Search Documents

By P. Conrad

Experience has shown that, since the passage of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, over-compaction of spoil during the reclamation process has severely limited tree growth on reclaimed land. Researchers at the University of Kentucky have conducted a ten-year investigation at a surface mine in eastern Kentucky that monitored the changes in selected spoil physical characteristics for various reclamation and compaction alleviation methods. More specifically, research plots were developed for reforestation that employed three different levels of compaction and two different methods of ripping for overly compacted spoil. Each year measurements were made in the field of dry bulk density, using a nuclear density gage, and maximum penetration depth, using a recording cone penetrometer. In addition to good correlation between tree growth and selected spoil characteristics, the data demonstrated a gradual convergence of the measured spoil characteristic data over the study period.

Jan 1, 2008

In 1992, the United States economy grew at a rate of 2%. The Gross Domestic Product rose to $5,946 billion. With 257 million people - 635,000 in mining including petroleum - the United States has more than 100 million dwelling units and more than 190 million licensed motor vehicles. New private housing starts rose I 1 % to 1.2 million units. New car production rose 4% to 5.7 million units. Truck and bus production rose 20% to 4 million units. The rate of inflation was 3.5% and the prime rate of interest was 6.25%. The Producer Price Index (1982 =100) was relatively unchanged from 1991 as follows: fuels and related products and power 80, metals and metal products 119, chemicals and allied products 126 and nonmetallic mineral products 117. Energy Imports of crude and refined petroleum, costing $50 billion, rose 3% to 455 Mm3 (2.9 billion bbl). Domestic petroleum production fell 1 % to 582 Mm3 (3.5 billion bbl). Petroleum supplied about 41 % of US energy, natural gas 24% and coal 23%. Coal production, 60% from surface operations, rose 1 % to 914 Mt (1 billion st). About 78% was used to generate electricity and 3% was coked. Exports valued at $4 billion included 57 Mt (63 million st) of metallurgical coal and 39 Mt (43 million st) of steam coal. Ura¬nium mining, including recovery from phosphates, fell 18% to 3 kt (3300 st) U308.

Jan 1, 1993

By G. St. J. Perrott, G. W. Jones

"In the course of its investigations pertaining to the promotion of safety the Bureau of Mines is actively engaged in investigating all promising materials that may be of value in rendering methane or other combustible gases, vapors, or solids less inflammable.Added substances are of value if such additions narrow the limits of inflammability, raise the ignition temperature, lower the speed of propagation of flame, or reduce the maximum pressure developed. Of major importance is the effect of added materials on the limits of inflammability, because methane is the chief combustible s liberated in mines, considerable work has been done with extinguishing agents on methane flames. For obvious reasons, a substance to be of value for the extinction flames should be a gas, or a liquid having a sufficient vapor pressure to give concentrations of the vapor in sufficient amounts to extinguish the flames or markedly narrow the limits of inflammability. The substance should be nontoxic, cheap, and noncorrosive and must be incombustible. Solids, such as rock dust, are undesirable and of little value for combustible gases because they soon settle out of the atmosphere, and their flame- extinguishing value is thereby lost. There are at present only a few gases and vapors-for example, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon tetrachloride-which meet these requirements.The extinction of methane flames by nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and argon has been reported by Coward and Hartwell 4; the extinction by water vapor by Coward and Gleadell 5, and the extinction by helium and carbon tetrachloride by Coward and Jones 6."

Oct 1, 1930

By AJ Rorke, JD Botes

Presplit blasting in strip mines is aimed at creating a safer wall to work under during the coaling operations. Good quality presplits are also necessary for effective throw blasting and drainage of the blast block. A less obvious but important function is full coal recovery. Optimum Colliery has been experiencing rock freezing against the presplit highwalls. The rock formed in patches along the highwall and trapped coal beneath it. The material that was &ozen comprised the rock between the back row of holes and the presplit and was often up to 3 m thick (the stand off distance between the back line and the presplit). The cozen rock formed predominantly along the bottom halfor bottom two thirds of the highwall. Along the top portion of the highwall, the presplit crack was usually well formed with visible barrels. This problem, or similar variations of it, is common on many South African strip-mine operations. Investigative work was carried out at Optimum Colliery to correct the problem. This paper presents the information and measurements that were made and discusses the solutions that have been applied to solve the problem. It was found that there were two independent causes for the tiozen material, with each contributing more or less to the frozen rock along the highwall. It was found that the presplit was not forming properly in places, especially closer to the bottom of the highwalls. The reasons and the solutions are presented. The second cause was found to be associated with reduced detonation velocity in the back line holes coupled with low confinement from long delay periods. Emulsion explosive that is sensitised with air bubbles was found to be prone to this phenomenon near the back of high-energy blasts. A change in the explosive formulation in the back-line holes, together with reduced delays in the back line, has resulted in significant improvements. The details are presented in this paper.

Jan 1, 2000

By Manqiu Xu, Joe Holmes, Peter Wells, Peter Langlois, Germain Labonté, Jim Barrett

"The flowsheet for the Voisey’s Bay mill had to meet the challenge of processing an ore containing high pentlandite and chalcopyrite values in a largely pyrrhotite/troilite matrix. In the 1994-97 period, circuit development focused on making a high-grade copper concentrate and a relatively low-grade nickel concentrate. However, in 1998 a circuit with copper concentrate, high-grade nickel concentrate and a Ni/Cu middlings concentrate was specified. Following a three year project delay, work resumed on the flowsheet in 2001, and the target for the overall grade of the nickel concentrate was raised from 14% to 20% nickel. To achieve this target triethylamine tetramine (TETA) and sulfite pyrrhotite depressants were used in an all lime circuit. It later became evident that, with appropriate selection of collector and adjustment of the circuit by the addition of a scavenger on the scavenger cleaner, it would be possible to approach the grade of concentrate required without the use of pyrrhotite depressants. The recycle of water and the contained thiosalts was also proven to be instrumental in raising the grade.Construction and commissioning of the mill were fast-tracked with start-up of the mill in September 2005 some six months ahead of the original schedule. Ramp-up of both throughput and metallurgy was faster than any other recent nickel installations with tonnage being limited mainly by concentrate dewatering due to the higher than initially planned ore grades.INTRODUCTIONNickel was discovered in the vicinity of Voisey’s Bay by Chislett and Verbiski working for Diamond Field Resources in 1993 and the Ovoid deposit was delineated in the winter of 1994/95. By the end of 1995 the Ovoid had been well explored and at that time was thought to have a reserve of at least 30 million tonnes with an average grade of 2.83% Ni and 2.0% Cu. Drilling to the east of the Ovoid had indicated the presence of significant mineralization. In June of 1995, Inco Limited bought a 25% share in the Voisey’s Bay Nickel Company (VBNC) which was a subsidiary holding company set up by Diamond Fields. Inco also bought 8% of Diamond Fields and negotiated the right to sell all the nickel produced from VBNC for twenty years as part of this agreement. In April 1996, Inco bought the 75% of VBNC shares that it did not own."

Jan 1, 2007

By Sheng-Hui X

This paper introduces a new coal-based rotary kiln process of DRI production - the CRIMM process, which is developed by Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in the past years. Its main features are the use of composite pellets (in rotary kiln). The process consists of preparation of pellets from iron concentrate and coating of coal on their surfaces. The new process is able to overcome a series of defects of the conventional coal-based rotary kiln processes. A continuous test was conducted using an experiment rotary kiln (-0.6;, x 3 m). TFe of the magnetic iron concentrate used in the test is 67.25 per cent. TFe of the product DRI is 88.54 per cent, MFe is 84.11 per cent, S and P are less than 0.02 per cent. The metallisation ratio of pellet is 95 per cent. The pellet power ratio is less than 0.3 per cent. The utilisation coefficient of rotary kiln is 1.3 t/m'-d. The overall recovery of iron concentrates is 99.7 per cent. Two small industrial plants using the CRIMM process are being set up in China. Their coal consumption can be decreased to 520 kg standard coal per ton DRI respectively.

Jan 1, 1999

The individual or company director who ignores his or her obligations under the Resource Management Act 1991 and under the proposed hazardous substances legislation, ignores them at their peril. Two recent cases in Canada and the United Kingdom concerning environmental offences under similar legislation illustrate the risks well.

Jan 1, 1993

By Roberto Busato Belger

- Fertilizer Business Overview - Supply -Demand Balance in the World - Supply -Demand Balance in Brazil - Brazilian Market Growth Opportunities - Fosfertil Operations - Fosfertil Expansion Plan - Salitre Project - Project Characteristics - Technical Challenges and Solutions - Technical Support Studies Conclusions

May 1, 2010

By Chen Jianping, Wu Li, Wei Banyun, Chen Canchang

Liquified petroleum gas mixed with oxygen has been used as a new type of mixed gas source for gas detonating system. The experimental studies have been done on the detonation feature of gas detonating transmission in a long and thin tube, the transmitting reliability for detonating network, the design on gas exploder and test devices. The results of the study show that (1 )Liquified petroleum mixed with oxygen can be used as a new type of regular gas source. (2)The transmission of detonating wave is reliable for new type of mixed gas in a 500-meter long plastic tube with 3mm inner diameter and the detonating velocity is up to 2500m/s. The detonating wave can surely initiate and transmit several branched gas detonating cap and explosive through the end of detonating network, the tubes inner diameter for the detonating quenching is 0. I’mm. (3)The gas exploder designed by authors can be used for gas propotional distribution,strong turbulence-mixing,initiating by reflex shock wave and safety control purposes. The developed double flowmeter can be used together or seperately in responsible for main testing in the system.

Jan 1, 1999

Computer applications are ideally suited to the day to day operations of grade control and short term planning on a mine site. By refining this part of the operation there is scope to increase profits by more accurately predicting ore grade and tonnage, and allowing the mining engineer more flexibility in his approach to scheduling. Large numbers of blasthole or ditchwitch samples need to be processed in a fast and efficient manner, and stored in a database for future reference. The mining engineer has to calculate tonnages and subdivide the blast or digging area into mineable areas of waste, low and high grade ore. New grade and tonnage information must be used by the mining engineer to update his short term plan. Answers must be obtained quickly and efficiently, but a high level of individual input is necessary in order that maximum use is made of the information. Geostatistical analysis of samples can be used to refine the interpolation techniques. Reconciliation between the original grade model, the newly sampled area, and the final product should be monitored continually.

Jan 1, 1989

By Z. T. Bieniawski, José Miguel Galera, Benjamín Celada

TBM case histories from over 400 tunnel sections are analyzed presenting a comprehensive application of the Rock Mass Excavability (RME) index (Bieniawski et al.2006). The paper introduces two new adjustment factors, called the Factor of Tunnel Length and the Factor of Crew Effectiveness, which were established to represent more realistically the interaction of the rock mass characteristics, the TBM parameters and the performance of the crew operating the machine. A new correlation is provided for predicting the average rate of advance of double-shield TBMs working specifically in the double-shield mode.

Jan 1, 2007

By Wouter Hartman

Xuandong Coal Mine is mining coal in one of the most challenging underground environments in the world. This work has found that it is not only challenging but it also has the composition for some interesting rock mechanics and ground control conditions. The paper highlights the extreme mining and rock mass behavior conditions encountered when mining coal at 900 m below surface. It was found that the ground control environment associated with geological weakness, low coal material strength and stiffness, was reasonably well controlled; however, the chain pillar geometry and design did not take these geological weaknesses into consideration. Some of the chain pillars employed were quite large, which resulted in floor punching and secondary floor heave, which causes extreme difficulty for production. No barrier pillar has been employed except for the center 164-m-wide main headings pillar with a w/h ratio in excess of 40. After assessing the location and geometry of a 200-m-thick dolerite sill overlaying the coal measures, we found the probability of it breaking up into to smaller fragments and producing a larger goaf to be low. Therefore, the influence of the dolerite sill on chain pillar loading is considered small compared to the low coal, immediate floor and roof rockmass strength. It is further recognized that horizontal stresses could be locked up within the dolerite sill, which would likely result in regional bending that would be distributed through the chain pillars. This has, to some extent, already occurred, and the effects have been seen and felt through excessive floor heave, pillar punching, and coal bumps (seismicity). We?ve also found that there was a need to employ basic rock mechanics principals in assessing the stability of future multiple seam mining layouts.

Jan 1, 2012

By M. England

A method for the analysis and prediction of single pile displacement behaviour is described. It is the displacement in time, under constant load, based on the use of hyperbolic functions to characterise individual constituents of the displacement-time behaviour. Extensive use of this technique has confirmed its validity in a variety of soils and that consolidation and creep settlement appear to be indistinguishable. The algorithms employed are suitable to model the displacement behaviour from the onset of load to infinite time for all types of piles and surface foundations. Until the advent of computer controlled static load testing, analysis of the displacement-time characteristic during pile load tests has been hindered by the quality of the data recorded and inconsistency of loading. This has hitherto made the development of suitable behavioural models very difficult. Understanding the soil deformation within a proper time framework allows the subject of pile instrumentation and testing to be developed. The equipment required is basically a computer controlled loading and pile head displacement measuring system which allows accurate analysis of the settlement characteristic in almost every situation.

Jan 1, 1993

By A Tawadrous, P D. Katsabanis, S Kim

A series of small scale tests, have been performed to establish the effect of powder factor and initiation timing on the grindability of rocks. The blasts were performed in high quality granite blocks, which were cut from stone prepared by dimensional stone quarry operations. Three different types of granite, Barre, Stanstead and Laurentian, were tested. The charge consisted of detonating cord placed in five holes with water as a coupling medium, or concentrated charges of equal mass of high exolosive, fully stemmed or air decked. Powder factor was varied from 0.39 to 1.17 kg/m3. Charges were detonated simultaneously or with a small delay and in some experiments, detonation waves collided in the middle of each borehole. All fragments were collected and screened, and drop weight impact tests were performed on selected size fractions, using different levels of impact energy, to calculate the resistance of the rock to impact breakage. The work index of some of the blasted samples was measured using standard Bond mill grindability tests. The experiments generally showed increased softening of the rock with powder factor, manifested by the increasing initial slope of the relationship between t10 and impact energy. The rate of change of the initial slope decreased with increasing powder factor. Changes in the work index were small and consistent in trend with the results of the single fragment impact characterization tests. Charge configuration, timing as well as in-hole collisions of detonation waves affected the initial fragmentation but had little effect on the impact breakage of the samples.

Jan 1, 2009

Application of Gy?s formula is appropriate for calculation of the Fundamental Error (FE) prior to samples being collected at any stage of the minerals process, provided that sampling parameters K and a (alpha) have been determined by calibration of the ores. Two types of calibration procedure are well established in the industry, the Hetrogeneity test and the 32-piece sampling tree experiment. The sampling tree experiment uses the variance and average grade of metal analyses from four series of samples at different nominal fragment size, as the basic input data. Pierre Gy suggested the cube as an appropriate exponent of the nominal fragment size for use in his equation. More recent work suggests that this exponent is variable and characteristic of specific ores and therefore requires calibration. The method described here explains the experimental procedure of the calibration. It is then possible to calculate a sampling nomogram using the sampling parameters K and a. This allows the sampler to determine a suitable protocol for the sampling event that will ensure that the FE does not exceed a predetermined precision at any point in the sampling procedure.

Jan 1, 2007

By Jeffrey L. Dean

Now in its twenty-fifth year, the ISEE has grown to more than 4000 members representing 75 countries. The Society and its 35 chapters in the US, Canada and Australia work to educate the public about our industry, provide forums for the exchange of explosives technology, serve as a repository of explosives information, offer expert help to governments, develop standardized methods and terminology, and promote research and education by, creating and conducting certificate and trainktg programs and encouraging the teaching of the safe and controlled use of commercial explosives.

Jan 1, 1998

By Wilson G. L, Lord J. H

A detailed analysis of faulting indicatcs that blocks of "greenstone" have been thrust beneath the southern end of the Mt. Isa orebodies.This "greenstone" basement is considered to be a major structural control in the localization of these orebodies.INTRODUCTIONThis paper is based on exploration carried out by Mining Corporation (Aust.) N.L. from 1956 to 1960 in the area immediately south of Mt. Isa, Queensland. During this period over 20,000 ft of diamond drilling was completed together with costeaning and geochemical exploration.Early in 1959, it became apparent that diamond drill information could not be correlated with the current geological concepts of this area and a detailed geological appraisal became necessary. In all, sixty square miles were mapped at a scale of 1 in. to 500 ft, using enlarged aerial photographs. All drill core was logged and sections re-interpreted.Professor K. C. Dunham of the University of Durham consulted on this project and contributed through valuable discussion. Dr. A. Day of the University of Sydney carried out a gravity survey in February 1960 and Dr. H. Wilshire of the same University undertook microscopic examination of rocks from the area. Certain sections of the area were investigated geochemically by Mr. K. K. Hughes of New Consolidated Gold Fields (Asia) Pty. Limited in 1960.In outlining a theory of ore genesis in the area the writers have drawn heavily on the invaluable data published by many previous workers on the Mt. Isa field, in particular...

Jan 1, 1963

By Seoul National University, Ki-Ho Kim, Jong-Pyo Kim, Sung-Min Joo, Hee-Chan Cho, Hyung-Seok Kim

Aragonite was synthesized in addition of Mg2+ ion and SrCO3 seed by carbonation process, and the best condition and mechanism of the synthesis was studied by analysis of continuous pH change, ICP, XRD, and SEM. As MgCl2•6H2O addition increased, aragonite phase increased at condition of CO2 flow rate of 100 mL/min and stirring rate of 250 rpm. It was the dissolution of Mg(OH)2 that determined overall reaction time. As SrCO3 seed addition increased at 0.2 mole MgCl2•6H2O, the amount of aragonite increased and the aspect ratio was from 5 to 9. And it was thought that Mg2+ ion prohibited calcitetransformation of aragonite formed by SrCO3.

Jan 1, 2003

By SDN Wessels, WA Naismith

On 16 July 2004, at 07:10 a collapse of about 1.8 million m3 (about 4 ½ million tonnes) took place on the north wall on Nchanga Open Pit This collapse was the result of a developing instability that was first identified when the benches in this area were exposed during September 2002. The NOP Geotechnical and Survey Departments closely monitored the development of the failure. Control measures were implemented to reduce risk to men and equipment. These measures were continually improved and adjusted in reaction to observations and changing conditions. The purpose of this paper is to describe in detail the monitoring results that were obtained both by traditional methods and the novel Slope Stability Radar System (SSR). Difficulties encountered in establishing critical deformation levels and deformation rates that can be used to predict the onset of collapse are described. Details of the monitoring and control measures, which led to the successful completion of mining in the area, are also described in this paper.

Jan 1, 2005

Flat jack stress determinations in selected colliery roadways have revealed a range of measured stress from 330 lb/sq. in. tension to 3,750 lb/sq. in. compression. Photoelastic examination of loaded plastic and actual rock model mine openings has shown that the primary horizontal stress required to attain these measured stresses would be from one to three times the superincumbent vertical load.Examination of roof movement with a borehole extensometer and a series of anchors at various horizons to 30 feet in a vertical roof borehole showed that when a standing face was advanced the roof movement was practically confined to the lower two feet. The majority of this movement occurred during the 36 hours after mining at this face commenced.The use of a radioactive isotope and a scintillation counter in a pair of parallel boreholes is a sensitive and accurate method of roof bedding plane crack detection.INTRODUCTIONA knowledge of strata stresses is required to understand the deformation of an underground opening and, in particular, the roof behaviour. It is the aim of investigations currently being conducted by Australian Coal Association (Research) Ltd. to determine the stress existing around mine openings and the location and magnitude of roof movement.STRATA PRESSURE MEASUREMENTMost measurements of strata stress are performed at the surface of underground openings and the majority measure the change of strain resulting from stress relief. The accuracy of the measured value of stress depends upon knowledge of the rock modulus of elasticity. The flat jack method has the advantage that strain relief is restored by a measured stress applied directly by the jack. The rock modulus of elasticity can also be determined.

Jan 1, 1963