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By Corale L. Brierley

The effect of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on growth and respiration of Thiobacillus, thiooxidans, and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, organisms involved in acid leaching of copper sulfide minerals and uranium oxides, was examined. Oxygen uptake and growth by T. thiooxidans were inhibited after contact with 0.82 mM H2O2. Inhibition of oxygen uptake by T. ferrooxidans occurred at 8.24 mM H2O2, and growth was inhibited after 6 hours exposure to 2.06 mM H2O2. Higher concentrations of H2O2 can be used without detriment to thiobacilli if it is dissipated prior to reaching the oxidation pond or dump surface. INTRODUCTION In recent years, hydrometallurgical processes for recovery of metal values from low-grade ore minerals have played an increasingly important role. Dump leaching of low-grade copper waste materials in the western United States now yields 11.5% of the total U. S. copper production. Although scavenger operations in uranium leaching have been successful, the state-of-the-art of in-situ

Jan 1, 1977

By Lei Zhang, Zhibo Ma, Pingye Guo

The mechanical behavior of hard roofs often leads to significant deformation and strong mine seismicity in gob-side entry retaining (GER) of the longwall mining, affecting the mining safety and efficiency of coal mines. Field investigations indicate that the failure process of the retained entry by hard roofs can be divided into three stages. In this paper, theoretical analysis and numerical simulations are first used to evaluate the damage process of the retained entry under the hard roof. The results show that the instability of the retained entry in the conventional GER method results from the combined static-dynamic loads (in stage II and stage III) from the hard roof. Then, an innovative method, through fracturing roofs to maintain entry (FRME), based on GER with the hard roof is introduced to solve this problem. In this method, the roof of the mining area is pre-fractured, and when the coal seam is mined, the direct hard roof will collapse along the fractured surface due to its deadweight and mining pressure. The hard roof control effect on the static and dynamic loads, taking into account the innovative method, is verified with simulations and theoretical analyses. The results are compared with those of the conventional GER method. Furthermore, based on the numerical simulation study of dynamic responses, it is found that compared to the GER method, the dynamic response of the retained entry using the innovative method is more moderate and more conducive to the stability of the entry. Field application also validated the effectiveness of the innovative method to control the mechanical behavior of the “massive sudden collapse” of the hard roof.

Aug 14, 2023

By J. A. Organiscak

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) has recently studied several redirected scrubber discharge configurations in its full-scale continuous miner gallery for both dust and gas control when using an exhaust face ventilation system. Dust and gas measurements around the continuous mining machine in the laboratory showed that the conventional scrubber discharge directed outby the face with a 12.2-m (40-ft) exhaust curtain setback appeared to be one of the better configurations for controlling both dust and gas. Redirecting all the air towards the face equally up both sides of the machine increased both the dust and gas concentrations around the machine. When all the air was redirected towards the face on the off-curtain side of the machine, gas accumulations tended to be reduced at the face at the expense of increased dust levels in the return and on the curtain side of the mining machine. A 6.1-m (20-ft) exhaust curtain setback without the scrubber operating resulted in the lowest dust levels around the continuous mining machine, but this configuration resulted in some of the highest levels of dust in the return and gas on the off-curtain side of the mining face. Two field studies showed some similarities to the laboratory findings, with elevated dust levels at the rear corners of the continuous miner when all the scrubber exhaust was redirected towards the face either up the off-tubing side or equally up both sides of the mining machine.

Feb 23, 2014

By JIACHENG XIE, Juanli Li, Wenyong Du, Tao Cui, Mengyao Dong, Pengfei Huo

The operation of intelligent coal mining in complex geological environment is still unable to realize automation. In order to realize the autonomous cutting of fully mechanized mining equipment and improve coal production, a mining and transportation equipment dynamic advancement path planning method based on spatial kinematics coordinate deduction prediction and real-time correction prediction of coal-rock state identification of equipment cutting current index are proposed. Firstly, the spatial motion law of the mining and transportation equipment is analyzed, and the mathematical model of the spatial motion of the mining and transportation equipment is established. The relationship between the adjustment of the shearer rocker arm and the pose change of the scraper conveyor is determined, and the coordinate deduction model of the spatial advancement position of the equipment is determined, which provides a theoretical basis for the advancement path planning of the mining and transportation equipment. Then, on the basis of the mathematical model construction, combined with real geological data and equipment information, the three-dimensional dynamic planning of the advancement path of the mining and transportation equipment is carried out from the two dimensions of the horizontal advancement direction and the shearer walking direction. At the same time, the relationship between the cutting current index of shearer and the state recognition of coal-rock mass is analyzed, and the coal-rock mass state identification of cutting current and the adjustment of rocker arm model is constructed, and the real-time dynamic correction of three-dimensional path is carried out, so that the planned path can better adapt to the sudden change of real geological environment. Then, using the unity3d virtual reality technology, a simulation system for the horizontal advancement path planning of the virtual mining and transportation equipment is constructed, which simulates the real advancement operation process of the mining and transportation equipment and conducts advancement training. Finally, the dynamic advancement scheme update prediction based on the existing actual cutting but ahead of the actual cutting is realized in the virtual scene, and the optimal scheme is transmitted into the existing prediction cutting system to guide the actual physical equipment mining. The path planning method can control the coordinate position error of the advancing cutting path within 15 mm, which provides ideas for the research on the advancing path planning of fully mechanized equipment.

Nov 22, 2022

By Mamookho Elizabeth Makhatha, Mbal Henock‑Michel Mwanat, Kubangala Brest Kasongo, Ntumba Edward Malenga

This study investigated the operating parameters that affect the kinetic dissolution of copper and cobalt from sulfidic ores. The sulfuric acid concentration, temperature, sodium chloride concentration, particle size range, and leaching time were selected to deduce the kinetic mechanism of the leaching reaction. Other parameters, such as a stirring speed of 250 rpm and the percentage solid 10% w/v, remained constant. The results reveal that an increase in acid concentration enhances the leaching rate of copper and cobalt. Copper and cobalt dissolution was positively affected by the addition of sodium chloride. The highest leaching rates of copper and cobalt were 24.71% and 15.65%, respectively. The chemical control and diffusion control by shrinking core models are well fitted as the kinetic models representing the dissolution of the minerals. The respective activation energies for copper and cobalt dissolution of 10.92 and 31.023 kJ mol− 1 for the chemical control and 18.83 and 37.28 kJ mol− 1 for diffusion reaction control were established from temperature-based experiments.

Aug 26, 2022

By E. Tarshizi

This research project demonstrates the application of a mine system simulation and animation model in enhancing the efficiency of a truck-shovel operation and reducing the haulage environmental impact in an open-cut coal mine. In any mine, a key objective is to have enough equipment for production and not have excess to where it is counterproductive. Due to the advent of responsible mining, environmental regulations, and eco-friendly practices, these factors must also be considered in the analysis. The over-trucked situation at a mine will be discussed, i.e. when the number of trucks exceeds the optimum number of trucks a mine should have for the most productive/profitable mining operation. When the system has an excess number of trucks, truck utilization is reduced which impacts mine operation, capital costs and the environment, through unnecessary truck purchase, energy use, air pollution etc. A hypothetical surface coal mine layout was used for the simulation model.

Feb 23, 2014

By L. Yuan, J. Soles, D. Bahrami, W. Tang, R. Thomas

Mine equipment fires remain as one of the most concerning safety issues in the mining industry, and most equipment fires were caused by hot surface ignitions. Detailed experimental investigations were conducted at the NIOSH Pittsburgh Mining Research Division on hot surface ignition of liquid fuels under ventilation in a mining environment. Three types of metal surface materials (stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel), three types of liquids (diesel fuel, hydraulic fluid, engine oil), four air ventilation speeds (0, 0.5, 1.5, 3 m/s) were used to study the hot surface ignition probability under these conditions. Visual observation and thermocouples attached on the metal surface were used to indicate the hot surface ignition from the measured temperatures. Results show that the type of metal has a noticeable effect on the hot surface ignition, while ventilation speed has a mixed influence on ignition. Different types of liquid fuels also show different ranges of ignition temperature. Results from this work can be used to help understand equipment mine fires and develop mitigation strategies.

Mar 2, 2022

By Ehsan Alavi, Sanjeer Yogendran, Savreet Singh

The Don River & Central Waterfront Coxwell Sanitary Bypass Tunnel Project in Toronto extends approximately 10.5 km from Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant west under Lake Shore Boulevard, north under Bayview Avenue and east through the Don River park area to the Coxwell Ravine Park. This project includes the installation of five intake shafts connected by 10.5 km of 6.3 m internal diameter tunnel and eleven drop shafts and vent shafts, connected to the tunnel by a series of adits. During the excavation of one of five intake shafts (20 m in diameter and 52 m deep), significant volumes of free phase oil and hydrocarbons were encountered. Due to the heavy inflows of the contaminants, excavation was stopped at the transition depth. The initial support of excavation needed to be redesigned, shaft had to be backfilled with CDF and installation of deeper secant piles are in progress to cut off contaminants. This paper outlines the initial plan for excavation as well as the design changes to the plan. The current status of the shaft excavation and lessons learned will be discussed.

Jun 13, 2021

By B. T. Darnton

Gravity concentration at the Pegasus Gold Montana Tunnels Mine was initiated in late June, 1991 with the commissioning of a coarse gold scalping circuit that processes a small portion of the ball mill circulating load. The primary objective for the circuit was to reduce the risk of gold particles advancing to flotation that are too coarse to float. The secondary objective was to enhance overall gold recovery and payable gold ounces in a cost effective manner. The gravity circuit has proven itself to be a major success. The above mentioned goals have been achieved, and they have been maintained at record throughput rates that are 30% higher than when the circuit was commissioned. A number of modifications and improvements were made over the last three years which allowed the gravity circuit to keep pace with the higher tonnage, these are discussed in detail in the body of this paper. The overall approach to gravity concentration at Montana Tunnels has always been to optimize production rather than maximize the gold ounces produced. This philosophy has now yielded a circuit expansion and relocation project which will allow for an estimated 50% increase in gravity gold production, while reducing the overall unit costs of production significantly. This paper will review historical gravity circuit performance, improvements, and the current relocation and expansion project.

Jan 1, 1995

Fundamental results obtained from research on the properties of the edge surfaces of kaolinite particles (~500 nm) are reported. Of particular significance was the development of the experimental protocol. Well-ordered kaolinite edge surfaces were prepared as an epoxy resin sandwich structure having layered kaolinite particles in the center of the epoxy resin sandwich. Images of the sectioned kaolinite edge surfaces were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the average thickness of kaolinite particles in this study was determined to be 38.3 nm ± 11.7 nm. Furthermore, the surface charge of the kaolinite edge surfaces was evaluated with a super sharp Si tip. The point of zero charge (PZC) of the kaolinite edge surface was determined to be below pH 4, in contrast to the traditional view that the edge surfaces of kaolinite particles may carry a positive charge at pH 4. This lower PZC of the kaolinite edge surface was attributed to the lack of isomorphous substitution in the silica tetrahedral layer when compared to the PZC for the muscovite edge surface. Our results are consistent with the particle aggregation and flotation behavior of kaolinite, and should provide the basis for improved flotation strategies leading to the efficient recovery and utilization of mineral and energy resources.

Feb 23, 2014

By Ben L. Seegmiller

The basic compression-yield concept of roof support for mine roadways requires that the mine roof be placed in a state of compressive stress. The compressive stress may be achieved using a support system such as an entry truss or other specialty truss device. Furthermore, the roof must be allowed to yield, but with great resistance when abutment loads are placed on the roadway. The resisted yielding may be provided using a new yieldable steel prop, known by the trade name, YIPP~. The yieldable steel prop can allow as much as 1.5 m[5 ft] of yield, or up to approximately 40% of the opening height, while providing a resistance in excess of 60 mt[66st]. More than fifteen mining operations including coal, trona and hard rock mines have field tested the YIPPI . Present results indicate that the yieldable prop provides a cost-effective alternative to wood cribs, concrete cribs, hydraulic props and other steel prop supports. The paper describes the YIPPI including its unique principle of operation, its applications and actual field performance.

Jan 1, 1992

By T. G. Bobick

Task analyses were conducted by the Bureau of Mines at four underground low-seam coal mines to evaluate their supply-handling systems and for use in subsequent design of laboratory simulation experiments. Items were tracked (by videotaping) from delivery to the surface storage areas to their final destinations underground. Of particular interest were those tasks that required manual handling of supplies or equipment. Analysis of the videotapes revealed that the miners handled materials while stooped over a total of 37.8 pct of the time, 31.5 pct while on both knees and 9.5 pct while kneeling on one knee. These working postures impose considerable stress on the lumbar spine and may be implicated in the high number of back injuries in this work population. This paper also discusses various mechanical-assist devices developed by the Bureau and successfully evaluated in the underground workplace. These devices can be used to minimize the manual effort and the corresponding risk of injury associated with handling supplies and equipment components in low-seam coal mines.

Jan 1, 1988

By Frank E. Dalton

The Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago (MSDGC) serves an area of approximately 860 square miles and collects and processes used water from the city of Chicago and 116 surrounding communities. As a public agency, the MSDGC -Serves a population equivalent to 10 million people which is composed of 5.5 million people and an industrial wasteload equivalent to an additional 4-1/2 million people. -Provides 400 miles of intercepting sewers and tunnels ranging in diameter from 12 inches to 24 feet. -Operates 71 miles of navigable waterways and channels conncecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico and 6,000 miles of inland waterways. -Maintains the largest water reclamation plant in the world. -Processes 1,380,000,000 of used water daily and removes approximately 1,000 dry tons of organic solids each day. -Has spent approximately 700 million dollars in capital improvements to date, and will require expenditures in excess of 3 billion dollars (including over one-half billion dollars in tunnels) to meet existing federal and state water quality standards.

Jan 1, 1974

By C. J. Slaughter, S. P. Harteis, L. L. Chasko, D. W. Alexander

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR), with the assistance of cooperating underground mining operations and state agencies, has conducted research exploring devices and technologies that could be used to assist miners navigating through smoke and dust resulting from a fire or explosion. Recent events in mines confirm that smoke and dust can enter and contaminate mine escapeways, creating an atmosphere with severely reduced visibility. This reduced visibility results in substantially increased escape times, possible disorientation or confusion, and increased stress levels, and may prevent evacuation altogether. Tools or devices that assist miners in navigating through smoke-filled areas void of lifelines could make the difference in successful escape from the mine. This paper presents the results of OMSHR research to identify and evaluate tools and devices that could provide meaningful information to evacuating miners in areas with limited visibility and without the benefit of a lifeline.

Jan 1, 2011

By Wei Victor Liu, Na Zhang, Chengkai Fan, Bei Jiang

The truck haulage data from open-pit mine sites are usually massive and multidimensional with multi-peak Gaussian distributions. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are well-known machine learning algorithms to handle massive and multidimensional data for building models. Moreover, Gaussian mixture modeling (GMM) is a suitable option for processing the data under multi-peak Gaussian distributions and improving model accuracy. For the first time, this study used a back propagation neural network (BPNN), an extreme learning machine (ELM), and a Bayesian regularized neural network (BRNN) coupled with GMM to deal with the complex truck haulage data and build three weighted ensemble models (WE-BPNN, WE-ELM, and WE-BRNN models) to predict truck productivity at mine sites. Decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), gradient boosting machine (GBM), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were used to build models to be compared with the weighted ensemble models. The results showed that the WE-BRNN had a higher accuracy than the WE-BPNN and WE-ELM models. The proposed weighted ensemble models performed better than the benchmark models in predicting truck productivity, indicating that a weighted ensemble approach based on the GMM analysis significantly improved the model accuracy. Based on the relative importance analysis, haul distance was the most crucial input variable for predicting truck productivity. This study provides a new approach to predicting truck productivity, which will help mining companies make sound budget decisions and improve mine planning.

Mar 2, 2023

By Neel Gupta, Brijes Mishra

Coal mining activity disturbs the natural equilibrium of in situ stress state such that the induced stresses deform the surrounding rock mass. Although the installation of roof supports typically prevents rock deformation, rock mass failure may still occur in bolted roof. The erratic failure of rock mass after few days to months and years of excavation is the result of time-dependent deformation of roof rock under constant surrounding stresses. In the current research, the triaxial laboratory creep experiments proved that Marcellus shale exhibits time-dependent deformation under constant stress that was smaller than the failure strength. However, unlike conventional experimental results, the time-dependent deformation did not depend on the level of constant stress. The often-neglected initial state of specimens and intrinsic heterogeneity highly influenced the time-dependent failure of Marcellus shale.

Jul 27, 2021

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

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

Feb 22, 2026

By Shailendra Chawla, Ashok Jaiswal, Sonu

Side spalling/skin failure occurs due to the high-induced stress in underground structures. In such cases, rock bolting or other support systems are being used to control the skin failure or spalling of the pillar. The nature of these support systems is passive, which acts during the deformation. These support systems restrict the displacement considerably of the side/or roof surface of the excavation. Ultimately, it improves the stability of the structure because of the increment in residual strength of rock mass. It is noted that these passive support systems give very low confinement in the range of 0–0.015 MPa at the onset of failure. As the level of confinement will be very low and dependent with progress of failure, triaxial test was not found practically suitable. Thus, an alternative procedure of testing has been proposed. In the procedure, sides of sample have been restricted little bit by using adhesive tape. It provides the limited boundness on the lateral direction (LBLD) of rock specimen. The uniaxial compression strength (UCS) test has been performed on 30 numbers of cylindrical rock specimens using the servo-controlled stiff testing machine. Specifically, two rock types (medium-coarse–grained and coarse-grained rocks) were studied in terms of stress–strain behaviour so that a full residual strength envelope for each specimen was obtained. This study reveals that the residual strength of limited confined rock specimens has been significantly increased as compared to unconfined rock for both groups of rock types. The average residual strength of LBLD specimens of fine-grained rock and medium coarse-grained rock has been increased around 12 times, and five times as compared to unconfined rock, respectively. The average peak strength of LBLD rock specimens has been increased in the range of 30.5 to 48.6% for coarse-grained rock. The results of this study have been presented in terms of peak strength, residual strength and Young’s modulus of rock, and the post-peak failure behaviour of rock specimens was also critically analysed through a stress–strain curve.

Mar 21, 2024

By J. C. Cawley, J. Sottile, J. L. Kohler

Control circuit failures contribute significantly to continuous miner downtime. The time required to put the machine back into production is a function of the time required to diagnose the problem, obtain parts and make the repair. Of these, the diagnostic time is often the largest. A microprocessor-based system with the ability to diagnose all of the common control circuit failures was designed, installed on a continuous miner and tested. This paper summarizes the development of the diagnostic system and provides examples of the system's diagnostic capabilities. Implementation issues and the hardware used for the prototype are briefly described. Comments on the system's performance are also presented.

Jan 1, 1995

By Amir Karami, Scott Munro

This paper focuses on remediation of a 3.6 km long water conveyance tunnel that suffered two large falls of ground (FoGs), one of which subsequently progressed to the ground surface, resulting in full collapse of the tunnel. The tunnel is part of a network of water conveyance tunnels and open channels that direct water into two turbines located in an underground powerhouse, originally constructed in the 1970s. At the time of construction, the tunnel was partially supported with shotcrete or rock bolts, with no further ground support added since construction. Two sonar surveys in 019 and 01 identied two adacent large FoGs in the tunnel, approimately 1.2 km from the tunnel outlet. Historical geological and geotechnical information indicated that the FoGs occurred within a 60 m wide fault zone. Remediation plans were developed, which included stabilization of the outlet channel, the portal, the tunnel leading up to the FoG areas (1.2 km length) and the FoG areas. Several remediation options were considered to restore the tunnel, including construction of a diversion tunnel to bypass the FoGs or remediation of the FoG areas with steel ribs and backlling the void above the FoGs to surface.

Jun 23, 2024