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Newmont Australia Limited has for some 15 years mined a number of large open cuts associated with the Telfer Gold Dome deposits. The principal ore body exploited has been the East Flank of the Main Dome where a very high grade gold reef deposit of mixed metal sulphides, grades in excess of 20gA Au, has been mined in conjunction with dissemi- nated mineralisation contained in the overburden material. The main ore body has been under review for some years as an under- ground mine, however due to the ore body widths of less than 1 metre and a dip generally less than 35 degrees and a very weak host rocks earlier studies all resulted in a continuation of open pit mining activities. In early 1988 it was recognised that open cast mining would not be able to mine all of this valuable resource and a feasibility study was commenced to come up with a practical and economic approach to underground mining.

Jan 1, 1991

Coal washing practice can be improved not only by critical examination of the plant being operated but also by studying plants operated in other areas. The developments at the Australian Iron & Steel Pty. Ltd. plants are discussed in relation to experiences there as well as developments which have taken place in Queensland in recent years. Early A.I.S. problems involved small coal cleaning in heavy medium cyclones and flotation. A proposed future plant flowsheet for A.I.S. is considered in the light of these experiences. Reference is made to plants operated by the Thiess, Peabody, Mitsui Coal Company Pty. Ltd. at Moura and the Utah Development Company's plants at Blackwater and Goonyella in the development of coal washing prac- tice in Australia.

Jan 1, 1975

By Walter Miller

Developments in oil refining were so varied during 1938 that a refiner had to be alert or be left behind. The long-talked-of conversion of oil refining into a true chemical industry using petroleum as a raw material was hastened, particularly in the realm of motor-fuel manufacture, by the increased understanding and use of catalytic processes. The petroleum refiner's vocabulary has been extended to include alkylation, cyclization, aromatization, and isomerization. There are other devel: opments of a similar nature, but these are now considered commercially feasible under proper conditions. New Equipment Less expensive equipment and processes encouraged new construction and replacement. Estimates of money spent in the United States on building new plants and remodeling existing installations during 1938 place the sum at not less than $200,000,000, a noteworthy amount in a year marked by a business recession. The commercial application of small-scale catalytic polymerization of refinery gases made one of the latest advances available to the smaller operators, who usually are faced with unit installation and production costs higher than the large refinery enjoys. Competition was thereby fostered. Outstanding in this respect was the construction of two or more polymerization plants in small refineries at extremely low installation costs, with amortization measured in months instead of years. Houdry Processes Bursting like a bombshell late in the year was the disclosure of the extent of the development of the Houdry processes of catalytic cracking, viscosity breaking, gasoline treatment, desulphurization, and polymerization, said to be applicable to almost any raw petroleum stock and yielding gasoline of exceptionally high octane number. This process is claimed to be particularly adapted to once-through cracking of aliphatic hydrocarbons, and when combined with any of the conventional thermal

Jan 1, 1939

By Walter Miller

Developments in oil refining were so varied during 1938 that a refiner had to be alert or be left behind. The long-talked-of conversion of oil refining into a true chemical industry using petroleum as a raw material was hastened, particularly in the realm of motor-fuel manufacture, by the increased understanding and use of catalytic processes. The petroleum refiner's vocabulary has been extended to include alkylation, cyclization, aromatization, and isomerization. There are other devel: opments of a similar nature, but these are now considered commercially feasible under proper conditions. New Equipment Less expensive equipment and processes encouraged new construction and replacement. Estimates of money spent in the United States on building new plants and remodeling existing installations during 1938 place the sum at not less than $200,000,000, a noteworthy amount in a year marked by a business recession. The commercial application of small-scale catalytic polymerization of refinery gases made one of the latest advances available to the smaller operators, who usually are faced with unit installation and production costs higher than the large refinery enjoys. Competition was thereby fostered. Outstanding in this respect was the construction of two or more polymerization plants in small refineries at extremely low installation costs, with amortization measured in months instead of years. Houdry Processes Bursting like a bombshell late in the year was the disclosure of the extent of the development of the Houdry processes of catalytic cracking, viscosity breaking, gasoline treatment, desulphurization, and polymerization, said to be applicable to almost any raw petroleum stock and yielding gasoline of exceptionally high octane number. This process is claimed to be particularly adapted to once-through cracking of aliphatic hydrocarbons, and when combined with any of the conventional thermal

Jan 1, 1939

Nine case studies are presented to illustrate how risks can be, minimised or quantified during pit optimisation, utilising Whittle Four-D software. Each case study covers a specific problem that has been encountered from a wide variety of pit optimisations. Case A: Maximising profits when the tenement owner is paid a royalty on tonnes processed. Case B: Allocating product prices, rather than a single commodity price during optimisation. Case C: Quantifying processing costs that are affected by penalty elements in the ore. Case D: Exploration expenditures below current pits can be quantified through the use of simulation techniques. Case E: Alternative strategies can be quantified when pits are restricted by tenement boundaries. Case F: Relocation of mine infrastructure that requires large capital expenditures, can be simulated by allocating costs to an area during optimisation. Case G: Evaluating alternative corporate strategies during pit optimisation. Case H: Sensitivity analysis for price, processing cost and mining cost. Case I: Quantifying the advantages of using additional mining capacity during the early periods of mining.

Jan 1, 1994

By D. A. Livingstone

Abstract Golden Manitou Mines, Limited, nine miles east of the town of Val d'Or in northwestern Quebec, are presently milling, at the rate of 1,000 tons daily, a relatively complex 3.11-phide ore and producing, in decreasing order of value, zinc, silver, gold, lead, and copper. The products are a zinc concentrate, a silver-lead-copper concentrate, and a silver-gold precipitate from cyanidation. Although several independent pre-production metallurgical investigations into the treatment of the ore were carried out, current practice is different from any of the recommended methods and, while still leaving room for improvement, is considerably more effective than earlier performance. Flow-sheet developments from the commencement of operations in 1942 are dealt with briefly, showing the reasons for making numerous changes, the shortcomings of the various schemes tried, and, finally, covering data pertinent to present-day practice. From the recovery standpoint, silver has presented the greatest difficulty. The writer's association with the Company coincided with the start of production. Characteristics of the Ore The predominant metallic minerals present in the ore, in decreasing order of their abundance, are: pyrite, sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite, with lesser amounts of argentiferous tennantite-tetrahedrite, arsenopyrite, covellite, bornite, and chalcocite. The sphalerite is mostly light in colour, sometimes colourless, and practically free from combined iron. Some of the sphalerite is very closely associated with minor amounts of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and galena. Pyrie is abundantly disseminated as medium to fine grains; more rarely it is massive and contains occasional grains of sphalerite, galena, and chalcopyrite.

Jan 1, 1952

By Frank Schrama

Steelmakers worldwide agree that the most efficient and cost-effective solution in BOF steelmaking is to desulfurize the hot metal between the blast furnace and converter. Various methods are currently in use, among which the Kanbara Reactor (KR, using only lime as a reagent), Magnesium mono-injection (MMI, using only magnesium; also known as the Ukraina-Desmag process) and co-injection (using magnesium and lime/CaC2) are leading. These three hot metal desulfurization methods are compared based on metallurgy, efficiency, costs and overall performance. Both available data from literature and experience from Danieli Corus engineers is used for this study. The KR process is able to reach low sulfur concentrations (> 10 ppm) in hot metal and has lower reagent costs. However, due to higher Fe-loss and heavy wear the KR process has the highest operational costs. The Magnesium mono-injection process is very fast due to the use of the reactive magnesium as reagent. Major problems with resulfurization (sulfur levels below 50 ppm cannot be reached) and the violence of the process made that this process could never get a firm foothold in the western steel industry. The co-injection process with magnesium and lime proves to be able to combine the best of both worlds. It can reach low sulfur concentrations and desulfurize fast. Co-injection is also the most flexible and cost effective.

Aug 16, 2017

By M. Ataei, F. Sereshki, R. N. Masir

Given the inherent risks and disruptions in underground coal mining operations, strengthening the resilience of critical infrastructure has become a vital priority. This paper aims to evaluate the resilience of the underground coal mining environment using historical data and expert judgment. The study serves as a framework for optimising the utilisation of critical infrastructure to minimise operational disturbances. To achieve this, a practical methodology has been developed, incorporating nearly two and a half years of collected operational data, a hierarchical structure, and a systematic approach. Furthermore, a case study is conducted to demonstrate the real-world applicability of the proposed method. Finally, the resilience index isintroduced as a straightforward summation of ranked impact factors, providing a clear metric for resilience assessment.

Dec 15, 2025

A discussion of the paper by Mr. Campbell, which was read by title at the Lake Superior meeting, but first presented at the New York meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute, October, 1904 (see p. 772). These papers are here published onder a mutual agreement between the Councils of the two Institutes, and will also be found in the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute for the year 1901, vol. ii. Mr. William R. Webster, Philadelphia, Pa., said: We are under great obligation to Mr. Campbell for his exhaustive investigation, and the results he has put before us to-day. They are the most conlplete series of tests that have ever been made, where all the conditions of rolling, etc., were kept uniform. In discussing Mr. Campbell's first investigations, I claimed first, that the method of least squares, then used, would of necessity only gire the average value of any element, and that if the effect of any element was greater in the presence of high carbon than with low carbon this would not be shown by the method of least squares. Secondly, that the effect of manga nese should be considered on acid steel as well as on basic steel, instead of ignoring all the eff'ect of that element when it was below 0.60 per cent., as was then recommended by Mr. Campbell. I am pleased to note that the results of his present investigation confirm my views on these points. In presenting the results of his first investigation, Mr. Campbell referred to my investigation of 1893-94, and took exception to the value of phosphorus varying (depending on the amount of carbon present) from 800 to 1,500 lb. for each 0.01 per cent. He claimed that one might just as well consider the effect of phosphorus as being constant, and of carbon varying. I refer to this, as he now has introduced very similar conditions in his present tables, in that he gives variable values for manganese (depending on the amount of carbon present) for both acid and basic' steels. Can we now say, with more certainty than formerly, which element should be considered as haviup a constant effect ? There is one other point that I took up in my former discus-

Jan 1, 1905

By G. A. Morrison

Iron ores associated with the Oriskany formation extend from the West Virginia border to the southwestern corner of Virginia. The deposits have been mined at many places, and the district is credited with the production of approximately 13,000,000 tons of ore to 1925, when mining operations ceased (fig. 1). The Oriskany iron-ore deposits occur in the Alleghany Mountains throughout their extent in the State. The name Oriskany was originally given to the limonite ore that was supposed to occur in the Oriskany sand-stone. At present, the name applies to all iron-ore deposits occurring in the lower part of the Devonian shale, Oriskany sandstone, and Helderberg limestone. The principal ore-bearing minerals are goethite and limonite. This report deals principally with the occurrences in Allegheny, Bath, Botetourt, and Craig Counties, Va. The Bureau of Mines, as part of the strategic-minerals program, began a project to develop the reserves of the area in November 1943; and continued until December 1944. Work started near Oriskany and extended northeast for nearly three-fourths of the area of the more important deposits. During the program 163 holes were drilled, totaling 11,651 feet; 256 feet of prospect tunnels were driven; 1,346 samples were collected; beneficiation tests were performed; and bulldozer trails and trenches wore excavated. The work served to delimit and appreciably extend the reserves of several areas. Analyses of channel samples are -given in appendix A, and diamond-drill and churn-drill hole logs and sample analyses are given in appendixes B and C, respectively.

Jan 1, 1950

By Sayonara Soares de Freitas Carneiror

A extração de alumina por digestão ocorre em meio reacional entre a pasta de bauxita e licor cáustico aquecido. Este aquecimento ocorre em uma série de trocadores de calor, que utilizam vapor saturado produzido em caldeiras de gás natural. Aproximadamente vinte minutos após a passagem pelos trocadores, o licor alimenta o reator e a mistura entre este fluido quente e a pasta fria deve atingir uma temperatura pré-definida de digestão. O controlador tradicional não era capaz de integrar o circuito entre os produtores e consumidores de vapor, por causa do deadtime do processo que gera a necessidade de um modelo robusto para ser acoplado à lógica de PID, mais a questão da não-linearidade do processo de transferência de calor. Este artigo apresenta a metodologia e os resultados de uma aplicação de tecnologia baseada em lógica Fuzzy em trocadores de calor para controle da temperatura reacional. A ferramenta do projeto é uma plataforma de controle avançado que não necessita de modelos fenomenológicos e é capaz de lidar com sistemas não-lineares. A média da temperatura de digestão ficou 0,4°C mais próxima do setpoint e a variabilidade reduziu em 61%, o que permitiu a redução em 3,2% no consumo específico de vapor.

Aug 17, 2017

By Caio Luca Joppert

O objetivo do trabalho foi estudar a possibilidade de ajustar as características do biogás produzido a partir da fermentação de vinhaça de modo a torná-lo intercambiável com o Gás Natural (GN), ou um GN substituto (GNS) com características que permitam introduzi-lo na rede de distribuição. São considerados aspectos normativos e técnicos associados à composição química e comportamento durante processo de combustão visando o atendimento aos requisitos normativos estabelecidos para o GN. O trabalho considera a vinhaça, rejeito da produção de etanol a partir da cana-de-açúcar, como fonte para produção do biogás em razão da grande disponibilidade deste resíduo do setor sucroalcooleiro. O Estado de São Paulo (ESP) é tratado com destaque, uma vez que este concentra a maior parte da produção do setor sucroalcooleiro no Brasil. Cálculos de razões de mistura tratada com gases de ajuste foram realizados para verificação das proporções necessárias que viabilizam a utilização da mistura como GNS, tendo como referência especificações da ANP. Os resultados do estudo indicam que a alternativa de geração e beneficiamento de biogás da vinhaça é uma opção tecnicamente viável de conversão de fração considerável deste resíduo do setor sucroalcooleiro em gás com características similares ao GN. Ademais, a alternativa proporciona a valoração do conteúdo orgânico do resíduo, com redução da contaminação dos solos no processo de reaproveitamento dos nutrientes nos processos de fertirrigação.

Jul 31, 2018

By M. E. Bilir

In this paper, we review cases in which dramatic and visual swelling problems are experienced in underground structures. Swelling rocks have caused many problems in underground engineering projects. They pose severe problems to the design, construction and maintenance of underground openings. If an appropriate integrated design procedure, which proceeds from exploration, tests, analyses and realistic assumptions of swelling behavior, is used during the design stage, the execution of the project can be completed without any serious delays or dramatic design changes. The case histories were subdivided into three classes that include tunnels, underground coal mines and others. For the evaluation of cases, the surrounding rocks, swelling minerals, water inflow, swelling test results and swelling problems were considered. The main purpose of this review is to inform the reader about potential problems with swelling phenomenon and to emphasize the rehabilitation and extensive cost which are encountered due to the lack of necessary integrated design approaches.

Aug 1, 2013

By S. G. Malghan

Steel consumption forms a significant part of the operating cost of a minerals processing plant. An estimated one-quarter billion kilograms of steel in the United States and over one-half billion kilograms in the world are consumed each year in wet grinding alone. The depletion of ore grades and the necessity of finer grinding of abrasive ores are expected to increase the steel consumption even higher. Through continued research and development by the mining industry and the suppliers of steel products several remedies to reduce steel consumption have evolved. This paper critically reviews the mechanisms involved in steel wear, and currently available methods, materials and operating conditions for reducing steel consumption. Particular attention is given to liner design modifications and substitution of steel liners with rubber liners.

Jan 1, 1981

By Alexandre Aparecida Morais

O rompimento de pele (breakout) é considerado uma das anomalias mais danosas ao processo de lingotamento contínuo de placas de aço. Esta ocorrência, além dos riscos de segurança durante a limpeza do aço derramado, resulta em pesadas perdas de produção e danos aos equipamentos. Estima-se que o custo potencial de um rompimento de média intensidade possa atingir a cifra de US$270.000,00, considerando a perda potencial de produção, o custo de reprocessamento do material e a recomposição dos equipamentos como segmentos, moldes, etc. Portanto, tão importante quanto evitar o breakout é também reduzir as suas consequências. Dentro deste contexto visando mitigar os danos de um rompimento quando o vazamento não é imediatamente reconhecido, desenvolveu-se um sistema pneumático de detecção de vazamento na saída do molde, envolvendo os edge e foot rolls. Basicamente, o sistema é um circuito fechado constituído de tubos de pequeno diametro com gás nitrogenio pressurizado. Se ocorrer um vazamento de aço, este funde o tubo (provocando perda de pressão ou excesso de vazão) ativando o sistema de alarme de indicação de vazamento, que fecha automaticamente a válvula gaveta do distribuidor para o veio e coloca a placa em extração. Atualmente todos os moldes da ArcelorMittal Tubarão possuem este sistema visando mitigar as consequencias de um vazamento.

Aug 17, 2017

By John Nagy

Dust explosion data obtained in laboratory tests by the Bureau of Mines are presented for 181 miscellaneous materials that present an explosion hazard. Data are given also for 50 dusts that present primarily a fire hazard and for 88 dusts that did not present an explosion hazard.

Jan 1, 1968

By B Lance, D O’Brien

The Hidden Secret ore body is located within the Mt Charlotte underground mining system in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Mineralisation of the Hidden Secret ore body is lode style and therefore differs from the typical economical mineralisation mined at Mt Charlotte and consequently demanded a novel approach to the mining methodology. The ore body is lens like in shape, extending 200m along strike, 210m vertically, and dipping at 55 degrees. The lode width varies from 1.5m at the extremities to over 22m in the central zone of the ore body. Average grade is 3.4 Au grams per tonne. The initial mining methodology was Modified Avoca utilising Longhole Open Stoping with pillars, in a bottom up stoping sequence. However, as Hidden Secret became better defined and wider than initially modelled, it was identified that a high portion of gold would remain in the pillars and other mining concerns emerged such as remote backfilling large open voids and potentially unsafe vertical standoff distances between levels and wide open stopes. A re-evaluation of this method was undertaken and a new approach adapting a variation of Avoca methodology was identified to remove the rib pillars and replace them with a sill pillar separating the 4 levels into 2 distinct blocks. This new approach provided an immediate advantage by removing the bogger backfilling activity from the same level of the active stope front, enabling stope drilling and prepping to occur during the backfilling cycle. Bogging productivity has also improved as the fired ore is funnelled to the draw point by the backfill rill, significantly reducing the requirement for remote bogging thus improving bogging productivity. This mining method is currently in progress in the first of the two mining blocks and is on track to realise the targeted recovery of 7,700 ounces from the rib pillars.

Mar 15, 2021

By L. Cheng

This report describes a laboratory investigation of the effectiveness of low-pressure steam and a steam-water spray sequence for the collection of airborne respirable (<10 µm) coal dust. Comparison of present results to previous results obtained with water spray alone indicates that the use of steam in a steam-spray sequence increases the collection efficiency by about 14 percent over that obtained by water spray alone. However, the use of steam to collect airborne dust requires cooling the steam-dust mixture in order to achieve condensation of the steam, and steam does not appear to be an attractive approach for collecting airborne dust in underground coal mining operations.

Jan 1, 1974

By Philip J. Shenon

IN 1947 the mining industry strove desperately to regain operating normalcy. During the first part of the year the industry in this country was plagued with labor shortages, strikes, and portal-to-portal lawsuits. Then followed the uncertainty of Government policy with respect to subsidies and tariffs; and the long and bitter controversy as to whether we are a nation of mineral "haves" or "have-nots." As the year progressed the labor supply impoved somewhat and the Taft-Hartley law brought partial relief to strike-troubled industry. The uncertainty with respect to tariffs was partly answered by President Truman on April 29 when he announced the suspension of the 4¢ import duty on copper until March 31, 1949, and later, near the close of the year, by the announcement of the tariff agreement signed by the United Nations at Geneva. By this agreement tariff rates are to be adjusted downward, or "bound" at their present levels, for three years, on commodities amounting to some 60 per cent of United States trade. Effective Jan. 1, 1948 the rate of duty will be substantially reduced on ores, concentrates, or metals of zinc, aluminum, copper, manganese, tungsten, iron, steel, barytes, nickel, cadmium, and antimony.

Jan 1, 1948

By A. F. Baker

Tests were conducted in commercial foundries to determine the suitability of calcined anthracite as a cupola fuel. The calcined anthracite performed satisfactorily at two of the three foundries where iron-melting tests were conducted. Performance at the third installation was unsatisfactory because metal temperatures deviated widely and, in general, were lower than is desirable for the type of castings being made.

Jan 1, 1963