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By G. R. Love, C. C. Koch

The changes in superconducting properties with aging time have been studied ,for the pecipitation reaction in a Tc-30 at. pct V alloy. Superconducting critical temperature, upper critical field, and relative critical current density were determined by ac susceptibility techniques. Aging produces changes in critical temperature of both matrix and precipitate which can be rationalized by compositional effects. maximum flux pinning (critical current density) occurs at a time during aging when subgrain boundaries are completely decorated with precipitates and the subgrain centers remain precipitate -free. The particular effectiveness as barriers to flux motion of planar defects which enclose regions of low deject density is discussed. THE precipitation of a second phase can dramatically modify the superconducting properties of type I1 super-conductors. According to Livingston and Schadler1 one might expect changes in the primary, secondary, and tertiary superconducting properties of the material. Changes in matrix chemistry caused by precipitation can alter the fundamental superconducting parameters; critical temperature, Tc, and thermody-namic critical field, Hc. The concimitant changes in electron mean free path (reflected in normal state resistivity) can affect the critical fields Hc 1, IIc2, Hc3. Finally, the presence of precipitate particles may hinder the motion of flux lines and may considerably improve the current-carrying capacity in high-field superconductors. The influence of precipitation on superconducting properties has been studied in a number of systems.2 Magnetization measurements have been used to study the influence of precipitates on flux pinning in lead-base alloys by Livingston3 and Evetts et al4 In these alloys precipitates induced magnetic hysteresis and flux trapping. The amount of hysteresis increased with the volume fraction of precipitate and decreased with coarsening of the precipitate. Jn an Al-Zn alloy5 and an A1-Ag alloy6 the initial precipitate size was presumably smaller than a coherence length and coarsening increased magnetic hysteresis5 and critical current density.6 The influence of precipitation on superconducting properties has also been studied in several of the commercially interesting Ti-Nb7-10 and zr-Nb11 alloys. The maximum in critical current density for these alloys was confined to a narrow range of either isothermal aging time" or isochronal aging temperature7 during the precipitation reaction. Thus, experimental evidence and theoretical considerations suggest there is an optimum precipitate size, spacing, and density, and a critical composition with respect to the matrix for flux pinning. What these "optimum" values might be and the relative importance of each is still not clear, although a few generalizations can be made. It is generally accepted1' that particle sizes smaller than the coherence length or larger than the inter-flux line spacing are poor pinning centers. In high Hc2 materials, precipitate sizes for maximum values of critical current density lie in the range of 50 to 2000Å,9,7 and there are indications that increasing dissimilarity between precipitate and matrix produces increasing pinning force.13 Because of several interesting features of the aging reaction in a Tc-30 pct V alloy, we have chosen to study the influence of precipitation on the superconducting properties of this alloy. The physical metallurgy14 and a survey of the superconducting properties" of the Tc-V alloy system have been reported. The Tc-V phase diagram is presented in Fig. 1. At 1500°C the Tc-30 pct V alloy is in the single phase 6 field. Samples quenched from the 6-phase field have a CsCl structure X-ray diffraction pattern at room temperature and it has been proposed that the 6 structure is closely related to the bcc lattice.14 When held isothermally below the eutectoid temperature, 115O°C, the 6 phase decomposes into the CsCl and hcp phases.

Jan 1, 1970

By P Christen

The Ernest Henry Copper gold mine situated in North West Queensland, Australia, is owned and operated by Xstrata Copper. Currently the open pit produces 11 Mtpa of ore. With open pit mining ceasing in mid 2011 development has begun on an underground sublevel cave mine to extend the life of the operation by another 12 years. When completed the open pit will be 530 m deep and 1.5 km in diameter. The orebody dips at approximately 45° and has been outlined a further 450 m below the base of the pit. This provides some challenges for the Ernest Henry underground mine which is designed to initially truck development and production ore from the end of the pit until a hoisting shaft is commissioned in 2013. Production will then increase to 5.0 Mtpa on its way to an ultimate rate of 6.0 Mtpa in 2016.This paper will focus on the capital development and infrastructure requirements for the underground mine. Areas covered include mine accesses, ore handling system, accommodations for the dip of the orebody, primary ventilation design, dewatering systems and selection of an underground workshop over surface only maintenance.Discussions include the complications arising due to the mine being located directly below a large open pit and the combination of first principle cost analysis and risk assessment which has been used to safely optimise the feasibility study designs.

Mar 21, 2011

By A. O. Dufresne

A Step which, it is believed, will prove extremely beneficial to the Quebec asbestos-mining industry was taken during 1931, when the asbestos mine operators of the Province assembled to work out a uniform method of naming the products of their mines. The outcome of several meetings was the drawing-up of a classification which defined, limited, and designated anew the numerous grades of asbestos marketed. It entailed no drastic departure from the existing processes of grading, nor any revolutionary changes in methods of testing, but aimed rather to perfect existing methods. The classification proposed has been accepted by all operators in the Province, who, from January first of this year, began introducing the new nomenclature. Unless one is conversant with the properties and mode of occurrence of chrysotile asbestos, with the unique milling methods devised for its recovery, and with the history of the development of their technique, he may not readily understand the basis of the new classification. For information on these and other data concerning the industry, the reader is referred to a recent publication, Chrysotile Asbestos in (Canada, by James Gordon Ross, issued by the Mines. Branch of the Department of Mines, Ottawa. The object of this paper is to present briefly some of the phases in the evolution of the classification of Canadian chrysotile asbestos, in the hope that the recent effort to standardize the marketable products of one of Canada's most important non-metallic mineral industries will open a field for discussion, fruitful in new ideas and constructive suggestions. The necessity for the grading of asbestos results fundamentally from the fact that the price per ton depends on the length of fibre. At all times in the history of the industry, the very limited available supply of the longer grades, as well as the requirements of the trade, have caused relatively very high prices to be paid for fibre over half an inch in length, while for the shorter grades the price decreases rapidly, and at a rate which bears no proportionate relation to the length of fibre.

Jan 1, 1932

By Charles A. Kliche

INTRODUCTION The Northern Great Plains Coal Province which occupies approximately 36.6 ha contains about one-half of the nation's total coal resources. About one million ha are underlain by coal that is considered to be mineable from the surface. The topography of the province is predominately plains, rolling hills, and some badland areas characterized by breaks or sharply eroded hills. Elevations range from about 1500 m above sea level on the west to about 600 m above sea level on the eastern boundary. The average slope of the ground is approximately 2 m per km. Streams in the province drain generally easterly and southeasterly (1). In the United States, the Northern Great Plains Province lies within the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. The coal within the province is located almost entirely in the states of North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. Although it is relatively low rank, the coal within the province encompasses a large portion of the total remaining U. S. reserves. The U. S. Geological Survey estimates the total remaining coal resources of the United States to be 2.6 trillion mt within 1000 m of the surface, and 2.9 trillion tons within 1830 m of the surface. Of this total, only about 177 billion mt are classified as reserves meaning that they are (1) known in location, quantity and quality from geologic evidence supported by engineering measurements, and (2) economically recoverable based on currently available technologies and current market value (2).

Jan 1, 1983

By Norman J. Sather

LOCATION AND HISTORY The Bunker Hill Mine is situated on the south side of the Coeur d’Alene River in Shoshone County of Northern Idaho near the City of Kellogg. Kellogg, the largest in the Coeur d’Alene District cities, is at an elevation of 2,300 feet and has a population of approximately 7,000 people. It can be reached by air, railway or highway. The history of the Bunker Hill Mine dates back to August 26, 1885, when Noah S . Kellogg found the outcrop of the Bunker Hill ore body on the hillside above the present town of Wardner, Idaho, in Milo Gulch. A small concentrator was erected in 1886. Before the railroad came, the mine output was transported by mule teams to the head of navigation on Coeur d’Alene Lake. After ten years of production, an interest was purchased in the Tacoma Smelter at Tacoma, Washington, to which the entire output was shipped. In 1916 and 1917 a modern lead smelting plant and refinery was erected and in 1927 and 1928, a modern Electrolytic Zinc Reduction Plant was built and put into operation by the Sullivan Mining Company which was 50% owned and now totally owned by The Bunker Hill Company. GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY The Bunker Hill ore bodies are found in gray and greenish gray quartzite and argillaceous quartzite of Precambrian age and are known as the Revett and St. Regis formations. Most of the ore bodies are found in the St. Regis formation.

Jan 1, 1970

By Peter A. Rona

The recent discovery of the first black smoker-type hydrothermal venting and massive sulfide mineral deposits at a site in the rift valley of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge near latitude 26°N, longitude 45°W (Rona et al., 1986, Nature, 321: 33-37), demonstrates that a complete series of hydrothermal mineral deposit types exists at slow-spreading oceanic ridges (half-rate = 2 cm/y), similar to the series previously known at faster-spreading oceanic ridges (half-rate > 2 cm/y). The largest hydrothermal mineral deposit known at a seafloor spreading center is a stratiform massive sulfide body with bulk dry weight of about 100 x 106 metric tons in the Atlantis II Deep at the slow-spreading axis of the Red Sea. This observation invalidates the concept that size of a hydrothermal deposit is directly proportional to rate of seafloor spreading. Instead, the occurrence, grade and size of a hydrothermal deposit formed at a seafloor spreading center is controlled by anomalous chemical and physical conditions which may occur at extremely localized sites at the full range of spreading rates. The basic hydrothermal process involving subseafloor hydrothermal convection driven by magmatic heat sources appears to be similar at slow- and faster-spreading centers. However, differences exist in the periodicity of magmatic cycles that energize hydrothermal circulation (104 y at slow-spreading centers; 103 y at faster-spreading centers); in the distribution of hydrothermal sites along a spreading axis (estimated 100 km along slow-spreading centers; 10 km along faster-spreading centers); and in residence time

Jan 1, 1986

By G. R. Hopkins

[A new record in fuel efficiency at petroleum refineries was established in 1939, when a the average B.t.u. requirements per barrel of crude oil processed declined to a new low of 557,000 B.t.u. (see fig. 1). The average fuel requirement per barrel of crude oil refined has remained virtually stationary for the past 3 years. Thus in 1937 the average was 562,000 B.t.u., in is it rose to 567,000 B.t.u., and in 1939 it declined to 557,000 B.t.u. she largest gains in fuel economy cane a decade or so ago on the widespread introduction of heat exchanges and pipe stills. In recent years many successful innovations in heat saving have been adopted, but the combined effect of those is completely masked by the degree to which the capacity is utilized. Some heat requirements are relatively inelastic, so the average consumption per barrel of crude oil refined tends s to increase when the operating ratio (crude runs divided by capacity) declines and vice versa. In 1939 crude runs to stills increased 6 percent (from 1,165,015,000 barrels in 1938 to 1,237,840,000 in 1939) compared with a decline of about 2 percent in 1938. The operating ratio in 1939 was 82 percent compared it's 78 percent in 1938.]

Jan 1, 1941

By B. H. Caudle, W. J. Bernard

Factors which influence the success or failure of a waterflood can seldom be determined in the laboratory. For this reason pilot waterfloods are initiated in a repreventative portion of the oil reservoir in question. For a pilot flood to predict quantitatively the recovery to be expected in a field-wide waterflood operation, the pilot area must behave as though it were confined (surrounded by similar areas). In this study, laboratory fluid-flow models were used to determine the simplest pilot pattern, for particular conditions of mobility ratio and initial gas saturation, that would behave as though it were confined. Pilot patterns studied ranged in complexity from a single inverted five-spot to a grouping of nine regular five-spots. Only the innermost producing well in each pattern was studied. Model results showed that the optimum number of wells in the pattern depends upon the oil-water mobility ratio and the expected oil-bank size. Unfavorable mobility ratios will, in general, require more wells in the pilot pattern than will favorable mobility ratios. Pilot patterns in reservoirs which contain a dispersed, flowable, free gas saturation will require fewer wells than for the under-saturated case. The single inverted five-spot pattern was found to be unsatisfactory for predicting behavior of fully developed waterfloods. In particular, it is possible that, in reservoirs which contain a flowable, dispersed gas phase, the oil bank will never be observed at the producers due to the large amounts of free gas which continue to be produced with the oil. INTRODUCTION One method which has been used to predict the performance of a waterflood is the pilot flood. The pilot waterflood is a flood which involves only a small cluster of the reservoir wells and is located in a small, representative portion of the reservoir. The object is that oil produced from the pilot can, in some way, be related to the oil recovery to be expected from a field-wide expansion of the waterflood. However, these field pilot waterfloods have often been unreliable in the prediction of oil recovery in a fully developed waterflood. This unreliability has also been demonstrated in several laboratory studies of pilot floods. Some of the investigators have shown that there are situations in which the pilot flood oil production is far too optimistic with respect to the oil recovery in the fully de- veloped flood. Others4-G have shown that the pilot results can also be pessimistic, especially if the pilot waterflood is initiated in an oil reservoir which has been depleted by primary recovery and is at very low pressure. The major reason for this unreliability of pilot water-floods is the migration of fluids into or out of the pilot area. By the well-known method of images, if straight lines can be drawn to represent vertical planes of symmetry in a porous medium which contains pressure sources and sinks (injectors and producers), then these lines are invariant streamlines, or lines across which there is no potential gradient, and therefore no flow. In an actual reservoir, these lines of symmetry can never be established exactly because of reservoir inhomogeneities and irregular reservoir boundaries. However, if the reservoir is relatively large and contains wells in repetitive patterns, these lines of symmetry are commonly assumed to exist for the pattern units sufficiently far removed from the reservoir boundary. Lines of symmetry for the five-spot injection pattern are shown in Fig. 1. Each five-spot unit in this figure can be considered confined with respect to flow across its boundary. In pilot floods this is not the case. The lines of symmetry for the pilot patterns investigated in this study are shown in Fig. 2. It is obvious that the fluid within these pilots is not confined and is therefore able to migrate into or out of the pilot area. Intuitively, one can see that, if more wells are added to the pilot, the innermost unit tends to behave more and more like the confined pattern. However, there is a practical limit to the number of wells which should be placed in the pilot. This limit is usually determined by economic factors. It was the purpose of this study to use laboratory fluid-flow models to determine which of the previously mentioned pilot patterns will force the innermost producing well to behave as it would in a fully developed waterflood. Since fluid migration is influenced by initial saturation conditions and the mobility ratio, these factors were included in the study. The ultimate objective of this study was to develop data which would allow the operator to choose a pilot pattern and operating conditions that will yield a production history which can be applied directly as an estimate of the performance of each production well of the fully developed waterflood. BASIS FOR THE STUDY The basic problem of field pilot floods is the migration of the reservoir fluids into or out of the pilot area. This problem has been the subject of previously reported model studies on pilot floods. These studies have been concerned mainly with the development of arbitrary "correction factors" to be applied to the simple, unconfined pilot systems such as the single five-spot. The correction factors were intended to adjust the production history of the un-

By J. Y. Foley

Platinum-group elements (PGE) are preferentially associated with chromian spinels, including high-iron chromite, magnesian-chromian hercynite, and chromian magnetite in clinopyroxene-rich upper stratigraphic portions of the Tonsina ultramafic complex in southern Alaska. Ratios of Pt:Pt+Pd are proportional to chromium content in the associated chromian spinels. The maximum PGE content of geochemical rock samples from Dust Mountain is greater than 20.000 ppb (>0.6 oz/ton) with minor gold values. The maximum PGE content of tabled chromite concentrates is 3.430 ppb (0.1 oz/ton) at Dust Mountain. 1.029 ppb (0.03 oz/ton) at Sheep Hill, and 1,749 ppb (0.051 oz/ton) at Bernard Mountain. High-iron chromite at Dust Mountain yields tabled chromite concentrates with Cr:Fe ratios between 0.5 and 1.2. Lower PGE contents are found in more chromium-rich chromitites from Sheep Hill and Bernard Mountain that yield concentrates with Cr:Fe ratios between 1.0 and 2.8. Platinum-group minerals include amalgams. arsenides. PGE alloys, and sulfides. These minerals are between 3 and 40 microns in size and are concentrated along grain boundaries and fractures of metasomatically and hydrothermally altered chromian spinel grains.

Jan 1, 1987

By C G. Sweeney

The underground mining industry is seeing unprecedented shortages in skilled labour. Migration to Australia being at an all-time low is a leading concern, with pandemic-induced border closures and lockdowns only exacerbating the skills shortage, not causing it. The skills shortage is forecast to peak in 2023 and remain high beyond 2025. With this skills shortage in mind, mining companies throughout Australia are trying to deal with stricter protocols around Health and Safety (H&S) legislation, as well as more stringent controls on quality assurance, particularly as underground mines are reaching greater depths and extending into ‘unchartered territory’. The cumulation of this is proving to be a major hurdle in ‘effective’ operational geotechnical management. The drive for automation in mining is bringing another level of complexity. However, ‘once automation is up and running, it presents the opportunity to access talent pools that may not normally be available. There is also a change in skillset that will be required to drive automation. ‘The top two emerging roles that will be critical for the future of the mining industry are artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) specialists, and process-automation specialists’ (Writer, 2021). If anything positive has come from the pandemic, it has shown that remote working can be effective and that the drive for automation and critical evaluation of skills required on-site should be given greater priority. UQ acknowledges that the industry is changing, and that digital technology is required to be offered in mining related disciplines. Industry and academia need to do more to promote geotechnical engineering in mining and balance the curriculum to suit the future of mining and make it more enticing. The average cost of a geotechnical failure is about $5 million in coalmines and can be into the hundreds of millions of dollars if production is affected (Cartledge Mining and Geotechnics, 2020). The cost of a good geotechnical design far outweighs the potential losses if a failure were to occur. This alludes to the growing importance of experienced geotechnical consultancies playing a pivotal role in managing mine site geotechnical hazards, while the industry is developing the next generation of geotechnical engineers.

Nov 29, 2022

By A. J. Giroux

"The use of Ishikawa cause and effect diagrams in an analysis of requirements for improving safety and productivity at Falconbridge's Strathcona Mill is presented. The analysis lead to numerous small improvements being made with the cumulative effect being a significant improvement in both areas.INTRODUCTIONMill management in the 90's involves the major requirements to improve both safety and productivity in the workplace. These objectives, once seen as unrelated or even mutually exclusive, are now accepted as being complementary. Managers, trained either on the job (coming up through the ranks) or in an engineering discipline followed by first and second line supervisory experience are now turning to methods developed in consumer product manufacturing to ensure that all the components are in place to ensure the ore processing facilities are safe and efficient.This paper shows how management at Falconbridge' s Strathcona Mill used the Ishikawa ""fishbone"" diagram ( 1) , a method further developed by Deming(2), to put into place a comprehensive safety and productivity process. The Ishikawa/Deming concept is that no one element or program will itself continually improve a process or service. It is only by examining and then improving all the elements that are involved in the process or service that continuous improvement is obtained. The process was built on the Deming principle of worker ownership where management is the facilitator for putting into place the mechanisms whereby workers can themselves improve the operation. The process is illustrated mainly by examples of the changes made in the hope that these may be of direct help to other operations."

Jan 1, 1993

By Felipe da Silva Siqueira, Mariana Sizenando Lyrio, Aline Cristine Lemos Duarte, Weslley Luiz da Silva Assis, Harison da Silva Ventura, André Luiz Moraes Alves, Paulo Rangel Rios

A nucleação nos contornos de grão é um fenômeno muito recorrente em materiais metálicos. Essa situação foi tratada por diversos autores como Cahn e Rios e Villa, usando a abordagem de nucleação em planos e linhas aleatórias. Neste trabalho estudou-se a nucleação nos contornos do polígono de Poisson-Voronoi e de uma matriz hexagonal em 2-d com métodos analíticos e simulação computacional. Utilizou-se uma equação baseada no método de Cahn para nucleação nos contornos de grão. Para nucleação nos contornos do polígono de Voronoi a equação não mostrou adequação total com os resultados simulados para dois tipos diferentes de casos, já para os contornos da matriz hexagonal, notou-se que quanto maior a quantidade de pontos sorteados na matriz, mais os resultados simulados concordaram com a equação proposta.

Nov 13, 2019

By Innocent John Arinze, Chidubem Okwudiri Emedo

This contribution presents the first multi-scale geophysical investigation conducted in the Abakaliki and Obubra mining districts (AOMD), southeastern Nigeria, for the exploration of shallowly emplaced (< 50 m) massive sulfide and barite mineral deposits. Raw airborne magnetic data covering the AOMD was acquired and subjected to diverse enhancement routines to facilitate the identification of areas of subtle magnetic anomalies for subsequent ground truthing. The mineralization is mainly made up of galena, sphalerite, and barite. The contrasting physical properties between these minerals and their host rocks make resistivity, induced polarization (IP), spontaneous potential (SP), and magnetic methods ideal to study and delineate the mineralization and possibly locate the ore bodies. Wenner DC resistivity and IP data acquired along the same parallel traverses are inverted using Res2dinv to produce 2D tomography models of resistivity and chargeability. The resistivity and IP models were successful in delineating zones of sulfide and barite mineralization. The ground SP data collected along the same traverses as the resistivity and IP data were interpreted as line graphs. The 1D SP models show a number of central negative anomalies that could be related to sulfide mineralization. These anomalies show fair-to-good spatial continuity and are in close agreement with the result obtained in the resistivity and chargeability model. This study suggests the presence of exploitable mineral deposits in the AOMD and demonstrates the superior interpretative ability of combined geophysical methods over a single geophysical approach.

Oct 20, 2020

By Ciro Manolo Alegre Huamán

El presente texto describe la metodología para el desarrollo del planeamiento de minado subterráneo a través del software minero y de técnicas matemáticas modernas. Así también es importante la base de datos geológica que servirá como soporte para generar los modelos geológicos y geotécnicos a partir de los cuales, se obtiene el modelo de recursos mineros y, consecuentemente, las reservas mineras, que es donde se soporta el planeamiento de minado para una operación minera subterránea.

Jun 1, 2012

By A. D. Garman

This paper presents one of a series of digests of foreign mining legisla- tion and court, decisions which is being prepared in advance of a general report relative to the right of American citizens to explore for minerals and to own and operate mines in various foreign countries. This interpretation of the laws of Latin America has been prepared from the best available information in Washington, but is released subject to correction and amplification, if necessary, by the proper American diplomatic and consular officers, to whom it is being referred through the courtesy of the Department of State. Individual abstracts of the laws of each of the countries herein discussed have been prepared and published separately. This general summary is presented for the use of mining engineers and investors whose interests extend over the borders of a single country. It is also designed to bring out certain general principles of mining law and, so far as feasible, to indicate the trend of mining legislation in South and Central America. In order to gain perspective, the details of legislation are not com- pletely covered in this paper, but an effort has been made to bring out essential differences as well as points of similarity in the laws of the various countries. The course of legislation is first traced chronologically and the points discussed are then arranged in tables in somerhat greater detail. .Si. With a very few exceptions the existing mining legislation of Spanish America is a development, of the Spanish "Law Decree of Bases" (more briefly referr- ed to as the "Decree-Bases") of 1868. This in turn was influenced, particularly in its classification of minerals, by the French law of April 21, 1810.

Jul 1, 1930

By R. A. McGuire

THE recorded production of the Sheep Creek camp from 1900, when the Yellowstone Mining Company first put its mill into operation, to the present day is in excess of $17,500,000. Of this total, $2,500,000 can be attributed to the early period from 1900 to 1916, at which time increased costs of labour and material due to the Great War forced abandonment of any operations on a large scale for a number of years. Since the camp was revived in 1929, at which time the Reno mine started large-scale operations, and the early &apos;thirties&apos;, when the increased price of gold induced the commencement of operations on other properties in the district, total gross production has been in excess of $15,000,000. In addition to the above totals, intermittent shipments were made by lessees and small operators, principally during the period of inactivity from 1916 to 1929, but no records of this production are available. The Sheep Creek camp would rank fifth in the Province-behind Rossland, Portland Canal, Bridge River, and Hedley-in gross gold production, but, because of relatively inexpensive mining and milling costs, would occupy a more prominent position in regard to total dividends paid. Operating mines at the present time include Reno Gold Mines, Gold Belt Mining Company, Kootenay Belle Gold Mines, and Sheep Creek Gold Mines. Each one of these companies, with the exception of Kootenay Belle, represents a consolidation of several smaller properties, all of which were in existence for a number of years prior to 1929. These four companies, at the present time, own, or hold options on, practically all the important claims in the district with the exception of a very few claims and fractions still held by private owners.

Jan 1, 1942

By S. J. Pearce

There are a number of methods for determining relatively small quantities of sulfur dioxide in air. However, those methods require fairly elaborate apparatus and laboratory facilities. Frequently in industrial hygiene surveys it is desirable to have a simple arrangement to obtain "on the spot" determinations. This has been accomplished for concentrations of sulfur dioxide of hygienic significance by using the midget impinger and decolorizing a starch-iodine solution.

Jan 1, 1948

By D J. Brake

Most mine ventilation engineers are involved in ventilation planning and design in some capacity. Ventilation modelling software used by a competent experienced ventilation engineer is extremely useful in developing good ventilation designs by allowing assessment of a wide range of potential options. Unfortunately, ventilation modelling undertaken by persons who do not have sufficient experience or knowledge usually results in a fa&#231;ade that covers up a fundamentally unsatisfactory design. Ventilation models are produced for a wide variety of purposes including: fault-finding of a problem area in a mine and options analysis for resolution of such problems; a complete review or optimisation exercise of an entire mine’s ventilation system; or a much longer life-of-mine type of study. Models can be intended as the basis for studies with diverse purposes such as primary shaft or airway sizing, primary fan specification, examining re-entry times after blasting, resolving leakage or recirculation, or investigating the impact of fires or underground climate or cooling requirements. The concepts of ‘materiality’ and ‘fitness for purpose’ are essential to developing or using a ventilation model and serious mistakes have been made in wrongly using a ventilation model for purposes for which it was never intended, often because it is simply the most recent model on the mine site. Mistakes at this level often translate into faulty ventilation strategies and inefficient or ineffective use of scarce capital for ventilation projects. Validating a ventilation model is a time-consuming and expensive process and not every model must (or even should) be fully validated to meet the objectives at that time. This paper discusses the application of quality assurance in ventilation planning with particular respect to the ‘basis of design’ (BOD) as well as the standards for validating a ventilation model. It also provides a recommended way of dealing with non-conformances in measured versus modelled values of critical parameters in the model.CITATION:Brake, D J, 2015. Quality assurance standards for mine ventilation models and ventilation planning, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 221–228 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

By D. W. Alexander

Researchers from the U.S. Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) completed field trials during coal mine rescue contests using simulated gas detectors in place of placards. The gas monitor simulator (GMS) devices replaced static, paper placards to deliver gas concentration data. Eleven teams were observed during the field contest, which was approved by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). GMS devices were given to three team members (the captain and both gasmen). Observation of teams revealed that team members changed behavior by acknowledging and sharing information more often while using the GMS. As a result of this research, it has been demonstrated that under the existing contest format, the newly developed GMS device may be used with no adverse impact on team contest performance. Furthermore, when GMS technology advantages are used, contest realism is improved. In the future, competency assessment may be incorporated.

Jan 1, 2012

By T. E. Leontis

The specific effect of various rare-earth metals on the room- and elevated-temperature properties of magnesium has been evaluated. Alloys containing didymium exhibit the highest tensile and compressive strengths at room and elevated temperatures. All the rare-earth metals increase the creep resistance of extruded magnesium at temperatures in the range of 400° to 600°F, but the degree of enhancement depends on the temperature and on the concentration of the added metal. THE effects of rare-earth metals on the properties of sand-cast magnesium were discussed in some detail in earlier paper by the author.&apos; The present paper deals with the effect of the same alloying elements on the properties of extruded magnesium. This investigation also had as its aim the development of a wrought alloy having a better combination of room-temperature strength and ductility and elevated-temperature strength and creep resistance than is found in magnesium-Mischmetal-manganese alloys, which have been reported earlier.2-5 The only known attempt to study wrought magnesium alloys containing pure cerium instead of Mischmetal was made by Mellor and Ridley.6 They found that in the form of rolled bars there is a definite, optimum cerium content for creep resistance at 200 °C and that the creep resistance of these alloys at 200 °C is significantly Improved by heat treatment at 550" to 580"C. In the present investigation the compositional variation in mechanical properties of the following alloy systems is presented: I—magnesium-Misch-metal. 2—magnesium-cerium-free Mischmetal. 3— magnesium-didymium. 4—magnesium-cerium. 5— magnesium-lanthanum. Alloys containing predominately praseodymium are not included in this series because of the lack of this material. Experimental Procedures The alloying ingredients used in preparing the alloys described herein are the same as those reported in the earlier paper.&apos; Cerium-free Mischmetal is the rare-earth mixture remaining when the cerium is removed from Mischmetal, which contains all the rare-earth metals as they occur naturally in mon-azite sand, the ore from which Mischmetal is produced. Removal of both cerium and lanthanum from Mischmetal leaves what is commonly called "didym-ium," consisting predominantly of neodymium and praseodymium. Although the composition of the particular batch of each metal used may differ somewhat from the analysis presented previously, these differences are not great enough to warrant repeat- ing the specific composition of each material. The electrolytic magnesium used as the starting material in these alloys has the same typical analysis as that given in the earlier paper.&apos; The alloys were prepared in small laboratory melts applying all the necessary precautions for alloying rare-earth metals with magnesium described by Marande.&apos; Most melts were large enough to cast one 3 in. diam billet 10 in. long. In a few cases, particularly the didymium-containing alloys, the lack of sufficient amounts of the rare-earth metal limited the size of the billet to 6 to 8 in. All billets were scalped to a diameter of 2 15/16 in. and faced to a length of 9 ¼ in. as limited by the size of the extrusion container. The alloys were extruded into ½ in. diam rod on a 500-ton direct-extrusion press using a 3 in. container. The details of the extrusion step are: billet preheat, 925°F (2 hr); container temperature, 900°F; die temperature, 900°F; extrusion speed, 10 ft per min; reduction ratio, 36:1; and percent reduction, 97.3. The lower melting point of alloys containing didymium&apos; necessitated reduction of the extrusion speed to 5 ft per min in order to prevent hot shorting during extrusion. Adequate lengths were cropped from both ends of each extruded rod to assure that all the material used for tests was extruded under uniform conditions. Tensile and compressive properties at room temperature are reported in the several conditions of heat treatment. The ASTM designations are used to distinguish these conditions as follows: T5—Direct age at 400°F (16 hr) T4—Heat treat at 950°F (4 hr) for alloys containing didymium T4—Heat treat at 1050°F (4 hr) for all other alloys T6—T4 + age at 400 °F (16 hr) The lower heat-treating temperature for alloys containing didymium is necessitated by the lower melting point of these alloys. All heat treatments were conducted in electrically heated, circulating-air furnaces. A protective atmosphere containing 0.5 to 1.0 pct sulphur dioxide was used for the high temperature heat treatments. Tension and creep specimens 6 Yz in. long and compression specimens 1½ in. long were cut from the extruded rod. A reduced section of ? in. diam was machined on the tension specimens, whereas on the creep specimens a reduced section of 0.450 in. diam

Jan 1, 1952