Search Documents

By S. G. Britton

Thin seam mining presents unique challenges when management or economic conditions require significant productivity increases. These challenges are increased depending upon the presence of various external factors such as labor unions, Federal and state regulations, and market characteristics. This paper explores the turn-around situation occurring at Tanoma Mining Company (TMC), a medium-sized underground coal mining company in central Pennsylvania, USA. Using a systematic approach of improving management controls and direction, labor relations, and communications, coupled with an intensive upgrade/rebuild/replacement program for equipment and systems used at the mine, TMC has begun reversing its' cashflow position from negative to positive within two years.

Jan 1, 1991

By C. K. Arthur, N. K. Dumakor-Dupey, B. A. Kansake, F. A. Kaba

Autonomous mining systems have been deployed for improving mine performance. However, there is a fear of job losses. Adoption of autonomous systems is envisaged to be resisted by major stakeholders in Ghana due to high illiteracy and unemployment. This paper assesses the preparedness of Ghanaian mining stakeholders for the adoption of autonomous systems to Ghana’s surface mining industry. Closed and open-ended questionnaires were administered to mine stakeholders. Respondents generally expressed unwillingness to accept autonomous systems into Ghanaian mines due to fear of increased unemployment. We propose setting up a mining education fund (MEF) for training stakeholders in autonomous mining systems. INTRODUCTION Mining contributes enormously to the sustenance and growth of global and national economies through the provision of raw materials, employment, revenues and foreign exchange (Carvalho, 2017; ICMM, 2017; Cordes et al., 2016; Solomon et al., 2008; Walser, 2000). The International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM, 2014) reported that globally, formal mining employs approximately 2.5 million people. Many resource-rich countries, especially the developing ones, have experienced strong socioeconomic growth propelled by the discovery and extraction of valuable minerals. McMahon and Moreira (2014) reported a positive linkage between mining and sustainable development. They revealed that averagely, resource-rich countries have improved Human Development Index (HDI) scores than countries without mineral resources. Mining remains a crucial industry in Ghana’s economic development (Bermúdez-Lugo, 2016; Amponsah-Tawiah and Dartey-Baah, 2011). Over the years, mining has contributed significantly to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Ghana. In 2013, mining accounted for 1.7% of Ghana’s GDP and about 19% of government revenues (Ghana Chamber of Mines, 2015). The Ghana Chamber of Mines also reported that mining contributed over 50% of foreign direct investment, 37% of export earnings and 1.1% of direct employment revenues. The US Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that 65% of coal, 92% of metals and 96% of industrial minerals are mined using surface mining methods (DOE, 2007). Generally, mining is a capital-intensive venture, with high operating cost, hence there is a constant demand for mining companies to seek efficient cost reduction and production maximization strategies. One strategy being pursued keenly is automation, which is noted to improve productivity, and worker safety at minimal cost. According to Parreira (2013), mining automation involves direct teleoperation whereby workers remotely control the mining process using computers from a control room.

Jan 1, 2019

By Thomas W. Turk

The water treatment industry has historically been involved with reducing or inhibiting the inherant scale forming or fouling tendencies of natural waters associated with large industrial cooling water systems. Fouling is an extremely complex phenomenon. From a fundamental point of view, it may be characterized as a combined momentum, heat, and mass transfer problem. Chemical reaction kinetics is involved, as well as the solubility characteristics of salts in water and corrosion technology. It is a routine practice to over size pumps, piping and heat exchangers to compensate for fouling.

Jan 1, 1983

By Steve Karl, Rock Jenkins

The mining industry appears to be slowly rebounding. But many individuals and company officials are still smarting from the beating they received during the recent recession. As a result, companies have taken the "lean and mean" approach. As pointed out at the Oct. 24-26, 1984 SME-AIME Fall Meeting in Denver, CO, companies are placing more emphasis on optimizing their operations through more efficient mining and processing technologies and equipment. Empathizing with the mining industry's woes was the meeting's welcoming luncheon speaker, John D. Withrow, Jr., executive vice president product development for Chrysler Corp. Withrow paralleled Chrysler's problems of a few years ago with the current problems facing the US mining industry. He said Chrysler's come-back centered around its engineering and technical personnel, who regained "their seat at the head table." "In short," Withrow said, "we had lost the competitive edge. By cutting costs and people and improving our products we got everybody to believe we could." The 2700 participants at the Fall Meeting attended technical sessions geared toward turning mining back into a productive and profitable industry. Sessions and symposia included papers on precious metals extraction, crushing and grinding innovations, geomechanics, environmental control, health and safety, and various commodities. This article briefly highlights some of the papers presented. To order preprints of these technical papers, see ME, December 1984, pages 1620 and 1621. Computers Gain Mining Acceptance High tech has reached mining. As evidenced by many papers, computers have become valuable tools in many applications. These include tailings ponds operation and waste management; truck dispatching; mine design, simulation, and scheduling; monitoring; and reclamation. Mine planning is generally labor intensive and requires a considerable amount of the planner's time. P. K. Chatterjee, X. Chung, and Y. Jianjy described a computer-generated interactive graphics approach to under-ground coal mine planning that lessens the manhours involved in producing plans. The computer program examined exploratory borehole information. This included coal seam thickness, tonnage, quality constraints, and the nature of their distribution. Layout designs were then initiated and a probabilistic simulation performed to determine production levels of different extraction strategies. The interactive graphics approach gives planners the ability to quickly evaluate several layout alternatives and select the best one. For surface coal mines, M. A. White, of Arch Minerals Corp., explained several computer programs that aided in his company's surface mine plans. Several drill hole database and modeling pack¬ages are available. But Arch tech¬nicians developed specific pro¬grams for model strip areas. They were used to form long-term pro¬jections for various area and semi¬area stripping operations. They also generated reports on yard¬age, tonnage, quality, and ratio in¬formation. The information is used in budgeting, to compare mine plans, and to analyze acqui¬sition candidates. While computer-based truck dispatching systems have been used in mining for some time, earlier systems were run on ex¬pensive mainframe or high per¬formance minicomputers. As such, computer-based truck dis¬patching systems have been too expensive for all but the largest mines. Recently, however, a microcomputer-based system, af¬fordable to smaller mine opera¬tors, has become technologically feasible. Y. C. Kim and W. E. Kolb re¬ported on a simulated microcom¬puter system that uses strategi¬cally placed signposts in the pit area to automatically detect truck movements. A microprocessor in the signpost sends information to the microcomputer. The computer determines the truck's assign¬ment and alerts the dispatcher. He radios the driver his assign¬ment. In addition to the technical pa¬pers, an introductory short course on microcomputers was offered at the meeting. L. M. Kass and J. P. Stone, from the US Bureau of Mines, walked participants through the uses of microcom-

Jan 1, 1985

By E. Watkins, S. J. SCHATZEL, K M. AJAYI, V. Gangrade, Z. Khademian

A stochastic discrete fracture network (DFN) model is developed based on mine site core log data to predict the horizontal and vertical permeabilities from the surface to the top of the caved zone at a longwall mining site in southwestern Pennsylvania. One hundred DFN realizations were generated to determine permeabilities for the isolated zone over an abutment pillar after mining the second panel. The results from this study show that the vertical and horizontal permeabilities from the DFN model agree closely with field measurements, which indicates that the resultant permeability obtained from the field measurements is representative of the predicted permeabilities. With this agreement, the aperture data for other zones of the mine could be obtained from the geomechanical model — specifically, for the fractured zone over the gob. Based on the successful validation of this model, this model could be further developed to predict the permeability of the fractured zone over the gob with fracture aperture obtained from the geomechanical analysis. This will complete the fracture characterization of the overburden, which could be used to predict potential shale gas flow to the mine in the event of a breach. This prediction could provide information on the associated risk of a casing breach and determination of methods to proactively prevent such an occurrence.

Feb 1, 2023

By Klaydison Silva, Pedro Silva, Letícia Damet

The current situation of the global mining economy is increasingly focused on the utilization of materials previously discarded in the mining process. The waste from the past, through new processing routes, is gaining new contours for use as high-value-added products. The strategic mine planning process has consequently had to adapt to the new economic reality. In standard scenarios, the focus was primarily on mine sequencing aimed at the highest economic return, with all infrastructure allocated as a necessity of mining. This work aims, in strategic planning, to configure and select the best composition of mining structures. The entire Mine-Plant-Waste-Tailings-Products chain will be considered as a factor in the sequencing of a multimine complex, to achieve the most sustainable utilization of the current mines’ waste. The sequencing is based on concurrent flows of process configurations and capacities, structure sharing, and flexibility of feed types. These factors will guide the sequencing, which will be constrained by components such as waste and tailings disposal rates, lithology feed relationships, and especially product composition through market specifications, all while respecting product shipping capacities.

Feb 22, 2026

By Goran Mathisson

PLASMARED is a process in which one well established and one new advanced technology have been merged into a practical tool for production of high quality direct reduced iron at lowest energy consumption and costs. Before describing the process, we have to reiterate the simple fundamentals of making metallized iron from iron ores: The main components necessary are: - Iron oxide - Carbon and/or hydrogen - Heat

Jan 1, 1982

The 2014 George A. Fox Conference at the Graduate Center, City University of New York in New York City was presented under the theme, ?21st Century Challenges for the Tunneling Industry. Bruce Grewcock, chief executive officer and president of Peter Kiewit Sons? Inc., opened the conference with a keynote address in which he set the tone for the rest of the day by touching on the many challenges the industry is facing, which are plentiful and complex. Covering the breadth of the industry, he spoke about everything from the technical challenges that come from working beneath the streets of some of the most densely populated regions in the world to the challenges that come from working with the people who live in those areas. ?My observation is that we, as an industry, are being asked to put structures in places where they are needed, but are complex environments to work in,? said Grewcock. ?We work in an industry that relies on some of the most technically challenging engineering in the world, and when we are done with a project, we cover it up and no one ever sees it.? Despite these issues, Grewcock said that, in his opinion, the biggest challenge the industry is facing is that of people; more precisely, where to find the next batch of people. Looking out at the conference-record crowd of more than 400 registered attendees, Grewcock quipped that he saw plenty of gray beards and asked aloud, ?Where will we find, educate and train the people to tackle the issues that this industry will face in the future??

Mar 1, 2014

By T. McDonald

Test work indicated and plant operation has since confirmed that SAG milling is a viable option for INCO's Sudbury Operation milling rationalization project only if pebble crushing is included in the SAG/ball mill circuit. Throughput increases more than fifty percent with pebble crushing incorporated into the comminution process. The finer product of high speed pebble crushing provides further energy savings. The unconventional approach of pumping the pebble crusher product, while simplifying plant layout, has produced challenging wear problems.

Jan 1, 1992

By L. J. Drew

The plate tectonic setting, regional geology, and certain aspects of the economic geology of the iron-rare-earth-nio-bium ore bodies at Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, China, were studied by a team of geologists from the Tianjin Geologic Research Academy and the U.s. Geological Survey between 1987 and 1989. These ore bodies were formed by hydrothermal replacement of Middle Proterozoic dolomite in an intracontinental rift setting. A variety of veins and/or dikes that have a carbonatite-like mineralogy cut the footwall clastic rocks and migmatites. A stockwork of veins occurs at several locations in the footwall. The hanging wall is a shale that has been converted to a K-metasomatite and has microcrystalline potassium feldspar as its principal constituent. This shale served as a sealing caprock that contained the chemical solutions that reacted with the dolomite and that created the enormous concentration of mineralized rock in an 18-kilometer-long syncline. The rocks that host these ore bodies and the associated mineralized areas occur today as roof pendants in granitoid rocks of Pennian age that were emplaced during a continent-to-continent collision during that period.

Jan 1, 1991

By T. Kelly

The Cannon Mine is located in Chelan County, near Wenatchee, Washington, at the eastern foot of the Cascade Mountains. The mine is situated about two miles from the Columbia River, in the arid Columbia River Valley. Two hydroelectric dams provide electricity for the area, the Burlington Northern Railroad has a switch yard and loading facilities in Wenatchee. Approximately 25,000 people live in the area. The principal industry is fruit farming. Underground mining techniques are used to provide feed for a 2,000 tpd flotation concentrator at the site. The techniques are low- cost, high productivity methods which allow for a high extraction rate along with a high rate of recovery of the minable reserve.

Jan 1, 1986

By Fiona M. Doyle Garner

Hydrolytic stripping is the process whereby metal ions in a loaded solvent extractant are hydrolyzed by water, typically at 130°-200°C. Equilibrium hydrolytic stripping tests were done on Versatic 10 solutions of various metals, singly and in mixtures. Single solutions of Fe, Xi, Cu, Mg, and tin precipitated aFe2O3, Ni(OH)2, Cu2O, Mg(OH) 2 and ?Mn203 respectively during hydrolytic stripping. Several mixtures containing iron precipitated magnetic spinel ferrites, MFe20k. No other combinations formed mixed oxides. It is proposed that the mechanisms for hydrolysis and precipitation of iron in loaded Versa- tic solutions are similar to those for iron hydrolysis in aqueous solutions. Infrared spec- troscopy and thin-layer chromatography of mixed iron-nickel Versatic solutions indicated that mixed Fe-Ni carboxylate complexes are present. Magnetic interactions between mixed complexes are thought to be responsible for the homogeneous nucleation of magnetic mixed oxides in preference to single oxides.

Jan 1, 1984

By Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, JUNIOR AMILTON BARBOSA BOTELHO, Jorge Alberto Soares Tenorio

Bauxite ore is used to produce alumina in the Bayer process. For each tonne of alumina produced, around 1 to 1.5 t of bauxite residue is generated, with an estimated 4 Mt of the residue generated worldwide in 2015, four times more in 1985. The residue is currently stocked in tailings dams. A new step in the Bayer process has been used to recover sodium hydroxide, which is used as a leaching agent, and reduce its content in the residue. After digestion, the residue is separated from the Bayer liquor and passed through press filters. This bauxite residue is known as a source of scandium. Characterization of the residue is an important step to map opportunities worldwide. For this reason, the goal of the present study was to characterize the bauxite residue and evaluate the challenges for scandium recovery. The scandium content was found to be 43 g/t, which makes this bauxite residue attractive for extraction purposes.

By M. E. Grimes

Rio Algom Mines Ltd. owns eight uranium mines and mills in the Elliot Lake district of Ontario, seven of which were producing before 1960. At present only one mine is operating meeting current contract requirements. Under present economic conditions, it is not feasible to mine ore of less than 2.0 lbs./ton U308, although there are very large reserves below this grade. We are interested in preconcentration for three possible applications: to extend ore reserves by permitting use of lower grade ore, to reduce costs on processing of present grade ore, and to reduce capital investment in expanding production to meet future production goals.

Jan 1, 1973

"Australia’s largest rail freight network operator, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), has selected GE Transportation’s Movement Planner solution as the key technology enabler for its Hunter Valley-focused network control optimization program.ARTC’s Newcastle-based network control, is the nerve center of Hunter Valley rail operations, where locally based train control professionals make thousands of decisions every day to safely support the annual movement of more than 24 kt/h (26,400 stph) of freight, and tens of thousands of coal, freight, grain and passenger trains each year.ARTC plans to transform its train control function by integrating and then building on Movement Planner, an advanced software solution by GE Transportation that provides real-time rail traffic planning and optimization to enable freight to move more efficiently. “The Hunter Valley rail network is one of the busiest and most complex in the country, supporting the largest coal export port in the world,” ARTC managing director and chief executive officer John Fullerton said.“As bulk freight demands grow, rail operators like ARTC and supply chains like the Hunter Valley coal network need to be creative in the way they respond so the Australian economy doesn’t miss out. That’s why we have conducted a worldwide search to find globally proven solutions that will improve our network productivity and efficiency,” Fullerton said.The Movement Planner solution considers multiple factors including train schedules, trafficcontrol systems and train movements relative to each other and then develops an optimized traffic plan for the trains throughout the network. Existing GE customers have benefited from increased visibility of network operations, higher velocity, less dwell times, and improved on-time performance across their networks."

Jan 1, 2018

By James M. King

Analytical models for transient groundwater phenomena, such as those of Theis, Cooper, and Jacob, are important but often limited tools for aquifer evaluation and drawdown prediction. Most were developed using simplifying assumptions which compromise their treatment of complex boundaries and most also contain functions that are mathematically complex and difficult to solve explicitly. Examples of such functions are the Bessel functions, the exponential integral, and similar well functions for leaky confined and water table aquifers. This paper describes the joint use of simple numerical techniques and numerical approximations of these functions to extend many analytical models beyond their conventional applications. The enhanced analytical methods represent many hydrologic problems more easily and realistically, permit a wider range of application, and often provide insight into the response of pumped groundwater systems without the need to resort to more complex numerical flow models. Use of the enhanced analytical methods usually requires the use of microcomputers due to the large number of computations. Examples presented here are the development and extension of type curves and the determination of drawdown distributions.

Jan 1, 1984

By Charles A. Beasley

Increased technical and legislative analysis by all parties of interest could result in more efficientand better directed regulatory legislation in the mining industry. Efforts to forestall or frustrate legislation through massive lobbying and public relations efforts are seldom effective over time and often lead to more stringent and far reaching legislation than necessary. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 is perhaps an outstanding example of such insufficiences; a future example may well be regulatory surface mine legislation. Although a lack of extensive hard data seldom enables rapid or sophisticated analysis early in the legislative process, even preliminary analysis may be sufficient. Simple statistical analyses of available data, assessment of the legislative rationale, and subjective appraisal of other non-quantifiable constraints to improved mine safety. An average of 115 underground fatalities at an exposure frequency rate of 0.67 can be reasonably expected in the immediate future, under existing levels of technology, degree of regulation, and economic conditions. If gross unrefined estimates of 6 preparation plant, 5 surface, and 30 strip mining fatalities are assumed, the total fatality industry level could be expected to approximate 156 Serious professional, economic, and technical constraints within the the industry probably preclude any major decrease of these accident levels within the near future

Jan 1, 1972

By Paul C. Lingo

Two recent antitrust cases, coming from widely separated areas, different industries and involving wholly different facts were decided by the Supreme Court on June 7, 1965. The decisions in there two cases may well prove to be the most important and far-reaching decisions in the field of labor law that have been handed down in the last 24 years. These cases, although quite dissimilar factually, had one common element. In both, the gravamen of the antitrust violation was bottomed on the terms of labor agreements negotiated by a multiemployer group. These cases are usually referred to as Pennington1 and Jewel Teat. Since a number of references will be made to the antitrust laws, it may be well to state briefly the applicable portions. Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act makes "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal...". Section 2 imposes criminal sanctions against "Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several states...". Under Section 4 of the Clayton Act a person who sustains damages as a result of a violation of the anti¬trust laws is entitled to recover treble damages plus costs.

Jan 1, 1966

By Gregory Beckstrom

"During a year of challenges in the mining industry, two groups collaborated Aug. 17- 20 for a joint conference on industrial minerals of the Upper Midwest. Hosted in Minneapolis, MN, the 4th Annual SME Twin Cities technical conference and the 51st Annual Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals (FGIM) drew attendees from throughout the United States and Canada.Highlights of the event included a one-day field trip on Aug. 17 to a crushed stone and gravel mining and processing operations near the Twin Cities, followed by a visit to a historic mine tunnel within the St. Peter sandstone formation. The latter was used as a speakeasy during America’s prohibition era. A two-day field trip on Aug. 19-20 made stops in central and northeastern Minnesota at a granite quarry and processing plant, a peat harvesting and packaging plant, an iron mine and taconite processing plant, and a silica sand storage and loading operation. In a nod to one of Minnesota’s celebrated luminaries, the group also stopped in Hibbing to visit the boyhood home of Robert Allen Zimmerman, better known to the rest of the world as Bob Dylan.A full-day technical program featuring talks on environmental impacts of silica sand mining, regulatory updates, mine land reclamation and methods for identifying construction material failures (alkali-silica reaction) was bookended by the two field trips.According to Minnesota state geologist Harvey Thorleifson, the keynote speaker of the technical program, “This joint SME and Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals conference is a reflection of the important role of the mining industry in society, of the important role that partnerships play, and of the prominence of industrial minerals on the Twin Cities region and iron ore on a national scale.” He added, “While this is a tough year for the mining industry in the region, we are confident in the strength of the profession and the industry in the medium term, as we anticipate a superb SME national conference in Minneapolis in 2018.”"

Jan 1, 2015

By Richard Minnitt, Philippe Renard, Christina Dohm, Winfred Assibey-Bonsu, Matthew Aboagye, Julien Straubhaar, Mahlomola I. Mabala

The application of multiple point statistics (MPS) in oil studies has gained traction over the years; however, the use of MPS in mineral resource estimation and classification is still limited. This is despite MPS’ ability to deal with complex and heterogeneous geology better than the commonly applied two-point based methods. The availability and choice of a representative training image (TI) are often cited as the main challenge holding back MPS’ application in mining geostatistical studies. On the other hand, the general approach used in mining whereby early focus is on higher grade areas and lower grades are planned to be mined later presents a massive opportunity for the development of representative TIs. Mined-out areas provide large amounts of historical data that can be used to develop training images or training datasets that can be used to estimate in mining extension areas (often lower in grade), provided low grade areas are underpinned by similar geology analogue. This approach will enable more robust estimates in mine/pit extension areas for both high- and low-grade extensions than with traditional two-point geostatistical methods.

Jun 25, 2023