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Mine fires pose a serious hazard to the health and safety of mine workers. They occur regularly and their effects can be devastating. Objective Provide mine safety personnel, MSHA, and equipment manufacturers with a comprehensive, up-to-date, and well-documented database of metal and nonmetal mine fire incidents in the United States from 1950 to 1984 and perform a statistical analysis of these incidents. The data-base is designed for use by mine engineering and safety personnel to aid in determining especially hazardous practices or conditions.

Jan 1, 1988

By J. E. McGill

The junior and small-scale mining sectors in South Africa play an important role in the livelihoods of numerous communities. Mining presents an opportunity, in the post-1994 democratic era, for many individuals to obtain access to much required empowerment and socio-economic development. These sectors are, however, not without numerous characteristics that pose problems for operators, legislators, and other role-players. Mining is inherently risky, with operators experiencing frequent difficulties and challenges throughout the life of mine. Opportunity exists, and needs to be enhanced, for junior and small-scale prospects and operations to include technical risk assessment techniques in documentation presented in search for funding, and in optimizing monthly planning and longer-term functioning. The focus here is to explore how the risk management cycle may currently be applied to a mineral resource suitable for exploitation by the junior and small-scale mining sectors. No management process can create additional value in the ground, but various available mechanisms can go a long way to quantifying the inherent risk that exists, highlighting the need to manage the risks and hopefully allowing the entrepreneur access to the intrinsic opportunities of the emerging mining sector in South Africa.

Jan 1, 2006

In this work, the crystallization of Carnallite from waste brine of Qaidam Basin in Qinghai province was studied based on NaCl-KCl-MgCl2-H2O phase diagram. According to this study, a new crystallization pathway to recycling waste brine was developed. The carnallite salt was formed by using this technology during the waste brine evaporation. The experiment data shows that 5 tons of waste brine was required to form one ton of the carnallite. The average grade of carnallite prepared by using this procedure was about 19.40% of KCl, 16.92% of NaCl, 28.80% of MgCl2, and 0.82% of CaSO4. This study provides an opportunity to utilization of the waste brine.

Jan 1, 2012

By H. P. Willard, R. W. Gates

Basic Inc., has been mining magnesite and brucite for 27 years at Gabbs, Nev. This is a medium sized open-pit mine. The magnesite deposits are in north-western Nye County about 30 miles east of Luning, Nev., on the west slope of the Paradise Range, at an elevation between 5000 and 6000 ft. The magnesite and associated brucite is used to make magnesia refractories employed principally in the steel industry and magnesium oxide for various chemical uses.

Jan 10, 1963

By N. H. J. Freire, D. Majuste

In this paper, the effects of some organic compounds on the current efficiency, cell voltage and specific energy consumption during nickel electrowinning, and on the deposit features (morphology, crystallographic orientation and nanohardness) were described. The organics tested here (extractant, diluent, flocculant, lubricating oil and acid mist suppressant) are currently used in industrial plants. The results indicated that only the flocculant and acid mist suppressant exhibit relevant negative impacts on the current efficiency and energy consumption. The current efficiency dropped from 93.6 % (organic-free solutions) to 86.0 % and to 92.8% in electrolytes containing 100 mg.L-1 of acid mist suppressant and flocculant, respectively. At this concentration, their addition to the electrolyte led to increases of the specific energy consumption in the order of 18 % (acid mist supressant) and 2 % (flocculant). Cyclic voltammetry showed that Ni nucleation occurs at more negative potentials at 50 and 100 mg.L-1 of these organics in the electrolyte, thus indicating an inhibition of the deposition process. The deposit quality decreased at the higher concentration of all organics, when more hydrogen pitting was observed. The acid mist suppressant caused delamination of the Ni deposit at 50 and 100 mg.L-1. The addition of 100 mg.L-1 of flocculant and acid mist suppressant to the electrolyte increased the nanohardness of the deposit around 31 and 72%, respectively. The increase in Ni deposit hardness may lead to a decrease in the material ductility, thereby affecting the stripping and cutting of Ni sheets. Our findings may be helpful since strong adverse effect of some organics that may be present in the electrolyte were identified, thus the industry can control and optimize the organic´s dosage in the corresponding operations.

Jan 1, 2016

By J. C. Johnson, W. G. Pariseau, D. F. Scott, F. M. Jenkins

In situ stresses are important input data for the design of safe, stable stope layouts and extraction sequences. However, it is commonly assumed that normal and shear stress gradients in a stress field are negligible and, consequently, that stresses are uniform throughout the region of analysis. To evaluate these assumptions and to provide input data for an analysis of a shaft pillar mining plan, in situ stresses were measured at the Homestake Mine, Lead, SD, using overcoring on hollow inclusion cells and borehole deformation gauges. These measurements were used with conventional least squares, best fit data reduction schemes. The results showed that normal stresses within the shaft pillar were less than, but comparable to, those estimated from finite-element modeling. Shear stresses were an order of magnitude less than normal stresses and varied considerably from site to site. Possible causes of this variability include effects of scale, elastic moduli, anisotropy, and axial strain. Because of the variability, it is not possible to determine the magnitude of horizontal stress gradients.

Jan 1, 1993

By Kenneth F. Whinery, John M. Campbell

Basically, the Buckley-Leverett theory involves two systems which are similar in nature but are differentiated by time. These systems may be described by the fractional flow and frontal advance equations which essentially characterize the mechanics of oil movement while being expelled from the reservoir. The fractional flow equation originally developed by Leverettl may be expressed in the more usable form The development of this equation is based on Darcy's law describing fluid flow through porous media and applies to the flow at only one point (it is a point function). For simplification, the fractional flow equation is written in the above form because the capillary forces always increase the fractional flow of the displacing phase regardless of the direction of flow or the displacing phase. If, for simplicity, the effects due to gravity and capillary pressure differences are neglected, the fraction of the displacing fluid, f, at any point in the flowing stream is related to the properties of the system by 1 Thus, it is seen that in the absence of capillary and gravitational effects, fd for a given sand and fluids varies only with saturation and pressure. The magnitude of the viscosity ratio, —a has an effective range (range of about 30) in the system where gas is displacing oil and a much smaller range for water displacing oil. In order to make the fractional flow equation more versatile, it is necessary to connect the fractional flow at a given point and saturation with time. This problem was approached by Buckley and Leverett" who developed the frontal advance equation, Eq. 3 states that the rate of advance of a plane that has a fixed saturation, Sd, is proportional to the change in composition of the flow stream caused by a small change in the saturation of the displacing fluid. It is, essentially, a transformation of a material balance equation representing the net rate of accumulation of the displacing phase within a homogeneous sand block. This accumulation is proportional to the difference between the rate at which the displacing fluid enters the sand and that at which it leaves. Eq. 3 describes the velocity with which a plane of constant displacing phase saturation advances through a porous system. Buckley and Leverett," Babson,' Kern," Welge, and others have adequately discussed the basic mechanism and application of the fractional flow and frontal advance equations. APPLICATIONS OF THE FRONTAL ADVANCE THEORY TO PETROLEUM RECOVERY Two general applications of the Buckley-Leverett frontal advance theory involve the system in which the oil is being displaced by an expanding gas cap overlying the oil zone and that in which the oil is being displaced by water. Displacement by Gas in the Presence of an Immobile Water Saturation A system in which gas is the displacing phase may be thought of as having two forces effecting the displacement process. These forces are the gravitational force and that force exerted by the displacing gas. The gravitational effects control the displacing efficiency of the gas. The gravitational effect will be less at higher rates of flow, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the displacement of the oil by the gas. The more efficient displacements occur at flow rates which are less than the gravity free fall rate. Capillary forces can be neglected without materially changing the magnitude of the gas saturation. The Mile Six pool is used herein to illustrate the calculating procedures in evaluating gas drive-gravity drainage field perfomlance. These calculations represent the determination of the gas-oil contact when the distribution of the hydrocarbon pore volume is considered. Two methods

By Steve Kral

Most innovations in the mining and processing industries have come from the need to produce more for less. Extracting minerals from the ground is expensive. And it is a constant struggle for mine operators to maintain the line between profitability and loss. The same holds for equipment suppliers. To maintain competitiveness, mining equipment manufacturers are building their machines with an eye to what the customer needs. Equipment makers know that if they do not supply machines that are productive and cost efficient, their competitors will. The result has been that the mining industry can now produce more ore with fewer people and more productive equipment. But, for all of the advances made in equipment, mine operators still demand machines that produce even more, are safer for workers and the environment, require less maintenance and can do the job at lower costs. And equipment manufacturers keep responding with larger, smarter and more technologically advanced machines.

Jan 1, 2005

By John R. Benham

The Bureau of Mines examined the Bear Canyon RARE II area in 1982. The area has no identified mineral deposits. The few claims that were located in the study area are devoid of any workings. No concentrations of economic minerals were found in the samples taken. There are no mineral, geothermal, or oil and gas leases in the area; the nearest oil well is 10 mi (16 km) east. The nearest mining operation was the Ruby Gold Placer worked in 1914, 7 mi (11 km) southeast (Hart, 1966, p. 45); the Pliocene Paso Robles Formation which contained the gold does not extend into the area. SETTING The Bear Canyon RARE II area covers 19.7 sq mi (51 sq km) or 12,600 acres (1500 ha) in west-central California. It lies in the Santa Lucia Range 10 mi (16 km) southwest of King City and adjoins the southeast side of the Ventana Wilderness. It is 10 mi (16 km) from the Pacific Ocean. Primary access is by the San Antonio River road on the Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, which parallels the area's southern border. Further access to the area's interior is by jeep and foot trails.

Jan 1, 1983

By P. J. Petit

Changing mining conditions, legislative issues, rising costs, and the constrained supply of skills and electricity in South Africa, have been some of the criteria forcing mine operators and engineers to review the traditional use of compressed air to power underground hand-held drilling operations in narrow-stope, hard-rock mines. In answering the question, 'What is the best way to power this mine?', they have resorted to trade-off studies with results of limited usefulness, because they are site-specific, and use only a few comparative parameters, based on a small data set. This paper aims to provide definitive, objective, and quantitative decision-making approaches to evaluating alternative energy-delivery systems for stoping in narrow-reef hard rock mines, based on primary and relevant criteria. These include quantifiable criteria such as capital expenditure, operating costs, resulting financial returns, energy and water usage, production performance, life-of-mine, etc. Other important criteria with qualitative aspects are integrated. These are safety, health, and environmental concerns, legislative requirements, business risk, technology change, etc. The paper begins with a review of decision-making processes available, and proposes the use of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method as a multiple-criteria decision-making tool and the decision tree based on milestone-driven uncertainties, to validate the selection of the energy delivery system. The results of a multiple-criteria questionnaire completed by a variety of industry experts and professionals, such as production and operation managers, consultants, suppliers, and techno-financial analysts, are discussed. The evaluation indicates the potential for hydropower to be the best solution for narrow-reef hard rock mines, based on current information, mine design layout and production.

Jan 1, 2013

By J. Walden, J. Rhoades, R. E. Miller, R. Gibbs, P. Boman

Accelerometers and pressure transducers, mounted in suspension components, can be used to monitor the ride of haulage trucks. Presently, it is difficult to tell what caused a jolt to the truck using either pressure or acceleration data alone. When information from a global positioning system (GPS) is recorded at the same time as shock pressures or acceleration data, the exact location of an event can be determined. Mine management can then determine what caused the jolt to the truck. This research is part of a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) project called "Engineering controls for reduction of jolting/jarring injuries in surface mines." NIOSH is investigating how the work environment of haulage truck drivers can be improved. The US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) notes that, between 1986 and 1995, 60% of the back injuries were to haulage truck drivers in metal/nonmetal surface mining. Personnel from Phelps Dodge suggested that combining acceleration data with information obtained from a GPS could generate results with a variety of uses. Therefore, researchers at the Spokane Research Laboratory (SRL) began investigating how to tie acceleration and GPS data together. It was originally thought that this tool would be used primarily for road and truck maintenance. However, as research progressed, it became apparent that it would also be useful in providing feedback about equipment operations and identifying unusual causes of jolting. Experimental approach Available components that function well by themselves were linked for the purpose of proof of concept. Using a Modular Mining Systems (MMS) product called Vital Signs, SRL researchers took an Aero-Marine Products (AMP) acceleration recorder and hardwired it to MMS Dispatch equipment already installed on a truck. AMP is one of several manufacturers of acceleration recorders frequently used to monitor freight during shipping. MMS Dispatch is used for production accounting and truck dispatching and uses GPS tracking. Through Vital Signs, an analog or digital alarm signal can be recorded. Steve Rhoades, of MMS, wrote unique code that links the Vitals Signs data and GPS location and stores this data in an ASCII log file. SRL researchers installed the equipment in a Caterpillar 793 haul truck. The result was a working prototype. Figures 1 and 2 show the instrument installation in the truck. Discussion From 8:30 pm on Sept. 14, 1998 until 6:50 am on Sept. 15 1998, 899 jolts above a threshold of 2 g (1 g is the acceleration of gravity. It is either 9.81 m/s2 or 32.17 ft/ s2.) were measured on the test truck. Some sections of the haulage road produced most of the events, while

By Faruk Oksuz, Clay Haynes, Miguel Sanchez, Patrick Finn, Roger J. Maurer

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s (MMSD)’s challenges of basement flooding and wet weather sewer overflows are being creatively addressed with the Northwest Side Relief Sewer tunnel. The $132 million, 20-foot diameter, and37,740 feet long conveyance and storage tunnel excavation in dolomite at depths reaching 165 feet below ground surface has been successfully completed within13 months in April 2004. This paper includes Owner’s perspective on the overall project, and the design and construction details by the Designer and the Contractor. The project contract documents included a comprehensive Geotechnical Data Report and the Geotechnical Baseline Report.

Jan 1, 2005

During a mineral exploration program in an environmentally sensitive area nearMount Painter in South Australia, a helicopter was used to position, construct and service drilling rigs in order to avoid the need to create new access tracks. The drilling program was designed to optimise the advantages of natural landforms in order to minimise the environmental impact of site construction and drilling activities. This minimisation of land disturbance reduced the required amount of rehabilitation measures to the extent where all impacts of the helicopter-supported programme had disappeared within 12 months of completion of work.

Jan 1, 1995

By D. Janicijevic

This paper describes the process of scraper winch pull force measurement and shows the results of the actual winch pull force in extreme stall situations as well as during the face and gulley cleaning. It was found that by slowing down the motor and causing it to slip, torque up to 3.5 times higher than the nominal can be developed, resulting in the same increase of winch pull force. On the other hand, measurements of the actual force needed for cleaning of the face and the gully have shown that the currently used winches are too powerful. The extra torque that can be developed by the already too powerful winch motor poses a significant danger and necessitates the implementation of measures that will eliminate this risk.

Jan 1, 2008

By T Graham

Traditional iron ore wet beneficiation plants are large multilevel structures, often integrated into centralised processing plants. They are characterised by sizeable footprints, substantial water and power consumption, inflexible design and low scalability. Significant design changes that address these issues need to be made before relocatable modular plants become feasible. Firstly, large amounts of processing water are required in standard wet plants, so it is vital that water consumption is reduced to an absolute minimum. Secondly, the process of depositing tailings into tailings storage facilities (TSFs) is environmentally destructive, consumes significant power and requires lengthy approvals to be completed. Thirdly, modules need to be easily and quickly relocatable.The solution to reducing water usage and eliminating TSF requirements is accomplished by providing a tailings dewatering and dry-stacking capability into a separate module. This equipment needs to dewater tailings to a point (typically below 20 per cent moisture) where dry stacking becomes possible – design is mainly driven by material rheology and particle size distribution (PSD). In this respect, a flexible and scalable strategy is employed to dewatering modules, allowing a variety of components such as dewatering cyclone clusters, paste thickeners, fine mesh vibrating screens and filter presses to be used to achieve the necessary moisture level, enabling the final dry stacking to be accomplished by a simple telescopic stacking system. Plant relocatability also requires modules to comply with mass and dimensional constraints, as well as ‘plug and play’ ease-of-use features.For coarse particle upgrade, jigs provide a low-cost and effective solution, whereas fine and ultra-fine Fe units can be recovered using Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separation (WHIMS). Recently, sensor sorting – a dry process using X-ray fluorescence, X-ray transmission, laser or other sensors – has begun to make an impact in coarse particle separation, although capacities are still low. The overall objective of a plant is to provide an Fe upgrade of four to five per cent with a feed of up to 4 Mt/a and a recovery of approximately 50 per cent.CITATION:Graham, T, 2017. Relocatable modular beneficiation creates value from waste, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 167–172 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

By Thierry Bernard, Pierre M. Vuillaume, Michel Kiszlo

"In the context of its studies for the trench ministry of the environment and for the French national coal board, INERIS (the French institute for the industrial environment and hazards, formerly CERCHAR) has made a complete critical survey of the methods generally used to reduce the levels of blastingvibrations."

Jan 1, 1996

By Donald J. Knight

HEAT Treatment at 1500' F of a mild steel containing 0.1 pct C, in an atmosphere which is oxidizing to both carbon and iron, results in the progressive oxidation of the metal surface with little or no change in the carbon content of the underlying metal. Further heat treatment of the scaled metal in either a neutral atmosphere or in a vacuum may or may not result in the decarburization of the metal depending upon the physical nature of the scale. It is apparent that if a continuous layer of oxide is present on the steel surface, the reaction OScale + Cmetal Cogas cannot progress since the SO formed gas would be unable to leave the oxide/metal interface. Thus, in order for the reaction to progress, the oxide must be cracked or porous. Vacuum heat treatment at 1500" F of samples with a thick continuous oxide scale showed no decarburization of the steel. However, when cracks were introduced mechanically into the scale prior to the vacuum heat treatment notable decarburization of the metal resulted and a structure as shown by Fig. 1 obtained, i.e., reduction of the crack walls to ferrite. With reference to the diagram of Fig. 2, it would appear that a mechanism of the following type takes place. Carbon atoms arriving at an oxide/metal/void interface, such as 'A', Fig. 2(a), can combine with oxygen atoms from the scale and leave the reaction site as Cogas thereby reducing the oxide to metal. On a greatly magnified scale, Fig. 2(b),this will appear as a ferrite projection along the crack wall. Carbon atoms entering this projection can react with oxygen atoms at point 'C', which is a new interface, and so on leading to a progressive growth of the ferrite along the crack wall and to the surface, Figs. 2 (c) and 1. It would appear that the only means by which thickening of the ferrite film can take place is by a diffusion of oxygen through the ferrite film to react with carbon at the newly formed ferrite/ void interface. Since the diffusion rate of carbon is reportedly much greater than that of oxygen, and since there is a low probability factor of oxygen and carbon atoms arriving simultaneously at the same site on the ferritehoid interface, there will be a tendency for more rapid lengthening than thickening of the ferrite layer, as is observed.

Jan 1, 1962

By S. Ndlovu

To investigate the influence of orientation of crystal lattice on the bacterial leaching of pyrite crystals, single crystals of 100, 111 and110 plane orientations were used for the study. Experiments were carried out in the presence of a Thiobacillus ferrooxidans culture. The different corrosion patterns observed on the surfaces of the bioleached samples suggests a variation in cell-surface interaction from one crystal plane to the other. The surface corrosion patterns generally reflected the influence of the symmetrical arrangement of the atomic planes in the lattice on which they formed. The results indicate that the surface properties of mineral sulphides may control the evolution of corrosion patterns and consequently the initial oxidation process in acid bacterial leaching.

Jan 1, 2004

By Stephen J. Juras

The Myra Falls deposits comprise a complexly metal-zoned polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide district located 90 km from Campbell River in central Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The massive sulfide deposits are hosted by subaqueously-deposited rocks of the Devonian age Myra Formation of the Sicker Group volcanic assemblage. The deposits comprise many individual massive sulfide lenses grouped into several major zones within two main felsic volcanic stratigraphic intervals - the upper Lynx-Myra-Price Horizon and the lower H-W Horizon. The largest of these zones, the H-W and Battle, occur within the H-W Horizon. The first claims in the area of what is now Boliden-Westmin?s Myra Falls Operations were staked in 1917. Early prospecting resulted in the discovery of three massive sulfide showings which eventually became the Lynx, Myra and Price mines. Sporadic exploration was carried out until 1961 when Western Mines Ltd. (now Boliden-Westmin Ltd.) acquired the claims. Subsequent ore definition outlined 1.9 million tonnes of ore (approximately 5 years of mine life) in the Lynx deposit, and mining began in 1966. Pre-mining geological reserves (to January 1, 1997) comprised 6.7 million tonnes grading 3.3 g/t Au, 130.6 g/t Ag, 2.0 % Cu, 1.4 % Pb and 10.2 % Zn for the Lynx-Myra-Price deposits, 17.1 million tonnes grading 2.3 g/t Au, 32.7 g/t Ag, 2.3 % Cu, 0.3 % Pb and 4.2 % Zn for the H-W deposits and 4.2 million tonnes grading 1.1 g/t Au, 27.0 g/t Ag, 2.2 % Cu, 0.5 % Pb and 12.0 % Zn for the Battle deposits. Property-wide production to January, 1996 has been 15.7 million tonnes grading 2.1 g/t Au, 58.7 g/t Ag, 1.9 % Cu, and 5.2 % Zn.

Jan 1, 1998

By M. M. D. S. Vemba

Paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of B.Sc. Eng (Mining Engineering) degree Engineering refers to the application of mathematics and other sciences to logically develop solutions to problems. However, in opencast mining, due to the randomness of operations, the use of mathematics is often neglected. Instead, practices that have proven successful elsewhere tend to apply. At the other end of the scale, mathematical models have been developed to identify and quantify all the operational parameters involved in the loading and haulage of ore. These are then used to optimize the operation. Optimization in this context, refers to the reduction of cost through effective utilization of the available time and resources. Considering these mathematical models, the loading and transport system at SMC (Catoca Mining Society) will be assessed with a view to its optimization. The discussion will be introduced by considering the mine background and other general information, which will highlight the main operational variables.

Jan 1, 2004