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By A. W. Dickerson, G. Hollier, F. A. Bartley

Following on from many years of research aimed at improving the effectiveness of truck haulage operations in mines operated by BHP Minerals, BHP Research developed a concept for an Innovative Large Mining Truck, (ILMT) which has the potential to significantly improve the cost effectiveness of rear dump mining trucks. The ILMT concept reduces the empty vehicle weight dramatically, greatly reduces unequal rear tyre loading and improves ride and handling characteristics. The concept has been taken to the "proof of concept" prototype truck stage with the cooperative efforts of BHP Coal, BHP Research. Liebherr Mining Truck, Inc., Liebherr-Australia and Birrana Engineering. Testing of the prototype truck commenced at a coal mine in Queensland, Australia during May, 1996. Preliminary results from the testing program are very encouraging. Expectations are being met and in some cases exceeded.

Feb 24, 1997

By K. J. Bathe

The current version of the computer program ADINA/BM (Automatic Dynamic Incremental Nonlinear Analysis for the Bureau of Mines) for linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic finite element analysis of mine structures is described. The complete report is divided into four parts. In Part A the program solution capabilities, the finite element library, the logical construction of the program and storage allocations are discussed. In Part B the theory and numerical techniques used in the program are summarized. In Part C brief problem descriptions and solution results for some sample solutions that have been transmitted as data cases with the program are presented. In the last section of the report, Part D, the users? manual of the program is presented. Program ADINA/BM is a general effective tool for coal mine structural analysis. The program is an extension of the computer program NON SAP (which was developed under an earlier contract with the U.S. Bureau of Mines). The important additional capabilities of ADINA/BM are: (1) the occurrence of all elements is time dependent, (2) all elements can be used in geometric and material nonlinear analysis, (3) the truss element can be used in elastic-plastic analysis, (4) the three-dimensional element can be employed in orthotropic, elastic-plastic and cracking and crushing analysis, (5) the program executes an out-of-core solution and thus allows the analysis of very large and complex coal mine models, (6) the truss elements can be employed as 2-4 variable-number-nodes elements, (7) a rock material model has been implemented, (8) displacement constraint equations can be imposed in the solution, (9) more flexibility in specifying the incremental solution strategy and an acceleration procedure in the equilibrium iteration are available

Jan 1, 1978

By Lynne Chastain

The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes of the Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyoming are interested in developing their industrial mineral resources. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Division of Energy and Mineral Resources (DEMR) is assisting the tribes in evaluating the potential of their industrial mineral prospects for development. Gypsum occurs on both sides of the Owl Creek Mountains in the basal portion of the Jurassic Gypsum Springs Formation. The gypsum resources that are being evaluated crop out along the northern flank of the Owl Creek Mountains in the Sweetwater basin, a small topographic sub-basin of the Big Horn Basin. From October 1998, to April 1999, DEMR personnel mapped, sampled, and drilled the southcentral butte within the Sweetwater basin. Samples were analyzed for free and combined water, and major mineral oxides to determine gypsum purity. Gypsum purity averaged 93.6 percent for surface samples and 95.1 percent for drill core samples. The basal portion of the Gypsum Springs Formation is comprised of several beds of gypsum up to 9 feet (2.7 m) thick separated by 0.5 to 2.0 foot (0.15 to 0.61 m) thick lenses of siltstone and limestone. Overall gypsum in the formation ranges from 35 to 90 feet (11 to 27 m) in thickness. A resource of approximately 7 million short tons (st) (6.4 million metric tons [mt]) has been identified.

Jan 1, 2001

Real-Time Integration of Mining and Metallurgical Information for Efficient Use of Energy and Water

Sep 13, 2010

By J. R. Nettle

The purpose of these studies by the Federal Bureau of Mines was to determine the feasibility of refining low-grade hafnium by an inert-gas-shielded molten-salt electrorefining technique to produce a hafnium metal meeting reactor specifications. The techniques were adapted from those used success-fully for titanium electrorefining. Three electrolytes containing hafnium chlorides were developed from which deposits having a Brinell hardness of 170 or below were recovered. A KC1 + NaC1 + HfC14 electrolyte produced deposits in the hardness range of 140 to 165 Brinell. Deposits with a hardness range of from 132 to 152 Brinell were pro-duced from an electrolyte composed of KC1 + LiC1 + HfC14. A third electrolyte composed of NaC1 + K3HfC17 produced deposits with a hardness as low as 139 Brinell. In a fourth electrolyte, composed of NaC1 + K2HfF6, a measure of refining was accomplished, but under the test conditions no metal meeting specifications was recovered; none was softer than 174 Brinell. A number of metallic impurities were reduced in quantity by the electro-refining process, notably iron, which normally was reduced from 250 p.p.m. to less than 50 p.p.m. Magnesium generally was reduced from 680 p.p.m. to less than 80 p.p.m. Manganese content was also reduced by the electrorefining process. Sponge containing 90 p.p.m. Mn yielded deposits containing a maximum of 50 p.p.m.; some deposits contained only 10 p.p.m.

Jan 1, 1961

By Noel N. Moebs

The U.S. Bureau of Mines is conducting research on many topics relating to the mineral resources of the United States. This is done to ensure an adequate supply of minerals essential to a viable domestic industry and a sound economy. The United States is almost totally dependent on foreign supplies for a number of minerals such as chromium, niobium, tantalum, and manganese for which there is no available substitute, while many other minerals such as titanium are abundantly distributed throughout the earth but seldom occur in adequate concentrations or useful forms. This report describes an example of a small but high-grade occurrence of titanium are in Nelson County, VA. This occurrence could be exploited under favorable economic conditions with new mining technology such as borehole slurry mining. The report demonstrates that the dikes at titanium ore, a mixture of ilmenite and apatite locally termed nelsonite, can be detected and traced along strike using magnetometer traverses. This information will aid in the selection of appropriate slurry borehole mining test sites in the area.

Jan 1, 1993

By Ron Beeslaar, Tony Rorke

The Professional Blast Manager is a blast design tool that has been developed in South Africa. It is aimed at mining and civil engineen, blasting contractors and mine planning engineers. The code can be used as a stand-alone package or be combined Into complex mine information systems.

Jan 1, 1998

This Bureau of Mines report comprises tables listing the name, location, and other pertinent data concerning certain future fuel-related projects. The tables include information on projects involving the proposed or planned development of fuel resources, as well as the development of storage, transportation, and conversion facilities; the report covers the 26 States east of the Mississippi River. Of the total 594 projects for which information is provided, 492 concern coal mines and electric generating plants.

Jan 1, 1976

By Paul Clark

Generation - Profile l 9,726 megawatts (MW) of capacity l 46,877 gigawatt hours (GWh) produced at an average plant availability of 88.4% l 47 facilities in four geographies: Canada; the U.S.; Mexico; and Australia l Fuel mix of coal (62%), gas (26%), hydro and renewables (12%) l 23.2 million tonnes of coal mined l 47.0 million gigajoules (GJ) of gas consumed

May 1, 2004

By Rajive Ganguli

There are several elements of online pedagogy and information technology that are being used in the University of Alaska Fairbanks’(UAF) course “ES 201: Computer Techniques,” to enhance classroom teaching. The use of information technology in this class grew from a desire to make lecture notes available to students. This has grown to include a sophisticated, online delivery software package. It provides chat rooms, discussion groups, and online testing and grading. Online delivery aside, the class uses the telnet, e-mail and C++/FOR-TRAN compiler facilities of the university server during class to enhance learning. During class, for example, the students read the lecture notes on the Web browser, telnet to their university Unix accounts, check their e-mail and download programs (to be covered in class) sent by me, and then compile, run and modify the programs. The class, therefore, requires students to be active most of the time. This ensures their full attention and better learning due to the hands-on experience (Fig. 1).

Jan 1, 2000

By Rui Xiang Yang, Cong Li, Jia Zeng, Rong Liang Zhang, Wei Zhang, Chao Fan Tang

This research took the roasted products obtained by leaching copper (Cu) refining slag using waste acids and roasting leaching residues with calcium oxide (CaO) as raw materials and used oxidative leaching to extract Cu from roasted products using waste acids. Influences of the leaching temperature, liquid–solid ratio, and sulfuric acid ( H2SO4) concentration in waste acids on the leaching rate of Cu in the oxidative leaching process of roasted products using waste acids were investigated. The unreacted-core shrinking model of heterogeneous reactions was adopted to reveal the leaching kinetics of Cu in the oxidative leaching process of roasted products using waste acids. Results show that the leaching rate of Cu reaches 91.68% when the leaching temperature, liquid–solid ratio, H2SO4 concentration in waste acids, and injected airflow are 80 ℃, 8:1, 1.5 mol/L, and 200 mL/min, respectively. If the leaching temperature is below 80 ℃, the leaching process of Cu is controlled by the solid-film diffusion, and the apparent activation energy Ea is 11.0835 kJ/mol; at a leaching temperature above 80 ℃, the leaching process of Cu is governed by the interfacial chemical reaction, with an apparent activation energy Ea of 42.3183 kJ/mol. The liquid–solid ratio can positively influence the reaction rate constant. The apparent order of the leaching reaction of Cu is 0.632.

Jan 11, 2023

By E. Niehuis, J. Y. Kim, H. G. Cramer, S. L. Chryssoulis, K. G. Stowe, C. Bendel

TOF-SIMS was used to detect, identify from parent molecular ions and determine the relative concentrations of collectors sorbed on the surface of mineral particles in concentrate and tailings samples from three Canadian concentrators. In the Kidd Creek Zn circuit, sphalerite lost to tailings carried on average a quarter of the amount of isobutyl xanthate present on that recovered to Zn concentrate; amyl xanthate, which is not reported as added to the circuit, was also detected on floated sphalerite and pyrite. At Brunswick, sphalerite particles lost to the scavenger tailings had ten times less amyl xanthate and isobutyl xanthate than those recovered to the Zn final concentrate, while both xanthates were detected on sphalerite floated to the Cu-Pb cleaner circuit. At Matagami, significantly more isopropyl xanthate and isopropyl dithiophosphate were detected on sphalerite recovered to the final Zn concentrate than on that lost to the Zn rougher tailings

Dec 1, 1995

By Thomas V. Falkie

The purpose of this work was to investigate the rate at which coal is delivered from the underground working face by gathering arm type loaders as employed on continuous mining machines, to identify the factors -- geometrical, geological, mechanical, or procedural which affect the delivery rate, and to develop quantitative rate descriptive equations for the loading function. The mathematical techniques employed were factor analysis and multiple linear regression. It was determined that the coal-cutting function of the continuous mining machine is the factor that primarily influences the loading function. The geometrical factors -- the dimensions of the work area in relation to the dimensions of the mining machine - were the factors of secondary influence. Fifty-five percent of the experimental variation in the loading function was explained in terms of the six most prominent independent variables. It is expected that this work will be useful in operations-research studies as applied to underground coal mining, and with refinement will enable mine planners to select equipment based on the operating characteristics of the equipment and the mining conditions.

Jan 1, 1972

A glance at the accompanying table reveals that for the first time in many years the industrial minerals field did not post significant gains in production. Gypsum, cement, sand and gravel, and crushed stone production-which are very sensitive to construction industry performance-barely managed to stay even, or in fact, declined slightly. Even barite production, in spite of increased oil and gas drilling, was off 5% in 1979 from 1978. Domestic fluorspar production continued to decline while imports, primarily from Mexico, South Africa, and Spain, rose 11%. Worldwide production of iodine (which is used primarily as a catalyst, animal feed additive, and in ink and colorants, stabilizers, pharmaceuticals, photographic film, and disinfectants) grew about 9% on a worldwide basis-from 10.75 Tg to 11.16 Tg. This does not include US production. The two US producers increased demand as apparent domestic production increased about 5%. Increasing energy costs and the transportation situation have had a prohibitive effect on the industrial minerals field. The critical shortage of railroad cars, according to consultant Neil Johnson, is due to several factors: • High capital investment rind interest rates needed to build new equipment, • Accidents, obsolescence, and failure to repair equipment reduced car availability, •Reduction in some train schedules due to fuel economy, and •Increased turnaround time as a result of new safety regulations. Railroad rates have increased an average of 7% per year for the past 10 years. Last year's increases were about 11.1% due to fuel costs and surcharges. Truck shipments have increased their penetration in certain areas of the southeast because of the shortage of box cars and the producers' demand for quick shipment. Some producers report a 15-20% increase in truck use. In the feldspar-mica area, which formerly made most shipments by rail, trucks are now used for about half the shipments. Marketing prices, as expected, increased due to higher costs for energy, power, labor, and supplies used in production. Estimated average price increases were about 10% which, in many cases, did not cover increased production costs. These factors-rising energy costs and the critical transportation situation-resulted in an unsatisfactory year for industrial minerals. Stanley J. Lefond Cnntrihuting Editor

Jan 5, 1980

Electrical trailing cable used to power coal mining machinery is frequently damaged by tensile strain or crushing by mining machines running over the cable. A major problem is finding the exact location of a short or open in this cable so it may be repaired. A major problem is finding the exact location of a short or open in this cable so it may be repaired. FMC Corporation was awarded modification III to USBM Contract H0122011 to continue development and testing of cable fault locators, resulting in delivery of: 1. A prototype electrostatic/electromagnetic/ TDR transmitter and an electrostatic/electro-magnetic receiver sot that: o Locates cable faults by time domain reflectometry o Locates opens by detecting electrostatic signals o Locates shorts by electromagnetic coupling. 2. A prototype infrared detector and an infrared detector power supply that heats a shorted area by applying high current (at low voltage) and locating a short by infrared output. 3. Twelve production infrared detectors. 4. Detail drawings for all of the developed instruments.

Jan 1, 1973

By Baha Abulnaga

Slurry pipelines are used in a number of countries to convey processed ore mixed with water over long distances from remote mine sites to ports or plants for further processing. In Egypt and Sudan, numerous mineral resources are scattered in remote areas. Through the years, Egyptian geologists have identified 268 sites for metallic ores and 386 sites for industrial nonmetallic minerals. A large portion of these sites are in the Eastern Desert in an area called the Nubian Shield. Similar sites are found in the Sudan where mining contributes to less than 1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). There are three important components of infrastructure needed to develop these resources ? power, water and transportation. While Egypt is able to satisfy 70 percent of its needs in iron ore from the Gadideh Mine in the Western Desert, it needs to expand its other resources to reduce imports heavily sedimented. Dredging of these sediments and transporting them by slurry pipelines would enhance an industry of bricks or agricultural development based on tailings technology often used in mining. This article explores the potential for slurry technology for opening new mines in the desert or recuperating the sediments of the Nile. The technology by itself would be new to both countries and would benefit from collaboration, particularly to de-silt the Nasser-Nubia Lake.

Jan 3, 2010

By R. G. Horvath

The Statnamic loading test is a new and innovative method for testing deep foundations. The test is relatively inexpensive, quick, easily mobilized, provides for direct measurement of applied load and corresponding displacement, and is capable of very high loading capacities. The long duration of the applied loading, as compared to a dynamic loading test, allows for a straightforward determination of the static behaviour of the foundation tested. A new method of analysis of the Statnamic loading test, the Equilibrium Point Method, is presented. A description is given of the pile-soil model and a demonstration of how the static load-displacement behaviour of deep foundations may be predicted from the Statnamic loading test data. The Equilibrium Point Method of analysis is applied to three types of deep foundations in soils which respond differently to fast loading rates. These case histories, from Canada and the United States, include data from static loading tests for direct comparison, and demonstrate the ability of the Equilibrium Point Method to predict static behaviour of the deep foundations.

Jan 1, 1993

By B. P. Nutter, M. Lebourg, J. A. McAlister

The Multi-Flow Evaluator (MFE) is a new system of tools providing an original approach in drill-stem testing. It improves control during the testing operation and gives a more accurate evaluation of the fluid recovered while providing additional pressure information for reservoir analysis. The tools are operated entirely by up and down motion of the drill stem. This up and down operation provides a positive means of control and offers easily observed surface indications of tool operating position. An unlimited number of shut-in and flow periods may be taken with this tool while in the hole. The key to the success of the MFE system of tools is the safety seal packer. Until this development, operation of the tools by up and down motion only had proven unreliable. The success ratio of the MFE now exceeds the ratio achieved by conventional tools. The equipment includes a 2,750-cc chamber in which a representative sample of the flowing formation fluid is trapped at the end of the last flow period and brought to the surface under pressure. The sample can be evaluated at the wellsite or transferred under pressure for laboratory analysis. The sampling feature of the tool allows a sample to be obtained from a reservoir which has suffered minimum influence from production. A representative sample can be obtained for laboratory or empirical analysis by employing a testing technique to minimize drawdown during flow periods. Interpretation methods to take advantage of this additional information are presented and supported by actual field examples. INTRODUCTlON The Multi-Flow Evaluator (MFE) represents the most recent technical advance in formation testing. Drill-stem testing techniques prior to the MFE have been limited in three areas—(1) operaiion, (2) recovery analysis, and (3) reservoir analysis. The tools in the MFE system allow maximum control during testing and provide test information superior to that obtainable with conventional tools. The system of tools and the operation procedures are described to illustrate the mechanical advantages over present tools. Methods of pressure build-up and fluid

Jan 1, 1966

By Ernest J. Conway

This report presents engineering drawings for six material handling devices for underground coal mines. The devices were designed under a U.S. Bureau of Mines program to reduce injuries from material handling during mine and equipment maintenance. The six devices are (1) scoop-mounted 1411: boom, (2) swing-arm boom, (3) heavy-component lift-transport, (4) mine mud cart, (5) container-workstation vehicle, and (6) timber car. Each device is described briefly, and recommendations are made concerning the design of new devices.

Jan 1, 1989

By E. J. (Kirk) Conway

The objectives of this project were to: (1) determine the extent to which maintainability design concepts and principles have been applied to the design of underground coal mining equipment, (2) try to assess its impact on productivity and personnel safety, and (3) develop maintainability guidelines to enhance the design of new or rebuilt equipment. An equipment design review was completed at ten operational coal mines. The purpose was to identify design approaches and features that enhanced and degraded the maintenance process. Mine management, safety, and maintenance personnel were also interviewed to identify machine specific design problems. Six original equipment manufacturers were visited and the procedures used to enhance the maintainability of Their equipment discussed. Volume I of the Final Technical Report presents an overview of procedures and protocol used and a summary of the findings. Volume II includes the maintainability design guide for mobile underground mining equipment.

Jan 1, 1988