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By Joel A. Hunt

The Bunker Hill Mine, located in north Idaho, consists of over 150 miles of passageways within highly fractured and faulted Precambrian metamorphosed rocks. The Bunker Hill Mine was at one time a major producer of lead and zinc; currently it is on inactive but maintained status. Ground water moving along flow paths that have been disturbed by mining reacts with pyrite and oxygen to produce acid water within the mine. Discharge of this acid water averages more than 5 cubic feet per second, with an average zinc concentration of 160 mg/L and pH of 2.8. Treatment of this acid mine drainage is required by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Cessation of all underground activities at the Bunker Hill Mine will not terminate the production of acid mine drainage. Reclamation alternatives that could either reduce the quantity or Improve the quality of the drainage upon mine closure are highly attractive. This project is directed towards delineation of reclamation alternatives based upon an understanding of the characteristics of ground water recharge near the mine. A variety of field techniques were used to identify areas of rapid infiltration and to investigate the ground water flow system associated with the upper portion of the mine in a portion of the Milo Creek drainage. These techniques include Installation of piezometer nests, dye tracing, surface resistivity, dye dilution, spring surveys, and hydrochemical analyses. Sites of direct Infiltration into the mine have been located. These include mine workings directly below perennial streams, intersections between streams and faults, and a caved area adjacent to an ephemeral stream. Results of these investigations indicate that recharge through these sites is not as rapid as suggested by previous studies. Inflow to the underground workings from the ground water flow system around the margin of the mine may account for more mine water than sites of direct infiltration. Recharge control at areas of direct infiltration could result in a net decrease in the quantity of acid drainage from the Bunker Hill Mine. Locations suggested for recharge control are West Milo Creek above the Guy Caving Area, the intersections of the Cate Fault with South Milo and Milo Creeks, and an area of Milo Creek below the Milo Creek Dam that overlies shallow mine workings.

Jan 1, 1984

By E. L. Sweeney

The mine and mill of the Davis-Dunkirk Lines, Inc., are about 16 miles by road south of Prescott, Ariz., which is the nearest railroad point for receiving mine and mill supplies and for shipping concentrates to smelters. A good trucking road reaches within 2 miles off the property, but from that point the grade is very steep. Outgoing loads are limited to 2 tons. The topography near the mine is exceedingly rugged, and the area is slightly wooded. The climate is mild excepting in a few winter months, when the snowfall is heavy. Electric power is secured by way of a 4 1/2-mile, high-tension line connecting with the main line of the Arizona Power Co. The concentrator was intended to treat 60 tons or more daily of gold-silver-copper ore and make a single gold-silver-copper concentrate for shipment to a copper smelter.

Jan 1, 1933

By S. Hardcastle

Kidd Creek mine has recently completed upgrades of its primary ventilation systems enabling it to maintain a delivery of 1200 m3/s to continue mining ore zones extending to over 3000 m below surface. Following these upgrades the mine initiated a multi-stage review of their ventilation usage. The focus of these reviews, ranged from a brainstorming session of invited experts, through an evaluation of production plans to a detailed analysis of production data to determine if the ventilation system could be run more efficiently, thereby reducing the mine?s power consumption and associated operating costs. The initial review identified 1500 kW of installed fan power that could be eliminated from the primary ventilation system. The benefits of the subsequent analyses, so far, are not as measurable. The second and third analyses, respectively using long range production plan data and historic production data to determine ventilation requirements based upon diesel equipment, did not agree. Both were shown to have limitations, the future based analysis underestimating, and the historical analysis overestimating the requirements. Regardless of the failings of each method, important outcomes were achieved from the detailed analyses, namely, the ability for a mine to meet a forward analysis prediction of airflow depends on its ability to adjust the ventilation to meet the dynamic nature of the mining process. Also, to minimize total ventilation requirements, a mine must regularly redistribute its airflow; this not only reduces the total volume requirement but also increases the variability of the delivered flows which can provide further operational savings. Since the detailed analyses, the Kidd Creek mine has implemented a more frequent ventilation review and redistribution procedure; consequently, it now operates with an average delivery of 930 m3/s, which is 23% lower than in 2005 at the start of the review process.

Jan 1, 2009

Difficult ground conditions in the area planned for placement of vent rises to the surface at the Porgera Goldmine led engineers directing the project to chose blind shaft boring methods of shaft construction from the available alternatives. Zeni Drilling Pty Ltd was first contracted in 1988 to install a group of three closely-spaced, steel lined shafts. The success of these led to an order for a fourth hole in the same group followed by two more, less than a kilometre. away, under a separate contract in 1992. All of the shafts were completed on.schedule to within one day. The only significant difficulty arose during commencement of the last shaft when the strata collapsed trapping the drilling tools and jeopardising the stability of the surface collar pad. The situation was corrected by innovative lining techniques and the project went on to finish on schedule. This paper discusses the application of various technologies associated with the project including aspects of geotechnical input, drilling fluid chemistry, mining engineering and logistics.

Jan 1, 1993

By McOnie A. W, Rutherford PG

A volcanic sequence is described from the Golden Cross Mine, Waihi, New Zealand. The sequence includes seven lithostratigraphic units comprising flow and pyroclastic units of Coromandel Group andesite and dacite and overlying Whitianga Group dacite and rhyolite which is intruded by the Golden Cross dacite porphyry and rhyolite dykes. The sequence is mineralized and is unconformably overlain bv_ two post-mineral units, the lacustnne Waitekauri beds and Omahine Subgroup andesite. Detailed structural analysis of mine data has identified four deformational events (D 1-D4) and related these to the gold-silver mineralizing events. Faulting was coeval with the mineralization and directly controlled the development, localization, style and geometry of the ore shoots. Mineralization developed in competent lithologies where dilation occurred during faulting. The Empire Fault is the master shear which controlled fluid flow. Mineralized veining developed in response to tectonic pulses occurring at slightly different stages as represented by the underground Empire vein complex and the open pit vein array. The mineralizing events culminated with the deposition of barren calcite veins. Post-mineral movement along the Western Boundary fault appears to have offset the ore body.

Jan 1, 1995

Most publicity about the copper industry nowa- days is focused on the adequacy of ore reserves and on excessive mining capacity. These concerns, stemming from public awareness of actual and poten- tial shortages and oversupplies, relate to production rather than consumption. Perhaps the reason for this one-sided view is that copper is thought of as a commodity which is conspicuously traded in world markets, rather than as one of many industrial materials that serve today's rapidly changing tech- nology. Copper differs from other widely traded com- modities in that its real cost of production has pro- gressively increased since World War II. The reasons for the increase are identifiable by analyzing operations in one of the world's large producing centres, the copper province of Arizona. Another respect in which copper differs from some other com- modities is that increases in demand occur less auto- matically in the case of copper than they tend to in commodities whose consumption is more directly related to population growth. The copper industry's current inability to generate and attract needed investment capital is attributable to these differences between copper and other com- modities; it suggests that the concept of copper purely as a commodity is outdated. The key to the problem is better integration between the activities of copper producers and users. Depending on cir- cumstances, integration takes various forms- for example, investment tied to long-term sales con- tracts between producers in developing countries and consumers overseas; common ownership of pro- ducing and manufacturing facilities in industrialized

Jan 1, 1978

By J. G. Koenigsberger

THE electrical specific resistance of rocks in the field is measured by sending a current through a medium of great volume, compared to the electrodes, whose resistivity should be measured. The whole resistance can be determined by the Wheatstone bridge and the specific resistance calculated by a well-known formula. The resistivity of some rocks in place in Germany and in Switzerland is given; first, of a rock near the surface, and especially near electrodes. Practical applications are made in the determination: (1) of the continuity of a conducting orebody; (2) of the surface area of an orebody; (3) in the detection of a water-bearing fault in a salt mine. Preliminary observations are described: (1) on the influence of the depth of ground-water table; (2) on the detection of gas under high pressure in coal seams. The observations in this paper of the electrical resistivity of rocks and soil in place are along the lines of the very interesting method and results of the Messrs. Gish, Rooney, Hotchkiss and Fisher.1,2 All the work described has been done since 1920.

Jan 1, 1928

By P. Mousset-Jones, F. Calizaya

Currently, a 4.3 km long drift is being developed on the 3440 level in the Lower Kalamazoo project at the San Manuel Mine, Magma Copper Company, AZ. The drift, located at 1050 m below surface, is being constructed using a 4.6 m diameter tunnel boring machine (TBM). The drift is ventilated by a forcing type auxiliary ventilation system. At the face, to mitigate the impact on the work environment of the TBM, the system is equipped with dust extraction and refrigeration systems. Recently, to evaluate the ventilation conditions in the drift, a continuous monitoring system has been installed. The system can be used to measure the air velocity, barometric pressure, relative humidity and air and rock temperatures. This study describes the capabilities and limitations of this system, and presents a summary of the results.

Jan 1, 1995

By N. J. Grant, B. C. Giessen, R. Koch

The system Nh-Ir was investigated over the complete concentration range by metallography and X-my techniques, using forty one alloys. The solubility limits of terminal and intermediate phases and the solidus temperatures were determined. Five intermediate phases were found: a Nb3Ir, cubic, Cr3O type; tetragonal, ofecr thorhomhic, isostruc-turn1 with (ta-Rh); and a Nhlr3. cubic, AuCu, type. a Nb3lr and a Nbfr3 melt congruently; three eutectic and three pentectic reactions occur. The phase diagram of the Nb-Ir system had not been fully treated in the literature; only surveys of intermediate phases were found.1"5 In this study, the details of the phase boundaries were investigated as well as the crystallography of the intermediate phases. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS The experimental procedures such as arc melting of powder compacts, heat treatments, solidus measurements, X-ray, and metallographic observation were identical with those used in the work on the Nb-Rh phase diagram.&apos; They will therefore not be repeated here except where the conditions differed. The purity of the niobium powder was as stated in Ref. 6; the iridium powder of 99.9+ pct purity from J. Bishop and Co., Malvern, Penn., did not contain impurities exceeding 100 ppm, except rhodium (200 ppm). The melting points and vapor pressures of both elements are very similar. This fact contributed to a very small weight loss on melting and facilitated preparation of homogeneous alloys. As shown in Ref. 6 for Nb-Rh, no oxygen pick-up exceeding 200 ppm had to be considered; this was regarded as valid also for Nb-Ir. A total of forty one alloys were used in the determination of the phase diagram; their concentrations are shown in Fig. l, which presents the phase diagram. The concentration limits as determined by the weight-loss method averaged <0.2 at. pct, and never exceeded 0.5 at. pct. Heat treatments were carried out as described in Ref. 6. Depending on the concentration, only tantalum, tungsten, or iridium containers were employed, avoiding oxide crucibles altogether. Alloys from 0 to 25 and from 65 to 100 at. pct Ir were homogenized at 2095°C for 15 hr, intermediate compositions from 25 to 65 at. pct Ir for 65 hr at 1780°C. A typical annealing-time schedule is presented in Table I. Solidus points were measured as described in Ref. 6 with the modification that samples rich in niobium were held between pieces of tantalum foil and samples of high iridium concentrations were held between rhenium platelets or in iridium wire. After each run it was ascertained metallographically that no reaction with the holder had occurred. Rhenium was selected as holder material after it had been shown in separate tests that the melting points of Re-Ir alloys rise continuously from 2440°C. Metallographic examination was carried out as described in Ref. 6, and the same procedure and etchants were used successfully. While metallographic discrimination between a Nb3lr and o was easily possible, X-ray diffraction was necessary to separate al and ct2. X-ray powder patterns were taken and evaluated as for Nb-Rh6 yielding the error limits indicated in Table 111, to be introduced later. For the determination of the invariant reactions and phase boundaries, the same techniques as for Nb-Rh6 applied. The general accuracy of invariant concentrations is regarded as somewhat higher than for Nb-Rh due to the small slope of most solvus lines.

Jan 1, 1964

By Stephen C. Britten

An in-situ amperometric slag sensor for measuring the concentration of easily dissociable oxides in slags at temperatures between 1200-1600°C is being developed. The sensor provides the same information as potentiometric sensors while also providing data on the concentration of the transition metal species and the diffision kinetics within the slag. The electrochemical technique utilized in the sensor is similar to methods utilized in aqueous voltammetry.

Jan 1, 1998

By B. K. Larkin, H. K. van Poollen, H. C. Bixel

A detailed treatment is given of the transient pressure behavior of a well located near a linear discontinuity. On either side of the discontinuity, the values of permeability, viscosity, compressibility, and porosity are uniform, but may be different from those on the other side of the discontinuity. These results generalize previously published works which assumed the permeability ratio for media on different sides of the discontinuity was zero, one, or infinity. One application of this material would be to facilitate detection of facies changes or fluid-fluid contacts by transient testing. Solutions, presented graphically, show pressure decline for constant rate fluid production. The range of variables examined includes dimensionless time from 0.1 to 100, rnohility ratio from 0.001 to 1000 and specific compressibility ratio from 0.001 to 1000. For dimensionless tinze less than 0.4, the pressure behavior is essentially that of a well in an infinite reservoir. Thus, reservoir properties near the well may be estimated in the usual manner. Using an overlay technique to match an experimental curve with one of the theoretical curves, it is possible to estimate the distance to a discontinuity by substituting the actual time t and the corresponding dimensionless time , at which a match occurs into the equation where is the diffusivity near the well, and may be estimated from data taken at early time. Because of both the complexity of the solutions and limited computer facilities, well interference problems were not examined extensively. However, it was found that well interference may be masked by the discontinuity in some cases. By superposition of the results of constant rate fluid production, the problenz of pressure buildup may be treated. Such results show that for early shut-in times correct values for the transnzissibility are obtained from conventional semilog plotting. However, erroneous values of the static reservoir pressure are obtained unless data at large shut-in times are taken. INTRODUCTION Transient well testing has yielded estimates of such reservoir parameters as static reservoir pressure, permeability. porosity, and well bore effects. In most tests, it was assumed that the reservoirs were homogeneous and iso-tropic. Anisotropic media&apos; and radial discontinuities were considered.&apos;.&apos; Various studies have been made on multiple-layer reservoirs." &apos; Linear discontinuities have been described for problems of one-dimensional flow.&apos; In the present paper, a mathematical treatment is given for a well located near a linear discontinuity in an otherwise infinite medium (see Fig. 1). An actual reservoir analogy would be a well in a relatively thin reservoir near a fluid-fluid contact, or a well located in a reservoir exhibiting a sudden change in rock and formation characteristics, such as thickness, porosity, or permeability. A sudden change in porosity or permeability may be caused by clay fill or other types of facies changes. Sudden thickness changes niay be the result of such geological formations as buried shore lines and channel deposits. In otherwise uniform formations, a linear discontinuity may be caused by fluid-fluid interfaces such as oil-water contacts. 3s-oil contacts, or gas-water contacts.

By Will D. P

A 328 m, 2.4 m diameter raise-bored shaft has been equipped with a modular ladderway system to provide a second means of egress from Aberfoyle&apos;s Hellyer Mine in Tasmania. The modular ladderway consists of platforms, ladders and service pipes assembled at the surface and progressively lowered down the shaft. This system provides a rapid, safe and economical non-entry approach to equipping a shaft. The modular construction and single suspension allows for future extension or for reuse in another shaft.

Jan 1, 1988

By M. M. Fine

In an experimental study by the Bureau of Mines, in cooperation with National Lead Co., the roast-flotation process was found to be an effective means of upgrading certain cobalt-nickel stockpiles. The research was undertaken to determine whether the process could yield an enriched feed, with a minimum cobalt content of 6.0 percent, for the company refinery. The stockpiles (products of the company Fredericktown, Mo., milling operations) were essentially complex sulfides of cobalt, nickel, copper, lead, and iron, 1 sample of which contained 2.84 percent Co and 3.57 percent Ni. After a controlled oxidizing roast at 400° C., laboratory flotation with conventional sulfhydric reagents yielded an enriched concentrate analyzing 9.22 percent Co and 11.43 percent Ni, with recoveries of 84.9 and 85.8 percent, respectively. These are typical laboratory data; other data indicated higher grades were possible but at reduced recoveries. A brief, continuous campaign verified the applicability of the process to the raw material in question but was not continued long enough to establish optimum conditions. As a consequence, the results of the large-scale tests did not equal those obtained in the laboratory but definitely confirm the beneficiation possible from the roast-flotation process.

Jan 1, 1958

By K. K. Kelley

Sodium-aluminum and potassium-aluminum silicates are among the more important rock-forming minerals of the earth&apos;s crust. They also appear as constituents of some metallurgical slags and of some refractory materials. Consequently, knowledge of their thermodynamic properties is interesting and valuable from several viewpoints. This paper reports experimental determinations of the low-temperature heat capacities and entropies at 298.16° K. of albite, jadeite, and nephelite it the sodium-aluminum silicate series and of adularia, ferriferous orthoclase, leucite and kaliophilite in the potassium-aluminum silicate series. Also high-temperature heat-content and entropy increments about 298.16° K. are reported for albite, jadeite, nephelite, and carnegieite in the sodium-aluminum silicate series. Except for a few high-temperature heat-content values for albite, all these data are available for the first time.

Jan 1, 1953

By D. N. Witman

ONE of the special uses to which the electric furnace has been put recently is the melting of an alloy of nickel and cast iron for the production of electrical-resistance grids. The metal sections of these grids, Fig. 1, are quite uniform for each pattern, but there is, among the various patterns, a variety of thicknesses. The cross sections vary from 1/2 by 3/16 in. to as small as 1/8 by 1/8 in. The electrical resistance f a perfect casting lies within 10 per cent. above or below the fixed listed resistance for each pattern. Good molding is essential to success in the making of these grids, for with absolutely correct metal, a variation of 0.01 in. in width and thickness of section on some of the patterns may mean as much as 12 or 14 per cent. variation in resistance. The service for which these castings are intended demands that the metal, even in the smallest castings, be very soft, showing an open, gray, highly graphitic structure in order that they may be resistant to shock, and stand up well under rough usage. The metal used for this purpose is a gray iron alloyed with 4 to 5 per cent. of nickel, which element, when the composition of the alloy is correct, imparts toughness and pliability to the metal and helps to overcome the tendency of metal to run white and become brittle because of the rapid cooling action of the sand mold. When cold, these castings can be twisted into various shapes, taking a permanent set without breaking. The alloy has approximately double the electrical resistance of ordinary cast iron. The metal specification is as follows: PER CENT. Silicon 2.40 to 2.60 Sulfur Under 0.05 Phosphorus Under 0.08 Manganese Under 0.40 Total carbon 3.60 to 4.00 Nickel 4.00 to 5.00 Copper 0.50 to 0.70

Jan 8, 1921

By Richard J. Mainiero, Harry C. Verakis, John J. Mulhern

There are application in coal mines where it would be advantageous from a safety stand point to fire unconfined shots. However, the firing of mud caps (adobes) or other unconfined explosive charges in underground coal mines is not permitted because of the explosion hazards associated with methane gas and coal dust. Present safety regulations in Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations prohibit such Practices. Recently, MSHA proposed revised coal mine regulations for the approval and use of sheathed explosives for Public comment.

Jan 1, 1987

By C. S. Barrett, C. T. Haller

Twinning in magnesium is known to occur profusely under certain conditions, and when it occurs in polycrystalline materials it brings about a partial or even a complete change in the preferred orientation. The amount of research on this subject, however, has not been in proportion to its importance as a mechanism of deformation and reorientation. Much of the research has been limited to twinning in single crystals. The present study1 concerns polycrystalline sheet, and is an investigation of the twinning produced by plastic deformation as a function of the following variables: 1. Direction and type of deformation. 2. Amount of deformation. 3. Speed of deformation. 4. Temperature of deformation 5. Composition and temper of the sheet. 6. Twins previously produced. 7. Twins previously produced, then annealed. By proper control of these variables it is shown that, on a laboratory scale, samples can be produced that are free from preferred orientations. The materials used were samples of commercial magnesium-alloy sheets with nominal compositions given in Table I. X-ray diffraction was used in most of this work to detect the twins and to estimate the amount of twinning. Since twinning on (102) planes causes a re-orientation of the crystal lattice by 86", it is very easy to study with X-ray diffraction patterns, particularly if one notices the diffraction ring from the basal plane— the 002 reflection. By properly directing the X-ray beam, it is possible to produce 002 reflections from twinned material at, say, the 6 and 12 o&apos;clock positions on the 002 ring, with the untwinned material reflecting to 3 and 9 o&apos;clock positions; and by judging the relative intensity of the arcs on the diffraction ring at these positions, it is possible to judge the amount of twinned material relative to the untwinned. This X-ray method of estimating the amount of twinning is generally superior to metallo-graphic observation, for it was found

Jan 1, 1947

By C. S. Barrett, C. T. Haller

Twinning in magnesium is known to occur profusely under certain conditions, and when it occurs in polycrystalline materials it brings about a partial or even a complete change in the preferred orientation. The amount of research on this subject, however, has not been in proportion to its importance as a mechanism of deformation and reorientation. Much of the research has been limited to twinning in single crystals. The present study1 concerns polycrystalline sheet, and is an investigation of the twinning produced by plastic deformation as a function of the following variables: 1. Direction and type of deformation. 2. Amount of deformation. 3. Speed of deformation. 4. Temperature of deformation 5. Composition and temper of the sheet. 6. Twins previously produced. 7. Twins previously produced, then annealed. By proper control of these variables it is shown that, on a laboratory scale, samples can be produced that are free from preferred orientations. The materials used were samples of commercial magnesium-alloy sheets with nominal compositions given in Table I. X-ray diffraction was used in most of this work to detect the twins and to estimate the amount of twinning. Since twinning on (102) planes causes a re-orientation of the crystal lattice by 86", it is very easy to study with X-ray diffraction patterns, particularly if one notices the diffraction ring from the basal plane— the 002 reflection. By properly directing the X-ray beam, it is possible to produce 002 reflections from twinned material at, say, the 6 and 12 o&apos;clock positions on the 002 ring, with the untwinned material reflecting to 3 and 9 o&apos;clock positions; and by judging the relative intensity of the arcs on the diffraction ring at these positions, it is possible to judge the amount of twinned material relative to the untwinned. This X-ray method of estimating the amount of twinning is generally superior to metallo-graphic observation, for it was found

Jan 1, 1947

By J. C. Moreno, G. Rios, M. Palacios

The Huelva smelter was commissioned in 1970 coinciding with the shutdown of the old smelter in the Rio Tinto mine site. That new smelter consisted of two Momoda blast furnaces with a capacity of 500 dmtpd of concentrate. Nevertheless, soon after their start-up, it was clear that an increase in the smelting capacity was needed. After an analysis of the existing alternatives at that time, the flash smelting technology was chosen. The new Outokumpu Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF) came into operation on 18 September1975, with an initial capacity of 900 dmtpd of concentrate, using four Venturi-type burners and preheated atmospheric air. Since that date the Huelva Smelter team, together with Outokumpu (now called Outotec), have continuously improved our FSF design, process conditions and operational practices, leading to a present capacity of 3,500 dmtpd of concentrate. Since 1975, five smelting campaigns have been completed, the last ending in November 2013 with the rebuilding of the original FSF hearth. This paper describes the history of these improvements and the lessons learned.

Jan 1, 2014

By Caelli T, Robey M

Most research into planning of open pit mines has been based on evaluation of volume-element block models in terms of their net present value. The major issues revolve around two interdependent problems the optimum ultimate pit and time-based scheduling. Despite feedback between the two problems, they are usually treated as separate tasks.The ultimate open pit is defined by the removal of whole blocks so that their net present value is maximised. This gives planners an estimate of the total worth of the venture in present terms, and is crucial to obtaining funding. All cost and profit values are assumed to be static throughout the mine life, and the only physical constraint usually taken into account is that of safe, average, wall slopes, which must be approximated by the removal of whole blocks. Modelling of any further constraints (for example, access roads and true wall slopes) is usually achieved by adding them to the optimal pit by hand. Typically this degrades the model by between five and 20 per cent of its value - which then brings into question whether it is still the true optimum.This paper reviews the dominant methods in use for this first task the ultimate open-pit planning problem. Some new optimisations are given, and the algorithms are examined in terms of their efficiency and accuracy. Finally, suggestions are made for improvement of model accuracy and eventual expansion into solutions of the more complete dual problem - that of simultaneously finding the optimum ultimate pits and dynamic schedules for the venture.

Jan 1, 1996