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By K. E. Robinson

This study provides an initial indication that mill tailings produced in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District of Idaho can be placed on floodplain areas in a technically acceptable manner without artificial liners and without seriously contaminating the surrounding area. Tests have shown that landfills on these unused areas can result in returning these areas to productive use. The engineering properties of mill tailings permit construction of stable embankments. Designed slope protection inhibits water erosion. Among the environmental considerations in using tailings for landfill construction are the acid and other contamination produced by tailings and wind erosion of exposed tailings surfaces. The initial results indicate that adverse impacts are not as severe as previously thought, and mitigative measures are feasible. Based on the preliminary data, and in accord with existing Federal and State waste management regulations, a conceptual design has been developed for 23 potential landfill sites in the District, which could reclaim 750 acres of floodplain. A cost analysis of landfill construction with mill tailings indicates that the method would be an economically viable means for increasing the valleywide tailings storage capacity, provided construction with slurried tailings is feasible. A Stage H study is proposed to evaluate slurried tailings as a foundation material, as opposed to hauled tailings used in this present study.

Jan 1, 1981

By Angus D. Campbell

Introduction In the Twentieth Annual Report of the Mcintyre Porcupine Mines, Limited, for the year ending March 31st, 1932, the General Manager, Mr. R. J. Ennis, said: "During the period under review, the plans outlined in last year's report have been completed, and all operations have been centralized in the new plant adjacent to No. 11 shaft. The new mill went into operation on May 27th and attained its rated capacity of 2,000 tons per day on November 15th. The new shops, warehouse, change-house, and general offices were occupied on December 1st, consummating the change from the old to the new plant ... "Silicosis is now definitely recognized as an industrial disease, and progresses rapidly when associated with tuberculosis. In an effort to combat its prevalence and progress, the new change-house was designed to build up the men's resistance to this and other forms of disease. It provides for a complete change from underground to street clothing, with a shower bath and solarium treatment in the interval. 'Unfortunately, in almost every goldmine, a very small percentage of the work-men are not adverse to taking some of the high-grade ore for their own purpose. This, in turn, tends to cast suspicion upon the honourable as well as the dishonorable employees. The new change-house routine discourages this practice and eliminates unjust suspicion, to the satisfaction of all concerned with the Company's operations".

Jan 1, 1933

By D J. Robinson, L L. Kuhar

"Regardless of orebody value, at some stage, the pit will reach a depth where the reward for mining wider and/or deeper is not justified by the anticipated returns. ‘Last-blast’ strategies may help to some degree in recovering additional quantities of the resource but when a pit remains, there is often significant value left in the ground. In addition, in many cases, one or many good reasons may dictate why going underground and pursuing the orebody below the pit is also not justifiable. Whereas the company can hopefully move on to other more prospective parts of the orebody, the remaining options for the pit are usually very limited. Typically the pit is either held for potentially more favourable future pit expansion opportunities or it could be used for an alternative purpose, such as tailings or waste storage. This paper will present an alternative option that involves the direct extraction of values using in situ recovery (ISR) methods to recover additional value metals from the walls and/or floor of the pit. ISR involves circulating a fluid through the remaining orebody, solubilising the target metal and subsequently returning the solution to the surface for metal recovery. ISR is not the panacea to all but it has been employed selectively in the minerals industry for some time and the production of metals, such as uranium, rely heavily on this approach. ISR is not yet considered by many operators as an approach to compete with open pit or underground mining, largely because of the perceived limitations of this approach and the perceptions of risk. Rapid recent development of tools and enabling technologies relevant to ISR have made us reconsider the most economic approach to extracting many other metals from known mineral systems, even those currently listed as subeconomic. We suggest that ISR has the potential to make mine operators rethink the end of the pit life and adopt an innovative ISR approach to work toward a more complete recovery of value metals from existing pits.Citation:Kuhar, L L and Robinson, D J, 2016. In-pit In Situ Recovery - a New Approach That May Allow for Increased Value Extraction before Pit Closure, in Proceedings Ninth AusIMM Open Pit Operators' Conference 2016, pp 275–283 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Nov 15, 2016

By Peter Keppler, Charles Jackson

WHY DO AN AUDIT? There is increased enforcement of environmental laws and regulations at State and Federal levels with attendant steep fines and even the possibility of jail sentences. We are all aware of environmental and public health and safety incidences (i.e., Love Canal, Bhopal) which have led to stringent laws and regulations (i.e., CERCLA, RCRA, SARA). In some cases, the courts have specified that a company institute an audit program as a condition of settlement of claims which related to lack of environmental control. The U.S.EPA issued an Environmental Auditing Policy Statement in the November 8, 1985 Federal Register (pp. 46504-46508) which encourages the use of environmental auditing by regulated entities. Elements of what EPA considers to be an effective environmental auditing program are outlined and briefly explained. These factors combine to indicate why there is a growing number of companies which have instituted an audit program. Briefly, the program can and should be used to monitor compliance with environmental regulations and corporate policy, to prevent violations, to improve policies and procedures, to raise the level of environmental awareness, to encourage communication among operations and all management levels about environmental problems, and to measure risks and control costs. AMAX Inc. has had an environmental audit program since the early 1970's. The AMAX Environmental Affairs Department, working with the Law Department, oversees and coordinates environmental audits and analyzes the findings which an audit reveals. Facilities are audited on a regular schedule; those having the greatest potential for environmental liabilities are audited at least annually; other facilities are audited less frequently. The question of who performs the AMAX audits was settled in favor of the audit team being independent of personnel from the facility being surveyed. Other methods of auditing could be the following: - Independent contractor (Appendix A) - Combination of independent contractor and in-house staff - Self-audit by site personnel The merits and demerits of who should conduct the audit can be analyzed to suit your particular needs. Next you need to decide on the procedure for the audit and the form for reporting and follow up. Environmental publications referenced in Appendix B can be helpful to you at this point. After deciding on the form of auditing, a schedule is prepared and followed to the closest extent possible. This schedule should be published and distributed to the sites so facilities know when they are being audited. This is not designed to be "a game of hide and seek." Various elements of the AMAX Audit Program are as follows: Team selection Pre-visit preparation Site visit Exit interview Report Using the audit Follow-up Team Selection The usual make-up of the team is the audit manager, the environmental specialist who normally provides assistance to the site or has knowledge about the operation, and a legal representative if his or her schedule allows. The legal representative will review the findings of the audit team if a personal visit is not timely or necessary. Size of the team can be expanded, but a minimum of the audit manager and the environmental specialist is best. Two sets of observations are better than one. The environmental specialist can also provide the rapport which is beneficial to creating the appropriate tone so that the site people will be as cooperative as possible. This is not to be an antagonistic exercise.

Jan 1, 1991

By James M. Barker

No commodity agreements now exist for sulfur and a lack of reference to sulfur commodity agreements exists in the literature. Law (1975) made a passing reference to sulfur as one of a group of commodities where "there have been additional control efforts of various types." Clearly, sulfur was a candidate, at least conceptually in the past, for some form of commodity agreement and the following discussion centers on the world sulfur market of the early 1980's in this context. GENERAL THEORY OF COMMODITY AGREEMENTS The upsurge in demands for commodity agreements seen in the last decade or so stems largely from agitation by the less developed countries (LDC) for better economic treatment by more developed countries (MDC). Several economic factors, real or imagined, adversely affect the LDC's as follows (MacAvoy, 1977): 1) variable demand in MDC's causes wide fluctuations in commodity prices which hurt the economies of commodity producers, who are often LDC's although consumer economies may also benefit from more predictable prices; 2) a general decline of commodity prices relative to the price of manufactured goods which hurts commodity producers in their balance of trade while their stocks and overcapacity rise; 3) instability of LDC economies enhanced by the above factors lowers internal stability, inhibits foreign investment, and retards economic growth; and 4) a lack of self respect when dealing with developed countries o, following the OPEC lead, LDC producers want the stature related to cartel market power.

Jan 1, 1985

By D. C. Yates, G. V. Jolliffe

In the five coalfields of Staffordshire, there have been some 43 incidents of spontaneous fires and heatings which have required special attention in the past ten years. This total excludes incidents in the Thick Coal Seam of South Staffordshire, which was worked until 1967, and which was subject to an almost continuous series of heatings. The incidents have been classified to show the sites of occurrence, the contributory factors which may have caused them and the treatments applied to them. The remedial techniques, as practised in Staffordshire, are dealt with in detail, with particular reference to standard methods of stopping-off. Precautionary measures taken are described, including a "liability to spontaneous combustion" classification of all seams, and the setting up of an emergency organization with emergency stocks of materials and equipment. The paper is concluded by a few words on the organization and control at the time of an incident.

May 23, 1905

By M. Kanda, W. D. Bensema, J. W. Adams

Two different techniques were used to make measurements of the absolute value of electromagnetic noise in and above an operating coal mine, McElroy Mine, located near Moundsville, Nest Virginia. The electromagnetic environment created by 300 volt dc and 480 volt ac machinery was measured. In one technique noise was measured over the entire electromagnetic spectrum of interest for brief time periods. The noise was recorded using broadband analog magnetic tape. The noise data was later transformed to give spectral plots. In the other technique, noise amplitudes were recorded at several discrete frequencies for a sufficient length of time to provide amplitude probability distributions. The specific, measured results are given in a number of spectral plots and amplitude probability distribution plots.

Jan 6, 1974

The Bureau of Mines conducted a field study to assess the performance of various chain pillar configurations in terms of gate road entry sta-bility. Vibrating wire stressmeters (VWS's) were installed in four consecutive gate road chain pillars. Field data collected during panel retreat were analyzed to gain a better understanding of the mechanics of vertical load redistribution in gate road chain pillars as it relates to ground control problems. Several different pillar configurations were investigated including abutment-yield and yield-abutment-yield designs. VWS data indicate that average pillar loads were lower and appeared abutment-yield pillar arrangement was utilized. port the occurrence of severe roof and pillar to stabilize when an Data analyses also supdeterioration that was visually observed in the tailgate entries during panel extraction.

Jan 1, 1988

By W. E. Robinson

Samples of raw oil shale and kerogen concentrates were oxidized by alkaline potassium permanganate, air, nitric acid, oxygen, and ozone to obtain information about the chemical structure of organic kerogen in oil shale. In one test, oil shale and oil-shale products were oxidized exhaustively with alkaline potassium permanganate, and the distribution of the organic carbon in the final oxidation products was determined. Comparing results of this oxidation with those obtained from other carbonaceous materials and known compounds gave information about the structure of kerogen. Alkaline potassium permanganate oxidation also was used partly to degrade kerogen into soluble products for characterization purposes. Structures present in these degradation products were indicative of type structures originally present in the kerogen. Nitric acid, oxygen, and ozone were used also for partly degrading kerogen to soluble oxidation products. Carbon-balance oxidation tests using alkaline potassium permanganate showed that Colorado oil-shale kerogen differs from many other carbonaceous materials such as coal and kerogens from other areas. Composition of the degradation products indicated that Colorado oil-shale kerogen is predominantly cycloparaffinic and saturated heterocyclic structures with some long-chain paraffinic and aromatic structures present. The ring systems may be connected through short carbon chains or bridges containing oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur.

Jan 1, 1963

By D. M. Baird

ABSTRACT A revised stratigraphic section of Carboniferous rocks which occupy about 700 square miles in southwestern Newfoundland is presented. Gypsum, which outcrops at thirty-five different localities, is found to belong to four principal zones in the section. The newly mapped structure of the region makes the otherwise random occurrences of gypsum appear as systematic outcroppings of the four zones which follow the regional structure. Details of several occurrences are given and those most advantageous for exploitation are pointed out. INTRODUCTION ROCKS of Carboniferous age occupy an area of about 700 square miles in southwestern Newfoundland. They occur in a belt, from 5 to 15 miles wide, which extends from the head of St. Georges bay southwestward for 65 miles to the mouth of Little Codroy river (see Figure 1). Several hundred feet of Pennsylvanian rocks overlie rocks of Mississippian age, which are at least 12,000 feet thick. The rocks of the Carboniferous section of Newfoundland are very similar to those of Nova Scotia and represent a northeastward continuation of the same palaeophysiographic conditions. Mississippian measures of Windsor equivalence include thick gypsum deposits which outcrop at many places and which extend under large areas as indicated by sink-holes and by structural considerations.

Jan 1, 1951

By Lincoln A. Stewart, P. S. Haury

"INTRODUCTION AND RESUME Arizona asbestos mines are the only sources on the American continents of iron-free chrysotile spinning fiber that meets the Navy specifications for asbestos fiber for use in covering electrical cables. Rhodesia normally supplies the bulk of this grade of asbestos at about half the Price of Ari zona spinning fiber. The acute submarine menace in 1942 focused attention on the danger that imports might be cut off and that a sudden demand for greatly expanded production might fall on the Arizona mines to supply the tonnage of this essential material needed for war production.A joint preliminary investigation of Arizona asbestos deposits was made in August 1941 by J. R. Thoenen, senior mining engineer of the Bureau of Mines and A. E. Granger, a geologist of the United States Geological Survey. A more extended investigation of the numerous asbestos mines and prospects, which are scattered over 25 townships of difficult terrain in Gila County, was begun by the senior author in August 1942.The Geological Survey assigned two geologists (Newton Chute and A. F. Shride) a few weeks later to study the geology as an aid in selecting the mines for the Bureau's exploration projects. Six mines were selected for exploratory work because it was desired to prove reserves of ore where production could be started quickly if urgent demand should arise. Acceleration of production is normally slow because of adverse operating conditions. First, the mines are at distances of 35 to 100 miles from Globe, the shipping and supply point, and the roads are few and poor. The mine openings start in steep canyon walls, so that mining supplies usually have to be packed in and the product packed out over 0.5 to 5 miles of burro trail. Second, most of the ore deposits are small, and the ratio of rock broken to spinning fiber recovered is very high, usually exceeding 200."

Aug 1, 1947

By Rebecca Boakye, Zohreh Kazemi Motlagh, Virginia T. McLemore

The most significant uranium (U) deposits in New Mexico are sandstone-hosted deposits in the Morrison Formation (Westwater Canyon Member), where >169,500 short tons of U3O8 were produced from 1950 to 2002. In addition, >9076 pounds of vanadium (V, a critical mineral) and some molybdenum (Mo) were produced from these deposits. These and other U deposits (limestone-hosted, U-veins) in New Mexico also contain critical minerals. Critical minerals are mineral resources that are essential to our economy and whose supply may be disrupted; many critical minerals are 100% imported into the U.S. Some sandstonehosted, limestone-hosted, and U-vein deposits are elevated in heavy rare earth elements. One sandstone-hosted sample contained 0.3 ppm Re (critical mineral), 659 ppm Se and 408 ppm Mo. The arsenide five-element vein deposits in the Black Hawk district are mineralogically and texturally complex, low- to moderate-temperature, hydrothermal, structurally-controlled, Ag-Co-Ni-Bi-As bearing carbonate vein systems with local minor elements. Mineralized samples from Black Hawk contain up to 9970 ppm Ag, 8540 ppm As, 5690 ppm Co, 72,400 ppm Ni, 57 ppm Bi, 165 ppm Sb, and 32,600 ppm U.

Feb 22, 2026

By J. W. Davis

The storage stability characteristics of a diesel type fuel were determined to evaluate the effect of the polar compounds in the fuel. These compounds, comprising most of the nitrogen and oxygen containing compounds and many sulfur containing compounds, were separated from the fuel with a chromatographic column. This fraction was further separated into three polar extracts by graded elution through the column. Each extract was characterized. A storage program using the depolarized fuel, the fuel as received, and blends of the extracts with both fuels, was conducted. Results showed that the removal of the more polar components stabilized the fuel. Blending the polar extracts with the original fuel and with the depolarized fuel in the same ratio as they existed originally and at two and three times the original ratio increased the amount of gum present before storage, but had little effect on the formation of additional gum during storage. Distillate fuels produced by commercial refining of petroleum contain traces of organic nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen compounds that are more polar4 than the remainder of the fuel. Recent laboratory studies by the Federal Bureau of Mines (1),6 in which these compounds were removed from a fuel, have shown that they influence its storage stability. The objective of this work was to determine the amount of these compounds present in a fuel and their effect upon its stability in storage. To evaluate the role of these polar compounds, it is necessary to remove them from the distillate fuel. Many can be removed by chemical treatment (2), but such treatment precludes reblending the polar components to approximate the original fuel composition. Solvent extraction is free of some of the criticism of chemical treatment, but it is more difficult because of the complex mixture from which compounds must be removed.

Jan 1, 1961

By D. Berman, A. Brodt

"Delivery of all volume of mined mass on the terrestrial surface results not only in irrational power expenses on moving of huge volumes of dead rock as a part of initial raw materials (especially vertically) on long distances, but also necessities of storing tailings in open-air. Thus, in bowels of earth, huge volumes of the developed space are formed. However, the nature doesn't suffer emptiness. As consequence, through the process of underground mining works, in earth bowels starts intensive development of rocks dislocation processes involving subsidence of terrestrial surface, and with it, begins irreparable damage every objects which are on that territory. Highly effective new methods of underground concentration of the various minerals, which deliveries of only target component on terrestrial surface integrally connected with transport process in stream and subsequent deliveries to destination in continuous mode by the long distance hydrotransport, allow not only to eliminate a construction of concentrating factories on the surface, but also storing of tailings of concentration process on open-air preventing dislocation of rocks, thanks to operative placing tails in the underground developed space. Surely, the main problem in the development of such gravity dressing technology is the problem of finding the optimal formula for the heavy liquid that will fill such system in close connection with the procedure of its full regeneration. The requirements for such liquid are being non-toxic and cheap. This question was solved successfully."

Jan 1, 2014

By Paul M. Tyler, Amy B. CLINTON

The four elements fluorine (F), chlorine (C1), bromine (Br), and iodine (I) form the most intimate family in the entire system of elements and are grouped under the name "halogens" or salt formers (by derivation from the Greek). The first member of this family, fluorine, is the most chemically active element known; and fluorspar, and to a less extent cryolite, the chief sources of fluorine, are important commercial minerals. Fluorine occurs in nature chiefly in combination with sodium as common salt, but it also appears in other natural compounds in sea water, salt-well brines, and bedded deposits. In addition to common salt, various compounds containing chlorine (chlorides) have long been consumed by industry on a large scale, and within the last two decades that element itself has come rapidly into prominence as one of the leading industrial chemicals. Bromine and iodine, the two retaining members of the family, are less abundant in nature and less readily isolated and in consequence of their relatively high price have found few industrial uses, being consumed chiefly in medicine and in photography. Bromine, however, is now entering the industrial field to a considerable extent, due to the rapidly growing use of ethylene dibromide in anti-knock compounds for gasoline. The present paper is devoted to bromine and iodine, but in order to compre- hend the physical and chemical characteristics of these two elements (and hence their potential economic significance) it is convenient to consider them as members of the family series to which they belong. The family relationship of the halogens is illustrated by the following:4 (1) The similarity in the chemical and physical properties of the elements and their corresponding compounds is such that the prop- erties of any one member of the family can be said to summarize or rather to typify the properties of all the other members, although fluorine diverges a little in some of its properties. (2) The gradual transition of chemical and physical properties is such that if the elementa are arranged in order F, Cl, Br, I the variation in any particular property in passing from fluorine to iodine nearly always proceeds in the same order, and that is the order of their atomic weight. Taxing almost any property and comparing its magnitude in passing from the element fluorine to iodine, or from the fluorides to the iodides, a similar graiation will be observed. Thus, take the melting point of the cadmium, calcium, barium, sodium, or potassium salts, in degrees.

Nov 1, 1930

Abbey, Robert Graham, District Mgr. The W W. Sly Mfg. Co,. 50 Church St, New York, N. Y. '21 Abbott, A. N., Mines Supt., Mazapil Copper Co., Ltd ..Concepcion del Oro, Zac., Mexico. '23 Abbott, Argyle Campbell, Dev. Dept, E I du Pont de Nemours & Co, Wilmington, Del. '29 Abbott, Clarence E., V.P, Charge of Raw Materials, Tenn. Coal, Iron & R. R. Co, 1242 Brown-Marx Bldg, Birmingham, Ala. '04 Abbott, Louis Benjamin, Chief Engr., Elkhorn Div., Consolidation Coal Co, Jenkins, Ky. '15 Abeel, George H., Jr., Cons. Min. Engr Box 427, Santa Monica, Cal. '18 Abel, Albert E., Asst. to Pres, Valley Mould & Iron Corp Hubbard, Ohio. '19 Abel, Raymond L., Asst. Prof., Dept. of Pet Refin., Univ. of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pa. '28 Abell, Leo M., Research Engr, Sullivan Concentrator Chapman Camp, B. C., Canada. '31 Abernathy, George Elmer, Prof. of Geol. & Min . Kansas State Teachers College, Pittsburg, Kans. '20 Aborn, Robert H., Research Lab, U. S. Steel Corp. Lincoln Highway, Kearny, N. J. '19 Abozeid, Mahmood, Dept. of Mines & Quarries Cairo, Egypt. '26 Abraham, Arthur W. Box 1466, Bakersfield, Cal. '20

Jan 1, 1923

By L. Larson

Rock samples were taken, away from zones of mineralization , from seven sections of five rhyolitic zones as define d by Spence (l967) in the Noranda area. The purpose of the investigation was to test whether there were intrinsic differences between the zones which would differentiate between non-productive zones and productive zones. For the elements sought (major elements, Cu , Pb , Zn and S) , no clear chemical difference between the zones was found. Thus, identification of a favour able zone from the over -all composition of the zone does not appear promising. Within sampled sections, there is no clear gradual compositional change up through the sections. A capping of highly siliceous massive rhyolite is present in five of the sections sampled. A layer of relatively basic material occurs near the base of individual units. The third (mine zone) and later zones contain abundant pyroclastic material, where as the non-productive zones do not.

Jan 1, 1977

By S. Uddin

Microsegregation manifests its effect on microstructural evolution of cast or welded alloys which in turn influences their important mechanical and electro-chemical properties. In the above context, mathematical models of microsegregation have proven to play an important role in estimating the nature and predicting the effects of this phenomenon in wide varieties of solidification processes. Microsegregation models are useful in designing new commercial alloys, in estimating the homogenization time for the post-process heat treatments and in many other practical applications. In this study, two semi-analytical models of microsegregation were developed to predict the concentration field of solute in the liquid and solid regions for dendritic solidification of binary metallic alloys. Both models assume that the growing dendrites are cylindrical in shape. This assumption is more realistic compared to the common assumptions of plate like dendrites that most of the earlier researchers employed in their microsegregation modeling study. The solute redistribution profile, in the developing solid layer, necessary to determine the back diffusion parameter was derived from Fick's second law for the model without coarsening. The application of this parameter in a wide range of conditions and the use of its basic form in the model with coarsening has been verified. The concept of coordinate transformation and enhancement of back-diffusion Fourier number were used in deriving the model which took into account the coarsening of dendrites. The models are then extended to deal with rapid solidification and peritectic transformations and the results were compared with relevant experimental data for Aluminum and other alloys. A good agreement between model predictions and experimental results was found.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. A. Kessick

Current treatment and disposal procedures are compared for clay slimes resulting from the extraction of Alberta oil sands, the extraction of Florida phosphate matrix, the recovery of diamonds from kimberlite deposits in South Africa, the recovery of kaolin from clay deposits in southwest England and the upgrading of bauxite ore. Published research in the area is reviewed, and common trends which are emerging in the disposal of clay slimes are discussed.

Jan 1, 1978

By Ph. Cauwe

This paper presents the experience that NESA and MECHIM have gained about recovery of non ferrous and precious metals from complex sulfide materials. Processed materials are from natural deposits or metallurgical by-products or residues. Roasting of these materials is closely related to the pyro or hydrometallurgical processes used downstream of the roasting. Conditions of a first step of roasting the SELECTIVE ROASTING, are analyzed and explained. The roasted products so obtained are characterised by an extended elimination of volatile sulfides (AS, Bi, Sb, Sn, Pb, Hg, ?? ) and are readily available for the pyrometallurgical recovery of non ferrous and precious metals. After the SELECTIVE ROASTING, thanks to. the high porosity obtained in the "selective calcine", the SULFATE ROASTING is per-formed in excellent conditions. Hydrometallurgical tests performed for the final calcine show a high recovery of non ferrous and precious? metals and require only simple and well known processes. Many experimental and commercial data are given.

Jan 1, 1983