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By C. J. Bise

Virtual Reality (VR) is a concept in which the human experience of perceiving and interacting with a computer-modeled environment is achieved through the use of sensors and effectors. It is an advanced fonn of computer graphics where the images are generated based upon where the user looks and how the user moves. As personal-computer-based (PC-based) instruction gains acceptance as an innovative approach to providing safety training, VR offers the capability of providing a multisensory, rather than merely a multimedia, mode of presentation. VR has been effectively used by the military for training tank commanders and by hospitals for training surgeons. However, these applications have been limited to small numbers of highly skilled participants. The purpose of this paper is to examine VR's potential for enhancing the hazard awareness of larger numbers of individuals in a broad-based approach to mine safety training, such as new-miner, annual-refresher, and independent-contractor training.

Jan 1, 1996

An incremental-analysis-based stope design and cutoff grade calculation method was developed for an underground metal mine project. Traditional stope design methods are typically very time consuming and lack consistency and accuracy by manually drawing stope shapes. For quick reserve calculation and economic analysis, a new method named "3D incremental analysis based stope design" was created for mine-wide stope designs. The key idea of this method is to replace engineers' manual checking of each incremental ring with one calculation of all the rings, and to build the final stope shape with the maximum values. This process was realized through a 3D ring grid setup and proper naming conventions for rapid calculations. With this unique but practical method, multiple options for a mine design were completed within a short time before the final selection of optimal cutoff grade and best stope designs for the project.

Jan 1, 2012

By Giovanni Osellame, Jean Habimana

"The Montreal Metro Blue Line Extension Project is part of a metropolitan Program that was launched in 2009 by the Transportation Ministry of Quebec to add additional extensions to existing metro lines in the cities of Montreal, Longueil and Laval with the intention to meet current demand and future growth within the Montreal agglomeration. Specifically the Blue Line Extension Project will add five underground stations to the East of the Montreal. The paper addresses the preparation and the implementation of a three-step geotechnical and geo-environmental investigation program and preliminary design considerations such as the selection of a preferred horizontal and vertical alignment, the selection of construction methods based on previous local experience and current industry trends, as well as preliminary sizing of underground infrastructures. PROJECT BACKGROUND An agreement between the three mayors of the Montreal Metropolitan City agglomeration, namely, Montreal, Longueil and Laval prompted the Government of the Province of Quebec to create a project office to oversee the studies of extending the existing metro network. The last extension of the existing metro network was completed in 2008 with the Laval extension, which consisted of adding three stations from the existing Orange line. The current extension Program consists of three different extensions, namely extending the Orange Line to Laval and finishing the loop, extending the Blue Line to the East of Montreal by adding five stations, and adding five stations on the Southshore of the St-Lawrence River for the Yellow Line extension. The extension program also requires the construction of an underground storage and maintenance garage located to the north-west of the existing Cote-Vertu station on the Orange line. Figure 1 shows the overall extension program with the existing network."

Jan 1, 2016

By E. J. Sullivan

This study seeks to define the mechanism of oxyanion sorption onto surfactant-modified zeolites. Zeolites which have been treated with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA) surfactant to produce a hydrophobic surface are capable of sorbing both organic compounds as well as oxyanions such as chromate, selenate, and sulfate. Simple ion exchange and charge-balancing mechanisms do not fully explain this unusual phenomenon. The sorption of HDTMA surfactant appears to be partly ion exchange and partly sorption to non-ion-exchangeable sites. Sorption of chromate is a simple exchange mechanism with bromide, which co-adsorbs with HDTMA to form a surface precipitate. Information from this study will be used to design on-site and in situ treatment systems for contaminated water, such as filter beds and permeable barriers.

Jan 1, 1995

By Patricia Pride, Kurt Bettger, Jack Raymer

"INTRODUCTION The Jefferson Barracks Tunnel is in the final stages of design and is expected to go out to bid in the summer of 2016. The project is located in south St. Louis County along the west bank of the Mississippi River, about 13 km downstream of the St. Louis Gateway Arch. The project consists of a deep sanitary sewer tunnel, a deep pump station and several intakes. The intakes will divert sanitary flows into the tunnel and the tunnel will convey the flows by gravity to the Lemay No. 3 Pump Station, which will pump them up into the Lemay Waste Water Treatment Plant. The tunnel is about 5.4 km long and will be lined with 84-inch (2.1 m) fiberglass pipe. It drops at a gradient of 0.1 percent from south to north and will be bored through strong limestone using a hard-rock tunnel boring machine (TBM). The diameter of the TBM is anticipated to be about 3.4 m. The Owner’s original concept was for a relatively shallow tunnel so as to minimize construction and pumping costs. The preferred alignment ran close to the river, next to the existing force main, which was to be abandoned. Keeping the tunnel close to the force main would reduce the amount of shallow sewer work needed to connect the existing feeder sewers to the new tunnel. Several geotechnical investigations were performed, with shallowly focused geophysics and the borings all going exactly down the conceptual tunnel depth. Limestone bluffs run along the Missouri side of the river. These bluffs are pockmarked by sinkholes and riddled with karst. Large, well-known caves occur both north and south of the alignment. Karst features, including deep crevices and possible caves, were found in those early geotechnical investigations. Many of these features extended well below the level of the Mississippi River and would have been encountered by the tunnel. If a large crevice or cave were encountered, then the inflow of mud and water into the tunnel could have been large and possibly uncontrollable. Something had to be done to mitigate this situation. Pre-excavation grouting was considered, but the program would have been huge and extremely expensive. Using a closed-face TBM with bolted and gasketed lining was also considered, but that too was both risky and extremely expensive. The Owner could have abandoned the tunnel altogether and built a new force main, but that would have brought a whole new set of problems and was undesirable to the Owner. The last option was to move the tunnel away from the karst."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. J. McLaughlin

Acid mine drainage (AMD) can occur as a natural phenomenon through oxidation of sulfide minerals. Oxidation by air and water can be exacerbated by mining. Because AMD can exhibit low pH, it is capable of extracting heavy metals from mineral deposits. The result is highly acidic drainage with elevated heavy metal concentrations -the combination of which can cause extensive environmental damage. Because of the importance of these factors, this paper is focused on sulfate based AMD. Due to widespread mining, the occurrence of AMD is ubiquitous. As a result, several approaches to treatment have been developed. Chemical treatment using alkali is most commonly employed to treat AMD. There are alternative methods of treatment, as well as alternative ways of handling treatment sludges or concentrates. Dewatering of sludge or concentrates is beyond the scope of this paper.

Jan 1, 1996

By A. M. Raichur

The selective adhesion of hydrophobic Mycobacterium phlei to coal particles is responsible for flocculation of fine coal from associated ash forming minerals. The driving force for the differential adhesion is the hydrophobic interactions between the fatty acid surface of the organism and hydrophobic nature of coal. The effect of Mycobacterium phlei on surface hydrophobicity, surface charge and mechanism of adhesion on coal and associated minerals are controlled by several factors including hydrophobicity and surface and solution chemistry of the system. Adhesion measurements indicate that maximum adhesion occurs below the isoelectric point (IEP) of the coal particles. While massive adhesion of Mycobacterium phlei is observed on coal, however, negligible amount of Mycobacterium phlei attaches to mineral pyrite and quartz.

Jan 1, 1995

By David Morrison

"The history of the mining industry is littered with in-pit crushing and conveying (IPCC), which should not be confused with the International Protocol for Carbon Capture, projects that failed. The failure is not the technical one of “did it achieve the desired tonnage rate for a longish test period” but, rather, the far more important one of “did it provide return on the investment in the manner that was promised?” While quite a few can claim the former, very few system installations can claim the latter.The reasons for the many failures are numerous, but they are all characterized by a combination of an element of engineering optimism in any, or all of the production rates, the productivity, or the operating and maintenance costs and in predicting the continuity of operating conditions. In these days of big data, propagating such a situation is rapidly becoming unforgivable.In this article, the three most common scenarios put to the corporate board for approval, and the logic as to why they were selected, are examined (with the irony included intentionally).• Fully mobile crusher, fed by a shovel and conveyed out of the pit to a waste dump / process plant.• Semimobile crusher (much more expensive than a fixed crushing station but which apparently allows trucks to short haul inside the pit and improve productivity), which moves when the face moves.• Relocatable crusher (more expensive than a fixed crushing station but which gets relocated at great expense after all the fixed infrastructure impeding relocation is demolished) fed by trucks that don’t leave the pit mostly.This paper will also consider the truth about their operational performance and associate costs."

Dec 1, 2016

By Anna Sieminska-Lewandowska, Monika Mitew-Czajewska

"The construction of 6.3 km long central part of 2nd metro line in Warsaw was completed in September 2014 (7 stations - out of which three 25m deep stations - built using cut and cover method; two single-track tunnels constructed using four EPB TBMs as well as a short NATM section with soil freezing below the existing road tunnel). Central section of the 2nd metro line was opened to public after verification and testing in March 2015. Design and build tender for the extension of this line in East (three stations) and West direction (three stations) was announced with total length of running tunnels – approx. 5 km. Detailed description of a very complex geotechnical context, different construction methods, challenges encountered and solved during construction and finally lessons learnt on this interesting project are presented in the paper. DESCRITPTION OF THE PROJECT Introduction The very first concept plan of the metro system in Warsaw was designed several years after regaining independence by Poland in 1918. In 1929, following the geotechnical survey, design works begun, but the economic crisis of the 1930s stopped it. After a few years of break, in 1938 a coherent concept of the metro network was proposed to be implemented in phases over the next 35 years. In total, construction of 46 kilometers of metro, including 31 km of tunnels and 15 km on surface, was planned. Unfortunately, World War 2 made the implementation of those plans impossible. In the post-war period several metro designs were elaborated, but none except one was scheduled for implementation. Construction of the 1st, 23.1 km long, North-South line commenced in 1983 and finished in 2008 (Sieminska-Lewandowska et all. 2009). Nowadays, Warsaw covers the area of 517 km2 and, according to year 2014 statistical data, the city has much more than 1.7 million inhabitants. Only one operating metro line is not sufficient for such a populated city. Up-to-date metro plan, shown on Figure 1, includes also 30.5 km long 2nd metro line. It’s route is divided into four sections: Western Section with the length of approx. 9.2 km and 9 stations, Central Section with the length of 6.3 km and 7 stations, North-East Section with the length of 7.7 km and 6 stations, South-East Section with the length of 7.1 km and 6 stations. The construction of the central part of the 2nd metro line in Warsaw was completed in September 2014 and its operation started in March 2015. The paper focuses on challenges encountered and solved and lessons learnt during construction of the central part of the 2nd metro line in Warsaw."

Jan 1, 2016

By T. Bui

The shut-off value for a panel cave mine determines when a draw point will be shut-off and mining will cease from that draw point. Using a shut-off value strategy for a panel cave mine is similar to using a cut-off value strategy for an open-pit mine. This paper will discuss how to choose an appropriate shut-off value strategy that an engineer can use when planning a panel cave mine to increase the net present value (NPV) of the project. Using a shut-off value equal to the mining and processing cost will provide the total mining reserves for a panel cave mine given a specified footprint. When the net present value analysis method is used to compare one design to another then using a shut-off value greater than the mining and processing cost will generate a higher NPV. This strategy will replace the marginal ore at the top of a draw column with higher grade ore at the bottom of newly opened draw points. A draw column is broken material which sits above a draw point and it is mined to a specified height above the draw point. This height is called the height of draw (HOD). Varying the shut-off value over the life of the mine can increase the NPV even further. This strategy would have a high shut-off value during the early stages of a mine and low shut-off value during the later stages. If the shut-off value is too high then too many tonnes would be left behind the draw point and the overall value of the mine will be decreased. Also with a high shut-off value then the production target may not be maintained due to too many draw points closing too soon.

Feb 23, 2014

By W. D. Eddy

Topaz is a fluorine-bearing aluminosilicate mineral of the kyanite-sillimanite group. The formula has been given as Al2SiO4(F,OH)2, [Al(F, OH)]2SiO4, or 2Al2O3?2Al(F, OH)3SiO2. Topaz is generally considered a semiprecious-to-precious gem mineral, but it is a fairly common minor constituent of granites. In 1937 the U.s. Geological Survey reported an occurrence of massive topaz in the 3 Brewer gold mine, Chesterfield County, S.C. Over the next 8 years considerable research was done on topaz to establish its properties and to determine possible end uses The first reported shipment of ore was in 1939 Peak production was reached in 194412, and output then began declining until the mine closed in 194913? During World War II topaz was used in refractories, as a flux in steel mills, and in the manufacture of borosilicate glass 14. The main advantage of using topaz over kyanite and sillimanite in refractory use was that calcined topaz converted to over 95 percent mullite (3A1203 .2Si02) while calcined kyanite or sillimanite contained only 88 percent mullite15. However, a major draw-back to utilization of topaz is the evolution of fluorides during calcination. In 1973 the Geological Survey reported that topaz occurred in probable commercial quantities in at least two domestic locationsl6: the Brewer area of South Carolina and a location in Colorado. The literature also indicated that progress had been made in controlling fluorine-bearing fumes. This research has progressed to the state where valuable fluorine compounds are being recovered on a commercial scale 17. Thus, a major obstacle to utilization of topaz appears to have been resolved. The Bureau of Mines under its program of advancing minerals technology initiated a project to study techniques for the concentration of topaz from disseminated materials. The objective of the study was to determine those techniques that would be used to produce topaz concentrates that could be utilized as a source of fluorine and mullite.

Jan 1, 1977

By Donald M. Ulbrich

Any of you who served in the military remember the admoniton to "get the lead out," In the military environment, where cost wasn't always a factor, "get the lead out" was more often a call for activity of any sort than activity of a particularly productive nature. As a result, when the top sergeant yelled "get the lead out," lots of people started moving.. . usually to get out of his way. Now there's a new cry, ..one that comes not only from the military but from an entire nation threatened with dependence on foreign sources for its energy needs. That cry ...get the coal out, Like the earlier order, it's a call to activity. A signal that the coal reserves of the United States must be tapped so that Project Independence can succeed by 1985, But it's more than a mere call to activity; it's also a call to achieve productivity. ,a call to produce coal both efficiently and acceptably. And that leads us to the key questions of where the coal is going to come from to meet that 1985 goal, and how can it best be mined. Where will the coal come from? There's no doubt much of it must come from surface mining in the West. How can this coal be mined? There are several options available but there is an excellent case to be made for using mining shovels and haul trucks due to their versatility in stripping, loading and reclamation, We'll explore this approach in this talk today.

Jan 1, 1976

By W. F. McDermott

One of the major improvements in ore grinding economics in North America has been the introduction of autogenous grinding. The history of this has been well documented in previous AIME presentations and in the literature. Pickands Mather & Co. has been very active in the development of autogenous grinding since 1957. This early work led to the application of autogenous grinding to the Wabush Mines ore in 1965, with the installation of 6-24 ft. diameter by 8 ft. long - 1,750 HP mills. Development work recently completed in 1971 on another ore has led to the decision to install 5-36 ft. diameter by 15 ft. long - 12,000 HP mills when this project goes ahead. Between these two decisions lies a tremendous amount of research, development, and application of autogenous grinding to a variety of ores. The Pickands Mather Metallurgical and Research Laboratory in Hibbing, Minnesota has tested, in its pilot plant facility, ores from 9 different deposits. Some of these deposits have as much difference within their own ore types as there is between the various deposits. Therefore, it is safe to say that over 20 different ore types have been tested and flowsheets developed for commercial applications. Of the 9 projects, 3 are in operation. These are Wabush Mines in Labrador, Canada, (1) Savage River Mines in Tasmania, (2) and The Griffith Mine in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada. (3) Pilot plant work has encompassed over 300 individual tests. These tests were carried out in mills that were 5-1/2, 8, and 12 ft. in diameter. Grinding power requirements for the primary autogenous milling has varied from 2 to 30 KWH/Lt of crude ore.

Jan 1, 1972

By Charles A. Beasley

Increased technical and legislative analysis by all parties of interest could result in more efficientand better directed regulatory legislation in the mining industry. Efforts to forestall or frustrate legislation through massive lobbying and public relations efforts are seldom effective over time and often lead to more stringent and far reaching legislation than necessary. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 is perhaps an outstanding example of such insufficiences; a future example may well be regulatory surface mine legislation. Although a lack of extensive hard data seldom enables rapid or sophisticated analysis early in the legislative process, even preliminary analysis may be sufficient. Simple statistical analyses of available data, assessment of the legislative rationale, and subjective appraisal of other non-quantifiable constraints to improved mine safety. An average of 115 underground fatalities at an exposure frequency rate of 0.67 can be reasonably expected in the immediate future, under existing levels of technology, degree of regulation, and economic conditions. If gross unrefined estimates of 6 preparation plant, 5 surface, and 30 strip mining fatalities are assumed, the total fatality industry level could be expected to approximate 156 Serious professional, economic, and technical constraints within the the industry probably preclude any major decrease of these accident levels within the near future

Jan 1, 1972

By Carlos Kovacs-Figueroa

Because of air pollution control regulations in the early 701s it became necessary to clean effluent gases from the Morenci Reduction Works Smelter. Feasibility studies indicated that this could be accomplished most efficiently by using the smelter gaseous effluent to feed a sulfuric acid plant. Complying with air pollution control regulations thus created the need to dispose of relatively large amounts of concentrated sulfuric acid. Typical Morenci ores contain substantial amounts of oxidized copper minerals which are not recoverable by flotation. In addition, there is low sulfide, high oxide material which can be leached, but is not suitable for flotation concentration. Early in 1971 sufficent data had been accumulated to show that a leaching plant for the Morenci tailings could use a large portion of the sulfuric acid produced by the Smelter. It was determined that for all practical purposes leaching of the available copper was complete in two hours or less. Capital expenditures could not be justified for more than two stages of counter current decantation for recovery of the leached copper, and the plant was designed with these criteria in mind.

Jan 1, 1976

By Syd S. Peng

In the past few years, the numbers of underground coal mines in this country using longwa11 mining method have been dramatically increased. In the latest count there are approximately 90 10ngwa11 faces amounting roughly 8% of the total underground production. Meanwhile, shortwall mining adapting longwa11 powered supports to 'coal mining and handling systems in room and pillar mining is also gaining importance in the Appalachian coal field. Although there are only 7 operating shortwall faces so far, indications are that it will be increasing steadily. Modern longwall faces are highly mechanized and productive. One of these key elements that contribute to the success of modern longwall mining is self-advanced powered supports. There are several types of powered supports. Frame type is two sets of one to four hydraulic legs supporting beam-type roof canopy and floor base. However, chock type is more popular and connected to broad roof and base structure. Shield supports were introduced recently but proved to be highly successful (1). A shield support consists of two hydraulic jacks mounted between a base plate and a gob shield. The base plate is hinged to gob shield which is in turn hinged to roof canopy.

Jan 1, 1977

By C. I. Basilio

Pearson's hard and soft acid and base (HSAB) principle may be applied to flotation systems. The HSAB principle states that hard acids prefer to bond with hard bases and soft acids prefer to bond with soft bases. By determining the Drago E and C parameters for the different components of a flotation system, the HSAB principle could be used to explain the selectivity of some collectors such as thionocarbamates against some minerals. Determination of these parameters is done by utilizing Drago's theory and flow micro-calorimetry.

Jan 1, 1991

By Verya Nasri, Mehdi Bakhshi

The development of the Montreal metro extension Line 5 -Blue Line- toward the northeast are located between the existing Saint-Michel station and Anjou. It consists of 6-km long two-track tunnel, five new stations and six auxiliary structures. Most of the tunnel (5.5 km) will be excavated by a 9.6 m diameter shielded rock TBM and supported by a precast segmental lining system. TBM will be fitted for probing and preexcavation grouting to control water inflow into the tunnel during the excavation. This paper presents major design aspects of the TBM tunnel including alignment, geological condition, spaceproofing, precast segmental lining, and geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring.

Dec 1, 2022

By Arash Dahi Taleghani, Pooyan Asadollahi

Slurry walls, also known as diaphragm walls, are commonly used as temporary and/ or permanent support of excavation for construction of shafts in soft ground. Through case history, this paper demonstrates economical benefits of disregarding long-term structural contribution of the slurry walls particularly in severe environmental condition. In addition, for temporary slurry wall shaft systems, possibility of using steel fiber, synthetic fiber or additives in lieu of temperature/shrinkage reinforcement is discussed with detailed analysis. Finally, the paper will be concluded by introducing unreinforced slurry wall shaft system using newly developed/patented concrete additive.

Jun 13, 2021

By Claudia Castillo, Katja Freitag, Jan Cilliers, Diana Drinkwater, Robert Seitz

The talent gap in mining is not a new challenge. Mining companies continue to seek innovative ways to attract, develop and retain talent, and younger workers are looking for opportunities to develop their professional careers. Training provides a key value proposition for both employees and employers as it helps build a talent pipeline while offering opportunities for learning and growth and value creation. In 2020, Metcelerate launched its 20-month program for early career mineral processing engineers. The program helps develop critical technical skills in the workplace and is a tool to identify motivated engineers and change culture within teams. Learners cap their skills development by executing a technical investigation. This generates immediate value—a win-win outcome for learner and company.

Feb 1, 2025