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By R. Addison, T. Swendseid, R. Kehmeier, D. Larsen, J. Uhrie

"The development of a mining project necessarily progresses through many steps, beginning with the identification of a mineral resource and continuing through project construction. Several classifications of engineering study development are described, including preliminary economic assessment (PEA) or scoping studies, prefeasibility studies (PFS), feasibility studies (FS) and regulatory codes, each with a specific project organizational objective. This paper addresses the PEA, PFS and FS types of reports that are used by companies to evaluate projects, meet regulatory requirements and seek financing. The minimum requirements for engineering studies, focusing on the needs of financial institutions considering investment in a project, are outlined. IntroductionThe financing of mining projects in recent years has come under increased scrutiny by financial institutions owing primarily to an increasing percentage of projects whose capital expenditures had overrun project budgets or had failed to produce the economic returns anticipated during the project development process. Often, unfavorable project outcomes are not the result of widespread failures of the project engineering process but arise from inadequate engineering in limited specific areas of the project scope, such as overestimated mineral reserve, inadequate mine design, insufficient metallurgical testing or underestimated capital costs. Mill facilities and process infrastructure typically are responsible for up to 80 percent of the capital expenditures required by greenfield mining projects. They are often the project areas where capital costs are inadequately developed, and consequently are the areas highly scrutinized by financial institutions. This paper offers a perspective on the level of engineering expected by financial institutions as a prerequisite to committing support to developing mining projects.The evaluation of a mining project from exploration through development and production is a lengthy and complicated process. Mine development commitment activities for a potential project are initiated when a mineral resource is identified and continue through to the start of construction. The technical feasibility and the economic viability of each project are determined during the phases of mine development with more detailed engineering data required at each stage. There are at least four levels of engineering studies during development that are commonly acknowledged by the mining industry:"

Jan 1, 2016

By Sathit Tandanand

Geological differences among various coalfields restrain the applicability of subsidence prediction using existing European methods. To modify these methods for domestic conditions, the Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, developed a method of assessment to evaluate the lithological effects on subsidence in the Northern Appalachian basin by examining data collected from 16 longwall panels in the coalfield. The assessment is partially completed, and the results to date show that the ratio of maximum subsidence to the extraction thickness, known as the subsidence factor, can be expressed in terms of the width-to-depth ratio by a simple exponential equation which has a coefficient tentatively considered as the subsidence index. This index varies with the lithology of a particular site and can be expressed in terms of the percent distribution of weak and strong rocks in the overburden.

Jan 1, 1982

By D. M. Abbott

The problem with best practices occurs when they do not work. This happens when the seldom-stated assumptions underlying the practice are not met. This paper provides some examples for the mining industry: (1) when core splitting is inappropriate, (2) when the use of fire assays for placer samples is inappropriate, and (3) when high-grading may be acceptable. Geologic conclusions are, in the final analysis, expressions of judgment predicated upon knowledge and experience. A geologic conclusion, however, purports to be more than an arbitrary determination—it is reached as a consequence of method. No specific method is required, but the method used must be an orthodox method, in accordance with orthodox definition of terms, and the one best adapted to the dealing with the questions asked about the property in question. Whether the so-called “best practice” is really applicable to the job at hand must be decided on the basis of professional scientific judgment. When one decides to deviate from a published “best practice” for sound scientific reasons, describe in detail in the report what the so-called “best practice” is, why it was inappropriate for the project, and why the method used was better. If one becomes aware that a “best practice” is being proposed, actively urge those proposing it to include in its description the underlying assumptions that must be met in order for the “best practice” to be valid.

Jan 1, 2014

By Ihsan Berk Tulu, Gaobo Zhao, Deniz Tuncay, Syd S. Peng

Longwall mine instrumentation for measuring abutment stress distribution, mining induced immediate roof stress change and deformation, and primary/secondary support loads and deformations provides critical guidance for the design of gateroad chain pillars and roof support. Field measurement results are also recognized as the best way to calibrate numerical models that have been used to study the failure and support mechanisms. International Conference on Ground Control in Mining (ICGCM) started in 1981 and since then, there were 26 papers published in the proceedings discussing the stress and load measurements as the face advanced using various field instrumentation techniques. The focus of this paper is on summarizing the analyses of the data published in these papers. Stress/load change monitoring included the following categories: gateroad chain pillar, abutment pressure, bolt load, and pre-driven recovery room. The data shows that the magnitude of stress changes as the face advances varies considerably from panel to panel and mine to mine. However, regardless of types of stress changes, pillar stress, abutment pressure, and bolt load, there exists a rough trend of stress increase as the face advances, generally consisting of three stages, i.e., stress/load (1) initially increases steady or slowly, (2) increases rapidly, and (3) increases reaching the peaks and dropping down slowly or sharply. The stress/load increases start earlier during the second panel mining and are larger than the first panel mining. This review makes it easy for the interested persons to find valuable data for other similar projects.

By Ihor Kunasz

The high lithium demand forecasted for some high tech applications and batteries for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, in particular, has sparked increased exploration for lithium, particularly for lithium- and potassium-bearing brine deposits. The latter have generally followed the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) NI 43-101 guidelines on resource reporting, formulated for hard rock deposits (metals and industrial minerals). While a number of the requirements can be appropriately applied to brines, brines are fluids and require a specific analysis leading to a distinct set of reporting requirements. Brines cannot be considered industrial minerals because the various elements occur as ions in a dynamic fluid, rather than being chemically bonded in a solid. Although chemicals are produced from brines, brines have no relation to industrial mineral deposits. This article analyzes the recently released (Nov. 1, 2012) document CIM Best Practice Guidelines for Resource and Reserve Estimation for Lithium Brines, in light of the practical knowledge available from existing brine operations. It recommends modifications to the guidelines, which, if applied in their present format, will result in overstating resources and reserves and mislead potential investors. The CIM Best Practice Guidelines for Resource and Reserve Estimation for Lithium Brines document is generally descriptive and does not fully address the methodology for brine resource or reserve definition. Lithium and other elements (potassium, magnesium) are contained in a fluid, the hydrologic characterization of which should be the principal focus of a brine exploration program. The fundamental requirement in defining lithium brine resources and reserves in a salar is the identification and definition of those formations ? the aquifers ? that will yield brine in a usable quantity to a well, because brines can only be extracted by pumping wells. Fine-grained sediments will never, as required in the summary Table 1, have ?reasonable prospects of economic extraction,? cannot be considered and, therefore, need not be tested. However, the guidelines recommend the collection of solid samples and a high-core recovery for laboratory testing of various sediments instead of focusing on the brine.

Oct 1, 2013

By K. J. Bruxvoort

Background ground water quality is often used to drive remediation programs at sites with waters affected by mining activities. In the past these levels were sometimes chosen without rigorous statistical and geochemical analysis. A probability distribution approach was used at the Sweetwater Uranium Project to separate a large set of geochemical data into populations that represent contributions from different sources. Natural background populations were identified for major ions, metals, and radionuclides, and were submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to modify the extent of a Corrective Action Program and to establish control limits for future monitoring.

Jan 1, 1998

By C. Rodriguez, T. BoBo

Comminution, being the energy intensive part of a mining operation receives much scrutiny by cost controllers, CEO’s, investors and others as the mining industry goes “back to basics” to reverse the decline in productivity which occurred during the mining super cycle. Blasting is the first and lowest cost per ton stage in the comminution value chain. The basic principle that effective blast design can optimize fragmentation from the Run of Mine (ROM) ore muck pile to improve productivity through digging, loading and crushing to grinding and increase mine site profits has been well documented. Benefits of controlling fragmentation in the blast include reduced wear on equipment, faster loading, increased truck loads while detecting oversize rocks at the muck pile can reduce the frequency of a blocked primary crusher. A second basic principle is a measure of particle size distribution (PSD) at each unit operation in the comminution cycle allows engineers to manage blast design to produce fragmentation in the ROM ore most suitable to optimize downstream unit processes to improve mine site productivity and profits. Split-Online® systems have measured PSD of rocks on conveyors from the primary crusher to the SAG mill for over 20 years. Split-Engineering partnered with various mining companies to develop Split-ShovelCam® to automatically measure fragmentation from shovels and excavators working the ROM muck pile. This paper takes the reader “Back to Basics” by discussing the use of real time fragmentation analysis at the muck pile as an important parameter to optimize energy factors required for each blast. Case studies are given. INTRODUCTION The basics of mining are: • Explore for and find economic resources of valuable minerals • Mine rocks containing valuable minerals using blasting • Crush and grind rocks to liberate valuable minerals (comminution) • Recover valuable minerals for sale Comminution is an energy intensive process which accounts for a major proportion of mine site costs. Effective blasting can improve comminution and deliver significant reductions to mine site unit costs, (CEEC, 2016). Engineers, scientists, builders and even philosophers have long promoted the phrase “measure to manage”; the premise being “you can’t improve what you don’t measure”. Blast Engineers measure fragmentation in ROM ore for feedback to manage energy input in the design of blast patterns to optimize the ROM product size for downstream operations, whether they be for ROM Leach or feed into the primary crusher.

Jan 1, 2019

"With millions of dollars and thousands of lives at stake, the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) turned to a private wireless network for help.IOC needed a network that possessed the ability to adapt to changes in a nanosecond and to function seamlessly in the most rugged of environments.Canada’s largest iron ore producer required a private wireless network powerful enough to support all mine applications and deliver all data to one central point — without any existing cellular/3G/Wi-Fi coverage.Operations at IOC, a leading global supplier of iron pellets, involved dispatch, drill management and equipment monitoring, pump control and remote video that must service three distinct pits. Due to its setup, the facility does not offer a great deal of flexibility for transmitting signals.IOC serves a robust customer base made up of North American, European and Asian steel producers. It also employs nearly 1,900 people. Catastrophic death and destruction are two very real potential consequences of system communication failure.Technology for tough terrainKinetic mesh technology was born in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, one of the most high-stakes emergency situations in U.S. history. The failure of the communications infrastructure on a massive scale that day underscored the need for networking technologies that could provide service even in the most chaotic of conditions.Kinetic mesh networks allow organizations to deploy networks at sites where communications infrastructure has been compromised, as well as quickly establish networks in places where they did not previously exist. Kinetic mesh networks have also demonstrated a better ability to adapt to network changes on-the-fly versus other types of networking technologies."

Jan 1, 2015

By D. D. Gertenbach

"The successful commercialization of a pressure oxidation (POX) process for recovering metal values, including gold, copper, zinc, nickel and molybdenum, is the result of a carefully planned development program. The initial task involves developing one or more conceptual flowsheets, including the POX autoclave and downstream purification and recovery steps. A laboratory program is completed to determine the technical viability of the flowsheets, define the operating parameters for each step and provide information for an initial economic assessment of the process. The process is then confirmed during a continuous pilot plant program, providing engineering design data and other information for the commercial design. A well-thought-out development program has been shown to be critical for reducing the risk of commercializing POX processes. Experiences developing POX processes for refractory gold ores and copper concentrates are briefly discussed. IntroductionPressure oxidation (POX) has become a common commercial operation for processing sulfide-bearing feedstocks. These feedstocks include gold ores and concentrates; copper concentrates; nickel concentrates and mattes; zinc concentrates; and molybdenum concentrates. Drivers for the development and commercialization of POX processes include:• The high cost for pyrometallurgical processing of sulfide ores, much of which is attributed to environmental controls.• The motivation to implement safe and more environmentally attractive alternatives for sulfide ores.• The need to process increasingly difficult ores with complex mineralogy.• Improvements made over the last 25 years in POX equipment design and experience operating commercial POX plants.Although the capital and operating costs for commercial POX processing can be high, this technology is capable of rapid oxidation of most sulfides and arsenic minerals in the feed, with little noxious gases and environmentally stable iron arsenate and other iron compounds in the POX residue (Marsden and House, 2006).In POX operations, sulfides are oxidized to either sulfates or elemental sulfur in an autoclave at elevated temperature and pressure with oxygen gas. An example is the overall oxidation reactions of chalcopyrite when sufficient oxygen is present, shown in the following reactions:"

Jan 1, 2016

By J. `. Spitzinger

In situ recovery (ISR) of uranium alters the baseline groundwater geochemistry in order to mobilize and complex uranium to extract and concentrate it. ISR wellfield restoration is often challenging, and primarily relies on groundwater sweep, reinjection of treated permeate, and/or injection of reductants. Greater focus should be placed on injection-based approaches (using existing infrastructure) based on established engineering concepts used for in situ remediation of groundwater plumes. Such injection-based approaches could shorten restoration timeframes consequently reducing long-term operational costs. This paper addresses various types of injection-based approaches to wellfield restoration based on in-situ remediation success with other constituents that require similar treatment. This paper describes necessary design practices for injecting reactive chemicals (e.g., reductants or biostimulants), operations and maintenance (O&M) strategies to prevent fouling of the chemical delivery system and well network, and natural constraints to restoration. Best practices for successful biostimulation strategies that minimize residual uranium, radium, oxoanions, and other trace elements are as described. Advantages of such injection-based approaches could include significant reductions in restoration times, and consequently, lower restoration costs.

Feb 23, 2014

By C. Guria

A modeling, simulation and optimization study of a complex industrial fluorspar beneficiation plant (Kadipani, Gujarat, India) with fourteen/ten flotation banks is carried out to find an optimum/near-optimum circuit for the given quality of feed ore. The phenomenological flotation model developed by Mehrotra and Kapur (1974) is used for circuit optimization. Two different optimization problems are formulated and solved. The first optimization problem involves a single objective function, which uses available plant data to estimate the feed-characterizing parameters, i.e., the flotation rate constants, by minimizing the weighted sum-of-square errors between the computed and plant values. The second optimization problem involves two objective functions to obtain several simplified circuits. The number of non-linking streams and the overall recovery of the concentrate, i.e., the acid-grade product, are maximized simultaneously in this problem. The single-objective variant (SGA-II-mJG) of the binary-coded elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm with the jumping gene adaptation, NSGA-II-mJG, is used for the first problem, while NAGA-II-mJG (Guria et al., 2005 a) is used for the second problem. Simplified circuits with a few split streams are proposed on the basis of the present optimization study, which enhance the recovery of the acid-grade product without affecting its quality, for a given total volume of the flotation cell-bank. Even though the optimal solutions have certain drawbacks, they suggest a meaningful direction in using an iterative fitting of parameters to such optimal circuits, followed by re-optimization. Key words: Froth flotation, Mineral processing, Industrial fluorspar beneficiation, Feed identification, Circuit/network optimization, Global optimal, Jumping gene, Genetic algorithm, Multi-objective optimization

Jan 1, 2009

By Pedro Pablo Vasquez Coronado, Victor Octavio Tenorio

"Productivity in openpit mines depends on the observation and adjustment of critical phases of operation. As one of the most expensive activities in openpit production, optimization of the load-haul-dump cycle becomes a critical aspect to address. Using simulation techniques and an ad hoc methodology for analyzing the key performance indicators (KPIs) involved in the production cycle, it is possible to compare actual performance and ideal operating conditions and develop an alert system when operating conditions are subpar with the expected production standards.Study objectivesThe purpose of this work is to implement a methodology for optimizing the haulage cycle by identifying and adjusting the factors that affect the cycle time performance. The methodology includes the implementation of an alert system emitting warning messages when one or several trucks are idle, or when the time of completing production tasks is falling outside a predefined value. This alert is compared with predefined KPIs and is used to determine corrective actions.The alert will:• Demonstrate the benefits of time analysis and how this affects the productivity results in the mining process.• Demonstrate the utility of KPIs in the extraction of ore and waste and how they help to identify equipment performance.• Develop software interfaces to visualize the alert system in order to increase awareness in the operations supervisor.• Make recommendations for future applications that can help improve the productive process of an openpit mine.Problem statementTransporting material in openpit mines may require the utilization of high capacity equipment, which also represents an elevated cost per hour. A supervisory system that controls the adequate distribution of trucks and shovels by providing the operational status of each unit shall contribute to increase productivity while subsequently reducing operational costs. Nevertheless, there is an issue with certain dead times such as queue trucks for loading, trucks waiting to be loaded and other delays. This creates inefficiencies in fuel consumption and energy utilization.For the identification of delays, a contextbased system could be required in order to help optimize the haulage cycle time by controlling delays in loading, haulage and dumping. After applying this methodology, efforts were focused in correcting out-of-standard performance values."

Jan 1, 2015

By Danny Chan, Shahram Tafazoli, Nicholas Himmelman, Edmond Chow

"While wearable technology has been garnering attention in the consumer market, enterprise and industry have just begun exploring its potential applications. Since February 2014, Motion Metrics International has been working in collaboration with Vandrico Solutions Inc. to apply wearable technology to improve productivity and safety in the mining industry.This article discusses the value proposition of using wearable technology to deliver critical notifications in mining. The advantages and disadvantages of various form factors are explored. The challenges, both specific to mining and in general to wearable technology, are defined. Finally, the concept of MetricsGear, the first wearable technology platform developed for mining by Motion Metrics International in collaboration with Vandrico Solutions Inc., is described. MetricsGear is designed to notify the user with minimal distraction to keep the user focused on his or her primary task and aware of mission-critical events. This focus and awareness allows the user to work more efficiently and safely. The mining process consists of a series of intricate stages, where certain events or conditions in one stage can have a huge impact on other stages. The notification of these critical events or conditions is vital for ensuring the overall efficiency of the mining process. Critical notifications can be classified as two types: timecritical events and contextual information. Time-critical events are situations where a timely response from a responder can have a significant impact on seizing an opportunity or mitigating cost. Some human-computer interaction (HCI) experts classify notification types based on the interruption, reaction and comprehension (IRC) framework. Time-critical events are classified to have high interruption, high reaction and low comprehension due to their urgency. The responder should have just enough information to identify the crisis and react as soon as possible (Chow, 2014). For example, when a tooth is lost during shovel operation, it is necessary to recover the missing tooth before it jams the primary crusher. The consequence of missing this critical time period is a jammed crusher that can cause the mine to be out of production until the jammed tooth is extracted (Baumann, 2013). In this case, the responder only needs to see an image to confirm if the tooth is missing and information to identify which equipment and when the tooth went missing (Fig. 1)."

Jan 1, 2014

By Ryan Marsters, Adam Pring

The Rawah Ditch is a mountainous water supply diversion which supplies Larimer County, Colorado with water since 1903. The ditch includes two historic tunnels excavated by drill and blast through a gneissic rock buttress. Both rock tunnels were failing with annual convergence. After a snowshoe-accessed eld investigation, nite element modeling, and an alternatives analysis, a diameter DE pipe was inserted within each tunnel and the annulus lled. The proect was implemented in an Alternative Delivery contract lasting ve months from eld investigation through procurement and construction.

Jun 23, 2024

By Meghan M. Murphy, Derek Penrice

The Downtown Rail Extension (DTX) is principal element of the planned second phase of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s (TJPA) Transbay Program. When complete, this regionally critical project will connect Caltrain’s regional rail system and the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s statewide system to the Salesforce Transit Center in downtown San Francisco via a 1.3-mile tunnel. Studied since the 1970s, the DTX has now received environmental clearance, and key stakeholders are aligned on the project’s configuration and its expedited delivery. This paper describes efforts to optimize the DTX configuration and develop an informed project delivery strategy that incorporates construction industry feedback on project phasing, contract packaging, and procurement methods that accomplish the project’s budget goals.

Jun 13, 2021

By Earl Rau

Introduction Will cogeneration be a major power source in the future? The location of electric power generating plants has changed. In 1900, more than 50% of electricity was generated by industrial plants. Since then, industrial plant generation of electricity greatly decreased to 17% in 1950 and to only 3% in 1980. Changing economics in electric power generating costs, though, may allow cogeneration to reverse this trend. Cogeneration has been defined as the simultaneous production of electric (mechanical) and thermal energy from a single energy source. Some applications are considered to be byproduct generation of electricity from industrial, thermal operations. Cogeneration is not new to the mining and minerals industry. Smelters and steel mills have used waste heat to generate electricity. Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 The potential for increased industrial cogeneration of electricity is related to the March 9, 1978 enactment of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). The US Supreme Court ruled that PURPA is constitutional. The court upheld requirements that utilities interconnect to cogenerators. It also ruled that 100% of avoided costs be used as the guideline for electricity sales by a qualifying facility (QF) to a utility. The state of New York established a floor price $0.06/kWh for electricity sales from a QF to a utility. It is obvious, then, that a cogenerator must first establish price and then become a qualifying facility in order to sell electricity to a utility. Proposed cogeneration plants The estimated industrial cogeneration potential for the years 1986 to 2000 is 9500 to 25,000 MW. Industries represented in this cogeneration estimate are pulp and paper, petroleum, chemicals, food, textiles, rubber, plastics, steel, lumber and wood, cement, glass, metal fabrication, and industrial parks. A cogeneration plant has been proposed for the Union Carbide chemical plant in Institute, WV. A steam turbine/generator would be installed to replace the pressure-reducing valve in the 2.7 MPa (400 psig) header. Scott Paper Co., Mobile, AL, proposed a cogeneration plant using a coal- and wood-fired boiler and a turbine/generator to produce process steam and electric power. A cogeneration system has been proposed for a large oil refining plant. A pulverized coal boiler would produce high-pressure steam to operate a turbine, generator. The exhaust steam from the turbine will go to the process and an existing turbine. Kansas City, MO's Armour meat-processing plant has proposed a cogeneration plant. This proposal is to use a natural gas or oil-fired, gas-driven turbine and a generator. The waste heat from the gas turbine would go to a heat recovery boiler for use as process heat. Dade County, FL is implementing a central energy system to supply electricity, air conditioning, and domestic hot water for five buildings in downtown Miami. The cogeneration system is to provide flexibility, to optimize fuel use efficiency while serving the variable thermal demands. Generation of electricity from municipal waste is not considered to be a cogeneration process but is covered by PURPA. Special considerations are provided for waste/electric power generation to encourage the development of these systems. ?

Jan 7, 1987

By Stephen Meyer, Véronique Falmagne, Antti Pyy

Kittilä Mine is a gold mine located in Northern Finland, owned and operated by Agnico Eagle Finland. The mining operation started in 2008 with open pits which were completed in 2012 and production moved to being entirely underground. The mine consists of four separate orebodies, currently producing 2.0 Mt per annum, and requiring over 19 km of development on a yearly basis. The principal mining method is long hole stoping with delayed backfill. Microseismic monitoring was initially tested in the Suuri orebody, in the mining block between the 625 and 500 Levels. A small monitoring system was installed in 2018, after observations of stress-induced damage to the rock mass and in anticipation of future mining at greater depth. The initial goals were to evaluate if useful data could be recorded and test the signal quality of different sensor types. Prior to 2018, ground control related challenges in the Suuri and Roura mining blocks had been mostly related to sill pillar mining and block movements between weak graphitic schist planes. Seismic monitoring in the Suuri deposit proved successful for following the rock mass response to mining and helped support the rationale for early monitoring in the new, deeper mining block in Rimpi at 900 m depth. Preliminary geotechnical characterization and testing of the rock mass showed areas of silicification in the footwall rocks with potentially continuous structural features. Seismic monitoring of the Rimpi area has confirmed the brittle behavior of the rock mass, with strong seismic responses induced by stress changes following blasting being recorded. In addition to this expected behavior, a large magnitude event associated with significant damage in the footwall drive development 90 m above the stoping was experienced. Initial investigation of the rockburst showed two separate damage locations with over 300 tons of displaced rock. The seismic monitoring system recorded this rockburst as a single seismic event with magnitude significantly larger than previously recorded. Additional analyses indicated a possible thrust fault event, triggering two separate strainbursts. Following this event, the ground support system was upgraded in parts of the footwall drives to improve dynamic capacity. Systematic calculation of the source mechanisms for the small footwall events down to Mw-2.5 has revealed potential planar structures in the footwall. Early implementation of microseismic

Apr 26, 2022

By C. Clark, R. Pakalnis, B. Seymour, L. Martin, M. Stepan, M. Roworth, C. Caceres

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Office of Mine Safety and Health, Ground Control Engineering Branch is investigating the use of shotcrete in weak rock mass mines with the objective of reducing fatalities and injuries resulting from rock fall accidents. When shotcrete is used as part of a multielement ground support system, there is a need to know the support characteristics that the shotcrete contributes to the overall system. To quantify the support provided by the shotcrete, flexural strength tests were conducted with two common, commercially available fiber-reinforced shotcrete (FRS) mixes using the round determinant panel (RDP) test method, ASTM C 1550. A portable RDP test machine developed by NIOSH researchers was used to determine the peak flexural load and residual load capacity for a steel FRS and a synthetic poly FRS that were sprayed using dry mix procedures and equipment. Besides the flexural strength and loading behavior determined from these tests, a method was also developed for measuring the width of cracks exposed on the underside of a shotcrete panel during a RDP test and relating these measurements to residual load values. Quantifying the peak flexural load and residual loads of a shotcrete mix through on site testing at a mine and visually assessing the loading cycle and load-carrying capability of the shotcrete applied to underground workings will improve mine safety by providing a better assessment of the stability of shotcrete supported entries.

Jan 1, 2010

By William Gleason

"The Colorado School of Mines has used the Edgar Mine in Idaho Springs as an experimental mine to teach students since 1921. Since the school acquired the former gold, silver, lead and zinc mine, countless students have received hands-on engineering lessons on their way to earning mining engineering degrees. On Dec. 14, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a historic field hearing about the future of mining education in the United States in a classroom about 300 m (1,000 ft) inside the Edgar Mine. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Cresent Hardy (R-NV) and Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) were on hand for the first ever congressional hearing held in a mine where they heard testimony supporting the Mining School Enhancement Act, which was introduced to Congress by Hardy and Perlmutter on Oct. 9, 2015. The act, which is part of a larger mining development and reclamation reform package, seeks to address the absence of a viable pipeline necessary to replenish current faculty vacancies in United States Mining Schools. “What better place to hold a hearing to discuss the need for future mining engineering experts,” Subcommittee Chair Lamborn said in his opening statement. “It is a need felt by industry, states, the federal government as well as nonprofits.” The Mining School Enhancement Act would redirect millions of dollars in fees that are being collected from active mining operations to fund the research and educational programs at engineering schools with mining programs. Those fees now are being used in the form of grants awarded by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMRCA)."

Jan 1, 2015

The mining and minerals extraction industries have often been demonized by the public as industries that put profits and production before people. It is true that the inherent danger of the work has led to more fatal accidents than anyone associated with the industry would care to remember. But, in stark contrast to what has often been said, the truth of the matter is safety is now the top priority of every miner, from the face of the longwall to the executive boardroom. Without safety, nothing else matters. This message was told and retold by representatives from some of the world?s top mining and petroleum companies from Oct. 11-13 during the inaugural Safety and Reliability in the Mining and Resources Industries Conference in Calgary, Canada. The meeting was hosted jointly by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME). It was the first of a series of conferences to focus on these important topics. Next year, the conference will be held in Minneapolis, MN from Nov. 13-15.

Jan 1, 2011