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By William Gleason

"The times they are a changing, and, for the mining industry, the optimism is high. On Nov. 8, Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States, and the Republican Party won a majority of seats in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, ushering in what many hope will be a positive change for the mining and extractive minerals industries.Trump has stated that one of his top priorities as president will be to increase spending on the nation’s infrastructure, which could help spark a boom for mining. He has also pledged to bring back coal jobs and reverse many of the environmental regulations that were put in place by the Obama administration. However, before the mining industry gets too far ahead of itself and plans for another Super Cycle, there are stark reminders that any work in the natural resources sector is complicated and challenging. On Dec. 4, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it would not grant an easement that would allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to pass under a portion of the Missouri River in North Dakota. The proposed crossing of the oil pipeline is approximately a half a mile upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux’s Reservation, and for months, hundreds of protestors camped out at the site in an effort to halt the project, saying they feared how it would impact water supplies and sacred lands.Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, said the pipeline is a $3.78-billion investment that will connect the Bakken and Three Forks production areas to major refining markets. The company signed voluntary easement agreements with landowners representing more than 85 percent of the properties along the four-state route but faced an organized protest from the Sioux Nation at Standing Rock. The protest gathered momentum and support through social and traditional media and became the focal point of global environmental and indigenous activism. The protestors claimed victory, at least temporarily, when the Corps of Engineers said it would look for alternative routes for the project. It’s a decision that could lead to a lengthy environmental review and one that has the potential to block the construction of the pipeline for months or even years."

Jan 1, 2017

By H. Y. Sohn

The paper discusses two processes, flash ironmaking technology (FIT) and moving-bed ironmaking technology (MBIT), which aim to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the ironmaking industry by using concentrate directly without pelletizing and without using coke.

Aug 1, 2023

By David R. Hargis

Large-scale groundwater withdrawals are necessary to depressurize a confined aquifer system allowing the dry open-pit mining of the overlying phosphate ore. The extent of the existing and planned groundwater development led to the establishment by the State of North Carolina of Capacity Use Area No. l. Groundwater use in the Capacity Use Area is regulated by a permitting system. A two-dimensional finite-difference ground- water flow model was developed for North Carolina Phosphate Corporation. The aim of the model is to aid the Corporation in matters relating to permitting by serving as a predictive tool. The model can be used to project regional water level impacts resulting from various scenarios of depressurization pumping.

Jan 1, 1983

By Peter F. Mataich

The phosphate mining industry is a highly competitive one, one in which survival depends on the plant's ability to produce at costs equal to, or below, the competition. The solution toward getting costs down is usually one of scaling up the plants to get the most tons through at the lowest possible cost. Control of these plants has been an art. Few of them are well instrumented because until a few years ago reliable instrumentation was non-existent. International Minerals and Chemical Corporation was a pioneer in applying computer techniques to ore reserves analysis and mine planning and the success in these areas led to the question of whether we could not extend the advantages of computer processing into the plant itself. There was a great deal of doubt on the operator's end that this could be done successfully because of the lack of instrumentation and the fact that plant control was largely an art that was learned only after many years of experience. However, in 1965 the instrumentation picture began to look up and the new generation of process computers just coming on the market were considerably lower in cost than the previous ones. A preliminary study of the installation costs and the probable benefits that could be realized from computer control convinced us that a process control computer should be seriously considered for a new phosphate mining plant which was being designed.

Jan 1, 1969

By S. Amirshenava, S. Nadimi

"Premature and unplanned mine closure can result in significant adverse impacts on the environment and community and need to be managed appropriately. Risk management techniques can reduce the negative impacts and risks of early mine closure. Risk Assessment 3D Model, is an efficient tool to quantify risk. The aim of this paper is to identify the mine closure risks in Choghart iron ore mine, and calculate the overall mine closure risk level. The result shows that 51.4% of assessed risks have low risk level and the overall risk level of early mine closure is low. Keywords: mine closure, risk assessment 3D model, Choghart iron ore mine INTRODUCTION The modern mining life-cycle can be divided into three main stages; exploration, mining (opening and production) and post mining (mine closure, and reclamation). Mine closure is the critical component of the modern mining life-cycle and it refers to the period of time when the operational stage of a mine has permanently ceases (Heikkinen et al, 2008). Planned closure occurs due to the depletion of ore reserves, but sometimes it is premature. Laurance (2006) shows that only 25% of mine closure in the past 30 years was due to resource depletion and in 75% of the cases the mines were closed for the other reasons. Ghanbari et al (2010) demonstrated that 48.6 % of copper mine closure in the past 100 years was due to resource depletion and 51.4 % of copper mines have been closed due to other reasons. The main reasons of premature mine closure are as follow (Laurance, 2006; Ghanbari et al, 2010; Maiti, 2013): • Economic, (low commodity prices or high costs) • Geological, (over-estimation of grade and tonnage) • Geotechnical (adverse geotechnical conditions) • Technical (equipment failure) • Regulatory, due to safety or environmental breaches • Social or community pressures • Closure of downstream industry or markets • Flooding or inrush Minaei Mobtaker and Osanloo (2013) developed a mine closure prediction model based on the data collected from closed iron ore mines in the past 100 years. They showed that economic factors, exhaustion of ore reserve and geological conditions are the main reasons of iron ore mine closure. They treated mine closure as a decision making problem in order to predict the causes of mine closure, including the uncertainties of some mine plan parameter such as iron ore price, production and consumption."

Jan 1, 2016

By F. F. Aplan

Mineral process engineering is a small but important part of the nation's raw material industry. Minerals are usually processed in large plants of high capacity, at low cost, using few engineers and operators, and at an ever-increasing level of plant sophistication. The magnitude of the mining industry is huge, with about 4 Gt (4.5 billion st) of ore, coal and industrial minerals mined annually in the United States. Industries such as construction, manufacturing and power generation rely heavily on a strong US resource base to maintain a competitive edge. Though rooted in classical chemistry, geology, physics and mathematics, a mineral process engineer must be trained in the science and engineering required to process raw materials. A modern mineral processing program still stresses the traditional aspects of the profession. But it also emphasizes particle technology, applied surface chemistry, chemical processing of ores, solid-fluid separations, process and equipment modeling and optimization, materials handling, personnel management, maintenance and environmental and health aspects. In such areas as particle technology and some aspects of applied surface chemistry, mineral processing academic programs have taken a leadership position in supplying specialists to a variety of other industries. The objectives of a mineral processing program are: • to furnish personnel to support the basic raw materials industries (undergraduate programs); • to provide a research and development base for industry (graduate programs); and • to provide expertise in particle technology, applied surface chemistry and environmental programs for other industries (undergraduate and graduate programs). In the United States, mineral process engineering programs have historically been associated with mining and metallurgy departments. The recent movement of metallurgy programs away from primary processing towards materials science has created the need for a new accommodation.

Jan 1, 1992

By Juan C. Diaz, Juan P. Carmona, Manuel Z. Salgado, Oscar J. Restrepo

The “Teaching Kids” project is an educational initiative for young people and children from elementary schools. It is carried out by Mining, Geological, and Environmental Engineering students from the SME Student Chapter of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin. The primary purpose of the Teaching Kids project is to share knowledge about geosciences and mineral resources in a didactic and attractive way, emphasizing the importance of identifying the use of minerals in daily life and responsible and sustainable mining in our society. Furthermore, this project aims to promote the importance of pursuing geoscience majors in the new generations and improve the mining industry’s public perception. Different methodologies related to early childhood education are implemented, such as gamification, in which the dynamics of games are adapted during the development of workshops to teach and learn in an active and motivated environment. Furthermore, the Montessori Method is used. It implements textbooks, sensory mineral boxes, and presentations to allow learning through experimentation itself (Montessori 2003). The implementation of this methodology has been successful; it has shown high engagement, participation, and retention of the basic concept of geoscience and mining.

Feb 1, 2025

By Jr. Garnar

Heavy mineral mining has been a relatively small but important Florida industry for over sixty years. Geology of the Florida heavy mineral deposits is similar. Each formed along active coastlines after which the titanium minerals were upgraded in TiO2 by post depositional oxidation and leaching of the iron. There are four heavy mineral plants currently Operating in Florida. Ore is mined by dredges and the heavy minerals concentrated by gravity separation. The heavy mineral concentrates are further processed with high tension and electromagnetic separators to Produce titanium mineral concentrates for TiO2 pigment manufacturing plants. Zircon sand is produced as a co-product at all of the Florida plants. Staurolite is produced by Du Pont and Titanium Enterprises. Du Pont also markets a kyanite-sillimanite product. (Monazite is produced by Humphreys and Titanium Enterprises). Reclamation of mined-out land is an important part of heavy mineral mining. At the Du Pont plants soil is removed ahead of the dredge and placed over the quartz sand tailings. Grass is planted after fertilizing. A year later the land is fertilized again and pine trees planted. Most of the heavy mineral deposits now being mined will be nearly exhausted by the end of the century. New deposits to be mined in the 21st century will probably be smaller and lower grade than those now being mined. Advances in mineral processing technology will have to be made to allow these lower grade deposits to be mined economically.

Jan 1, 1978

By Dominique Francois-Bongarcon

The rational and optimal determination of the design of a mining exploitation is a very intricate and difficult problem : the parameters are numerous, some technical, some economic or technico-economic which cannot be fully controlled; beside, deposits are estimated from very limited information and the choice criteria are not always quantitative, the economic context has to be anticipated by several years, and even the technological limits can change tomorrow. So, although very clever and performing numerical algorithms have been developed in recent years for open-pit design, we consider that this problem has not really been solved satisfactorily until now. The reasons are that people have concentrated their efforts on informatical algorithmical problems, and have assumed that the technical and economical data are well defined at the time of the study, which is generally not true. In particular, the mere fact of assigning dollar- values to blocks in order to maximize the total cash-flow is generally unrealistic because of the uncertainty of the data used. Consequently, the significance of the unique pit obtained as a result of these algorithms is questionable.

Jan 1, 1981

By Christian Heinz, Doug Harding

TBMs can last for decades and be rebuilt project after project with proper maintenance. How successful can rebuilt TBMs be? At the DigIndy Tunnel System in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, a rebuilt TBM was used to great effect. The 6.2 m diameter Main Beam, originally manufactured in 1980, bored 40+ km of tunnels and set three world records in its size class of 6 to 7 m, including a best month of 1,754 m. In this paper, the authors analyze the TBM rebuild, performance and lessons learned to make recommendations for future projects seeking to use rebuilt TBMs over long distances.

Jun 23, 2024

By M. Boucraut

After stating the advantages of the magnetic roasting technique as applied to iron ores, the authors report on technological research by I R S I D * in the field of magnetic roasting in fluid-bed furnaces This investigation was conducted first on an experimental two stage fluid-bed furnace which processed permanently 100-200 kg/h of ore, then on a three stage fluid-bed furnace with 1-2 t/h working capacity and at last on a 250 t/day pilot furnace The specific features of the IRSID process comprise - on the one hand, using special burners in the roasting reactor thereby ensuring a high production rate of the furnace - on the other hand, using a heat-exchanger where the preheating and cooling stages of fluidized ore are associated, so as to allow an efficient and simple cooling of both roasted ore and waste gases flowing out of the roasting reactor, thereby supplying heat to the crude ore and combustion air for the reactor burners Starting in 1965 the operation of the 250 t/day pilot plant at the Bazailles mine gave IRSID the opportunity of improving the conveying appliances and adapting them to the process, while perfectly confirming the metallurgical results obtained under ideal laboratory conditions

Jan 1, 1968

By Barnaby J. Watten, Sibrell. Philip L., Brian J. Vinci, Andrew E. Friedrich

We evaluated a new process for remediation of acid rock drainage (ARD). The process treats ARD with intermittently fluidized beds of granular limestone maintained within a continuous flow reactor pressurized with CO2. Tests were performed over a thirty day period at the Toby Creek mine drainage treatment plant, Elk County, Pennsylvania in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Equipment performance was established at operating pressures of 0,34,82, and 117 kPa using an ARD flow of 227 L/min. The ARD had the following characteristics: pH, 3.1; temperature, 10 OC; dissolved oxygen, 6.4 mg/L; acidity, 260 mg/5; total iron, 21 mg/L; aluminum, 22 mg/L; manganese, 7.5 mg/L; and conductivity, 1400 uS/cm. In all cases tested, processed ARD was net alkaline with mean pH and alkalinities of 6.7 and 59 mg/L at a CO2 pressure of 0 kPa, 6.6 and 158 mg/L at 34 kPa, 7.4 and 240 mg/L at 82 kPa, and 7.4 and 290 mg/L at 117 kPa Processed ARD alkalinities were correlated to the settled bed depth (p<0.001) and CO2 pressure (p<0.001). Iron, aluminum, and manganese removal efficiencies of 96%, 99%, and 5%, respectively, were achieved with filtration following treatment. No indications of metal hydroxide precipitation or armoring of the limestone were observed. The surplus alkalinity established at 82 kPa was successful in treating an equivalent of 1136 L/min (fivefold dilution) of the combined three ARD streams entering the Toby Creek Plant. This side-stream capability provides savings in treatment unit scale as well as flexibility in treatment effect. The capability of the system to handle higher influent acidity was tested by elevating the acidity to 5000 mg/L with sulfuric acid. Net alkaline effluent was produced, indicating applicability of the process to highly acidic ARD.

Jan 1, 2000

By Lawrence A. Browning

In recent years, there has been a growing realization of the importance of ground water as a national resource and increasing concern that this resource be properly managed and protected from a variety of pervasive practices that endanger it. Aquifers have been adversely affected in every region of the country. In dealing w.ith the underground water program, EPA will have the following objectives: to protect human health, and to protect and conserve an important national resource. In pursuing these objectives, EPA will take economic consequences and other national objectives (e.g., energy) into account. EPA intends to pursue these objectives in full partnership with the States. Generally the States should retain the lead in protecting ground water.

Jan 1, 1978

By Joseph W. Mullan

The today status of air pollution control legislation and regulations can best be described as an exaggerated state of environmental limbo. The &apos;70&apos;s began but one and one-half months ago yet it already has been very appropriately named "the decade of the environment." This certainly will be the decade for new legislation - new regulations and hopefully "Clean Air." Already Washington is faced with legislators playing "pollution politics" to the crowds. Students have redirected their efforts from Vietnam to the cleansing of the environment and everyone including the man on the street has become an environ¬mental expert. This is the decade we all face, but where are we today? Pollution is not a new problem. It has been with us for centuries and while much is left to be done, much has already been accomplished. I will try to make some comparisons of what I believe to be the good and bad points in the national air pollution control picture and hopefully will generate within each of you sufficient concern as to which comparisons are sound.

Jan 1, 1970

By G. W. Leney

Introduction and Historical Background The office and mining operations of Pacific Asbestos Corporation are located near Copperopolis, California in the foothills of the Sierras about fifty miles east of Stockton. This is historic country in the heart of the old Mother Lode gold district. Mark Twain&apos;s famous story of the jumping frog, written here, is still commemorated in an annual contest in Calaveras County,&apos; and the camp at Poker Flats, described by Bret Harte, was only a few miles from the present mine.2 Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Mexican bandit started his three year reign of terror in this vicinity,3 and Black Bart, the P08 laureate of the stagecoach robbers, held up his first stage at Funk Hill, just three miles north of the mine. His last robbery was at almost the place, on the top of the hill overlooking the Stanislaus River ferry crossing. Although this was his favorite country, and he traveled extensively through it, he was not a credit to his acclaimed profession of Mining Engineer because there is no evidence that he ever recognized the asbestos, and he was finally caught as a consequence of the robbery at the ferry.4 One of the old stagecoach roads crossed the Stanislaus River at the mine site, and the ferry landing may still be seen from the main haul road into the pit. The road itself is partly buried under the rock dumps. In spite of its location and apparently prominent exposure, the first work on the asbestos deposit was not recorded until 1904.5 Development of the present operations was started in 1959 by Jefferson Lake Asbestos Corporation, a subsidiary of Jefferson Lake Sulphur Company. Management control of the company changed hands several times and it was later reorganized under the name of Pacific Asbestos Corporation. In December, 1968, a controlling interest was acquired by H. K. Porter Company, Inc. Figure (1) shows the mill and office buildings as seen from a site near the entry road. The offices are at the left with the mill warehouse in the foreground. The conveyor at left center carrys mine concentrates up the hill from the crusher. In the background are the dry rock storage building and mill tailings piles. Since the beginning of mining operations in 1962, seven and three-quarter million tons of ore and fifteen million tons of waste have been removed from the open pit which now measures about 1400 x 1800 feet at its widest points. The lowest operating level is at an elevation of 726 feet about 325 feet below the original surface. Figure (2) shows the open pit looking toward the west end. The main haul road can be seen along the side of the pit. A shovel is operating at the bottom of the pit while a front end loader on the level above provides ore for blending. In the background are rock dumps for waste stripping. The company markets an annual production of 30-35,000 tons of chrysotile fibre in groups 4 through 7, under the Mother Lode Brand

Jan 1, 1972

By G. R. Erdman

The industrial mineral filler plant of the Gouverneur Tale Company is equipped with a good dust collection system installed long before the recent popularization of environmental pollution. Credit for this fact is due to the foresight of Mr. R. S. McClellan, Project Manager and subsequent Vice President and General Manager of Gouverneur Talc, who recently retired as Vice President Engineering of the parent organization, the R. T. Vanderbilt Company. Also instrumental in the early stages of plant operation and the solution of start-up problems was J. A. Gustin who is now an engineering consultant located in Martinsville, Va. Credit is most certainly due to the late R. T. Vanderbilt, the company&apos;s founder, who favored and approved the investment in the necessary facilities that were far ahead of all competitors in the industry at that time.

Jan 1, 1972

By Ali Yalçin

The study area is located in the NW of Uluborlu (Isparta). Massive limestones and alluvial deposits form the lithological units of the study area. The average thickness of the alluvium deposit consisting mainly of light brown - red colored and fine grained clastic sediments which derived from the limestone is about 10 meters. The aim of this study to investigate the uses of this alluvial sediments as tile - brick material. For this aim, disturbed and undisturbed samples have been taken from different depths in the alluvial deposits. Mineralogical compositions have been determined by XRD and major oxide contents by XRF. Laboratory experiments have been carried out to determine the technological properties of the samples. The selected major oxide contents of samples vary between A12O3 (24.6 - 24.12 wt %), CaO (0.76 - 4.27 wt %), Fe2O3 (10.21 - 10.29 wt %), MgO2 (1.25 - 1.51 wt %). CaCO3 and MgCO3 values calculated from the geochemical analyses, are between 1.55 - 1.62 and 2.62 - 3.17 respectively. The ratios of grain size of the samples are 82 % for < 0.2 mm and 5 % for > 3 mm. Geochemical analyses and technological features of the samples indicate that these fine grained sediments of alluvial deposit are suitable in terms of uses as tile - brick material. The potential reserve of this tile - brick material has been determined as 40 million tones.

Jan 1, 2005

By Ray E. Harris

New developments have occurred in Wyoming&apos;s industrial minerals industry since the 32nd Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals in Laramie, Wyoming in 1996. The soda ash trona and bentonite industries have experienced overall growth. Gypsum and limestone production have remained constant, but have the potential for dramatic growth. The mining of zeolite ceased in 1997. The struggling dimension stone industry has increased production, but development has lagged behind the schedule predicted in 1996. The construction of a container glass plant and associated production of glass raw materials, as predicted in 1996 and imminent in 1998, is now on hold due to unforeseen market factors. Increases in railroad and highway construction have, and will, greatly increase the production of construction aggregate for local uses. An iron carbide industry, not foreseen in 1996, is in the planning stages.

Jan 1, 2001

By C. Gregory Knight

Adequate planning for the development, operation, and reclamation of a surface mine requires attention to present and future uses of land, both on the mine site and in the mine vicinity. This paper outlines land use implications of surface mining, and suggests procedures that could link mine planning, mine operation, and reclamation to more general land use concerns. Mining is viewed as a temporary use of land that may irretrievably commit land resources away from some future activities, but may allow other uses, some of which may have been impossible without mining. The paper accepts the premise that surface mining should attempt to minimize environ-mental damage and to maximize future alternative uses of land by appropriate reclamation. I. The Effect of Surface 1&apos;1ining on Land Use Surface mining is a temporary utilization of the land most often criticized because the disturbances it creates are of far greater duration than the actual extractive operation, Resource recovery disrupts existing activity on the land, at least temporarily, and

Jan 1, 1977

By G. E. Erdman

This paper presents talc milling guided by a theme of "So You Want to Be In The Talc Business". Such a theme strikes a cautionary note to warn the uninitiated of potential pitfalls, and this paper will cover briefly some of the technical traps as well as one of the larger talc milling operations. It is important to our purpose to pre- sent some of the market and mineral complications that make the business of producing and selling industrial talcs much more intricate than an outsider would perceive. Metal markets by comparison are great worldwide pools into which production streams of generally identical metals can flow over a weir of market prices. Industrial talc markets are not as well defined and often must be developed by the producer working closely with a specific customer or groups of customers to prove out the attributes of the specific product from a new property. All the negatives of a new market seem to work against the introductory talc in the forms of industry or customer reluctance to change, sales prices, cost of delivery, mode of transportation, health considerations of the minerals and many more. Just locating the potential customers for a new industrial talc may be a substantial undertaking. Thus, an analogy of the worldwide metal market might compare starting a new talc operation to trying to gather up enough fallen rain drops to be able to start a production stream of a worthwhile size.

Jan 1, 1984