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By A. H. Balch

A physical elastic seismic model, based on the Peoria oil field was constructed and used to produce multi mode cross-borehole seismic data. Because this was a physical model, it was necessary to deal with a complex wave field consisting of compressional waves, shear waves, and converted waves. The recorded raw data were complex, have no resemblance to the inter-well geology, and were difficult or impossible to interpret. These unintelligible data sets were extensively computer processed. Detailed, accurate, images of the inter-well structure, and reflecting horizons were obtained as a result of this processing. This investigation demonstrates that excellent, accurate images of the inter-well geology can be obtained by skilled seismic cross-well data acquisition and extensive careful computer processing.

Jan 1, 1993

By Wisecarver D. W.

Today the longwall is getting increasing attention in the United States as an excellent way to mine coal. This is not to say it is the best way in every mine because conditions, capital costs, and markets may well dictate another method. However, operators with working longwalls are often showing preference by phasing out room-and-pillar sections and replacing them with longwall. In the United States there are about 90 longwalls in operating coal mines and the number is increasing. In Europe, 95% of underground coal mining is by longwall compared with only 5% in the United States. In the Western States about 25% of the underground coal mines use longwall mining. There is logic behind the increase in longwalling. Compared to room-and-pillar mining, straight single-pass longwall has important advantages that show up in underground coal mining in any part of the country.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. Rideout

The United States Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is responsible for regulating active coal mining and reclaiming abandoned coal mines in the United States. In working with the State government agencies that implement these programs, OSM is building a new approach that moves away from traditional "command and control" regulation and towards an approach that focuses on providing long-term environmental and economic sustainability on lands disturbed by coal mining. This initiative called "Reclaim the Future!" looks to enhance opportunities for economic development, wildlife preservation and enhancement, reforestation, and other beneficial and productive uses of lands disturbed by coal mining. The initiative is also focused on ensuring that the landowners and the local public have significant involvement in determining how best to reclaim mine sites and what post-mining land uses are most appropriate for each individual abandoned mine reclamation project or active mine reclamation. Through the use of the best scientific input in an open, participatory process, OSM hopes to further sustainable development principles for coal mining within the framework of existing United States law.

Jan 1, 2007

By R. D. Shackleton

Medusa Cement Company, a division of Medusa Corporation, is a medium-sized cement manufacturer serving the midwest, east, and southeast. Medusa's eight plants are located in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Canada. Of these, six have active limestone, shale, clay, and sand quarries now in operation. This paper deals with the various individual state laws regulating mining and reclamation at the Georgia, Illinois, and Pennsylvania quarries. Several recommendations for future state mining laws are discussed also.

Jan 1, 1974

By Joseph Clare

It’s not the 1960s anymore. Upgrading wastewater pipelines in the current era demands the latest trenchless technology to minimize impacts. King County Wastewater Treatment Division in Seattle, Washington is designing a nearly mile long Direct Pipe® influent sewer combined with microtunneling to replace a 1960s era trunk sewer constructed along and within Coal Creek and its natural area. Trenchless installation using Direct Pipe® and microtunneling was chosen due to reduce impacts to residential neighborhoods, natural creek environments, and the constraints of topography

Jun 13, 2021

By L. Yan, T. Lutz, J. Noll

"Mine disasters, such as fires and explosions, can create a hazardous atmosphere due to the generation of carbon monoxide (CO). After a mine disaster, contaminated mine air can enter the refuge alternative (RA) as miners enter. Most built-in-place (BIP) RAs use an air delivery system to provide an unlimited supply of breathable air through a borehole which also serves to purge contaminants. In order to determine what levels of contaminants enter the RA, researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted testing in NIOSH’s Pittsburgh Experimental Mine using groups of 5, 15, and 30 subjects entering the RA. The experiment used sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as a tracer gas that was released into the air outside of the BIP RA to establish a uniform concentration. After the human subjects entered the BIP RA, the SF6 levels inside the RA were measured to quantify how much of the tracer gas entered the BIP RA. In tests conducted while the borehole air supply was left off as test subjects entered, interior contaminant levels were less than 3% of the exterior concentration. In tests conducted with the borehole air supply activated as test subjects entered, the interior contaminant levels were measured at less than 2% of the exterior concentration. Considering a mine disaster can result in 10,000 ppm of CO in the mine atmosphere, these percentages indicate that unhealthy CO concentrations that may lead to headaches, dizziness, and loss of judgement can occur in a BIP RA. This information will help mines make decisions concerning air locks, air delivery systems and a determination if purging mechanisms are necessary. INTRODUCTION The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act) was enacted in the wake of three mine explosions/fires that claimed 19 lives that year. Intended to help improve underground coal mine accident preparedness, the MINER Act includes provisions that target mine safety issues in areas such as emergency response planning, adoption of new technology, training and education, and enforcement of mine safety standards (MSHA, 2006). Section 13 of the MINER Act specifically directs the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to provide for research into the effectiveness and viability of RAs for underground coal mines. This mandate culminated in the 2009 adoption of changes to the 30 CFR mining health and safety regulations, requiring underground coal mines to provide RAs capable of maintaining a life-sustaining environment for persons trapped underground. Such RAs can be either pre-fabricated or BIP shelters. The regulatory changes also include provisions establishing requirements for Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) approval of RAs and their components, and among these provisions are numerous criteria for providing a safe, breathable atmosphere within RAs."

Jan 1, 2018

The process design of a metallurgical plant follows logical steps, one built on another, to define the circuit requirements. The methodology used and documentation produced is the same for a pre-feasibility study, feasibility study or a complete design, regardless of the process complexity or the commodity. The only difference is the amount of detail developed at each stage. SRK Consulting, an independent, international consulting practice that provides focused advice and solutions to clients, mainly from earth and water resource industries, has consulted on many mining projects around the world. The company was formed in 1974 and now employs more than 1,600 professionals in more than 50 offices on six continents. According to SRK experts, the first element in plant design is collecting metallurgical testwork or operating data from an existing plant. The testwork identifies the process, the metallurgical recoveries and product qualities and establishes the process parameters for economic recovery of the commodity. Test samples must represent both the whole orebody and the feed over the life of the mine, showing the mineral?s variability. With this data available, the process design can be developed.

May 1, 2013

By John Relser

The production processes that are developed in the mining and minerals industry are manufactured to be exposed to very aggressive environments. Chemical, abrasion, and impact expose structures and equipment, steel or concrete, to a significant deterioration. This causes damage and adds high costs to operations that can be reflected in the destruction of equipment and structures in the arrest of the production process, which becomes very costly. Also, there is the potential for personnel accidents, which would require large sums of compensation for an employee, thus directly harming the image of the mining operation and company. Manufacturers of paints and coatings that have major centers for research and development (R&D Labs) distributed globally have developed high-tech products for durable protection from the elements for structures and equipment used in the mining industry. The difference between these paintings and coatings and what is normally known as conventional paints (e.g., those called domestic or decorative), is its chemical composition, structured around polymeric components that have highly resistant, chemical and physical properties to cope with extreme conditions to which they are exposed. With this, and only this, longer life of components can be achieved for equipment and structures used in the production processes of the mining industry. Today, in addition to the important features mentioned, some manufacturers of the paints and coatings dedicated to this highly modernized process have invested large sums of money in developing new products that add operational elements to the painting process. These coatings provide added value and significant performance to companies mining operations and that we can describe in three fundamental concepts:

Feb 1, 2014

By B. C. Litzinger

Minerações Brasileiras Reunidas S.A. - MBR is a brazilian iron ore mining company geared for the export market. It is controlled by Companhia Auxiliar de Empresas de Minerações - CAEMI through its subsidiary Empreendimentos Brasi leiros de Minerações - EBM which holds 51% in MBR and is formed by CAEMI, the six major japanese steelmills and five japanese trading companies, Universe Tankships, Inc., and Indústria e Comércio de Minérios S.A. - ICOMI. The remaining 49% of MBR's capital are held by St. John del Rey Mining Company, a subsidiary of The Hanna Mining Company. MBR iron ore reserves exceed 1.5 billion tons of high grade ore distributed in 36 deposits located in the so-called IRON QUADRANGLE in the State of Minas Gerais. The Aguas Claras Mine is the largest presently known and highest grade deposit owned by MBR. Other mines such as Pico, Mutuca and Jangada are in operation at a combined rate of production of about 2 to 2. 5 million tons per year. The project consists of mine, railroad and marine terminal (slide). The Aguas Claras deposit, which is located about six kilometers southeast of Belo Horizonte the Capital of Minas Gerais, was selected for initial development. The Sistema Regional Centro of the Rede Ferroviária Federal, through its 6th Division known as the "Central " is responsible for the transportation of MBR ore, and provided the necessary railway construction to connect Mine and Terminal. The Terminal is located on Guaiba Island near the entrance to Sepetiba Bay, at about 120 kilometers west of Rio de Janeiro.

Jan 1, 1974

By Luis Fernandez-Deza, James Hawn, Dustin Mount, Jean-Marc Wehrli

The RiverRenew Tunnel System project in Alexandria, VA forms part of a CSO scheme aimed at reducing overflows of combined stormwater and sewage into the Potomac River during storm events. A major piece of the project is a 12-foot internal diameter tunnel of approximately 12,000 feet length lined with a single-pass precast concrete segmental liner and excavated by an Earth-Pressure Balanced Shield TBM. The tunnel lies between 120 to 140 feet below grade in the clays of the Upper Potomac Formation with occasional dips of more granular, saturated soils of the Terrace Formation and the Alluvium. The TBM is launched from a figure-8 configuration Pumping/Screening Shaft located within AlexRenew’s operational Water Resource Recovery Facility. This paper discusses the challenges encountered during the launch of the TBM in short mode within a highly congested site and from narrow deep shafts.

Jun 13, 2023

By G. W. R. Kuzyk

The Underground Research Laboratory (URL) , a major geotechnical research facility, is currently being developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) , 120 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. The URL is part of the Canadian Nuclear Fuel Waste Management Program, which is assessing the concept of nuclear fuel waste disposal in a vault deep in stable plutonic rock of the Canadian Shield (Simmons, 1986). Comprehensive geotechnical research and development activities are being carried out in conjunction with excavation? and construction of the underground facilities.

Jan 1, 1989

By Kwangmin Kim, Taehee Lee, Minkyu Kim, JUNHYEOK PARK

Mine tailings storage facilities (TSFs) can be a significant source of fine, respirable dust. About 25 percent of the mass fraction of tailings from a hard-rock mine consists of particles of a respirable size (smaller than 10 μm) [1]. This dust poses concerns, especially for nearby communities, because of its detrimental impact on respiratory health. Respirable tailings dust, primarily composed of quartz or free silica (SiO2), may cause silicosis, chronic pulmonary disease, bronchitis, collagen vascular diseases, and chronic granulomatous infections [2]. 

"The 33rd annual American Mining Hall of Fame Awards Banquet and Fundraiser sponsored by the Mining Foundation of the Southwest (MFSW) will be held at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015. Each year, one living Hall of Fame inductee, two Medal of Merit recipients, several honorees from Mining’s Past, an Industry Partnership Award and a Special Citation are recognized for their respective contributions to the mining industry.Conrad E. Huss, cofounder of M3 Engineering & Technology Corp. located in Tucson, AZ, will be honored as the 2015 Hall of Fame Inductee and will serve as the keynote speaker at the awards banquet. Huss has served his company as chairman of the board for its entire 30 years and guided M3 to become a full discipline firm. Now M3 offers complete project execution through engineering, procurement and construction management procedure and has become a major engineer of large observatories around the world. The company now has more than 1,000 employees with offices in Arizona, North Carolina, Mexico, Argentina and is incorporated in Guatemala, Peru and Canada.The Medal of Merit will be awarded to Charles Michael (Mick) Lownds, founder of his eponymous consulting firm in Salt Lake City, UT, for his 42 years in commercial explosives following tenure at Sasol and at Orica. Originally from South Africa, Lownds immigrated to the United States in 1998 and has made significant advancement on electronic initiation systems. Lownds has published numerous technical papers, is an inventor with 12 awarded United States patents and was also the recipient of the President’s Award from the International Society of Explosives Engineers in 2000.Medal of Merit for young professionals will be awarded to Fiorella Giana, Freeport- McMoRan Inc.’s (FCX) mine manager at Bagdad. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Giana left the small cattle farm where she was raised in 2001 to pursue higher education in the United States. For the past decade at FCX, as a result of her extraordinary combination of technical skill, leadership and commitment to excellence, she has been given positions of progressively greater responsibility from an entry level engineer to senior mine engineer, to chief engineer and now as mine manager, a position rarely held by woman."

Jan 1, 2015

In subterranean mining operations, access to communication networks deep underground is critical for transporting data, voice and video, and other supporting applications that are essential for efficient and safe operations. Whether accessing sophisticated ERP or maintenance management systems, engaging in fleet management, video surveillance, or access control, or protecting miners with wireless locator systems, these networks serve as a literal lifeline between workers deep within mines and surface operations. For this, mining networks require more than permanently installed network cabling, it also requires unique deployable systems designed for quick installation, extension and even relocation as the active mine site area moves, or equipment is moved in and out.

Mar 1, 2014

By Andrew Hall

Many Latin American countries are facing a scarcity of water. As such, infrastructure decisions are quite different from those made in parts of the world that experience a positive water balance. In the latter case, the water treatment approach tends to be ?treat and discharge.? For Latin American regions facing the challenges that go with a negative water balance, the focus is on resource optimization and reuse. Historically, the water challenge has had a significant impact on economic development in Latin America, especially in sectors such as mining, where water usage is high. At the same time, countries such as Chile and Brazil are major development targets for mining and oil and gas operations. Given the water supply challenge, industry is increasingly turning to technologies and processes that maximize water recovery and reuse. With sulfide precipitation and ion exchange water treatment processes for example, it is possible to treat and recover more than 99 percent of water for reuse onsite. These technologies have been applied successfully in other regions of the world where water conservation practices are essential to economic survival.

Jan 1, 2012

"The 35th Annual American Mining Hall of Fame Awards Banquet and Fundraiser, sponsored by the Mining Foundation of the Southwest (MFSW), will be held at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017. This year, the Foundation will honor one living Hall of Fame inductee, two Medal of Merit recipients, four honorees from Mining’s Past and an Industry Partner for their respective contributions to the mining industry.Gary J. Goldberg will be the 2017 Hall of Fame Inductee and will serve as the keynote speaker at the awards banquet. Goldberg was appointed president and chief executive officer and joined the board of directors of Newmont Mining Corp. in March 2013. Prior to this appointment, he served numerous companies in key positions including Rio Tinto Minerals, US Borax and Coal & Allied Industries. At every appointment, he was able to improve safety concerns and reduce injury rates. While serving as chairman of the National Mining Association, Goldberg launched the CORESafety initiative and US Borax was the first mining company to receive the California Governor’s Environmental and Economic Award.The Medal of Merit will be awarded to John C. Lacy, a shareholder of DeConcini McDonald Yetwin & Lacy, P.C. and a director of the Global Law Center at the University of Arizona’s Law School. Lacy’s law practice concentrates on mining and public land law and encompasses transactional and title consideration involving acquisition of mineral rights. He played a crucial role in the revisions to the mining law of the Republic of Bolivia and the English translation of the mining laws and regulations of Mexico. Lacy’s expertise in mining law impelled the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law to approach him to head the new Global Mining Law Center in 2015. The program now partners with the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources and offers cross-listing of courses"

Jan 10, 2017

"The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum (NMHF&M) announced the 2015 National Mining Hall of Fame inductees and the 2015 Prazen Award winner. This year’s inductees, selected by the National Mining Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors, represent the technology, management, mineral policy, education and health and safety aspects of the mining industry. They envelope a diverse cross section of the mining industry and were selected for being visionaries, leaders, educators and ambassadors.In 2015, Frank F. Aplan, T S Ary, Ralph E. Bailey, John Campbell Greenway and Edward Steidle will join 227 other mining industry honorees when formally inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame. The Prazen Living Legend of Mining Award will go to the Powell River Project Research and Education Center, a partnership of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and the Appalachian coal mining industry.The 2015 annual induction banquet and ceremony will be the 28th such event and will be held this year in Pittsburgh, PA, on Oct. 23, 2015, in the Omni William Penn Hotel ballroom.2015 National Mining Hall of Fame inductees:Frank F. Aplan is among the most influential mineral processing leaders in both industry and academia. His studies of the processes involved in the preparation of coal and mineral ores are acknowledged worldwide for their broad applicability. An authority on flotation, Aplan is especially known for his studies of the wetting of solids and their control through the adsorption of surfactant films, and for his work on atomic defects on properties and behavior of solid-liquid interfaces."

Jan 1, 2015

By Matthew Deutsch

A common casualty of modern openpit mine optimization is the assurance that the resulting design is actually achievable. Optimized mine plans that consider value and a bare minimum of precedence constraints do not, in general, translate into practical, operational mine designs that can be used in the field. Ultimate pits may come to a sharp point at the bottom. Schedules may require taking small parcels of material from many disparate areas of the pit in a single period, and grade control polygons may be ragged, narrow and not minable with realistic equipment. In this paper, these three fundamental openpit mine optimization problems are addressed by encoding them as maximum satisfiability problems. Maximum satisfiability provides a useful framework for problems that are nonlinear and may guarantee the optimality that metaheuristics cannot.

By W. L. Wilson

This article could be entitled "The Rediscovery of the Windfall Mine," since it was originally discovered early in this century. The "Rediscovery" was made by personnel of Idaho Mining Corp. during the course of an investigation of the Windfall mine beginning in 1967. There had been historic production from the Windfall mine sporadically from 1908 until 1951 and there was present during much of this time a mill that vat leached crushed ore. Mining was underground to a depth of 91 m (300 ft). Prior to Idaho's activities, the mine had been inactive since the early 1950s. Idaho Mining Corp. was an "exploration company," privately owned and based in Reno, NV. The writer was at that time manager of exploration for Idaho Mining. The company held interests in the Cortez Gold mine, then being readied for production, and had conducted exploration for various mineral commodities in Nevada for several years. Idaho's attention was first directed to the Windfall mine in the Eureka District, Eureka County, Nevada (see Fig. 1, Nevada map) by a search of published geologic literature of the state of Nevada. An attempt was made to acquire a library consisting of all of the published geo-data for the state of Nevada as well as to obtain as much of the unpublished material as could be acquired. A study of these data, and in particular Tom Nolan's Professional Paper 406 (1962), indicated that the Windfall mine was anomalous for the Eureka District in that it contained deposits of disseminated gold. This source and other sources indicated that the Windfall had produced from underground operations approximately 59 kt (65,000 tons) grading 12.6 g/t (0.368 oz per ton) gold ore that was processed in a vat leaching operation and that the gold was "invisible" to the naked eye and could not be panned. It was ascertained that there were no active operations near the mine and a geologic reconnaissance was made and a few samples were taken to attempt to determine if the mineralization was indeed disseminated. The initial group of samples around the mine area averaged 1.25 ppm [11.5 g/t gold (0.036 oz per ton)] and the mineralization did appear to disseminate into the wallrock. The next step involved researching the ownership of property in the immediate area of the mine, and [ ] a property map was constructed that showed six or seven different ownerships of patented and unpatented claims, as well as some open ground, in the target area. Negotiations were commenced with the claim owners, ultimately resulting in the acquisition of all of the desired property, although some of

Jan 1, 1990

For the past two years, Cliffs Natural Resources in Minnesota has tried an experiment: it has staffed a booth at the Iron Range Earth Fest. ?It was a little unusual for a mining company to participate in an event that centers around preserving the Earth?s resources,? said Julie Lucas, environmental manager at Hibbing Taconite Company. ?But Cliffs is a sustainable company and we want to take every opportunity to share information about our practices. We found the response to be overwhelmingly positive.? Cliffs? outreach effort is just one of the surprising ways mining companies across Minnesota are reaching out to stakeholders and finding success. The 85th annual SME Minnesota Section Meeting (73rd Annual University of Minnesota Mining Symposium), held April 17-18 in Duluth, MN, demonstrated the Minnesota mining community?s commitment to connection and collaboration, and how that approach is bringing success.

Jan 1, 2012