea require different methods and radically different equipment for their optimum fulfillment. In the majority of cases, sea dredging is done by means of dredging equipment connected to a pontoon or ship floating at the surface. As the supporting hull is subject to the influence of waves, swells, currents and wind, the connecting point of the dredging equipment to the hull will generally move relative to the sea bottom with 6° of freedom. The more important hull motions are surge, heave, pitch and roll. Depending on the actual sea and weather conditions and the size of the hull, some of these motions can be so large that dredging equipment of rigid construction (normal or inland dredges) cannot be used. In those cases where mechanical disintegration of the bottom is necessary and where accurate dredging is required, the designer must find a solution for this problem. For cases where the bottom consists of soils that can be handled by plain suction, highly sophisticated dredging equipment such as the trailing suction hopper dredge permit dredging under all but the most severe sea state conditions. This type of dredge picks up the soil from the sea bottom while slowly underway. The drag suction head is fitted on a suction pipe of such flexibility that the supporting ship can carry out all six movements in relation to the draghead (heave, pitch, roll, sway, yaw and surge), while the draghead remains in firm contact with the bottom. The suction pipe is fitted with flexible hoses, a universal hinge, a horizontal hinge, axial turning gland and sliding turning gland with horizontal axis and is suspended flexibly from the ship incorporating swell compensating buffer gear, keeping the wires taut and the draghead bottom contact pressure fairly constant while the dredge moves up and down. Due to the fact that the draghead has a low bottom contact pressure and has little tendency to sink into the bottom, this compensation is not difficult to realize.

Jan 4, 1974

By Philip D. Pearson

CALAND Ore Co.'s dredging program has reached the halfway mark. The goal is to remove more than 160 million cu yd of lake bottom material overlying the iron orebody in Falls Bay of Steep Rock Lake, Ont. Two large dredges were constructed to remove this overburden, a layer of soil about 90 pct varved clay some 400 ft thick. Moisture content of the clay is high-approximately at the liquid limit of the soil. A few years ago, searching for additional reserves of ore, Inland Steel Co. looked toward Canada and the newly developed Steep Rock iron range. To this end an option agreement was signed Dec. 30, 1949, between Steep Rock Mines Ltd. and Caland Ore Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Inland Steel. Several drilling programs were conducted between this date and Jan. 1, 1953, when a 99-year lease was signed covering an area of 1249 acres. This lease calls for ore production to begin in 1960, with full production of 3 million tons per year by 1969.

Jan 8, 1957

Beyond the industrial suburbs of Melbourne to the southeast are brown coal deposits just under the fertile soil of the Latrobe Valley. These deposits rank as one of the wonders of the world. The manner in which this resource is put to use is one of the great engineering accomplishments of our time and also a prime example of Australian elan. The brown coal, with over 60% water content, occurs in beds from 200 to 400 ft thick, under 50 ft of cover. Fifty thousand tons of coal per day move in a nearly continuous stream from mining face to boilers. The power plants supply two thirds of the State of Victoria's requirements, about 800 megawatts. Surge capacity between mine and power plant is sufficient for 12 hr steaming time! Victorian brown coals have been known since the middle of the 19th century. However, it took a strike of bituminous coal miners in 1915 to bring brown coal permanently into the picture as a fuel for power generation. In Australia, power generation is a State function. The great development of brown coals has been under the State Electricity Commission of Victoria.

Jan 10, 1964

By S H. Burgmans, B Anderson

This paper aims to define the specific challenges relating to dredging fine tailings from an above ground storage facility for transferral to a mined-out pit. In addition, it compares dredging and mining perspectives on dredging of fine tailings.

Jul 1, 2021

By Charles R. Isaacs

In 1972 Kennecott Explorations, Inc. conducted a three month cruise to the central Pacific as part of a study of deep-ocean manganese nodules. One of the objectives of the voyage was to collect at least 200 tons of nodules for use in extractive metallurgy research and various engineering tests. It was determined to cut off production at a maximum of 200 tons, should we reach that amount before the end of the 38 on-station days. We were able to reach that goal; 200 tons of nodules were collected, representing an average return of 2340 lb from 171 dredge runs. Once equipment and techniques were refined, normal returns consistently exceeded 2 tons per haul. Up to this time, Kennecott had sampled extensively with the use of small free-fall devices using wire rope and winch equipment. These devices have never offered a viable method for collecting nodules in bulk, and we sought to develop a dredging capability which would give some assurance of meeting future requirements with efficiency and economy. After testing a series of increasingly complex dredge designs at sea, it was decided to utilize two of the simpler configurations, which after modification provided the basic design for the dredge used.

Jan 4, 1974

By J. C. Boswell, J. D. Crawford

IN addition to its base-metal and coal mining operations, the United States Smelting Refining and Mining Company has, for the past quarter century, been one of the few large American mining companies interested in dredging. Its activities in this field are confined to gold, and to Alaska, but it is the largest operator in that territory, with twelve huge dredges available to work during the summer on the frozen ancient beach sands at Nome and the gravels of Fairbanks. These operations will be described separately.

Jan 1, 1948

By P. K. Sims

One-day field trip via U.S. Highway 6 and Colorado Highways 119 and 279 from Golden, Colorado to Idaho Springs. This field trip provides an opportunity to observe aspects of the Laramide ore deposits in the Central City and Idaho Springs mining districts and the Proterozoic basement rocks, which host the ore deposits.

Jan 1, 1986

By Herman Flores A., Pablo Espinoza T., Luis Loaiza A.

"Aplicando criterios de ecoeficiencia, se investiga la implementación de un proceso que producirá tanto mejoras ambientales como beneficios económicos en paralelo. Se determina el efecto del tratamiento con drenaje ácido de roca (DAR), en el contenido de cianuros de una pulpa agotada de cianuración. La utilización del DAR como insumo en el proceso para el control de cianuro presenta dos beneficios complementarios simultáneamente: La reducción de costos en el control de cianuros y la reducción de costos en el tratamiento del pasivo ambiental DAR."

Sep 1, 2017

By Xiao Jian Li, Dai Xiong Chen, Jian Wen Yang

In one kind of lead and zinc bearing polymetallic ore containing secondary copper, the characteristic of low sulfur, high zinc, and particularly the existing of secondary copper minerals can lead to lead concentrate with high content of zinc because the dissociation of Cu2+ in the grinding process may have an activation influence on sphalerite. Considering its process mineralogy analysis, a new process of seperation of lead and zinc has been put forward. The experiments focused on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the inhibition effect of traditional adjustment reagent + zinc sulfate on activated sphalerite compared with new organic inhibitor, polysaccharide xanthate. According to the numerical calculation and test results, a reagent system of polysaccharide xanthates is developed, which has a good inhibition effect on Cu2+ activated zinc minerals, achieving high-efficiency separation of lead and zinc. A new reagent system and flotation process was developed under optimal conditions. Under the condition of the run-of-mine ore containing 2.37% Pb and 12.48% Zn, lead of 67.69% grade and lead concentrate with the recovery rate of 86.06%, zinc of 60.32% grade and zinc concentrate with the recovery rate of 96.15% were achieved.

Jan 1, 2014

By Stevak D, Plesingerova B, Ellias K, Tkacova K

This paper presents information on the processing of minerals by decrepitation that can be an integral part of their mineral dressing. In the case of carbonates, processing by decrepitation is a special operation that has its objective as concentration of the oxide. Selective fragmentation of magnesite brought about by decrepitation uses pseudomorphosis which was observed at thermal decomposition of carbonates. By decrepitation of magnesite high-grade MgO concentrates were obtained with MgO contents above 80 per cent. With the sideritic ores a very important phenomenon was observed consisting in the removal of quartz in the fragmented fine-grained product which favourably affect pelletisation of the fines. The selective concentration of the MgO product brought about by thermal decomposition of dolomite accompanied with decrepitation was negligible.

Jan 1, 1993

The global mining industry will always face significant challenges. Some, though, are bigger than others. What do you consider the major challenges facing the mining industry as a whole and SME in particular? Without a doubt, the major issue in both coal and metal/nonmetal mining industries is the ?graying? of the workforce in all aspects of mining. As the baby boomers continue to age, valuable experience is being lost by industry, government and academia. And there is the potential for SME to lose some of its membership. Now with that said, I should note that, despite the aging of the workforce, SME membership continued to grow by 7.1 percent during 2011.

Jan 1, 2012

By J. David Lowell

The first part of this article is a review of industry techniques and styles during the past 50 years. It is followed by my career history during the same period. The second part covers my ideas about what works in mineral exploration. These include estimates about discovery costs, thoughts about education of explorationists, organization of exploration groups and my opinions about the relative value of exploration techniques. Evolution of exploration techniques [Table 1] shows the evolution of mineral exploration techniques and styles from 1950 to 2000. During the first half of that period, there was a progressive increase in exploration drilling. During the second half, there was a decrease in prospecting and an increase in high technology, indirect exploration and a rapid increase in discovery cost.

Jan 1, 2000

A laboratory size solvent extraction apparatus has been constructed, which incorp- orates three stages of countercurrent extraction, followed by two stages of counter- current stripping. The model uses a gravity flow system from one stage to another and air lift pumps to recirculate organic and aqueous phases. A novel pump/mixer system is used to transfer solutions from the mixer compartments to the settler compartments. The model has proven valuable in the teaching of solvent extraction principles.

Jan 1, 1999

By M. Barati

A collaborative research between University of Toronto and Hatch was conducted to understand and optimize the process conditions pertaining to a novel steelmaking technology. In this technology, known as CRISP, direct reduced iron is continuously melted and refined in a stationary electric arc furnace. The major challenge against continuous operation of the electric furnace was identified to be minimizing the corrosion of the refractory in order to achieve uninterrupted operation for a minimum of one year. Theoretical analysis and bench scale experiments together with two pilot runs resulted in defining an operating window for slag chemistry that would minimize chemical attack to the refractory while satisfying the oxidizing conditions required for sufficient decarburization. An analysis of the process in terms of energy consumption and emission of greenhouse gases revealed that it is superior to the current batch DRI-based steelmaking technologies.

Jan 1, 2011

By M English, M Yumlu

At times of high metal prices, mining projects that have previously been put into the ætoo hard basketÆ are now being more closely examined. Typically these projects include the potential recovery of small mineable tonnes with high contained metal values and often with poor ground conditions. For many underground mining projects, the drift and fill method is viewed as a high-cost method and a æmethod of last resortÆ. As a result the method is not well known in Australia and it is the authorsÆ view that the method is under utilised. The drift and fill method can be applied to a variety of underground mining situations and is a preferred method for some orebody geometries and where ore recovery is viewed as a key to project success. This paper examines some of the critical mine planning and backfill issues involved with the drift and fill mining method.

Jan 1, 2008

By John V. Beall

IKE'S amiable expression and apparent sincerity impressed AIME members as did the theme of his talk. Cautioning against the gradually increasing power of the federal government, he said: . . . "freedom as we know it is in no greater danger from without than it is from our own lack of understanding of this creeping paralysis from within." Next February, it will be three years since he uttered these words at Annual Meeting welcoming ceremonies, but the theme was oft repeated in his winning campaign. This brush with the exalted, brief though it was, makes Washington look friendlier to many AIME members than it has for years.

Jan 1, 1953

By John V. Beall

WHEN the atomic age broke suddenly upon the world in 1945 with all its terrible implications, predictions concerning the future of atomic energy were as numerous as columnists and often inflated. Today, some seven years since the explosion and probably ten since the Government took over development of nuclear energy, the impact on our way of living has been largely political (except of course for the thousands of people who have become employed in the AEC). Considering the world situation, weapons have come first naturally. But credible progress in the plow-share uses of nuclear energy-medicine, agriculture, power-can also be noted.

Jan 3, 1953

By John V. Beall

WHEN asked a few weeks ago if we wished to visit the Coors plant at Golden, Colo., we agreed with alacrity being well acquainted with the high quality of Coors beer and having heard that the company was most liberal about sampling privileges. Instead of a brewery, we found ourselves in a pottery, the Coors Porcelain Co., owned and operated by the firm of beer fame. Our apparent disappointment was dispelled as the wonders of the porcelain products were unfolded.

Jan 2, 1953

By E. H., Edwerd H. Robie

WILLIAM CHURCH was one of the founders and the first president of the Detroit Copper Mining Co. and was the first man to interest the Phelps Dodge company in the possibilities of the Morenci district, in the '70's. One rather interesting story concerning him is told by James Colquhoun, at one time president of the Arizona Copper Co., in his "History of the Clifton-Morenci Mining District." It seems that a geologist visited the Detroit company's mines and gave Alec McLean, then mine superintendent, quite a lesson on the proper mineralogical terms for what he saw in passing. Later, McLean handed out a few of them to Mr. Church as they walked through the mine on a tour of inspection. The latter had even less regard for a geologist than he did for sulphide ore, which meant little indeed, for in those days the rich ore was all oxidized, and there was no money in the sulphides. So Church was completely unimpressed by the geological and mineralogical terms that McLean had acquired from the visiting geologist. Church turned on him and warned him that so long as he was a member of his staff he was to understand that there were only two kinds of rock in his mines-the one was smelting ore and the other was waste rock, and he was not to forget it.

Jan 1, 1942

By John V. Beall

AMONG electrical manufacturers, interest in the outlook for copper supplies has not diminished despite signs of a healthier market following price decontrol. Reason: Electrical utility industry output is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 6 pct for the next 15 years. A more graphic description of the growth ahead is given in the Eighth Quarterly Report of the Director of Defense Mobilization as follows: "Power generating capability, which amounted to 63 million kw at the time of Korea, now stands at more than 81 million. The established goal for installed capability at the end of 1955 is 116 million kw. Orders already on the books of power equipment manufacturers, if fulfilled on schedule, will bring installed capability to over 123 million kw by the end of 1956-and more orders for equipment are yet to come." These statistics portend an impressive requirement for copper, not only for power plants and distribution lines themselves but for the multitude of industry and domestic end-uses.

Jan 4, 1953