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By Randy Reed, Barbara J. Arnold

Respirable crystalline silica poses a significant health risk, with the American Lung Association estimating that 2.3 million workers are exposed to silica in the workplace. This includes mine workers as well as those in many other industries. Reducing dust formation is sometimes not possible so other methods to reduce exposure are critical. These methods include the use of surfactants to reduce airborne dust particles. However, it is the proper selection and application of surfactants that leads to reduced dust exposure. A discussion of how surfactants work, especially for silica dust, leads to guidance for surfactant selection followed by a review of technologies for their application.

Feb 1, 2024

By Kasimcan Koruk, Julian M. Ortiz

A geological model accounting for uncertainties possesses important advantages for resource estimation. Machine learning algorithms (MLAs) employed on multivariate geochemical datasets open up ways to new methodologies for such geological models with ease in comparison to traditional geostatistical methods. This article proposes a two-step MLA with an ensemble implementation to define geological domains and their uncertainties based on geochemical data. The proposed workflow is applied hierarchically on a dataset from a porphyry copper deposit to perform binary classification that can be attributed to alteration domains.

Mar 1, 2024

By T. R. Ellis

A number of important international events took place in 2001 in the development and evolution of mineral valuation standards internationally. In Canada, the CIMVal Committee released a draft discussion paper for public and industry comment on principles to guide the development of the planned Canadian mineral property valuation standard. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) received comments on its Extractive Industries Issues Paper. IASB will decide whether the financial statements of public mining and petroleum companies will be allowed to provide the value of mineral and petroleum assets on a current value basis instead of an historic cost basis. The author led the Extractive Industries Task Force of the International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC) in developing its submission to IASB. IVSC intends to develop an extractive industries valuation section for its International Valuation Standards, which could support the planned IASB standard. In Australia, AusIMM has carried out an in-depth review of its highly regarded VALMIN Code. The AusIMM's MICA subdivision organized the VALMIN ‘01 Conference in Sydney, Australia, with a range of international and current issues papers published in the VALMIN ‘01 book. Considerable support for the IVSC initiative was evident at this conference. The results of the review of the extractive industries submissions to the IASB are expected to be released in early 2002. The CMMI Congress in Cairns, Australia in May 2002 is likely to prove to be an important forum for continued discussion of the development and implementation of international standards and qualifications for mineral valuation. The outcomes and implications of these events are discussed.

Jan 1, 2002

By C. E. Capes

The spherical agglomeration process provides an attractive method for the cleaning and recovery of fine coals in the form of compact oil-bonded pellets. In treating a washery effluent containing 50% minus 20 micron material by this technique, the slurry was first mixed under vigorous agitation with oil to deash and dewater the fine coal. The flocculated coal pulp was then formed into larger agglomerates on a modified balling disc. The operation of a semi-pilot scale process is described and an analysis of some of the operating and system variables is given. A semi-theoretical expression to predict the final agglomerate size under various conditions is derived and compared with the experimental data. Coal producers are faced with a growing requirement to clean and recover fine mesh coals. Greater mechanization of the extractive and preparation processes has resulted in finer-sized products containing larger quantities of associated foreign matter and preparation plant effluents contain quantities of fine coals which are potentially valuable. These losses will probably increase with the expansion of production and will require the development of effective disposal and utilization processes under pressure of the lack of adequate disposal areas, the enforcement of air and stream pollution laws, and the economic need to obtain the maximum yield of salable product(1)

Jan 1, 1970

By Andrea Brickey, JUDITH BUABA, RICHARD AMOAKO

The global mining industry has recorded significant declines in accident and injury rates attributed to the advancement in technology, increased enforcement, and safety consciousness. A goal of the mining industry is to achieve zero injury and occupational illness on all mine sites, prompting increased research into ways to further reduce mine accidents. A machine learning technique known as multiclass logistic regression is applied on a 10-year injury dataset from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to determine a miner’s susceptibility to a class of injury and to help identify significant risk factors associated with different classes of injury. The data is aggregated based on injury classification to provide statistically relevant results. The analysis identifies specific risk factors that influence a mine worker’s susceptibility to a given class of injury, i.e., non-fatal with no days lost or restricted activity, non-fatal with days lost and/or days of restricted work activity, and fatal and total permanent or partial permanent disability. These factors include miner’s age, mine type (coal vs. non-coal), experience on the current job (years), shift start time, employment type (operator vs. contractor), mining district, and type of accident. The results of the analysis indicate that a miner’s experience on the job, i.e., the number of years worked in a current job, is a significant risk to injury occurrence, even for those with decades of total mining experience. We further show the differences and similarities between the surface and underground mine incidents.

Nov 3, 2020

By Jerry Dolph

In September 1855, 55-year-old Noah Spencer Kellogg and his $3 jackass named Bill discovered what was known at the time as a “blow out” of high-grade lead and silver ore. The deposit was located on the side of a North Idaho mountain high above the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River. The ore was later assayed at 41,141 g/t (1,200 oz/st) silver. Kellogg named his discovery the Bunker Hill Lode, after the June 17, 1775 Revolutionary War battle of Bunker Hill. A thriving pioneer settlement sprang into existence around the resulting mine’s workings and was eventually— and appropriately — named Kellogg. The peak rising hundreds of feet above the mine’s adit was named “Jack-ass Peak” after Noah Kellogg’s hairy companion.

Jan 1, 1996

By K. Witt, S. Steinlechner

In different nonferrous metal-producing industry sectors, the impurity element iron has to be removed from the process solution. Examples for the arising residues are jarosite or goethite precipitates from nickel or zinc production but also red mud from aluminum production. Regardless of environmental concerns, the material is landfilled in almost any case, although valuables such as indium, silver, nickel, or zinc are present in considerable amounts. Within the presented research, a low carbon dioxide emitting multi-metal recovery from such iron-containing residues by means of a selective chlorination extraction has been fundamentally evaluated by experiments but also by comprehensive thermodynamic calculations. The paper summarizes the thermodynamic fundamental concept exploited to separate the dominating iron matrix from the valuable elements and shows verification experiments in a lab size of several grams. Through thermodynamic calculations and smallscale experiments with pure metal oxides and sulfates, it has been proven that the metal chlorides AlCl3∙ 6H2O, FeCl3∙ 6H2O, and MgCl2∙ 6H2O are viable and effective reactants for chlorination. In trials with actual industrial iron precipitation residues from the zinc industry, especially, the use of MgCl2∙ 6H2O and FeCl3∙ 6H2O leads to high extraction rates for the investigated valuable metals Ag, Au, Bi, Cu, In, Pb, Sn, and Zn.

Nov 14, 2023

By D. M. S. Bhatia

Five sulfide minerals from the Magiwnt mine, southeast Missouri were analyzed for 31 trace elements in over 300 samples by laser microprobe spectrographic analysis of polished sections. The concentration of several trace elements shows a pattern of progressive variation with depth (space) and variation with different paragenetic stages (time) of each mineral. Factor analysis of the geochemical data shows sympathetic correlation both in space and in time of Bi, Cd, Ge, and Sn in galena and sphalerite, and Ni and Co in sphalerite and marcasite.

Jan 1, 1979

By D. C. Torre

Ever since the early '60's there have been efforts to develop and produce reliable continuous haulage systems capable of taking the full output of a continuous miner and transporting it, in one continuous flow, from the face to the tipple. The majority of the continuous haulage systems which have been most successful to date were placed in operation in the early '70's and were all of the bridge conveyor type, usually consisting of bridges and mobile bridge carriers attached at the inby end to the continuous miner and at the outby end to the panel conveyor itself. These successful bridge conveyor type continuous haulage systems were, and continue to be, either of the belted or chain type. Undoubtedly, the most successful belt type continuous haulage systems are those manufactured and marketed by the Long-Airdox Company. Until early 1977, the most successful chain conveyor type haulage systems were manufactured and marketed by Jeffrey Mining Machinery Division. In 1977, Long-Airdox reentered the market with a chain type system to complement its belted system. I say "reentered" because the original bridge type continuous haulage system was introduced to the coal mining industry in the early '60's by the old Long Company, a predecessor of the current Long-Airdox Company, and those original units were of the chain conveyor type.

Jan 1, 1981

By Jie Zhang, Xi Zhang, Yu Wang, Wei Zhao

The study proposes a novel reagent scheme where adding a small amount of citric acid (CA) significantly improves the depression effect of sodium silicate on calcite and fluorite. The flotation results suggest optimal concentrations for CA and sodium silicate, achieving nearly complete depression of the minerals. Theoretical analysis indicates that CA dissolves calcium ions on the mineral surface, enhancing the adsorption of sodium silicate and preventing collector adsorption.

Mar 27, 2022

By D. A. Shock

Utilizing the technology developed for oil well stimulation by hydrofracing, a disposal system which permanently fixes the waste has been proven. Large quantities of radioactive waste can be processed by a single well system making this method an attractive method for permanent radioactive waste disposal. The system depends on locating a relatively thick formation of impermeable, but easily fracturable rock such as a shale, creating a horizontal fracture, pumping the waste into the fracture in a form which will subsequently solidify and seal the fracture from the well system. The paper presents the theoretical considerations from creating and extending horizontal fractures and how these considerations were used in designing a waste disposal system which is now operating.

Jan 1, 1964

By Satyam Tiwari, Sarat Kumar Das

Tailings from mines and industries impose danger to the environment as evidenced by the recent failures of tailing storage dams. The tailings are mostly non-plastic with silt-size particles, but their behavior is largely dependent on the extreme void ratios of the material. Hence, the critical state provides an appropriate perspective in explaining the behavior of these geomaterials. Based on a comprehensive dataset of non-plastic tailings and non-plastic soils, an attempt has been made here to correlate critical state parameters to extreme void ratios and stress parameters. A hybrid algorithm with multi-objective feature selection (MOFS) and extreme learning machine (ELM) was used to establish the correlation and to identify the most influential input parameters. Based on the information from the proposed hybrid algorithm, a comprehensive prediction model is proposed using multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) algorithm to facilitate quick estimation of critical state parameters. The performance of both models has been assessed using several performance metrics. The results from the study indicate that hybrid MOFS algorithms perform very well in the prediction of critical state line parameters and the identification of influential features. The findings of the study have significant implications for future research on the safe management of tailing storage facilities.

Dec 22, 2023

By Todd Minoski, Matthew McElhinney, Mark Mazzella, Morgan Sears, Craig Compton

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is staffed with Engineers, Geologists, and Field Technicians conducting a variety of ground control research. The mission of the ground control teams within the Mine Systems Safety Branch (MSSB) is to eliminate ground failures leading to mineworker injuries and fatalities. Advancing the science behind ground control relies heavily on conducting mutually beneficial research at participating mines which is detailed in specific references throughout the paper. The ground control teams have several types of field instruments at their disposal to measure the ground response in underground mines. These include borehole pressure cells (BPCs), vibrating wire stress meters (VWs), hollow inclusion cells (Hi-Cells), roof and rib extensometers, load cells, and convergence meters. These instruments are used to measure changes in pressure, strain, and displacement within the underground environment. Instrumentation data is collected automatically using intrinsically safe or MSHA permissible dataloggers if required. Information is transmitted to the dataloggers using approved cable to distances of 200–1,000 ft. depending on the type of datalogger being used. Once mining is completed, the dataloggers are retrieved and brought to the surface, providing in-mine data to mine management and engineers for the conditions currently being encountered in a particular mine. This data, in conjunction with geologic data and stress mapping, can be used to validate numerical models. The practical application of these models is extremely important for mine management and engineers, particularly when faced with more challenging mine environments. Insight gained from applying these models can be used to make better engineering-based judgments for areas that will be mined in the future. The impact of such applications can result in a reduction of ground-fall accidents and injuries as well as generally safer working conditions.

Feb 1, 2024

By Bernie W. Martin, Raymond Leray, Christian Criado

Aguas Argentinas,1 a consortium managed by Lyonnaise des Eaux of France and operator of the world’s biggest privatized water supply and waste water collection system for the City of Buenos Aires, a city of 9 million people, was faced with the daunting task of providing new service to 1.6 million more people in the first five years of their 30 year concession. Aguas Argentinas elected to use the Negotiated Compressed Process - NCP - for the fast track implementation of a 15000 meter, 3,5 meter diameter tunnel, a key component of the infrastructure master plan. NCP was developed by Klohn Crippen for the $200 million international railway tunnel between Canada and the United States. The conceptual design of the project was performed by Safege Montgomery-Watson, who engaged Klohn Crippento assist with the NCP, the preparation of the tender documents, and implementation of theproject during construction. The process included the purchase by the client Aguas Argentinas of two sophisticated 4 metre diameter earth pressure balance tunnel boring machines from Herrenknecht of Germany. Construction of the tunnel is being performed by the consortium Wayss & Freytag (Germany) and Sollazzo Hnos S.A. (Argentina). The water tunnel is being built with a one pass, bolted segmented gasketed reinforced concrete liner. The purpose of this paper is to describe a transferable methodology for this innovative contracting procedure, the project organization and quality control plan for this important world class tunnel project which is designed to service one of Latin America’s largest metropolitan areas.

Jan 1, 1997

By D. R. Tesarik, T. C. Trancynger, W. G. Pariseau

The Davis detector cavern was excavated on the 4850 Level of the former Homestake Mine in the mid- 1960s to house a novel neutrino detector developed by Nobel Prize winner Dr. R. Davis. The original cavern was about 9.1 x 16.8 x 9.7 m high, excavated in a Precambrian amphibolite known as the Yates unit and enlarged in 2010. In 2009, the National Science Foundation selected the site for development as a national Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL). This retrospective rock mechanics study of the Davis cavern is intended to inform design of the much larger caverns and laboratory rooms being considered for the same 4850 Level. Provision for rock mass variability, sequential excavation, jointing and wall damage from blasting are included in analyses that were done using two different computer codes and methods (FLAC3D and UTAH3). The results are in agreement with observations and show that cavern stability is indeed the case. The main conclusions are: (1) if conventional scaling of laboratory rock elastic moduli and strengths is done, then 0.25 and 0.50 scale factors are reasonable, (2) measured statistical and spatial variability in rock properties should be incorporated into geomechanical analyses to better reflect reality, (3) discontinuities (“joints”) are essential to reliable analysis of excavation safety and when properly taken into account eliminate the need for empirical “scaling” of laboratory rock properties, (4) major geologic features such as rhyolite dikes and breccia zones may be important to excavation safety at Homestake and should be explicitly represented in analyses and (5) quantifying wall blast damage is important to engineering design of underground excavations.

Jan 1, 2012

By E. Galán

The largest Spanish kaolin deposits formed on granites occur in Galicia (NW Spain) due to a widespread kaolinization of Variscan granitoids. This paper provides insight of the origin of this kaolinization process on the basis of a mineralogical and geochemical study carried out in two kaolin deposits, presently mined to be used in the paper industry. Mineral composition of the deeply kaolinized rocks is dominated by well-ordered kaolinite with minor quartz, K-feldspar, mica (illite/muscovite), locally gibbsite, and traces of resistant accessory phases (rutile, ilmenite, zircon and monazite). The content and structural order of the kaolinite decrease with depth. Kaolinite formed by extensive replacement of feldspars (plagioclase). Differential mobilization of major and trace elements during kaolinization has been inferred by using a mass-balance approach. Significant amounts of Na, Ca and minor Mn, Sr, P and U were removed from incipiently leachable minerals (plagioclase and apatite), and K, Rb, Cs and Ba were released from K-feldspar and mica. On the contrary, Ti, Zr, Th, Hf and the REE are retained in the resistant trace minerals that are concentrated in the fine fractions of the kaolins.

Jan 1, 2010

By Peter Werner

Technological advances in mine equipment and milling processes have enabled mining companies to exploit ever lower grades of ore. The result has been larger disturbances, greater volumes of waste, a complex web of infrastructure, and an overall trend toward mega projects that can extend over several square kilometers. This explosive growth in a mining operation’s disturbance footprint provokes an obvious question: What is it going to cost to reclaim all of this? At face value, this can be an enormous financial liability for a company, but since the timing of reclamation may be years in the future for many operations, these costs can be heavily discounted, thereby limiting the burden on the corporate balance sheet. Nonetheless, mining companies are eager to remove these liabilities as quickly as possible; conversely, regulators want assurance reclamation will, in fact, occur. How might one bridge these competing interests? Navigating the practical and financial requirements of a post-closure landscape requires foresight, judgement and assumptions; however, companies that do not adequately plan for these future expenditures when there is no offsetting income stream will likely face some difficult decisions. Simple risk analysis tools and utilizing the time value of money can help bring some clarity to this end-of-mine life phase.

Dec 1, 2025

By R. H. Thorpe

In the earliest days of mining coal the obvious method was by bord and pillar working. Longwall in Britain developed from this as an expedient to overcome bottlenecks arising from ? 1) increasing depth of seams causing roof control difficulties; and 2) ventilation problems. This system became almost universal particularly in the thicker seams, where faces of up to one mile in length were not uncommon. Coal getting in these faces was usually by pick and shovel, filled into small waggons of up to 15 cwts capacity. These waggons ran on rails laid alongside the coal face and were often taken away from the face to the main haulage roads by horses. The roof was supported by rigid props and the wastes were normally controlled by strip packing. This system of mining was very flexible and worked well down to sections of about 3'6"

Jan 1, 1976

By Dennis N. Poffenroth

One concern of the Mine Safety and Health Administration is the structural integrity of steel wire ropes used on mine personnel hoists and elevators. Failure of such ropes has resulted in loss of life and property. Although thorough and regular visual examinations are performed, hoist ropes may still fail from undetected internal wear, corrosion, and broken wires. To complement visual examinations, nondestructive rope inspection techniques have been developed to determine deterioration and removal criteria. The techniques use electromagnetic and permanent-magnet test instruments designed by a Canadian firm. This paper describes the operating principles, field and laboratory testing of these nondestructive testing instruments, and discusses the feasibility of using this type of testing as a supplement to visual examination and destructive tests.

Jan 1, 1982

By Keith A. Heasley

At this point in time, approximately 800 M tonnes (880 M tons) of coal are mined each year in the United States. Forty percent of this coal or approximately 320 M tonnes (350 M tons) is taken from underground coal mines, and from this subtotal 16% or 50 M tonnes (55 M tons) is from longwall panels (1). If, for the sake of argument, an aver- age extraction thickness of 1.5 m (5 ft), an aver- age extraction ratio of 50 percent and an in situ density of 1360 kg/ms (85 lb/ft3) for this coal are assumed, then the 320 M tonnes (350 M tons) of underground coal translates to over 310 km2 (76,000 acres) that is undermined each year. Con- sidering that the total U.S. production of under- ground longwall coal to date is approximately 345 M tonnes (380 M tons), then a total of approximately 165 km2 (41,000 acres) (considering 100% extraction) has been directly undermined by longwall coal production in the United States. If the angle-of- draw is considered, the total area affected by longwall subsidence in the United States is probably twice the above value or 330 km2 (82,000 acres) . In the future, a number of other miscellaneous factors seem likely to multiply the number of potentially damaging situations that occur due to longwall coal mining. First, the overall production of coal in the United States is expected to gradually increase. This factor is further com- pounded by both the fact that the percentage of the overall production due to underground mining is bound to increase, since the vast majority of U.S. reserves (68%) are only recoverable by underground methods, and the fact that the percentage of the underground production of coal that is recovered by longwall mining is drastically increasing (1). Finally, as the nicest underground reserves are depleted, the remaining reserves will tend to be deeper, which increases the affected surface area, and under denser population concentrations, which increases the likelihood and severity of possible damages. Overall, considering the number of factor which are biased towards increasing the amount of undermined acreage, it appears that there must certainly be a corresponding increase in the number of possible damaging situations due to longwall-induced, ground subsidence.

Jan 1, 1986