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By J. Ndlovu, R. Hundermark

Keywords: Anglo Platinum, Polokwane Smelter, pyrometallurgy, metallurgy, platinum, platinum group metals, PGM, base metals, nickel, copper, sulphide smelting, electric furnace, Söderberg, electrode, matte, slag, flash drying, matte casting, crushing, granulation Anglo Platinum?s Polokwane Smelter is situated outside Polokwane, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. Wet concentrate is received from various concentrators along the Eastern Bushveld Complex, with 60% of the total concentrate received being from UG2 reef and 40% from Merensky reef. The concentrate grade differs from 35 g/t to 110 g/t, and from this a PGM-rich nickel-copper matte is produced. The furnace matte produced is sent to the ACP converter in Rustenburg. The Anglo Platinum concentrators, from which concentrate is received, are Lebowa, Potgietersrus, Amandelbult, and Union, as well as the joint venture Modikwa. The concentrate is fed to two flash dryers that utilise coal-fired, fluidized-bed hot-gas generators to produce the hot gas that will drive off the moisture, leaving a fine bone-dry concentrate to feed to the furnace. The dry concentrate is pneumatically transferred to a storage silo before being transferred to the feed bins situated above the furnace. Lime, if required as a flux, may be transferred separately to the furnace feed bin by a pneumatic system. The concentrate and lime is fed from the feed bins onto airslides and into the furnace. The feed rate is automatically controlled, and the system is set up to optimize the power to feed ratio. The electric furnace is nominally rated at 68 MW and the power is transferred into the furnace using six 1.6 m diameter Söderberg electrodes. Concentrate is melted by energy generated when electric current passes through the electrodes and resistive slag layer. On melting, two immiscible phases form: slag and matte. Furnace matte, containing the bulk of the base metal sulphides and PGMs, is denser than slag and collects naturally at the bottom of the furnace. The furnace is constructed of a combination of refractory brick and water-cooled copper coolers. The furnace sidewalls and hearth are cooled by air drawn through the area by cooling fans. The hearth and matte zone are constructed from refractory bricks. The copper coolers reside only in the slag zone of the furnace along the entire perimeter of the furnace. One staggered row of plate coolers is installed above the waffle coolers along the perimeter of the furnace. Matte is tapped periodically through one of the two matte tapholes into 35-ton refractory-lined ladles, and cast into matte ingots on a casting machine. The cooled matte is discharged onto a concrete slab for cooling and then transferred by front-end loaders to the crushing plant. The matte is first crushed in a jaw crusher and then a Rhodax cone crusher to a size of 2 mm before it is loaded into tankers and sent to the ACP. The low-grade slag is tapped from the furnace through a water-cooled copper insert into a short water-cooled copper ?hot launder? which discharges into a granulation cold launder. The granulated slag slurry flows to three rake classifiers, from which the coarse slag is discharged onto a conveyor to dewatering silos. The dewatered slag from the silos is dumped. The water overflow from the classifiers reports to two thickeners where the water is clarified, and the thickener underflow is returned to the rake classifiers. The smelter is a zero-effluent plant and all the water from the slag silos where the slag is dewatered, as well as the storm water, is pumped to the process water dam from where it is pumped back into the plant for process water use. The off-gas from the furnace is drawn through a forced draught cooler and into a high temperature baghouse. The dust collected in the baghouse is pneumatically transferred into bins above the furnace and is fed via the concentrate airslides. The cleaned off-gas is then vented through the main stack.

Jan 1, 2006

Keywords: Pyrometallurgy, Pretoria University Substantial research in pyrometallurgy at the University of Pretoria started in 1980 with the appointment of Rian Dippenaar to the Iscor Chair, a position that he held until 1996, when Chris Pistorius became the leader of this pyrometallurgy group. This paper reviews the main research themes over the quarter-century from 1980 to 2005, as well as some of the industrial developments that have shaped the research approach. The main topics have been the use of electrochemical sensors for equilibrium measurements, ilmenite smelting, steel processing, and reduction.

Jan 1, 2006

By Nikolaos Polysos, Holger Witthaus

INTRODUCTION The classification system for German coal mining is the result of approximately 100 years of experience in roadway development and longwall mining. It is also based on different research projects covered by national and European research programs. Over the past 30 years, more then 600,000 m of road-ways have been driven and employed for mining activities. To properly describe the German rock mass classification system, therefore, it is useful to take a look at the main geomechanical preferences and common support systems. The decision about the most effective development technique and support system is based on a synthesis of rock mass classification and geomechanical analysis. The properties of surrounding rock, the in situ stress, and the influence of mining activities in several seams at each German mine must be considered for the evaluation of the expected deformation of the roadway. The mine layout, the requirements of ventilation and fire prevention, as well as the need to maintain emergency escape routes for the miners, require that the gate roads remain usable after the passage of the longwall face in most cases. Moreover, the gate roads must be maintained despite the high stresses that are applied during longwall retreat mining. Therefore, gate road design must address a broad spectrum of potential deformation environments. In the past, when gate roads were supported solely with yielding steel arches, lithologic descriptions of the surrounding strata conditions were adequate for the dimensioning of support and the prediction of the roadway deformation. The current conditions of multiple-seam mining at depths of up to 1,700 m require combined support systems, including pattern bolting and backfilled steel arches. Rock bolt support is used for development, after which (typically 50–100 m outby the face) the steel arches are installed and backfilled with building material (concrete) in order to achieve an optimized development rate. The rock mass classification system described below was developed especially for the conditions of German hard-coal mining. It includes the stress distribution caused by multiseam workings (including crossing goaf edges of former longwalls), as well as in situ stresses due to greatdepth and the presence of tectonic faults. It is based on the evaluation of four parameters: • Geotechnical analysis of drill cores • Geotechnical observation of the development face • Geotechnical classification of tectonic structures (faults) • Standard classification derived from geotechnical assessment and evaluation of stress conditions (using numerical modeling for stress calculation) ROCK STRENGTH One of the most important input parameters for describing strata conditions is the strength of the rock. The German classification system is based on a description of lithotypes. This method has been used successfully since the 1950s and is based mainly on the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of the material. An evaluation of the rock strength observed in a survey of approximately 82,500 samples of rock core yielded the results shown in Figure 1. The three most common coal measure rock types are mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone. Each shows a specific mean UCS level and a different spread between the minimum and maximum values. Sandstones, in particular, have a wide spectrum of compressive strength, ranging from approximately 40 MPa to greater than 130 MPa, with an average of 85 MPa. The causes of this wide range include different sedimento-logical preconditions, facies, and digenetic processes. [ ]

Jan 5, 2007

By Ryan Walton

The Flash Converting Furnace at Kennecott Utah Copper converted over 465kmt of high-grade matte in 2002 but was restricted due to low matte production to 395kmt in 2003. This paper presents updated operational performance data and describes improvements implemented since the mid 2001 rebuild. Matte burner feed distribution, silica and arsenic impacts on settler lime-based slag operability, blister laundering, uptake/boiler accretion control, and dust sulfation will be discussed, as well as current development requirements dictated by operational imperatives and furnace modification plans.

Jan 1, 2005

By John Gross

From the time when man first pounded one rock upon another or used heat and sudden chilling with water to disintegrate rock, the art of crushing advanced but slowly to the mule-driven arrastre and the Chilean mill stage until the advent of power-driven appliances made material progress possible. The combined efforts of manufacturers and operators have made modern machines highly efficient mechanically. Although marked progress has been made along mechanical lines, the theory and conception of underlying principles have not advanced so rapidly. This lack of advance in theory may be attributed to the unfortunate situation resulting from the controversy as to whether the Rittinger or the Kick law is applicable to crushing. Many pages of the technical literature are burdened with theoretical discussions in favor of one or the other of these laws, which have tended to cloud rather than to clear the atmosphere.

Jan 1, 1938

By K. E. Barnes

"The IsaMill was developed for fine-grained ores that required at least double the grinding efficiency of ball or tower milling to be economic. This was achieved, but in practice, the benefits of using inert media (eg sand, slag, ore, ceramic) have proven to be at least as important as the higher grinding efficiency. Flotation selectivity and rate was improved for all particles, particularly fines. This allowed a dramatic simplification of the Mount Isa lead zinc flotation circuit – adding 6 MW of ultrafine grinding power reduced reagent addition and flotation volume and increased plant energy efficiency. This was quite unexpected.This paper examines four orebodies that were enabled by inert grinding – McArthur River, George Fisher and Black Star Open Cut Mines (complex fine-grained lead zinc orebodies in Australia), and the Western Limb Tailings Retreatment plant (a PGM operation in South Africa). In a unique case history, the operating performance of the Mt Isa lead zinc concentrator is explained by size-by-size mineralogical data collected over 25 years, systematically explaining the impact of declining ore quality, and the effects of additional conventional grinding, inert grinding, and circuit and reagent redesign.The mineralogical case histories are so compelling that it is argued that the advantages of inert grinding should not be confined to difficult, fine-grained orebodies. The availability of largescale efficient inert grinding mills could have profound impact on circuit design for many orebodies.INTRODUCTIONThe IsaMill was developed by MIM (now Xstrata) to enable the development of the McArthur River Orebody in the Northern Territory of Australia. This ultra-fine grained ore needed a grind size of 80% passing 7 microns to produce a saleable concentrate. Such a fine grind was not economic with conventional ball or tower milling. Below about 25 microns the low energy efficiency and high media consumption of these mills is prohibitive. Critically, the high steel consumption and associated change in pulp and surface chemistry also seriously affects flotation metallurgy."

Jan 1, 2006

By John Frostiak

"Kahama Mining Corporation Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation, poured the first dore bar and filtered the first concentrate produced at the Bulyanhulu mine on February 28, 2001. This event marked the completion of the initial development of the Bulyanhulu Mine – Barrick’s first mine located outside of the Americas.Bulyanhulu is a 2,500 tpd underground mine located in the Lake Victoria gold belt of northern Tanzania. Gold is recovered as a gravity concentrate and smelted on site to produce dore bars or collected in copper concentrate that is shipped to offshore smelters. The facilities were constructed to meet Canadian standards. Unit operations include single stage crushing, SAG milling, gravity recovery, flotation, thickening and dewatering. Tailings are converted to paste and returned underground as paste backfill or pumped to the surface tailing site. The surface paste tailing disposal system is believed to be first of its kind in the gold industry. Paste disposal has several advantages over slurry, including lower dam construction costs, reduced water losses, and lower reclamation costs. This paper describes the facilities and discusses the challenges faced during development and construction including logistics, lack of infrastructure, recruiting and training, security, and social issues as well as initial operating results.INTRODUCTIONBarrick Gold Corporation completed the Bulyanhulu mine development in 2001. Capital cost of the project was US$280 million. The mine produced 241,575 ounces from start of milling to year end at a total cash cost of $197 per ounce. Numerous challenges were overcome in the mine’s development due to the general lack of infrastructure in Tanzania and the mine’s location some 1200 km inland by road from the port of Dar es Salaam."

Jan 1, 2003

By J. M. Sabio, A. W. Stalberg

Keywords: Pyrometallurgy, furnace, calcium carbide, acetylene, Newcastle The manufacture of calcium carbide in Newcastle, South Africa, was started in the late 1950s by a company called South African Carbide, at the Ballengeich site. In 1978, this operation was bought by the forerunner to the present AECI Ltd, a large producer of commodity chemicals at the time. Production continued at this site until 1992. In the meantime, Karbochem, an operating division of Sentrachem Ltd, was also manufacturing carbide in Newcastle, as a building block for the manufacture of synthetic rubber. In 1990, the Karbochem calcium carbide operation was closed down. In 1992, the AECI carbide business and the Karbochem production facility were amalgamated, and production continued under the Karbochem name. In 1997, the Dow Chemical Company bought the holding company of Karbochem, and the carbide business continued operations until 2003. In June 2003, the business was sold to a management consortium as SA Calcium Carbide (Pty) Ltd. Later, in October 2004, 100% of the shares were acquired by the Andina Group. Today, the Andina Group, consisting of SACC from South Africa, CIL from UK, and ANDINA from Argentina, has become a global leader in the manufacture and supply of calcium carbide and calcium silicon, ferro silicon 75% and derivatives, recarburizers with low nitrogen content, acetylene, carbon black, micro-silica, and silicon metal. The production facilities at Newcastle comprise a 52 MVA submerged arc furnace of a closed design, carbon monoxide gas recovery, recovery of fine raw materials via a hollow electrode system, and an extensive computer-controlled process. These all enable an efficient state-of-the-art operation. The downstream processing facilities consist of screening and drumming facilities, milling facilities, an acetylene generation plant, and an acetylene carbon black plant. Clearly, SA Calcium Carbide (Pty) Ltd has a long history of supplying quality calcium carbide to the industries that it proudly serves.

Jan 1, 2006

By Luis v. Coppa

Since its inception in 1910, the Bureau of Mines has been the principal Federal agency involved in ore reserve estimations, using such traditional methods as polygons of influence and variations of inverse distance weighting While adequate for estimating the average are grades in a mining block or section, these methods do mot, however, provide a consistent way of quantifying the reliability of the estimates. This report describes a technique for enhancing ore reserve estimations using geostatistics, the methodology of which combines the spatial and random aspects of geologic phenomena into a formal theoretical framework for deriving the estimation variance of ore reserves. Correctly used, geostatistics enables confidence intervals to be placed around ore reserve estimates calculated from drill hole data. A geostatistical software system was obtained -From the U.S. Geological Survey and installed, aster slight modifications, on the Bureau's Wang computer. System testing and validation was conducted using a simple cast-book-type example. This was then followed by variogram analysis, point kriging and block kriging of data from a previously worked section of a uranium mine.

Jan 1, 1984

By Robin J. Hickson

El Abra has mining concessions granting the right to exploit minerals in more than 130 km2 (32,122 acres). SCM El Abra owns “rights to occupy” the surface of these claims. The company also owns the surface rights over the process plant area and over land conveyor route. The project has procured all material easements relating to the mine area, processing facilities and access rights of way. Engineering, procurement and construction Figure 1 sets out the development and construction schedule for the project. Development is already well under way. As of early January 1996, about 70% of the project was complete and more than 80% of the capital expenditures were committed.

Jan 1, 1996

By J. MacFadyen

The U.S. cement industry experienced its best year ever during 2004 in terms of production and shipments of cement. Clinker, portland and masonry cements production and shipments were up considerably. Clinker production as reported to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was 87.75 Mt (96.73 million st), an increase of 5.4 percent. Gray and white portland cement production from domestic and imported clinker was estimated to be 91.6 Mt (101 million st), up 5 Mt (5.5 million st) from 2003.

Jan 1, 2005

By M. Ramulu, A. K. Chakraborty, P. B. Sahu, C. Bandopadhyay, P. B. Choudhury

Human response to blast induced vibration and air overpressure is an unsolved problem that accompanies excavation process in mining. Pre-assessment and understanding of annoyance due to production blasting is probably one of the most important aspects of a successful mining operation. Complaints arising due to unoptimised blasts lead to various critical situations that hamper production. Inspite, this important aspect has been covered by a limited number of researchers in the world and probably least in Indian context. Human response is a complex phenomenon and the sensitivity of individual also vary from person to person depending on various factors like age, sex, literacy, health and exposure to mining. With ever increasing demand of minerals, opencast mines are expected to approach habitats and thus mine management may witness increased response to blasting. Many developed countries have their own guidelines based on scientific analysis, addressing such environmental problems, where as there are a few studies available in India. This study introspects above phenomenon in tune with mining requirements by analysing direct human response. This paper is based on a case study regarding the human response to blast induced hazards in a Manganese mine situated in central India. Advanced techniques of Critical Path Method and Multiple Response Analyses have been used to unearth important inferences on the response of different crosssections of population residing about the mine to blast induced noise, ground vibration and air overpressure. Various inferences drawn may provide guidelines to the planners, environment or safety departments and blasting official for safe and environment friendly blast design.

Jan 1, 2004

By L. F. Ruppert, P. A. Freeman, R. C. Milici, S. J. Tewalt, L. J. Bragg

The U.S. Geological Survey has completed a dig-ital coal resource assessment of six of the top-producing coal beds and coal zones in the northern and central Appalachian Basin coal regions. These include the Pennsylvanian-aged Pittsburgh, Upper Freeport, Lower Kittanning, Fire Clay, Pond Creek, and Pocahontas No. 3 coal beds and coal zones. Resources were calculated on all of the coalbeds/zones, with the exception of the Lower Kittanning coal bed. Preliminary original resources are estimated at about 93 billion short tons (84 billion tonnes), of which about 66 billion short tons (60billion tonnes) remain. Much of the remaining coal in all five coal beds/zones is thinner [<3.5 ft (1.07m)] and deeper [>1,000 ft (305 m)] than the coal that has been mined, but economic resources are still available and mining in each coal bed/zones will continue throughout this decade and into the next given current market conditions.

Jan 1, 2001

By R. Boom, K. C. Mills, S. Riaz

This paper details the recent trends in slag-related research from 1999 to 2003. The trends in thefollowing are outlined: • Annual publication rate • Geographical origin of the work • Nature of the research (e.g. thermodynamics, kinetics) • Nature of the slag studied. This study has revealed that slag research in the USA and Europe has decreased to about a half over the last 20 years and that there has been a significant decrease in Japanese research in this area in recent years. However, these decreases have been offset by significant increases in Chinese and Korean research activity. There has been a significant increase in the amount of work carried out on the recycling and environmental aspects of slags in recent years.

Jan 1, 2004

By K. E. Stanfield

[Asphalt and road oil are the principal products manufactured from Wyoming ?clack oils? which, because of their high asphalt an high sulfur content, are difficult and costly to refine into high-grade motor fuels, burning oils, and lubricants by pre sent methods. Accordingly, the remand for these asphaltic residuums for the construction of roads and other uses is a controlling- factor in the quantity of crude oil produced. The increasing utilization of special asphalts as inexpensive bonding, insulating, and waterproofing materials indicates the desirability of obtaining information on the yield and properties, of asphalts from Wyoming black oil to promote a wider and more stable caret for these asphaltic materials.]

Jan 1, 1941

By R. T. Jones

Slags have been produced as by-products from pyrometallurgical processes for thousands of years, and have generally been regarded as waste. Many of these slags are no longer seen as residues merely to be discarded, but as potential economic sources of metals, or as useful by-products in their own right. Slag cleaning can enhance the recovery of valuable metals in existing pyrometallurgical processes, or can produce economic value from recycling old slag dumps. For example, a process has been developed and implemented industrially for recovering cobalt from copper smelting slag in a DC arc furnace. The relatively non-leachable behaviour of glassy slags allows them to be used as a very safe means of disposal of metallurgical waste streams, including many that are classified as hazardous. The high temperatures, reducing conditions, and good mixing that can be achieved in a DC arc furnace enable the effective functioning of this environmentally beneficial means of disposal. Lead blast furnace slag can be rendered safe for disposal by treating it using the Enviroplas process, which strips most of the hazardous lead from the slag (and traps the rest in an insoluble glassy slag) and recovers economic quantities of zinc by absorbing (in a lead splash condenser)the zinc vapour that is fumed off in the furnace. Another example can be seen in the recovery of a chromium- and nickel-containing alloy from stainless steel plant dust, while producing a disposable residual slag. The examples presented here illustrate that it is possible to develop processes that are both economic and environmentally beneficial. Keywords: DC arc furnace, plasma, slag cleaning, cobalt recovery, zinc fuming, Enviroplas, jigging, re-melting fines, environmental, economic

Jan 1, 2004

By Wolfgang G. Brunner

The center of Berlin is currently a huge jobsite, where international architects, designers, consultants, construction and ground engineers as well as investors take on the challenge of the biggest and probably most complicated projects in terms of soil conditions in Europe. The Berlin sand is generally suitable for foundation measures, but can be very tricky in deep excavation pits below the high ground water level. The reason for this is its uniform grading, medium dense stratification and lack of cohesion. The requirements for these deep pits are: - measurements in the range of up to 120 000 m2 per pit - depths up to 19 m below ground water level - lack of dense horizontal geological layers - no permission for lowering ground water levels - toughest ever European competition in construction. Sheet pile walls, sheet piles set into cut - off walls, secant pile walls, diaphragm walls, all with tie backs under high water pressure, are used as retaining sytems. The pits are closed at the bottom against water either by under water concrete, deep lying grouted cut - offs or high lying jet - grouted cut - off slabs. The huge dimensions of these excavation pits are a new challenge for ground engineers, and new technology had to solve the upcoming problems and resulted in new experience.

Jan 1, 1999

By Lynn Alcorn, Jeffrey Shawn Peterson

Data collected by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has shown that roof bolting machine (RBM) operators are the second most likely type of underground mining machine operator to be are over exposed to noise, per the MSHA Permissible Exposure Limit. In response to this, the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has initiated a project to develop engineering noise controls for roof bolting machines. Key to this research is an evaluation of the duty cycle of a typical roof bolting machine operation and this paper presents the results of such an exercise for data collected at two cooperating coalmines. The evaluation entails a time motion study of an operators&apos; shift, logging each activity for time (e.g., tramming the machine, drilling holes, installing the roof bolt, etc.) and the noise levels associated with each task with a Larson Davis Spark 705+ dosimeter. NIOSH post processed the data to determine which tasks the operator devotes the most time to and the noise dosage accumulated during those tasks. These results provide insight into which portion of the operators&apos; duty cycle is the most prominent contributor to noise exposure and thus, where research activities for the development of engineering noise controls should be focused. It was determined that the task of drilling holes is the most significant source of the operators&apos; noise exposure and project research has focused on engineering noise controls to reduce the noise emissions generated during the drilling portion of the machine duty cycle.

By Sun Guangzhong, Liang Jinhuo

Adverse geological condition is a major factor which makes construction difficulty in tunneling. But if it is predicted and tunnel support is made efficiently in time, the above difficulty can be reduced. It is necessary to develop one or several effective and economical geological methods for prediction of tunnel geology while expensive and time-consuming instruments are used. This paper reviews and proposes several geological methods for prediction of fault, seam, contact zone, and groundwater inrush. These methods have been proved to be effective and economical in tunneling practice in China.

Jan 1, 1987

By Dhanaji S. Chavan, Thallak G. Sitharam

"It is well known that sites comprising of saturated loose sand undergoes large deformations, due to liquefaction, during seismic shaking. To cope with this, different mitigation techniques such as vibroflotation, deep dynamic compaction, compaction grouting, deep soil mixing etc. have been used in practice. However, as all these methods are costly, a new mitigation technique is required. Air injection has emerged as a new mitigation technique in which air is injected into the saturated loose sand. The introduced air makes the pore fluid mixture compressible and results into decrease in the generation of excess pore water pressure during seismic shaking. This paper reviews the laboratory and field studies performed to investigate the effect of air injection on liquefaction resistance. In addition to this, previous research in the direction of desaturation has evolved different techniques to generate gas in saturated sand. These techniques have also been discussed in the present paper. All the field and laboratory studies have shown that even a slight decrease in the degree of saturation increases the liquefaction resistance significantly.Keywords: desaturation, air injection, liquefaction resistance, pore pressureINTRODUCTIONEarthquake events in the past, caused liquefaction of loose saturated sands at many sites in the world. The consequence of liquefaction varied from small deformations to catastrophic failures such as flow slides, lateral spreading, sand boiling etc. (Kramer, 1996). To reduce the liquefaction potential of such soils, different mitigation techniques have emerged across the world. Some of the most widely used mitigation techniques are vibroflotation, deep dynamic compaction, compaction grouting and deep soil mixing (Idriss and Boulanger, 2008).Yoshimi et al. (1989) found that the liquefaction resistance of partially saturated sand is significantly higher than that of saturated loose sand. Further, Pietruszczak et al. (2003) proposed desaturation of the saturated loose sand as a new liquefaction mitigation technique. It is observed that the liquefaction resistance of sandy soil is enhanced significantly owing to the desaturation caused during construction of sand compaction piles (Ishihara et al. 2003). Over past few years research is being carried out on desaturation of sandy soil and its liquefaction resistance ( Ishihara et al. 2003; Okamura and Soga 2006; Yegian et al. 2006; Yegian et al. 2007; Takemura et al. 2009; Eseller-bayat et al. 2013; He et al. 2013; Marasini and Okamura 2015; Zeybek and Madabhushi 2016). As a result of this, different techniques of desaturation have also emerged. Different studies conducted in this direction and their outcome has been discussed in the section to follow."

Jan 1, 2017