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By Christine Alexander

Twenty years ago, the northern Oquirrh Mountains overlooking Salt Lake City were bare. Heavy logging and overgrazing combined with erosion and uncontrolled forest fires had severely denuded the mountains by the turn of the century. As a final coup de grace, a copper smelter was built there in 1906, and for the next 50 years its sulfurous fumes killed off what little vegetation remained. In 1956, Paul Rokich, a biology student at the Univer¬sity of Utah, started to surreptitiously restore the mountains. For the next 17 years, Rokich devoted his spare time and money to replanting the Oquirrhs, with the result that several thousand acres of the mountains are green again, and animals have returned: deer, elk, and rabbits thrive among olive, maple, and fruit trees, wheat grass, and sunflowers.

Jan 10, 1975

By Randy Martin

"Greenstone Resources Ltd. constructed and operates the Santa Rosa open pit, heap-leach gold mine in Veraguas, Panama. The project was commissioned in 1995 at a designed capacity of 1.8 million tons per year. The ore exhibits a long leach up to three years, and requires three stage crushing to minus 3/8 inch to achieve on average a 74% gold recovery. The crushing plant is required to handle high volumes of clay and the circuit includes a Barmac Crusher. Panama receives over 3 meters of rain annually and Greenstone is using innovative means to control the project's water balance. Greenstone has developed a successful approach to operating a low grade (1.5 gm Au/T) deposit under difficult operation conditions.ABSTRACT ONLY"

Jan 1, 1997

Development of the Greenvale orebody, containing 40,000,000 tonnes of nickel ore, began in 1971 and production commenced in 1974. Annual capacity is 2,800,000 wet tonnes. The variations in ore grade and physical characteristics which occur throughout the ore- body had a major influence on the selection of mining methods, grade control procedures, and equipment. After removal of overburden by scrapers, ore is excavated by draglines sidecasting into windrows. Feed to the crushing plant is .reclaimed by front end loaders into rear dump trucks according to a grade selection pro- gramme. After crushing, ore is stockpiled into blended units of ore of required quality. Ore is stacked and reclaimed for train loading using techniques designed to give maximum mixing of ore characteristics through Bach unit. These procedures are repeated on discharge at the plant site at Yabulu. The railway, constructed by Queensland Nickel Pty. Ltd. to Q.G.R. standard, and operated by the Q.G.R., is 216 km long and includes eight major bridges and three tunnels. Two trains per day, one of four locomotives and 92 waggons, and one of three locomotives and 69 waggons, haul crushed ore to Yabulu. Train loading is semi-automatic. A small township and associated services have been constructed for employees at Green- Vale.

Jan 1, 1974

By Peter A. Burger

The Greenvale Orebody comprises a series of contiguous lateriteprofiles developed terrace-like during the Cainozoic over a serpentinized harzburgite intrusive emplaced within Proterozoic schists. Each terrace displays individual characteristics of metal distribution. Topographically higher (older) profiles have been partially eroded and metal concentrations reworked. Within the laterite profile, metals have been concentrated or depleted according to their relative solubilities. At tropical temperatures, acidic meteoric waters have progressively depleted the ultrabasic parent rock of Si and Mg, leaving A1 and Fe to form a surface duricrust. Ni, Co, Mn and Cr have accumulated in the lower and middle levels of the weathering mantle. Only Ni and Co have accumulated to exploitable grades. Lateritization has evidently proceeded over a considerable portion of the Cainozoic and may be still continuing.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. J. Baer

"DEFINITION OF THE REGION AND ITS BOUNDARIESTHE EXPOSED PART OF THE GRENVILLE PROVINCE is the southeastern part of the Canadian Shield, characterized by crystalline rocks with K-Ar ages of about 1,000 million years. Its Canadian portion is bounded on the southwest by Georgian Bay •and by Paleozoic sediments south of a line passing through Orillia and Kingston, on the southeast by the St. Lawrence River valley and the north shore of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, on the east by the coast of Labrador and on the northwest by the Grenville front, a linear tec-tonic feature that is a metamorphic transition zone and/or a fault. Rocks located to the southeast of the front have younger K-Ar radiom€tric ages than rocks located to the northwest of it.The region is formed of complexly deformed and highly metamorphosed crystalline rocks and in part differs from other areas of the Canadian Shield by the presence of large amounts of crystalline limestone and bodies of anorthosite."

Jan 1, 1970

The Greymouth Coal Project is a proposal to mine by the application of proven hydraulic, and room and pillar underground mining methods; and to process the equivalent of an average of 1.7 million tonnes per year over a forty-year period. The proposed mine site is located ten kilometres north of Greymouth, on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Of the three separate mineable seam groups, the thick Main Seam Group, which makes up 77% of the total resource, will be mined by hydraulic mining technology.   It is proposed to market and produce a high volatile bituminous type coal with low ash (6%) and sulphur (0.4%). Because the inherent ash content is low, the requirement for coal treatment will only be the use of a single cell jig circuit to control the effects of rock dilution and partings. The resulting coal product is tentatively planned to be transported by rail to the port at Lyttelton for loading on to Panamax or Post Panamax size vessels.

Jan 1, 1997

Slide presentation at conference

Jan 1, 1996

By J. Frostiak

"This paper describes some energy reduction measures Implemented at the Griffith Mine. Before proceeding, I will give you a brief overview of the operation.The Griffith Mine is an iron ore mining, concentrating and Pelletizing complex located in the red lake area of northwestern Ontario. The operation is owned by Stelco Inc. And is managed By Pickands Mather & Co. of Cleveland, Ohio. Operation of the concentrator commenced in 1968 and it has been producing at a nominal capacity of 1,500 ,000 tons annually.The plant flow sheet is illustrated in this slide. Run of the mine ore is crushed in a single stage 54"" gyratory crusher. Reclaim ore feeders draw from an open stockpile to feed two 32' diameter by 12' long autogenous mills, each driven by 6800 hp. Two s·rages of wet magnetic separation, roughers and cleaners, and primary cyclones complete the primary circuit. Cleaner concentrate is then ground in four 14' diameter by 28' long pebble mills rated at 2000 hp. The secondary grinding circuit is closed by cyclones and fine screens. Secondary cyclone overflow is further upgraded through hydro-separators, finisher magnetic separators and flotation.The magnetic concentrate produced is then thickened, filtered, balled and fired in three vertical shaft furnaces to produce a high quality hematite pellet."

Jan 1, 1983

By F. P. Morawski, J. E. Schelske, J. R. Geddes, B. R. Eberts, D. M. Wilson, J. D. Jeffries

"The Griffith Mine is located 200 miles northeast of Winnipeg and is 30 miles south of Red Lake, Ontario. Owned by The Steel Company of Canada Limited and managed by Pickands Mather & Co., it has an annual rated capacity of 1.5 million tons of high-grade iron ore pellets with an analysis of 66.3 per cent iron and 4.5 per cent silica.Development of the mine and construction of the plant got underway in January of 1966 and operations began in February of 1968. The orebodies outcrop on the shore of Bruce lake and run under the lake. The ore in its crude form is a metasedimentary low-grade magnetite and occurs in a highly folded banded formation. The average iron analysis of the crude is 29 per cent and the over-all weight recovery is 32 per cent.In order to mine the portion of the orebody under the lake, the soft varved clay on the lake bottom was hydraulically dredged and a dyke constructed of rock, with till used to provide an impervious seal on the lake side of the dyke, prior to dewatering.Mining is carried out by conventional open-pit tech-niques. Ore dressing is achieved by combining one crushing stage and a two-stage grinding system, with beneficiation by magnetic separation, hydroseparation and flotation. Agglomerating is done with conventional balling drums and pelletizing is carried out in shaft furnaces.Of interest and discussed in detail are the 32-foot autogenous cascade mills ."

Jan 1, 1970

By Donald M. Hausen

Microscopic evaluation of trace quantities of metalliferous phases in flotation products requires counting large numbers of particles. Particle counts of many thousands may be required for precision, but not obtained practically by conventional microscopic techniques. A less tedious microscopic method for evaluating trace sulfides in mill tailings was developed for the O'okiep Mining Company in South Africa. Hundreds of thousands of particles were evaluated by this method called "gross-counting." Gross-counting consists of counting microscopic fields rather than point-counting individual particles. Total counts are calculated by multiplying the average number of particles per field by the total number of fields examined over the entire mount. Total gross-counts range from about 20,000 particles for +200 to 100,000 or more for -400 mesh size material in lucite mounts. Sulfides and metallic particles in each field are identified and tallied along with field counts. Totals for each type of metallic particle are divided by the total gross-count to give volume percent which is corrected to weight percent by specific gravity factors.

Jan 1, 1969

By O Aydan, R Ulusay

Blasting is the most commonly used excavation technique in mining and civil engineering applications. Blasting induces strong ground motions and fracturing of rock mass in rock excavations. Particularly, high ground motions may also induce some instability problems of rock mass and structures nearby. Furthermore, it may cause some environmental problems due to noise as well as vibrations of structures near the populated areas. Furthermore, flyrocks is another major issue for the safety of people and damage to machinery and equipments when blasting is employed. In this study, the authors explore the ways how to estimate the ground motions as a function of distance, amount of explosive, number of holes. The ground motions were measured by stand-alone accelerometers developed by the first author and some empirical relations are developed. The effect of ground motions on the instability issues of benches such as sliding, toppling and rockfalls were investigated. Furthermore, the flyrock issue is investigated and some empirical relations to estimate the maximum distance of flyrocks from the blasting relations are compared and discussed. CITATION:Aydan, O and Ulusay, R, 2018. The ground motions induced by blasting in open pit lignite mines and its environmental effects, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 142–151 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By Essie Esterhuizen, Michael M. Murphy, Chris Mark

"The response of the surrounding rock mass to the creation of mining excavations determines the ultimate load on a pillar support system. In conditions where the ground is relatively soft and weak, the full overburden weight can be transferred to the pillar system. However, in stiffer and stronger rocks, a greater portion of the overburden load is transferred to the unmined coal barriers or abutments, and the pillar stress is reduced. This paper makes use of numerical models to examine the interaction between typical pillar systems and the surrounding rock mass for weak and strong geological conditions at various spans and depths of cover. The concepts of structural failure and functional failure of pillars are used to assess pillar performance when pillars are deformed beyond their peak resistance. The results show that the span-to-depth ratio is an important factor in determining the pillar stress and the ultimate deformation of pillars. The ultimate pillar strain appears to be closely related to the functional success of pillar systems.INTRODUCTIONThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was requested by Congress to study the safety of retreat pillar mining following the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster that took place near Price, Utah in August, 2007. As a part of this study, an investigation was made to better understand how the rock mass responds to the creation of mining excavations and how the loads are distributed among the pillars and the surrounding abutments or barriers. The outcome of these investigations contributed to the development of a modified loading model for the ARMPS-2010 (Mark, 2010) method ofretreat mining pillar design.Structural and Functional Failure of PillarsPillar design is typically conducted by estimating the pillar strength and stress, and then sizing the pillars so that an adequate margin of safety exists between the expected strength and stress. The pillar strength can be defined as the maximum resistance of a pillar to axial compression (Brady and Brown, 1985). If a pillar is loaded beyond its peak strength, load shedding or yielding can occur, and the pillar is considered to have failed as a structure. Structural failure generally refers to a loss of loadcarrying capacity."

Jan 1, 2010

By James Kemp

(New York meeting, February, 1913.) IN the study of ore deposits water plays a very prominent part. The small group of igneous ores involve it least, but in all the rest it is an invariable feature. The ground-water, therefore, is perhaps as appropriate a subject for discussion before a session of the American Institute of Mining Engineers as any topic which might be selected. The theme is if anything the more appropriate, because two very important contributions to it have already appeared in the Transactions. The great essay in 1893 of Franz Posepny,1 systematized and classified the subject, and was doubtless not without its influence in leading to the presentation in 1900, by C. R. Van Hise, of an important contribution entitled Some Principles Controlling the Deposition of Ores.2 We all recall the discussions of 10 or 12 years ago, and the interest in these themes which then prevailed in the Institute. They are collectively accessible in the separate edition wisely assembled by Dr. Raymond, and now to be supplemented by the Emmons Volume. Views have been progressing in the past decade or more, and new evidence has been brought to light. A general summary and concise statement may, therefore, not be without interest.

Jan 4, 1913

By Tomas Astorga

APEC, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation is the forum of 18 economies, having a combined GDP of approximately 56% of the total world income, and over 45% of global trade. Its mining sector produces a large portion of the main minerals and metals in the world. In 1997, APEC economies produced 67% of world copper output, 55% of gold, and over 45% of other base metals. Mining in APEC captures more than 60% of the total mining investment in the world. Against this background, the Expert Group on Minerals and Energy Exploration and Development, in short GEMEED, was created in 1996, under the auspices of the APEC Energy Working Group. The sustainable development of mining activities is a main concern in APEC and GEMEED. Several programs related to the subject are actively being pursued by the Expert Group. Among them, it should be noticed the creation of an Environmental Cooperation Sub Group coordinated by Japan, whose main aim is to encourage proposals related to the environmental soundness of mining projects in the region. Also, it should be noted the existence of a Database Steering Committee whose focus is the development of an information network related to mining opportunities in the region GEMEED is a gathering of experts from all the APEC economies. As such, it represents a privileged forum to discuss policy issues related to mining. On this regard, the paper focuses on concrete actions taken by GEMEED to enhance the sustainability of the copper activity in the region.

Jan 1, 1999

By M. G. Spengler

A new type of pack has been developed primarily for the support of narrow stopes. It was shown in the laboratory that it has characteristics that very closely approximate the optimum required by underground support to achieve hangingwall stability.

Jan 1, 1978

The 1980's have produced an outstanding revival of the Australian gold industry. In contrast to some previous mining booms, the economic aspects of the growth in gold production are soundly based. In general the new developments have been highly profitable and this is beneficial to all parties- whether they be government, shareholders employees or suppliers. Mining companies are showing a large commitment to gold exploration with approximately 50% of Australian exploration budgets now being directed towards gold. An increasing proportion of this expenditure is being channelled towards the eastern States with Queensland 'being the major centre of interest. Further strong growth in production is expected with some 50 projects likely to come on stream before 1990. A very significant aspect of the foundation for this growth is a continuation of the existing tax status of the industry.

Jan 1, 1987

Although Australia is the world's second biggest producer of iron ore, the last few years have not been easy for companies in Western Australia's Pilbara region (see map) where more than 90% of the nation's iron ore is produced. For at least two years, the industry has been plagued by dwindling markets abroad, production-crippling strikes at home, skyrocketing costs (well above the official 13% annual inflation rate), an acute shortage of investment capital, increasingly ferocious competition from foreign iron ore producers-and, as if all this weren't enough, by an over-valued currency that has caused incalculable damage not only to iron ore producers but to the entire mining industry of Australia. (This last problem was mitigated less than two months ago, on November 28, 1976, when the Australian dollar was devalued by a whopping 17 1/2%.)

Jan 1, 1977

By J. H. Bulloch

A study of fatigue-crack growth in a rail steel and an associated weld metal showed that fatigue cracks in the deformed rail steel had slightly higher growth rates than in undeformed rail steel. The crack growth in the weld metal was appreciably faster than either and exhibited plateaux that were above the upper bound reported for rail steels, The cyclic-life curves showed that, over an indicated service period of 8 years, both the deformed and the undeformed rail steels should not be prone to fatigue failures under the defined mechanical conditions, For the weld metal, the cyclic-life curves indicated the possibility of premature fatigue failures but, as al the input parameters represented a 'worst case' situation, this assessment could wel be ultra-conservative. In the rail steels at low levels, the extension of the fatigue cracks occurred by ductile striated growth. At a Kmax level of 35 MPa .J/n, cleavage facets formed initially on the surface of the fatigue fractures, and their incidence increased with Kmax until the onset of fast failure, The microstructure of the deformed rail steel exhibited cleavage facets at a slightly lower Kmaxvalue, and contained more cleavage facets at a given K level, than the microstructure of the undeformed rail steel. The average size of the cleavage facets agreed well with the pearlite nodule dimensions of 60 to 100 ILm. The microstructure of the weld metal was much coarser and contained columnar grains. At al f.K levels, the dominant fracture mode was cleavage, with small isolated regions of ductile striated fatigue cracks. The size of the cleavage facets varied from 150 to 600 ILm, and such a variation may be explained by the fact that cracking generally occurs in association with the pro-eutectoid ferite phase, and that this phase is distributed along some boundaries of prior austenite grains and the boundaries of the coarser columnar grains.

Jan 1, 1987

By Robert F. Mehl

THIS essay is an attempt to present the elementary facts and ideas concerning the growth of crystals, especially of metals. Freezing, like all heterogeneous processes, is a process of nucleation and growth; it manifests itself in metallurgy primarily in the freezing of ingots. The preceding paper in this volume discusses nucleation; the paper to follow describes ingot solidification. The present paper will treat of the growth of nuclei to large crystals, embracing a long series of phenomena, many of which are familiar to metallurgists.† Crystal growth, it will be immediately noted, occurs not only in the freezing of metals, but in the freezing of all substances; and it is a prominent and familiar phenomenon in crystallization from solutions, aqueous or otherwise, and in crystallization from the vapor phase. It will be necessary to include such systems in this discussion, for so much of value to metallurgists has been learned from their study. Apart from this, so far as metals are concerned, it will be simpler to limit the discussion to the freezing of pure metals and of solid solutions. Other types of freezing-eutectic, peritectic, etc.-will be excluded, though they have much of interest and of importance. BASIC MECHANISM OF FREEZING Ideally, nucleation and growth processes can best be considered from the point of view of isothermal reaction and upon the assumption of random nucleation. In. such an ideal case, nuclei form at random, and at a characteristic rate either constant or changing with time, and grow to spherulites at a characteristic rate, constant or changing with time, Fig. I.. On the simplest assumption, the reaction rate-in this case the rate of freezing-is a resultant of these two component rates. The reaction rate equation may be written in terms of these two component rates. The formation of pearlite from austenite closely approaches this ideal case. The ideal case forms a very useful point of departure in considering real cases. Various factors of reality produce deviations from this assumed ideality. In freezing, the isotropic medium, the melt, passes to the anisotropic solid, the crystal. Crystals are lattices of atoms, and the unit cell is often referred to as a crystal unit. Rosenhain, many years ago, represented the nucleation and growth process on freezing in the manner shown in Fig. 2, feeling, intuitively, that there must be some crystal unit in crystal growth. It now appears that this may be true, though his picture requires much elaboration. The greatest deviation from ideality lies in the nonisothermal nature of the freezing process in metals. To approach this properly it should be recalled that many nonmetallic substances freeze slowly. Tammann, to whom we owe the classic approach, studied complex organic materials in which (as in the case of eutectoid steels at high

Jan 1, 1951

By Walter C. Labys

There has been considerable growth in public enterprise institutions involved in mineral commodity markets. These institutions typically consist of trading organizations (STO1s), regulatory agencies, and mixed agencies. The particular character of these institutions varies according to whether they reside in developing countries, in Eastern Europe (COMECON Countries), in industrialized countries, or in the form of international agencies. The purpose of this paper is to explain recent attempts to assess the growth of public enterprises as well as their impacts on mineral markets and trade. Some earlier analyses of market impact made by the author have been up- dated for four major mineral markets: copper, tin, bauxite and iron ore. Conclusions are drawn regarding the dynamics of market structure changes and their impacts.

Jan 1, 1986