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By K. A. Eriksson

Over 25 years ago, SKEGA pioneered the use of rubber linings in grinding mills and rubber is today widely accepted and almost standard material chosen for Regrind -and Secondary Mills. There are, however, only a few Primary Mills in operation with "solid" rubber linings because available materials and designs are often not cost efficient in comparison with steel alloys on a cost per ton basis and/or downtime for liner replacement would be too high.

Jan 1, 1988

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 P. Whincup, T. Showell, B. Marchant, R. Dunne

An oversupply of copper on world markets in the early 90' s, coupled with a decrease in demand, resulted in a "tight" market for the sale of copper concentrate. In these conditions small producers of low grade copper concentrates found it difficult to sell their products. The situation was exacerbated for those producers also having reasonable quantities of penalty elements (e.g. As, Bi). The Telfer Gold Mine bulk copper gold concentrate, produced from treating underground sulphide ore, fell into this category (i.e. 16% to 20% copper, 30% to 35% sulphur and 3500ppm to 4500ppm arsenic). The concentrate sulphide minerals are predominately chalcocite and pyrite. Although a higher grade copper concentrate was attainable a substantial decrease in gold recovery ensued. Under the prevailing market conditions a decision was made to stockpile concentrates pending either an easing of market conditions or alternatively finding an on site method for treating the concentrate to recover both the contained gold and copper.

Jan 1, 1995

By Lee W. Saperstein

The Research Council of SME, at its Annual Meeting in Reno, NR, in February 1993, held a Research Forum on Technology for the Future. The Forum's purpose was to find out from the members, particularly those from industry, their opinions on research needed in the mineral industries. Panelists were selected for their breadth of knowledge and connections. Many panelists, in turn, solicited opinions from additional contacts. A similar effort is underway with mineral-oriented schools. A parallel mission has been undertaken by the American Mining Congress (AMC) through its Committee on Technology. In particular, AMC is concerned that the needs of industry be transmitted in a timely way to federal agencies, especially the US Bureau of Mines. This article reports to the SME membership the principal findings of the Research Forum. The article is derived from a full report that is available from SME. Many of the calls for research made during the Forum can be clustered into five broad categories. These categories are discussed in the following sections of this article. However, since the time of the Forum, many reviewers of the full report have noticed that fundamental research was not given much emphasis. The Research Council points out that the Forum was organized around industrial needs. There is a call to the academic and research community to organize a similar Forum. The Council emphasizes that this is not the last word on research needs and that the membership is urged to continue to give ideas and opinions to the SME Research Council. There will be an opportunity at its next meeting during the SME Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, Feb. 22, 1994, for open discussion of this report. Because the opinions were intentionally confined to representatives from industry, the problems portrayed and the solutions sought are from the vantage of an operator. It comes as no surprise that many of the espoused research desiderata seek more efficient or cost-effective outcomes for the various mining activities discussed. The order of the Forum was a straightforward set of mining activities: exploration, evaluation, mining and processing.

Jan 1, 1993

Traditional fine-grinding mills in mineral processing rely on the use of steel medium for particle size reduction. The IsaMill (a horizontal stirred mill with a 3, 000-L net chamber volume and a rated motor power of 1,120 kW) has successfully adopted a novel product-separator design, which has led to a major revision of medium use in fine grinding. The IsaMill separator has successfully operated with a wide variety of medium types, such as silica sands, river gravel, smelter slag, run-of-mine ore fractions and steel shots, with sizes ranging from 0.5 to 10 mm. Great flexibility in the IsaMill operations has been achieved for processing feed as coarse as 120 µm to a product as fine as 5 µm. This paper discusses the performance of two inert grinding media in the IsaMills that are used at Mount Isa Mines Ltd. for the processing of galena- and sphaleritebearing ores to below 10 µm. They are the copper reverberatory furnace slag (CRFS) and the heavy-medium plant rejects (HMPR). A methodology was also demonstrated for comparing the medium performance and for scaling up the IsaMills from a 1.5-L laboratory batch mill to a full-scale 3,000-L mill.

Jan 1, 2002

By E. Topuz, M. J. McPherson, I. M. Konduri

Theoretical investigations and laboratory experiments demonstrated that there is a great potential for the use of jet fan ventilation in mines. This paper summarizes research that consisted of laboratory-scale model tests, full-scale mine model tests and underground coal mine entry tests. The laboratory model used water as a fluid medium and simulated a typical 25-m- (82-ft-) long heading having a 1.5 x 6-m (4.9 x 19.7 ft) cross section. The effects of various nozzle positions and designs were investigated by using still photography. It was also found that the use of jets in combination with line curtains enhanced the overall ventilating effect in the model entry. Flow measurements in the full-scale mine model and in the coal mine entry were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the jet fan. It was concluded that the designed jet fan ventilation system was an effective means of ventilating blind airways.

Jan 1, 1998

By Robert T. McKnight

Introduction The minerals exploration business, like many businesses, is faced with the problem of valuing future, risky cashflows. These cashflows are derived from those mineral deposits which have been successfully commercialized. Many deposits, however, do not have the quantities or grade of ore to be considered economic at the projected metal prices using the traditional tools of the Capital Asset Pricing Model and discounted cashflow analyses. If one calculates the future revenues, costs and cashflows of one these marginal properties, and discounted it at the appropriate risk-adjusted discount rate, it may have a negative present value. Yet such a property may still have real, positive value in the marketplace. Why would a firm pay money for a property with an (apparent) minus present value? Mining properties such as these are bought and sold in arms- length transactions on a regular basis. Why is this so? Part of the reason relates to the nature of ore reserve information. To generate cashflows, the analyst must t assume that the reserve information is known with certainty when, in fact, reserves are not known with certainty. Mineral reserves are a function of commodity price, extraction costs and the level of (usually drilling) information about the reserves. Stated, or currently known, mineral inventories may vastly understate the true state of nature. Some firms may therefore be buying a property based on a completely

Jan 1, 1988

By John D. Welsh

Heap leach pad liners are important to leach operations for maximizing recovery of gold bearing solutions and minimizing potential environmental impacts. Liners must be designed so that they can be built economically, but careful attention must be paid to the potential for liner damage during installation or placement of ore on the completed pads. This paper summarizes field experience gained on several leach pad construction projects in Nevada. Both soil and synthetic membrane installations are discussed. Emphasis is placed on principles that should be considered during design to provide economical and practical leach pads.

Jan 1, 1987

By D. Burkhard, E. Herth

"Geologic structure and properties are the primary influences on ground control at San Juan Mine. Geotechnical properties of the coal seam and near seam strata, the presence of above seam sandstone paleochannels and water, are thought to be the leading contributors to ground control issues. It is the confluence of specific geologic conditions rather than isolated features that most often produce adverse conditions. Altering primary support installation and mining practices are done when unfavorable conditions appear during development. Installation of standing support is most often employed when adverse conditions develop at later dates. REGIONAL GEOLOGIC SETTING San Juan Mine is an underground coal mine located on the western flank of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. The San Juan Basin is contained within the south eastern region of the Colorado Plateau geographic province. The basin contains multiple coal bearing formations and is also a major producer of coalbed methane gas. San Juan Mine is stratigraphically located within the Fruitland Formation. From a prominent monocline marking the western boundary of the basin, the formation dips gently to the east towards the center of the basin. The primary driver for the deposition of coal bearing formations within the basin was the Cretaceous Inland Seaway. Multiple cycles of transgression and regression driven by sea level rise and tectonic subsidence deposited rock types from marine shale’s to terrestrial sandstones. The Sevier Mountains to the west of the seaway likely provided the sediment supply for the Fruitland Formation. During a major cycle of seaward regression, the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone Formation prograded over the marine Lewis Shale. The coal bearing Fruitland Formation followed, being deposited over the Pictured Cliffs. The Fruitland Formation contains numerous coal seams and is approximately 400 ft. thick at San Juan Mine. Fruitland Formation coal seams are numbered in order of superposition. San Juan mines the Fruitland number 8 seam. Dating has placed the age of the seam at approximately 73 to 75 million years [1]. LOCAL GEOLOGIC SETTING The Fruitland 8 coal seam dips approximately 1-3 degrees towards the E-NE. At San Juan Mine, the seam displays a mild plunging, synclinal structure, the axis roughly bisecting the mine from west to east. The number 8 seam consists of five coal benches and four volcanic ash band partings labeled sequentially based on superposition. The lowest portion of the seam is the 8-1 bench, the 8-2 through 8-5 benches following sequentially to the top of the minable seam. Ash band partings are labelled P1 through P4 from bottom to top respectively. The presence of distinctive partings and benches allows for seam definition and aids in identifying mining horizons."

Jan 1, 2016

By Lane White

In conjunction with its 1993 Annual Meeting, held Feb. 15-18 in Reno, NV, SME sponsored a symposium, "Conveyor Belt Engineering for the Coal and Mineral Mining Industries." Eighteen papers were presented, grouped into four sessions: Low Tension Drives, High Tension Drives. Novel Techniques and Specifications. Three of the papers have been republished in this issue of MINING ENGINEERING. Brief summaries of the other 15 papers are presented here. (The 193-page symposium Proceedings, edited by Mike Evans of Consol, includes all of these 18 papers and is available from SME. For the convience of interested readers, an order form is included at the end of this Proceedings summary.)

Jan 1, 1993

By T. S. Golosinski

Most of the 154 t (170 st) truck fleets that were predominant in large surface mines in the 1970s and 1980s are approaching the end of their economic life. One replacement option considered by mine operators is a change to the 2 18 t (240 st) trucks. A comparison of load capacities between the 1.54 t (170 st) and the 2 18 t (240 st) trucks indicates a large productivity advantage in favor of the 218 t (240 st) trucks. This advantage, however, is often reduced by a number of site-specific factors. Therefore, a careful evaluation is required to define the actual benefit of changing to the large trucks. This article discusses some important factors that have an impact on truck size selection, based on several different studies. 218 t (240 st) trucks The 2 18 t (240 st) rear dump trucks were first introduced for surface mine service almost 10 years ago. However, it is only during the last few years that this equipment has gained acceptance in the surface mining industry. About 250 units were employed in surface mines worldwide at the beginning of 1992, and further purchase commitments are being made. Encouraged by the mining industry’s interest, all major off-highway mining truck manufacturers now offer 218 t (240 st) models (Table 1). At present, the existing 218 t (240 st) truck fleets are dominated by electric drive trucks. However, recent introduction of a 2 18 t (240 st) mechanical drive truck rounds out the development of this truck size.

Jan 1, 1992

By Wade W. Bristol

The Jerritt Canyon Joint Venture project is located about 80 km (50 miles) north of Elko, NV. It produces approximately 9.3 t/a (300,000 oz/year) of gold. The joint venture is 70% owned by Independence Mining and 30% by Meridian Gold. Independence Mining is the operator. The Jerritt Canyon Joint Venture started operations in 1980 by mining a series of open-pit mines. The discovery of deeper ores during early 1990s made it neccessary for the operation to mine a large portion of its annual production by underground mining methods. Underground production started in 1993 at the West Generator Mine. This was followed by the Murray Mine in late 1994. Two additional underground projects are being developed. Underground mining at Jerritt Canyon is scheduled to produce about 3.9 t (128,000 oz) in 1997.

Jan 1, 1997

By A. Maréchal

It has been shown since a few years that the problem of estimating recoverable reserves should be solved by using specialized statistical techniques : whenever the selected blocks are chosen without any other constraint than a cut-off grade criterion, the problem of estimating the corresponding tonnage-grade curve is resolved by estimating the local histogram of block grades. Two major statistical techniques are currently used by geostatisticians to estimate local histograms : the "average conditional distribution" technique (Parker, Journel, Dixon 1979) and the disjunctive kriging technique. (Matheron, 1976, Jackson, Maréchal, 1979). Both have proved to be applicable in practice, with their pros and conconcerning their practibility and versatility.

Jan 1, 1982

By G. I. Voiloshnikov, A. F. Panchenko, N. S. Voiloshnikova

Low world gold prices stimulate development and introduction of economically efficient ( cost saving) technology for operating gold mills. This report covers the results of testing and introduction of CIL technology to recover gold from flotation concentrate of Samarta gold concentration plant located in Buryatia (Russia). This plant is treated the ore of Zun Kholba gold deposit using gravity and flotation of gravity tails as preconcentration processes. Till recently high grade gold gravity concentrate was smelted to gold bullion and shipped to gold refinery, gravity middlings were leached by cyanidation in cone type equipment developed by Irgiredmet and flotation concentrate shipped to copper smelter. The disadvantages of flotation concentrate shipping to copper smelter are following: high concentrate transport cost; problem with gold shipped balance; high cost of flotation concentrate treatment; comparatively low gold recovery. In this connection IRGIREDMET developed the hydrometalurgical technology for gold recovery from flotation concentrate. The flowsheet was developed on the base of laboratory, pilot plant and industrial scale tests conducted by IRGIREDMET in 1987-1997 and lrgiredmet experience on CIP process testing and industrial scale introduction in Yakutia [1-6]. The flowsheet is presented in Fig.1 and consists of following base operations: concentrate regrinding;

Jan 1, 1999

By John Clarke Holman

Industrial growth and survival in today's competitive world means both economic efficiency and technological superiority. Superior technology includes not only exploiting the best methodologies and techniques presently available, but also a continuous search for and development of, better ones. In practical terms this translates into an investment of substantial sums of money. Of course, even a relatively small investment will not be justified if the fruits of the project cannot be secured to the investor and the inventor alike. There are at least three ways to protect new or improved technology. If the improvement reaches the height of an invention, "patenting" usually is the preferred mode of protection. If, however, the improvement is novel and valuable but does not satisfy the requirements of the patent laws, one may then consider "trade secret" agreements as a means of obtaining appropriate return for the investment made so long as the improvement is capable of being maintained in secret and cannot be "reverse engineered." If one develops a new and useful organism and seeks immediate protection from infringers, current thinking is that the copyright law may afford such protection simply by publishing the genetic code. Here is one instance where you may publish without perishing! This paper will endeavor to highlight the pros and cons of various legal mechanisms and their applicability to the frontiers of technology.

Jan 1, 1985

By J. Eldridge, A. J. Carter, D. N. Leavell

Minpro International has developed an innovative, flexible¬shaft impact crusher that produces glass aggregate from mixed¬color, post-consumer glass. The crusher operates with low power and generates a subangular aggregate, with minimal fines. Output is screened to yield sized aggregate, which can be used directly as surfacing material in Owens Corning's shingle process. Metal, plastic and paper waste is preferentially removed by the Minpro system. Duval County and the City of Jacksonville collect more than 12,000 tons of glass bottle waste per year. It is anticipated that a successful end-use application by Owens Corning, will allow increased collection and cost-effective glass recycling in north Florida.

Jan 1, 2002

By G. V. Sullivan, B. E. Davis, T. O. Liewellyn

A technique was devised by the US Bureau of Mines to recover coarse [+1.2-mm (14- mesh)] North Carolina phosphate now discarded as waste. Concentration utilizes the difference in particle sphericity between the relatively flat calcite and the rounded phosphate pebbles. Sizing, treatment in a continuous hydraulic classification system, and grinding upgraded a 17% P,O5 reject to 4.5% P,05 with a phosphate recovery of 63%. The CaO: P2O5 ratio was reduced from 2.49 to 1.66.

Jan 1, 1987

By P. T. Luckie

More efficient classification with a single hydrocyclone through equipment and/or operating design changes does not appear possible. However, improvement in classification efficiency by increasing the sharpness index and decreasing the apparent by-passing while changing the cut size is possible through proper staging of inefficient hydrocyclones. But feasible multistaging requires achieving the necessary material balances around the units. Because of the interactions among the units, these balances require extensive iterations. The final step before commerical installation should be a laboratory demonstration, in order to define the control algorithm required to maintain stability. However, eventually a sufficient knowledge base should be developed that will permit simulation in place of laboratory testing as well as the incorporation of a feed forward strategy.

Jan 1, 1989

By Ricardo Presnell, Erich U. Petersen, William J. Tafuri, Donald M. Hausen, Douglas N. Halbe

Large (> 100,000 oz.) sediment hosted disseminated gold (SHDG) deposits are often spatially associated with anticlines. Many SHDG deposits are within or closely associated with windows. Windows are erosional manifestations of fold culminations (4-way closed anticlines). Hydrocarbons are often trapped in fold culminations in the Canadian Rockies, and may account for degraded hydrocarbons in many SHDG deposits. In the Eastern Basin and Range Province, Mesozoic anticlines may have been large scale conduits fm gold bearing Mesozoic and Cenozoic hydrothermal fluids which became trapped and/or concentrated at the fold culminations.

Jan 1, 1990

By J. N. Economopoulos

The mining industry is becoming increasingly aware of environmental issues and has made big forward steps in the field of environmental management. Legislation, social pressure and competition introduced changes in the industry?s policies and practices in order to conform to the new standards of environmental performance. The paper addresses the need for an integrated and systematic approach to the issues of environmental management within the mining industry.

Jan 1, 2002