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By P. C. Thakur

In Part I of this paper, it was established that the width of longwall faces in highly gassy mines is primarily limited by the volume of air reaching the tail-end of the face. The ventilation air reaching the tail-end of the face should be not only enough to keep methane concentrations below the statutory limits (generally 1 percent) but also enough to prevent any gas layering. The air volume leaking from the longwall face into the gob should also be able to push the explosive methane-air mixture away from the gob area immediately behind the longwall face where active roof-fall is taking place (typically 30-45 m). The second group of variables that also controls the width of the longwall panel consists of (a) the rate of advance, (b) bleeder air quantities, (c) specific methane emissions for the gob area and, (d) efficiency and cost of gob gas capture. This paper will discuss the second group of variables and its impact on the optimum width of longwall faces in highly gassy coal mines.

Jan 1, 2009

By R. J. Balfour, T. L. Papucciyan

"INTRODUCTIONCapital Cost considerations are basic to feasibility in the achievement of success for Mineral Processing Projects as much as or more than in many other industries. Capital cost is an important factor ae it 1R the unit of measurement for process engineering economic decisions. As a result of ever increasing complexity, alternatives of process and remoteness of site, there is an ever increasing emphasis on accurate estimating and the attendant cost control systems in the international market of today for the Mineral Industry where initial plant costs are becoming a more important factor than operating costs. An undervaluation means trouble ahead. An over-cautious assessment may bring an unnecessary abandonment of a project. Consequently, the ultimate cost must be predicted early and accurately and must be controlled to this parameter during the design and construction phases. Cost Est!~ mating is one of a variety of project management tools used to assist in planning and achieving the optimum balance between Quality, Cost and Time, the eternal triangle of evaluation, namely obtaining a project of acceptable quality at minimum cost and on time. In order to attain these established objectives, proper planning, organizing, coordinating, monitoring, adjusting and controlling the design, procurement and construction elements of the project are essential.This project management approach based upon the principle of a Task Force under single management, comprising a complete service organization, requires a substantial number of qualified individuals specialized in their own field and capable of working together as a team to perform their various functions effectively. The Task Force is supported by their chiefs of discipline and performs in accordance with established procedures and standards under the leadership of a Project Manager.General Engineering Company Limited with the backing of the full resources of Surveyer, Nenniger & Chenevert and its total staff of approximately 1,0009 offers the complete project management service to the Mineral Processing Industry of North America and the rest of the world. As mine sites become more remote and difficult of access, the need for an experienced team of specialists who work under the Task Force principle, with well established standards and procedures becomes even more important. Our long history of successful pro1ecta in this field has been our training ground for the fulfillment of this need."

Jan 1, 1972

Two of the problems long associated with the complete extraction of level pillars in the wide ore bodies of Broken Hill have been: (1) The high cost of maintaining level gangways through areas of slow subsidence to provide adequate trucking roads for the transport of sand filling; and (2) The difficulty and high cost of completely filling depleted areas. This paper deals with the experiments conducted to devise an apparatus for transporting, with the aid of compressed air, sandfill from the underground sand passes to the stopes and describes the sand blower which has been developed. This apparatus has to a large degree overcome the difficulties and removed much of the hazard associated with the rapid extraction of level pillars.Special attention is drawn to the sizing analysis of the sand and to the fact that it is not dry material. It was early found that these factors were determinants in the design and development of the apparatus described.Acknowledgment is made to the General Manager of Broken Hill South Limited for permission to present this paper, to the engineering department for assisting in the design of the apparatus, and to the underground staff for their co-operation in training the operators and in bringing to success this method of stope filling.PREVIOUS FILLING METHODSThe South Mine, with a monthly production of approximately 32,000 tons of lead-sHver-zinc sulphide ore by cut-and-fill mining methods, requires about 11,000 cubic yards of filling per month. With the exception of a small and variable quantity of developmental mullock, all this filling is...

Jan 1, 1941

When Haematite Explorations Pty. Ltd. began prospecting for petroleum in 1960, there was only ill-defined geological evidence on the land bordering Bass Strait to support the belief that petroleum lay trapped in sedimentary formations beneath its shallow waters.A reconnaissance of the area, made in 1961 by the airborne magnetometer method, covered the waters and islands of the Strait and overlapped the Victorian and Tasmanian coasts. The survey indicated the presence of the Bass Basin (which is completely water-covered), assisted in outlining the Otway and Gippsland Basins, and showed that each basin contains sedimentary rocks over 10,000 ft thick. Information on the regional geology and minor volcanic activity was also obtained.Marine seismic surveys carried out from 1962 to 1965 defined these basins more accurately and showed the nature and structure of the thick sedimentary sections.Correlation of the seismic data with onshore wells identified the sediments as Tertiary and Mesozoic. Subdivisions of the former in all basins and the latter in the Otway Basin were made. These Tertiary and Mesozoic rocks are not seriously deformed and they have good prospects of containing petroleum.Possible structural and stratigraphic traps, recognized from the seismic record sections by petroleum geologists, are being tested by offshore drilling which began in 1964.

Jan 1, 1966

By Harsh Deep Chopra, Jason N. Armstrong, Susan Z. Hua

"Existence of anisotropic Curie temperature materials [E. R. Callen, Phys. Rev. 124, 1373 (1961); J. Appl. Phys. 32 S221 (1961)] is a longstanding prediction - materials that become paramagnetic at a lower temperature along certain crystal directions while remaining magnetically ordered in other directions up to a higher temperature. Validating Callen's theory, we show that all directions within the basal plane of monoclinic F e1Ss (pyrrhotite) single crystal remain ordered up to 603 K while the c-axis becomes paramagnetic at 225 K. Results prompt a re-evaluation of existing magnetic materials with a focus on magnetic characteristics along different crystal orientations above instead of below the ordering temperatures. Theoretical guidelines for identifying new materials with large anisotropy of Curie temperature are also given, and analysis protocol to characterize them in a self-consistent manner is discussed. Materials with such a large directional dependence of Curie temperature open the possibility for uniquely new devices and phenomena, including energy storage and spintronics devices.IntroductionThis paper is an overview of our recently published work on anisotropic Curie temperature materials [l]. As a background, ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials are characterized by a critical temperature below which magnetic interactions prevail over thermal agitation, leading to the appearance of a spontaneous magnetization. Above this critical point, called the Curie temperature, thermal energy eventually overcomes magnetic interactions and the material becomes paramagnetic.It is less well known that the Curie temperature varies with the orientation of the crystal. In ordinary ferromagnets this orientation dependence of Curie temperature is negligible because of the vanishingly small ratio of anisotropy to exchange energy, i.e., the spherical or isotropic exchange term dominates. Thus Curie temperature in ordinary ferromagnets appears to be an isotropic property, and assigning it a single characteristic ordering temperature suffices. However, a 'small' difference is not equivalent to being the 'same', and under appropriate set of conditions the anisotropy of Curie temperature is predicted to become appreciable, as discussed in the following.In formulating the theory of 'anisotropic magnetization' [2, 3] E. R. Callen and H. B. Callen first discussed the ""interesting possibility"" of anisotropic Curie temperature [2] or ACT; Callen and Callen noted that it was W. J. Carr, Jr. who initially raised this question, and they discussed it in detail at the Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (NY, November 1960), see footnote on page 320 of Ref. [2]. Soon thereafter, E. R. Callen developed the theory underlying the anisotropy of Curie temperature and conditions conducive to its observation [4, 5]."

Jan 1, 2013

By Neil Westoll

But First, An Overview of the Selwyn Basin and Its Resources ?World-renowned sedimentary-exhalative (SEDEX) deposits of zinc, lead, silver +/-barite ?Significant reserves/resources remain and vast tracts of prospective stratigraphyremain under-explored and untested. ?More details are at the Yukon Geological Survey?s Selwyn Basin Metallogenysite:http://www.geology.gov.yk.ca/metallogeny/selwyn/ Overview of Metal Price and Demand Trends ?The pace of economic change in China has been extremely rapid since the start of economic reforms just over 25 years ago. According to official statistics, economic growth has averaged 9.5% over the past two decades and seems likely to continue at that pace for some time. National income has been doubling every eight years. Such an increase in output represents one of the most sustained and rapid economic transformations seen in the world economy in the past 50 years.? Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 16-Dec-2005

May 1, 2006

Various reagents are added to flotation pulps to manipulate the chemical environment in order to create favourable conditions for the separation of the desired mineral from the unwanted gangue. Interactions occur between these reagents and between the other chemical parameters existing in the flotation pulp which complicate the elucidation of the behaviour of the respective reagents. This paper discusses the roles of the main classes of reagents added viz. collectors, frothers, depressants and activators, as well as the interactions between frothers and collectors. A case study reporting synergistic interactions between thiol collectors in the flotation of pyrite at pH = 4 is included. The use of Potassium n-butyl xanthate (PNBX) and a dithiocarbamate type collector (DTC) were tested both as pure collectors and as components in a collector mixture. In the batch flotation tests sulphur recovery and grade, water recovery, rate of recovery and image analysis of the surface froth were used to evaluate the effect of the mixture on the overall flotation performance. Bubble loading tests showed that the use of the mixture improved the efficiency of the particle collection process by bubbles. Thermochemical measurements of the adsorption of the collectors onto the mineral, indicated the formation of different surface products by the two collectors.

Jan 1, 1998

By J. F. Evers, S. Sadiq, F. W. Preston, G. W. Swift

Proper scaling of unsteady-state flow in laboratory gas reservoir models can be achieved if the permeability/fractional porosity ratio is less than 0.5 md. Porous media meeting this specification can be obtained from mixtures of sand and Portland cement provided (1) the water/cement ratio is in the range of 0.35 to 0.40, (2) the sand/cement ratio is in the range of 1/1 to 2/1, (3) the sand grain size is in the range of 48-100 to 18-28 mesh, (4) the mortar curing time is 7 days or more and (5) the cured mortar is dried under vacuum to reduce the temperature level employed during the drying process. The areal homogeneity of the mortars tested is reasonably good, although significant trends in vertical permeability were noted. The Klinkenberg and non-Darcy coefficients of mortar are such that proper scaling of these effects in the laboratory model could be expected. INTRODUCTION A long term deliverability prediction for a gas well is generally based on data determined from flow tests that are of short duration relative to the producing life of the well. These data, together with an estimate of gas reserves in place, form the basis for establishing the parameters of the mathematical model used to predict performance at future times. Results obtained from a mathematical model represent only an interpretation of the physical process being modeled. Experimental verification of the production process from discovery to abandonment is needed where production occurs under carefully controlled conditions. Ideally, one might consider such an experiment to be conducted in the field. Even if the cost of such an experiment could be justified, the time required would make it impractical to consider. However, if the time scaling problem could be handled properly, an experimental model of the gas reservoir production process could provide the necessary data to study the mechanisms of the production process in a reasonable time period. An experimental model has been designed and constructed using the data of this study as a basis. The model reservoir system consists of one producing well located at the center of a right-circular cylinder of porous material. Ten to 15 observation wells are located at strategic offset positions from the producing well. These wells, and the producing well, are fitted with pressure transducers so that the pressure-time history can be recorded at various radial and azimuthal positions in the drainage area during the entire production life of the system. Time is scaled in the model so that the time required to produce gas from discovery pressure to abandonment pressure is about 2 hours. This compares with a 20-year producing life in the model's field counterpart and gives a time scale factor of approximately 1:100,000. DESIGN CRITERIA To establish design criteria for the experimental model, the reservoir is considered to be a finite right-circular cylinder of radius rr, and height h with a producing well of radius rw located at the center and completed through the producing formation. This reservoir consists of a porous medium which has a uniform permeability k and gas porosity and the gas contained in the reservoir has density p, viscosity µ and molecular weight M. Initially, the pressure at all points within the reservoir is uniform at po. and the reservoir temperature is T. Since the reservoir production process has been demonstrated to occur in two distinct transient modes for either Darcy or non-Darcy flow,l it is

By Pengfu Tan

The control of converter slag chemistry and slag viscosity has played an important role in optimizing converter operations. A thermodynamic model of copper P-S converter and a viscosity model of converter slag have been used to predict the chemistry and viscosity of converter slag. The effect of oxygen potential, SiO2/Fe in slag, detection of slag blow endpoint, and temperature on slag viscosity, liquidus temperature of converter slag and skimming operation has been discussed. Some applications of the industrial operations have been presented.

Jan 1, 2006

By Shahé Shnorhokian

A study was conducted on the seismic activities and associated rockburst events that took place at an underground Canadian metal mine over a period of five years. In the first stage, a back analysis of the microseismic database led to the identification of clusters of major events. The locations of these clusters were identified with respect to the local geology and the planned mining sequence. In the second stage, a numerical model was constructed using the finite difference code FLAC3D to simulate the in-situ stress, mine geometry, local geology, and stope sequence. Mining-induced stress fields were compared against two rockburst events that took place during this period, as well as against the various geologic units present. It was shown that by combining microseismic analysis and numerical modeling, it was possible to provide a basis for evaluating the influence of the in-situ stress regimes and stope sequencing on mining-induced seismic response.

May 1, 2011

By Staff

GENERAL DESCRIPTION The Lucky Friday mine is located in Mullan, Sho-¬shone County, Idaho. The mining method is horizontal slice cut-and-fill (with timbering for support or un¬timbered) using hydraulic sand. Cemented sand fill at a 1:17 ratio is used in sill pours and at a 1:7 ratio for the final 152 mm (6 in.) capping in successive stope floor pours. Annual production with 100% cut-and-fill mining is 167 829 t (185,000 st). The average depth of mining is 1296 m (4250 ft) and the average travel time to the stope is 45 min. GENERAL ORE BODY REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS Size The ore body is 396 to 488 m (1300 to 1600 ft) long on strike, 1421 m (4660 ft) on dip, with an average width of 2.3 m (7.5 ft). Dip varies from vertical to1.2 rad (70°) Ground Conditions, Ore Value, and Production Requirements The ore body contains quite strong argentiferous galena and quartz. The hanging wall and footwall are strongly sheared and fractured. Ore value is $211/t ($192/st).

Jan 1, 1982

By J. W. Thompson

BURYING DEAD MINERS. BURYING BODIES OF DEAD MINERS. REVISED STATUTES (HURD) 1874, P. 263. SEC. 22. LIABILITY OF RAILROADS, ETC., FOR BURIAL EXPENSES.-When any railroad company, stage or any steamboat, propeller, or other vessel engaged in whole or in part in carrying passengers for hire, brings the dead body of any person into this State, or any person dies upon any railroad car or in such stage, steamboat, propeller or other vessel in this State, or any person is killed by cars, or machinery of any railroad company or by accident thereto or by accident to or upon any such stage, steamboat, propeller, or other vessel, or by accident to or in or about any mine, mill or manufactory,* the company or person owning or operating such cars, inachinery, stage, steamboat, propeller, or other vessel, mine, mill or manufactory shall be liable to pay the expenses of the coroner's inquest upon and burial of the deceased and the same may be recovered in the name of the County in any court of competent Jurisdiction. NOTE--The original Act of February 15, 1855 (Laws 1855, p. 170), makes no reference to the dead bodies of persons killed" by accident to, in or about any mine."

Jan 1, 1919

By A Proudman, J Isles, R Lawolo, G Forster

PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals (PT NHM) is an Indonesian joint venture company owned by Newcrest Mining Limited (75 per cent) and PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) (25 per cent). PT NHM operates two underground gold mines, Kencana and Toguraci at the Gosowong mine site in North Halmahera District, North Maluku Province, Indonesia.Due to several major stope overbreak events at Toguraci, the mining method and sequence was reviewed. The method was changed from a bottom up Avoca stoping approach using waste rock as fill material and leaving sill pillars, to a top down open stope method using paste fill without sill pillars.The revised mine plan originally had stoping progressing from the current level to the base of reserves followed by extraction of the sill pillars in the upper levels at the end of mine life. Geotechnical modelling was conducted on the revised mine plan and it was recommended that the sill pillars be taken early due to the risk of them overstressing and being difficult to recover if left until the end of mine life. The backfill material above the sill pillars is unconsolidated run-of-mine development waste rock or unconsolidated rock fill (URF).Due to earlier attempts to extract sill pillars under URF not being successful in the upper areas of the mine, it was stipulated that the URF above the five remaining pillars must be consolidated prior to stoping. Cost benefit analysis showed this to be justifiable due to the high-grade nature of the ore locked up in the pillars.Grout was initially planned to be injected in one pass through self-drilling anchors (SDA) in a 2.5 m pattern. Initial attempts to do this failed due to the SDA aperture and grout consistency. A modified method was employed using poly pipe installed into open holes that were drilled through the sill pillar and into the URF from below. Repeated application at each location ensured full grout consolidation. Drill holes were used to confirm grout thickness as well as add more grout. Design thickness was based on stress analysis.Despite different URF types being present due to varying quantities of fines, the process was similar for each area. The presence of paste in the URF of one target affected the quantity of grout it received.With a design thickness of 4–5 m of consolidation in the URF, depending on stope width and dip, each consolidated pillar (to date) maintained integrity during the stope operation. Some fall of material was anticipated; however, quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) during grouting, staged stope extraction and careful blast design minimised fall of material.CITATION:Proudman, A, Isles, J, Lawolo, R and Forster, G, 2017. Rock fill consolidation for the extraction of sill pillar stopes at Toguraci gold mine, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 199–210 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 16, 2017

By Joe Maher

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Jan 1, 1976

By Erdal Ünal

The computer program introduced in this paper is based on design guidelines developed for selection of support systems used in mine roadways. The support types considered include rock bolts as well as rigid and yieldable steel arches. Using the computer program, the design engineer can select the type, pattern and specifications of the support systems suitable for various roof conditions. The concepts utilized, assumptions made, support selection criteria and description of the computer program, developed for the PC, are included.

Jan 1, 1989

By Larry R. Powell

As part of the Bureau of Mines effort to establish a comprehensive subsidence data base for subsidence technology development, subsidence and related data are being compiled for various mining, geological, and environmental situations. This publication presents data for a longwall mining operation in the Northern Appalachian Coal Region. Vertical displacements and relative faze positions are tabulated for 160 subsidence monuments. Measurements were taken 32 times during the 2 years it took to mine the two panels. Brief physiographic and geological descriptions of the mining site are presented along with a general account of the mining and subsidence monitoring methods.

Jan 1, 1981

By Y. Tanaka, M. Maeda, S. Suzuki, C. Tokoro, T. Kato, K. Muto

Boron (B) co-precipitation was investigated with ettringite to establish a cost efficient method of removing B from acid mine drainage. For 25 mg/L of B solution, most appropriate pH for B removal was pH 11.5. The most appropriate amount of reagent for B removal within Japanese effluent standard (10 mg/L) was B:Al:Ca:SO4 = 1:3:9:4.5, which corresponds to the composition of Ettringite (Al:Ca:SO4 = 2:6:3). The effect of silicate, carbonate and temperature on efficiency of B removal is important as groundwater and hot spring water are often contaminated. When silicate and carbonate are present, more Al and Ca salts are needed for B removal since some aluminum and calcium precipitate with silicate and carbonate as kaolinite and calcium carbonate. These precipitates do not contribute much to B removal. As the temperature raised, the most appropriate pH for B removal decreased. B removal became less efficient as monosulfate precipitated more rapidly as ettringite.

Jan 1, 2015

By Ronald L. Cocklin, Vivian Patz

Blasting techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated as the need for improving mining efficiency grows. One of the areas of blasting that has never been fully exploited, due to a lack of a control and reliability, is the initiation of explosives. Expert Explosives have taken on the challenge to not only provide an initiation system that offers control and reliability, but also provide benefits that are critical to enhanced mining productivity. These benefits can only be delivered through the medium of electronics and computer controlled systems.

Jan 1, 1995

By Stanley K. Haines

This Bureau of Mines publication comprises 19 tables of data concerning domestic barite production and consumption, imports, and world production for the years 1880 to 1976. Barite is vital to the petroleum industry, with 90 percent of domestic consumption used in drilling muds. Domestic production has traditionally fallen short of consumption: in 1976, 41 percent of the 2.2 million tons consumed was imported. World production of barite increased from 269,000 tons in 1923 to 5.2 million tons in 1975 but is in danger of falling short of future demand. The compiled data provide a comprehensive base of information.

Jan 1, 1978

By Carl Havemann

[PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 8thINTERNATIONAL CORROSION CONFERENCE HELD AT THE SA NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY, SAXONWOLD JOHANNESBURG DURING 14-15 NOVEMBER, 2006.]

Jan 1, 2006