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By G. van den Berg

Anglo Platinum has initiated a project to investigate hydraulic hoisting technology for platinum mines. Hydraulic hoisting systems are categorized as pumping, fluidizing feeder or displacement feeder systems. Positive displacement piston diaphragm pumps are most suitable for pumping systems but they require that the ore be milled prior to pumping. Fluidizing feeders are unsuitable for platinum ore applications due to the large percentage of fines in the ore. The three-chamber pipe displacement feeder has been most widely used for hydraulic hoisting and is the most suitable technology for platinum mines. Eight hydraulic hoisting applications covering pumping and displacement feeder technologies are reviewed. The key factors to be assessed in selecting a hydraulic hoisting system for a platinum mine are discussed. A typical platinum mine configuration will comprise an ore preparation plant (to produce -15 mm material through screening or crushing), motive water pump on surface, high pressure water pipeline from surface to underground, ore slurrification plant, three-chamber displacement feeder, and a high pressure slurry pipeline to surface. The water and slurry pipelines are housed in a purpose drilled borehole. A hydraulic hoisting system selection chart is presented. A 150 mm diameter system with a 25 MPa pressure rating is required to hoist 60 000 t/m from a depth of 1 200 m. Generic capital and operating costs are presented . A major potential advantage of hydraulic hoisting is that the fines, which contain a high percentage of PGMs, are captured underground and transported directly to the concentrator. Hydraulic hoisting technology is ideally suited to providing supplementary hoisting capacity to existing shafts that have reached the skip hoisting capacity limit. The main advantage for new shafts is the potential to significantly simplify underground rock handling and transportation. All hydraulic hoisting system components are proven. The only risk area is the wear rates of the valves and piping. Current estimates are based on gold ore. The business cases investigated show that the financial viability of the installations are not sensitive to wear rate. Hydraulic hoisting is technically feasible and financially attractive for platinum mines. Keywords: Hydraulic hoisting, slurry

Jan 1, 2004

This report is a proceedings of a briefing recently sponsored by the Bureau of Mines at which Bureau personnel presented findings from their research efforts to improve steelmaking techology currently used in the United States. The papers contained in this report address many areas of concern to the iron and steelmaking industry. Among these are improving arc stability in electric arc furnaces, preheating ferrous scrap to reduce energy consumption, fluorspar substitutes in steel-making, basic steelmaking refractories, corrosion of iron-based materials, improvements in stainless steel acid pickling processes, recycling of stainless steel dusts and other wastes, and use of wastes as a source of zinc for electro/galvanizing.

Jan 1, 1988

By B. van Beek, J. Ndlovu, K. T. Hara, J. M. A. Geldenhuis

This paper describes the development of an alternative technique for measuring the matte level height in sulphide smelting furnaces. The initial studies involved applying electrochemical oxygen probes in a smelting furnace to measure the oxygen potentials of the matte and slag phases. However, these measurements were not successful as a result of low temperatures, preventing there ference electrode from attaining equilibrium during the measurements. These trials were followed up by using oxygen probes containing a (Mo + MoO2) reference electrode instead of the(Cr + Cr2O3) reference electrode used previously. It was shown that with some further development work, it should be possible to measure the oxygen potential of these mattes accurately. Further measurements were performed with a magnetic sensor in sulphide mattes. It was shown that an electronic signal, which is proportional to the magnetic susceptibility of the surrounding material, was generated during immersion into liquid matte. These measurements were extended and done in a smelting furnace. Initial results indicated that when the magnetic sensor was dipped through the slag layer into the matte, a signal was generated as soon as the sensor came in contact with the matte. Measurements are ongoing in order to record (on a computer for improved accuracy) the signal as a function of distance when the sensor is immersed through the slag layer into the matte phase. The magnetic sensor measurements may be the solution to a matte level measurement problem that has existed for a few decades in matte smelting furnaces.

Jan 1, 2004

By F. Ajersch, M. Rigaud, M. Jallouli

"Le gonflement des boulettes d'hématite à été étudié à l'aide d'une méthode de mesure standard ISO ainsi qu'à l'aide d 'une méthode de mesure dilatométrique.La première méthode a servi à l'étude des boulettes haute silice (5% SiO2) dont l'indice de basicité (IB = CaO + MgO -i- SiO2 + Al2O3) a été ajustée soit à l'aide d'une addition de dolomie, soit à l'aide d'une addition de pierre à chaux, soit à l'aide d'une addition de ces deux composes. L'indice de basicité variait de 0.05 à 0.12. Les résultats de gonfle ment obtenus à 1000?C dans une atmosphère de 40 CO - 60 N2 ont permis de montrer qu’indépendamment de l'indice de basicité c'est la dolomie qui contribue le plus à diminuer le gonflement par rapport à la pierre à chaux. L'utilisation de l'indice de basicité comme critère de sélection des boulettes est discutée.La méthode dilatométrique a servi à l'étude du gonfle ment de deux types de boulettes préparées à partir de deux concentrés de fer et dont la teneur en silice a été fixée à 2.5% et 0 5%. Ces deux types de boulettes ont reçues les mêmes additions de liant en quantité et en nature. La détermination en continue du gonflement, à 950?C dans 40 CO - 60 N2, a permis d'une part de mieux cerner le niveau de réduction auquel correspond le maximum de gonflement et d'autre part de montrer que l’allure des courbes de gonflement est étroitement liée à la nature du liant. Une augmentation de la teneur en silice des concentres contribue à diminuer le gonflement des boulettes.Des essais de réduction de gonflement non isothermes ont été réalisés à des montées de température à 10 et 20?C/min. Les résultats indiquent que le gonflement déterminé dans les conditions non iso thermes est inferieur à celui obtenu lors des essais isothermes. On discute alors de la validité des essais standards de gonflement qui sont utilisés pour prédire le comportement des boulettes lors de leur réduction dans un haut fourneau."

Jan 1, 1983

By W. D. Sinclair

"Between 1934 and 1956, nearly 31 million grams of gold were produced in the Matachewan area from deposits on properties belonging to Young-Davidson Mines Limited and Matachewan Consolidated Mines Limited. In 1979, production from these properties was renewed by Pamour Porcupine Mines Limited.Most of the gold produced has come from relatively lowgrade deposits (3.4 gl t or less) that occur in an east-trending belt of dykes and irregular bodies of trachytic syenite. Although small by comparison, these deposits have some of the characteristics of porphyry copper-molybdenum deposits. The mineralized syenite contains up to 5 per cent disseminated pyrite and is highly fractured and cut by quartz and quartzcarbonate veinlets. Gold occurs as native gold along fractures, in quartz veinlets and as minute inclusions in pyrite. Minor chalcopyrite and trace amounts of scheelite, molybdenite and galena are also present. Mineralization was accompanied by potassic alteration, consisting mainly of potassium feldspar.Some gold was also produced from small, but higher-grade, deposits in volcanic rocks. These deposits occur near the syenite-hosted deposits and consist of quartz veins and stringers mineralized .with pyrite and gold. Minor gold is present in some low-grade, porphyry-type copper-molybdenum occurrences and, locally, in large, isolated quartz veins.Lead isotope analyses suggest that the gold deposits were formed at about 2700 Ma and were locally remobilized at approximately 2400 Ma, following the Kenoran orogeny. The deposits appear to be genetically related to felsic magmas emplaced in an epizonal environment and deposited from hydrothermal solutions relatively concentrated in S and K20."

Jan 1, 1982

By D. K. Uko

In the stretch-bend or bending-under-tension test, a strip is rigidly clamped and restrained at each end and bent by central transverse loading using a radiused punch: The strip deflection at failure has been used as a measure of formability for high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels by other investigators. In this work, a detailed study is made of strains developing during stretch bending of an 80,000-lbf/ in 2 (552 MPa) yield stress steel using different punch radii. It is shown that toward the end of the process, the bending strains at both the inner and outer surfaces are tensile and suddenly increase at a rapid and approximately equal rate. The strain ratio in the failure region departs significantly from plane strain , even using a large width-to-thickness ratio of about 10. The effective fracture strains appear to be independent of bend ratio (punch radius/thickness) and significantly below the fracture s train in simple tension. Metallographic and tensile data were obtained for the subject material and, for one bend ratio, the effects on stretch-bend parameters of annealing both on this material and a. carbon steel were compared.

Jan 1, 1977

By Richard G. Geyer

One aspect of a program to improve the chances of survival following coal mine disasters is the development of a communications sys tem which will allow surviving miners to make their circumstances known to rescue teams. At present, it appears that an electromagnetic system may be most practical. The development and design of an effective electromagnetic communications link for signalling between mine workings and the surface requires knowledge of pertinent physical properties of the rocks overlying the mine workings and the characteristics of the ambient noise against which a communications signal must be recognized. Knowledge of the overburden electrical transmission properties is useful not only for determining a practical operating transmitter frequency at a given mine, but also for ensuring the best possible electromagnetic coupling for routine or emergency communication purposes. Field studies of the electrical transmission properties of the overburden of coal mines in Colorado, Illinois, and Pennsylvania generally show that a relatively uniform and unimodal electrical conductivity distribution exists provided that the region has not been subject to considerable structural or metamorphic deformation such as that observed in the Gary District of West Virginia. Measurement s of ambient surf ace electromagnetic noise levels at several mines in Colorado, Illinois, and West Virginia were taken and analyzed and are presented in the form of amplitude histogram plots both as a function of frequency and time of day. These amplitude histograms may be used in conjunction with overburden resistivity data in implementing an uplink communications beacon system which will yield a specified signal- to-noise ratio at the surf ace. Numerous C .W. field transmission tests were made in various coal mining environments with use made of either a buried vertical-axis transmitting loop or a short insulated grounded current line. These transmission tests were made from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz in frequency and at several geographic surface receiving sites. The results of these field measurements show, in general, good agreement with theoretically calculated results. Since the produced surf ace magnetic field from a buried vertical-axis loop source or the produced surface horizontal electric field from a buried horizontal current line show better agreement with theoretical results, they could be used for beacon location system. One criterion would be in detecting the equatorial and polar null lines of the horizontal electric field component which is normal to the direction of emplacement of a buried transmitting line current source. A second criterion would be in the surface mapping of the maximum in the vertical magnetic field directly over a vertical-axis loop transmitter and the associated null is the vertical magnetic field at a horizontal offset distance which is about 1.4 times the depth of burial of the transmitter. Finally, a third criterion would lie in the surface mapping of the null in the horizontal magnetic field directly over the vertical-axis beacon and the associated maximum in the horizontal magnetic field at an offset distance from the transmitter axis of half the depth of burial of the loop transmitter. In mapping the vertical magnetic field over a buried vertical-axis loop transmitter, the size effect of the transmitter loop must be taken Into account when the separation distances between the transmitter and receiving sensor are less than ten times the effective radius of the source loop; increasing the size of the transmitting source relative to the source-receiver separation distance shifts the null in the vertical magnetic field to greater offsets. In mapping either the vertical or horizontal magnetic field over a buried vertical-axis loop transmitter, care should be exercised in ascertaining that measured nulls and maxima are along radials through the axis of the buried source loop. For the main part, coupling experiments show that ambient electromagnetic noise in coal mining districts is less of a problem above 1000 Hertz. But secondary and perhaps undesirable maxima and null phenomena (as well as penetration problems) would occur in many coal mine provinces in the behavior of the surface horizontal magnetic field (over a buried vertical-axis loop transmitter) if transmission frequencies as high as 10 kHertz were used.

Jan 1, 1974

By Claudia Monreal L., Dafne Herreros

"The Geological Modeling is the undisputed point of split of any type of mining method, the effect that the vision and experience of the geologists is propagated trough the development of the project and is an important part of the final success. The collection of information is taken in stages. In earlier stages uses the greater part of the budget and the strategy to store and manage this data collection, as its performing will define the destiny of the deposit and of the business. With this background the geology and its modeling receive great attention from the industry and care providers being a fertile field in research and innovation. "

Sep 1, 2017

By Robert K. Guthrie, James W. Amyx, D. B. Taliaferro

"INTRODUCTION Secondary recovery of oil by water-flooding is practiced more extensively in North Texas than in any other section of the State, and the progress and experience of the operations in that area are of continuing interest to all branches of the oil industry. The first Bureau of Mines report on water flooding in North Texas 7/ chronicled the activities from December 7, 193f', when the Railroad Commission of Texas granted The Texas Co. the first permit to inject water into an oil-bearing sand, through 1944. This second report has been prepared as a supplement to Report of Investigations 3906 to show the progress and expansion of water-flooding. The format of this report is almost identical with what of report of Investigations 3906, except for a few miner changes. For the sake of brevity, certain basic information contained on the first report has not been repealed, and the reader is urged to consider the two reports as corporation writings.The North Texas area, as encompassed by the two reports, corresponds Railroad Commission of Texas Districts 7P and 9. Oil-development operations in the two districts, since oil was discovered in 1904, have resulted in the recovery of approximately 1,400,000,000 barrels of oil from a proved area that has been estimated to exceed 413,000 acres. During October barrels of oil was produces by primary and secondary-recovery methods from 1,746 flowing wells and 25,211 pumping wells, a daily average 6.6 barrels per well. Of this total volume of oil recovered in October 1947, 47,965 barrels (0.87 percent) was recovered from leases on which water-flooding operations were in progresses."

Feb 1, 1948

By F. Albayrak

This report is a study of the impact of Federal laws and regulations on the domestic supply of metallic and nonmetallic minerals. The study was confined to pertinent environmental legislation and the recently enacted Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977. Emphasized were the legal requirements placed on individual selected mineral industries, and the economic impact of these requirements. A certain amount of attention was also directed to the particular environmental and health and safety problems generated by selected mineral industries. The study also pinpointed a list of major problem areas having significant impact on the domestic mineral supply.

Jan 1, 1978

By W. M. Williams

The Canadian steel industry is now in many ways a mature one, having achieved many technical successes during its hundred-year history. It is interesting to look back over this period, to learn something of the histories of the different producers and of the people and forces that shaped their development. The following article provides a thumbnail sketch of the Canadian steel industry as it exists today. It is intended for the general reader, not for the specialist who will want to consult the several books and theses written on the development of the industry during the last hundred years. The famous Les Forges du Saint-Maurice, an important iron producer for a century and a half, provides a natural historical starting point for a look at the four major players - Dosco, Algoma, Stelco and Dofasco - who have provided most of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of steel, in every form from horseshoes to tinplate, needed in the twentieth century. The smaller companies which have sprung up in the last 20 or 30 years are dealt with briefly - but only because their history is so recent. Not so long ago the mini-mill, based on scrap rather than on the blast furnace, was thought to be specially suited to the economies of the smaller developing countries of the Third World. However, recent history has made it evident that the small plant, specializing in a few basic products (e.g. reinforcing bar) or taking advantage of special circumstances, can successfully compete with the large blast furnace/primary steel producers.

Jan 1, 1999

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

By Francis C. Lincoln

"INTRODUCTION As part of a general investigation of the zinc-producing area of southwestern Wisconsin, the Bureau of Mines undertook a limited amount of exploratory drilling in the immediate vicinity of the New Dale Rundell mine, in the Mifflin District of Iowa County, Wisc.The work was carried out during the early part of 1945, at a time when all effort was being directed toward increasing production of metals important to the Nation's war program. Bureau of Mines engineers decided to conduct exploration at the New Dale Rundell mine after a preliminary study of available data showed a reasonable possibility of indicating an important deposit. Before the Bureau of Mines investigation, 50 holes had been drilled in the vicinity. Of this number, 18 encountered ore of minable grade. Subsequently the mine was developed and operated for a brief period; however, work was stopped before all of the ore disclosed by drilling had been mined. There appeared to be a correlation between the ore shown by the drilling in the New Dale Rundell mine and another disclosure some 1,500 feet to the northwest. The Bureau of Mines exploration was pinned to explore this possible correlation. Of the 7 holes drilled by the Bureau of Mines, 3 disclosed minable ore beyond the limits of previous drilling."

Aug 1, 1946

By Phillip M. Busch

VANADIUM was discovered in 1801 by Andres Manuel del Rio, a professor of mineralogy at the School of Mines in Mexico City. Del Rio called the new element erythronium. Later, he decided that this was not a new element but a form of chromium. Not until 1831 did Nils G. Sefström, a Swedish chemist, positively determine that the metal was a new element which he named vanadium, after Vanadis, the Scandanavian goddess of beauty. From 1831 to the 1860's and 1870's, the comparative scarcity and high cost of vanadium restricted its commercial use. Shortly after 1870, more information was obtained on the physical and chemical properties of the element. Thereafter, research on vanadium has dealt largely with its use as an alloying element in steel and nonferrous metals. Vanadium is a widely distributed element in the earth's crust. It is more abundant than many metals but is disseminated in small quantities throughout a great variety of rocks. Relatively few deposits have contained ore of a grade suitable to warrant development for vanadium alone. It is produced in conjunction with uranium, iron, titanium, aluminum, and lead-zinc ores.

Jan 1, 1961

By Jack E. Brockway

As tunnel boring machine technology has expanded, so has its range of application. Tunneling machines (TBM's) are tackling tasks today that fifteen years ago were considered "inappropriate". A case in point is incline/decline TBM boring. An incline or decline bore presents peculiar design considerations that differentiate it from a horizontal bore. This paper reviews those design considerations as they apply to TBM's, backup, muck handling and other tunneling subsystems. In addition, several abbreviated case studies are presented. By the review of real life tunneling techniques as well as design considerations, the "appropriateness" of TBM incline/ decline boring today becomes apparent. INCLINE Introduction In contemplating the impact of incline versus horizontal tunnel boring system design, the obvious consideration is gravity. Up-hill boring can be quite different than horizontal boring. Muck, water and machine weight all tend to slide down the incline. In addition, hydraulic and lubrication systems if unaltered, will find their fluids pooled in the lower corners contentedly ignoring such higher elevation items as gears and bearings. In order to address this inherent gravity problem, a review of

Jan 1, 1983

By Maurice Deul

This bulletin summarizes the work conducted under the Bureau of Mines methane control research program during the years 1964 to 1979. This research effort was directed toward improving existing methods and developing alternative methods of reducing the explosion hazard during mining. The research was performed in three general areas: (1) basic factors that control the emission of methane into coal mines, (2) methane control during mining, and (3) methane drainage in advance of mining. Topics discussed in this bulletin include the magnitude of the methane problem; the equipment and instruments developed; the geological, chemical and physical parameters that control the movement of methane in coalbeds; the direct method of determining gas content; the estimates of gas content from adsorption data; and methane drainage, through shafts, through horizontal boreholes, through vertical boreholes, or through slant holes. Improvements in ventilation, control of methane in gob areas, and water infusion are also discussed, as is the potential use of coalbed methane as a supplement to natural gas supplies. This bulletin provides a comprehensive source of information on the accomplishments of the Bureau's methane control research program, on the technology developed, and on the direction of further research.

Jan 1, 1986

By Paul B. Queneau

Formulation and commercial utilization of solid-waste incinerator slag by-product is the focus of this paper. Particular attention is given to iron aluminosilicate melts having compositions similar to that of nature's basalt The earth?s crust can be viewed as an environmental laboratory for predicting stability of various silicates; small-scale laboratory experiments are necessary to confirm findings there from. An ideal slag consumes flux additives at acceptable cost, is compatible with furnace refractory, flows readily from the furnace, and has physical properties suitable for its commercial utilization -all within the critical constraint that the slag is environmentally stable. Examples of successful solid waste slagging practice, including tonnage, utilization and pricing, are provided from metallurgical and waste treatment operations of North America. Western Europe and Japan.

Jan 1, 1991

By H. H. Schrenk

The purpose of respiratory protective equipment is to prevent the inhalation of harmful or objectionable atmospheres. Although constituents or contaminants that may render an atmosphere irrespirable or objectionable are numerous, they may be classified broadly as follows: I. Gaseous substance: n. A. Toxic. B. Inert (oxygen deficiency). II. Particulate matter (dispersoids). A. Solid. a. Dust (formed by disintegration). b. Pure (formed by condensation). B. Liquid. a. Mist (formed by disintegration). b. Fog (former by condensation).

Jan 1, 1940

By Paul S. Goodman

This report examines absenteeism and accidents. The first section provides some background information on absenteeism. The second section examines trends in absenteeism in underground coal mines over time. The third section examines causes of absenteeism. Models were examined. The first model looks at self-report reasons for absenteeism. The second examines demographic correlates of absenteeism. The third model includes demographic and attitudinal predictors of absenteeism. The next section of the report examines the effect of absenteeism on accidents. The last section contains strategies for reducing absenteeism.

Jan 1, 1985