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By T. A. Sullivan

The processing of sweated aluminum electronic scrap was investigated to develop methods for recovering the aluminum and concentrating the other metals, including copper, lead, gold, and silver, into a product that can be separated by known methods. Two molten-salt electrorefining processes were developed and tested. The first process utilized a three-layer refining cell with a BaCI2-NaF-AIF3 electrolyte, which operated at 750° to 850° C. The second process used an all-chloride electrolyte of NaCI-KCI-AICI3 at 750° to 800° C, with separate anode and cathode compartments. High-quality aluminum was recovered that averaged 99.8-percent pure in the three-layer cell and 99.6-percent pure in the compartment cell. Over 94 percent of the aluminum was recovered with cathode current efficiencies of approximately 90 percent in both methods. The copper, lead, tin, silver, gold, and other metals were concentrated threefold in an anode product. Separation of lead and part of the tin by liquation from this product seemed feasible. The anode product was smelted to prepare a 96-percent copper bullion that contained 690 ounces of silver and 65 ounces of gold per ton, with 98 percent recovery of these values.

Jan 1, 1972

By Gabrielle Gaustad

For aluminum, substitution of primary with secondary resources decreases energy consumption; this energy advantage creates a strong economic incentive to recycle. Several authors have raised concerns that the current sinks for secondary materials may soon be saturated, impeding subsequent expansion of recycling. This work combines dynamic material flow analysis with optimal batch planning models to quantify the significance and drivers of these pending limits under several scenarios, and thereby explore potential opportunities to increase recycling. An aluminum recycling system case was developed that includes containers and packaging, automotive, and construction products and scraps. The impacts on aggregate scrap utilization and materials cost are explored in the context of changing alloy demand and lifetime. Insights drawn from this specific case study could be applied to multi-stakeholder, systemic models.

Jan 1, 2010

By George T. Faust

The petrographer engaged in examining the products resulting from the beneficiation of ores and rock minerals is constantly required to develop new means and methods of assaying microscopically the results of such operations. From time to time investigators have published descriptions of apparatus that have aided in solving problems in processes f physical separation. Thus, in 191.9, Coghill and Bonardi 31 published a paper covering the application of the binocular microscope and camera lucida to the microscopic analysis of pulverized ores. Similar work has been published by Schneiderhohn 4/, Schwartz 5/, and Head and his associates6/, 7/, 8/. The present paper goes further and considers application of the polarizing comparison-microscope to problems directly concerned with mineral dressing where it is desirable to compare analogous products, and in addition it suggests new uses in various related fields. This work was conducted under the cooperative agreements of the Southern Experiment Station of the Federal Bureau of Mines and. the University of Alabama.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. Patrick Ryan, Thor H. Kiilsgaard, Charles W. Merrill, E. T. McKnight

The U.S. Treasury stocks of silver have been reduced at such a rapid rate to meet industrial and coinage requirements that they face exhaustion in 3 or 4 years. Alleviation of the silver problem will require increasing supply or reduc ing demand. This paper examines poss ible long-range resource development and research programs and improved secondary recovery. The possible reduction or elimination of silver in coinage and development and introduction of substitutes in the arts and industry are also discussed.

Feb 1, 1965

By M. E. Hawkins

This Bureau of Mines report provides information on all of the 329 proved salt domes in the Gulf Coastal States and offshore area of the United States. It includes specific data related to location, depth to the cap rock and to the salt, storage facilities for LPG, and production of salt, sulfur, petroleum, and rock related to or associated with the dome structure in the subject area. Also included is a brief history of the salt, sulfur, and petroleum industries as related to the salt domes. Gulf Coast salt domes were the scene of the first discovery of a large deposit of rock salt in North America, the birthplace of the Frasch sulfur industry, and the location of the first large oil gushers that ushered in the modern liquid fuel age.

Jan 1, 1966

By Elsa Olivetti

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used increasingly as a tool to provide quantitative metrics of environmental impact and inform early stage materials selection decisions. One common challenge in LCA stems from allocation of burden when multiple adjacent products share some of the same processes. A critical example of this is the partitioning of benefit or burden at product disposition in open-loop recycling scenarios. This work reviews the challenge of allocation and investigates the various methods proposed for allocating end-of-life (EOL) burden. Specifically this work examines whether these methods lead to different results and explores the trends in allocation method bias for or against particular materials classes.

Jan 1, 2010

By M. E. Hawkins

This Bureau of Mines report provides information on all of the 329 proved salt domes in the Gulf Coastal States and offshore area of the United States. It includes specific data related to location, depth to the cap rock and to the salt, storage facilities for LPG, and production of salt, sulfur, petroleum, and rock related to or associated with the dome structure in the subject area. Also included is a brief history of the salt, sulfur, and petroleum industries as related to the salt domes. Gulf Coast salt domes were the scene of the first discovery of a large deposit of rock salt in North America, the birthplace of the Frasch sulfur industry, and the location of the first large oil gushers that ushered in the modern liquid fuel age.

Jan 1, 1966

By Sneddon N

In November, 1975, Aberdare North colliery was sealed at the surface to extinguish an open fire underground.The fire had developed from a spontaneous heating in one of the open goaf areas of the mine.The mine was re-entered with normal ventilation methods following the isolation of the working district containing the fire. The isolation was accomplished by remotely sealing the open roadways with lly ash emplaced through boreholes from the surface. A subsequent re-entry operation similarly closed the roadways close to the fire and enabled the re-opening of the sealed district.Most of the mine and the underground equipment was recovered after clearing of numerous falls and production recommenced on 25th October, 1976.

Jan 1, 1978

By R. A. Wood, R. I. Jaffee, H. R. Ogden, D. N. Williams

Strain-induced porosity has been found to occur in titanium and other materials at tensile strains greater than the uniform elongation of the material. Porosity in titanium increases with increasing strain and temperature, being most severe at 300° to 800°F. Strain-induced porosity is believed to be a normal part of the mechanism of deformation in ductile materials. DURING the past few years there have been numerous references to the occurrence of voids in laboratory test specimens of metals subjected to strain.l-7 These voids have been referred to as intercrystalline cracking, strain-induced porosity, intergranular cav-itation, voids, and porosity. They appear to occur at grain boundaries or interfaces, and are generally associated with large amounts of strain and have been found mostly in creep specimens and to a lesser extent in tensile specimens. Because the phenomenon does not occur unless the material has been strained,

Jan 1, 1960

By W. I. Nissen

This Bureau of Mines report presents the design for a commercial-sized flue gas desulfurization (FGD) demonstration plant that uses the citrate process. The goal of the Bureau's citrate process is to minimize the undesirable environmental impacts of industrial plants emitting SO2-bearing gas. The FGD plant is located at the George F. Weaton powerplant, Monaca, Pa. Construction was completed in April 1979 and will be followed by preliminary testing and a 1-year testing and evaluation program. Design capacity of the FGD plant is 156,000 scfm of 0.2-volume-percent-SO2 flue gas yielding about 16 tons of sulfur per day. The plant is intended to (1) clean fly ash, SO2, and Cl- from the gas while cooling the gas in a venturi scrubber, (2) absorb SO2 from the gas using 1,200 gpm of a countercurrent-flowing citric acid-sodium citrate-sodium thiosulfate solution, (3) react the absorbed SO2 in two 13,000-gal stirred closed vessels with added H2S, thus precipitating elemental sulfur and regenerating the citrate solution for recycle, and (4) recover the sulfur from the slurry by air flotation, followed by melting in a heat exchanger and separation from the occluded citrate solution in a sulfur decanter at 35 psi and 135° C.

Jan 1, 1979

By Ling Yang, John Henderson

Self-diffusion coefficients of copper in molten copper have been measured by the capillary reservoir method in the temperature range 1140o to 1260°C. The results can be represented by the equation D = [(1.46 * 0.01) x 10-3) exp [(-9710 * 710)/RT] cm2/sec. The energy of activation agrees within the limit of experimental uncertainty with that for viscous flow. The relationship between the diffusivity and coefficient of viscosity is best described by the equation D = kT/4pnr cm2/sec. MEASUREMENT was made of the self-diffusion coefficient of copper in molten copper in the temperature range 1413º to 1533ºK, using the capillary reservoir technique and CU64 as the radioactive tracer.The procedures for filling the capillaries, making the diffusion run and evaluating Dcu from the counting results were the same as described previously.1,2 All experimental operations involving the melt were carried out in a purified argon atmosphere. A graphite crucible, enclosed in a McDanel tube, was used as a container for the melt because of its satisfactory nature as a refractory material and the low solubility of carbon in copper. Graphite was also used for the capillary material. A McDanel thermocouple sheath, to which graphite radiation shields were affixed, was used to hold the capillaries. By moving this sheath through a rubber seal at the top of the McDanel tube, the capillaries could be lowered into or raised out of the melt. A Globar furnace with a constant temperature zone (± 2°C) of 2 in. was used to heat the assembly. The temperature of the furnace was the equilibrium value corresponding to a given setting of the transformer. Temperature was measured with a Pt-10 pct Rh/Pt thermocouple and varied during a run

Jan 1, 1962

By E. C. Grunsky, B. W. Smee

"The development of low-cost, rapid multielement analytical techniques has generated large geochemical databases in many exploration programs. When a sampling program consists of several thousand samples, the resulting data matrix is enormous and effective interpretation using all of the elements individually becomes burdensome. However, the application of multivariate statistical techniques can extract geochemical patterns related to the underlying geology, weathering, alteration and mineralization. Imaging the results over topography enhances the interpretation of these patterns. Examples of this approach are shown from mineral exploration programs in Canada and Mexico. IntroductionThere has been a dramatic change in the effectiveness of using geochemical survey data in the past ten years. This is mostly due to:• lower cost of geochemical analysis;• lower detection limits;• new methods of multi-element analysis;• a marked decrease in the turnaround time;and• the intelligent use of computers in presenting geochemical data.Geochemical surveys commonly have two objectives: locating abnormal concentrations of ore-forming or pathfinder elements and characterizing the underlying host lithologies. Geochemical surveys often employ a wide range of sample media that may typically include whole rock lithogeochemistry, various soil horizons, till and basal till sampling, stream sediments, lake sediments, and various forms of weathered regolith. Each of these sample media will exhibit a unique element distribution that must be factored in the interpretation phase of a geochemical survey study. This can become a cumbersome process if univariate data handling methods are employed."

Jan 1, 2003

By D Barclay, S Mercer, S Wright

Mine water management is often an afterthought in mine planning processes and can introduce significant risks to projects when studied as a stand alone component at a later stage in the mine design. Incorporation of a mine dewatering and pore pressure dissipation strategy in the early stages of mine planning is imperative in order to minimise constraints on the production schedule, to match designed pit slopes and maximise project value for an open cut mine option such as Olympic Dam. A risk-based mine planning approach was adopted during the project selection phase study whereby water management was introduced into mine planning, scheduling and the development of an operational strategy. Hydrological and hydrogeological studies and outputs were successfully integrated into the various iterations of the mine planning cycle during early selection phase to manage the potential water management risks associated with pit slope depressurisation and access to dry working conditions during rapid advancement of mining phases.An extensive network of vibrating wire piezometer sets and long-term depressurisation testing characterised aquifer conditions and demonstrated that hydraulic connectivity exists within the geological profile due to the presence of structures and resource drill holes which enhance vertical connectivity. This connectivity, along with underdrainage from mining activities contributes up to 100 m of depressurisation in low permeability units.A pit dewatering strategy incorporates the mine planning schedules and accounts for operational constraints as to the location and development of the dewatering wells, storages and pipelines. Numerical modelling generated a range of likely pit inflows and dewatering requirements with the average initial dewatering discharge likely to be 150 L/s and reduce quickly to 50 L/s after five years, depending on the premine schedule.Coupled hydrogeological and geotechnical assessments were also carried out as part of the mine planning cycle and indicate that successful dewatering will go a long way to reduce the pore pressures within key geotechnical units during the rapid mining phase where around 300 m of cover sequence is stripped in five years. However, the residual storage in the primary aquifer and the residual pore pressure in underlying low permeability units will need to be dissipated (in-pit horizontal holes) as the pit floor advances. Pit slope design angles are sensitive to depressurisation and dewatering and up to 70 per cent depressurisation of key geotechnical rock units are required. Whilst an accelerated program of aquifer dewatering supported by lithostatic unloading should drive rapid depressurisation in the lower permeability units, intervention is anticipated in key geotechnical units such as the Tregolana Shale and volcaniclastics. The extent of induced drainage will ultimately depend in part upon the mining rate and geotechnical stability requirements. Practical operability testing addressed the potential for operational constraints to mine depressurisation activities such as congestion and mining schedule development within the pit and identified that depressurisation drilling can be achieved even with reduced access availability. Mine operations and planning groups established design criteria and considered the likely inoperable periods following rainfall events of seven to 14 days to manage the base surge and minimise impact on production. In-pit surface water management options to minimise operational disruptions during and after significant rainfall events were estimated used a stochastic approach.

Jan 1, 2009

The U.S. Bureau of Mines Information and Analysis Directorate collects worldwide data on virtually every commercially important nonfuel mineral commodity. These data form the base for tracking and assessing the health of the minerals sector of the U.S. economy. The Bureau's data collection activity was instituted by the 47th Congress in an appropriations act of August 7, 1882 (22 Stat. 329), which placed the collection of mineral statistics on an annual basis. The most recent authority for the U.S. Bureau of Mines survey activity is the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-479, 96th Congress). This act strengthens protection for proprietary data provided to the U.S. Department of the Interior by persons or firms engaged in any phase of mineral or mineral-material production or consumption.

Jan 1, 1993

By P. M. Wiltcher

The construction of a deep structural slurry wall in a restricted city centre location is always a challenging prospect. However, when the city is London and the site is bounded on two sides by high level canals and a main traffic highway on the third, the challenges are greater than usual. The paper discusses the design considerations required by the principal contractor to accommodate a single high level lateral support, value-engineered, bottom-up construction technique and the impact this had on the design detailing and construction of the slurry wall panels. This paper discusses the logistical challenges successfully overcome during the construction of 65,000sq ft of 40inch thick, 80ft deep structural slurry wall in the City of London. The paper reviews the benefits gained from using the state-of-the-art hydraulic grab and rotator system. Technological advances in computer instrumentation and real time monitoring were utilised to assist the grab operators in consistently delivering deviational control during excavation better than 1:200. With working space always at a premium on construction sites, the need for high quality, pre-fabricated reinforcement cages has never been greater. This paper reviews the argument for off-site fabrication of reinforcement members.

Jan 1, 2006

By Ramin Motamed, Joseph A. W. Toth

Evaluation of the capacity of large-diameter drilled shafts using current load test methods present challenges when considering the magnitude of loads required to fully mobilize their capacities. Often, these full scale tests do not fully mobilize the capacity through side resistance. Therefore, the need for innovative solutions to extrapolate side resistance and interpret nominal capacity are of key interest. In this study, we evaluate three methodologies for extrapolating unit side resistance based on bi-directional load test data. Fellenius (2001) presented these methods for interpretation of pile capacity using static load tests. Our interpretations are based on the evaluation of 116 load tests. Unit side resistance was calculated and reviewed for each load test and categorized using three criteria of mobilization; (A) full, (B) partial and (C) linear. This study specifically focuses on load tests that showed fully mobilized unit side resistance behavior (Criteria A). The three methodologies were applied assuming Criteria (A) load tests were mobilized to 50% of their measured values. Subsequent comparisons of each extrapolation were then compared against the full measured values for each test and generally showed good agreement. INTRODUCTION It is widely accepted that conducting load tests such as standard top-down tests or bi-directional (i.e. O- cell) tests can help designers understand load-settlement behavior and the nominal resistance of drilled shaft foundations. These load testing methods provide the advantage of confirming design assumptions as well as improving the reliability of the foundation design. The potential cost savings from the application of these methods for mid to large size projects is self-evident. For example, in a recent project in Northern Nevada, an O-cell test on a 6.9 ft diameter, 114.8 ft length drilled shaft imposed an initial cost of $125k to the project, resulting in a 15% reduction on the total foundation cost; equivalent to $1.3 million in overall savings (Pease, 2014). However, the costs of implementing such methods on smaller projects can be prohibitively expensive (Hagerty et al, 2016). Despite the clear advantages of drilled shaft load testing, the current practice is not without limitations. Performing load tests on large-diameter drilled shafts with high capacities is a challenge considering the significant loads required to fully mobilize the capacity of such foundations. In some cases, the feasibility of these tests is impractical because the associated initial cost is not guaranteed to outweigh the final savings. As a result, large scale load tests are sometimes ruled out from the design phase of projects. Furthermore, in the majority of load tests the magnitude of loads applied are specifically selected to not approach failure, so the shafts can be used in the future foundation system (i.e. production shafts). This practice of field testing restricts our knowledge of the true capacity of the drilled shaft at failure; hence the nominal resistance remains unknown.

Jan 1, 2018

By Ke Yang

Drilled shafts are widely adopted as the foundation for sound walls. However, there has been a lack of uniformity in design and analysis methods and design criteria, in terms of factor of safety against ultimate capacity failure as well as the allowable deflection. In order to establish a uniform design methodology for the drilled shafts supporting sound walls in cohesive and cohesionless soils, respectively, a database of full-scale lateral load tests on fully instrumented drilled shafts was collected. Based on the compiled database, existing design methods and design criteria of laterally loaded drilled shafts were evaluated. Broms method and COM624P (or LPILE) are suggested as the design methods for drilled shafts supporting sound walls in both cohesive and cohesionless soils. Additionally, the corresponding design criteria, including factor of safety and permissible deflection, for both design methods are recommended. Two full-scale lateral load tests on fully instrumented drilled shafts were subsequently conducted in Colorado to further verify the design recommendation. A comprehensive geotechnical investigation program was also carried out at the two new lateral load test sites that included pressuremeter test, SPT, as well as laboratory triaxial consolidated undrained tests and direct shear tests on the soil samples taken from the lateral load test sites. The test results obtained at these two load test sites were employed to validate the recommended geotechnical design and geotechnical testing methods for the drilled shafts supporting sound walls.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. Gunaselvam

This article deals with an investigation into the specification and use of appropriate seating systems to reduce whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure in typical vehicles used in the SA mining industry. The EU Directive EU/44/2002 to be legislated in 2005 in European countries, provides legal and economic motivation for this project. The criteria for seat selection can be condensed to the requirements in the directive, which mandates an action level of 0.5 m/s2and a vibration exposure limit of 1.15 m/s2 for an equivalent 8-hour daily exposure period. As part of this study six suspension seats, which the manufacturers claim satisfy the requirements in ISO 70966, were tested to determine the most suitable seat for an articulated dump truck. Six test subjects, three ?light? and three ?heavy? as specified in ISO 70966, were used to estimate the seat transmissibility functions in the vertical direction of the six different suspension seats. Transmissibility functions were measured in the laboratory with two excitation levels of 1 m/s2 and 2 m/s2 r.m.s. in the 0.5?30 Hz frequency range, as well as one spectrum approximating the EM5 spectral class. SEAT values were calculated for road vibration data measured on a typical articulated dump truck. A set of seat selection guidelines that can be followed by vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, procurement officers and and the technical staff on a mine is proposed in this article. It is recommended that additional studies of the use and operating conditions of seating systems in the SA industry, as well as an epidemiological survey be commissioned to gather additional information on this subject. Nomenclature ADT Articulated dump truck DSTF Dynamic seat testing facility EM1 Frequency spectra associated with earth moving equipment (?articulated or rigid frame dumper?) according to ISO 7096 EU European Union ISO International Standards Organisation PSD Power spectral density r.m.s .Root mean square SEAT Seat effective amplitude transmissibility WBV Whole-body vibration

Jan 1, 2005

By W. E. Bruce, James Paone

Drillability or a measure of drilling performance has been based on ( 1 ) hardness and toughness of rocks , ( 2 ) power input to the drill compared with total volume of hole , and ( 3 ) penetration related to resistive forces of rock on the applied penetrative forces . An analysis of some representative previous work is made . Experimental drillability curves from AX- size diamond core bit performance in eight different rocks ranging from dense hard taconite to soft limestones are presented . Results show that in small bore diamond drilling , compressive strength and possibly other rock properties may be a useful parameter in predicting drilling rates .

Jan 1, 1963

Several Approaches to Enhance the Bioleaching of Enargite Some approaches were investigated to enhance the recovery of Cu from enargite by bioleaching with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans using the galvanic interaction with pyrite and activated carbon, and with thermophilic bacteria, Acidianus brierleyi. Addition of pyrite initially enhanced Cu leaching by the Galvanic effect, but after that the formation of secondary minerals passivated the surface of enargite in inoculated batches. Activated carbon improved Cu recovery from enargite much better than pyrite, when it is contacted with enargite. Recovery of Cu from enargite has been recorded to at largest 2.4 per cent within 30 days in the presence of activated carbon when mesophilic bacteria were inoculated at 25¦C. The recovery of Cu from enargite was drastically enhanced by inoculation of thermophilic bacteria, Acidianus brierleyi, up to 60 per cent within 40 days at 70¦C and still not leveled off after 40 days unless the formation of Fe(III) precipitates occurred. After 40 days dissolved molar ratio of Cu/As is around 5.2, suggesting that metal-deficient sulfides and/or ferric arsenate might be formed on the surface of enargite.

Sep 13, 2010