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By J. E. Gebhardt, D. A. Rice, P. E. Richardson

An improved understanding of the significant role of electrochemical reactions in sulfide flotation has evolved in the past 20 years, This understanding has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in attempts to control the electrochemical potential of flotation pulps for monitoring and controlling sulfide flotation circuits to improve metallurgical performance. This paper discusses the basic electrochemistry of sulfide flotation and the use of electrochemical potential as a control parameter.

Jan 1, 1993

Launching Platform - Drift Indicator- Stratascope-are components of Carbide and Carbon Chemicals new Mining Machine No. 3.

Jan 1, 1953

By O. A. Carson

"IntroductionTHE ZINC-BASE die casting alloys in common usage contain approximately 4 per cent aluminum as the major alloy element. In addition, they contain about 0.05 per cent Mg .and may• have a small amount .of copper. These are usually the only •elements intentionally present.Small amounts of some impurities have been shown to have a deleterious effect on the properties of these alloys and therefore the impurities are kept low by starting with '99.99%' zinc.The reasons for holding the aluminum content at 4 per cent are not clear. Some statements appear in the literature that higher aluminum increases the brittleness, but probably the chief reason was the relative price of zinc and of aluminum when 4% alloys became firmly established. At that time, aluminum was three to four times the price •of zinc on a weight •basis. Recent prices, roughly equivalent per lb., make aluminum considerably cheaper than zinc on a volume basis and suggest that increased aluminum content would result in a decrease in the cost per piece due to the lower density of the alloy.Little information could be found in the literature and, therefore, it was decided to determine some physical properties of the higher aluminum zinc-base alloys made from high-purity zinc."

Jan 1, 1953

By Mark Malamphy

DURING the latter part of the year 1932, the Servico Geologico e Mineralogico do Brasil ordered four magnetic field balances with tem-perature-compensated magnetic systems and a photographic recording apparatus for the registration of the diurnal variation. These instru-ments were delivered during the early part of the year 1933 and a short time later were taken to Santa Catherina for use in the field. Before the field work was begun, a series of experiments was carried out to determine the behavior of these new instruments under existing field conditions. The recording instruments were mounted in an under-ground chamber and their sensitivities checked by means of a Helmholtz coil. The field instruments were then mounted at fixed stations and readings were taken to determine the diurnal variation and compare it with the photographic records. The data obtained with the horizontal field balances were concordant but that obtained with the vertical component instruments showed a considerable divergence. This divergence was of such a magnitude that it was necessary to spend considerable time in determining its cause and finding a means of improving the functioning of the instruments. This paper presents the results of our observations on these systems and the conclusions at which we arrived; also the means we took to partly elimi-nate the difficulty until new systems could be ordered from Germany.

Jan 1, 1935

By R. C. A. Thurston

Introduction A mechanical spring has been .defined by Wahl ( 1) as 'an elastic body whose ?primary function is? to deflect or distort under load, and which recovers its original shape when released after being distorted'. Most material bodies are elastic to some extent ? and will deform under load, but they are seldom regarded as springs since this is not their primary function. The principal applications of springs are the absorption of energy and the mitigation of shock, the support cf moving masses or the isolation of vibration, and the provision or measurement of definite loads or torques. A large number of spring types have been developed to serve these purposes and to meet the different operational requirements; they range from the large semi-elliptic leaf suspension spring to the delicate watch hairspring. The springs of most importance in machine design, however, are the helical round-wire compression or tension types. They are made in a wide variety of sizes and are used in tremendous quantities, mainly because of their low cost, their compactness, and their relatively high efficiency. Their field of application is as broad as that of machine design itself, but the bulk of production is almost certainly for suspension systems of vehicles such as automobiles, freight and passenger cars, and mine cars, and it is with the last of these applications that this paper is primarily concerned.

Jan 1, 1951

By Dennis V. D’Andrea, Larry R. Fletcher, Peter G. Chamberlain

The evaluation of potential in situ copper leaching deposits requires a thorough examination of the geologic, mineralogic, hydrologic and physiological characteristics of the ore body. The decision to develop the deposit is made with these data along with leaching properties, estimated copper recovery, and economic analysis. A test blast followed by pilot leaching can a so be used for further evaluation and to reduce uncertainty regarding the deposit's potential. This report describes a number of ground characterization techniques that can be used to evaluate potential deposits. Field methods include geologic mapping, groundwater hydrology, core drilling, geophysical logs, permeability testing, and in-situ stress measurements while laboratory tests include assaying, mineralogy, leaching, rock physical properties, size analysis, and computer simulation.

Jan 1, 1980

Minerals Handbook 1994-95: Statistics and analyses et the world's minerals industry? by P. Crowsons, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1994 ISBN 0 333 60931 X. £85. Available from Macmillan Direct Ltd., Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hants, RG21 2XS, UK. Review prepared by Theo J. Oosthuizen, Information and Educational Programmes Division, Mintek

Jan 1, 1995

By Johnston, T. L.

BISMUTH is found as native metal associated with tin, copper, cobalt, silver, gold, or other metals and in a variety of ores. The more important ones are: bismuthinite (bismuth glance), Bi2S3; bismite (bismuth ochre), Bi2O3.3H2O; and bismutite (bismuth carbonate), Bi2O3CO3?H2O. Of lesser importance are the arsenate, telluride, and vanadate. The sulfide is the most common; the others are often oxidation products from this mineral. Bismuth minerals have been found in various places in the United States, principally in Colorado and Utah, but no ores are mined solely for bismuth. In the Granite mining district of Beaver County, Utah, a stratum of limestone about 6 ft. thick has been almost completely replaced by contact minerals in which bismuthinite associated with pyrite and molybdenite was found intergrown with silicate minerals. In the early days a few small lots of ore assaying 7 to 10 per cent bismuth were shipped from this district. Native bismuth has been found in the Clifton and Tintic districts of Utah. Bismuth is produced as a byproduct in the refining of lead, copper, gold and silver ores, it being recovered from the anode mud from the Betts process. Deposits of bismuth minerals exist in Argentina, Aus¬tralia, China, Japan, Germany, Spain, Peru, Bolivia, and Canada, but Bolivia is the principal, producer and could easily supply all of the present world's demand.

Jan 1, 1933

By T. Fliß

The protection of natural resources is of essential importance in times of rapidly increasing populations and resulting shortage of agricultural land. Soil and groundwater resources play a central role for the production of food or feed of any kind. The intensive agricultural and environmentally friendly use of these resources must ensure sufficient income and sustainability of life for future generations. Mining projects often represent a particularly deep intervention into ecosystems due to their size as well as the most expensive treatment processes. Conventional mines comprising of shafts and developed mining fields require the stockpiling of waste rock and in particular to potash mining, the discharge of brines from raw salt processing. In contrast, mining operations based on the solution mining method can be operated without major environmental impacts and lower security risks. While the solution mining for the production of rock salt finds application since more than 500 years, exist a procedure to produce potash using solution mining only since the 1980's. For solution mining drill holes are used to exploit the potash, launched from the surface into the deposit. The exploitation of the raw material occurs by the dissolution of the potash injecting solvents and creating so-called brine caverns. Currently, a number of mining projects in Carnallite deposits by the solution mining method are in progress around the world. Often these projects are located in sensitive ecosystems. K-UTEC project and support actual a solution mining operation of a Carnallite deposit for a Chinese customer in South-East Asia. This work comprises a comprehensive geological and geomechanical modeling as well as stability analyses. Furthermore the cavern design and brine field layout as well as the planning of the brine processing and the plant design. The present paper introduces this project as a case study. The application of a special solution mining procedure and processing design ensures an emission-free mining operation (Zero Disposal Plant). The emission-free operation is achieved by utilizing the full extent of the caverns to dispose the liquid solutions from processing. The presentation of principal salt processing and technical equipment will be rounded by information about the geology of the deposit. Since the deposit includes a number of sensitive minerals, such as Tachyhydrite and Bischofite the presentation comprise a lot of interesting items with special view at the brine field operation. K-UTEC designed and delivered a special blanket measuring system and a well cement according the request of the customer. K-UTEC, a research and engineering company with more than 60 years of experience in the sector of potash and rock salt mining, developed the world's first solution mining operation for Carnallite in Germany more than 30 years ago. In recent times K-UTEC served in different solution mining projects worldwide, with special view at the environmental impact, as well as the optimal utilization of the deposits.

Aug 1, 2013

By Karl Eilers

This process, invented by Messrs. Hanisch and Schroder, of Rosdzin, was patented in 1883. It has attracted considerable attention in Germany, as a very neat and simple method of extracting sulphurous acid from the gases produced by roasting, and of condensing this acid so as to obtain it in the very compact anhydrous liquid form. The special importance which such a process may have at this time in the United States is suggested by the growing inconvenience, amounting to distress, experienced in such localities as Butte, Mont., where the sulphurous gases from large roast-plants have proved not only fatal to vegetation but injurious to human health. It is reported that the authorities of Butte are earnestly considering the enterprise of removing, if practicable, the dense and suffocating cloud which now hangs over that city, and of which sulphurous acid undoubtedly forms the greater and most oppressive, if not the most poisonous, part. May it not be that the solution of this problem is furnished by a

Jan 1, 1892

By C. W. Sherman, J. Chipman, H. I. Elvander

J. F. Elliott—This is an excellent piece of work and makes a chemical metallurgist more enthusiastic than ever about what can be done with multicomponent systems, if we have satisfactory data. I have a remark to make on the interpretation of fig. 5. First, I will comment on the problem of activities in solutions. The iron-sulphur system has in its phase diagram an intermediate solid phase FeS. The occurrence of an intermediate phase is normally associated with negative departures from Raoult's law over a portion of the activity curves in the liquid. (Perhaps it would be better to reserve the phrase "departure from ideality" to departures from Raoult's law line rather than to departures from Henry's law line). Fig. 5 indicates that the deviation of the sulphur activity curve from the Henry's law line is negative;

Jan 1, 1951

By Q Wang

Net present value (NPV) has been the main criterion in mining project evaluation and production plan optimisation. It is a common practice in NPV calculations to take into account only the tangible cost items in the corporate accounting system. The costs incurred due to damage to the local ecosystem and environment are left out and treated as externalities. Such practice on the one hand underestimates the total cost of a mining operation and, on the other hand, ignores the difference in ecological/environmental impacts between different mine plan alternatives. This paper attempts to measure the ecological costs of mining and to incorporate such costs into the evaluation scheme in mining project evaluation and mine planning. The ecological costs of mining are estimated based on the areas and types of land (eg forest land, grazing land, crop land) damaged by mining activities and the carbon emission from fossil fuel consumption. For the land areas (and their associated ecosystems) directly damaged by mining activities, the ecological costs are measured by the prevention and restoration costs, the lost values of eco-services of the damaged land, including bio-product production, soil erosion control, water run-off control, oxygen release, air pollutant absorption and formation of soil nutrients. The ecological cost of carbon emission from the energy consumption of a mining operation is measured by the cost of cultivating the equivalent forest land required to uptake the emitted carbon. A case study on a large-scale open pit mining project is presented to demonstrate the influence of ecological costs on the mine planning outcome.

Sep 26, 2011

By Fumito Tanaka

The Converting Furnace (C-furnace) of the Mitsubishi process has solely provided opportunities for producing blister copper continuously from molten matte. Continuous converting originates from the proven technology for controlling the behavior of magnetite in lime-ferrite slag of the CaO-FeOX-Cu2O system. Recent improvements in the C-furnace operation have included the slag controls reflecting the impact of minor oxides on magnetite behavior. Although previous investigations focused on magnetite behavior, sulfur has also affected the C-furnace operation because it is of practical importance to avoid the precipitation of gypsum from lime-ferrite slag and the separation of matte from blister copper. This paper will quantify the behavior of sulfur in C-furnace with respect to the gypsum formation and matte separation, and discuss better controls for C-furnace operation.

Jan 1, 2006

By Gregory B. Baecher

Rock engineering involves uncertainties which are large and difficult to quantify. The traditional design approach to these uncertain- ties has been conservatism, and has been satisfactory to the extent that failure rates are reasonably small. Yet, a price is paid for conservatism, and that price is not always small. Today, reliability and risk analysis are finding use in rock engineering. The introduction of such methods, usually under the name 'probabilistic design,' is controverisal. However, if the jingoism of both sizes in this controversy is stripped away, it appears that new insights about uncertainty in rock engineering are emerging.

Jan 1, 1982

By P. Malozemoff

Discussion by P. Malozemoff I have no objection to using mathematics in the value appraisal of properties. The factor that is not emphasized in the paper is that very few important properties have a lifetime that reflects the initial ore reserves of the property divided by the rate of production adopted. In the majority of cases, major properties mine out several times the initial reserves. How much more will be mined out is not known, and only exceptionally gifted geologists can predict that additional reserves will be found. There is the further factor of metals price, which, over the long term, is not predictable. Another factor vitiating making calculations on initially established ore reserves is the speculative nature of exploration success. In my judgment, the life of a property, in addition to an established ore reserve, should include ample time for exploration to find additional reserves. The likelihood of additional reserves is based on the geological promise of the general area where the mine is established. This is especially important because of various risk factors associated with small orebodies, the economic life of which is about five to seven years. In underground mines, it is not economic to develop reserves beyond a certain depth, so the life of initially established reserves must be limited. In these cases, it is especially important to have a good geological understanding of the orebody and its continuity. To accommodate these concepts and present proof of economic soundness for a mining enterprise, a mathematical analysis should yield a life long enough to allow exploration and the development of additional reserves that would ensure a longer mine life and a more profitable result.

Jan 1, 1994

By G. T. Engel, W. G. Gruzensky

Jan 1, 1960

By F. A. Rutledge, B. S. Webber, J. M. Moss

"INTRODUCTION The United States, with its vast resources of relatively low-grade zinc been the world's leading producer of zinc -metal for many years. The expanded zinc production during the period, 1939-44, inclusive, was induced by favorable premium prices and has depleted the known ore reserves in the United States. The 1943-44 rate of zinc production cannot long be maintained in the United States, especially if premium prices are removed. Domestic zinc reserves, have been depleted to such an extent that it is doubtful if our mines will again be able to completely and continually fulfill the needs of this country.The Bureau of Mines, anticipating a postwar consumer demand for 550,000 to 750,000 tons of slab zinc and an additional 100,000 tons for use in paints and chemicals, sent two engineers to Sedanka Island in July 1945 to investi¬gate the deposits near Biorka Harbor.ACKNOWLEDGMENTIn its program of exploration of mineral deposits, the Bureau of Mines has as its primary objective the more effective utilization of our mineral resources to the end that they make the greatest possible contribution to national security and economy. It is the policy of the Bureau to publish the facts developed by each exploratory project as soon as practicable after its conclusion the Mining Branch, Lowell B. Moon, chief, conducts preliminary examinations, performs the actual exploratory work, and prepares the final report. The Metallurgical Branch, R. G. Knickerbocker, chief, analyzes samples and performs beneficiation tests. Both these branches are under the supervision of Dr. R. S. Dean, assistant director."

Nov 1, 1946

By Clara María Lamus Molina

The following minerals found in the residual black sands from gold mining in El Bagre Antioquia (Colombia) were identified as having major economic interest: Ilmenite (FeTiO3), with an average of 49% of TiO2, frequently altered presenting crowns; lamellaes of rutile and alteration textures; titanomagnetite with up to 25% of TiO2; magnetite (Fe3O4) in individual grains or associated with others minerals as hematite and ferromagnesian silicates rutile (TiO2) with considerable quantities of Nb2O5(0.1-3.7%Wt); zircon (ZrSiO4) with 66%Wt of ZrO2 and monazite with an average of 63.43%Wt of REE, this frequently associated to xenotime and thorite forming textures as little drops. Analysis in EPMA and SEM/EDS showed percentages of minor elements and traces, thereby clearly establishing the applications of these minerals in diverse industries. Furthermore, a detailed granumetric study of the different minerals and textural relationships among them also allowed for establishing the basis for possible processing and exploitation.

Jan 1, 2006

By Liu Z. C

Evans' theory for chisel shaped picks is well known in the field of rock cutting technology. It has been widely accepted as a good mathematical description of how coal and other rocks break under the action of a simple wedge or chisel. Subsequently, Evans proposed a corresponding theory for pointed shaped picks. Theory along with experimental evidence from the laboratory has consistently shown that chisel picks are more efficient than pointed picks. However despite such evidence, pointed picks continue to be the preferred shape in most practical cutting applications. Evans' theory for pointed picks was developed in an attempt to shed light on this apparent incongruity. The theory although predicting forces of the right order was found to be deficient in several respects. This paper examines Evans' theory for pointed picks and proposes changes to it, which brings the theory much more into line with measured data. The issue of the relative efficiencies of chisel and pointed shaped picks is also examined on a theoretical basis and the apparent incongruity is Resolved.

Jan 1, 1995

By Nick Barton

Simple methods for estimating the shear strength of rock joints and waste rock are reviewed. For the case of rock joints, the methods are based on a quantitative characterization of the joint roughness and the joint wall strength. Size-effects are found to reduce the peak strength of large joint samples to values below the ultimate or so-called "residual" values measured in the laboratory. Tilt tests and surface profiling on natural size blocks within the jointed rock mass are recommended for obtaining scale-free properties. The joint parameters obtained can be used to model complete strength-displacement-dilation behavior if this level of input is required. Large scale tilt tests can be performed with advantage on both rock joints and waste rock. The behavior of these two materials is surprisingly similar. Both are influenced by the size-effects on the compression strength of the rock, and both have similar log-linear relationships between effective normal stress and the peak drained friction angles. The resulting high values of friction near the toe or close to a slope face in either material can be misleading.

Jan 1, 1983