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By David M. Parkes

The hydraulic movement of coal is here defined as the movement of all sizes of coal in pipes and open flumes, by gravity and against gravity. It is not restricted to coal which is in slurry form. In other words, it is not crushed to a size in the 8 to 20 mesh size range. The top size could be as high as 12 inches. The dewatering of coal which is transported hydraulically is carried out to restore the coal to a suitable form for further cleaning, or for transportation by other methods. The process involves complete separation of all the coal, wood and rock from the water so that the water can be recycled without undue damage to pumps, pipes and monitors.

Jan 1, 1976

By J. D. Robertson

An in situ water sampling device has been developed to measure biologically-available or “labile” metals in natural waters and effluents. The active mechanism involves the use of a polyacrylamide gel layer to quantitatively control metal transfer to a trace-metal-adsorbing, gel-imbedded resin. Because the resin only adsorbs free metal ions (the gel sampler methodology is a kinetic speciation technique), and because metal bioavailability is related to the free-ion activity, the device provides a direct measure of the biological-availability of metals in the environment sampled. The prototype consists of a layer of ion-permeable polyacrylamide gel which separates the solution to be sampled from an ion exchange resin. Because approximately 90% of the polyacrylamide gel is water, mass transport through the gel is diffusion-controlled, and is therefore well defined. Metal ions are rapidly bound by the resin, creating a steep concentration gradient in the gel. The amount of labile trace metal that accumulates on the resin can be related directly to the concentration of the metal in solution, the exposure time and the molecular diffusion coefficient of the labile species. In addition, the passive nature of this device affords it the potential to address many of the limitations presented by conventional sampling methods, such as sample contamination introduced during collection or filtration and changes in trace metal speciation prior to analysis. Laboratory studies and limited field trials indicate that the sampler behaves as anticipated and illustrate that biologically- available metal concentrations in many environments are a small fraction of the total concentrations and often significantly less than the dissolved concentration. The implications of this on regulatory criteria are discussed. Additional field trials and correlation with bioassays are currently underway.

Jan 1, 2000

By M. Misra, I. Anazia

The effects of the enzyme, peroxidase, on the sedimentation and consolidation characteristics of Florida phosphate slimes were investigated. Results indicate that pretreatment with the enzyme was beneficial for slime dewatering and consolidation. Biological activity, resulting from slime pretreatment with the enzyme, induced higher mechanical binding between slime particles.

Jan 1, 1990

By F. Mielli

Mine operation managers are constantly tasked with identifying new ways to produce more, while using less. Mine effectiveness and reliability is the foundation of improving operational performance. Timely decisions need to be made in order to identify production waste. Intelligent data needs to be visualized in real-time. Operational events need to be captured with impacts quantified and root causes identified. Unfortunately, complex information technology solutions often have a very poor success rate, with some reports suggesting 30 percent of complex projects are canceled before completion.

Feb 27, 2013

The Maas patent drill-hole compass, for determining the direction and dip of drill holes, is successfully used to a depth of 3,000 ft. APPARATUS FOR SURVEYING DEEP DRILL HOLES. The compass is placed in a thermos bottle or glass tube with hot liquid gelatine and lowered in a water-tight phosphor-bronze case, with a tube containing hydrofluoric acid. When the gelatine is cold the rods are pulled, the direction of the needle is marked on the tube which contained the acid, and the direction and inclination of the hole determined from this tube in a goniometer. There is nothing to get out of order and the compass can be used by any drill foreman, the mark and etching on the tube making a permanent record of direction and inclination. (See Fig. 1.)

Jan 1, 1916

By Ronald L. Pariani

To date, significant advances have been made regarding the development and commercial implementation of full deposit stripping in the copper industry such as practiced at Copper Refineries, LTD in Townsville, Australia. The paper describes the history and current practice of Electrowinning (EW) plants which may be coupled with solvent extraction. The modular nature and degree of automation are described in relation to the various sizes of operations. Reference is made to the expansion capability of commercial equipment plus associated economics of the mechanical processes for producing full cathode deposits. It is recognized that the technology described may be adaptable to other nonferrous refining areas where feasible. The paper highlights the state of the art in mechanized stripping equipment as applied to current and planned SX-EW plants.

Jan 1, 1987

By Henk Dijkman

Existing metallurgical operations can be optimized by implementing engineered bioreactor systems in the process configuration. For instance, metals can be recovered safely and economically from process and waste streams using biogenic sulfide. This paper focuses upon possible applications of high rate biotechnology in metallurgy and mining. Metal recovery from liquid streams (process bleed streams, leach water, waste streams), integrated removal of (fugitive) SO2, treatment of acid blowdown and other options will be described. Practical examples are given. A large-scale application of biotechnology at Pasminco's Budel Zink refinery is described. Here, acid plant blowdown is treated together with electrolyte magnesium bleed. Concentrated zinc sulfide (10 tpd) is produced biologically, eliminating the production of gypsum and closing the refinery sulfur cycle. Recovery of metals from solution at Kovehute Pribram in the Czech Republic is the second practical example. In this case, H2S is produced on-site for metal removal from an alkaline slag dump leachate. At the Caribou mine in New Brunswick, Canada, acid mine drainage is treated with biogenic sulfide. This plant is situated upstream of a lime neutralization plant. As a result, reusable ZnS is produced, the volume of the sludge (gypsum and hydroxides) from the lime plant is reduced by 50%, the sludge is free of heavy metals and the final effluent concentration of heavy metals is in the ppb range. In the second phase of this project, metals will be recovered from stored tailings, resulting in significant revenues.

Jan 1, 2002

By Robert W. Freedman

Vacutainers are employed by the Bureau of Mines and the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration for sampling mine air and other atmospheres containing fixed gases, low-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, and products of combustion. Tests were conducted to study shelf life of evacuated samplers prior to sampling and also to check the stability of sampled gases prior to analysis. An unexplained phenomenon, slow accumulation of carbon monoxide in evacuated samplers, occurred after a few weeks' storage; levels were low but increased with time and could pose a problem for critical applications. Accordingly, attempts to halt CO release by additional means of treatment were made, and storage at low temperature was found to be effective.

Jan 1, 1978

By F. Burat

At the present time, methods of mining and coal preparation produce tones of coal fines. The removal of water from these fines is necessary for economical and technological reasons. Supplementary processes that utilize different physical and chemical methods have been developed to in-crease the productivity of mechanical dewatering processes. Researches have shown that chemical reagents used along with conventional systems diminish moisture and increase the capacity and the yields of the dewatering method. In this study, the parameters of the vibrating screen (incline, frequency, feeding rate and screen size), the effects of the application of additional vertical mechanical vibration and surface active reagents (CTAB, SDS, Umectante B-70 and Kerosene) were investigated. At the end of the optimization experiments, 61.0% moisture was decreased to 42.3%. By keeping optimum conditions con-stant, the experiments have been conducted to determine most effective reagent. 41.2% moisture has been obtained with 5 g/t CTAB at the normal pH of the pulp, which were 7.25. By using vibrating screen with combination of the vertical vibrating mechanism, CTAB gave the best result of 40.7% moisture. Finally, the effect of increased surface area of the screen has been investigated and de-creased the moisture level to 38.7%.

Jan 1, 2014

By Terry P. McNulty

During the last 30 years, at least ten authors have dealt with startup ("ramp-up') times for minerals beneficiation, hydrometallurgical, and/or pyrometallurgical plants. Most have attempted to identity the reasons for delays and some have suggested attributes common to successful startups, as well as those shared by unsuccessful ones. The most recent has advanced a project characterization matrix as a predictive tool for qualified users. This paper will summarize past work, will review cause and effect, will outline an approach for refining our ability to avoid costly delays, and will seek guidance from professionals most likely to use such a tool. INTRODUCTION During the last few decades, many billions of dollars have been lost by investors in mineral industry projects that did not perform as well as their developers had hoped. The most common form of failure has been the inability to generate a profit quickly, and delayed achievement of planned production rate has been the chief cause. Minerals processing projects are by no means the only kind of plant to suffer from startup delays, as some authors cited in this paper considered inorganic chemical plants and other types of facilities. Furthermore, mines are not without fault and there have been many that were closed after years of disappointing performance. However, our interests as a group are most sharply focused on mineral processing and our database for such projects is relatively extensive. It is sufficient to say that the conclusions made or repeated in the following text can be readily extended to most types of projects.

Jan 1, 2004

By J. C. McKinnell

The appraisal of an oil lease may often be mad,? through production decline analysis, which requires description of the functional relationship between the oil production rate and either cumulative production or time. Heretofore, attempts to define the function appropriate to a given set of production data have depended to some extent on subjective procedures. The purpose here is to introduce an objective solution, obtained by combining the principle of least squares with the theory of equations. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS The fundamental differential equation appropriate to a general class of decline curves may be written. Solution of Eq. 1 for general boundary conditions may be written in terms of either the cumulative oil production or time: These equations constitute the mathematical expression of the so-called hyperbolic decline. Their complete description for a given set of production data requires the numerical evaluation of the three parameters1.', n, D, and (go),. For the special case of n = 0, Eq. 2 becomes q. = (q.), - DiN with the corresponding expression in terms of time being q. = (qa),e...........(5) Similarly, for the special case of n = 1, Eq. 3 becomes with the corresponding expression in terms of cumula- tive oil production being q. = (q.),e " '.......(7) Eqs. 4 and 5 constitute the mathematical description of the so-called exponential decline; Eqs. 6 and 7 are the mathematical description of the harmonic decline.',' Returning to the hyperbolic expressions, Eqs. 2 and 3 may also be written, q: = sNp + b........ (8) and where a = 1 - n; s = (n— 1)D,(q0);"; b = (go):-"; a'=-n;s/= nD,(qo);"; and b' = (go);-. Note that both Eqs. 8 and 9 are linear in either time or cumulative production with respect to an exponential function of the production rate. In other words, a straight line relationship results for both variables when associated with the appropriate power of q,. This fact is of prime importance in the application of statistical analysis. . STATISTICAL ANALYSIS For a given oil lease, the time, production rate and cumulative production are recorded records. To establish predictive formulas from Eqs. 2 and 3, it remains to determine numerical values for the three parameters [n, D, and (q,) .] through an investigation of the past history. Upon interpreting a, s and b as parameters, Eq. 8 may be expressed for every time interval of interest, i, over the past history as follows. (q,): = s(Np), + b........(10) In general, Eq. 10 will not be satisfied exactly, because of the assumptions in the expression of Eq. 1, and the errors and anomalies universally associated with production data. It will instead define the residual, s(Np), + b- CO=d......(11) Squaring both sides and summing over all the data points, m, under consideration yields

By M. A. Halim, V. I. Lakshmanan, Z. Jankovic

An innovative mixed-chloride process for the separation of iron from lateritic ore is described. The separation of Fe(III) from leach liquor is an important process step for the recovery of nickel and cobalt. The patented process of Process Research ORTECH Inc. uses a lixiviant containing hydrochloric acid (HCl) and magnesium chloride (MgCl2) for the leaching of lateritic ores/concentrates followed by the selective solvent extraction step of Fe(III) over other value metals such as Ni and Co. The use of MgCl2 increases the activity of the hydrogen ion in the lixiviant, which reduces the consumption of HCl in the leaching stage and enhances the formation of HFeCl4-, thereby increasing the solvent extraction efficiency of Fe(III) with ketone. The process produces high purity iron oxide (Fe2O3) and regenerates HCl by the pyrohydrolysis of the FeCl3 rich pregnant strip solution. The developed process flowsheet is in closed loop, economically attractive and environmentally friendly.

Jan 1, 2015

By Joseph M. Morrison

This paper offers a comprehensive solution to the problem of dust emissions at belt conveyor transfer points. It discusses details of enclosure design and presents a straightforward procedure for calculating required dust control exhaust volumes. Many design variables are taken into account which heretofore have been commonly ignored or inadequately considered. These include belt widths, belt speeds, enclosure openings, material flow rates, material bulk densities, material lump sizes, height of material fall, material temperature, and ambient air temperature. All of these quantities are handled by means of a "fill-in-the-blanks" type of calculation form which permits quick, reliable solutions by relative "non- experts".

Jan 1, 1970

By George Ashley

IT has been said that the Pittsburgh bed is the most valuable single mineral deposit yet known to man. The figures in Table 1 are presented in substantiation of that claim. TABLE 1.-Pittsburgh Coal Bed to Dec. 31, 1934 Estimated Recov- State Thousands of ( Value erable Reserves Tons Mined (1935), Thousands of Tons Pennsylvania 3,144,000 $4,922,000 7,500,000 Ohio 493,391 843,699 3,000,000 West Virginia 650,000 1,027,000 5,500,000 Maryland 183,224 254,681 20,000 Totals 4,470,615 $7,047,380 16,020,000 PRODUCTION AND VALUE In order that the figures of Table 1 may have any weight, a statement must be made to show how they were arrived at. Because, to the writer's knowledge, no accurate separate figures ever have been kept of the production and value of the Pittsburgh coal bed, the states will be considered separately.

Jan 1, 1936

By George S. Koch

Today, after about 30 years of development, computer-based analysis of geoscience data has reached a mature phase. From the tentative early beginnings recorded in the proceedings of the APCOM meetings, geoscientists are now able to emphasize the need for both pertinent mathematical/statistical models and computer hardware and software. From those models that are well understood in the disciplines of statistics and mathematics and for which effective computational methods are available, practitioners select and develop methodology for their particular purposes. Computer hardware is typically assembled from off-the- shelf components now readily available, with particular emphasis, whenever feasible, on microcomputers for reasons of economy and control by the scientific or engineering user rather than by a bureaucratic computer center. Computer software may be written by the user in high level languages such as Pascal, FORTRAN, or LISP. However, more often today geoscientists use routines available in spreadsheets, data bases, or statistical packages. In so doing, they save time and, programming costs and take advantage of routines written and maintained by large, well- established organizations, while losing the flexibility in specifying exact input/output afforded by writing in a high level language.

Jan 1, 1989

By Dave Bulled, Chris Bennett, Glenn Kosick, Glenn Dobby

"Mining companies around the world are embracing geometallurgical modeling at a rapid rate, as senior executives realize that inputs must be properly measured if the output is to be managed effectively. Geometallurgical modeling is used to scientifically manage risk in project evaluation, for plant design and production forecasting, and optimization of production planning and mineral processing/metallurgical unit operations. The technology also provides a solid foundation for implementing broad corporate strategies with respect to intelligent asset utilization and metal sales. Over the past five years, MinnovEX Technologies Inc. has been actively engaged in developing, promoting and applying geometallurgical modeling technology for major mining companies around the world. This paper describes the methodology for successfully applying the technology for the unit operations of comminution and flotation in the mining industry.INTRODUCTIONGeometallurgical modeling (referred hereon as geomet modeling), in theory, can be applied to its full potential on all unit operations in mineral processing; however, this paper will concentrate on two of the largest unit operations, namely comminution and flotation, where the technology is actually being practiced by many large mining companies. For concept studies and prefeasibility studies, aspects of geometallurgical technology are regularly applied but in a less rigorous manner than for final feasibility studies where justification for funds is sought. This paper will focus on the final feasibility stage of a project and on existing operations or planned expansions, where the full power of geometallurgical technology is brought to bear in a cost effective manner.One of the unique aspects of geomet modeling, when used to its potential, is the ability to design plants, and forecast and plan production with a quantifiable degree of precision, something that was unattainable in the past. This means that when new comminution and flotation plants are designed, the mining companies and financial institutions involved in the project can measure the precision of the design and therefore better understand and manage project risk. It means that for existing and new operations, metal sales personnel can carry out their sales strategies with a much better understanding of the degree of error associated with production forecasts of concentrate/metal and quality of concentrates. For mine and mill managers, geomet modeling allows the effect of the mine plan on the downstream processes to be quantified; thereby allowing the mine plan to be recast in a more optimized manner. Finally, existing concentrator personnel can optimize their unit operations based on a more definitive understanding"

Jan 1, 2004

By Travis S. Wellman, Jon C. Volkwein

The Bureau of Mines conducted a study to assess the impact of a directional water spray system on a unique single inlet dust scrubber on a low profile mining machine. Tests were conducted in a full scale model mine using a Joy 12 CM 10-AA continuous mining machine. Tracer gas was introduced at the face and concentrations of the tracer gas were monitored at the face and in the return. Various parameters included: mining position, depth of cut, brattice setback and combinations of scrubber, directional sprays or symmetrical sprays. Results indicated that either directional or symmetrical water spray configuration improved the ventilation effectiveness of the scrubber by a factor of 2 to 3. Average face ventilation effectiveness (FVE) values for all testing of the scrubber and directional sprays were 0.95, versus 0.37 for a standard 6 m (20-ft) blowing curtain without sprays. No FVE values were less than the standard 6 m (20-ft) blowing results.

Jan 1, 1989

By G. Reed Marchant

The control systems engineer is often faced with the problem of designing tests or experiments where the cost of obtaining information is expensive. This is true in aerospace as well as in process industries. In these situations the details of test design should be carefully evaluated before any test is executed so that the maximum amount of information is obtained for the effort expended. In recent years there has been a steady trend towards increased automation, In the process industries this has resulted in extensive review of process variables and, instrumentation techniques, development of more accurate system mathematical models, and extensive investments in complex control system as well as completely automated plants. When planning and developing these systems, where each measure of a process variable is usually expensive, it behooves the design engineer to give considerable thought to the details of test design before instrumentation is procured and installed so that the maximum amount of information can be obtained for the expense incurred.

Jan 1, 1968

By H. G. Botset

A KNOWLEDGE of the water content of producing sands is becoming of increasing importance to the petroleum industry. It is now a generally accepted fact that practically all oil sands contain some free water. Recent experiments1 have shown that an appreciable fraction of the pore space of a sand may be filled with water while oil production from this sand is water-free. Crowther and Haines,2 in experiments on electro-endosmosis in soils, reported that there was no endosmotic flow of water when the moisture content of the soil was 14 per cent or less, indicating that the moisture content of the soil below 14 per cent was held by dif-ferent forces than the water content above this value. This result is confirmed qualitatively by Dunlap,1 who found that "as the volume of water in the voids exceeds approximately 15 per cent of the pore volume, the permeability of the core to kerosene is markedly reduced." The author3 has also found in other experiments that the gas flow through a water-saturated sand reaches essentially 100 per cent when the pores of the sand still contain from 10 to 15 per cent water. The velocities of the flowing fluid in the experiments cited were comparatively high, so that in practice one may expect, at lower fluid velocities, an even higher moisture content of the sands with water-free oil or gas production. Thus a knowledge of the water content of oil-field sands becomes of con-siderable importance in estimating petroleum and gas reserves, and effi-ciency of fluid recoveries from depleted reservoirs. Rapid and reasonably accurate methods of measuring the water content of sand cores have not been described so far in any literature that has come to our attention.4 The method described below is devel-oped from methods that have been used for some time to measure the water content of alcohols.5,6,7 It is an application of the fact that in the presence of certain organic liquids such as kerosene, carbon tetrachloride, xylol, etc., water and alcohol are only partly miscible. This relation-ship has been used for some time in the study of gasoline-alcohol mixtures where the presence of small quantities of water affect the solubility of

Jan 1, 1938

By John P. Carter

The U.S. Bureau of Mines conducted research to determine suitable construction materials for use in brine and steam environments produced from high-salinity geothermal brines. The high-temperature, high-salinity geothermal brines in the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resources Area (KGRA) are a valuable source of energy and mineral values. The brine and steam produced from them are corrosive and cause early failure of many common materials of construction. Mass-loss and electrochemical corrosion measurements were conducted on over 60 metal alloys in brine and steam environments produced from geothermal well Magmamax No.1, located at the Salton Sea KGRA, at temperatures from 1800 to 2150 C, and in synthetic Magmamax brine at 105° and 232° C. General corrosion, crevice and pitting corrosion, and stress corrosion were examined along with the effects of dissolved gases. The alloys with the most acceptable corrosion performance in high-temperature, high-salinity geothermal environments were the high-chromium ferritic stainless steels, the Inconels and Hastelloys, and the titanium alloys. Specific alloys that performed well in wellhead brine included Fe29Cr4Mo, E-Brite 26-1, stabilized Fe26Cr1Mo, 6X, Inconel 625, Hastelloy C-276, Hastelloy S, Hastelloy G, Ti5OA, TiO.2Pd, and TiCode 12.

Jan 1, 2010