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By Staff

In 2012, the estimated value of mineral production increased in the United States for the third consecutive year. Production and prices increased for most industrial mineral commodities mined in the United States. While production for most metals remained relatively unchanged, with the notable exception of gold, the prices for most metals declined. Minerals remained fundamental to the U.S. economy, contributing to the real gross domestic product (GDP) at several levels, including mining, processing and manufacturing finished products. Minerals? contribution to the GDP increased for the second consecutive year. Trends in other sectors of the domestic economy were similar to those in mineral production and consumption rates (Table 1). After continued decline following the 2008-2009 recession, the construction industry began to show signs of improvement late in 2011 and throughout 2012, with increased production and consumption of cement, construction sand and gravel, crushed stone and gypsum, mineral commodities that are used almost exclusively in construction.

May 1, 2013

By Diego Ruben Martin

Este trabalho objetivou comparar, por meio de experimentos desenvolvidos em uma fundição, através da adição de três inoculantes diferentes (IM-22 com FeSi-Ba/Zr, G 20 com FeSi-Ba) e IMSR 75 com FeSi-Sr), para observar as características da vida util de ferramentas na usinabilidade das peças, microestrutura e propriedade mecânica. A metodologia da pesquisa se baseou em analisar principalmente pelo processo de fresamento o ferro fundido cinzento GG-25 inoculado diferentemente, denominado de acordo com a Norma DIN EN 1561. As formas de avaliação dos resultados terão como base uma análise quanto ao desgaste da ferramenta, acabamento superficial, análise microestrutural, composição química e propriedades mecânicas do material da peça. Os resultados mostraram que dentre os inoculantes aplicados o com Sulfeto de Estrôncio (SrS) apresentou-se mais estável termodinamicamente que as amostras inoculadas com os outros dois inoculantes, pois ele levou a uma variação da energia livre de Gibbs mais negativa e portanto mais favorável a formação de núcleos com raio crítico (rc) maiores, o que permitirá uma solidificação com nucleação heterogênea. Todavia o respectivo inoculante também foi mais eficiente na formação de uma microestrutura mais estável, com maiores quantidades de células eutéticas e vida útil do inserto mais longa quando usinado.

Aug 16, 2017

By D G. Rantucci

Organic carbon is a major ore contaminant at MMG’s Century mine. This carbonaceous matter is associated with shale hosted sphalerite mineralisation. It occurs as elongated lamellae and as inclusions in porous sphalerite aggregates which are fine grained and difficult to liberate from sphalerite. The carbon prefloat circuit was designed to remove the liberated organic carbon in order to mitigate excessive reagent consumption, contamination of the lead and zinc concentrates and poor flotation performance in the primary zinc circuit. The consequence of organic carbon removal is that sphalerite and galena minerals are lost to the prefloat concentrate. A Jameson Cell was installed in late 2005 as a prefloat cleaner cell. Operational experience showed that the cell became capacity limited during periods of high amounts of organic carbon in the feed and was subsequently bypassed.Reactive style operating strategies were implemented to manage the effects of insufficient organic carbon removal by the prefloat circuit but due to the relatively large circuit residence time, upstream changes meant hours before the downstream circuits were stabilised following a disturbance from excess carbon.This paper describes the modifications and testwork undertaken to enable the Jameson Cell to be operated during periods of high organic carbon in the float feed and the implementation of process control initiatives to proactively remove the required prefloat mass from the float feed to eliminate the reactive style operating strategy.The process control modifications centred on dynamically targeting a prefloat mass recovery determined by an equation relating the carbon to zinc ratio to the carbon prefloat mass as a percentage of the float feed. The equation was developed by analysing historical data. These improvements served to optimise the prefloat circuit and consequently stabilise the downstream lead and zinc circuits.

Aug 8, 2011

1. Book review . Australasian coal mining practice, edited by C.H. Martin. Reviewer: R.B. MacGilIivray This book is an extremely comprehensive coverage of coal-mining practice in Australasia, the countries covered being Australia, New Zealand,and Papua New Guinea. 2. From The Institute of Metals The folowing are available from The Institute of Metals, 1 Carlton House Terace, London SWl Y 5DB. Physical and elastic characterisation, edited by M. McLean. 1989. 228 pp. £25.00. High nitrogen steels, edited by J. Foct and A. Hendry. 1989. 461 pp. £49.50. Proceedings of the First International Calcium Treatment Symposium. 1988. 116 pp. £15. New cored-wire injection techniques, particularly as Design for recyc/ability, by Michael E. Henstock. 1988. 150 pp. £15. Solidification processing. 1988. 549 pp. £45. Marine engineering with copper-nickel. 1988. 103 pp. £18. Characterisation of High Temperature Materials. 3. New journal FMJ International Publications Lid have announced a new quarterly publication, Aluminium Today. 4. Other new publications Algorithms in real algebraic geometry, edited by Denis S. Arnon and Bruno Buchberger. London, Academic Press, 1988. 274 pp. £15.95. Proceedings, Foundry and Heat Treatment 88. R150 per set of 5 volumes, or R40 per volume.

Jan 1, 1989

By Dan Adams, Thomas Post, Paul Kubera, Mike Preston

Mixing is a common unit operation in the mining industry. Mixers are often used in agitated leach, bio-oxidation, and pressure oxidation. In all of these cases it is important to understand the application and what it requires from a mixer in order to be opti­mized. In the mining industJy, it is obviously important to suspend solids. However, the shear level of each of these three applications is ve1y different. In acid leaching, the mixer needs to suspend solids and produce a good degree of blending. In pressure oxida­tion, the agitator must also disperse air or oxygen by creating fine bubbles. Because of the presence of microorganisms, bio-oxida­tion requires less shear than the other two processes, but the agita­tor must be able to suspend the solids, provide excellent blend­ing/heat tJ·ansfer and distribute the air. Thus, in the mining indus­tiy there is an application spectJ·um that requires different impellers to perfotm different jobs. Specifically, these jobs are blending, solids suspension, gas dispersion, mass transfer and heat transfer. It is important to determine whether the process is mass transfer or kinetic rate limited. Mixers affect a mass transfer limitation but have no affect on the kinetics.

Jan 1, 1998

By A. Giblett, J. Shuttleworth, R. Dunne

In a previous paper (Dunne, Martins, Goulsbra, Chittenden 1997), the new gravity circuits at Telfer Gold Mine, which incor­porate Knelson centrifugal separators in both the sulphide and oxides, are described. The advantages of the new circuits over the replaced spiral ( oxide circuit) and jig (sulphide circuit) were discussed, as were the improvements in gravity gold recovety. It is of note that the installation of the centrifugal separators in themselves did not result in increased gold recovery. The realisa­tion that changes in gold room practices are required to take advan­tage of the increased fine gold recovery from the Knelson concen­trator was an important step towards improved gravity gold recov­ery. This was achieved by increasing the time taken to treat the Knelson concentrate on the shaking table in the gold room. Although this increased gold recove1y, it was found that the table tailings, especially from the sulphide circuit, still contained high values of gold. In an effort to ascertain ways in which gravity gold recovery could be fu1iher improved, a sample of the sulphide table tailings was sent to the Oretest Laboratory in Perth for testwork. The results from this program are discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 1998

By R. Ichimura

This paper summarizes the results of a five-year project, which aimed at improving the current method to process the arsenic-bearing smelter dust of El Teniente. This project, which was started in 2001, was carried out jointly by JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation) and CIMM (Centro de Investigación Minera y Metalurgica, Chile), and was financially supported by the Japanese and the Chilean governments. In the new process, the smelter dust is leached with sulfuric acid to dissolve arsenic, which is subsequently precipitated as crystalline ferric arsenate (scorodite) at ambient pressure by controlling the crystallization and crystal growing stage. As a result, a stable form of ferric arsenate is obtained, which passes the U.S. E.P.A. TCLP limit of 5 mg/L As. Copper and zinc are subsequently recovered from the arsenic-free solution. The copper product can be fed into the main copper production circuit at the Las Ventanas Smelter and Refinery, whereas zinc is recovered as a marketable product. A demonstration plant was installed and operated at CODELCO's Las Ventanas Smelter and Refinery. The basic and detailed engineering design was prepared by Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd (MMS) on the basis of a joint study done by JOGMEC, CIMM and CODELCO's Las Ventanas Division.

Jan 1, 2007

By Naim Noori Samie

Lateral force rsistance of piles is analytically investigated by dividing the pile length to 3 segments. The first segment (Zone I) models the load eccentricity with respect to the soil and the pile-deck connection, using a third degree differential equation representing the shear variation along the pile. The soil is assumed to be uniform, homogeneous with an elastic-perfectly plastic behavior. The Top soil layer (Zone II) is assumed to be stressed beyond the elastic limit. A simple 4th degree differential equation represents this zone. The soil resistance is assumed to vary linearly with depth (or surcharge). The pile deformation and soil behavior determines the plastic zone length. In zone III the soil is assumed to behave elastically, hence its resistance is proportional to its deformation. A linear 4th degree differential equation is employed in this zone. The compatibility conditions are satisfied on each boundary. Maximum allowable moment and shear are investigated throughout the pile as the basic limiting criteria on lateral force capacity. In this paper the soil coefficients are taken from a proposal by ref(3), and the results are compared with the soil response as determined by the P-Y method as recommended by ref(2).

Jan 1, 1996

By P. K. Kankar, Manoj Khandelwal, Ramesht Shukla

One of the utmost severe mining catastrophes in underground hard rock mines is rock burst phenomena. It can lead to damage to mine openings and equipment as well as trigger accidents or even threat to life as well. Due to this, a number of researchers are forced to study some easy-to-use alternative methods to predict the rock burst occurrence. Nevertheless, due to the extremely multifaceted relation between mechanical, geological and geometric factors of the mines, the conventional prediction methods are not able to produce accurate results. With the expansion of machine learning methods, a revolution in the rock burst occurrence has become imaginable. In present study, three machine learning methods, namely XGBoost, decision tree and support vector machine, are utilized to predict the occurrence of rock burst in various underground projects. A total of 134 rock burst events were gathered together from various published literatures comprising maximum tangential stress (MTS), elastic energy index (EEI), uniaxial compressive strength and uniaxial tensile stress (UTS) that have been used to develop various machine learning models. The performance of machine learning methods is evaluated based on the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the rock burst prediction.

Mar 17, 2021

By George H. Davis

The Caribou sulfide deposit near Bathurst, New Brunswick (Figure 1) is illustrative of one variety of strata-bound sulfide deposits. It consists of numerous near-vertical sulfide lenses which are concordant to the foliation and lithologic layering of low-grade metamorphic host rocks. Pyrite is the chief mineral in these lenses, but appreciable quantities of sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena are also present. Rocks in the Caribou mine area belong to the Tetagouche Group of Ordovician age. They consist chiefly of (1) quartz-sericite and quartz- sericite- feldspar schists, (2) greenschists, and (3) slate and phyllite. The trends of these steeply dipping rocks define the trace of a tight, steeply plunging fold structure, the Caribou fold (Figure 2). This fold plunges approximately 750 to the north-northwest; its axial plane strikes N.20°E. and dips steeply westward. Sulfide lenses of the Caribou deposit are associated spatially with the Caribou fold. The deposit is located in the fold along the contact between quartz-sericite and quartz-sericite-feldspar schists on the hanging wall and quartz-chlorite-sericite phyllites and graphitic schist on the footwall (Figure 3). Genesis of the Caribou deposit is ambiguous because its strata-bound form suggests syngenetic sulfide deposition, whereas its location within a fold suggests structurally controlled epigenetic mineralization. Acceptability of a particular genetic model rests on establishing the time of mineralization relative to deposition, deformation, and metamorphism of the associated rocks. To establish the timing for Caribou mineralization, the deformational histories of rock and sulfide, respectively, were compared. Epigenetic and syngenetic models can be tested against this interpreted structural history of the Caribou deposit.

Jan 1, 1971

By B Wu, B W. Lei, B J. Duan

When a coalmine fire occurs, it is crucial to judge the developing trends inside the fire area by analysing the changes of gas concentration in order to formulate the proper rescue measures. At present, few researchers have focused on the relationship between the changing trend of gas product and basic characteristics of fire in the coal fire extinguishing process. To study the relationship of basic characteristics of coalmine fire during the extinguishing process, an experimental platform for coal combustion in a confined space was built, and gas production, flame image and coal temperature during the extinguishing process were monitored and analysed by an online continuous gas analysis instrument, camera and thermocouple. Research shows that during the burning phase of the coal sample in the confined space, the flame zone decreases gradually due to insufficient gas supply. The size of the flame zone fluctuates and shares a positive correlation with CO concentration, while sharing a negative correlation with O2 and CO2 concentrations. Then, in the extinguishing phase, the increasing rate of CO2 concentration and the decreasing rate of O2 concentration both decrease gradually, but CO concentration would rise for a period before it eventually decreases. Coal temperature continues to rise in the open flame stage and does not go down until the flame is extinguished.CITATION:Lei, B W, Wu, B and Duan, B J, 2015. Experimental study on extinguishing characteristics of coal fire in confined space, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 279–284 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

By H. Dreissen

Upgrading of low-concentration ores is of growing importance today. The Heavy Medium Cyclone Process, thanks to strong centrifugal forces, effectively separates particles varying only slightly in specific gravity but widely in size. The paper discusses the separation efficiency, the method of assessing that efficiency, and the influence of such factors as medium solids. The operating results of nine heavy medium cyclone plants handling following minerals are reported: barite, wolfram, iron, magnesite, diamond, lead-zinc, fluorspar, rocksalt potash. Highlighted are an improved recovery system for heavy medium and some other developments, such as techniques for separation down to 0.1mm and the application in the field of recycling.

Jan 1, 1980

By A Dunne, R Kruger, H Coleman, P G. Laurens

External and internal challenges in mining are increasing the difficulty and complexity of operating mines. The external mining environment has a big impact on mining operations and is driving the focus on safety, sustainable mining, green issues, profitability and productivity. There is a very high emphasis on ‘reducing cost to improve’, lower mining and beneficiation costs by eliminating waste/inefficiencies (reduce people, use less consumables, multiskilling, etc). The internal mining environment is getting tougher to operate in, with the deposits being more difficult to mine, more difficult to manage due to external pressure along with issues associated with maintaining quality, etc.Technological and environmental developments too numerous to mention, mean that cost control models, reduction in human resource numbers, as well as other drastic measures to curtail expenditure and increase profitability have become part of everyday business. The capability to manage the mining environment in a systemic manner has been lacking and this increases the pressure for performance on those individuals operating and managing mines.Working smarter has become crucial to ensure that businesses optimise the use of their resources, become more safety conscious, more productive and remain cost-effective, while recognising the importance of sustainable mining now and in the future. The logic of determining and managing to the capability of the mining value chain will be examined and the underlying assumptions or beliefs guiding behaviour and decision-making will be highlighted.In order to identify the obstacles in the mining value chain that hinder achievement of its full potential, the following questions have to be asked:What are the factors that influence the performance of a mining value chain?What is the design capacity of the mine?How can the inherent flow and value capacity of a mine be determined?What types of solutions will allow a mine to operate at its inherent flow and value capacity?This article will discuss the way we plan, measure, assess and manage the mine value chain, by addressing the following factors:balanced capacity versus flow and value capacity designthe use of averagingoptimising individual components in a value chain versus optimising the whole value chain.Optimising flow and value through the mining value chain is one of the three pillars of Mineral Resource Throughput Management (MR™). MR™ is an entrenched and academically supported philosophy that has been successfully applied in the past decade in various mines throughout the world by EXXPLEO, a mining and beneficiation consulting company. EXXPLEO has partnered with HCL (a global IT company) to embed the MR™ philosophy, methodology and toolsets into a formal software product called Synchronised Digital Mining (SDM). The SDM system will provide mining companies with a sustainable platform to effectively apply the MR™ principles and toolsets effectively across all operations targeting increased productivity, efficiency and profitability without having to train operations and management staff into expert MR™ practitioners to successfully achieve the desired results.CITATION:Dunne, A, Laurens, P G, Kruger, R and Coleman, H, 2015. Optimising flow in the mining value chain, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 437–442 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

By M. H. Kline

The Scarlet mine, in Randolph County, N. C., was operated on a small scale at intervals from 1899 to 1915, but no records of the quantity of ore produced are available. J. I. Moore unwatered the mine in March 1948, and Bureau of Mines' engineers examined the underground workings. Several assays checked previous sampling of the mine and indicated a small but comparatively high-grade copper-zinc deposit. The high metal content of the veins and the possibility of developing additional reserves prompted the Bureau of-Mines to drill three holes, totaling 530 feet, at the deposit during March and April 1948. Drilling disclosed that the mineralized vein did not extend over 300 feet along the strike and is probably limited in depth to the contact with the granite mylonite.

Jan 1, 1949

By J. F. Kemp

The use of nickel-steel has directed increasing interest of late towards the deposits of nickel, and at the same time the parallel advance in our knowledge of the basic igneous rocks has rendered these deposits a subject of important geological inquiry. Investigations have led to some views, more or less new, on the igneous origin of certain ores, which, though not universally accepted, have a growing number of adherents. In Europe, the mines in Norway have been especially suggestive subjects of study, and others somewhat less generally known have also added their testimony; while in this country the great economic importance and scientific interest of the developments in the Sudbury district of Canada, have furnished the principal texts for the discourses that have appeared among us. The purpose of the present paper is to set forth these views through the medium of one interesting ore-body, of which but little has been written ; and, by the description of another, to place in contrast two different geological associations in which nickeliferous pyrrhotite occurs, and to indicate a generalization, based upon these different geological characters, and justified by the experience so far gained. To Prof. J. H. L. Vogt, of Christiania, Norway, is due the chief credit for the revival of interest in the geology of nickel. His important contributions* of recent date have made generally available

Jan 1, 1895

By Musbah A. Hasan, Ahmed M. Nasr, Fauzi Jarushi

Many transmission towers, high-rise buildings and bridges are supported by piles. These structures may be subjected to large lateral loads. Therefore, experimental investigations on model piles under lateral loads were conducted in uniform dry sand. Small-scale model tests were carried out considering the influence of pile length, pile diameter, sand density, roughness of pile surface and vertical load on the lateral resistance of a pile. Furthermore, the effect of pile load eccentricity (e/L) on the ultimate lateral resistance was studied. Investigations, of the influence of various parameters on the magnitude of the coefficient of subgrade reaction (nh), were also performed. It was found that the lateral load capacity of piles increases with increase in pile length, pile diameter, pile surface roughness and increase in the sand density. The results also showed that the coefficient of horizontal modulus of subgrade reaction, (nh), decreases with deflection increase. From the results, the coefficient of subgrade reaction for a smooth pile embedded in medium dense sand would decrease by (134%) when the lateral pile head deflection (yg) changes from (2% to 5%) of pile diameter.

Jan 1, 2017

By M. F. Ameur, M. Habak, H. Aouici, M. Kenane

Present study interest by aluminium alloy (Al 7175-T5173) drilled without cooling fluid. The influence of the machining parameters (spindle speed and feed rate) on the holes quality was analyzed. Drilling tools are made of carbide (WC); high speed steel (HSS) and TiN coated carbide (WC-Ti).The Experiment design was reinforced by the application of statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA).The results show that the thrust force is influenced principally by the spindle speed and feed rate. Though, both feed rate and tool materials have statistical significance on the surface roughness. In addition, the objective of correlations between spindle speed and feed rate with the evolution of the machining parameters was established. These correlations were obtained by quadratic regression using the response surface methodology. Finally, useful to select optimum values of drilling parameters, that would minimize thrust force, torque, cutting temperature and surface roughness.

Jan 1, 2015

By J. Doucet, C. Price

In an industrial setting, operational changes are continually introduced, driven by new technologies or changing economics. Because of day-to-day variability, quantifying the impact of these changes based on metallurgical performance requires long trial periods to achieve statistically significant results. Tools and techniques developed by the mineral processing group at McGill University have allowed for direct measurement of process variables (e.g., bubble size, gas and solid holdup). Two case studies are described where direct measurement techniques were used to evaluate: a) a new rotor stator mechanism; and b ), the introduction of a new frother type. Application of these methods has accelerated the evaluation of process changes and improved confidence in results.

Jan 1, 2009

By H. M. Brennecke

A new hydrometallurgical process has been developed to recover copper from sulfide ores. Copper is leached in a staged reactor system utilizing nitric and sulfuric acids at 105°C. Iron is removed from the pregnant liquor as a jarosite and cathode copper is electrowon directly from the purified pregnant liquor. The spent electrolyte is recycled. Nitrogen oxides evolved from the leach are reconverted to nitric acid and are also recycled. Sulfur is rejected as S°, jarosite and gypsum. The process is highly versatile and can recover precious metals, molybdenum and zinc, when these elements are present. Continuous, integrated, semi-pilot plant operations using chalcopyrite ores demonstrated 99% copper leaching and production of cathode grade copper. Economic evaluation shows that the process is competitive with pyrometallurgical and other hydrometallurgical processes.

Jan 1, 1978

By R. Marandi

The effective removal of heavy metals from aqueous wastes is among the most important issues for many industrialized countries, How ever biosorption, i.e. the uptake of heavy metals by non- living biomass, has gained increased credibility during recent years. Biosorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution, on pretreated and immobilized Aspergillus niger was investigated in a batch and countinuous reactors. A.niger biomass pretreated by boiling in 0.5 N NaOH solution for 15 min, exhibited higher Cr(VI) removal capacity than autoclaved biomass. The optimum adsorption pH value observed for Cr(VI) ions was 2. The Cr(VI)removal rate increased with a decrease in pH. The influence of contact time, pH, Cr(VI) concentration, biomass concentration and temperature on Cr(VI) removal were also evaluated. Biosorption of Cr(VI) on pretreated biomass followed the Freundlich and Langmuir adsorption models.In this study A.niger biomass was immobilized in Na-alginate matrix. The biomass beads packed in a column were able to remove metal ions.In this study we used two different flow rate in a column, 1.5 mL/min and 3 mL/min.The breakthrough data obtained for Cr(VI) was adequately by the Thomas and Yan models and the adsorption capacity of the biomass was found to less than the adsorption capacity obtaind in the batch study. When the beads containing biomass become saturated with metal ions, the adsorbed metals were eluted using 0.5 N NaOH solution. Therefor nearly 90% of Cr(VI) was desorbed by NaOH solution.

Jan 1, 2014