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By Bernie W. Martin, Duncan MacLennan

Building a new tunnel to accommodate CN North America's needs for double stacked container traffic for the next 100 years presented new and unprecedented challenges. Innovative approaches to contracting, especially the Negotiated Compressed Process (NCP), TBM design, project management, and the regulatory and approval process, were all required to deliver a new tunnel to meet the needs of CN North America within the approved completion schedule of 39 months compared to a traditional approach of 45 to 48 months. The NCP resulted in trimming 6 to 9 months from the project schedule, at a great saving of direct and indirect costs. The Negotiated Compressed Process is an innovative formalized approach to risk sharing for complex infrastructure projects. Ads were placed in the international trade journals and a short list of "approved" contractors and suppliers was developed. The approval process for this international project involved contacts with over two hundred agencies, departments and interested stakeholders.

Jan 1, 1995

By L. A. Arrington-Webb

Forty-four states produced clay products during 1994 for a total value of $1.6 billion. This was a 3% increase in total tonnage and a 7% increase in value from 1993. Kaolin Domestic production of kaolin during 1994 was estimated to be 9.3 Mt (10.2 million st), according to the US Bureau of Mines (USBM). Georgia remained the leading producer with 7.5 Mt (8.2 million st), followed by South Carolina with 535 kt (589,000 st). Kaolin used as a paper coating or filler pigment accounted for 51% of domestic consumption. Other uses included grogs (14%), fiberglass (5%) and plastics (4%). A reclassification by an Alabama producer of fire clay to kaolin accounts for the introduction of kaolin used in grogs. This also accounts for the apparent decrease in the use of kaolin in paper from 60% in 1993. However, the actual amount of kaolin used in paper was the same.

Jan 1, 1995

By Jim Truman

Appalachian coal mines include operations in eastern Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. During 1994, they produced a total of about 342.5 Mt (377.6 million st) of bituminous coal. This figure represents 37% of the total production from the United States. This region contains nearly all of the nation's coking coal reserves and high-quality compliance steam coal that will be in demand after the turn of the century as utilities comply with phase two of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment. Figure 1 shows the location of the study area and the general regions that supply various coal types. Data for the study reviewed here were compiled and interpreted from Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) production reports, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 423 reports, King's Export database and additional data from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Information Administration (EIA). Table I is an overview of the total production from Appalachia and the delivered tonnage to various sales categories.

Jan 1, 1995

By Jack G. Pippenger

The Coteau Properties Co.'s Freedom Mine is a surface lignite mine that uses large draglines, trucks and shovels, tractor-scrapers and bulldozers to uncover a single coal seam. In 1989, a work order system was instituted to record data by equipment type, cost, productivity and distance. The system was also used to provide historical information to plan the most efficient and economic use of each equipment type in the mining operation. The Coteau Properties Co. is a wholly owned subsidiary of The North American Coal Corp. The company was formed in 1972 to supply lignite from its Beulah-Hazen coal reserve to a coal gasification project and an electrical generating facility located near Beulah, ND. The reserve consists of a single coal seam between 3 and 7 m (10 to 23 ft) thick. The overburden above the coal is predominately glacial tills and clays and ranges from 6 m (20 ft) to more than 60 m (200 ft) thick.

Jan 1, 1994

By D. Harney

Accurate measurement, tracking, and planning are vital for efficient utilization of energy in any mining operation, the major focus of this paper. This can be done with a number of assessments: 1) accurately measure KWH usage and track peak demand periods first; 2) identify the electrical equipment that affects your usage and the conditions that require it to be running; 3) remotely monitor and control as much equipment as possible, especially larger pieces of equipment; 4) with your utility determine that you are on the most suitable rate for your usage profile, then understand how your utility company calculates your electrical bill; 5) recognize how production affects energy usage and utility costs; 6) keep historical records of everything you monitor; 7) make information, live and historical, available to everyone; and finally, with the knowledge of your equipment and energy needs, automate controls that you have identified to optimize your energy usage and time of usage.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. Patrick Powers, Joel Miller, Arthur B. Corwin

A combination of a slurry trench with dewatering successfully controlled groundwater for a large sloped excavation immediately adjacent to the Arkansas River. The Murray Hydro Electric Project required excavation through sand and gravel to bedrock, 85 feet below high water in the River. The perimeter system of deep wells pumping up to 25,000 GPM (1,600 1/sec) lowered the water level to 15 feet (4.6 m) above bedrock. A short soil/bentonite slurry trench near the toe of the slope cut off the residual head. The method cut six weeks from the critical path. Design of the slopes and the dewatering system demanded high safety factors because of risk to existing Lock and Dam No. 7. A localized pocket of soft organic clay was supported by a rock filled bolster. A major flood event was successfully withstood. The method can be applied to large civil excavations and open pit mines.

Jan 1, 1989

By Vladimir L. Konyukh

Robotics is topical for mining owing to deterioration of miner's safety as a depth of winning, limited functions of traditional mechanization and automation, rise of miner's labor cost. Mining robot is an autonomous mining machine with a free programmable control that provides a multifunctional use of working head. After analysis of world publications the database “Technological applications of robotics in mining" has been built. In most cases robots are suggested for imitation of miner's motions. The following shapes of robotics had been classified for mining: technological robot as a flexible controlled mining machine, remote manipulator, mine rescue robot. The problems of both non-repeated environment recognition and telepresence without direct visibility must be solved. The more a robots integration is the less investments and the more efficiency are. Computer simulation of robotics-based mining is founded on a base of 6 robots functional models, Petri nets and library of 30 robotized technologies. There are some examples of mine robotization in the paper.

Jan 1, 1996

By Dan G. Wasyluk, Meryl J. Klassen, Tony J. Morris, Clive H. MacKay

The Rogers Pass Project in British Columbia has involved the construction of two railway tunnels totalling 16.6 km and a 345 m deep shaft. Systematic geological mapping was carried out at four headings during construction. The paper discusses the procedures used to record the geology, structure, rock mass characteristics and excavation performance. Coded data from the geological mapping and shift inspector reports was entered into a computer data base. The rock mass quality was evaluated for both the Geomechanics and Q classification systems. Continuous computer generated graphic logs were produced showing the excavated perimeter map, geological parameters, installed support and construction activities. The tunnel logs were updated on daily basis and used during construction by project staff for evaluating support requirements and monitoring excavation progress. The specific requirements, difficulties and advantages in mapping tunnels using a computer based system are compared to those of a conventionally mapped tunnel excavation with hand drafted tunnel logs.

Jan 1, 1987

By R. Gong, R. Bhaskar

A coal mine study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a compressed-air, foam spray system installed under a continuous miner boom and directed to cover the pan and the gathering arm. The study's objectives were to evaluate the foam, underboom sprays' effect on: • the respirable dust concentration in the ambient air, and • the quartz concentration in the airborne, respirable dust. The foam generation and delivery system's engineering design is described in the paper, followed by descriptions of the mine and the dust sampling strategy. The data were analyzed to study the foam's effects on respirable dust and quartz concentrations at the continuous miner cab, the face return and the intake. The data indicate reductions in the dust's quartz content, ranging from 19.7% to 64.6%, in eight of 11 comparisons of the foam vs. no foam cuts. In addition, airborne intake dust reductions were observed in eight of 11 comparisons.

Jan 1, 1993

By Randy Fulton, Ignacy Puszkiewicz, George H. K. Schenck

Stuart Olson Construction, Inc. excavated 385m (1263 ft.) long twin tunnels with 6.25m (20.5 ft.) O.D., a portal and a cross-over for the Edmonton, "Metro". The work for Contract No. 76458, SLRT South Tunnel and Portal, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada was performed in 1989 and 1990. NATM was specified because of the instability of glacial deposits. The contractor decided to use "two firsts" on this project: Fully mechanized NATM and a novel excavator¬mounted tunneling machine. An excavator was equipped with a cutter boom, and a loading and conveying system. This novel machine cost only about one-third of the price of a special NATM roadheader. This new combination of NATM and an excavator-mounted cutter boom offered a cost-effective alternative to shields, slurry TBMs and roadheaders for short tunnels in unstable ground. For NATM tunneling in hard rock or in mixed faces, the roadheader-type cutter boom can be replaced with an impact hammer (hydraulic breaker).

Jan 1, 1993

By James H. Williams

More than 100,000 residents of Springfield and surrounding communities live on karst (sinkhole) terrain on the Springfield Plateau in southwestern Missouri. The city occupier much of the headwaters area of Wilson Creek basin, which is underlain by the Burlington Limestone (Mississippian), a cavernous, massively bedded formation averaging 150 feet in thickness. Sinkholes, some as deep as 75 feet, pock-mark the uplands. Stony red residual clay mantles the pinnacled limestone bedrock. Surface water lost to sinkholes and losing reaches of upstream areas resurges in springs and estevellas (reversible sinkholes) in the lower reaches of Wilson Creek. The Springfield Southwest Treatment Plant, an activated sludge process sewage treatment facility, situated about mid-basin at the confluence of Wilson Creek and a tributary, South Creek, serves the entire city. Effluent from the treatment plant together with industrial, street-wash and other waste from the-headwaters of the basin have degraded both surface and ground water quality in much of the Wilson Creek watershed. The area affected includes Wilson's Creek Battlefield National Park and recreational reaches of James River below the mouth of Wilson Creek.

Jan 1, 1970

By R. J. Weege

Conventional underground mapping methods and diamond drilling are being applied in a study to determine the nature of the copper ore occurrences near the footwall of the Osceola lava flow top, commonly referred to as the Osceola Amygdaloid. Our work to date suggests that structures formed by relatively impermeable barriers, created by flowage and injection of still-molten lava from the interior of the flow into the solidified, brecciated crust, acted as the ore receptacles. Ascending hydrothermal fluids traveling near the footwall contact were trapped and confined in these barriers which retarded the direct upward movement of the ore fluids and caused deposition of copper. Oreshoots located near the footwall appear to have been formed spatially' independently from the hanging-wall oreshoots by fluids traveling simultaneously, but along different channelways. The barrier concept as advanced by earlier writers to explain the concentration of the ore-bearing, fluids into broad shoots con¬stituting entire ore bodies is found to be equally as applicable for the localization of smaller oreshoots within the Osceola ore body.

Jan 1, 1962

By T. M. Biddle

If an accident occurs at a mine, the mining company, its parent and affiliates, and its supervisory employees may face substantial -- and sometimes unexpected -- liabilities and costs. This presentation surveys the likely sources for post-accident exposure, including wrongful death and personal injury claims, mine closure/operational disruptions, and government civil and criminal actions against the company and its employees.

Jan 1, 1986

Laboratory testing by the Federal Bureau of Mines has shown that the removal of insoluble slimes using selective flocculation and flotation is a viable method for treating low-grade potash ores which have a high content of water-insoluble impurities. Results indicated that up to 85 percent of the insoluble slimes could be removed from sylvinite ore containing 5 percent water insolubles and 13 percent K20 using nonionic or cationic polyacrylamide flocculants and cationic, anionic, and/or nonionic collectors. Subsequent potash flotation recovered up to 88 percent of the potash in rougher concentrates containing 47 to 57 percent K20. Sizing and cleaner flotation of the rougher concentrates upgraded the products to 60 percent K20. Filtration of the insoluble slimes flotation concentrates recovered 87 to 0 percent of the brine. Flotation concentrate filtration rates were 7 times faster than the filtration rates of mechanically deslimed products.

Jan 1, 1977

By CORNELIUS STEPHANUS LODEWYK SCHUTTE, WIEHAN ADRIAAN PELSER, JEAN HERMAN VAN LAAR, MICHAEL DAVID HARMSE

Rising electricity costs in South Africa have resulted in a need for optimized compressed-air networks in the mining environment. As a result, the financial benefit of air receivers needs to be reconsidered along with the economic dispatch strategy. This study investigates the use of an evolutionary algorithm in the mining industry to determine the potential financial benefit for various-sized air receivers, as well as their dispatch strategy. A genetic algorithm was selected due to the improved solution reliability and accuracy compared to other optimization techniques. This study indicates that a genetic algorithm can be used to determine the optimal dispatch of compressed air in the deep-level mining industry. Further, this study indicates that air receivers are financially viable in the mining industry and can be used to reduce operating costs, improving profitability.

Dec 1, 2022

By K. E. Yassin, A. Yehia, M. Amar

Phosphate ores are the source of many commodities, such as phosphorus element, P2O5 and fertilizers. Discarding a large percentage of fine phosphate particles produced as slimes during phosphate ore processing represents a severe environmental problem, besides making the beneficiation process uneconomical. The phosphate industry is interested in a process that is efficient, with high grade and high recovery; ensures economical feasibility, with low operating cost; and is environmentally sound, with low toxicity. Numerous investigations have been conducted to try to find better processing techniques and reagents. However, reagent requirements and recovery limitations may be so high that the end does not justify the means. Reagents of biological origin are of special interest because they offer specific interactions with minerals, reduced operating costs, environmental acceptability and flexibility in adaptation. Recently, there has been a growing interest in using microorganisms as flocculants for mineral fines and as flotation collectors. 

By Lennart Bergstedt

Boliden Aktiebolag, the prime base metal mining company of Sweden, annually treats some 11-12 million tons of sulphide ore in nine concentrators. Its first flotation plant was established in the early thirties for the complex Boliden ore. Since then, the number of mines and plants has gradually increased. Considerable effort has been devoted to the development of all phases of the technology of ore prospecting, mining, milling, smelting and refining. This has been necessary due to the complex and low-grade ores. The development of concentration has mainly been directed toward the arts of grinding and flotation. During the forties and fifties, open-stage fine crushing followed by two-stage grinding in rod and ball mills with cyclone classification was successfully introduced and used throughout the plants. The increasing cost of grinding media led to studies of an autogenous grinding technique as early as 1945. Basic test work commenced during the early fifties, with a. number of ores tested for pebble grinding. In 1956 a new pilot plant was built, with equipment installed for the continuous testing of pebble grinding and, later, for primary autogenous grinding of run-of-mine ore. The intensive test work showed that pebble grinding was feasible in almost all of the plants. At this early stage of testing, however, the merits of autogenous grinding could not be fully evaluated. As a. consequence the rod mill/ball mill grinding systems were converted to rod mill/pebble mill systems whereever possible. In parallel with the converting of grinding systems the development work concerning the merits of autogenous grinding went on. The major result

Jan 1, 1977

By Seokwon Jeon, Ho-Young Jeong

"Various numerical methods have been tried to estimate the cutting forces of a TBM disc cutter. In this study, SPH/FEM coupled method was newly employed to improve the traditional FEM analysis. The disc cutter and rock were modeled by Lagrange and SPH codes, respectively. The numerical cutting test was carried out for representative Korean rocks with different cutting conditions. The results show that the cutting forces obtained from numerical simulation had a good agreement with those from LCM tests, and that applying SPH method to rock cutting model has advantages and improvement compared to traditional FEM method. Erosion criterion and erosion limit were not required to simulate the rock fragmentation process, and the cutting forces from the numerical simulation was more stable and accurate. The results indicate that the numerical simulation can be successfully used to estimate cutting performance of a TBM. 1. INTRODUCTION Various numerical studies have been carried out to accurately simulate the limitations of linear cutting machine (LCM) tests. Numerical modelling methods have advantages comparing with full scale tests in terms of cost and time involved. Many numerical methods have been used to simulate rock cutting process by different cutting tools and the studies are summarized in Table 1.In 2D simulations listed in Table 1, because they do not take account of rolling force and horizontal rolling mechanism of a disc cutter, indenter was selected as cutting tool in their modelling. For these reason, 2D modelling is not suitable for rock cutting modelling using a disc cutter. In contrast, 3D numerical models can take account of the indentation process by thrust force and penetration processes controlled by rolling force."

Jan 1, 2016

By Seppo] [Kreula

Outokumpu Oy has acquired considerable experience with on-stream X-ray fluorescence analyzers and with computer control of flotation processes over several years. It became evident at the outset of this work that a reliable and accurate on-stream analyzer was more than a collection of different pieces of hardware linked together. Extensive work was done to develop an integral analyzer system, beginning with process samples through the spectrometer to report typewriters, recorders and the control computer. To date, over ten Courier-300 analyzer systems based on this development have been installed world-wide, several of which provide the key information for successful computer control systems. Computer control of flotation processes has been under development at the Pyhäsalmi concentrator since 1968. Two different control strategies have been implemented. The copper flotation is controlled by means of a mathematical model and economic criteria, whereas the "evolutionary operation principle" is applied to the zinc flotation. The computer control system installed at' the Vuonos-mine has been developed according to the same guidelines. In order to consolidate this wide experience, a flotation computer control system, Proscon-100, was developed by Outokumpu Oy, and the first system was installed at Kotalahti in 1972. In addition to the technological experience, enough information has also been gathered to illustrate the economical, benefits accruing through the use of these advanced tools of automation.

Jan 1, 1973

By Raymond E. Zimmerman

The cleaning of coal by the use of jigs is one of the oldest methods of separating coal from its impurities. Although in many situations jigs have been replaced by other methods, by far the largest percentage of coal today is still being cleaned by some form of jigs. Some piston- or plunger-type jigs are still in use throughout the world; however, the greater number are air pulsated, generally called the Baum jig, named after the original inventor, Fritz Baum of Germany. This standard jig, with slight modifications, has been in use for over 75 years. Up until recently, however, it has had certain limitations in obtaining the high performance and efficiencies required in modern coal preparation practice. TO improve its performance, some radical modifications have been made in its design and operation SO that there is now a Baum-type jig giving much higher performance in terms of capacity, efficiency and sharpness of separation- This new jig is called the Batac, and the purpose of this paper is to describe its characteristics and present data giving its performance in treating coarse and fine sizes of coal.

Jan 1, 1974