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By Corale L. Brierley

Accumulations of microorganisms in the in-situ leaching environment are believed responsible for plugging of the orebody and thus decreasing uranium extraction. To assess the contribution of microbial growth to this problem, packed columns of ore and core specimens were leached in the laboratory. Samples collected at four in-situ uranium mining operations revealed pseudomonads, xanthomonads, Bacillus sp. and Micrococcus sp. in numbers of 105 cfu/ml. These microorganisms, inoculated into simulated leaching conditions, decreased permeability in two uranium ores by one order of magnitude in 20 days. Hydrogen peroxide (0.2 g/l) alleviated microbial plugging in the laboratory. Periodic injection of hydrogen peroxide through the production well into the orebody may reduce microbial plugging problems in the field.

Jan 1, 1982

By L. C. Brichta

The Tri-State zinc-lead catalog, compilation of which was initiated by the Bureau of Mines in August 1949, is designed to provide a continuing record of avail-able drill-hole logs and maps of mine developments in the zinc-lead district in southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma. The maps and data thus preserved constitute a reservoir of factual information readily available to individuals and firms interested in planning mineral explorations, to Government agencies for formulating estimates or ore reserves, and to the mining industry in the district for general uses. The areas to be included in the catalog embrace the explored and mined tracts within 760,000 acres of the more active western part of the district. The consensus among local mine operators, geologists, and mining engineers is that over 100,000 boles, costing more than $30,000,000, have been drilled in the district. Records of some of the early drilling and mine developments are destroyed or lost, but the Bureau of Mines has copies of about 47,500 drill-hole logs and is accumulating and recording on microfilm those that are currently available. As of May 1, 1954, the logs of approximately 28,000 drill holes had been microfilmed and are available for inspection at the Bureau of Mines office, Joplin, Mo.

Jan 1, 1955

By Robert C. Gabler

Evaluation of incinerated sewage sludge as a secondary resource for aluminum, phosphorus, and minor constituents such as copper and zinc was initiated as part of the Bureau of Mines secondary resource program. The elemental composition of sludge ash for 14 plants in 11 U.S. cities was determined. Comparing industrialized cities with cities where most of the sewage is domestic, significant differences in heavy metal content were noted. Various parameters were investigated affecting the extraction of metals and phosphorus from a typical industrial city sludge ash and from a Palo Alto, Calif., sludge ash with a high precious metal content. Three extraction-recovery procedures for metals and phosphorus using sulfuric acid leaching, ion exchange, and various precipitation techniques were investigated. The last procedure developed was a combination approach using a three-stage countercurrent sulfuric acid leach that recovered most of the economic values from the sludge ash and also removed the leachable fraction of elements of environmental concern.

Jan 1, 1979

By Curt D. Edgerton

This study was made to determine trends in fresh water usage by California petroleum refineries, to forecast fresh water requirements to 1975, and to evaluate water conservation practices. Statistical data used in the study were obtained largely from published sources and from records of selected companies. An adequate sampling of the State's refining capacity was obtained, and the data were extrapolated to the total California refining capacity. A breakdown of the data was then made on the basis of the following refining regions: (1) the Los Angeles Basin and Southern Coastal region, (2) the Southern San Joaquin Valley, and (3) the San Francisco Bay area. An unpublished forecast of crude oil input to refineries by a major oil company operating on the West Coast was used as a basis for predicting fresh-water usage. The 1963 fresh water intake by California petroleum refineries was 84 million gallons per day. This is expected to increase to 128 million gallons per day by 1975. The fresh-water to crude-oil ratio is increasing in all regions except the Southern San Joaquin Valley. At present, the supply of fresh water available to almost all of the State's petroleum refineries, mostly from surface sources and company-owned wells, is adequate, although shortages may develop within the foreseeable future. Present conservation methods are centered around the following four objectives: (1) minimum intake of fresh water of the lowest possible quality commensurate with sound technologic practice; (2) optimum recirculation; (3) proper treatment before discharge; and (4) substitution of air cooling for water cooling.

Jan 1, 1965

By M. G. Zabetakis

The use of liquid hydrogen as a high-energy fuel introduces numerous hazards not ordinarily associated with the use of other more conventional fuels. These hazards are attributable to the unique properties of hydrogen in the liquid and gas states (table 1). Since little work has been conducted on explosion and related hazards of cryogenic fuels, a research program was undertaken to obtain basic data on such dangers for hydrogen and other combustibles under these conditions. These data were used to outline emergency procedures for protecting personnel and equipment when an accidental spillage of liquid hydrogen occurs and to establish a quantity-distance table for the storage of this fuel. The vaporization of liquid hydrogen from a surface is treated as a prob¬lem in heat transfer theory. Two extreme cases are briefly considered: (1) The transfer of heat occurs at constant temperature drop between, the boiling liquid and the hot surface, and (2) the transfer of heat is limited by the rate at which it can flow to the surface from a hot insulating medium. The available data indicate that the former case (1) is applicable when vaporizing from a conducting surface and, initially, when vaporizing from an insulating medium; the latter case (2) is applicable after initial flash vaporization has occurred from the insulating medium. The vaporization rate determines in part the rate at which flammable hydrogen vapor-air mixtures are formed above a spill area. However, the rates at which heat is transferred to the vapor, and air is brought in contact with it also are of importance. Accordingly, the distribution of flammable mixtures above a spill area was determined experimentally. In general, flammable mixtures were found to be both above and within the visible vapor cloud.

Jan 1, 1961

By Curt D. Jr. Edgerton

This study was made to determine trends in fresh water usage by California petroleum refineries, to Forecast fresh water requirements to 1975, and to evaluate water conservation practices. Statistical data used in the study were obtained largely from published sources and from records of selected companies. An adequate sampling of the State's refining capacity was obtained, and the data were extrapolated to the total California refining capacity. A breakdown of the data was then made on the basis of the following refining regions: (1) the Los Angeles Basin and Southern Coastal region, (2) the Southern San Joaquin Valley, and (3) the San Francisco Bay area. An unpublished forecast of crude oil input to refineries by a major oil company operating on the West Coast was used as a basis for predicting fresh-water usage. The 1963 fresh water intake by California petroleum refineries was 84 million gallons per day. This is expected to increase to 128 million gallons per day by 1975. The fresh-water to crude-oil ratio is increasing in all regions except the Southern San Joaquin Valley. At present, the supply of fresh water available to almost all of the State's petroleum refineries, mostly from surface sources and company-owned wells, is adequate, although shortages may develop within the foreseeable future. Present conservation methods are centered around the following four objectives: (1) minimum intake of fresh water of the lowest possible quality commensurate with sound technologic practice; (2) optimum recirculation (3) proper treatment before discharge; and (4) substitution of air cooling for water cooling.

Jan 1, 1965

By Paul Clayton

Case Study ? Site: BMA Saragi Coal Mine Queensland Australia ? Model: Marion 8050 ? YOM: Mid 1970s ? Boom: 97M ? Bucket: Original capacity of 100 Tonnes upgraded to 125 tonnes at time of filtration upgrade. ? Apps: Swing, Hoist & Drag Gearboxes ? Oil: Oil Castrol Alpha TT1200 Viscosity of 1208 cSt @ 40° C (104° F) 720ltr Oil Volume Trial and Installation Justifications ? To reduce gearbox overhauls. Typical schedule being 5 years. ? Bucket upgrade from 100 tonnes to 125 tonnes. Increased gearbox demand and stress. ? Increase of overhauls out to 10 years + ? Saving per Dragline estimated to be US$8-10M in downtime and maintenance if successful. ? In compliance with BHPBilliton Global Maintenance FLAC program ? Fuels, Lubricants, Air and Coolants ? Cost Justification ? Downtime: 4 days ? Lost production: $420,000 ? Cost of parts: $162,000 ? Labour and misc: $41,000 Gearbox failure cost $623,000

May 1, 2008

By H. Conrad, E. Stofel

The fracture behavior of 60-deg-oriented sapphire crystals was investigated for both tension and compression. Plastic flow on the basal plane was found to be a factor in reducing the tensile stress required to produce fracture in the temperature RECENT experiments1-' have shown that single crystals of a alumina (sapphire) can deform plastically, particularly at temperatures greater than 1000°C. The effect of this plastic flow on the fracture behavior of sapphire was not established, but range 1100º to 1500ºC. Mechanical twins, both (0001) and (0111) types, were produced by compression in the temperature range 1100" to 1300°C. Cracks propagated more readily along the twin boundaries than in the nontwinned crystal. experiments with other ceramic crystals4'5 have shown that plastic flow can initiate cracks that lead to catastrophic failure. This suggests by analogy that plastic flow might also be an important factor in the fracture of sapphire crystals. A recent experimental investigationS undertaken to determine the mechanism of plastic flow in sapphire provided an opportunity to study the type of fracture produced after various amounts of plastic shear strain. The results of this study of fracture are reported in the present paper. During the course of

Jan 1, 1963

By G. Ranjan

The designers and the practicing engineers have started using latest and cost effective techniques of ground improvements which utilise the weak and poor sub-soil deposits efficiently for the civil engineering construction. In the present investigation, a new concept of 'skirted granular piles' has been advocated. An effective method of construction of granular piles as an economical alternative to vibroflot, and the skirt has been developed. The construction technique is based on indigeneous know how which effectively utilises the man-power technology avoiding import of costly equipment suiting to the developing countries. Full scale insitu tests have been carried out at four sites, having different soil conditions, on virgin weak sub-soil, and improved ground by casting plain and skirted granular piles. Effectiveness of different types of skirt has been demonstrated through insitu tests. A simple analytical approach has been proposed to predict the ultimate pile capacity. The predicted values of ultimate capacity have been found to demonstrate a good correspondance. Granular pile behaviour in terms of pile depth, diameter, spacing and stress deformation characteristics of the improved ground have been discussed. A significant improvement in ultimate capacity in improved ground has been noted. This is further augmented when granular pile group is skirted.

Jan 1, 2010

By E. E. Ungar

The ways in which noise is generated and radiated by chutes and screens are described and corresponding noise control concepts are discussed. The amounts of noise reduction produced by applicable noise control means are delineated and generally cost-effective means are recommended. Available noise control materials and their applications are discussed. The results of field measurements, laboratory experiments, theoretical analyses, and studies of data provided by suppliers are summarized.

Jan 1, 1975

To explain in any depth the industrial relations of Broken Hill I believe that it is necessary to trace some of the many happenings that created the present industrial climate. While appreciating that our relations with the local industry are relatively good, it must be pointed out that to preserve and improve this present situation a duty is owed to everyone connected with the industry (workers, share- holders, etc.) by management and unions to see that just and reasonable agreements are found for any disputes. If the companies ever take the local position for granted it would soon die, killed by someone who may get some short term benefit, but who would lose something of incalculable worth in the long run. Similar- ly if the unions were to adopt some of the "wild cat" methods adopted in other parts of

Jan 1, 1975

By S. k. Kim, H. B. Trinh, R. R. Srivastava

"Spent auto-catalyst is a promising secondary resource of platinum group metals (PGMs), which are being extensively used in automobiles catalytic converters to control the hazardous gaseous emissions (CO, NOx and hydrocarbons). Several pyro or hydrometallurgical routes has been employed to recover PGMs from such spent materials but there is no proper process for recovering the other constituents metals. Therefore, it causes the loss of other major constituents like, Al and Mg along with rare earth metal Ce. In the present study, we investigate the dissolution of Al and Mg using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) roasting followed by a sulfuric acid (H2SO4) leaching; thereby concentrating the PGMs and Ce in leached residues. The effect of roasting temperature, time and amount of NaOH were varied. Subsequently, the dissolution behavior of metals in H2SO4 as a function of acid concentration was investigated from the roasted samples. At an optimal condition for roasting at 600°C with 1:1 NaOH-to-catalyst ratio and 60 min duration, the maximum of Al and Mg were dissolved in 1 M H2SO4 solution at ambient temperature (~25°C). Thus obtained leached residues containing enriched PGMs and Ce content can be treated separately for the recovery of these high-value metals.INTRODUCTION Spent auto-catalyst has been considered as a potential resource for recovering the platinum group metals (PGMs) (Jha et al., 2013). The commonly used auto-catalyst is made of cordierite (2MgO.2Al2O3.5SiO2) in which the chloro complexes of PGMs are impregnated onto the surfaces of porous washcoat of alumina substrate (Aberasturi et al., 2011). The average concentration of PGMs in ore are 2-4 g/ton for Pt, 7-2 g/ton for Pd and 0.2-0.5 g/ton for Rh, whereas, an individual catalytic converter weighing about 1 - 2 kg contains on average 1.56 g Pt, 0.62 g Pd and 0.156 g Rh (Upadhyay et al., 2013). Moreover, recovery of PGMs from spent auto-catalyst offers other advantages like, simple process, low cost and less pollution, as compared to recovery from primary resources (Dong et al., 2015).Therefore, technologies to recover PGMs from spent auto-catalyst has become attractive in the recent past and their recycling contribution has been accounted for 35% Pt, 26% Pd and 36% Rh of the quantity consumed in the production of auto-catalysts (Johnson Matthey, 2016)."

Jan 1, 2017

By J. M. Kuchta

The Bureau of Mines investigated four simulated coal gob fires to obtain a more reliable data base for defining the state of a sealed mine fire and to evaluate the performance of various fire detectors. The fires were conducted in a multiple-entry section of the Bruceton Experimental Mine by heating 4,000 to 21,000 pounds of rubblized bituminous coal to ignition and monitoring the temperature, gas emissions, and smoke under ventilated and sealed combustion conditions. Product gas concentrations depended upon the coal bed size, coal temperature, heating rate, and oxygen concentration or ventilating condition but varied little after the fires were sealed. Expressions are given that define the temporal variation of CO and O2 after sealing when the coal temperature decreased rapidly. The CO/C02 ratio is a more sensitive fire indicator than the CO/?02 ratio, although the latter is universally used for detecting the incipient state of a coal fire. In comparison, the Jones-Trlckett ratio [ CO2 + ¾ CO ? ¼ H2 ?O2] is less reliable for this purpose. The best detector for determining the state of a mine fire after it has been sealed was a prototype submicrometer smoke particulate sensor. Limitations of the various detector systems are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1982

By W. R. Crane

DRAINAGE in these mines has been discussed in papers, on mining practice,1 but the fact that water, varying from 0.16 to 3.46 and averaging 1.43 times the amount of ore mined, has to be pumped from the mines daily, indicates the importance of the problem and the advisability of making a thorough investigation of the source of mine water, its mode of entry into the mines, its effect upon mining conditions; and consideration of means of improving the conditions. While conditions are not serious, yet there is danger that they may become worse if present mining practice is continued, owing to the presence of formations, known to carry large quantities of water, that overlie the ore bed worked. Much detailed information has been collected regarding: rainfall, and run-off in streams draining the district; the effect of different kinds of formations, porous and non-porous; the inclination of the surface; the condition of the surface above the mines, i. e., whether or not disturbed by ground movement; the occurrence of the ore and character of associated formations, particularly with respect to presence of jointing or slip planes, faults, etc.; failure of top rock in the old stopes; and the conditions under which water effects entrance into the mines, i. e., whether as a natural or forced flow. The study furnished fundamental data on the source of waters now entering the mines and that which may later enter due to collapse of top formations in. abandoned workings. The presence of jointing, or slip planes, has a pronounced influence upon the whole drainage problem. These present lines of least resistance to the water and, by weakening the top formations, cause fracturing of the overlying rock, allowing both surface and deep-seated waters to enter the mines.

Jan 1, 1927

The preamble to the mining Act sets out that such Act is to provide for the encouragement and regulation of mining within the State of Queensland. This paper will attempt to follow the legislative path of such aim and in particular to show what part Mining Wardens play in the administration of the Mining Act.The Mining Act empowers the Governor in Council to constitute Mining Districts and Mining Fields and to appoint any duly qualified officer of the Public Service of Queensland to be a Warden or a Mining Registrar. As a matter of practice Stipendiary Magistrates who hold office in the major centre within a Mining District are appointed Wardens and Clerks of the Court are appointed Mining Registrars. In some districts where there is no Stipendiary Magistrate the Clerk of the Court is appointed an Acting Warden with all the powers of a Warden. Every Warden so appointed is a Warden for the whole State.To achieve impartiality Section 74 of the Mining Act provides that a Warden shall not hold or be entitled (directly or indirectly) to the benefits of any share or interest in a mining tenement or mining venture and provides a penalty of $1000 or imprisonment for six months or both, for contravention of such section.

Jan 1, 1986

By Arthur Phillips, E. S. Bunn

During the past few years considerable interest has been shown in the study of fiber, and its effect, in wrought metals. Fiber has recently been defined as a "condition of parallelism of important lines or details in the structure."' Briefly stated, two distinct types of fiber are commonly encountered. One results from the alignment in the direction of working of constituents, more or less segregated, such as slag, oxides, carbides and dendritic formations. The second, and least understood, type is produced by working the metal below the recrystallization temperature in such a way as to develop a parallelism of the grains. This condition is readily recognized by the pronounced elongation of the grains in the direction of working. Under certain deformational treatments the grain fragments produced by cold working tend to orient in certain definite directions with respect to the axis of extension. Furthermore, even in metals that have been annealed after cold working preferred orientations may be present. It is perhaps logical to assume that such marked parallelism of structural elements would be manifested by directional properties in the metal. As a matter of fact, tests on many kinds of materials have shown differences in varying degrees. In recognition of this condition, proper design, for many purposes, places the fiber axis in such a way as to present the direction of maximum strength to the greatest applied stress. Earlier Investigations Howe2 has written at considerable length regarding the causes and practical significance of fiber in steel and wrought iron. His studies showed that wrought iron and the puddled steel sheets (materials of plastic origin) were weaker transversely than longitudinally. The transverse deficit ranged from 5 to 29 per cent. The longitudinal tests

Jan 1, 1931

By E. S. Greiner

Germanium and silicon have been plastically deformed in torsion at elevated temperatures. Slip took place on the four {Ill} planes. Dislocations, revealed by etch pits on a (111) face, occurred in rows that were traces of operative slip planes. THE plastic deformation of germanium and silicon by bending and tension at elevated temperatures has been reported by Gallagher.&apos; Transla-tional slip during plastic flow in these materials, according to Gallagher&apos; and Treuting,&apos; occurs on (111) planes. Recent work by Treuting&apos; indicates the direction of slip to be <1l0>. The present paper describes the plastic flow characteristics of germanium and silicon deformed by torsion. Torsional deformation was accomplished by twisting 1/4x1/4x2 in. specimens held in molybdenum grips and contained in an atmosphere of helium in a transparent quartz tube and heated by an external resistance furnace. The angular displacements were measured on a graduated circle with a pointer attached to the movable grip. Temperatures were measured with a chromel-alumel couple; the hot junction was within the quartz tube and in close proximity to the specimen. Photographs of samples of germanium and silicon twisted at 850" and 1180°C, respectively, are shown in Fig. 1. The germanium was twisted 230" per in. and the silicon 80" per in. These deformations are larger than those used in experiments to be described later and are presented only to emphasize the extensive plasticity of these materials. Germanium A single crystal specimen of germanium (n-type, 7 ohm-cm resistivity) with a (111) plane normal within 3" of the torsion axis, Fig. 2, was chemically polished with CP-4 solution" and then twisted 9" during the twisting of these specimens of germanium, the slip lines from the (lli) plane should have appeared in the four lateral faces instead of in only two. Perhaps the absence of rotational slip is brought about by the square cross-section. A cylindrical specimen would have a more uniform stress distribution in torsion than one with a square cross-section, and may deform by rotational slip. A specimen of germanium (n-type, 5 ohm-cm resistivity) twisted less than 8" per in. at 550°C, was cut to expose the (111) face 19" 28&apos; from the torsion axis, Fig. 4a. This face, after metallographic

Jan 1, 1956

By A. F. Sirianni

The Peace River iron ore deposit represents the sole source of raw material for an integrated steel industry in Alberta. The ore has proved refractory to beneficiation by a number of techniques. A selective oil-phase agglomeration technique is described. Medium-grade concentrates, analyzing 48-53% Fe and 10-14% SiO2 were obtained with recoveries of about 75% of the total iron. These results appear to represent the optimum possible for this ore body.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. J. Wasilewski

Elastic constants have been determined on single crystals of maximum-melting-temperature NiAl compound (50.6 at. pct Al) at 25°C. Temperature variations of Young&apos;s modulus in the three principal crystal directions between -150°C and +800°C exhibit no anomalies similar to those repovted for the isomor-phous compounds brass and AuCd. It is concluded that the ordered CsCl structure is stable throughout the temperuture range investigated NICKEL aluminide is a congruently melting inter-metallic compound of CsCl (B2) structure, stable over a rather wide composition range (40 to 54 pct Al). It exhibits a lattice-parameter maximum of a. = 2.883A at 50.6 pct 1,&apos; at which composition the excess aluminum atoms are randomly distributed on the vacant nickel sites;&apos; at higher nickel compositions the excess nickel atoms replace substitutionally in aluminum sites, while at higher aluminum compositions vacancies are present in the nickel sublattice.&apos; For compositions close to NiAl no significant variation in order has been observed at temperatures up to 900°C.3 At high nickel (65 pct) compositions the existence of a martensitic structural transformation has been reported.4 NiAl is isomorphous with the ordered B-brass structure and with the high-temperature structures of AuCd and TiNi alloys close to equiatomic composition. All of these exhibit anomalous elastic behavior as the temperature of their diffusionless transformation to lower-symmetry structures is approached.&apos;-&apos; This behavior has been explained as indicative of low stability of the CsCl structure in these compounds.8 The present paper reports the experimental determination of the elastic compliances of single-crystal NiA1. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 1) Specimens. Polycrystalline NiAl was prepared by induction melting of carbonyl nickel and high-purity aluminum and casting into solid copper molds in gettered helium atmosphere. The castings thus produced were canned in mild steel and impact-extruded at 1100 to 1200°C to 38-in.diam rod. After the steel sheath was pickled off, the rods were converted to single crystals by repeated high-frequency satisfactorily produced the desired orientations in the form of crystals 38 in. diam by 8-12 in. long. These were subsequently center less-ground to 7 to 8 mm diam by 12 cm long, electropolished (in 80 pct methanol, 20 pct HzSO, at 25°C and 15 v), and their axial orientation determined to 1 deg by the Laue back-reflection technique. The rod dimensions were determined to 0.01 mm and the densities determined from geometrical dimensions and the weight of every specimen. The average density was 5.905 0.005 g per cu cm. 2) Elastic Data Measurements. Room-temperature elastic compliances Sii were obtained by determining to 0.1 cps the fundameGtal resonance frequencies in the longitudinal and torsional vibration modes. At these frequencies the following relations hold: E =p(2lfif =pvl= Sn- 2r[Sll- S12- -£„«] g -P(2iftf = pvf = (s<« - fr(sii - sw - ±s»y where vl and vt are the velocities, and f andft the resonance frequencies of the longitudinal and torsional waves, respectively; 1 is the length of the specimen, and r is the direction cosine factor—{cos2 a • cos2 0 + cos2 a . cos2 y + cos2 0 ¦ cos2 Y}. Given three crystals of orientations (loo), (110), and (111)) i.e., F = 0, 14, and 13, we can obtain six equations for the three unknown compliances, thus providing adequate internal check. Mode mixing can readily occur in the relatively long wavelength resonance utilized here. This could cause a significant error in the torsion wave velocities calculated from the apparent resonance frequenies. Therefore, throughout the present work, a method, described previosl,&apos; was used to ensure that no significant mode mixing took place at resonance. The apparatus used was originally designed for the Elastomat, Magnaflux Corp.. Chicago, 111. determination of flexural vibration resonance frequencies. At room temperature torsional vibration mode could be established by suitable positioning of the thin wires from the input and pick-up transducers, and longitudinal mode by cementing thin magnetic foils at the ends of the specimen, and inducing the vibration by means of electromagnetic transducers. Only flex-ural resonance frequencies could, however, be obtained reproducibly over the temperature range of -150 to 800°C. These data are considerably less accurate, the error in the modulus being estimated at -0.6 pct from the specimen dimensions and the room-temperature Poisson&apos;s ratio. The reproducibility of the resonance frequencies in repeat runs was, however, to better than l in 15,000, hence the relative elastic modulus error less than 0.02 pct. Therefore, the temperature variation of the principal Young&apos;s moduli obtained by flexural resonance, relative to room-temperature values, is believed to be satisfactorily accurate.

Jan 1, 1967

By Richard E. Otoo, Evan J. Owen, Virginia T. McLemore

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a critical mineral is one that is essential to the economic well -being of a nation and whose supply may be disrupted due to geological, geopolitical or environmental factors (Nassar et al., 2020). For example, REEs are critical to the production of electricvehicle motors as well as wind turbines, yet China’s share of their global production rose to more than 95 percent in 2010 (IEA, 2021). China’s share has since declined, with production quotas dropping to nearly 70 percent by 2023 (Statista, 2023). This and similar situations with many of the critical minerals raise deep global concerns about supply-chain vulnerabilities (Bauer et al., 2011). Critical minerals are used in the production of renewable energy, electronics, agricultural products and common household items (McLemore, 2020). As the global demand for these minerals continues to grow, it is not sufficient to rely solely on scaling up production from existing operations. While increasing production from known deposits can provide short-term relief, long-term resource security requires discovering new, economically viable mineral resources. One of the most effective ways to secure future supply is through mineral exploration, which increases the global inventory of critical minerals and also minimizes risks posed by market monopolies and political instability. The major challenge of mineral exploration lies not only in identifying mineralized deposits but also in determining whether discovered concentrations are sufficient to warrant further investigation and development. A fundamental concept in this decision-making process is using cut-off grade. In this article, cut-off grade refers to the minimum concentration of minerals required to justify further exploration efforts based on factors such as type and size of mineral deposit, mining and processing technologies, associated byproducts/coproducts and the market price of these minerals. Typically, economic cut-off grades are used to determine whether a mineral deposit can be mined profitably. However, this article focuses on preliminary cut-off grades needed to establish whether the amounts of critical minerals within a deposit are high enough to justify further exploration and detailed evaluations. By comparing mineral deposit grades, size, production and extraction technology, and other economic factors with established and active mines, exploration teams can estimate cut-off grades that justify further exploration.

Aug 1, 2025