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By B. E. Field

COBALT is a silvery white metal with a slight bluish cast, strongly resembling nickel in its appearance and properties, notably its resistance to corrosion, although its alloys with other metals differ quite decidedly in their properties from those of nickel. The name cobalt was derived from the German "Kobold" meaning goblin and this came to be applied to the cobalt minerals which, although they resembled ores, did not readily yield metal when smelted by the primitive processes available in the Middle Ages. Cobalt minerals were used as pigments by potters and glass workers before the Christian era. Cobalt blue glass was found in the tombs of the Egyptians and in the ruins of Troy, and many colors used by the ancient Greeks and Romans contained cobalt. The ancients were entirely unaware that the colors they used were caused by cobalt and the metal itself was only isolated about the middle of the eighteenth century by Brandt although the preparation of cobalt compounds had been carried on in a small way ever since the opening of the silver-cobalt deposits at Schneeberg, Germany, in 1470. The metal is fairly hard, with a density when pure of 8.81 in the cast state and 8.92 after working. The com¬mercial grade of cobalt has a density of about 8.75 in the cast state. The atomic weight is 58.97. The Brinell hardness of the pure metal is 124; that of the commercial grade varies from as low as 100 to as high as 138, depending upon the impurities present. Pure cobalt has a sharp melting point at 1478°C. The tensile strength of the pure metal in the cast condition is said to be higher than that of any other pure metal. Kalmus gives it as 34,400 lb. per sq. in. for cast unannealed metal; the effect of annealing at 850 to 900°C. is to raise the strength slightly. The yield point is close to the ultimate strength and the reduction in area and elongation are both low. Mechanical working raises the tensile strength of pure cobalt rapidly and in the form of wire it will be over 100,000 lb. per sq. in. The presence of small quantities of carbon in the commercial metal raises the tensile strength to as high as 61,000 lb. per sq. in., the reduction in area and elongation being raised at the same time to approximately 20 per cent.

Jan 1, 1933

By S Bourke, R Stone, B Hill

Since Jameson Cell flotation technology was first installed in a coal flotation application in 1988/89 at Newlands Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) there have been fundamental improvements to its design which has led to its current status as the leading technology in Australia for fine coal flotation. These improvements, which include key hardware modifications, consist of the re-development of the orifice plate to produce considerable increase in wear life and reduction in power consumption for a given air entrainment and a significant increase in the amount of air that is entrained. Modifications to the downcomer allow maximisation of residence time and air entrainment while changes to the feed and air distribution system allows a reduction in installation cost and a reduction of solids ingress into the air line. Additionally, operational improvements such as the use of recycle to maintain constant flow to the cell feed are discussed. The recent installation at Hail Creek in the Bowen Basin, which consists of three B6000/20 Jameson Cells (6 m diameter bottom-fed distributor with 20 downcomers) will be reviewed as a case study. The latest design and operability of the cells are summarised and compared against one of the original designs at Riverside CHPP also in the Bowen Basin.

Jan 1, 2005

By P. C. McWilliams

Theoreticians in soil mechanics have been pursuing a probabilistic approach to the factor of safety of an embankment or darn for the past 10 years. The motivation for this work is in contrast to the current practice of deterministically computing a factor of safety and treating it as an absolute with no regard to its inherent statistical variability. Basic to the probabilistic approach is the selection of an appropriate statistical model to represent the histogram or probability density function (PDF) of the factor of safety values, Rather than simply assuming which PDF is appropriate, the Bureau of Mines collected data at two waste disposal embankments for consideration, This report addresses three candidate models, using the techniques of nonlinear curve fitting, and identifies the "best" model. A propagation of error formula for estimating the variability of Fellenius? factor of safety is also discussed.

Jan 1, 1983

By Adolf Mikula

Lead-tin solders are commonly used in electronic packaging due to their unique combination of electrical, chemical, physical, thermal and mechanical properties. Since it is known that lead and lead containing alloys cause great environmental concern and health hazards it is necessary to replace lead in solder materials. Besides the environmental concerns new technologies in electronic packaging require new and improved solders. In most cases the new solders will consist of ternary or quarternary alloy systems, the main component will be tin or indium and the second element could be bismuth, silver, copper and gold and to improve certain properties a third element will be added. For a third element zinc, nickel, antimony and aluminum can be considered. This report will concentrate on solders containing zinc as an environmental safe element.

Jan 1, 2003

By William H. Schiffbauer

This report details a microcomputer-based control and monitoring network that was developed in-house by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and installed on a continuous mining machine. The network consists of microcomputers that are connected together via a single twisted-pair cable. Each microcomputer was developed to provide a particular function in the control process. Machine-mounted microcomputers, in conjunction with the appropriate sensors, provide closed-loop control of the machine, navigation, and environmental monitoring. Off-the-machine microcomputers provide remote control of the machine, sensor status, and a connection to the network so that external computers can access network data and control the continuous mining machine. Because of the network's generic structure, it can be installed on most mining machines.

Jan 1, 1993

By D. K. Steele

An 18-in-diam column water elutriator was designed, tested, and operated by the Bureau of Mines for recovering nonferrous mixed metals from automobile shredder rejects. The waver elutriator separated metals from nonmetals contained in shredded nonmagnetic rejects. The unit was constructed and integrated into a local automobile shredding operation. Nonmagnetic rejects from the automobile shredder were fed onto the surface of a column of rising water. Dense materials fell through the rising water and were collected as a sink product at the bottom of the column; medium-density materials were removed as an intermediate product in a water flow through a discharge port located between the overflow and sink; and light materials were immediately carried out in the overflowing water at the top of the column as a float product. Nearly 99 pct of the mixed metals were recovered from the nonmagnetic rejects as a 70-pct-metal concentrate. Other operating conditions yielded a 93.7-pct-pure-metal product resulting in a 93.1-pct metal recovery. Float rejects are combustibles, light plastics, foam rubber, and minimal amounts of coated and uncoated copper wire. The middling discharge contained mainly medium-density rubber, plastics, glass, rock, coated and uncoated copper wire, and frequently some thin-sheet stainless steel and wrought aluminum. Maximum metal recovery in the operating program was achieved using a water velocity of 52 fpm (650 gpm). Maximum purity was obtained with a velocity of 88 fpm (1,100 gpm). .Water was recycled through a 12,000-gal baffled clarifying tank. Entrainment water losses with the float and middling rejects averaged 50 gpt of reject feed. Records maintained by the shredder operator show a 34-pct increase in nonmagnetic metals recovery during a 1-yr operation of the water elutriator as compared to recoveries from a previously used air classification system.

Jan 1, 1983

Mineral deposits in New Zealand whose origin can be ascribed to primary magmatic segregations are associated with mafic-ultramafic complexes related to two orogenic episodes which took place during Palaeozoic and Mesozoic times. These mafic-ultramafic complexes are essentially of two types. One is ophiolitic and has podiform chromite mineralisation presumably formed below a spreading ridge. The other type occurs as intraplate layered intrusions in which Fe-Cu-Ni sulphides and Fe-Ti-V oxides have formed as a result of liquid immiscibility with the host magma, and have subsequently accumulated by gravity means. Generalised descriptions are given for some deposits in NW Nelson, Fiordland and Marlborough districts.

Jan 1, 1980

By B. Jago

From the perspective of metallurgical processing, gold ores can be classified into freemilling and refractory ores. Their extractive metallurgy is largely driven by mineralogical factors such as gold particle size, association with other minerals, coatings and rimmings, presence of cyanicides, oxygen consumers and preg-robbers, presence of refractory gold minerals, and invisible gold in sulphide and sulpharsenide minerals. Gold process mineralogy helps address issues and problems related to gold ore processing. It is widely used as a predictive and trouble-shooting tool in gold ore processing, and provides useful information on process selection, flowsheet development, recovery improvement, and reagent consumption optimization. By combining classic mineralogical techniques, modern instrumental analysis, and diagnostic metallurgy, the mineralogist is able to balance the various types of gold occurrence in an ore.

Jan 1, 2006

By V Barrera, A Brzovic, M Gaete, L Burgos, E Arancibia

Fragmentation is one of the most relevant parameters in the design and operation of a mine using the caving mining method. Fragmentation affects all subsequent operations, including extraction, comminution processes, secondary blasting and transportation.There are a number of different models in the literature to estimate the size of the ore fragments that report to the drawpoints; however, there is still no industry consensus about which one to use. This paper proposes a new model for predicting the fragmentation reporting to the drawpoints that is based on the geotechnical unit characteristics, extraction height and column of primary ore. The model is developed from observations of fragmentation measurements in different mine sectors of Codelco’s El Teniente mine in Chile.This work focuses on the following three steps:collecting fragmentation and hang-up data from several mine sectorsdeveloping a geotechnical block model using oriented core placed within the main geotechnical unitsanalysing the data and modelling the fragmentation process.The proposed model is used to discuss the mechanisms and the influence of preconditioning on the size of the ore fragments that report to the drawpoints.CITATION:Brzovic, A, Vallejos, J, Arancibia, E, Burgos, L, Delonca, A, Gaete, M and Barrera, V, 2016. Analysis and modelling of the fragmentation process – case studies at El Teniente Mine, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 305–310 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

By Paulo F. T. Sachs

ERP systems have been widely implemented nowadays in several industries. However, ERP was originally designed to fit former MRP and MRP II users, and most of the ERP research has been focused on discrete manufacturing . On the other hand, process industries ? and mining in particular ? present many peculiar characteristics, which are difficult to comply with ERP systems standard functionalities. Again, very limited research has been developed covering enterprise management systems in mining. The objective of this paper is to identify, through an explanatory study that includes a case study methodology, how ERP systems manage the functional areas of the mining industry, and how they fit into the mineral value chain IT requirements. A secondary objective is to identify the gaps between ERP?s functional capabilities and the mining industry business requirements, and to point out the perceived benefits they generate to the companies.

May 1, 2004

Although these subterranean cavities are common to the Broken Hill big lode, yet the Broken Hill Proprietary is the most prolific in their occurrence, loud they have been found of various dimensions almost from the surface down to the lowest levels yet attained in that mine. Many of these vugbs have contined valuable silver, copper and lead deposits, and some have been remarkable for the beautiful forms of crystallization pendant from the roofs and walls, and collected on the floors. The question arises, How are these caverns and fissures in the ore body formed? There are numerous theories more or less feasible, but that the causes are variant is demonstrated beyond doubt. That water in its passage leaving channels, is one ofthe chief factors for their production is assured, and their presence is likewise due to the shrinkage and dropping of the earth from varions causes, to the deposition of material forming ledges overhanging, and thus leaving spaces below, and also to chemical erosion and electrical action both of which latter are constantly at work in reconstructing, segregating and dissolving tlie mineral and metallic constituents of all ore bodies.One of the most remarkable vughs yet discovered in the big mine was that opened up about three months bitek in the' heart of the ironstone body on Block 11, and located about 40 feet below the 100 feet level of Weatherley's stopes, but now destroyed in the progress of work. Probably it was caused by chemical action, the eating out, so to speak, of a soft and soluble portion of the manganic iron, leaving a,hollow about 15 feet long, with a width and height, of say, 6 feet, carpeted with beautiful zinc with a modicum of limeincrustations, apparently produced by the percolation from around the carbonate waters holding these minerals in solution. This cavern was divided into, what might be termed, a double chamber, by big boulders of manganic iron, also coated with an aggregation of small crystals of zinc and lime although the actual proportion of the latter was not determined.

By Peter Grundy

La eficiencia de los recursos en los procesos transparentes de gestión de las empresas permite aumentar el valor de los accionistas. En ese sentido, el presente texto señala el uso de la RCM como estrategia en el funcionamiento de un equipo que se centra en la confiabilidad. RCM es un proceso lógico que involucra aspectos técnicos y de negocio, capaz de producir resultados a muy corto plazo. Este proceso concluye con una recopilación de documentos fiables y totalmente óptimos para el desarrollo de las funciones de mantenimiento. Su uso correcto en la evaluación de los requisitos de mantenimiento de los equipos existentes, genera un mantenimiento menos costoso, confiable y eficaz. Asimismo se disminuye los costos de mantenimiento y se relaciona los aspectos ambientales y de seguridad.

Jul 17, 2000

By Elford H. S

Mr. H. W. GEPP said he desired to bring particular attention to this paper. The underlying intention of the Development and Migration Commission when the paper was prepared was to place at the disposal of Australian miners and metallurgists the story of the development of tin metallurgy as it had been advanced in other countries, particularly Great Britain. They had very considerable resources of low-grade tin-bearing metals in the eastern coast of Australia particularly, and they need not anticipate that tin was going to remain at the extremely low price at which they saw it to-day. The Commission felt that it was most desirable to place 'on record, and make easily available, the story of the treatment of comparatively low-grade tin ores in other parts of the world.Arrangements were made that the technical staff at Australia House, in conjunction with Mr. H. S. Elford; should collect this information so that in due course, when Australia awoke to an interest in low-grade deposits, of which there were many throughout Australia, this story would then not,have to be gathered from other areas and other places of the world. The -paper was a contribution which would turn out to be of very great value. He suggested to the younger members that this thorough contribution could be made the subject of study so that they would be ready to assist in the developments which must come. Mr. WM. APLIN said there was one point in connection with the paper upon which he would like to speak. While at Mount Morgan he had occasion to test some highly pyritic tin ore by flotation, with a view to separating the cassiterite from the pyritic mineral.Instead of accomplishing that, it was discovered that it would be possible to eliminate as much as 50% of the total weight of ore in the form of a pyritic flotation concentrate, which would contain...

Jan 1, 1930

The work described herein is the opening phase of an extensive system of underground excavation undertaken under contract with a Malayan authority.The specifications called for the lining of all tunnels in earth or broken rock with circular segmented cast iron lining, similar to that of the London tubes, and it is the installation of these linings which it is proposed to discuss.Owing to the long deferred delivery quoted and the obvious need for speed of access to the internal installation, it was decided to defer driving the completed circular section and substitute two small timbered headings.These could later be opened out in turn to full section and lined without prejudice to traffic, since both of them had access to the internal workings.NATURE OF ROCKThe rock series through which the circular sections were driven consisted of:(a) A wide zone of intrusive porphyritic granite, consisting generally of orthoclase phenocrysts in a ground mass of micro pegmatite. This area showed advanced weathering, varying from a stage showing slightly tinted kaolin containing approximately 20% of small boulders to one of ultimate decomposition to pure kaolin;(b) A narrow zone of weathered augite diorite, consisting of rock masses of a maximum weight of some 100-150 tons, isolated by clay seams up to 1 ft. 6 in. in width.The whole area was in a state of quasi-hydrostatic equilibrium, which resulted in heavy pressure immediately after excavation. Freshly broken faces would appear to be quite solid but, within a few minutes, would commence to sweat and "slab off" under pressure and, unless support was placed promptly, the whole face would burst out and run from above. Mucking was slow, owing to the plastic nature of the clay and the ease with which it puddled into slurry.In zone (b) a good deal of trouble was experienced because of the fact that the somewhat heavy blasting necessary tended to cause movement of the large rock masses. Subsequent scouring out of the supporting clay bands by the waterflow permitted settlement of the ground on to the timbers and many reinforcing sets were therefore required.The timbering of the pilot headings and its relation to the cross-section of the circular tunnels is shown in Fig. 1. Top and side spiling was driven in the ordinary way, but in bad ground intermediate sets and breast boards had to be placed. These sets were usually withdrawn after the...

Jan 1, 1941

The Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research has been developing models of wireless signal propagation in underground coal mines since 2007. The current mine propagation modeling software, named COMMS, is able to locate potential broadcast points for underground wireless mesh systems and estimate their coverage. COMMS utilizes programmed routines to calculate necessary values to both quantitatively and qualitatively solve and analyze predicted coverage areas. The program approximates the spatial relationships that are encountered, such as ventilation regulators, belts and other obstructions. Using this model for propagation allows the optimal communications node locations to be calculated, by using lessons learned from current installations and experience with the new technology. In addition, the optimization can be calculated by checking all possible combinations of broadcast locations. This paper compares these optimization calculation methods. The ability to solve a mine?s communication network provides a pre-installation mine network design map, creates coverage maps of the mine and allows planning for future communication activities

Jan 1, 2011

By Higgins RJ

Environmental investigations have been undertaken by Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) since 1981 when the Ok Tedi Environmental Study was commenced. Environmental monit- oring and management programmes were implemented in 1983. The programmes included water quality monitoring, river flow and sediment monitoring, surveillance of aquatic biological communities and a health and nutrition survey of the local people. These original programmes have continued, and additional programmes of work have been developed and revised to reflect changing operations and the need to focus investigations on specific areas and issues of concern. In April 1990, following the establishment by the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) of environmental management criteria for the Fly River system, compliance monitoring programs were introduced. Details of the compliance and additional monitoring programmes undertaken by OTML throughout the Ok Tedi and Fly catchments, including programmes of investigation in the Fly River estuary, Gulf of Papua and Torres Strait, are presented.

Jan 1, 1991

The Application of Roasting Pretreatment for Antimonial Refractory Gold and Silver Ores

Sep 13, 2010

By Richard A. Winters

In 1985, at the request of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Mines studied 49,875 acres of the 54,833-acre Big Jacks Creek Wilderness Study Area (ID-111-7C) in order to evaluate the mineral resources. The study area is located in Owyhee County, ID, about 15 miles southwest from Bruneau, ID. No mining districts are in the study area, but part of one placer claim, located in 1924, extended into it. The northern portion of the area was covered by oil and gas lease applications; all were cancelled prior to 1985. No economic concentrations of minerals were found in the study area. INTRODUCTION This report describes the USBM (U.S. Bureau of Mines) portion of a cooperative study with the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) to evaluate mineral resources and potential of the Big Jacks Creek study area at the request of the BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management). The USBM examines individual mines, prospects, claims, and mineralized zones, and evaluates identified mineral and energy resources. The USGS evaluates potential for undiscovered resources based on areal geological, geochemical, and geophysical surveys. Results of the investigations will be used to help determine the suitability of the study area for inclusion into the National Wilderness Preservation System. Although the immediate goal of this and other USBM mineral surveys is to provide data for the President, Congress, government agencies, and the public for land-use decisions, the long-term objective is to ensure the Nation has an adequate and dependable supply of minerals at a reasonable cost.

Jan 1, 1986

By T. A. Sullivan

Refining in a molten salt electrolyte was investigated as a means of recovering nickel containing less than 1 percent and preferably less than 0.2 percent cobalt from nickel products containing up to 5 percent cobalt. Electrolytic separation of nick and cobalt was accomplished in a molten KCl-LiCl-NiCl2 electrolyte. Nickel containing less than 0.10 percent cobalt was routinely prepared. Factors that influenced the transfer of cobalt to the refined product were the nickel concentration of the electrolyte, the cobalt concentration of the electrolyte, the ratio of nickel to cobalt in the electrolyte, and cathode current densities. A method of recovering the cobalt from the electrolyte was developed. The possibility of preparing high-purity nickel by this process was shown, as well as the preparation of various cobalt-nickel-tungsten alloys.

Jan 1, 1968

Keywords: Pyrometallurgy, zinc, electrowinning Zincor has been producing zinc since 1969 via the roast-leach-electrowinning process. It is the only primary zinc producer in South Africa, and currently supplies the entire country with zinc. The plant was built by Goldfields of South Africa, on the site of an old gold and uranium mine. Since then, the ownership of the plant has changed a couple of times, and the plant and process have also been improved. Production output has increased from around 80 000 tons per year to more than 110 000 tons per year. This was done mainly through increasing the capacity of the roasters and acid plant. Zincor produces four main grades of zinc: SHG, Zn1, Zn2, and Zn4, in three shapes: a 25 kg ingot and 1 and 2 ton jumbos. In 2005, a pre-alloy furnace was built that enabled the production of jumbos pre-alloyed with aluminium. This has allowed Zincor's customers to improve the efficiency of their continuous galvanizing lines and to lower their production costs.

Jan 1, 2006