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By Oswaldo Carhuancho

El presente trabajo señala la filosofía de trabajo en equipo desarrollada en la mina Pierina, Lima. La política de trabajo se sustenta en el pensamiento de Barrick, donde las prácticas administrativas basadas en la seguridad, salud ocupacional y el medio ambiente repercuten en el beneficio de sus empleados, accionistas y las comunidades en las que opera. Por ello, la primera preocupación de la empresa debe ser el trabajador y no las máquinas, así como la labor de los jefes no se limita a una actitud paternalista, sino a una democrática, de forma que el empleado asume sus responsablidades con seguridad y eficiencia. Como consecuencia de ello, se redujeron la cantidad de hombres-accidentess, se elevó el costo de producción y se redujo, la cantidad de personas en la supervisión de operaciones mina.

Sep 13, 2001

Recent U.S. mine disasters identified a need for improved training of miners in escape from mine fires and explosions. Researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health?s (NIOSH) Spokane Research Laboratory (SRL) have designed fire-escape training software for use in a mine-safety training course. The software allows four trainees to work together in a virtual world via a computer network. Trainees responded favorably and showed a marked improvement in locating the proper evacuation routes on subsequent trials. In collaboration with the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory (PRL), a more elaborate fire evacuation scenario is being developed. Further study is needed to confirm that virtual training will translate to improved safety outcomes in the real world. Keywords: virtual reality (VR), safety, training, mining, mine fire evacuation

Jan 1, 2009

By Walter W. Kaufman

The braking performance of underground, rubber-tired, coal mining vehicles is evaluated. Surveys of mining equipment and braking manufacturers and underground stopping tests are discussed as they relate to this evaluation. Stopping performance recommendations are proposed.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. J. McClincy

The potential techniques for the direct smelting of copper sulfide concentrates to blister copper were evaluated from the standpoint of commercial application. Many existing smelters are adaptable to direct smelting practice but only with improved control of metallurgical performance. Modified and innovative procedures for slag cleaning and metal refining, prerequisites to direct smelting, are presented and discussed. The ability to smelt directly to blister copper using existing equipment and eliminating the need to convert matte offers ,significant advantages to traditional smelting practice from the viewpoint of cost, 'S02 control, and process simplicity.

Jan 1, 1983

By Tom Westgarth

As papers are placed before you upon large gas-engines in Belgium and Germany, it was considered that some information should be given upon the same subject in Great Britain. I therefore agreed to compile these notes, which I have made very short in view of the somewhat full nature of the other papers presented to this meeting, and considering the complete nature of the many publications which have been made recently upon the subject of large gas-engines. I give below Tables I. to VI., showing the number and particulars of large gas-engines which have been built or are building by British makers, and in view of the growing size of gas-engines I have concluded that engines less than 500 h.p. cannot now be included in the category of large gas-engines, and therefore I have not considered engines under that power.

Nov 1, 1906

MR. RIGG: Gentlemen, I would like to welcome you all to the symposium this morning. My name is Jack Rigg, and I m a special assistant to Hollis Dole, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Mineral Resources. Hollis is not in town this morning, and I am here to pinch-hit for him. The first order of business this morning is remarks by the Honorable Russell Train, Under Secretary of the Department of Interior. Mr. Train. MR. TRAIN: Thank you, Mr. Rigg. Lest you think that Hollis Dole is not interested in this symposium, let me just say that fie is flying back from Australia just to be here. He is heading up a United States delegation in Australia meeting on resource problems in the Pacific. And I believe he will be here about noon.

Jan 1, 1970

By A. S. Choudhary

Most of the coal reserves in India are of drift origin and have very poor washability characteristics and a high level of near gravity materials. At least 30 new coal wash plants are expected to be set up in the next 5years.In such a scenario, adequate sampling followed by sink float test work for washability analysis becomes very critical for designing these new plants. For coal sampling purpose, stipulations of different standards are sometimes formidable and on the border of ?impracticality?; sometimes are self contradictory in terms of gross sample weight vis-a-vis minimum number of particles required in each size fraction and in each relative density fraction and also the minimum mass in the latter. Validation of the generated data is another important aspect of washability analysis. These issues can easily be addressed by using straight forward mathematical relationships, well known RR plots and by using simple MS Excel tool, etc.

Sep 1, 2012

Underground mine planning is characterised by a series of designs, starting with prefeasibility and culminating in operational. Information on the mineralisation and geotechnical conditions is available in increasing levels of detail, as development occurs. In the recently completed AMIRA Planning and Rapid Integrated Mine Optimisation (PRIMO) project, a methodology for producing good strategic and then tactical designs using new optimisation tools, was developed. At the strategic level, fundamental decisions must be made such as those relating to cut-off grade, bench heights, mining methods, access and haulage systems, properties of the mill, etc. The inputs are the block and financial models, geotechnical data, infrastructure and production costs, etc. Stope definition for strategic designs includes bench RLs (relative levels), orebody envelopes, and design and placement of amalgamated or simplified stopes. If multiple mining methods are under consideration, then stopes need to be associated with these. Access design must take into account decisions such as declines versus shafts, a template for level layouts and the topology of the access network. Some of the geotechnical and physical constraints are relaxed for strategic design stages. Strategic scheduling is high level, from a month to a year at a time. In the PRIMO project, software tools have been developed enabling the mine planner to rapidly produce a large number of such strategic designs. After the designs have been evaluated, the highest value designs are chosen and a small number of these can then be further refined at a tactical level. For these designs, the first step is determination of all stopes meeting physical and geotechnical requirements and constraints, allowing for complex stope shapes. Next, detailed layout of the mine access network is obtained, satisfying all operational and geotechnical constraints. Finally, more detailed scheduling is performed, over shorter time periods. The Melbourne University group has focused on optimal access design. In particular, the access network is optimised for minimum cost, taking into account the cost of haulage and development over the lifetime of the mine. Costs vary over the different parts of the network depending on the quantity of haulage and so a weighted network optimisation problem has to be solved. We have developed two software tools for this task, decline optimisation tool (DOT) and planar underground network optimiser (PUNO). DOT produces an optimal network of declines and crosscuts connecting access points on the levels to a portal or break-out point from existing infrastructure. PUNO designs the level layout, including footwall and hanging wall drives, development drives and connections to vent raises. A survey will be given of the capabilities of DOT and PUNO when used on some recent case studies. Our current goals include incorporating some aspects of ventilation design and modelling the development costs when additional ground support is required. This is an abstract only. A full paper was not prepared for this abstract.

Dec 6, 2010

By R. Bergstrom

The implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) or an Environmental Management System (EMS) that conforms to the standards issued by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) no longer needs to result in a bureaucratic nightmare supported by mounds of paperwork. In this sense, this paper describes the Quality Management System that was implemented and demonstrates how the technologies that were developed can be used to satisfy other similar requirements.

Aug 25, 2002

By C. Melvin Lepper

Microseismic energy is generated when stresses accumulated in rock formations are released in the form of fracturing. The acoustic emissions resulting from these rock fractures and movements are detectable as velocity signals in the earth near the energy source. A Bureau of Mines microseismic system that is capable of detecting the acoustic emissions from pit slope movements is described. The digital circuitry incorporated in the system allows a microprocessor program to immediately calculate and present the location coordinates for the seismic energy source in the mine pit wall. This monitoring system is compact, portable, reliable, and relatively inexpensive and rapidly provides accurate information to the mine operators about the stability of a pit slope.

Jan 1, 1982

By D. J. Carpenter

Safe and successful mine closure represents a fundamental work element that needs to accommodate the geochemical conditions existing at the completion of the mining and ore processing effort. Given the interests in limiting costs and time associated with mine closure efforts enhanced prior understanding of the geochemical conditions likely to exist upon exhaustion of the economic reserves can provide important benefits. The purpose of this paper is to document the benefits associated with geochemical modeling and understanding how the ore formation process may impact mine closure efforts, using one ore deposit type as an example. Specifically, this paper will emphasize the geochemical processes leading to the formation of sandstone-hosted uranium roll-type deposits and how the resultant concentrations and distributions of ore and gangue phases need to be incorporated into understanding the geochemical conditions projected to exist at the end of mineral recovery efforts. The paper will describe the evolution of geochemical conditions leading to ore body formation and the geochemical effects induced by open pit mining and how these may be used to understand both the geochemical controls and constraints on residual mine water. In addition, a discussion will be provided on how these conditions may be simulated by solution equilibria and kinetic modeling to develop optimum approaches to achieve applicable closure standards. This paper will also discuss specific augmentations to existing industry standard solution equilibria and kinetic models and associated thermodynamic databases to maximize the predictive accuracy of the geochemical modeling results. The benefits of understanding the electrochemically reactive behavior of uranium and associated gangue phases and incorporating this behavior into mine closure efforts will be presented. The culmination of the benefits of the geochemical modeling will ultimately be the development of a sustainable approach to uranium mine closure that is based upon an engineered environment designed to return the ore body to stable geochemical conditions.

Feb 27, 2013

By Tom Pfitzer, Alice Correa, Meredith Hardwick

The past decade has brought significant changes in the use of risk-based criteria for safety within the U.S. Department of Defense. The Range Commanders Council (RCC) chartered a working group to develop and define risk acceptance criteria for protecting the general public and mission essential personnel from debris from launch ranges. This working group has continued to develop and update RCC Standard 321 as the needs of the ranges and range users have evolved. A revision to RCC Standard 321 is near finalization and will include casualty criteria, guidelines for assessing risks due to other flight hazards in addition to inert debris, and an overall risk management process for range safety. This paper reports on work in progress and includes several precedents which may prove important to the explosives safety community.

Jan 1, 2007

By E. Chin

The countries of Asia and the Pacific have large resources of diverse minerals. Australia and China have extensive mineralization that are commercially being exploited. The major minerals in Australia with known reserves adequate for both domestic demand and export markets include bauxite, clays, copper, diamond, gold, iron ore, lead, manganese, mineral sands (titanium minerals), nickel, salt, silver, tin, uranium, and zinc. China is the world leader in proven reserves of antimony, barite, magnesite, molybdenum, rare earths, titanium (ilmenite), tungsten, and vanadium. It also has about 55 billion tons of iron ore, albeit with an average grade of only 30 % to 35 % elemental iron content. With the exception of chromium and copper, China has significant resources of a wide array of minerals and metals, based on its production and/or export capability for these commodities. Additionally, India has significant resources of bauxite and mineral sands; Indonesia, bauxite, copper, nickel, and tin; Malaysia, tin and associated titanium; Mongolia, copper, fluorspar, and lead-zinc; New Caledonia, nickel; New Zealand, gold and iron sand; North Korea, magnesite; Papua New Guinea, copper, gold and mineral sands; Philippines, copper, chromite, and gold; and Sri Lanka, gemstones. Moreover, there appears to be extensive mineralization III Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, but they have yet to be definitively delineated.

Jan 1, 1994

By M. E. Smith

Waste rock dumps, tailings impoundments and spent leach heaps are common features at mine sites. Many of these waste disposal facilities contain sulfide-rich minerals, which generate acid mine drainage (AMD) when they oxidize. Control of AMD can be achieved by removing one or more of the three essential components in the acid-generating process (sulfides, air, or water). One AMD prevention measure is to cap the waste with an engineered cover system to minimize the infiltration of water and diffusion of air into the system. Possible cover designs include: ? Earthen ?store-and-release? covers (also known as evapotranspiration (ET) or water balance covers), including capillary barriers. These covers require climate conditions where there is both modest to little rainfall and significantly greater evapotranspiration than precipitation, both annually and seasonally. ? Low-permeability compacted clay liners (CCLs) employing fine-grained soils typically compacted at wet of optimum water content. ? Geosynthetic composite covers, comprised of a geomembrane liner placed over and in direct contact with either a CCL or a geosynthetic clay liner (GCL). These systems have been commonly used for base liners for leach pads as well as covers and base liners at municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in the US for more than 20 years. Comparisons of these different cover systems, both in terms of performance and cost, are presented later in this paper. First, however, a review of the typical mine closure approaches, and the possible rationale behind them, is warranted.

Feb 27, 2013

By D. Mark Richards

Highland Valley Copper (HVC) is a large open pit copper mine in the southern interior of British Columbia. Machine guidance technology using GPS has been utilized at the mine since 1996 for blast hole drill navigation and since 2000 for shovel and dozer navigation. Since 1997, rock recognition has been part of the drilling process. This allowed the mine to develop a Mine to Mill strategy using the rock hardness information from drill monitoring systems to both refine drilling and blasting parameters as well as downstream crushing and grinding strategies. Although this preliminary effort has been very successful at HVC, the current intent is to gain further benefits through better use of existing information while also deriving an enhanced data set from monitoring production drills. In the latter case, the objective is to acquire and process drill variables in such a manner as to permit more detailed definition of rock mass characteristics. The subsequent focus will be to use the derived geotechnical and geological information as part of a practical process to more prescriptively blast the rock mass. Through the definition of domains based on drill monitored derived rock mass properties, the intent will be to enhance blast outcomes that lead to optimized downstream (from blasting through to concentration) processes in a more proactive and timely manner. This paper examines a proposed approach to be able to derive more accurate and consistent rock mass properties from production drilling. In addition, the discussion will identify potential benefits to be gained from process improvements that result in enhanced productivities, and crushing and grinding optimisation due to blasting strategies that are more closely matched to identify rock mass characteristics.

May 1, 2007

By F. Dinter, S. A. C. Hockaday, Q. G. Reynolds

The thermal decomposition of carbonate minerals as pre-treatment before smelting reduces the energy requirement for smelting. It can also make the combustion of fossil fuels for heating unnecassary. Thermal decomposition may become important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions when producing ferromanganese alloys while simultaneously reducing electrical energy demand during smelting. A kinetic reaction rate model for the thermal decomposition of manganese ores is presented, based on published reaction rate kinetics for the decomposition of manganese oxides and calcium carbonate. The model was validated against thermogravimetric data for two carbonaceous manganese ore samples and one ferruginous manganese ore sample. The reaction rate model shows that carbonate minerals in the manganese ores are decomposed at temperatures above 900 °C while pyrolusite is decomposed at temperatures from 450 °C to 500 °C. Mn2O3 decomposes rapidly at 550 °C. Braunite decomposition at temperatures below 1000 °C was negligible. The presence of organic carbon in the samples led to further reduction of the samples during thermal treatment.

Aug 3, 2023

By Bart Bartholomew, Randall J. Essex

INTRODUCTION In June of 2004, at the North American Tunneling Conference in Atlanta, an all-day workshop was conducted to review the application of Geotechnical Baseline Reports (GBRs) for underground construction. The moderator for the program was Bart Bartholomew, former President of Fruin Colnon Construction Company. The program involved commentary by a panel of engineers, owners, contractors, and legal representatives within the North American tunneling industry, as well as an extended audience discussion. The panelists were: Peter Douglass, President, Peter Douglass, Inc. Randall Essex, Executive Vice President, Hatch Mott MacDonald Joseph Gildner, Deputy Director for Technical Services, Sound Transit Randall Hafer, Esq., Kilpatrick Stockton Robert Fitzgerald Esq., Watt, Tieder, Hoffer, & Fitzgerald Kirk Samuelson, Senior Vice President, Kiewit Construction Group DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM FORMAT The focus of the program was to assess the state of the practice in the preparation of GBRs, and to discuss improvements that could and should be made with regard to their preparation, interpretation, and application. The approach used to achieve this focus in the broadest possible way was unique, in that it involved the panelists’ preparation of the workshop format and materials months before the presentation of the workshop. First, each of the six panelists was selected by the moderator based on their reputation and involvement in their respective fields of expertise, taking care to maintain balance and contrast within the collective pool of talent assembled. Following selection and agreement to serve on the panel, each panelist was asked to independently submit to the moderator a list of the six most pressing issues involving GBRs that they each frequently encountered in their individual professional experience. Each was asked to rank their issues in descending order of perceived importance. This process resulting in a pool of thirty-six potential or “candidate” issues for use in the workshop program. Contrary to the moderator’s expectations, there was surprisingly little duplication among the thirty-six issues submitted.

Jan 1, 2005

By A Bouazza, J Kodikara

In this study, 23 samples of leached ash (LA) were collected from an ash pond at Loy Yang Power Station and geotechnically characterised. The samples were collected at various depths and locations within the ash pond on two separate occasions in order to account for the full variability. The LA within the ash pond at Loy Yang Power Station (LYPS) was found to vary in texture from silt to sand, depending on the location from where the sample was collected. Samples collected near the ash pond inlet discharge point, for instance, contained more than 50 per cent sand sized particles and were subsequently classified under the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) as silty sand (SM). Further downstream of the inlet discharge, the LA became progressively finer and was classified accordingly as elastic silt (MH) when the sand content became less than 50 per cent. Basic geotechnical testing revealed that the LA from Loy Yang Power Station was generally acceptable as a landfill cover material. The permeability of LA, however, was generally too high for prescriptive covers, (ie resistive covers that generally rely on the impervious nature of the material to control percolation). Alternative covers, generally rely on the store/release function of a capillary or monolithic barrier to prevent percolation into the landfill. Subsequently, a material that can maintain a high water storage capacity while at the same time, readily allow infiltration and evapotranspiration is required for an alternative cover. Sandy silt and silty sand are optimal soils for alternative covers, as they do not yield water to gravity forces, but do give up most of the water in their pores when subjected to high-matric suction (Kavazanjian, 2001). The effectiveness of alternative covers is ultimately assessed using computer models, such as UNSAT-H and HYDRUS-2D, to rigorously perform water balance calculations. Prior to using a computer model to determine the highest possible percolation in the worst climatic conditions, it is necessary to select the most appropriate materials. This paper suggests a method to screen available materials for use as an alternative cover material on the basis of the soil water characteristic curve (SWCC).

Jan 1, 2003

By David A. Hall

We present an analysis of the propagation in a uniform tunnel of semi -circular cross section that contains two axial conductors. In particular, we show that, even if one of these conductors has high ohmic loss, one of the two propagating modes has relatively low attenuation. This corresponds to the situation where an unloaded dedicated wire is used to improve radio frequency communication in a mine tunnel that contains a heavily loaded trolley wire.

Jan 1, 1978

By Allan E. Martin, George Glocker, C. E. Wood

"INTRODUCTION As part of a comprehensive investigation of the mechanism of defurization of iron and steel by slags, the Blast Furnace Studies Section, Metallurgical Division, Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with the Institute of Technology, University of Minnesota, has made a study of the forms in which sulfur occurs in blast-furnace slag. This report presents data on the three sulfides most important in iron smelting, namely, ferrous sulfide, manganous sulfide, and calcium sulfide. The tendency of these sulfides to form colloids in the molten slag was determined by an examination of quenched samples with an ultramicroscope.Vogt/ conducted experiments on sulfide silicate melts and examined synthetic blast-furnace slags in a partly crystallized condition. His conclusions were that FeS, CaS, and MnS, or isomorphous compounds, such as (FexCay)S and (MnxCaa)S, were precipitated from the melt, depending on the composition of the slag. In all specimens sulfides were visible and were spherical.Coloration of glass by sulfur also provides indirect information on the nature of sulfur in blast-furnace slags./ There seems to be a general agreement at present among the workers in the field of colored glasses that ferrous sulfide is a strong color producer. Colors that have been attributed to this compound include yellow, orange, brown, blue, and black. Apparently the ferrous sulfide is considered to be dissolved in these glasses. There is no indication that any of them have been examined for a colloidal phase.Lorenz 7/ investigated a single manganese slag in the glassy state and observed a Tyndall beam in an ultramicroscope. His conclusion was that either a manganese compound had precipitated in a finely divided condition or that metallic manganese had volatilized and penetrated into the slag as a vapor and thus formed colloidal particles."

Feb 1, 1941