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By Carlos Lam, Joram M. Amir, Erez I. Amir

"Abstract The modulus of elasticity of pile material (E) is an important parameter for the interpretation of both static and dynamic loading tests on piles. This value is commonly assumed to be constant with depth though it may not be true for deep bored piles due to the chosen casting method and/or selfweight consolidation. To provide evidence to support this proposition, the results of compressive strength tests on core samples taken from four different studies have been presented. The results show a marked increase in the strength and stiffness values with depth. The results of crosshole ultrasonic tests conducted at another site also confirm the same pattern. It is therefore recommended that before load testing a pile the distribution of the E values along the pile axis should be investigated. This will ensure the use of a realistic elastic modulus value and hence the correct interpretation of thedistribution between the shaft and end resistances.IntroductionThe modulus of elasticity of pile material (E) is an important parameter for the interpretation of both static and dynamic load tests on piles. Multiplying E by the strain measured by either strain gauges (e.g. ASTM D4945) or tell-tales (e.g. Geffen and Amir, 1971) gives the stresses acting at a given pile section. Typically, in the absence of better information, the value of E is derived from laboratory tests on concrete cubes or cylinder specimens taken on site and is assumed to be constant along the pile. While this may be correct for pre-fabricated concrete piles that are cast in horizontal molds, it may not be true for cast-in-place piles that are produced in the vertical position.There are at least two factors that may contribute to the change in concrete properties with depth in a bored pile. First, the casting methods may be by free fall in dry holes (e.g. Kiefer and Baker, 1994) or by using a tremie tube if support fluids are used. In the former case, the earlier batches reach the bottom of the pile bore at a higher velocity and are thus compacted under higher energy. Second, regardless of the casting method, the fresh concrete in the pile bore will always consolidate at least partially under its own self weight. The materials in the lower parts of the pile will therefore experience a higher consolidating pressure. This can reduce the pore volume and the water content in the wet concrete, thus changing the properties of the hardened concrete. Recent research by Justs et al. (2011) has shown that even a relatively small pressure can have a significant positive effect on concrete properties such as compressive strength and stiffness. However, the possible change of concrete properties with depth is commonly ignored by foundation engineers in the current design practice."

Jan 1, 2014

By Jones S. C

The problem of sealing a fluid serieite zone at a hole depth of 4000 ft was overcome by using a composite non-return valve plug and rod assembly which enabled cement to be forced under pressure into the zoneà

Jan 1, 1966

By Sibabrata Patnayak

A major problem during shovel excavation in oil sand mining is the variability of material diggability resulting in varying mechanical energy input, cycle time, energy consumption, wear, and stress loading of shovel dipper-andtooth assembly. This variability greatly influences the mining equipment performance. Different approaches such as empirical ground classification systems, analytical methods, and performance monitoring that are used to determine diggability of groundmass are reviewed. It is concluded that the existing empirical diggability classification systems are site specific and mostly based on rock and therefore, cannot be used for shovel excavation in oil sands. The O&K wedge test is a simple and useful index test for establishing correlations between cutting resistance and geotechnical properties of coal and other soft rock overburden material. But this test, when performed on small size unconfined oil sand samples, may not give reliable indication of diggability because of the boundary conditions on the specimens. Digging predictions made using analytical and laboratory digging models need to be verified with performance monitoring data to better understand the digging effort in oil sands.

Apr 1, 2005

By Alastair Grogan

In October of 2002, the author was retained by Public Works and Government Services Canada, on behalf of the Department of National Defense, to design, construct and test the effectiveness of a bubble curtain system at an underwater demolition range, near Victoria, BC. The purpose of the bubble curtain was to reduce the potential for fish mortalities at the site. This paper presents some of the elements of the design, along with the results of overpressure monitoring during blasting and compares the results of fish mortality and animal behaviors with and without the bubble curtain in operation.

Jan 1, 2005

By O. H. Metzger

This is the first of two papers dealing with construction and use of aerial tramways in the metal-mining industry. It describes practices and equipment used in tramway construction and discusses the design of tramways. The second paper will describe the construction and operation of tramways and give operating costs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author acknowledges the cooperation of a number of cable and tramway manufacturers Who supplied practical manufacturing data and other valuable information. Full credit for formulas used in the design of aerial tramways it given' to Edward B. Durham3/ and F. C. Carstarphen.4/

Jan 1, 1937

Blasts should be designed so as to maximise the percentage of charges which shoot to a free face (Le, to a pronounced rock/air interface).Free faces should be rough, parallel and reasonably near to blastholes and, very importantly, concavely·biplanar relative to the charges (see Fig. 6b). The presence of biplanar free faces requires that each charge fragments and detaches its quota of the burden rock before the detonation of:1. later-firing adjacent charges in single-row blasts, and2. dependent charges in multi-row blasts.In multi-row blasts, biplanar faces are best achieved:1. by drilling blastholes on equilateral triangular grids,2. by selecting a VI, V2 or V3 initiation sequence, and3. by using down-the-hole delays.Biplanar faces start to be created only when the conventional value of effective blasthole spacing/effective burden distance (Se/Be) increases beyond about 2.4. Values of Se/Be less than about 2.4 result in planar free faces. Where biplanar faces are created, conventional values of Se/Be are invalid and appreciably greater than real values of Se/Be.

Jan 1, 1986

By Tim O’Neil

The search for precious metals opened up the American West. And Nevada was right in the heart of this development. In the mid-19th century, prospectors seeking gold roamed the hills of Nevada and discovered the ComstockLode. The development of this huge silver and gold deposit began in1859 and was responsible for Nevada’s early entry to statehood. Mining was Nevada’s first industry. In more recent years, the Nevada mining industry has led the nation in gold, silver and barite production. Nevada also produces many other minerals. These include aggregates, clays, copper, diatomite, dolomite, gypsum, lime and limestone, lithium and magnesium compounds, perlite, salt and silica. Even today, Nevada’s mining industry continues to be a major economic force in the state. The mining industry has made more than $10 billion in capital investments in Nevada since 1985. And the value of Nevada’s mineral production last year was about $2.7 billion.

Jan 1, 2000

The relationship between neural network (NN) performance and the parameters that form the architecture of the neural network is complicated. This paper studies an issue that is still controversial—the effect of the number of neurons and number of hidden layers on NN performance. This paper tests if the above parameters affect network performance when the NN is trained according to the quick stop strategy. It was determined that the number of neurons did not have any effect on the NN performance for a single layer or a double layer network. It was also found that the training error and calibration error could be poor indicators of the prediction correlation coefficient.

Jan 1, 2003

By Becerra J. O

HYL developed a direct reduction process (DR) that does not require a reformer; it is called self-reforming process. Typically, direct reduction processes based on natural gas utilise a reformer unit to transform the natural gas into reducing agents (hydrogen and carbon monoxide). The reforming reactions are: CH4+H20-?3H2+CO CH4 + CO2 - 2H2 + 2CO These reforming units require a catalyst agent to promote the kinetics of the reforming reactions. The catalyst for these reactions is typically a metallic element such as nickel in a ceramic matrix; iron is also an excellent catalyst for the reforming reactions.

Jan 1, 1999

By Will B. Jamison

An ignition detection and suppression system was developed under the scope of this contract. The objective of this machine mounted system was to detect flames caused by frictional sparking from the cutting bits of a continuous mining machine and to suppress it with sufficient speed to prevent the development of an explosion, and to keep the flame from harming the machine operator.

Jan 1, 1976

By Sara J. Davenport

With the increased demand for mercury incident to preparations for national defense and the reduction in imports from some of the usual sources owing to war conditions, many small mines in the United States Pure now being worked that ordinarily would be unprofitable. This is indicated by the following table on mercury produced in the Unite States in 1939-40 (1)4/

Jan 1, 1941

The Manto Verde mine is found in the coastal ranges of the Atacama desert, 1000 km north of Santiago, Chile . The deposit is a fault-breccia specularite-oxide copper mineralisation hosted by the Jurassic andesites of La Negra Formation. It is located in a tensional fault that joins twoparallel arms of the Atacama Fault. The mine is in feasibility study: reserves are of the order of 60 Mt at 0.9 wt per cent soluble copper; mining will be undertaken at a rate of 11 000 tpd utilising an open pit and the ore will be heap-leached with acidified sea water, with copper recovery and by SX/EW.

Jan 1, 1992

Many mines in Canada, the US and S. Africa are reaching the hoisting limit. Very little payload will be possible without compromising safety due the excessive weight. It has been suggested (DeLorme, 2000), that one of the most attractive concepts to enable deeper hoisting is to reduce the allowable factor of safety in the wire rope. Researchers at the Spokane Research Lab are developing new technology to improve hoisting safety and productivity by providing new monitoring and analytical tools. A Shaft Conveyance Monitoring System (SCMS) has been developed which determines hoist rope end load, true conveyance position and acceleration, and rope safety factor, as well as other hoist operating parameters. This information is transmitted to the hoist operator display 20 times per second. Recent field measurements on 45 mm(1 ¾ in.) diameter hoist rope indicate that dynamic forces during loading of a 9000 kg(10 ton) skip may exceed the safety factor of the rope. To improve on the current understanding of the mechanical behavior of hoist ropes, and to help interpret the results from field-testing of the SCMS, a new approach to computer modeling of stranded wire rope is also being developed. Particle Flow Code, PFC3D (Itasca 1995b) is used to simulate the structural behavior of wire rope and the interaction between individual strands when the rope is subjected to static and dynamic end loading. Details of the SCMS, field results from the measured rope loads, and the results of numerical modeling on the wire rope will be discussed.

May 1, 2002

By T. Mudder, R. Cellan, R. Waterland, J. Whitlock, B. N. Nelson

The effectiveness of anaerobic in-situ biological treatment for the immobilization of selenium, molybdenum, and uranium in an alluvial aquifer was examined using long-term column tests. A series of organic substrate and nutrient combinations were tested to determine removal effectiveness, optimum supplement concentrations and ratios. Final column testing was conducted to determine the chemical stability of the treatment by-products/treatment compounds by dosing the columns continuously with elevated redox untreated alluvial groundwater.

Jan 1, 2002

By Jose a. Sanchidrian, Ramon G. Eguren, Javier L. Amigo

On December 2013 a MEMU exploded at a blasting site in Norway, after burning for more than two hours. This paper describes the analyses made to determine the actual yield of the explosion, the lessons learned from the event and the actions taken as a consequence. The conclusions of the analysis were the following: - The yield of the explosion was 650-1450 kg TNT. In terms of AN and ANE they correspond to 1300 – 3700 kg AN, or 950 – 2450 kg ANE or ANE/AN blend. These quantities are 8 to 31 % of the explosive precursors in the truck. The burning of the truck and its load for two and a half hours had consumed more than two thirds (perhaps up to 90 %) of the explosive precursor material.

Jan 1, 2016

By Fernando Cillóniz

Benchmarking es un proceso de comparación y medición de los procesos de negocio de una organización, con aquellos que lideran el mercado. De forma que se obtiene información para mejorar el desempeño de las empresas. En ese sentido, el presente texto señala la utlidad del Benchmarking en las empresas donde el uso de la Internet y las tecnologías de la información permiten hacer más eficiente las comparaciones e intercambio de experiencias y conocimientos, así como internacionalizar el proceso.

Aug 25, 2002

By B. K. Belle

The beginning of 21st century has heralded the global strategic importance, as evidenced by increase in energy prices and energy generation-emission-utilization dilemmas. In January 2008, the South African energy supplier, ESKOM had tabled the concept of power conservation and acknowledged the energy crisis until 2016. The concept is required of all energy users to reduce their electricity consumption, intensify energy efficiency and cautiously proceed with new projects. The generation of energy results in by-products called ?green house gases? (GHGs). To make a positive response to climate change and their effect on the environment, every energy user must ensure efficient energy use through technical and administrative means referred to generally as energy savings. This paper identifies mine ventilation engineering, in particular the electricity consumed by main fan units, as an area of potential energy savings. For a major mining company, electricity consumed by main ventilation fans alone can be in the order of 120 MW. Although a known fan engineering technique but scantly applied technology identified as the Hermit Crab can be seen as a ?quick win? project, due to its success in other industries such as cement and steel. The ?Hermit Crab? technique® involves upgrading or replacement of an impeller - whatever its origin - with a design impeller to suit the actual ventilation requirements, resulting in increased fan efficiencies. The cash flow benefits associated with a case study and its rollout of this technology have been calculated. For a 10% increase in main fan efficiency, would have a net present benefit of US$ 16.08m over 10 years. With the inclusion of carbon credits, this benefit rises to US$ 29.40m in total. Application of other available technologies, viz., composite materials, ventilation-on-demand and variable speed drives are discussed.

Jan 1, 2009

By V. F. STANLEY

THERE is not the slightest doubt that the present recoveries of valuable minerals by the Broken Hill mills could be improved, and that further machinery would be installed for the purpose if it could be assured that a high price of metals would be maintained; but concentration, like all other com¬mercial propositions, is a question of profit and loss, and no sensible metallurgist would carry out his work in such a manner as to obtain high recoveries at a financial loss to his company. There is a point in all concentration at which the added money obtained from the higher recovery of minerals is balanced by the extra cost of obtaining the last part of the recovery; a wise metallurgist will be content with his work before his working-expenditure reaches this point. To a casual observer, the work being done by the various Broken Hill mills is identically the same. A closer investigation will show that this is far from being the case, for it is a remarkable fact that, although the larger mines extend over a length of approximately only 2 miles, such a difference in the physical and chemical properties of the ores exists that, from the first reduction downwards, special treatment is necessary in each case, and hardly any two mills are identical in operation. The details of this paper refer directly- to the work of one . particular mill in Broken Hill, for the reason that the ore from each mine presents special difficulties and requires its own special treatment. I have selected the mill referred to because it has been constructed and modified under my supervision.

Sep 1, 1909

By Joshua Micah Hoffman, Jhon Silva-Castro, Kylie Larson-Robl

A coal mine impoundment failure has the potential to be environmentally devastating and life-threatening. It is well documented that after seismic events slope failures in impoundments can occur. It has been concluded that often the main driven factor of the failure is the increase in excess pore pressure due to ground vibration. A small amount of research has been done regarding the stability of coal mine impoundments under natural seismic events; however no research has been done considering vibrations from mine blasts. If it is taken into account that current environmental restrictions oblige to increase the capacity of coal mine impoundments, thus increasing the hazard of such structures, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of near-by mine blasting on the stability of the coal mine impoundments in order to mitigate and control the potential of slope failures. To study the behavior of excess pore pressure under blasting conditions, scaled simulations of production blasting events were set up inside of a controlled sand tank. The research was divided in two stages. The first one was done, using dry conditions, while in the second part, the same set of tests were performed under saturated conditions. This document shows the partial results for stage one (dry conditions). For the tests, explosive charges were set off within the sand tank at various distances to simulate different blasting distances. Information was collected from geophones, accelerometers, microphones and high speed video camera for dry and saturated scenarios and additionally from piezometers under saturated conditions to assess the behavior of the material under blasting conditions.

Jan 1, 2015

By Gordon M. Miner

When I was originally invited to speak to this audience on the subject of the future supply of precious metals I was somewhat apprehensive and suggested that the Program Chairman select someone with more credentials. He declined and the results of our conversation gave me cause to reflect and recall the opportunities I have had over the years and how fortunate I have been to be associated with so many successful companies and knowledgeable people affiliated with the precious metals field. I discovered that since 1935, 1 have worked in or visited most of the gold and silver camps in the United States; have been a leaser of a gold mine in Mohave, California; have both lost and made money in the silver futures market; have worked for two of the greatest precious metals companies in the United States - Homestake Mining Company and Hecla Mining Company, have spent a considerable amount of time in precious metal related discussions with men like Don MacLaughlin, Paul Henshaw, Dick Stoehr, Abe Shoemaker, Bill Love, Phil Lindstrom, Simon Strauss, Herbert and Bunker Hunt and many others. It is those exposures and experiences that I draw onto discuss the subject at hand.

Jan 1, 1980