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By B. M. Eiter

The impact of fatigue is seen not only in its effect on the job performance of haul truck operators but also on the health of the operator and the productivity at the mine site. Its impact can even extend outside of the mine site to the health and well-being of the surrounding community (Fourie et al., 2010). In this paper, a case study of a small, surface mining organization is presented. The goal is to highlight the fatigue risk management system implemented at the studied mine site. Mine safety personnel who were interviewed discuss the changes made to the infrastructure of the mine, to administrative areas such as the number of shifts and the use of vacation time, as well as the implementation of new technology into haulage vehicles. This paper reviews how these changes are supported in the research literature.

By Thomas H. Sheldon

IN the zeal for opening up new ore-bodies, or for. extracting the ore from attractive bodies gal ready opened up, we very often lose sight of the fact, that, after all, the operation of a mine is a business proposition, pure and simple; and for the best working-results should be treated upon a strict business basis. Of course, in every mine of consequence a record is kept of expenditures and receipts, and such glittering generalities as "gross receipts," " net receipts," " mining expenses," .and " per cent. profit," can be told to the cent; but does this . record show economy of management, either as compared with the same record of other months, or as compared to the record of other mines of the' same class ? Moreover, if such a record shows that the cost of mining is high, does it in any way en¬able the manager to put his finger on the leakage? Does it necessarily follow that a mine which makes a profit of, say, 40 per cent on 25-dollar ore, is doing less economical mining than one which saves 60 per cent on 80-dollar ore ? Of course the figures in the latter case look the more attractive, but when it comes to a point of saving everything which can be saved, and of cutting down expenses to the lowest possible cost of operation, the former mine is doubtless on the most firm and economical financial basis. But as the relative merits of the system of mining in the two cases, nothing could be decided without a basis of detailed comparison ; if one system is more economical than the other, why is it so, and wherein does the advantage lie ? This can be shown only by keeping accurately the cost of each mining operation. And no matter how dissimilar two mines may be in character and operation, yet there are a few general heads common to all mining operations. In the first place, it is necessary to break the ore from the solid ground ;

Nov 1, 1905

By R. H. King

Suboleski and King (1990) analyzed the reasons for the dramatic increase in underground coal mine productivity during the last 10 years. This paper examines whether this increase can be extended. The paper forecasts whether the mix of technological, procedural and other factors that produced the increase will change in the future. The forecast is based on the base case and spreadsheet production model described in the previous paper.

Jan 1, 1991

Measurements from an old survey are being machine processed as a pilot project in the development of a computer-assisted method of structural mapping in shield areas. The key element in the system is a field data sheet which requires the geologist to determine a textural hierarchy in each exposure. The pilot system is limited to orientation analysis and utilizes a prior textural analysis, but this would not usually be a problem in utilizing the system ab initio for exploration. A data processing system of this general type offers promise of considerably increased productivity of field geologists by reducing compilation time and improved technical supervision through centralization of processing, and would make structural analysis an economically viable tool in mining exploration and development.

Jan 1, 1969

By M. L. Mellish

The year 1988 unexpectedly turned out to be a good year for the US coal industry. In fact, it was a third consecutive year of record coal production. Accord¬ing to preliminary Energy Information Administration data for 1988, domestic coal consumption went up 5%, or 41 Mt (45 million st), from 1987. Coal exports were up by a surprising 13.6 Mt (15 million st). In 1988, 22.7 Mt (25 million st) of coal were drawn from stockpiles for consumption. Even so, US coal production increased to 862 Mt (950 million st). That was up 28 Mt (31 million st) from 1987. While coal consumption, exports, and production were up, delivered prices for steam coal continued to slide during the year. Metallurgical coal prices, however, firmed up and showed a moderate increase. This reflected tight metallurgical coal markets at home and abroad. Coal consumption US coal consumption reached 800 Mt (882 million st), compared with 759 Mt (837 million st) in 1987. Increased metallurgical coal consumption was one factor. Most of the rise in coal consumption, however, was due to unexpectedly high electricity demand. Unseasonably hot summer weather al lowed added coal-fired electric generation to supplement the drought-related reduction in hydro-electric power supply. Electric utilities consumed 687 Mt (757 million st) of coal in 1988, 35.4 Mt (39 million st) more than in 1987. Coal-fired power plants remained the primary source of US electricity generation, providing 57% of the total in 1988. Coal consumption at coke plants increased 13%, to 38 Mt (42 million st), from the level consumed in 1987. This increase reflects the recent recovery in the iron and steel industry. Metallurgical coal consumption in 1988 could have been greater. But US coke plants reportedly reached their maximum practical production capacity. As a result, net US coke imports amounted to 1.45 Mt (1.6 million st). Despite increased industrial activities, steam coal consumption by industrial plants was up only slightly from the 1987 level, amounting to 69 Mt (76 million st) in 1988. Residential and commercial coal consumption remained virtually unchanged at 6.4 Mt (7 million st). Coal exports and imports US coal exports rebounded in 1988, reaching 86 Mt (95 million st). It was the highest level of annual US coal exports since 1982, when they reached 96 Mt (106 million st). An unusual set of factors led to an opening for US coal exporters in 1988: • a high level of industrial production in Japan and the European Economic Community, • supply disruptions due to labor problems at coal mines in Poland and Australia, • a drought-related reduction in hydro-electric power generation in Canada, requiring increased coal-fired generation, • China's problems in meeting its export commitments, and • a fall in the value of the US dollar. US metallurgical coal exports in 1988 amounted to 56 Mt (62 million st), 9.1 Mt (10 million st) more than the 1987 level. Europe, Japan, and Canada were the principal importers of US metallurgical coal in 1988. European countries, in particu¬lar, increased their take by one-third of US metallurgical coal. The labor problems in Poland and Australia contributed to these higher levels of imports. So did increases in pig iron production of 8% in Japan and 9% in the European Economic Community. US steam coal exports - including bituminous, anthracite, and lignite-increase to 30 Mt (33 million st). This was up from 25.4 Mt (28 million st) in 1987 Contributing to this overall rise were 1.8-Mt (2-million st) increase in shipments to Canada and a 2.7-Mt (3-million st) increase to Europe. Unaffected by the somewhat tighter world coal market, US coal imports showed a slight increase to 1.8 Mt (million st) in 1988. Colombia continue to be the leading exporter to the United States, followed by Canada and Venezuela. Venezuela's entry into the US market is a relatively recent one, having made its first significant shipment in the fourth quarter of 1987.

Jan 1, 1989

By J. T. Matson

This paper describing the mining practice at the Pecos mine of the American Metal Co. of New Mexico, a subsidiary of the American Metal Co., Ltd., is one of a series being prepared by the Bureau of Mines on mining methods, practices, and costs in the various mining districts of the United States. The mine is producing about 18,000 tons per month of zinc-lead-copper ore, chiefly by the square-set and cut-and-fill methods. Costs are given for 1927, 1928, and 1929, the whole producing life of the mine to date.

Jan 1, 1930

By Matthew Janes

Statnamic load testing is becoming widely accepted as a method to quickly and economically determine the load-deflection behaviour and ultimate static resistance of high capacity deep foundations. Strain instrumented large diameter bored shafts were tested at four locations for the federal and state Departments of Transportation in the United States. Tests were conducted vertically (to 30 MN) and laterally on the shafts and, in some cases, testing was completed over water. Instrumented shaft test results provided shaft load distribution with depth and shaft shear transfer stress throughout the soil stratum. Shaft end bearing and ultimate end bearing stress values were provided. On two projects, Osterberg load cells provided comparative static data for skin friction and end bearing. Correlations between Statnamic derived static load-displacement results and Osterberg load-deflection results are very good. Statnamic lateral load test results were correlated with static lateral results in addition to providing useful dynamic response and damping data.

Jan 1, 1996

This project, "Analysis of Men, Materials and Supplies Handling Systems in Underground Metal and Nonmetal Mines" documents the productivity and safety aspects of the existing equipment and systems utilized in transporting personnel and supplies from the surface to the underground production work place. The Present Systems Study (this text -Volume II) documents the productivity and safety of existing men and material movement systems for six representative underground metal and nonmetal mines. Identification of common problem areas was performed using recognized industrial engineering techniques. The back-up data for the industrial engineering analysis of each mine is included as respective appendices (Volume III). A summary of the study background material, six mines' problem areas, comparison of problem areas, problem analysis, and solution recommendations are included as the project final report (Volume I), bound under separate cover.

Jan 1, 1975

By SANDVIK WHITE

The mining industry produces approximately 4-7% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is fundamental for mining operations to take immediate sustainable action to actively contribute to an emissions-free future for the next generations. The mining industry has traditionally relied heavily on diesel technology and transitioning to more sustainable solutions requires change management to drive cultural acceptance and new product development. Sandvik was interested to find out the lifetime emissions of a single drill rig and to compare similar application diesel and BEV drill rigs with same use profile to each other. That led the calculation and pondering towards comparing different countries and mine sites as well

Jan 1, 2023

By R. M. Strong, Lauson Stone

Under the terms of the act establishing the Bureau of Mines, this bureau was authorized to carryon the work of testing and analyzing fuels which had been conducted by the technologic branch of the United States Geological Survey. That work included in its scope an investigation of the availability and uses ofliquid as well as solid fuels, for the original outline of the fuel-testing investigations contemplated, as soon as the funds would be available, a study of the liquid-fuel resources of the country and the making of related researches to determine how these resources could be utilized with greatest efficiency. Owing to the fact that many difficulties were being encountered in the adaptation of the heavier fuel oils for convenient use in internalcombustion engines, it was deemed best to begin the investigation of liquid fuels with tests of gasoline, a fuel in more or less general use. When this investigation began, the extensive introduction, especially by foreign powers, of liquid fuels for small naval craft had awakened much interest. However, the quality of gasoline was reported to vary materially in different countries and the quantity available was said to be rapidly decreasing, with the probability of a prohibitive increase in price. At the same time the claim was made that denatured alcohol, of fairly uniform quality, could be procured in all parts of the world, that unlimited quantities could be readily produced at a low cost, and that this fuel could be used much more efficiently than gasoline in internal-combustion engines. Such statements naturally led to a widespread belief that the time was near at hand when denatured alcohol would entirely displace gasoline as engine fuel. Therefore, the first investigations of the liquid mineral fuels logically embraced a careful series of comparative tests of gasoline and denatured alcohol in engines. A series of over 2,000 such tests was conducted at the Government fuel-testing plants at St. Louis, Mo., and Norfolk, Va., details of which are given in the following pages. The report is published by the Bureau of Mines because of the transfer of the fuel-testing investigations to this bureau.

Jan 1, 1912

By Gerald R. Larocque, Donald F. Grenville

"IN APRIL, 1965, the employee relations department (then called the personnel department) was established as a separate function within the company. Its aims and objectives were to hire an effective work force to operate the open-pit mine and the mill, which were at that time under development and construction. It was also directed to develop a sound policy for employee relations to assist the company in maintaining a stable and properly motivated work force, which included the establishment of satisfactory wage rates and fringe benefits, safety, fire protection and security. During the 8 years that the department has been in existence the scope of the company's operations has expanded to include a zinc plant and an underground mine. The work force has enlarged accordingly and now totals 1,680 employees working at the two sites, separated by 34 road miles. To cover the employee relations functions the department has a total of 29 members at the two sites. The department is organized under a superintendent, who has an employee relations supervisor, a safety director and a fire chief reporting directly to him. The employee relations supervisor, with 2 employment officers and 2 clerks, handles hiring, first-stage employee grievanoos, terminations, employee records, and the organization of company-sponsored functions and meetings. Safety, training and security are the responsibility of the safety director, who has 3 safety supervisors, 16 security men, 1 first-aid attendant and one hearing conservation technician to service the two sites. The fire chief operates as a one-man section responsible for plant-wide fire inspections and fireoriented training. Although"

Jan 1, 1974

By Lincoln A. Stewart, P. S. Haury

"INTRODUCTION AND RESUME Arizona asbestos mines are the only sources on the American continents of iron-free chrysotile spinning fiber that meets the Navy specifications for asbestos fiber for use in covering electrical cables. Rhodesia normally supplies the bulk of this grade of asbestos at about half the Price of Ari zona spinning fiber. The acute submarine menace in 1942 focused attention on the danger that imports might be cut off and that a sudden demand for greatly expanded production might fall on the Arizona mines to supply the tonnage of this essential material needed for war production.A joint preliminary investigation of Arizona asbestos deposits was made in August 1941 by J. R. Thoenen, senior mining engineer of the Bureau of Mines and A. E. Granger, a geologist of the United States Geological Survey. A more extended investigation of the numerous asbestos mines and prospects, which are scattered over 25 townships of difficult terrain in Gila County, was begun by the senior author in August 1942.The Geological Survey assigned two geologists (Newton Chute and A. F. Shride) a few weeks later to study the geology as an aid in selecting the mines for the Bureau's exploration projects. Six mines were selected for exploratory work because it was desired to prove reserves of ore where production could be started quickly if urgent demand should arise. Acceleration of production is normally slow because of adverse operating conditions. First, the mines are at distances of 35 to 100 miles from Globe, the shipping and supply point, and the roads are few and poor. The mine openings start in steep canyon walls, so that mining supplies usually have to be packed in and the product packed out over 0.5 to 5 miles of burro trail. Second, most of the ore deposits are small, and the ratio of rock broken to spinning fiber recovered is very high, usually exceeding 200."

Aug 1, 1947

By Stephen Njoloma, William Bracken, Harald Cordes, Ivan Hee

"DC Water’s First Street Tunnel (FST) is part of the $2.6 billion Clean Rivers Project designed to reduce the occurrence of combined sewer overflows into local waterways. Due to flood events in the Bloomingdale and LeDroit Park neighborhoods, the FST Project was accelerated by DC Water to mitigate future flooding by boosting storage capacity and thus relieving the undersized combined sewers.The FST Project was finalized in 2016 as a collaborative effort between DC Water, its consulting team consisting of Greeley & Hansen and McMillen Jacobs Associates, and the design-build team of Skanska, Jay Dee Contractors (SKJD) with WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff as the designer.Scope of project. The FST Project (Fig. 1) included four primary shaft sites, a large 6 m (20 ft) internal diameter, 823- m (2,700-ft) long bored tunnel and three adit connections from the off-line shafts to the large-diameter tunnel. The adits which vary in size and length, are the subject of this article. The Channing Street site (Fig. 2) was established as the main site for an Earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine (TBM) and included a 49-m (160-ft) deep shaft with slurry wall support of excavation and 20-m (65-ft) internal diameter final cast-in-place permanent concrete liner. The construction sites at Adams Street, V Street and Thomas Street each consisted of off-line shaft structures tied to near-surface sewer diversion chambers and ventilation facilities. These three off-line shafts were connected to the large bored TBM tunnel via adit tunnels. Each of the three adits had a portion or the entire length excavated by sequential excavation method (SEM) in frozen ground.The Adams Street adit (Fig. 3) was constructed in two phases. The first phase is the 23-m (75-ft) long and 5-m (16-ft) diameter section immediately outside the drop shaft which also serves as the deaeration chamber and was excavated by SEM. The second phase which is 91 m (300 ft) long and 3 m (10 ft) in diameter was excavated by Micro TBM (MTBM) launched from within the permanently lined deaeration chamber. MTBM excavation commenced toward a reception chamber that was excavated by SEM from the previously bored FST TBM tunnel. This SEM excavation had a 5 m (17 ft) diameter and a length of 4.5 m (15 ft)"

Jan 3, 2018

Copper, zinc, lead, and silver in the discordant magmatic-hydrothermal orebody of the Conrad Mine, N.S.W., all have a relatively high mean abundance. Any single concordant sulphide orebody containing the same metals has a similar order of mean abundance of only one or two of these, particularly copper, copper and zinc, or zinc and lead.The relative abundances of the metals in the Conrad orebody vary more widely than in concordant orebodies, and the lead-zinc-silver and copper-zinc-lead relationships are significantly different.INTRODUCTIONIn previous investigations of metal abundances in sulphide ores, the basis of selection of the orebodies was their form, and to some extent their geological setting, rather than hypotheses concerning their origin. In all cases they were generally concordant with the bedding of the sedimentary or meta-sedimentary rocks enclosing them, and most occurred in volcanic-sedimentary sequences. Their mineralogies were simple, and they were copper, copper-zinc, zinc or lead-zinc rich in composition. Most were of the type ascribed by several authors to exhalative-sedimentary processes.In one of these investigations (Stanton, 1958), it was pointed out that since the metals in ores of this type showed similar abundance patterns and behaviour, it would clearly be of interest to examine, and to compare with them, orthomagmatic and vein types, unquestionably derived from their igneous rock associates.The present investigation is concerned with a single orebody, of clearly discordant type, and of indisputable hydrothermal origin. The abundance and behaviour of copper, zinc, lead, and silver have been determined and compared to similar data fOl!' the concordant type. Such a comparison tests the possibility that metal abundance patterns of base metal ores may be indicative of the mode of ore deposition.

Jan 1, 1963

By W. L. Dare

This information circular is one of a series the Bureau of Mines plans to publish describing the methods and costs of mining uranium on the Colorado Plateau. The Temple Mountain mining district is unique among the uranium-producing areas on the plateau. This relatively isolated mining district is in Emery County, Utah, on the eastern flank of the San Rafael Swell, about 35 miles southwest of the town of Green River. The district lies just within the eastern escarpment of the San Rafel Reef - a rampart of rugged and tilted sandstone cliffs that encircles the highly eroded core known as the Sinbad Country. The presence of petroleum matter found associated with the ore deposits, the occurrence of uranium in various formations, and the structural deformation caused by collapsed features have aroused a great deal of geologic interest. Mine development on Calyx Flat is distinctive, in that the ore deposits are worked through 36-inch calyx-drill holes.

Jan 1, 1957

By Rogers F. Davis

This publication has been prepared to supply manufacturers and industrial users a listing of mobile diesel-powered transportation equipment approved or certified by the Bureau of Mines f r use in gassy noncoal mines and tunnels. Testing of diesel-powered equipment is one phase of the Bureau's health and safety program of approval of electrical and diesel equipment designed to prevent explosions, fires, shocks, and toxic hazards in underground mines. In mines such equipment must be used and maintained properly. Manufacturers submit machinery and component parts to the Bureau for study f their design and safety features. Equipment must pass exacting tests and meet strict requirements established through research, development, and experience before the Bureau approves it as permissible for safe use in mines.

Jan 1, 1967

By Suresh K. Bhatt

A mathematically simulated modeling technique is used in this U.S. Bureau of Mines report to represent a hypothetical mining operation with existing mining technology and prevalent mining costs. Mining scenarios were prepared and evaluated for potential benefits and costs available through computer-assisted mining. Base criteria, parameters, and methodology are described.

Jan 1, 1991

By E Deucker, A White

Gold Fields Australia (Gold Fields) has identified that improving productivity through more detailed shift planning and operational control of mining activities is a key driver to the success of their business. The Hamlet mine was chosen as a pilot site to trial a system that would allow production engineers and shift bosses to align the execution of short-term activities with the longer-term goals of the organisation.Gold Fields partnered with Deswik to introduce an on-site, collaborative, web-based system to allow mine planners to quickly build-up a detailed, activity-based, shift schedule for the coming week from the 13-week plan. Multiple stakeholders could then review and alter the plan, and then track and manage the execution of the activities.The system is designed to be integrated with production data capture systems to allow tracking of progress towards completion for each activity, as well as to plan and monitor the equipment operating in the mine. Integration of systems allowed engineers to use the large quantities of production data being captured to make informed decisions in the operations environment.The system replaced a complex set of spreadsheets that required expert users in Gold Fields to maintain. By capturing the data in a central database, the planning process is transparent and historic data from the execution of activities is available for analysis to improve productivity in the future.The system has ensured that the highest priority and critical path activities for the business are completed at the right time, improving the efficiency of operations.CITATION:Deucker, E and White, A, 2017. Productivity improvement through collaborative shift planning and tracking, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 225–234 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 16, 2017

By P. Rambalee

A multiple coal fired boiler house provides steam for utility usage in various production plants. Maintaining stable header pressure and boiler availability is of critical importance for downstream consumers. Advanced Process Control comprising of a G2 based expert system and Model Predictive Control was implemented to improve the boiler house performance. The results yielded improvements in the main header pressure stability, reduction in boiler saturation and significant saving in coal consumption. All information used for this document is from a published whitepaper written and led by Prevlen Rambalee (Anglo Platinum) and Gustaf Gous (BluESP) titled, ?Control and Stabilization of a Multiple Boiler Plant: An APC Approach?.

Jan 1, 2012

By G. Roberts, S. S. Klima, W. R. Reed, J. Deluzio, G. Ross, A. Mazzella

The abstract discusses the problem of silicosis among roof bolter operators in coal mines due to respirable quartz dust (RCS) exposure. It presents a study comparing a new wet box collection system to the traditional dry box system. The wet box system uses water to saturate collected material, reducing RCS exposure during cleaning. The study found that the wet box system significantly reduced RCS exposures and quartz content in samples compared to the dry box system.

May 11, 2022