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By Forrest C. Neil, Clint J. Keifer

The pollution of our water supply, Lake Michigan, is a continuing threat so long as our overflows from combined sewers exist. The problems have become even more acute during recent years, due to the increase of paved area- which accelerates and enlarges the flows of storm water. After each storm, mixtures of raw sewage and storm water spill into our waterways. If the storm is too large for the drainage systems, the mixture backs up into our streets and basements. Under severe conditions, it may even become necessary to open the locks, and discharge the polluted water into Lake Michigan. Consider the scope of the problem, as shown in Figure 1. The area in which combined sewers exist is 375 square miles, located in the central parts of Chicago and 49 suburbs. There are an estimated 640 overflow outlets to the waterways, each requiring attention. The capacity of outlets tributary to the waterways has increased dramatically over the years. Each time a pocket of upstream flooding is drained into the channels, the problem of its rapid disposition increases. Another difficulty is that the bottom of our waterways is covered with a blanket of accumulated sludge, ranging in depth up to 3-feet. This material harms the water quality by depleting the supply of oxygen dissolved in the water ... a final

Jan 1, 1997

By A. U. Miller

Since coal -mining records have been kept , reports of all mining States show that each year the lives of many workers have been sacrificed in the production of coal , and Illinois has contributed its share , Illinois reports for the 50 years 1882 to 1932 , inclusive , show that 6,673 men were killed -- 6,121 underground , 340 in the shaft , and 212 on the surface . Of the fatalities underground , 3,116 were caused by falls of roof or sides , 1,111 by haulage , 630 by explosives , 577 by gas explosions , 139 by electricity, and 548 by other causes ; 166 of the shaft fatalities were caused by falling down the shaft , 143 by the cage , and 31 by other causes ; 108 of the surface fatalities were caused by railroad cars , 46 by machinery , and 58 by other causes . Most of those engaged in mining are still of the opinion that it is an extremely hazardous occupation and that it is practically impossible to operate without accidents ; however , students of safety in mining now believe that with the proper attention to accident prevention mining may be conducted with little , if any , greater accident rate than that of other supposedly hazardous industries . There is no mystery connected with accidents in mining ; reports show that the majority are due to two main causes , falls of roof and sides and haulage . Mining companies in Illinois , as well as in other States , have proved in the past few years that the hazards of mining , like those of other industries , can be controlled to a large extent and the mines operated with few if any accidents , provided a great enough effort is made by employer and worker . Although the past accident rate of Illinois may compare favorably with that of other mining States it is higher than it should be ; the fact that 6,673 men (an average of 133.46 per year) were killed in and around the mines of the State between 1882- and 1932 indicates that accident prevention should receive more consideration in the future than in the past .

Nov 1, 1934

By A. Z. Lang, D. A. Hall

After a brief description of the causes of spontaneous heating and of general preventative methods, a detailed account is given of occurrences of spontaneous heating in the Main Seam (locally known as the 5/4 Seam) at Westoe Colliery. This seam is about 12 feet thick consisting of hands of coal and shale, but only 4 feet 6 inches is worked because of the thickness os strata in water-bearing rocks and the worked section is selected on quality considerations. An advancing longwall face in this seam (2nd South) began to heat after working for six months and ultimately had to be abandoned. By adopting retreating methods and mining narrow panels it has been possible to extract this coal at an excellent rate of productivity. The system of goaf ventilation is important, because the use of a bleed road would have given rise to dangerous conditions in a goaf which of necessity would have contained fallen coal. Preparatory seals were prepared at selected sites so that, if necessary, a panel could be sealed off quickly; these seals are completed as soon as possible (within three weeks) of finishing a panel. A gas sampling system has been instituted which includes daily sampling on the face and in the goaf, and weekly sampling at the stoppings of all completed panels. The coal has now been extracted from this seam for three years without any further difficulties from spontaneous heating.

May 23, 1905

By R. Adsero

The volume of data produced by operating mines has increased substantially over the last 10 years. However, the volume of data and analytical capability has been negatively correlated to equipment productivity for at least the last seven years. In simple terms, as the volume of data has increased equipment performance has declined. Table (2010) tells us that ?The calamity of the information age is that the toxicity of data increases much faster than its benefits?. More data does not guarantee improving productivity; but more data is also not the cause of declining productivity. Similarly, when equipment performance does start to improve, (it must ? there really is no option if mines want to remain competitive), it will not be the data nor analytics which causes it; it will be the people using the resources at their disposal; including the data. Data and analytics can help if the toxicity of the data can be managed. The simplest form of business improvement using data is benchmarking. The objective of benchmarking is to understand and evaluate the current position of a process in relation to ?best practice? and to identify areas and means of performance improvement. The application of benchmarking involves four key steps: (1) Analyze and understand in detail existing processes; (2) Analyze and understand the processes of others; (3) Compare your own performance with that of the others analyzed; and (4) Design and implement the changes necessary to close the performance gap(s). There are however, many in the mining industries who have shunned equipment benchmarking because they believe that, ?every mine is a pilot?. In other words, the differences between mine operations make comparisons between them of little value. This paper will present a valid approach to benchmarking equipment performance and reliability, accounting for the differences and similarities between operations, producing a result which can be used to add value to mines around the world.

Feb 23, 2014

By John S. Alexander

By S. A. TAYLOR

THERE is probably no other mineral industry of which the public has as much information and misinformation as it has of the coal industry. Unfortunately, however, the general public's knowledge of the coal industry, outside of the particular kind of coal it is accustomed to, by reason of use, is largely made up of information received from newspaper and popular magazine articles, in which the mine workers are depicted as overworked and mistreated men, and the coal operators as "coal barons." Those who have any specific knowledge of exact conditions in the coal industry know how unjust and un- fair such an opinion of the coal industry is, not only to the miner but to the operator as well. Many reporters and writers of magazine articles are misled by statements regarding the condition of the miners that are exaggerated and not founded on facts and, if an investigation of the conditions of the miner's work, his habitation and surroundings were fairly made, it would at least compel more truthful statements by those who write for public reading. That such an investigation would not reveal anything that was wrong, or anything to be censured or cured, no one, I think, would maintain, but I do think that any fair investigation of the facts would show that conditions in and around the newer and later-developed coal mines and communities would compare favorably with those of manufacturing districts, and that where the mines and com- munities are old and not very attractive places to work, or live in, they carry with them other considerations, compensating for these conditions, and cannot be remedied by reason of a lack of sufficient coal to warrant economically any costly changes.

Jan 1, 1926

All aspects of precious metals processing were featured at a symposium held Oct. 3-6, 2007, at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, AZ. Although billed as "Precious Metals Processing: Advances in Primary and Secondary Operations," the symposium also looked at economic, regulatory and environmental issues affecting the precious metals industry. The symposium was sponsored by SME; The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS); and the International Precious Metals Institute (IPMI). It included workshops, technical presentations, guest speakers and social activities. Mining industry management, process engineers, equipment manufacturers, consultants, metals marketers, academics and others involved in the precious metals industry attended the conference. Needless to say, with gold nearing $25.721g ($800/oz) and platinum pushing $41.801g ($1,300/oz) at the time of the meeting, the mood among the attendees could not have been more positive. The symposium was privileged to have Father Ernest S. Sweeney, professor of Latin American History at Loyola Marymount University, as a guest speaker. Sweeney, a Jesuit priest, provided a colorful account of the history of mining in Arizona and the surrounding region of North America (Fig. 1). He described the importance of the mining industry and said, "To go down into the bowels of the earth to extract its riches for the benefit of all of us is an awesome task deserving our sincere respect and gratitude." However, he warned the industry that: "The ever increasing de¬mands on the mining community for the protection of the environment calls for endless efforts to maintain ethical standards in a business filled with risk, uncertainty and frustrations." Sweeney noted that the Spanish conquest of the Americas was driven by the three fundamental motives of "God, glory and gold." He noted that gold was the basic, most powerful driving force of the conquest and occupation of the Spanish empire. The first European to explore Arizona was the Franciscan missionary Marcos de Niza. He came to Arizona in 1539 in search of the fabled Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. Sweeny noted that Spanish explorers were consumed, as Cortes himself described it, "with a burning fever that only gold could cure." Sweeney told the story of some of these early explorers, including Francisco Vázquez de Coronado who "mounted an expedition in pursuit of gold and rich empires to conquer." Coronado passed through Arizona and discovered the Grand Canyon. "Coronado returned to Mexico exhausted, bankrupt and disillusioned, but with a wealth of new knowledge of the borderlands of the Spanish empire," said Sweeney. He then described the colorful history of early gold, silver and copper exploration and mining in Arizona, including the famous tale of the Lost Dutchman's Mine. In a luncheon address, David Kanagy, SME's executive director, introduced the attendees to the upcoming OneMine. org Web site. Kanagy told the audience" One-Mine.org will be a collaborative digital library that will

Jan 1, 2008

Organisations are starting to develop processes for achieving sustainability principles they have defined for their organisation. The foundation for these principles is now well accepted. The definition of a sustainability framework is a good starting point for any project. The delivery of the framework requires the organisation to think differently about how project objectives can be met. New tools are becoming available to help achieve the sustainability outcomes for the projects. This paper will examine the project building blocks that are necessary to ensure the sustainability framework can be achieved for the project. These include new approaches to decision-making processes and evaluation tools and when to apply them. An integrated approach with shared expertise to project delivery, which is applicable to the whole supply chain, will be discussed. This will cover sustainability procurement, integrated waste management, cleaner production and eco-efficiency, sustainable products and disposal. A project toolkit will be presented and some key project tools identified. The need for management support in undertaking these new approaches is critical, as is the need to develop partnerships and cooperative management to facilitate delivery.

Jan 1, 2004

By Henry M. Howe

PART I. § 1. Introduction. After giving certain definitions, this paper gives the reasons which led to Roozeboom's form of the diagram of the freezing-point curves and general equilibrium of the iron-carbon compounds, steel and cast-iron ; and then those which led to replacing it with the present or double diagram, in which graphite is at all temperatures held to be the more stable and cementite the less stable (metastable) form of carbon. Next in § 10 the evidence supporting this greater stability of graphite is examined, then in § 17 that which seems to oppose it, and in § 22 a summary of the evidence is presented. The second part of the paper considers the topography of the graphite-iron diagram, rejecting summarily the solubility-lines based on the data of Charpy and Grenet and of Mannes-mann, on the ground that the data even on their face do not really point toward these lines, and that they are wholly incompetent to determine any solubility-lines whatsoever, because they report together with the dissolved carbon also an indeterminate quantity of cement-carbon, and because even such carbon as is actually dissolved, only in part represents the solubility of graphite, and in another and indeterminate part represents the solubility of cementite, or at least of carbon in presence of cementite as distinguished from graphite. It might be thought that graphite is but slightly soluble in iron, because of the absence of any suggestions of eutectoid graphite, corresponding to the eutectoid cementite of pearlite in very many cases in which the cast-iron seems to consist of ferrite and massive graphite only, and because of the micrographs of Goerens and Gutowsky. In these the primary austenite of cast-iron quenched but little below the eutectic freezing-

Jan 7, 1908

By J. F. Barkley

To reduce fuel consumption in industrial and commercial fuel-burning plants throughout the Nation, cooperative efforts of thousands of individuals are required. These individuals are scattered over the country and hold various positions in thousands of independent establishments. To accomplish as much as possible on this problem during the Second World War, it was decided that personal contact with fuel users was absolutely necessary; publicity, although an important factor, could not by itself give satisfactory and needed results. It was planned to have qualified engineers visit commercial establishments to go over with them the problem of reducing their fuel consumption. The specific plan, toward which all efforts aimed and around which the rest of the program revolved, consisted in brief of 1. Conference of visiting engineer with management to obtain cooperation. 2. Appointment by management of a plant employee as fuel "waste chaser." 3. Work of engineer with "waste chaser" and, if appropriate, with plant operators on most efficient operation of equipment.

Jan 1, 1948

By Stuart Lister

"When MacLean Engineering chairman and founder Don MacLean got the first question from a minesite about the possibility of addressing ventilation limits through incremental fleet electrification, he was intrigued. It was back in 2015, and the MacLean scissor bolter was already diesel-electric (jumbo trailing cable), so it made sense to him that if they could engineer a battery drive system for the unit’s tramming cycle, they would have the inaugural electric vehicle (EV) MacLean unit.At that time, there were not any entirely diesel-free hard rock mines in existence on the planet, and that remains the case to this day — although the Borden project in northern Ontario is progressing toward that goal (see page 33). This meant there was essentially zero market demand for battery electric vehicles as well as a complete lack of battery technology to address the battery electrification of heavy haulage. Heavy haulage is the part of a typical mine’s mobile fleet with the largest footprint when it comes to diesel particulate emissions, greenhouse gases and wasted energy in the form of heat.Three years later — the wave of battery electrification that is currently picking up speed across the mining industry promises to hit full swing by the early 2020s when a slew of new build, diesel-free mines will start construction. But this movement toward emissions-free mobile fleets is not a completely new phenomenon. Instead, it is an updating of mining technology from a previous generation. What is going on now is the re-electrification of mining. Up until the 1960s, early generations of battery technology (lead acid) and electric locomotive systems were the norm for material and ore haulage in Canada and elsewhere.The thought of a coming paradigm change in mining was particularly pertinent to Don MacLean back in 2015, as he had been part of the era that ushered in the first generation of rubber-tire diesel equipment, when he was a divisional foreman with Inco in Sudbury in the 1970s. He was part of the operating team that was tasked to build a rail loop on one extraction level of the mine. At that time, events on the ground overtook the project, as diesel-powered mobile equipment became a viable option. Once the first diesel scoop was introduced at Creighton #3 shaft, it was clear what the power, haulage capacity and mobility could do for operations and that era of electric rail haulage underground was effectively over."

Jan 10, 2018

By C. E. Dobbin

The coal fields of Montana are widely distributed through the plains region in the eastern and northern parts of the State, and the mountain regions in the central, southern, and southwestern parts of the State. (See fig. 1.) SURFACE FEATURES The Fort Union region in eastern Montana is a broad plain of almost horizontal rocks, characterized by extensive "bad lands" along the larger streams and by red hills, benches, ridges, and buttes which represent shale and sandstone that have been fused by the burning of an underlying coal bed.

Jan 1, 1932

By Bujtor G. J, McMahon D. W

This guide to the understanding of ore reserve estimation is the revised version of a report with a similar title circulated within the CRA Limited (CRA) group of companies in mid-1980. It is the principal result to date of an Ore Reserve Study commissioned by CRA in late 1977.This guide to the understanding of ore reserve estimationis the revised version of a report with a similar titlecirculated within the CRA Limited (CRA) group ofcompanies in mid-1980. It is the principal result to dateof an Ore Reserve Study commissioned by CRA in late1977.The study was prompted by two ore reserve situations.The Zinc Corporation and New Broken Hill Consolidated,Broken Hill, had reached the point of havingto find a replacement 'for their traditional ore reserveprocedure and Mary Kathleen had to admit publicly thatore reserve predictions would not be realized. Thesewere not however the only problems to be looked at. Asmentioned more fully later, other ore reserve situationswere known, or were met during the study, in copper,gold and nickel as well, where poor realization: expectationratios had ranged from embarrassing to disastrous.These made it clear that ore reserve estimation had to belooked at afresh.The fresh look has resulted in a broadening of theconcept of ore reserve estimation from its traditionalpurely computational basis to an approach embracingall the many things that can affect expectation andrealization as essential factors. Hence this guiderepresents a gathering together of what has been learnedand what should be known to all those concerned withore reserves in any of its diverse aspects.The study has been marked"by a number of changesof thinking. At first the aspects that appeared to requireattention were two; recognition that an ore reserve statementwas an estimate, not a precise calculation; and asearch for im improved estimation procedure adapted tolow grade ores with narrow economic margins. Threeyears later the view was that the need was to incorporateinto ore reserve estimation all relevant aspects of theproposed mining operation from choice of a samplingmethod to sales contract specifications.This study is thought to be unique in being frankabout weaknesses in ore reserve estimation and intreating failures not as natural disasters (like drought orflood, which have to be endured) but as potentiallyavoidable. It has led to three principal conclusions.

Jan 1, 1982

By J. J. Forbes

This publication is a revision of the first of a series of four Miners' Circulars originally prepared and issued in 19'29 for use in a course of training designed to prepare mine officials to organize men for rescue and recovery operations. These circulars were revised in 1937 and 1938 and again in 1948. This circular (Miners' Circular 33) discusses mine gases and methods for detecting them. The second of this series (Miners' Circular 34) gives instruction in Bureau of Mines methods of sampling and analysis of mine gases; the third (Miners' Circular 35) describes methods and equipment used for protection against mine gases; and the fourth (Miners' Circular 36) explains procedures used in sealing and unsealing mine fires and in recovery operations after mine fires or mine explosions.

Jan 1, 1954

"The characterisation of resources and description of variability across different ore domains is key to accurate prediction of probable metallurgical performance. Such characterisation testwork often has limited drill-core from which to work and this immediately confines the characterisation method to smallscale. For flotation feeds, the JKMSI (Mineral Separability Indicator) is being developed as a potential characterisation tool, building on earlier work by Chudacek, (1990), which used shaken test tubes, and was called the EMDEE device. In addition, the consistency of flotation recovery for specified size fractions has shown to be preserved, irrespective of the amount of material in that size fraction obtained by different milling conditions, so that the overall recovery can be estimated from knowing the particle size distribution (McIvor and Finch, 1991; Bazin et al, 1994, Runge, 2007 and Wightman et al, 2010) The JKMSI unit uses less than 10 g of material per test in narrowly sized classes and results to date have demonstrated the value of the test. This paper discusses the potential of the test by demonstrating the link between JKMSI performance and mineralogy of five different ores from Laguna Seca, Escondida Minera Limitada as well as the correlation to plant scale performance obtained in an earlier survey (Coleman et al, 2006). Further work to tie down the proof of representatively of the small sample has been identified and is discussed and included in the paper. INTRODUCTIONSince the uptake of the flotation process at the turn of the twentieth century, small scale, laboratory methods have been sought to characterise flotation response. Although laboratory batch flotation tests are the most widely used method to evaluate reagents, characterise ore variability and obtain suitable model parameters using various scale up factors Runge (2101) other methods using less ore would be useful where ore samples were limited.A method using test tubes for testing ores’s flotation response to reagents was first developed by Ian Walk (Wark & Wark, 1935; Wark; 1938; Sutherland and Wark 1955). In these tests a 50 cc stoppered measuring cylinder served as a means for a qualitative experiment, the aeration being effected through violent shaking by hand. In these experiments about 10 g of mineral was ground by pestle and mortar under water after which the ground material was deslimed and adequately conditioned with the appropriate reagents."

Jan 1, 2013

By Georgene Renner

At the beginning of the 1990s, Communism fell and signaled the end of the Cold War. The world rejoiced but also watched and waited to see how those countries would restructure themselves. The 1990 SME Annual Meeting was held at the Salt Palace Center in Salt Lake City, UT. The keynote session featured Alistair Frame, chairman of RTZ; Paul Queneau, professor of metallurgy at the University of Utah; and TS Ary, director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The SME Board of Directors voted to hire a Manager of Public Information and Education to be the GEM Program coordinator. This person was to collect and disseminate information that could be used by individual members and Local Sections to interface with government personnel and the general public.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. C. Potvin

Although the occurrence of deposits of titanium minerals on Kenya’s present day beaches and adjacent dune systems has been well documented, the potential for older formations to host economically viable deposits had not been recognised until recently. The Magarini sands formation in Kenya has been found to contain deposits of ilmenite, rutile and zircon in quantities and grades that have the potential to be commercially exploited. Since 1995, Tiomin Resources Inc. has explored these deposits and has identified one deposit, the Kwale project, as being able to support the development of a mine producing some 300,000 tpa ilmenite, 75,000 tpa rutile and 37,000 tpa zircon. Tiomin plans to start production by late 2002. Construction of a US$137 million operation is set to commence in the first half of 2001.

Jan 1, 2001

By Sufi Md Gulzar, L B. Roy

Rock engineering tasks like tunnelling, dam and building construction, and rock slope stability rely heavily on properly estimating the rock’s uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), a crucial rock geomechanical characteristic. As high-quality specimen are not always possible, scientists often estimate UCS indirectly. The primary objective of this paper is to assess the efficacy of long short-term memory (LSTM), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), a combination of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) with an artificial neural network (ANN), and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to estimate the UCS of sandstones from Jharia, Dhanbad, India. Point load index (PLI), porosity (n), P-wave velocity (Vp), density (ρ), and moisture content (%) are the parameters used for the present study. Finally, a comparison was made between the various prediction algorithms outputs. The findings of the study validated the effectiveness of computational intelligence methods in forecasting UCS compared to other models used in this paper. The KNN achieves overall the best results, with an R2 of 0.95 for training, 0.94 for testing, and an RMSE of 0.03 for training and 0.05 for testing.

Nov 23, 2023

By Messenger A. J, Miles J. G

A thermal neutron irradiation technique using a mCf neutron source has been developed and applied to thp.simultaneous determination of iron and aluminium (expressed as AI2O3) in iron ore fines (-6 mm particle size) on a moving rubber conveyor belt.While the determination of iron with this technique is based on the use of a NaI(TI) detector to monitor the characteristic prompt gamma rays (7.64 MeV) emitted by thermal neutron capture reactions in the iron, the etermination of AI2O3 is based on the use of a second Nal(Tl) detector to monitor the characteristic gamma rays (1.78 MeV) emitted after thermal neutron activation of the aluminium. The second detector is located downstream from the first. Although the speed of the conveyor belt has no direct effect on the iron measurements, it must not exceed about 3 m/min if good accuracy is required for the AI2O3 measurements. Consequently an auxiliary conveyor belt is required in order to avoid interference with normal ore processing.Dynamic trials of the technique, using 1500 kg samples of ore on a 460 mm-wide rubber conveyor belt moving at 1.7 m/min, have demonstrated that the method can achieve accuracies of 0.7% Fe and 0.1% AI2O3. At the present stage of development, it is recommended that lump ore be crushed to a particle size of 6 mm before analysis.In addition to iron and AI2O3 determinations, measurements of total moisture content and bulk density are possible. The determination of Si02 is also feasible, but a separate fast neutron source (e.g., Am-Be) and a separate gamma ray detector are required.

Jan 1, 1980

By RUSSELL C. FLEMING

GILSONITE is a brilliant black, tarry-like bitumen, classed technically with glance pitch and graharnite as an asphaltite. As found it is brittle, breaking much like ice, and has a conchoidal fracture. Purest forms are used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, electrical irisulatiorl, and inks for rotogravure; molded articles such as switch handles, telephone mouthpieces, and but- tons are made from the intermediate grades, and the poorer grades are used for the saturation of felt. According to the U. S. Bureau of Mines figures, production grew from about 4000 tons mined in 1904 to 55,000 tons in 1929. This asphaltic substance is found only in the Uintah basin in northeastern Utah, in veins over a wide area. Veins in the vicinity of Fort nuchesne were first discovered about 18G2, on what was then the Uintah Indian reservation, and the vein matter was originally called Uintaite because of that fact, In the early days, S. H. Gilson. of Salt Lake City, was so persistent and zealous in his efforts to develop the deposits and find a market that the name gilsonite was given to the material. Later, the wider and more renowned wins near Wayson and Dragon, in extreme eastern Utah, became the main supply.

Jan 1, 1932