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By Jianping Zuo, Chunlei Zhang, Yong Zhang, Shouyang Gao

To study the fracture evolution of overlying strata for ascending mining in a short-distance coal seam group, a two-dimensional physical simulation model was designed based on a specific geological condition. The fracture development zone was divided into the compaction zone and active zone by monitoring and analyzing the macro fracture evolution of the surrounding rock mass during the excavation of multiple coal seams. The secondary fracture development process of the overlying strata was demonstrated with a physical model. The quantity, length, and inclination of the fracture were calculated with MATLAB software, and the results were verified by geological radar. The total number of fractures between two coal seams increased with a “parabola” shape during the excavation of the lower coal seam, the crack angle was mainly vertical and horizontal, and the number of horizontal cracks first increased and subsequently decreased; the excavation of the upper coal seam caused the secondary fracture development process of the overlying strata, and the relief range and its extent increased. The mining-induced cracks from the lower and upper coal seams connected with each other, especially the permanent vertical fracture in the cutting room side and face side. Finally, the three-dimensional gas fissure was formed.

Nov 24, 2020

By Georgy Cherkashov, Svetlana Babaeva, Tamara Stepanova, Firstova. Anna

Seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) study in the Russian Exploration Area at the northern equatorial Mid Atlantic Ridge began after signing the contract with International Seabed Authority in 2012. In order to evaluate the SMS resources in the course of exploration the major and rare metals with economic value should be determined. The evaluation is based on geochemistry and mineralogy and particularly on the type of rare metals occurrence in the SMS. As a case study research of the Semyenov cluster of SMS deposits have been conducted.

Sep 1, 2014

By Huaiyang Zhou

"Hydrothermal systems are a major component of the processes that shape the composition and structure of the ocean crust, providing a major pathway for the exchange of heat and elements between the Earth’s crust and oceans, and a locus for prolific biological activity on the seafloor and underlying crust. On the other hand, the structure and composition of hydrothermal systems are the result of complex interactions between heat sources, fluids, wall rocks, tectonic controls and even biological processes.Ultraslow spreading ridges, including the Southwest Indian Ridge and the Gakkel Ridge, are most remarkable end member in plate-boundary structures (Dick et al., 2003), featured with extensive tectonic amagmatic spreading and frequent exposure of peridotite and gabbro. With intensive surveys during the last decades, it was suggested that ultraslow ridges are several times more effective than faster-spreading ridges in sustaining hydrothermal activity. This increased longevity can be attributed to deep mining of heat and even exothermic serpentinisation (Baker et al., 2004).Distinct from faster spreading ridges, one characteristics of hydrothermal mineralization on seafloor in ultraslow spreading ridges, including the active Dragon Flag hydrothermal field at 49.6 degree on the Southwest Indian Ridge, is the abundant and pervasive distribution of lower temperature minerals (such as Fe-silica or silica, Mn (Fe) oxides, sepiolite, pyrite, marcasite, etc.) in the hydrothermal fields. Structures formed by lower temperature activity in active and dead hydrothermal fields can also be identified. High temperature minerals such as chalcopyrite are rare or very limited in hydrothermal chimneys at ultraslow spreading ridges. The distribution of diverse low temperature hydrothermal activity is consistence with the deep heating mechanisms and hydrothermal circulations in the complex framework of ultraslow spreading tectonics. On the other hand, deeper and more extensive mineralization at certain locations along the ultraslow spreading ridges can be reasonably presumed."

Sep 1, 2014

By Paul G. Mahoney

The original Radum aggregate plant, built by Henry Kaiser in 1931, is the oldest of the nearly 200 individual operations established by the Kaiser companies. Since that time it has been producing aggregate products primarily for the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, and for many years, this plant has been listed as the Nation's No. One aggregate producer. Early this year a new $10,000,000 facility went on line replacing the old plant. Construction of the facilities was performed under the direction of Kaiser Engineers construction management teams. The existing plant continued to operate without interruption during the entire construction period.

Jan 1, 1970

By George Anagnostou

Time-dependent ground behavior may have important implications for the construction process or the life of a tunnel. The paper gives a concise overview of the influence of time on the deformations and the stability of underground openings, including topics such as face stability in soft ground or the time-development of pressure or deformations in squeezing or swelling rock. While keeping in mind practical questions of tunnel engineering, emphasis is placed on understanding the observed time-dependency, on the underlying mechanisms (such as pore water pressure dissipation or chemical processes) as well as on the respective inherent prediction-uncertainties and design-uncertainties.

Jan 1, 2007

By Zephaniah Varley, Dominic Parmantier, Paul Schmall, Richard Martin, Red Robinson

Sequential excavation of the Beacon Hill Station has been accomplished in highly complex and inter-layered sand, silt, and clay soils with multiple perched groundwater tables. Successful excavation has required the installation of a deep dewatering well system used to depressurize sand layers above and within the excavated tunnel faces. In addition, the presence of sand layers in the crown of the Platform Tunnels required jet grouting at depths of up to 49m (160-ft). This paper discusses the design intent, construction, and effectiveness of the dewatering system and the selective jet grouting of sand horizons and shaft break outs for the successful construction of the deepest SEM station excavation ever completed in the United States.

Jan 1, 2007

By Yang Ge, Yuzhu Pan, Mansheng Chu, Jue Tang, Cong Feng, Lihua Gao, Zhenggen Liu

The low-grade nickel laterite ore used in this study was successfully upgraded through selective reduction by industrialized rotary kilns followed by magnetic separation. The results indicated that both iron metallization extent and nickel metallization extent showed obvious linear correlation. In addition, rational roasting temperature and prolonged grinding time could enhance the overall fineness level of reduced laterite nickel ore. The moderate roasting temperature at a range of 1100–1150 °C should be suitable enough to a conversion of total nickel to metallic nickel and partly inhibited the conversion of total iron. Ultimately, the obtained ferronickel alloy with a nickel content of 7.32% and an iron content of 84.15% was prepared successfully from the lowgrade nickel laterite ore containing a nickel content of 1.92%. Nickel and iron recoveries were 96.72 and 89.08% respectively, which achieved the highly efficient recovery and utilization of iron and nickel from low-grade laterite nickel ore

By D. R. Zuchelli

In order for MSHA to require the use of a noise control, the control must be proven ?technologically feasible?. Technologically feasible controls must reduce a miner?s noise overexposure to the permissible exposure level (PEL) or achieve at least a 3 dBA reduction in the miner?s noise exposure. The miner?s total noise exposure should be examined from an occupational viewpoint and not solely on a machine or equipment basis. This examination requires a field evaluation of the occupation as opposed to an equipment test conducted in a laboratory. The operator of a Hilti TE MD20 LS electro-pneumatic drill realized a full shift noise exposure (TWA8) reduction exceeding 8 dBA as compared to when operating a Gardner Denver S83F pneumatic jackleg drill while installing an equal number of drill holes into the Idaho Springs Gneiss rock formation. However, the Hilti drill?s penetration rate was only 27% of that of the jackleg drill. Although the Hilti drill was proven to be technologically feasible as a noise control, its slower penetration rate would require its economic feasibility to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Jan 1, 2011

By J. Kretschmann

Around the world, mining has been done for thousands of years for the benefit of humankind. The winning process in mining operations ends with the depletion of the deposit or its closure if the operation becomes economically unprofitable. After that, a period of post-mining follows which may last for a very long time and which is generally regarded as a period of hazards, risk and high cost. In the USA alone, approximately 500,000 abandoned mines do exist; worldwide, there are millions. In Germany, too, we have had to deal with abandoned mines for a considerable period of time now.

Jan 1, 2012

By P. K. Kankar, Manoj Khandelwal, Ramesht Shukla

One of the utmost severe mining catastrophes in underground hard rock mines is rock burst phenomena. It can lead to damage to mine openings and equipment as well as trigger accidents or even threat to life as well. Due to this, a number of researchers are forced to study some easy-to-use alternative methods to predict the rock burst occurrence. Nevertheless, due to the extremely multifaceted relation between mechanical, geological and geometric factors of the mines, the conventional prediction methods are not able to produce accurate results. With the expansion of machine learning methods, a revolution in the rock burst occurrence has become imaginable. In present study, three machine learning methods, namely XGBoost, decision tree and support vector machine, are utilized to predict the occurrence of rock burst in various underground projects. A total of 134 rock burst events were gathered together from various published literatures comprising maximum tangential stress (MTS), elastic energy index (EEI), uniaxial compressive strength and uniaxial tensile stress (UTS) that have been used to develop various machine learning models. The performance of machine learning methods is evaluated based on the accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the rock burst prediction.

Mar 17, 2021

By John G. Groppo, James C. Hower, Cortland F. Eble, Rick Q. Honaker, Alireza Valian, Stephen F. Greb

Coal and coal combustion byproducts are potential candidates for alternative resources of REEs (rare earth elements). The Illinois Basin is a major coal-producing district in the USA, but little work is available on speciation of REEs in the basin’s coals. In this study, a total number of 382 samples from known locations in the Illinois Basin coal beds were acquired, analyzed for their REE contents, and investigated for any spatial trends or chemical correlations. This study includes Springfield, Herrin, and Baker coal beds—the most heavily mined coals in the basin. An average coal ash from the basin contains 320 ppm REE, with Baker being the highest (407 ppm on average). However, the distribution of REEs in the coal beds was laterally and vertically heterogeneous. A number of trends were found in the REE variations. The most important trend was the relationships of the REE concentrations and fractionations with the distance from the syndepositional sandstones. The total REE concentrations were higher in the proximity of the sandstones, likely due to the increased deposition of detrital material. This increase was the most significant in Springfield coal (90%) and least in Baker (6%). Those coal samples from the Springfield and Herrin coal beds distal from the syndepositional sandstones had a heavy to light REE ratio (H/L ratio) of 0.40 on average, whereas in proximal locations, the ratio was dropped to an average of 0.30. This trend was not significant in the Baker coal bed. In general, higher mineral matter in the coals was associated with higher REEs. In coal preparation plants, refuse rocks can have up to 360 ppmREE. However, the ashes of the cleanest coals had higher REE levels. Such ashes also have a higher ratio of heavy to light REEs. The highest REE concentrations were found in the claystones and the shales associated with the coal beds. Since the naturally occurring calcite, quartz, and pyrite samples were depleted in REEs, an association of REEs with the clay minerals can be suggested.

Jul 20, 2020

By Don Phelps, Dean Brox, Peter Procter, Andy Saltis, Tom Morrison, Jeff Pringle

The Greater Vancouver Water District is currently constructing the Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Project to enhance the quality of drinking water in the Vancouver metropolitan area. The Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Project comprises the 1,800 million litres per day Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant, the 1,080million litres per day Capilano Pumping Station, twin tunnels with associated shafts, and the Capilano Energy Recovery Facility. The twin tunnels will convey raw water under pressure from the Capilano Reservoir to the Seymour Filtration Plant and return treated (filtered) water for distribution. The Twin Tunnels component of the project comprises twin, 3.7 m diameter, 7.2 km TBM bored tunnels, the 180 m deep Seymour Shaft as the main launch shaft, and two 4 m diameter, 268 m deep raise bore exit shafts at Capilano. The Twin Tunnels have been planned as predominantly unlined tunnels sited at depth entirely within granitic bedrock and cross under two major buried glacial valleys of breadths in excess of 1500 metres that are filled with glacial sediments to depths up to 200 metres. The maximum overburden along the tunnel alignment is approximately 400 metres. Comprehensive site investigations and studies were completed during the detailed design stage of the project. The construction of the twin tunnels started in the fall of 2004 and is planned to be completed by mid-2008.

Jan 1, 2005

Remote methane detection State and federal regulations require frequent measurements to verify that safe methane levels are maintained in underground coal mines. Ventilation control is the primary means of maintaining safe methane levels. In the immediate face area, where the highest methane levels occur, methane measurements are required every 20 minutes during active mining. To perform these measurements, temporary roof supports must be erected. This allows a miner to reach the face. There a hand-held methanometer is used to make the measurements. This procedure is time consuming and potentially hazardous. To facilitate the measuring process and reduce the miner's exposure to roof falls, the US Bureau of Mines has developed a prototype optical device. It can measure methane remotely from distances up to 12 m (40 ft). The device uses two infrared signals, reflected from the coal face, rib, or roof. One signal is absorbed by the methane, the other is not. The ratio of the two signals determines the average methane concentration in the face area. The prototype detector has also been successfully tested at the Lake Lynn, PA Laboratory. Instantaneous responses were obtained for methane in the ventilation airflow and for methane layered near the roof. Conventional methanometers required from five to 25 seconds to respond to the methane in the ventilation airflow. They did not respond to methane in the roof layer. For more information about the Bureau of Mines' remote detection research, contact Richard W. Watson, US Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh Research Center, Box 18070, Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236 or call (412) 892-6630. Ignition suppression system The incidence has increased of fractional spark ignition at the mine face. One reason is the advent of mechanical mining. Another is the more difficult ventilation conditions associated with deeper and more extensive underground workings. To cope with the problem of frictional ignition, the Bureau of Mines initiated research to develop a system that would provide rapid detection of incipient methane-air ignition. Then, rapid dispersion of a quenching agent would ensure that the methane flame was extinguished while it was still relatively small. This concept was successfully demonstrated by suppressing explosions in the Bureau's Bruceton, PA experimental mine. But the bulkiness of the early storage-dispersal system proved impractical to retrofit onto face equipment. In a cooperative effort by the Bureau and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, a more compact system has been developed and is being tested. A continuous mining machine has been equipped with four 1.8-m-long (6-ft-long) and two

Jan 9, 1987

By William R. Yernberg

Most citizens take it for granted, but minerals produced in the mines of the western United States, including Colorado, are crucial to nation’s standard of living and quality of life, said Colorado’s Gov. Bill Owens in his welcoming remarks at the 106th National Western Mining Conference. The conference, which was organized by the Colorado Mining Association (CMA), was held Feb. 4-6, 2004, in Denver. Attendance was425, up substantially from last year’s meeting. The meeting included the CMA annual membership meeting as well as the CMA chairman’s and president’s reports. The meeting also included awards presentations in which companies were recognized for their efforts in pollution prevention, health and safety, and reclamation. The conference also included a tradeshow.

Jan 1, 2004

By A. Bieg, M. Samson, Z. Bell, A. Zinsser, J. Schuyler

As the world progresses toward the renewable energy transition, the demand for minerals increases exponentially. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) 2021 Net Zero by 2050 Report, critical mineral production needs to grow six times to combat climate change. It’s estimated that four to seven percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from the mining sector’s Scope 1 and 2 (direct and indirect) emissions. Including Scope 3 (upstream, downstream, and embedded) emissions, the sector accounts for 28% of global GHG emissions. In a typical mining operation, diesel fuel is the biggest source of direct GHG emissions, and haulage is often the main source of diesel emissions. Large haul trucks have been the industry standard for over 50 years and offer flexibility, relatively low capital cost (especially with equipment lease options), and guaranteed technology with known maintenance. The challenge will be to justify their continued use when there are more economical options that lead to significant reductions in GHG emissions. The purpose of this study is to compare five haulage options in terms of GHG emissions, using the methodology defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scopes 1, 2, and 3 (Category 2). Additionally, this analysis compares operating and capital costs associated with the five haulage options (emerging and proven technologies): 1) Diesel-Electric Haul Trucks, 2) Battery-Electric Haul Trucks, 3) Fuel Cell Haul Trucks, 4) Railveyor, and 5) Conveyor. This analysis looks at the emissions and costs associated with operating the equipment (fuel and electricity), the embedded emissions and costs associated with the construction and installation of the equipment itself, and the associated infrastructure (roads, powerlines, and rail).

Feb 1, 2023

By Pawan Bharadwaj, Wim Mulder, Thomas Tscharner, Guy Drijkoningen, Rob Jenneskens

"The Earth’s properties, composition and structure ahead of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) should be mapped for hazard assessment during excavation. We study the use of seismic-exploration techniques for this purpose. We focus on a seismic system for soft soils, where shear waves are better and easier to interpret than compressional waves, as has been shown over the last decade. The system is intended to be deployed on the machine’s cutter head, with a few seismic sources and sufficiently many seismic sensors to tackle spatial variability and noise characteristics. An important property of the newly developed system is its ability to process data with very little human interaction. Images need to be available in near real time, without human interactions slowing down the imaging process. This can be achieved by employing Full Waveform Inversion, which minimizes the difference between modeled and observed data. Because this method may suffer from local minima in the cost function if the data lack low-frequency information, we employ a dedicated seismic source that can generate sufficiently low frequencies for the relevant length scales. With data acquired in a number of field settings that mimic realistic TBM configurations, we show that the designed seismic system can successfully look ahead of the TBM and offers a valuable capability to support decision-making during tunnel excavation. INTRODUCTION While excavating a tunnel with a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), the geology and the ground conditions along the planned tunnel trajectory need to be investigated in order to safely and efficiently carry out the underground operations. This entails detecting the occurrence of boulders, foundations, pipes and faults, necessary to prevent hazards and time-consuming delays in the tunnel boring operations. In order to facilitate ground prediction ahead of a TBM, techniques as used in seismic exploration can be deployed. Two components common to seismic-exploration techniques are data acquisition and processing, the latter including inversion. We will discuss each of these for the application to tunnel excavation with TBM, in particular for soft soils."

Jan 1, 2016

By Charlie Watts, Ken Smales, Ron Fleming

The Manapouri Power Station is an underground hydro-electric station located in the South Island of New Zealand, and was constructed in the 1960s. Between 1997and 2002, a second 10m diameter tailrace tunnel was constructed to increase the out-put and to improve the overall hydraulic efficiency and output of the station. A critical economic and project approval consideration for the second tunnel was the outage time required for the breakthrough into the power station. The power station is in part dedicated to providing power to an aluminum smelter with the balance to the National Grid, and apart from the physical problems associated with providing an alter-native power supply to the smelter, the loss of generation revenue and supply risk were significant issues. Innovative planning reduced the planned outage time from several months to21 days, and the breakthrough was eventually achieved in 11 days as a result of additional value engineering measures implemented during construction. This paper describes the engineering optimization that took place during the planning stages of the project and later during construction, as well as describing the construction methodology used.

Jan 1, 2007

By Douglas E. Pollock

Recent NIOSH published information has shown an increase of rapidly progressive coal workers? pneumoconiosis (CWP) in the southern Appalachian coal region (SAR) of the U.S., despite the fact that compliance data indicates that most coal miners have been exposed to coal mine dust concentrations below the statutory limit of 2 mg/m³. While the exact cause of these elevated CWP levels in the SAR has not been established, several factors may be contributing to the increase in occupational lung disease among coal miners. The mining of high rank coal is known to lead to higher CWP rates, and this type of coal is mined in a portion of this region. Also, a high percentage of the mines in the region are on reduced dust standards because of the high silica content of the airborne dust resulting in miners possibly being exposed to excessive amounts of respirable silica dust. Exposure to excessive amounts of respirable silica dust can lead to silicosis, a disabling and potentially fatal lung disease. NIOSH?s Respiratory Hazards Control Branch has been investigating the possible causes that would account for the observed higher trends in disease progression through literature review, data analysis and in-mine surveying. The investigation to date has revealed that underground mines are faced with cutting large amounts of rock in order to maintain haulage clearances. Cutting rock not only increases the potential for silica exposure, it increases the requirement for machine maintenance, which was a concern observed during dust surveys conducted by NIOSH. Over half of the mines operating in the SAR are on reduced standards due to high silica content. Adequate face ventilation of the continuous miner and roof bolter and limited down-wind operations from the miner are also issues of concern and items that require the constant attention of miners operating in these conditions.

Jan 2, 2010

By Wenjun Ju, Xiaodong Sun, Jianwei Zheng, Bingding Yi, Zhaorui Ma, Pengfei Jiang, Lingfu Zhu, Yangfa Zheng

The presence of hard roof poses a significant threat to the safety of underground coal mining. In this study, a mechanical model is established for underground stopes to analyze the overburden structure with the advancing of the mining face. It is indicated that the load-bearing arch structure (LBAS) is formed above the stope for roofs with regular hardness, whereas the reversed-basin bearing structure (RBBS) is formed for hard roofs. Compared with the LBAS, the RBBS can induce an additional pressure at the foot of the bearing structure, and this effect becomes less as the distance between the hard roof and stope increases. The ultra-deep borehole hydro-fracturing technique (UHT) is proposed to weaken the hard roof for pressure release, and the associated equipment and procedures are also presented. The UHT is based on horizontal drilling along the axial direction of the roadway in the roof, and then the receding segmented hydraulic fracturing technique is used to achieve the purpose of fracturing (weakening) of the surrounding rocks. Field tests are carried out in 3022 roadway of Daliangwan coal mine in Yulin to assess the developed technique, equipment, and fracturing procedures. To evaluate the fracturing effect, deep borehole stress-meters are installed at different depths of the fractured and un-fractured zones of the roadway, along with hydraulic support pressure sensors placed at the mining face. The results show that compared with the un-fractured zone, the pressure on the wall and pillar sides is lower than that in the fractured zone, and the associated weighting duration and weighting area ratio of the fractured are reduced by 53.23% and 33.59%, respectively. This indicates that the presented UHT can provide a new solution for the prevention and control of mining disasters induced by hard roof failures in underground coal mining.

Nov 2, 2020

Dynamic permeability is a significant hydrologic condition associated with in-situ leaching at the Cyprus Casa Grande operations. Several factors contribute to changes in the permeability conditions. They are: 1) hydraulically induced fracture development, 2) geochemical changes during leaching in the rock matrix, and 3) changes in the relative degree of saturation of the deposit. Dynamic permeability conditions were evaluated using available pressure and flow rates from the 58 injection and recovery wells obtained over one year period. A finite element, 2-D hydrologic model called INVERT which is designed to estimate aquifer parameters under transient and steady state flow conditions was used for the investigation. The permeability conditions during 7 different steady state intervals throughout the one year time frame were determined. The results confirm that big changes in permeability occur as a function of time as well as a function of injection pressure condition.

Jan 1, 1991