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By W. R. Bull, J. R. Roos

A method is described whereby the true financial value of each constituent of each concentrate can be calculated. Each value is then compared with what this value would be in a perfect separation. The difference in each case represents the loss incurred by each aspect of an inefficient separation. The relative magnitudes of these losses indicate those avenues of plant investigation and research that offer the highest potential reward. The metallurgical efficiency of a concentration operation is difficult to express because there are two criteria of performance, namely, grade and recovery. Neither of these alone gives any indication of the effectiveness of an operation and, if they are combined in some formula, it must be empirical and unreliable because of many external factors. Since milling is an operation performed as one step in the most profitable overall method of producing a metal or other end product, the main objective of mill operation should be to make a maximum contribution to this maximum profit. When concentrates are sold to custom smelters, the income from the operation, and the costs, may be calculated. When concentrates are further processed by another division of the same company, and there is no formal financial relationship between, say, the milling and smelting divisions of the company, the mill superintendent's job is less well defined. But even so, if the mill superintendent works as though he were selling his concentrates, and uses reasonable, if fictitious, conditions of sale, then he can get a good indication of the effectiveness of his operation by calculating his "Economic Recovery". ECONOMIC RECOVERY This is a method used as a basis of operation by several mills and has been described in the literature. Very briefly, the "standard" of operation is taken as that of a mill separating the ore into perfectly pure concentrates with 100% recovery of each mineral in its respective concentrate. For example, a 4%Pb, 4% Zn ore (galena and sphalerite), would provide a lead concentrate weighing 4.62% of the feed and assaying 86.6% Pb and a zinc concentrate weighing 5.97% of the feed and assaying 67.1 % zinc. These perfect concentrates are (hypothetically) shipped to the appropriate smelters, freight and treatment charges and payments calculated, and the net return obtained. This is the optimum financial return for the operation of the mill and is used as the standard. Now the return for the actual, real-life, mill operation is calculated in the same way, and the ratio of the two is termed the Economic Recovery. Many additions and modifications may be made in any particular case. For example, if the zinc mineral is marmatite, the optimum grade of the zinc concentrate may be set lower than 67.1%. If silver is present, it will be recovered 100% in the lead concentrate in the perfect operation. Similarly, cadmium will be recovered 100% with the sphalerite. Mr. Weiss' paper' mentions a case where, because of extremely fine intergrowth between the valuable mineral, chalcocite, and pyrite, the optimum grade of copper concentrate was taken as 45% Cu instead of the theoretical 80%. Each operation will present its own possibilities in this way.

Jan 1, 1970

By Frederick Laist

Introduction IN a leaching process, having obtained the copper in solution, the choice of the precipitation method is influenced y the following factors: 1. Availability of precipitant. 2. Adaptability to the leaching process. 3. Final product desired. 4. Regeneration of leaching solutions. 5. Fouling of solutions. There are three general classes of precipitation methods: 1. The use of iron, scrap or sponge. 2. Electrolytic deposition. 3. The use of some gas or reagent y which the copper is obtained, usually in the form of an intermediate precipitate which requires further treatment. For example, the precipitation of the copper as Cu2Cl2 from chloride solutions, with SO2 gas. The use of iron is adapted to almost any process. It has the great advantage of extreme simplicity, and the recovery of the copper and any values present in a highly concentrated, easily treatable form. The disadvantages are the cost in isolated places, the uncertainty of the scrap-iron market, and the fouling of the leaching solutions. The latter is a serious factor, When a reagent such as salt is used in them, which makes necessary their re-use. Where applicable, electrolytic deposition is very attractive. The copper is obtained in a form directly marketable, there is a regeneration of acid amid no fouling of solutions. Unfortunately, chloride solutions do not lend themselves to electrolysis. An entirely satisfactory anode material has not yet been discovered, although magnetite, apart from being rather brittle, seems to answer the requirements fairly Well.

Jan 7, 1914

By Watt KL

Chemical anchors for use in rock bolting have been produced in Australia under licence for several years. These anchors are alternatives to the more normally used mechanical anchors and give improved anchorage strengths under some conditions, although at greater cost. Considerable development during this time has resulted in an improved sausage-type chemical anchor more competitive in price, to such an extent that its use is increasing markedly. Particular-improvements allow load application up to the strength of the bolt within 2 min, reduction in cost, self-extinguishing features in the resin, improvements in manufacturing techniques, and an improved water- insensitive casing. At the same time, smaller bolt sizes have allowed reduction in resin volumes with consequent cost reduction. At this stage several aspects remain to be improved, particularly specialty anchors for specific purposes and Packaging.

Jan 1, 1971

By Laxman (Lucky) Amaratunga, Hisham Madi

Final disposal of mine wastewater neutralization sludge continues to be one of more pressing problems in the mining industry. The disposal of mining and metallurgical waste products into underground reduces the environment impact and improves the safety of the mining operation and the economics of the enterprise. This current research focuses on an investigation of utilization of mine wastewater neutralization sludge obtained from Kidd Creek Mine site, as a supplementary material for their proposed deep mine pastefill system. Their proposed pastefill consist of combination of rock aggregate in a matrix of imported sand and tailings with binder (Portland cement + Slag cement). Pastefill mixes containing various percentages of the waste sludge 0 (control mix), 1, 2, 3, and 5% by weight as replacement to the fine sand were prepared and tested with different percentages of binder. Hypothesis behind this approach is to study the behavior of sludge as replacement of sand in matrix as well as its ability to act as a binder. Compressive strength, percentage of sludge, binder dosage, slump, water to cement ratio, percentage of solid, and curing time are being observed. The results indicated that sludge can be incorporated into the pastefill and enhance its strength without compromising the pastefill quality and integrity.

Jan 1, 2004

By D. E. Sherwood

Recent developments in high torque hydraulic rotary rigs has lead to the construction of secant bored pile walls by rotary drilling methods in circumstances where earlier methods were difficult and in some cases impossible. The evolution of secant bored pile wall construction is described including classical, rotary drilled and continuous flight auger construction methods. The paper then details the restraints which have been created in recent inner city redevelopment, many of which were not relevant in the early days of the technique. Typical examples of walls are presented to show the adapatability and advantages of the secant bored pile wall method. A number of in-situ retaining wall construction techniques are then compared in detail with regard to relative cost, technical quality and practicality.

Jan 1, 1989

By P. E. Price, N. J. Grant

DURING the course of creep studies in iron-chromium-nickel alloys, it became necessary to establish the limits of the two-phase ferrite-austenite field at 1300°C. The shape of this region, predicted from the iron-chromium and chromium-nickel binary

Jan 1, 1960

The Douglas mineral sands deposit is located 75 km north of Hamilton in western Victoria, Australia. The deposit was discovered in the late 1990s by Basin Minerals Limited and purchased by Iluka Resources Ltd in 2002. Prestrip mining commenced in December 2004, with ore mining commencing in August 2005. Douglas is the first of several projects being implemented by Iluka Resources Ltd in the Murray Basin, with all heavy mineral concentrate planned to be treated at the companyÆs mineral separation plant in Hamilton. The mineralisation at Douglas lies along the south-eastern margin of the Murray Basin. It is hosted by marine Pliocene Loxton-Parilla Sands and consists of three discrete deposits; Bondi Main, Bondi West and Bondi East. The mineralised sediments dip at a low angle to the west and lie unconformably beneath a veneer of top soil (50 - 100 mm) and subsoil (up to 600 mm) and between three to 12 m of overburden. The barren overburden, characterised by high clay content (<53 ¦m material) generally provides a stark contrast to the sandy ore, which is between 1 m (parts of Bondi East) and 15 m (Bondi Main) thick. Both overburden and ore are removed utilising standard dry mining techniques using both scraper-bulldozer and truck-excavator combinations. All ore is delivered to run-of-mine (ROM) stockpiles before being reclaimed by front end loader into the processing plant. Grade control at Douglas is based around visual dig control aided by high precision survey, which enables accurate reference to the resource drilling and block model data. Vertical excavator faces, inclined scraper faces plus regular test pits and trenches provide opportunities for in pit mapping and sampling. This data is used to refine not only the resource estimate for Douglas but also the drilling, interpretation and resource modelling methods used for similar deposits across the basin. The foundations of the geological reconciliation process at Douglas are the in pit surveys undertaken each time the mining fleet has completed building a ROM stockpile. These surveys and the subsequent interrogation of resource models enable robust estimations of the heavy mineral content of the stockpiles, which are subsequently used to predict the daily input grades into the plant during their reclamation. Reconciliation of this daily data is then undertaken at the end of each month against metallurgical production data and plant balances. Learnings and results from the reconciliation process are used to further refine subsequent resource models and modelling methods.

Jan 1, 2009

To reduce the possibility of injury to operators and damage to equipment caused by collision of mining vehicles during coal loading. Approach An energy-absorbing bumper was developed and tested underground on a continuous miner. How It Works The bumper, a long box-like weldment backed by five energy absorbers, is attached to a continuous mining machine by a hinge behind the cab. See Figure 1. When a shuttle car collides with the bumper, or when it is otherwise struck, the energy absorbers are compressed. This absorbs and dissipates part of the kinetic energy of the colliding vehicle, thereby reducing or eliminating its destructive effects. Each energy absorber consists of two chambers separated by a freely-moving piston. One chamber (Figure 2) contains hydraulic fluid. The second chamber contains a gas. When a collision causes the absorber to compress, the hydraulic fluid in the first chamber is forced past a metering pin and through an orifice. The hydraulic fluid then pushes against the piston, compressing the gas in the second chamber.

Jan 1, 1978

By Yutaka Shiraishi

Two methods were developed to measure the viscosity of the slag from the glassy to the liquid states in an ascending temperature process. The first method employs rotating parallel plates within which is placed a solid cylindrical sample in line with a sphere. The second method uses a tube which is pushed into a sample held in a rotating crucible. Both methods were tested using standard glasses, including boron trioxide and NBS standard glass #711. The main difference between these two methods is in sample preparation. Comparative measurements between two methods were performed using a sodium boro-disilicate glass containing 5%mol of alumina. The results showed good agreement in the mid-range of glassy viscosities, 105 to 107 Pa.s. In the liquid state, there were no significant differences between the two methods.

Jan 1, 2003

By E. V. Potter, E. T. Hayes, H. C. Lukens

Large volumes of hydrogen are liberated at the cathode during electrolytic precipitation of manganese. Most of the gas escapes from the electrolyte, but a considerable amount may be entrapped in the manganese plate. Gas has been observed to escape from manganese melts in puffs that bite at the surface. It has been reported that castings made with electrolytic manganese tend to rise in the molds; for this reason the manganese is often treated to remove hydrogen before the melt is made or it is premelted and used as cast manganese in making the alloys. The effect of hydrogen on the properties of manganese and its alloys is not known, but its effect on iron and iron alloys has been studied extensively.l.2 The close relationship between iron and manganese suggests that hydrogen may have a similar effect on the properties of manganese and its alloys. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the amount of hydrogen or other gases in typical commercial electrolytic manganese sheet and to investigate ways of removing it most conveniently. Apparatus The apparatus used is shown schematically in Fig. I. It consists of a chamber A in which the metal sample is placed, a vacuum or pressure gauge B, volume gauge C, vacuum pump D, hydrogen container E, auxiliary gas chamber F, and furnace G. The specimen chamber was made of two concentric quartz tubes. The outer one, a, connects with the closed gas system and is surrounded by the furnace G. A second tube, b, fits closely inside a and has a small end that projects into the space for the specimen and holds the thermocouple for measuring the temperature of the sample. The inner tube is joined to the outer tube outside the furnace, with rubber tape and sealing wax, to prevent gas leakage into or out of the closed system. This type of specimen container is loaded very easily and can be used several times if molten metal does not come in contact with the quartz. An ordinary mercury manometer B is used to measure the pressure in the system. The volume gauge C is essentially another mercury manometer, but the volume of the column is much larger than normal and the height of the mercury can be varied by raising or lowering the well H. In this apparatus the tube had a volume of IOO C.C. for a 60-cm. length. For larger changes in gas volumes, auxiliary containers F were used to increase the volume of the system by known amounts. Valves were arranged so that these auxiliary containers could be filled from the system and evacuated by the pump as often as necessary to accommodate the increases in the volume of gas in the system. The furnace G, used to heat the samples, was equipped with an automatic temperature controller, which maintained the desired temperatures within ± 5°C.

Jan 1, 1945

By K. N. Subramanian

Previously reported work on total oxidative leaching of chalcopyrite concentrates ha s shown that high copper extractions are obtained at 210°C and 0.4 MPa oxygen pressure. A simple integrated flow sheet using pressure leaching, solution treatment involving precipitation with a calcium base, and electrowinning to produce wire-bar-quality copper is described. Reagent and energy requirements developed from this work indicate that the process could be attractive for small operations where a smelting-refining complex cannot be justified.

Jan 1, 1978

By Kevin Azocar, Jim Hazzard

"Slope stability analysis is performed most commonly using limit equilibrium calculations or numerical models assuming a two-dimensional slice through an infinitely long slope surface. In areas such as open pit mining, where most slope surfaces are not planar, the importance of curvature becomes important due to the economic gains associated with creating a steeper slope. With advances in computing capabilities within the last decade, three-dimensional slope analysis can be performed within reasonable time frames. Some work has been done on the potential importance of curvature on slope stability, mainly assuming homogenous materials with a circular shear-failure mechanism. However, many open pit mines are excavated in jointed rock mass where a completely different set of failure mechanisms can be seen. Depending on the geometry and radius of the pit, the curved geometry may influence the factor of safety and failure behaviour compared to a two-dimensional slice.A series of numerical analyses were performed to investigate the effect of curvature on jointed rock slope stability compared to an equivalent two-dimensional slope analysis. By using discrete element method models, the influence of joint planes and interaction between distinct blocks can be seen. With a three-dimensional model, the effect of curvature can be combined with multiple joint sets at any orientation, which cannot be seen in a single slice. Numerous three-dimensional models are created, along with an equivalent unit-thick slice. The effect of curvature on a variety of different types of failure mechanisms is observed, and graphical relationships are created to quantify the difference between the three-dimensional factor of safety and the two-dimensional factor of safety based on the degree of curvature."

Jan 1, 2015

By C Hawtin, B Miller, D Ashton

Ernest Henry mine (EHM) is an Iron oxide copper-gold sublevel cave mine located 30 minutes north of Cloncurry in North-West Queensland. The underground mine lies beneath open pit excavations, which were in operation from 1999 to 2011. Fault structures carry large quantities of water from the cover sequence aquifer into the underground mine area. The open cut excavations exacerbates vulnerability of the underground mine to the high intensity wet season storms of northern Queensland. These factors combine to make hydrogeological issues high priority for mine operation. Water-related risks include the cost of removing water from the mine, flooding risk and mud rush potential.Turnover of key technical staff in late 2015 at EHM resulted in the mine being left in an untenable position of losing the primary source of technical knowledge. Due to encouragement of cross-disciplinary activity coupled with workload and resource sharing, the management team were confident in utilising on-site personnel to offset loss of experienced personnel.Remaining geology personnel took additional responsibility for hydrogeological monitoring equipment and planning of upcoming work. Consultant input was limited to review only and an emphasis was placed on knowledge transfer to the geology team. Using this strategy, a 13 hole dewatering program was successfully implemented, achieving a significant water level drop in areas of elevated hydrological risk, whilst also upgrading the hydrological monitoring sensor array.Through a development program centred on cross-disciplinary exposure, the technical team was able to retain key technical knowledge despite staff turnover and produce strong results outside traditional training and roles. This paper serves as a case study on the methods, strengths and drawbacks of putting a focus on cross-disciplinary exposure as a method to combat staff turnover.CITATION:Ashton, D, Miller, B and Hawtin, C, 2017. Go with the flow – managing hydrogeological staff turnover at Ernest Henry mine, in Proceedings Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017, pp 129–136 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 20, 2017

By L. A. Bromley, A. W. Petersen

The van Arkel-deBoer method for producing ductile titanium by thermal decomposition of Til, vapor and deposition on an electrically heated filament is modified by film boiling Til liquid on a heated filament, resulting in similar titanium deposition on the filament and liberation of gaseous iodine. The deposition rate is higher and the energy requirement smaller than in the van Arkel process. Many problems must be solved before the process is commercially feasible. TITANIUM of 99.9 pct purity, called ductile titanium, has been produced by a modification of the van Arkel-deBoer&apos; method. In the van Arkel-deBoer method, an electrically heated wire is suspended from two electrodes, which are placed in a container holding TiI, vapor at a low&apos; vapor pressure (usually <5 mm Hg). The vapor diffuses to the hot wire, usually maintained at 1100" to 1600°C,&apos; and decomposes according to the reaction liberating gaseous atomic iodine and depositing solid crystalline titanium on the wire. Estimations based on the data of Runnalls and Pidgeon,&apos; indicate that the rate-control ling step is the diffusion of atomic iodine away from the wire. There appears to be nearly thermodynamic equilibrium at the wire with TiI, and iodine as the main gaseous species. TiI, is almost certainly an important gaseous species in the cooler regions.&apos; The liberated iodine diffuses to a heated source of crude titanium and reacts to form more TiI, vapor, which again diffuses to the hot wire and completes the cyclic process. The foregoing process may be modified by suspending the hot wire in liquid TiI,, instead of the vapor, and obtaining film boiling. This type of boiling is characterized by the formation of a continuous film of vapor over the wire surface. Since only vapor contacts the wire sul.face, the temperature of this surface may be raised as high as desirable, within the limit of mechanical strength requirements for the wire. By properly adjusting the input voltage. the temperature of the wire may be maintained above U0C"C; and by evacuating the vessel holding the liquid TiI, and maintaining a suitable condenser temperature, the vapor pressure of TiI, may be held low. Thus, the conditions of operation of the van Arkel-deBoer method may be approximated with film boiling; and hence, it is postulated that ductile titanium may be produced by this method. Preparation of Til, There are many methods available for the preparation of TiI,; that used in this research was prepared by the direct reaction of titanium sponge in controlled amounts with liquid iodine. Although no difficulty was encountered with this reaction, it has since been pointed out that this method is sometimes dangerous and should be used with caution. The resulting TiI, was purified by distillation. First Film Boiling Experiments Apparatus: The apparatus shown in Fig. 1 was used for film boiling TiI, on short wire filaments. The current to the filament was supplied through a bank of three 5 kva transformers connected in parallel. The current was controlled by adjusting the voltage over a 0 to 67.5 v range with a 7 kva variable transformer on the low voltage side of the bank of transformers. The current and voltage were measured by Weston meters. The sealed-in-glass tungsten electrodes were hard-soldered to the filament for the film boiling of TiI,. The bottom part of the reactor, containing TiI,, was wrapped with ni-chrome heating wires to maintain the TiI, in the liquid state. An ice or liquid nitrogen trap, for solidifying I, vapor and any TiI, not condensed, was attached to the low pressure side of the air-cooled condenser. A Megavac vacuum pump was used. Procedure: A 0.010 in. diam tungsten filament was hard-soldered to the tungsten electrodes. TiI, was melted (mp 156°C) and poured into the reactor chamber; the top of the reactor chamber, containing the electrodes, was replaced. Freezing of the TiI, was prevented by controlling the current to the ni-chrome wires wrapped around the reactor with a 1 kva variable transformer. The mechanical vacuum pump was started and the system evacuated to about 2 mm Hg TiI, vapor pressure. The current to the filament was turned on and the impressed voltage slowly increased with the variable transformer. A sudden drop in current at nearly constant im-

Jan 1, 1957

By Jerry J. Gray

The utilization of secondary titanium was determined in a study by the Bureau of Mines, and a 10-year statistical table showing supply and distribution patterns is presented in this report. Over the total 10-year period, estimated scrap consumption is larger than estimated scrap supply. Trends from the estimated data indicate that titanium is in short supply and probably will continue to be in the future. Because of higher processing costs for recycle scrap, scrap will tend to migrate to the steel and aluminum industries and to ferrotitanium production and exports. Nonrecoverable losses of titanium metal during processing was determined to be a potential area for research.

Jan 1, 1971

By M. N. Collison

"In 1960, with the opening of the Chisel Lake mine near Snow Lake, Manitoba, the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., Limited, commenced a new phase in their mining operation -that of bringing ore to Flin Flon over 100 miles of railroad.The schedule of operations required to accomplish this, together with an outline of some of the problems of handling ore at 40° and 50,0 below zero, are discussed. The facilities required to thaw and unload from twenty to fifty cars per working day are also described."

Jan 1, 1966

By S. R. Maloof

In 1945, Hollomon&apos; showed that after plastic yielding and prior to necking under simple tension, both ferrous and nonferrous materials are approximated by an equation of the following form: where, a = true stress K = strength coefficient 5 = true strain n = strain hardening exponent If a material is stress free, a plot of log o vs log 6 would be expected to be a straight line, the slope of which is the strain-hardening exponent (n) and the intercept on the ordinate axis for 6 = 1. is the logarithm of the strength coefficient K. It can be easily shown that the strain-hardening exponent in the above equation is equal to the total uniform elongation prior to necking. Thus, one can determine the total uniform elongation prior to necking from such a plot and, as pointed out by C. W. MacGregor, 2 it is the amount of strain prior to necking which determines the extent to which a material may be deep drawn. In the view of the current interest in the fabrication of beryllium shapes, it was thought that a knowledge of the strain-hardening exponent of cross-rolled beryllium sheet would be of general interest. Load-strain data after yielding and prior to necking was taken from the work of Greenspan,3 converted to true stress and true-plastic strain, and plotted on log-log paper as shown in Fig. 1. The value of Young&apos;s modulus E for beryllium was taken as 43 . l06 psi. The slope of this plot gave a value of 0.212 for the strain-hardening exponent (n) and the intercept on the ordinate axis a value of 105,000 for K. The total uniform elongation is thus 21.2 pct, in excellent agreement with the value estimated by Greenspan (about 20 pct). Furthermore,

Jan 1, 1960

By M. J. Ferrante

The Bureau of Mines recovered rhenium powder from scrap tungsten alloy containing approximately 25 percent rhenium. Oxidation of the scrap at 950° C separated volatile rhenium heptoxide from tungsten trioxide. Minor amounts of tungsten, iron, and nickel were removed by selective precipitation from a rhenium solution from which was recovered crystalline ammonium perrhenate. Experimentation showed that hydrogen reduction of minus 325-mesh ammonium perrhenate at 1,000° C produced rhenium powder averaging 2.1 microns in size (Fisher Sub-Sieve method). The powder contained <50 ppm of total metallic impurities and 1,070 ppm of total interstitial impurities. Sintered compacts had a density of 95 percent of theoretical. Approximately 96 percent of the rhenium contained in the scrap alloy was recovered.

Jan 1, 1969

By J. Petit

"In July 2004 workers at the ABI Smelter in Bécancour (Quebec, Canada) went on strike. Contingency plan were ready to face the situation and plan was done to operate one potline out of three. Two lines were stopped; keeping in mind the restart on cold metal after the strike was over. The subject to be presented and shared includes a summary of work organization including training, schedule of restart, pot cleaning, pot preparation, crash start method, follow up after crash start, safety and environment. This major project has been a very big challenge. It shows that people involvement is a must and the key success. It is then true to say : ""People who believe in success will work and act in order to get there"" and ""People who don&apos;t believe in success will act in such a way to fail"" Then both will prove they were right to think their own way ! Sharing such experience can be interesting because it&apos;s a true story and people like true stories."

Jan 1, 2006

By P. Z. Caverhill

In this section of the province only the most meagre of surveys have been made and because these are not sufficient to determine with any degree of accuracy even the total forest area, the information presented in this paper is not complete. Area: -The area south of the Canadian National, and served by the Pacific Great Eastern, is roughly 38,000. square miles, 30,000 of which is classed as productive. This is approximately equal to the productive area of Norway, or half of Finland-or of 30 per cent of Sweden. It is larger than that of either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Eliminating from the productive area 3600 square miles of grass-land and areas capable of agricultural development, 26,000 square miles (16,600,000 acres) remains as absolute forest-land, as compared with the 55,000,000 acres of Sweden, the 37,500,000 acres of Finland, the 17,000,000 acres of Norway, and the 7,600,000 acres of Austria.

Jan 1, 1925