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The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted field tests to evaluate the effectiveness of a wet head continuous mining machine for reducing dust exposure for continuous miner operators. Wet head technology delivers water via sprays to the continuous miner's cutter head as opposed to traditional standard sprays located on the boom and body of the mining machine. The sprays, positioned directly behind each bit on the cutter head, deliver water at the point of attack, serving to cool the bits during mining to reduce the potential for frictional ignitions. The sprays also flood the coal with water to potentially suppress dust generation. Dust surveys were conducted at several mines to evaluate the wet head's effectiveness to control respirable dust exposure at the continuous miner operator location and in the immediate return. Results show that the wet head miner improved air quality at both locations to varying degrees in some cases and not in others when compared to a continuous miner with a standard spray system.

Jan 1, 2010

By Harry Asche

Tunnels are frequently specified by owners to be designed to a structural code, often a bridge code. In the USA, AASHTO have created a tunnel code, based on structural principles, the AASHTO LRFD Tunnel Design Specification. The Load Resistance Factor Design method (LRFD) described in the AASHTO title is an approximation to the probabilistic design of structures, based on the independence of load and resistance. This methodology is well known to be problematic in geotechnical design, but it is widely used. The paper considers the difficulties of this approach and describes alternative approaches that would result in more appropriate designs for tunnels.

Jun 13, 2021

By Richard A. Thomas, Liming Yuan, James H. Rowland III, DAVOOD BAHRAMI

To reduce the number of injuries resulting from fires on mobile, diesel-powered mine equipment, it is crucial to promptly suppress a fire once it is detected. The focus of this research was to determine the effectiveness of fire suppression agents. Large-scale tests were conducted using five different fire suppression systems based on: dry chemical, wet chemical, dual agent (dry and wet chemical), carbon dioxide, and water mist. Suppression nozzles were placed around the diesel engine where diesel fuel, engine motor oil, and hydraulic circulating oil spray fires were ignited. The results of this study can help mining companies and manufacturers by providing scientifically based data on the capabilities of the different fire suppression systems.

Feb 1, 2024

By James Parkes

"The proposed Baltimore Red Line light rail system includes a 3.4 mile downtown tunnel (DTT) with five underground stations. The design of the underground stations involved overcoming several challenges, including limited right-of-way, high groundwater and uplift pressures, and metamorphic rock within the station depths. An innovative design was developed to maximize the internal station space while minimizing cost. The station designs use slurry walls for temporary and permanent support and groundwater control. Depths within rock are supported with cast-in-place concrete walls, the thickness of which are minimized through the use of permanent rock anchors for support of the rock mass and slurry wall toes. Permanent tiedown anchors are used for uplift resistance, which minimizes the station depths, volume of rock excavation, and the volume of deadweight concrete. Design considerations regarding individual elements and overall integration of the slurry walls, CIP walls, and multiple anchor types are presented.INTRODUCTION The Baltimore Red Line (BRL) project is a proposed light rail transit line for the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) that runs east to west through Baltimore City and County. The project includes the Downtown Tunnel (DTT) consisting of 3.0 miles of twin running tunnels, two portals, five underground stations, and a pedestrian tunnel, as shown in Figure 1. The tunnels have an outside diameter of 21.8 feet and are designed to be mined using pressurized face tunnel boring machines (TBMs). The stations, portals, and the pedestrian tunnel are designed as cut-and-cover structures using slurry walls (concrete diaphragm walls) for both temporary support of excavation (SOE) and permanent structural walls. The dimensions of the five underground stations are summarized in Table 1. Design challenges included limited right-of-way (ROW), challenging soils conditions, strong metamorphic rock within the station depths, and high groundwater conditions. The final station designs included innovative use of slurry walls, tieback anchors, rock anchors, and tiedown anchors."

Jan 1, 2016

By Achille Balossi Restelli, Elena Rovetto, Andrea Pettinaroli

"The Station “C13” of Warsaw Underground Line II, with tunnel crown 10m below the water table, required the excavation of three connection tunnels, underpassing a six-lane in service road tunnel, working from two lateral shafts. After the collapse occurred while digging the first tunnel, the use of artificial ground freezing was chosen to ensure the excavation under safe conditions. A complex freezing pipe geometry and excavation sequencing was necessary because of the interferences of the overlying road tunnel diaphragm wall foundations, shaft internal structures and previous grouting activities. A combined freezing method was used: nitrogen for freezing the tunnel arches, brine for freezing the intermediate wall and for maintenance stages. Sandy and silty sandy layers were frozen around the crowns and sides. No treatment was necessary for the inverts, lying in clay. A monitoring system of ground temperatures and structure movements allowed for successful completion of work in 8 months. INTRODUCTION The C13 Station of the Warsaw Underground-Line II is located on the West bank of the Vistula River. It consists of two shafts and three connecting tunnels, passing under the Wislostrada (WS) Road tunnel. According to the initial geotechnical investigation, tunnels should have been excavated in high-plasticity clay, but during the first borings non cohesive soil was encountered. Additional investigations were performed on both shafts and a more detailed stratigraphy was reconstructed (Lombardi et al. 2015). Layers of fine sand, sandy silt and sandy silty clay were present along the tunnels crown arches and in the North East tunnel they extended down to the centre line (-13.735m above the Vistula River medium level). Based on the new stratigraphy, it was decided to stabilize the crown and control the groundwater inflow from the face with jet-grouting columns extending the treatment down to the clayey soil, but a collapse occurred in the North West tunnel with soil and water inflow inside the shaft."

Jan 1, 2016

By Eleanor Kentish, Nathan Bond, Edward Batty, Simon Webber, Alan Skarda

"Crossrail is Europe’s largest construction project — a new 100km rail route running through central London. A joint venture of BAM, Ferrovial and Kier (BFK) has constructed the tunnels and escalator shafts at the new Bond Street and Farringdon Stations. The recent trend in the UK industry towards sprayed secondary linings is driven by the potential for significant savings in cost and time. BFK is unique within Crossrail by constructing both sprayed and cast secondary linings. This paper presents a direct comparison between sprayed and traditional cast in situ secondary linings at Bond Street and Farringdon Crossrail Stations. An objective comparison is drawn between procurement and mobilisation periods, production rates, flexibility, tolerances and logistics in the tunnels. The technical challenges surrounding cast and sprayed secondary linings are explored, and recommendations are made of how each method could be improved for future use. INTRODUCTION It is well established that sprayed concrete offers a fast and effective method to seal the face of an excavation. In a relatively short space of time, sprayed concrete can be applied to an open face to support the short term ground loading on the tunnels during construction. Advances in sprayed concrete lining (SCL) technology — such as the use of wet mix processes, improved accelerators, fiber reinforcement, remotely controlled spraying robots, innovative surveying equipment and nozzleman competency schemes — have greatly increased the speed and safety of tunnel excavations using this technique. As a result, design engineers have become increasingly confident to use SCL primary linings as part of the permanent structural lining (Su 2014). Historically, long term ground and water pressure loads have been considered to be carried by the main structural or secondary lining, constructed using cast in situ concrete (Pickett 2014). However, the advances described above have made sprayed secondary linings a viable option, which has already been proven on the A3 Hindhead Tunnel (Arnold 2012). Sprayed concrete secondary linings offer potentially significant savings in cost and time during the construction process. The contractor does not need to procure a bespoke formwork system for each different sized tunnel — the SCL plant required is already on site for the primary lining. Each bay is sprayed with accelerated concrete, becoming self-supporting almost immediately — compared to moving and resetting the shutter, pumping concrete and waiting for it to cure. With sprayed concrete, working sequences and cross sections can easily be changed."

Jan 1, 2016

By Taner Aydogmus

The A$29 billion Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project is one of Australia’s largest resource projects. Located at Ashburton North, 12 kilometers west of Onslow in Western Australia, the project will consist of two Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trains with a combined capacity of 8.9 million tons per annum and a domestic gas plant. The LNG Plant will serve the offshore gas fields, which are situated some 250 km off the coast of Onslow in Western Australia. Once operational and on-stream, the Wheatstone Project will contribute to Australia becoming the world’s second largest exporter of LNG. For crossing the environmentally sensitive shore area, a micro-tunnel with an internal diameter of 2 m and approx. 1,242 m in length has been constructed by means of the pipe-jacking method. The micro-tunnel will accommodate a 1.1 m diameter pipeline (trunkline) to deliver gas from the offshore fields LNG Plant. The Wheatstone shore crossing design involves a number of unique challenges owing to its coastal location, where the alignment crosses through a shore area and terminates in a marine environment. This paper provides an overview of the Wheatstone Shore Crossing Project, presents the key features, and discusses the main aspects of the micro-tunneling design.

Jun 13, 2021

By Juan Ares, Enrique Fernández, Alejandro Sanz, Francisco González

"INTRODUCTION Crossrail is a subsidiary company of Transport for London created for the construction of a new transverse train line 118 km long between Maidenhead and Heathrow in the West, and Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East, including 21 km underground below London. Crossrail C305 Eastern Running Tunnels project is the biggest contract within Crossrail Project and involved boring 11.8 km of twin tunnels through London’s city center. Crossrail C305 Project interfaced with different contracts along its alignment and therefore logistics and solutions had to be developed to minimize disruptions or interferences with other contractors and the neighborhood. The paper describes this innovative approach. C305 CONTRACT APPROACH C305 contract was split into three drives, to be excavated by four EPB TBMs 7.1m diameter, as shown in Figure 1. •,Drive Y: 8.2km long between Limmo Peninsula and Farringdon Station in the city center •,Drive Z: 2.7km long between Pudding Mill Lane and Stepney Green Junction •,Drive G: 0.9km long between Limmo Peninsula and Victoria Dock Portal in the East. Crossrail C305 Project scope of works included the excavation of TBM tunnels and shafts at Limmo Peninsula and Stepney Green (including 17m span turnout caverns), along with the requirement to traverse station and shaft structures of other Crossrail contracts. Limmo Peninsula Site was a strategic element as it was the only access point on the tunnel alignment with sufficient available area at the surface for tunnelling logistics and also connected to the Lea River, tributary of the River Thames which facilitated marine operations for segment supply and muck removal. These were the reasons for operating Drive Y & Drive G TBMs from that location. Drive Z TBMs were originally planned to be launched from Stepney Green to Pudding Mill Lane, supplying the TBMs during Drive Z excavation from Limmo Peninsula site through the excavated section of Drive Y between Limmo and Stepney Green. During the early stages of the project, a value engineering proposal with a new tunneling strategy was agreed wherein the Pudding Mill Lane contractor would provide space for TBM assembly and operation in their portal, allowing for reversing Drive Z excavation and launching the two TBMs from Pudding Mill Lane. This optimization reduced some of the shaft requirements at Stepney Green which were contingent upon critical enabling works and provided program certainty and cost savings for the full Crossrail Project. It allowed for the reuse of both the Drive Z TBMs for Drive G excavation from Limmo to Victoria Dock Portal thereby saving on the procurement of two TBMs, in addition to easier logistics for both Drives Y&Z, therefore de-risking the TBM excavation process and the C305 Project program completion."

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Deutsch, E. González, M. Williams

"There is uncertainty in ultimate pit limits due to geologic variation and unpredictable economic landscapes. In this work we show how this uncertainty affects the ultimate pit and how it can be analyzed to improve the mine planning process. A stochastic framework using geostatistical simulation and parametric analysis is used to model the effects of geologic and economic variation on ultimate pit limits and overall project economics. This analysis is made possible by a new, highly efficient pit optimization implementation which can be automated and set up to calculate ultimate pits for hundreds of different scenarios in a matter of hours. Quantifying ultimate pit uncertainty early in the mine planning process allows mining engineers to make informed decisions regarding infrastructure placement, and to mitigate the possibility of incurring substantial costs relocating critical mine facilities. INTRODUCTION The mining industry is increasingly concerned with the effects of risk and uncertainty. Uncertain prices, unpredictable global markets, and unknown foreign exchange rates can alter the economic viability of a mining project in substantial ways. This economic uncertainty is compounded by geologic uncertainty. The extent and quality of any given deposit cannot be fully measured and is not known before consequential decisions must be made. These two sources of uncertainty are responsible for the majority of deviation between what happens during operation and what was initially planned. Understanding and explicitly quantifying this uncertainty will lead to better decision making and allow mining engineers and investors to be aware of what may occur. It is unrealistic to believe that one model, estimated from sparse measurements, is enough to capture both geologic and economic uncertainty and allow for optimal decisions. The entire breadth of uncertainty should be considered, as both upside and downside risks have large impacts on the investment potential and operational efficiency of mining projects. The workflow presented here uses Monte Carlo simulation and parametric analysis together to explicitly analyze the breadth of geologic and economic uncertainty as it applies to ultimate pit calculation and long range mine planning."

Jan 1, 2015

By Christian Heinz, Doug Harding

TBMs can last for decades and be rebuilt project after project with proper maintenance. How successful can rebuilt TBMs be? At the DigIndy Tunnel System in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, a rebuilt TBM was used to great effect. The 6.2 m diameter Main Beam, originally manufactured in 1980, bored 40+ km of tunnels and set three world records in its size class of 6 to 7 m, including a best month of 1,754 m. In this paper, the authors analyze the TBM rebuild, performance and lessons learned to make recommendations for future projects seeking to use rebuilt TBMs over long distances.

Jun 23, 2024

By T. Hollenberg, N. Nolten

The mining industry is one of the major energy consumers in Namibia. Energy costs increase the operating costs of Namibian mines, in particular, the processing plants, and result in an overall increase of production costs. A substantial part of the energy used is directly imported from South Africa. The cost of energy has been increasing rapidly in the past few years and will most likely continue to do so in the future. In 2015, the average wholesale price for energy from national power utility NamPower was US$87/MWh after rising more than 12 percent annually in the two previous years. At peak times, which are early in the morning and late in the evening, imported-energy prices are extremely high and have to be factored into the electricity tariffs. This problem is expected to intensify due to a projected 4 percent annual increase in energy demand. A major target of the Namibian mines, therefore, is to consider possible ways to address energy-saving challenges and to investigate possibilities for the mines to generate electricity internally during peak times. This is in alignment with the mines’ strategic plans and objectives to reduce total energy consumption and costs from both national and foreign electricity suppliers. In this paper, we explore addressing some of the key energy consumption and optimization challenges through process energy reuse and solar energy production to decrease demand for imported energy through a case study carried out in cooperation with Skorpion Zinc Mine and Refinery.

Jan 1, 2018

By C. D. Wittreich

The results of an engineering study of fiber-reinforced cemented tailings are presented. These tests were conducted to evaluate the potential for using fibers to increase the strength of cemented tailings used as backfill for ground support in the undercut -and - fill mining method in a mine subject to high horizontal stresses and rock bursts. Stress-strain measurements indicate that fibers not only increase the peak compressive tensile and flexural strengths of cemented tailings, but limit reductions in residual strength following failure. Results also show the effect of water content, fiber type, fiber density, and curing time on strength.

Jan 1, 1987

By D. Edward, C. Clarkson, B. A. Firth

The presence of misplaced ultrafine particles decreases the separation efficiency of unit operations used in coal preparation. Although the classification of fine coal was considered to be adequate for the needs of the coal industry during the 1970s and 1980s, it is apparent that further improvements in the yield/ash/moisture relationship achieved by coal preparation plants will require increased efficiency in this size-separation step. This paper describes the capability of current and developing techniques to address the problems that need to be overcome.

Jan 1, 1998

By John C. Heter

The P.W. Gillibrand Company holds 705 placer and lode claims in the Precambrian San Gabriel Anorthosite Complex of the western San Gabriel Mountains. These claims contain large tonnages of ilmenite, magnetite and apatite with anomalous quantities of zirconium (zircon), niobium, vanadium and rare earth elements. Stockpiling of heavy mineral concentrates associated with aggregate mining from alluvial pits has occurred since 1984. The limited reserves of material from these alluvial deposits and their relatively low heavy mineral grades caused Gillibrand Company to initiate an extensive drilling and exploration program to develop the hardrock resources of ilmenite, apatite and magnetite.

Jan 1, 1995

By F. T. Paleari, J. A. Finch

Radial gas holdup profiles were measured in a 50-cm-diam, 400-cm-high flotation column using a multi-cell-conductivity probe. Three bubble-generation systems, including a system with up to eight vertical filter-cloth spargers, a system with three horizontal filter-cloth spargers and a system with three (horizontal) Cominco-type spargers, were examined. The variables investigated were the number of spargers, the symmetry of their arrangement and the height above the spargers. Batch water containing up to 20 ppm frother was used. Generally, the profiles tended to be uniform (flat) with some profiles exhibiting a slight "wavy" pattern. The vertical sparger arrangement proved to be the most difficult in which to achieve a profile symmetry. The horizontal spargers gave uniform profiles at right angles to their length but gave decreasing gas holdup along their length. The Cominco-type spargers gave slightly less scatter in the data. Switching off selected spargers to simulate a malfunction did not produce strong asymmetry in the profiles.

Jan 1, 1995

By S. G. Malghan

Flotation is the primary method for copper minerals separation from porphyry ores. The need to process difficult-to--float porphyry copper ores presents challenges to engineers and scientists in several areas. This paper is concerned with summarizing generalized problems faced in processing porphyry ores and treatment methods to overcome them. Though some of the problems are interrelated, they are classified into three broad categories. The case studies of some of the successful applications of innovative methods to solve problems related to ore mineralogy, metallurgical aspects of ore treatment, and process variables show that quite often the problems are solvable by a judicious choice of flotation variables.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. B. Hiskey, S. Chander, B. J. Scheiner

The use of selected iron complexing agents in preventing or ameliorating acid mine drainage was investigated. The experiments were conducted in weathering columns using refuse samples from a coal cleaning plant. It was observed that the treatment with iron complexing agents significantly altered the rate of oxidation. Some of the reagents tested reduced the rate of oxidation whereas the others even enhanced it. The results showed that a commercial reagent containing oleyl imidazoline was most effective in retarding the oxidation rate. In addition, a simple treatment with this reagent substantially decreased the rate of oxidation of pyrite in a column that was generating acid at a high rate. The effect of this reagent on the surface properties of pyrite was studied by cyclic voltammetry and zeta potential measurements. The decrease in the rate of oxidation resulted from suppression of both anodic and cathodic reactions at the surface of pyrite.

Jan 1, 1993

By Juan Eduardo Barrera

SUNNARY AND CONCLUSIONS Argentina presents to the foreign and local investors a mineral wealth that is largely unexplored, untested, underdeveloped and therefore incompletely evaluated. In view of the above, the new administration of President Raul Alfonsin through its Department of nines has designed and implemented a strategy ( Plan de Expansión Ninera P.E.M.), whose main objective aims at improving the "investment climate" in the sector. It is the Government's basic intention to apply the Mining Promotion Law with responsibility but with generosity to encourage the attraction of investment (local and foreign) to the sector. The establishment of a Data Bank system to evaluate possible new potential ore mining developments will help to connect the owners of potential projects with investors outside the sector. Argentina has an interesting gold ore potential. Estimated reserves of individual projects already known amount to almost 300 tonnes of gold for potential production. The government strongly believes and present information indicates that more systematic exploration has to be undertaken in the Jurassic areas that almost cover the whole of Patagonia. Two recent gold discoveries (Angela in the Chubut province, and Cerro Vanguardia in Santa Cruz province) indicate the potential of this area.

Jan 1, 1988

By Gerald H. Luttrell, Rick Q. Honaker

A coal preparation plant incorporates a variety of solid-solid separation processes that operate in relatively independent parallel circuits. Studies have shown that total plant performance can be optimized by selecting circuit cutpoints that maximize total clean coal yield irrespective of the performance of individual circuits. Although the optimum cutpoints can be determined using simulation programs, these mathematical routines require detailed washability data and empirical partition information that is not often available to plant operators. In addition, routine fluctuations in the washability characteristics of the plant feed make this approach impractical to implement in industrial facilities. As an alternative, practical optimization criteria can be developed for plant operators through a fundamental understanding of scientific principles involved in coal cleaning operations. This article provides an overview of the most important optimization criteria and presents several industrial case studies that illustrate the financial benefits of this practical approach m plant optimization.

Jan 1, 2005

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