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By F. E. Patton

"IntroductionAT NORANDA, the strength of the ore and wall-rocks per-mitted mining in large open stopes. While some of the orebodies were small and could be mined out in one stope, in most cases their size was such that it was essential that ore pillars be left during the first stage of mining. In these cases, backfilling has been necessary for ground control and to facilitate the later recovery of the ore in these pillars.This paper discusses the development of the •backfill and •its use in pillar recovery.GeologyThe ore bodies at Noranda occur as replacement deposits in a block of rhyolite flows and breccias, bounded on the north by the Horne Creek fault and on the south by the Noranda Andesite fault. Mineralization consists of pyrite, pyrrhotite, magnetite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, gold, and various tellurides.The main orebody is a massive sulphide deposit designated the 'H' orebody. It is elliptical in plan, measuring roughly 400 feet by 800 feet, and is divided into two zones -Upper H, extending from surface to the 1,500-foot level, and Lower H, from the 1 ,500-foot level to just below the 3,000-foot level.Mining MethodsOpen stope mining in both Upper H and Lower H zones has been fully described in previous publications (1). A brief review only of the mining methods will be given here."

Jan 1, 1952

By John Hanna

The Mineral Resources Institute (MRI) has developed a unique process for selective fatty acid flotation of phosphate minerals from siliceous ores. The process takes advantage of preferential adsorption and high reactivity of fatty acid collectors towards apatite over silica surfaces under slightly acidic conditions of pH 5-6.5. The process was successful in upgrading various phosphate samples from Florida and North Carolina containing 7.7-15.3% P205 and 62.3- 77.2% Insol to concentrates assaying 28.1-33.1 % P205 and 4.1-9.9% Insol with high P2O5 recovery of 81.8-92.2%. Depending on the type of silica impurities present one or more cleaning steps, with or without sodium silicate, would be required to improve the grade of the rougher phosphate concentrate.

Jan 1, 1992

By Edgardo Caro Orellana

El yacimiento Coroccohuayco fue descubierto durante el transcurso del segundo año de exploración (1971-1973) a través de un programa de Levantamiento Geológico del cuadriángulo Velli-Yauri, Cusco, considerándose como un ejemplo de prospección científica. En esta perspectiva, el objetivo del texto señala cuáles son los métodos de exploración empleados para dicho yacimiento. Entre los métodos del estudio regional tenemos la fotogeología, aeromagnetría y gravimetría y entre los métodos del estudio local están la geoquimiica, geofísica y perforación diamantina. Asimismo se menciona la prospección geofísica por el método de polarización inducida y la perforación diamantina.

Nov 20, 1978

By Z. Zhang, M. -Y. Liu, X. -G. Chen, F. Breton

"The microstructures of AlSi10Mg foundry alloy in permanent mould (PM) and high pressure vacuum die (HPVD) castings were analyzed and compared. The as-cast microstructures of two castings mainly consisted of eutectic silicon particles, primary Mg2Si and Fe-rich intermetallic phases. The surface layer in HPVD castings, which has a unique feature and different structures, was carefully characterized. The dimension variation of microstructural phases along the cross section in PM samples is less than that in HPVD samples, although the size of microstructural phases in PM samples was much larger than that in HPVD samples. The mechanical properties of PM and HPVD samples were evaluated on as-cast and T6-treated conditions. The tensile properties of HPVD castings are remarkable better than those of PM castings on the as-cast condition. The T6 heat treatment greatly improves the tensile strength of PM castings while it has limited impact on the tensile strength of HPVD castings.INTRODUCTION The AlSi10Mg alloys are widely applied to the high pressure die casting (HPD) and high pressure vacuum die casting (HPVD). In the HPD process, the melt is injected into the die cavity under a high speed (30–50 m/s in the gate velocity for aluminum alloys), and solidified under a high pressure (up to 200 MPa in the cavity) and with a high cooling rate (up to ~103 Ks–1) (Gourlay, Laukli & Dahle, 2007; Ji, Wang, Watson & Fan, 2013). This results in a unique microstructure feature that is different to other casting processes under gravity. One major concern in HPD castings is porosity due to trapped air in the cavity (Ji et al., 2013), which seriously restricts the application of a heat treatment on the improvement of mechanical prosperities because of the formation of blisters on casting surfaces. For the process improvement, the high pressure vacuum die casting was developed in 1980s (Uchida, 2009). In this process, the melt is injected into the die cavity under reduced pressure (vacuum), which greatly reduces gas porosity in castings due to effectively avoiding the trapped air. Consequently, HPVD castings are heat-treatable without the formation of blisters on castings surface during heat treatment. The HPVD process has been widely applied to produce high quality structural castings in recent years attributed to reliable vacuum system development (Uchida, 2009). However, the microstructure features of HPVD castings are not systemically characterized yet."

Jan 1, 2018

By D Laskovski, T Nguyen

Flotation surveying can be an extremely powerful means of determining opportunities for circuit optimisation and benchmarking. The type of survey employed depends heavily on the nature of the information required from the survey. It follows then that the type of survey determines the type of samples required; however, regardless of the type, the success or failure of a survey is often dependent on the correct used of appropriate sampling techniques at each sampling point. For a successful flotation plant survey it is vital that the correct samples be collected at the correct time in respect to the feed and each other. This paper discusses the current best practice sampling methods used in flotation surveying and discusses in detail the ideal sample masses based on theoretical analysis. Comparisons with JKTech’s database of real plant operations will then be made.CITATION:Laskovski, D and Nguyen, T, 2014. An investigation of current flotation survey sampling, in Proceedings Sampling 2014 , pp 99–106 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 29, 2014

By A. K. Debnath

The water resource is key to survival of the mankind and this resource is now becoming critical in many parts of globe including India. As per an assessment of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) of India, a huge shortfall of about 58 billion m3 of water is anticipated by the year 2050. In order to counter this shortfall, there is thrust from Government of India to adopt water conservation measures. National Environment Policy, 2006 of Government of India also stresses upon the need to take up water conservation measures for water security of the country. The coal mines in India provide an excellent opportunity to take up water conservations measures therein. The mine water is not acidic unlike western countries and it conforms to the prescribed regulatory standards. This nature?s gift is utilized in Coal India Limited by allowing mine voids to get filled with mine water. The net recharge potential of the opencast mining area is found to be about 5% in comparison to 2% in non-mining area offering good prospects for ground water recharge. The seasonal rainwater is also diverted into mine voids left at the end of mining operations which act as huge reservoirs/ pit lakes for storage of the water. They also serve as surface water bodies for recharging of water table in the surrounding areas. The area and space left from where coal has been extracted completely in underground mines and will not be entered by any man or machinery after the extraction, called goaf, are also potential source of water conservation. These additional water resources created are being utilized for meeting the industrial, domestic, irrigation and other requirements of the projects and local communities eliminating the need to tap other fresh water resources including ground water. Presently, 75% of the water demand of the coal mining project is being met from the water stored in the mine pits. In future, CIL is likely to create about 3.3 billion m3 of water resource, on an average, in its opencast mines alone. In the mine closure plan of opencast mines, the last cut is proposed to be developed into water body for recharge of ground water and creating additional water resources. A clean potential source of potable water is thus developed after mine closure. This will ensure water security of the country.

Aug 1, 2013

By Dave Deglon

The Western Cape Mineral Processing Facility (WCMPF) is a collaborative educational initiative between the Departments of Chemical Engineering of the University of Cape Town, the University of Stellenbosch and the Cape Technikon. The WCMPF was established in 1989 with the aim of improving mineral processing education in the Western Cape. Since its inception the WCMPF has had a number of successes in this area, especially in improving the quality of mineral processing practical training. In addition, the WCMPF has played an important role in promoting liaison and interaction between tertiary educational institutions teaching mineral processing in the Western Cape. Over the past decade the WCMPF has played a key role in the education of over five hundred mineral processing graduates and diplomates. This paper presents an overview of the activities of the WCMPF and attempts to encapsulate the ‘lessons learned’ from over a decade of successful functioning as a collaborative educational initiative in mineral processing.

Jan 1, 2003

By A Woodley, N C. Kunz

A mine site water balance is important for communicating information to interested stakeholders, for reporting on water performance and for anticipating and mitigating water-related risks through water use/demand forecasting. Gaining accuracy over the water balance is therefore crucial for sites to achieve best practice water management and to maintain their social license to operate. For sites that are located in high rainfall environments the water received to storage dams through run-off can represent a large proportion of the overall inputs to site; inaccuracies in these flows can therefore lead to inaccuracies in the overall site water balance.Hydrological models that estimate run-off flows are often incorporated into simulation models used for water use/demand forecasting. The Australian Water Balance Model (AWBM) is one example that has been widely applied in the Australian context. However, the calibration of AWBM in a mining context can be challenging. Through a detailed case study, we outline an approach that was used to calibrate and validate AWBM at a mine site. Commencing with a data set of monitored dam levels, a mass balance approach was used to generate an observed run-off sequence. By incorporating a portion of this observed data set into the calibration routine, we achieved a closer fit between the observed versus simulated data set compared with the base case. We conclude by highlighting opportunities for future research to improve the calibration fit through improving the quality of the input data set. This will ultimately lead to better models for run-off prediction and thereby improve the accuracy of mine site water balances.CITATION:Kunz, N C and Woodley, A, 2013. Improving the accuracy of mine site water balances through improved estimation of run-off volumes, in Proceedings Water in Mining 2013 , pp 267-272 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 26, 2013

By A. E. Isaacson

Bureau of Mines researchers developed and tested equipment to measure corrosion rates on a commercial-scale mill as an aid in predicting the effect of corrosion on minerals and how this effect relates to downstream processing. Bench-scale experiments were designed for duplicating ore grinding conditions closely enough that realistic rate determinations can be made in laboratory tests. Rates measured in a laboratory system compared favorably with those measured in the field. Cast steel was found to have corrosion rates in a copper mill and laboratory test cell of 22 and 21 mpy, respectively. Corrosion was found to account for less than 5% of the total grinding media wear in the operations studied.

Jan 1, 1987

By V. A. Preto

The Rexspar uranium deposit is located approximately 5 kilometres south of Birch Island, B.C. Three separate zones of commercial-grade uranium mineralization mineable by open pit have been outlined. Uranium and fluorite-celestite mineralization occur in a trachytic member of alkali-feldspar porphyry, lithic tuff, tuff breccias and pyritic schist conformably interlayered with a succession of strongly deformed greenschists and fragmental rocks that are, in large part at least, of volcanic origin. The age of these strata is not precisely known, but they are considered as part of the possibly Mississippian Eagle Bay Formation. Commercial-grade uranium mineralization is always associated with fluorphlogopite-pyrite replacement of the trachytic unit and is contiguous to, but separate from , a zone of ore-grade fluorite mineralization. In all zones, ore occurs in lenses of variable thickness and lateral extent, which lie parallel to the schistosity of the trachytic rocks and surrounding greenschists. The principal radioactive minerals at Rexspar have been identified by other workers as uraninite, uranothorite, bastnaesite, torbernite and metatorbernite. Considerable amounts of thorium oxide and widespread rare earths have been reported from all three radioactive zones. The geology of the deposit suggests that the trachytic rocks represent a highly differentiated intrusive-extrusive system in which fluorphlogopite, pyrite, fluorite and uranium-bearing minerals were deposited late in the evolution of the system by deuteric, volatile-rich fluids. The considerable amounts of thorium and widespread rare earths associated with the uranium tend to support the thesis that this element is of primary origin rather than secondary.

Jan 1, 1978

By G. B. Walker

The success of Heavy Media Separation, the static sink-float process, is evidenced by the operation of an estimated 300 installations treating many millions of tons per year of a wide variety of mineral products ranging in value from gravel to diamonds. The static heavy media process is usually limited to the treatment of plus 1/4 inch material. Mr. Victor Rakowsky, who was largely instrumental in the development and application of heavy media separation, recognized the need for a new apparatus and process which would extend the application of heavy media into the finer size range without placing a restrictive limit on the top size of the feed. He recognized the requirement for the application of centrifugal force to augment the force of gravity in separating fines by sink-float techniques.

Jan 1, 1966

By William H. King

The Nevada Massachusetts tungsten deposits (fig. 1) are in the Mill City Mining District in north-central Pershing County, Nev., about 37 miles southwest of Winnemucca. Contact metamorphism of thin limestone beds within a series of metamorphosed sedimentaries formed scheelite-bearing ore bodies. These deposits are distributed over a wide area. A Bureau of Mines development program was started January 11 d was completed on July 25, 1941. This work was centered on the outer and less explored beds in the district and comprised trenching, sampling, and diamond drilling. Exploratory work was done in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey. Project work substantially increased the reserve tonnage of marginal ore in three of the areas explored and proved the nonexistence of tungsten in a fourth area. The following pages summarize the history of the district, outline property ownership, and describe physical features and ore deposits. The plan and results of the work performed by the Bureau of Mines are presented along with geologic and topographic maps, assay maps, and diamond drill-hole logs.

Jan 1, 1950

By P. T. Bissert, L. Yan, M. D. Klein

"Federal regulations require that refuge alternatives (RAs) are located within 305-m (1000-ft) of the working face and spaced at one-hour travel distances in the outby area in underground coal mines in the event that miners cannot escape during a disaster. The Mine Safety and Health Administration mandates that RAs provide safe shelter and livable conditions for a minimum of 96 hours while maintaining the apparent temperature (AT) below 35°C (95°F). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health used a validated thermal simulation model to examine the mechanisms of heat loss from the RA to the ambient mine and the effect of mine strata composition on the final internal dry bulb temperature (DBT) for mobile tent-type RAs. The results of these studies show that most of the heat loss from the RA to the ambient mine is due to radiation (51%) and conduction (31%). Three mine width/height configurations and three mine strata compositions were examined. The final DBT inside the RA after 96 hours varied less than 1°C (1.8°F) for the three mine width/height configurations and less than 2°C (3.6°F) for the three mine strata compositions. INTRODUCTION Following a mine disaster, workers will try to escape the mine. If their escape is futile, they can take shelter in a refuge alternative (RA). In 2008, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) mandated RAs in mines to ensure that a safe and livable shelter is provided for a minimum of 96 hours, and that the apparent temperature (AT) does not exceed 35°C (95°F) inside the RA [1]. An ongoing concern with RAs is the potential to exceed this limit. The temperature rise inside an RA is due to the metabolic heat released by the occupants as well as heat released by the carbon dioxide scrubbing system. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) tested a 10-person tent-type training unit RA in its Safety Research Coal Mine (SRCM) to investigate heat buildup in RAs. The 10-person capacity for the tested RA is based on 1.4 m2 (15 ft2) of floor space per miner. NIOSH-developed simulated miners, which are heat input devices that generate both sensible and latent heat, were used to represent the metabolic heat generation of an average miner (117 W) for testing in the SRCM. It was found that the number of occupants in an RA may need to be reduced based on the ambient mine temperature, which varies from mine to mine [2]. To further research temperature rise inside an RA, ThermoAnalytics, Inc. (TAI) was contracted by NIOSH to perform thermal simulations of the tested 10-person mobile tent-type RA. TAI developed a thermal model of the SRCM using RadTherm software, which incorporates a human thermal model (HTM) to represent the equivalent metabolic heat loss of a miner within the RA’s enclosed environment. The thermal model was previously validated by comparing simulation results with test results [3]. During a mine disaster in which miners would have to take shelter in an RA, mine ventilation may not be available. As such, mine ventilation was off for both the testing in the SRCM as well as in the simulations. This paper discusses the heat loss mechanisms and the effects of mine strata composition and mine width and height associated with a ten-person tent-type RA."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. S. Al-Thyabat, A. M. Ghrair

"Printed circuit board (PCB) is the main part of any electric or electronic device, providing mechanical support and electric connection for the board eclectic components such as capacitors, resistors, diodes etc. PCB consists of non-conductive substrate overlaid with one or more layers of copper sheets. They also contain appreciable amounts of base metals (copper, nickel, tine, and aluminum) and precious metals (gold, silver, and rare earth elements (REE)) which end up in the landfill at the PCB end-of-life.PCB recycling E-waste in general is a profitable business; many valuable raw materials, precious and base metals, can be extracted with high purity. Approximately, one metric tonne of PCBs may contain 80-1500 g of gold and 160–210 kg of copper. The precious metals recovered from PCBs occur at concentrations higher than commercially mined minerals. Also PCB recycling is very important to our environment since many heavy metals (e.g. lead) may be leached from the landfills to the underground reservoirs. In Jordan, however, the work conducted on E-waste and PCB recycling in particular is limited; currently most of the E-waste is either exported or dumped in the landfill.In this work, a combination of physical (magnetic separation), physicochemical (flotation), and chemical methods (leaching) were used to compare metals concentrations in leach liquors produced from a concentrates resulted from a combination of these methods. It was found the leach liquor of the magnetic fraction of the PCB coarse size gave the highest concentration of Fe, Al, and Ni while concentration of Cu was higher in leach liquor of nonmagnetic sink fraction. On the other hand, metals concentration almost similar for both sink and float of the fine size fractions, indicating even distribution of metals concentrations in the fine size fractions."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. F. White

An experimental study was undertaken to evaluate the feasibility of a selective chloridizing roasting pre?treatment process for the elimination of impurities from zinc feed?stocks prior to recovering zinc by conventional unit operations. In this investigation, a number of chemistries that might serve as a basis for such a pre? treatment process were examined. A variety of chloridizing agents were admixed with EAF dust to promote the selective removal of lead and cadmium by the formation of volatile metal chlorides, he results of the experimentation firmly establish that selective chloridizing roasting is a technically feasible means of eliminating lead and cadmium from EAF dust. Excellent extraction efficiencies were accomplished with a number of chloride additives; as high as 98 percent lead extraction and 88 percent cadmium extraction were attained with minimal zinc losses, Continuous pilot?scale tests reinforced the trends established by laboratory?scale experimentation, Attempts of chlorine elimination using pyrohydrolysis were less successful. The extent of chlorine elimination was found to be highly dependent upon EAF dust sample type and treatment temperature.

Jan 1, 1996

By Tao Jiang

Germanium is widely used in many fields, and the production of germanium is very important. The effects of initial sulfuric acid concentration, liquid to solid ratio and other parameters on the leaching rate of germanium and zinc from germanium-bearing zinc oxide has been studied. The occurrence and form of germanium and other elements in the leach feed and the leach residue were studied by EPMA, XRD and chemical analyses. The experiments showed that the leaching rate of germanium and zinc was 91% and 88%, respectively under optimal conditions. Wurtzite was the main limiting factor for the leaching rate of zinc while the leaching rate of germanium was limited by insoluble germanium compounds. Furthermore, it was found that some germanium was bound up in galena in the leach residue. These results may be helpful for further improving the leaching rate of germanium in germanium-bearing zinc oxide.

By Lawrence Pelham

The demand or consumption of fluorspar has been somewhat taken for granted in recent years, except for the specific interest of those that produce, market, and/or consume the commodity. A tradition was established of thinking that as the steel and aluminum industry goes, so goes fluorspar. This is much less true today than in the past. The industry is becoming more dependent on chemical industries that feed primarily off hydrofluoric acid (HF) production. The Bureau of Mines recently published an assessment of world fluorspar reserves and resources that created a foundation of valuable data that can be used to monitor fluorspar availability. Celebrations were held this year commemorating the 100th anniversary of the isolation of fluorine. The United States and other countries continue to struggle with the controversy of ozone depletion and the effect of fluorocarbons on the atmosphere. The goals for the U.S. Government's strategic stockpile are being reevaluated. The market for fluorine chemicals is changing and diversifying, making it a challenge to assess and forecast fluorspar/fluorine demand. This paper reviews the recent past of fluorspar and helps set the stage for a more detailed assessment of this critical commodity.

Jan 1, 1986

By J. H. Kempton

The scrutiny given to model predictions of pit-lake water quality has focused attention on the uncertainty associated with long-term predictions. Although comparison of probabilistic predictive modeling of water quality in existing pit lakes indicates that short-term predictions can bracket most parameters, uncertainties in wall-rock reactions and the stability of groundwater composition and climate remain unquantified. This overview of the uncertainties associated with longer-term predictions is presented as support for those considering policy decisions that must be made in the absence of reliable estimates of future conditions.

Jan 1, 1998

The geotechnical factors controlling the design of the open pit slopes of the Pasminco Century Mine near Lawn Hill, Queensland are presented below. Pasminco Century is a stratiform shale hosted zinc deposit in the Lawn Hill Formation that is overlain in part by the Thorntonia Limestone Formation. Both the mineralisation and overburden is located within a competent rock mass such that intact rock strength and discontinuity spacing is generally sufficient to prevent large-scale slope failure by breakage through the rock mass. Rather, overall slope stability issues are dominated by the major discontinuities within the rock mass. The deposit is located in a structurally complex regime, it consists of a synclinal basin which is truncated by easterly striking normal faults through its centre and northern and southern limits and by an unconformity on its eastern and western margins. Deposit geometry and slope stability is further complicated by small-scale folding, a pattern of northeast and southeast striking subvertical faults and north easterly dipping thrust faults with their associated fault emplaced blocks of Lawn Hill Formation in the overburden. The large size of the deposit requires a staged mining approach with the excavation of both final pit walls around the external sides of each stage and interim pit walls along the internal boundaries between adjacent stages. The deposit geometry and major discontinuities control not only the final pit wall design but also interim wall location and orientation, excavation sequence and in some stages the excavation schedule. Two and three-dimensional limit equilibrium stability analyses were conducted using both deterministic and probabilistic approaches to determine appropriate pit wall design criteria and to select a suitable excavation sequence and schedule.

Jan 1, 2000

By Michael Magerstädt

Material loss by abrasion of contact surfaces of pipes, chutes, pumps, and other equipment in contact with ore is one of the main reasons for downtime of mining operations. Abrasion protection materials in use range from expensive tungsten carbide overlay to hardened steels, ceramics, as well as polymers, particularly polyurethanes (PUR). This paper describes abrasion protection products made from High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers. An interior pipe coating was developed that exhibited outstanding abrasion resistance and an extremely high adhesion to steel. Years of field testing in oil sands tailings as well as applications in slurry lines (e.g., phosphate slurries) have proven the performance of this material. A proprietary field joining process was developed and successfully applied in the field. This joining process requires only one field weld per joint very similar to the joining of uncoated pipe. No internal re-coating is necessary adding savings during pipe laying to the significant savings of reduced down time. Using the building-kit chemistry of polyurethane synthesis, similar high performance elastomers were used to extend the life time of ball mills. An intelligent system was developed in which wear parts contain sensors reporting the actual wear thereby optimizing maintenance interval leading to significant cost savings for the operator. Test data as well as field experience with High Performance PUR Elastomers for abrasion protection in mining are presented.

Aug 1, 2013