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By M. J. Gouws, T. P. Knoetze

The spontaneous combustion of coal and the explosion of coal dust are two phenomena that were identified by the South African mining industry as requiring investigation. Research contracts were awarded to the G.P. Badenhorst Research Facility of the CSIR and the Department of Mining Engineering of the university of the Witwatersrand by the now defunct National Energy Council. Both projects entailed tests on numerous coal samples in specially designed apparatus. Since the completion of the project, attempts have been made to predict experimental results without incurring the cost of performing experiments. This paper describes predictive indices, based on routine laboratory tests, that were developed by the different research teams for their particular projects. A comparison of the results obtained by applying the spontaneous combustion liability index and the explosibility index to common coal samples indicates that, in general, propensity to spontaneous combustion and explosibility exhibit an inverse relationship. A brief overview is given of some major South African coal-mine disasters.

Jan 1, 1995

By D. Ackerman, S. Cole, G. Langefeld, I. Parker

The removal of gravel from the seabed using a hydraulic mining tool is a complex multi-phase problem that cannot be analysed using traditional continuum based simulation techniques. One potential approach is to simulate the behaviours of the solid phase via the discrete element method and the liquid phase via finite volume based computational fluid dynamics. The interaction between the phases is accounted for by Eulerian coupling. The feasibility of using the combined computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method to simulate gravel entrainment from an idealized seabed is evaluated. The simulation results are validated using experimental data. It is concluded that while the current approach appears feasible, further work needs to be done to improve the accuracy of the simulation and to evaluate the approach?s ability to model more complex behaviours.

Jan 1, 2007

By A. C. Legg

BCL Limited operates a nickel-copper flash smelting operation at Selebi-Phikwe, situated in north-eastern Botswana. The original furnace was commissioned in 1973 and produces a high grade sulphide matte, from its own concentrates plus additional custom feeds, which is shipped to refineries in Zimbabwe and Norway for further processing. In 2004 the company embarked on a study to modernize the flash smelting complex, with an emphasis on extending campaign life, improving the furnace integrity and enhancing throughput and process efficiency. First phase initiatives from this exercise, including the fundamental switch to a single concentrate burner operation of the flash smelting furnace, were implemented in July 2007. This paper summarizes experiences prior to implementation, details the specific improvements made to the flash smelting furnace and associated operations, highlights the improved plant performance after modernization, and outlines second phase expansion plans that are currently under consideration.

Jan 1, 2009

The auriferous Carbon Leader reef which is the subject of this study can be subdivided into two types of sedimentological units, each with its characteristic spatial variability. For the longwall mining method applied at Western Deep Levels gold mine, subdivision of the orebody improves the estimation of the actual error variance, but not the grade estimates themselves. This can only be achieved by choosing oreblocks of a size and shape that are maximal parallel to the longwall and minimal at right angles to it, within the limits of mining restrictions. While simple kriging is the only method that gives unbiased results, the difference between untransformed and logtransformed kriging is negligible.

Jan 1, 1987

It is a great honour to officiate at the celebration of the centenary of the South African Institute of Mining and Metalurgy. Tonight's festivities bring back happy memories of my association with South Africa's mining industry during my tenure of office as Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs. They also remind me of the illustrious personalities who have preceded me on this podium. The Pioneers They include Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, who spoke in 1909 on the eve of the Union, General Smuts, and, on many occasions during the 1920s and 1930, Jan H. Hofmeyr. The basic issues addressed by them continue to enjoy the Institute's attention today, namely the optimal and safe exploitation of our country's mineral resources and cost-effective extraction of minerals from their ores. Translated into the Institute's key objective it reads: To initiate and give effect to the means whereby the requirements for technology and scientific knowledge if the minerals and metals section if the South African economy is satisfied.

Jan 1, 1994

By W. A. Lenhardt

During the past five years, several research projects on the causes of mining induced seismicity have been carried out by the Rockburst Research Department at Western Deep levels Limited. This paper summarizes the results of these investigations. Several types of mining-induced seismic events are addressed, and models of their mechanisms are presented. It is shown that most of the seismicity results from mining in geologically disturbed areas, and ways and means are discussed to reduce the seismic potential. Stabilizing pillars, for instance, have been introduced to reduce stresses at the stope face and to alleviate the facebursting problem. Facebursts still occur in areas of very low stresses, and pillars became the source of very large seismic events (M >3). At this stage, the understanding gained of pillar-associated events allows a review of current mining practices. Further, it makes possible an examination of the efficiency of measures to alleviate the effects of various seismically prone situations.

Jan 1, 1992

By M. Cortie, L. Iorio

The amount of nitrogen contained in an austenitic stainless steel affects its properties significantly. The maximum content of nitrogen feasible in a range of experimental low-nickel austenitic stainless steels containing significant additions of copper is evaluated The nitrogen content is calculated based on published interaction coefficients, and by use of the FACT thermodynamic computer program and database. The differences between the two methods of prediction can be attributed to inaccuracies in the published interaction coefficients. The calculated nitrogen contents of some experimental alloys are compared with the actual nitrogen contents obtained when the alloys were produced in an induction furnace. The actual nitrogen contents obtained were higher than those predicted by either method, and this is believed to be due to a super saturation of nitrogen occurring in the melt, which was not relieved during the short period in which the charge was molten. It was evident that the experimental alloys can contain between 0,25 and 0,40 per cent nitrogen (depending on temperature, composition, and nitrogen pressure) when melted in a sealed induction furnace, and this is more than adequate for the purpose of forming and stabilizing the austenite phase.

Jan 1, 1994

The relationship between the aspect ratio and physical fields in aluminium reduction cells wase studied numerically. The aspect ratio was firstly defined and 7 kinds of 320 kA cells with different aspect ratios were put forward. By using numerical simulation, the relationship between the aspect ratio and the electric-magnetic flow fields, magnetohydrodynamic stabilities, and thermal stability was discussed. It is concluded that the electric-magnetic flow field distributions are greatly affected by the aspect ratio. From the perspective of magnetohydrodynamics stability, the larger the aspect ratio is, the more stable the cell will be. A larger aspect ratio is more beneficial for the thermal stability under the same current density.

Jan 1, 2011

By D. Harbottle, D. Rhodes, T. F. Jones, S. R. Biggs

Multiphase process design and optimization often depends upon the rheological properties of sludges and slurries. In practice the task of determining these important properties is usually carried out by removing small samples from a process line or process unit and performing tests with proprietary bench-top analysers near to site or at a remote laboratory. Sampling will remain an important procedure in industrial processes, but there is also a strong case for augmenting the routine information obtained using an in situ sensor, as suggested below. ?Sampling protocols can result in extensive turnaround periods from sample collection to the generation of results. The delay can have an effect on a variety of factors such as product quality, process operability and efficiency. ?Sampling of toxic or radioactive material can prove an even greater challenge to minimize human involvement. ?Removal often changes the rheology of a specimen, and might lead to incorrect conclusions being drawn about the condition of a sludge. ?Sludge and slurry in a containment suffers a gravitational gradient, so that a removed sample should be paired with its location, particularly in the vertical dimension.

Jan 1, 2007

Students The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAlMM) places a high value on its student members, for these people will ultimately become corporate members and will, it is hoped, play an active role in the affairs of the Institute. Why should young persons at University or Technikon want to become members of our Institute? There are several reasons.

Jan 1, 1991

By B. K. Loveday

A Colloquium on 'Control and Simulation in the Minerals Industry' was held at the Holiday Inn, Milner Park, on 20th September, 1984, in conjunction with the Electra Mining Exhibition. A total of 170 persons attended the very full morning programme, which began with an opening address by the President, The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Mr l.D. Austin. He outlined the reasons why computers were being used to an ever-increasing extent for control and simulation in the minerals industry. The computer was even used to check, among other things, the validity of the signals it was receiving by mass-balance calculations.

Jan 1, 1985

By J. W. Oberholzer

The use of computers in the South African coal mining industry has increased during the 1980s. Applications at mine level commenced in the financial and personnel areas of payroll systems, mine accounting procedures and staff record keeping. More use is made now on mines of technical programs for purposes such as mine planning and mine survey calculations. The Coal Mining Laboratory of the Chamber of Mines Research Organization has provided, for a number of years, a service to Chamber member collieries in regard to the application of technical computer programs. Programs presently in use for simulating production procedures and conveyor belt transport systems are described. In addition, reference is made to the collection, storage and analysis of data concerning the performance of continuous miners over a period of eight years. More recently a computer program for the simulation of the cutting action of continuous miner cutting drums has been developed. The use of this program to assist with drum design is explained. The fact that many requests to make use of the programs are received from collieries is an indication of their acceptance by industry. Their interest in running the programs themselves on their own desktop computers has led to the need to convert the software for microcomputers.

Jan 1, 1987

By S. M. Bradshaw

In order to assess the requirements for online matching when using a transverse electric field (E-field) applicator to treat mineral ores continuously, the effect of varying load properties on matching has been investigated by simulation. The effective permittivity of the ore to be treated is expected to show variation on both short (< 1 s ) and long (minutes) time scales. By modelling the ore as a series of slices with alternating effective permittivity values, it was shown that permittivity variations on the scale of the expected particle size are attenuated significantly and matching is not required. For variations in permittivity on the length scale of the free-space wavelength, variations in reflected power are at most within ±10% of the mean. This is not considered operationally significant, as extreme permittivity variation over this length scale is unlikely, given the expected distribution of ore particle sizes to be treated. At typical ore transport speeds through the applicator, these variations occur on a time scale an order of magnitude shorter than the response time of typical industrial online matching equipment. This implies that online matching is neither required nor possible for short time scale variation. Long-term variations in dielectric properties can be adequately compensated for by current matching technologies. It is concluded that the transverse E-field applicator is robust to changes in the dielectric properties of crushed ores within the expected range of their variation.

Jan 1, 2012

By M. Guarascio

Microseismic monitoring of mining areas is a developing technique, described here for the Belvedere Spinello Mine, southern Italy, where dissolution cavities in the mining area have proved problematic. The preliminary condition for locating seismic impulses has been found to be a reliable seismic ground model. Ground signals are continuously recorded by means of data from piezometric wells, for sinkhole data, and linked gephones, for microseismic data. A computer system has been implemented to collect, analyse and interpret the incoming signals consequently, identification and classification of hypocentres of activity is facilitated, with advantages in terms of safety, preventing harmful side-effects, including rock bursts, and for environmental conservation.

Jan 1, 1987

By G. Raspa

The paper describes a computer procedure for evaluating and selecting recoverable reserves in a mine worked by sublevel stoping. The boundaries of the volume to be mined are optimally defined by means of the 3-dimensional Lerchs-Grossmann algorithm, separately applied to both sides of the panels. The procedure, which has been developed for Masua Mine (Sardinia), also provides for smoothing the optimized boundaries, positioning the drilling drifts, interactive design of drilling fans and calculation of tonnage and grade of each volley. These tonnages and grades form the input of another procedure evolved for production planning.

Jan 1, 1987

A method is proposed for the evaluation of the influence of grout prestressing systems on the support resistance offered by timber packs. It is shown that, in order not to reduce the load-carrying capacity of timber packs, grout prestressing systems need to be at least as stiff as a single timber rise. The method was used to establish strength specifications for the grout prestressing systems to be used under non-seismic and seismic conditions. For non-seismic requirements, the 24-hour grout strength needs to be at least 1,7 MPa, and the 7-day grout strength 4,9 MPa. The investigation showed that the proposed strength specification is realistic in the light of current grout-strength capabilities. For seismic requirements, the grout strength needs to be at least 4 MPa and 8 MPa to prevent extensive damage to the grout during seismic events with a peak velocity of 1m/s 3 m/s respectively.

Jan 1, 1996

By R. W. O. Kersten

Backfilling is one of the options available to the mining engineer in mine design. The decision as to the type of backfill is dependent on the purpose for which it will be used. For example, in a situation where high-grade, steeply dipping multiple reefs are to be mined, the purpose would be the following: ? to facilitate maximum extraction; a ? to minimize loss of fines; ? to allow closely spaced multiple reefs to be mined; and a ? to create a working platform. The physical properties required which will satisfy the abovementioned requirements can then be defined; the design of the fill plant, as well as the transport of the fill, will be governed by these considerations. The same procedure is also adopted in deciding on backfill in single- reef gold mines. The first question to be asked is the purpose of the fill. It may be to reduce the energy release rate, for environmental reasons, to reduce timber usage, to improve productivity, to reduce stoping costs, to obtain higher mining extraction, and so on. Only after one, or a combination, of these factors has been selected, can the specifications for the fill be decided on, and the plant designed accordingly. The introduction of backfill at Sheba Gold Mine will be used to illustrate the procedure adopted by Anglovaal in determining the type of fill required.

Jan 1, 1988

By R. P. King

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and the minerals industry of South Africa have grown with the city of Johannesburg. The former has provided teaching and research in mining and metallurgy, while the latter has been responsible for the practical training of metallurgists and for the testing and implementation of innovative ideas proposed by the academics. This interplay between inventiveness and industrial application is illustrated by three examples: the establishment of the iron and steel industry as a result of the persistent experimentation undertaken by Professor G. H. Stanley, the first Professor of Metallurgy and Assaying at the South African School of Mines, which later became Wits; the establishment of the research organization that eventually became the Council for Mineral Technology (Mintek) - again through Professor Stanley&apos;s faith in the role of research; and the establishment at Wits of physical metallurgy as a discipline in its own right, as first suggested by Professor C. E. Mavrocordatos of Wits against the opinion of his colleagues in the industry. The Department of Metallurgy at Wits has been well supported by the minerals industry. Not only does the industry provide grants for the financial support of students, but it supplements the salaries of personnel in the Department, making possible the recruitment of top-class academic staff. At present the greatest problem is the lack of interest shown by matriculants in the metallurgical industry as a career. However, an enormous effort is being made by the Chamber of Mines, The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Wits Department of Metallurgy to ensure that matriculants receive appropriate information about the career prospects in the minerals industry.

Jan 1, 1983

By M. Helm

Over the last 40 years, numerous investigations have focussed on the preg-robbing capacity of carbonaceous material during gold ore processing. Various techniques have been applied to characterize the physical and chemical properties of the carbonaceous material in efforts to predict its preg-robbing capacity. The present study, which forms part of an ongoing investigation, is specifically designed to increase the understanding of preg-robbing in ores containing carbonaceous material. In excess of 100 samples from 13 gold mines located in major gold provinces of the world have been incorporated into the present study. These samples were characterized using industry standard metallurgical techniques and were shown to have gold adsorption capacities ranging from a few grams to many hundreds of grams of gold per ton of ore. Further analysis showed that the crystalline nature of the carbonaceous material, which is related to its geological history, is important in determining the preg-robbing capacity of an ore. This finding builds on the common understanding that the preg-robbing behaviour of an ore is related to the amount (or abundance) of carbonaceous material present in that ore. In this study, Raman spectroscopy was used to evaluate the physical nature of carbonaceous material. This is a tool which has been successfully applied by researchers for the characterisation of carbon materials, with respect to crystallite size and lattice defects. Raman analysis of the samples included in this study showed varying degrees of disorder in the carbonaceous materials from the different deposits. Comparison of the Raman spectra with the gold loading capacities of the samples indicated a direct relationship between the structure of the carbonaceous material and its capacity to preg-rob gold. From this, a simple and robust method has been developed based on the Raman spectra of the sample and carbonaceous material content to predict the preg-robbing capacity of an ore. The potential exists to develop a predictive tool using Raman spectroscopy for characterising the preg-robbing capacity of an ore. Such a tool would have potential application in projects ranging from the early stage of exploration through to more detailed feasibility studies and mining operations. The result of applying the predictive method outlined in this paper would be the effective and proactive management of the deleterious influence of carbonaceous material on gold recovery in mining operations.

Jan 1, 2009

By S. O. Choi, H. -S. Shin, W. -K. Song

Nuclear waste should be disposed with the best warranty for the national health and welfare. Among the several repository systems, the deep underground disposal is considered to be a most suitable system in Korean peninsula. However it demands basically the comprehensive stability analysis such as the behaviour of discontinuities in rock mass, the behaviour of ground water, and the reaction of rock stress according to the heat from the nuclear waste. For these purposes, the underground nuclear waste disposal repository was simulated in two- and three- dimensions. It shows that emphasis will be given to the thermal conductivity of discontinuities and the thermal convection of ground water as well as the thermal stress generated by the nuclear waste for design and construction of repository system, and they should be obtained from the field measurements. Déchets nucléaires devront tre déposés avec la meilleure garantie pour la santé et le bien public. Parmi les plusieurs systèmes de dépôt, la disposition en souterrin profond est considérée au système le plus approprié en Corée. Pourtant ce système demande essentiellement l’analyse éten-due de stabilité comme le comportement des discontinues en masse rocheuse, le comportement de l’eau souterrin et la réaction des contraintes de roche selon la chaleur depuis les déchets nucléaires. Pour ce but, le dépôt des déchets nucléaires en sous-sol a étè simulé en deux et trois dimensions. Il montre que l’accent sera donné à la conductivité thermale des discontinues et la convection thermale de l’eau souterrin aussi bien que la contrainte thermale générée par les déchets nucléaires pour le plan et la construction du systèmes de dépôt, et ils devront tre obtenus depuis les mesures sur place. Die Kernwüste muß mit der besten Gewähr für die nationale Gesundheit und die Wohlfahrt angeordnenet werden. Unter einigem Fundgrubesystem, das tief unterirdisch Wegwerfen werde in Betracht das passendest System in der koreanisch Halbinsel gezogen. Jedoch, es verlangt grundzätzlich die umfassend Stabilitätsberechnung so wie das Behnehmen mangelnder Konti-nuität in der Felsmasse, das Behnehmen des Grundwasser, und die Reaktion der Felsenbelastung nach der Hitze von der Kernwüste. Für diesen Zwecke, die unterirdische Wegferfenfundgrube der Kernwüste wurde in der zwei und drei Dimensionen gesimuliert. Es beweist daß die Betonung wird zur thermisch Leitfähigkeit mangelnder Kontinuität und thermisch Konvektion des Grund-wasser sowie die thermisch Belastung ergezeugt durch die Kernwüste für den Entwurf und die Konstruktion des Fundgrubesystem gegeben werden, und sie müssen von den Feldmaße ergelangt werden .

Jan 1, 2003