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By T. Klemetti

Moisture deterioration of clay-rich roof rocks causes high numbers of roof falls in coal mines in humid summer months. Rocks with high moisture content are generally weaker and can further deteriorate when subjected to wetting and drying cycles. As a result, it is important to evaluate the moisture-sensitivity of roof rock prior to mining. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has evaluated three moisture-sensitivity index tests on roof rocks from 23 U.S. coal mines. The three tests were the University of Kentucky Weatherability test (Weatherability test), the Consol Energy Water Sensitivity test (Water Sensitivity test), and the NIOSH Immersion test (Immersion test). Of these three tests, the Weatherability and Water Sensitivity tests are more reliable in classifying the moisture-sensitivity of roof rocks. Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this report have not been formally disseminated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy.

Jan 1, 2009

By John E. Butler

Due to the present economic climate, particularly the depressed copper market, conventional mining, milling and flotation operations have been suspended. However, due to the apparent amenability of the ore to 'natural' leaching, investigations have been initiated into establishing an in-situ leaching operation as a preferred alternative to conventional operations. Cement copper production has been developed in parallel with the leaching trials and is presently at the rate of approximately 3,000 tonnes of contained copper per annum. Testwork includes controlled leaching of ore both in the laboratory and in-situ following blasting.

Jan 1, 1981

By Heriban Soto

Primary amines are strong collectors of apatites and they can selectively float sedimentary phosphates from calcareous ores. However, secondary and tertiary amines and tri-methyl ammonium salts were ineffective. The use of kerosene reduces the collector requirements because hydrocarbon is coadsorbed along with the amine on the mineral surface. The heats of reaction of aminium ions with such anions as phosphate, carbonate and sulfate, were measured in a microcalorimeter and discussed in terms of the solubility of the precipitates formed and their relationship with the adsorption mechanism of primary amines on phosphate minerals. Experimental evidence supports a view that primary amines are adsorbed through chemical interaction between the aminium and phosphate ions at the mineral surface.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. J. Kennedy, John D. Gardner

Introduction During the past 10 years, energy costs in mining have risen from about 4% to as much as 25% of total production cost. When combined with declining ore grades, these costs exert inordinate stress on mine productivity. Industrial engineering techniques have traditionally been aimed at improving manufacturing facilities productivity, but they have been applied to mining as pressure for productivity improvement has increased. These techniques can perform four useful functions for mining operations by improving methods, equipment selection procedures, energy use through scheduling, and managing energy costs rather than being managed by them. This article discusses some of the standard techniques for productivity improvement, and how they can be adapted to perform these four functions. Pre-Production The best time to seek high productivity is when a mine is being planned. During pre-production, when most options are still open, an optimum mine design is achievable. At this time, major equipment selections are made, the layout, material handling systems, and processes are designed, and critical energy source decisions are made. By including explicit energy cost projections, decisions can be made that will save significant amounts of money per ton of ore over the life of the mine. Attention can also be given to often overlooked details such as lighting. Some of the same tools used in new mine planning are applicable to productivity improvements at an existing plant. These tools are the charting and modeling methods that have been developed by industrial engineers over the past 75 years. Energy Consumption Before any analysis of energy consumption can be performed, preliminary work is necessary to find the kind of energy used, how much it costs the plant, and when electrical peaks occur. Past bills should be examined to determine the monthly consumption rate and the cost of each energy type. These data should be adjusted to remove effects caused by production fluctuations or weather. Knowing when electrical peak demands occur is necessary because these determine either the electrical capacity needed or the amount that must be bought. At $500-$800 per kW for construction or $5-$15 per kW per month for purchase, they represent a significant cost. By the time these data are collected, planners should be aware of the importance of energy in the total cost of mine operation, and should have the most crucial time data for electrical peak demand. Flow Process Chart Reducing costs can be accomplished by a thorough look at mine systems and how altering one system causes changes in others. By developing and exercising models of production processes outward to the transportation of the final product, otherwise obscured weaknesses may become apparent. There are tools available for analyzing the mine and its associated systems; one of the most useful is the flow process chart. The flow process chart gives a system analysis of a production procedure by classifying all actions into one of five types: operations, inspections, transportation, delays without paperwork, and delays with paperwork. Operation: In an operation, the nature of something is changed. Examples are blasting, washing coal, and processing matter. Denoted by 0. Inspection: Examining an object for identification or to measure some attribute. Examples are determining whether a drill hole is deep enough, deciding how far to cut under an unsupported roof when operating a continuous miner, or checking the lubricant level on a truck. Denoted bye. Transportation: Moving an object from one place to another. Examples are transporting overburden, moving coal on a conveyor belt, and pumping water. Denoted by =>. Delay without paperwork: A delay that is an inherent part of the system. Examples include idle time of a continuous miner while waiting for shuttle cars or for roof bolting, crushed ore in a storage area waiting for grinding and flotation, and people from one craft waiting for another craft to finish. Denoted by D. Delay with paperwork: A delay that can be terminated only by some written authorization. Examples are coal that cannot be removed until authorized by a bill of sale and transportation orders, personnel records, maintenance, or spare parts. Denoted by V. In practice, the flow process chart is completed after data collection and a detailed examination of the process. Data collection is needed to answer questions on distance, quantity, and time for each of the operations. As the analysis is being performed, each step of the process is subjected to these questions: • Why is the step necessary? • What is being moved? • When does the step take place, and why?

Jan 11, 1983

By A. H. Farazi, C. Quamruzzaman

The freezing and subsequent solidifying of unstable, weak (sands, silts and clays) and/or wet soil to form a desired-shape frozen barrier around a construction area are possibly the main features of the freezing method for shaft sinking. The barrier, along with strengthening the soil, provides a dry environment to ensure sustainable subsurface construction work before placing a permanent lining. The freezing method requires the installation of freezing pipes in boreholes around the construction area and the circulation of chilled salt water through these pipes and has long been a proven technique for dry shaft sinking through unstable and water-bearing seam around the world. As removing heat from the ground is the main feature of the method, an efficient thermal design of the freezing process is mandatory to ensure success of the shaft sinking operation. This applies to both the sustainability and economy of the intended structure. The design presented in this paper is aimed at figuring out the heat-removing ability and operating time of the refrigerative equipment using some simple formulae. The authors adopted a theoretical approach to determine the quantity of heat to be removed from the ground. The amount of energy for the equipment was found to be greater than that for freezing, which proved the validity of the design. The active freezing period was calculated to be 121 days. The authors followed the structural design of the freezing process they proposed in their previous work (Farazi and Quamruzzaman, 2013). Though the first coal seam in the coalfield was encountered at a depth of approximately 352 m in the subsurface, the target depth for cooling and freezing was decided to be 162 m. The formation demands extra care to nullify its risk of the temporary structure collapsing and water rushing in (Farazi et al., 2012). Discussion on the determination of refrigerative equipment parameters was excluded from the scope of this work.

Jan 1, 2014

By G. A. Doyle

The quality of water in mine pit lakes depends in part on the physical limnology, including such factors as thermal and chemical stratification, turnover and the development of anoxic conditions with depth. Limnologic data collected from four existing pit lakes in Montana and Saskatchewan indicate that pit lakes develop a thermocline (temperature stratification) in the upper 10 to 30 m (33 to 100 ft) of the water column. Two o f the pit lakes, 26- and 55-m (85 and 180 ft) deep, undergo seasonal turnover of the entire water column, whereas two deeper, pit lakes, 110 and 240-m (360- to 790 ft) deep, undergo seasonal turnover of only the upper portion of the water column. In the deeper lakes, seasonal mixing does not extend through the entire water column, and a distinct chemocline develops with depth.

Jan 1, 1997

By Robert A. Jankowski, J. Harrison Daniel, Fred N. Kissell

Introduction Longwall coal mining in the US has steadily increased since its introduction in 1960. There are now 108 systems operating. (Sprouls, 1986). Advantages of longwall mining include higher productivity, improved safety, and greater coal recovery. Respirable dust, however, is one of the more serious obstacles to realizing the full potential of longwall mining. Early in 1980, the US Bureau of Mines (USBM) initiated extensive in-house and contract research to identify and evaluate effective methods of controlling respirable dust exposure of longwall face personnel (Niewiadomski, Jankowski, and Kissell, 1981). It was found that several control procedures must be combined to assure compliance, using control techniques appropriate to the dust source. These techniques can typically be grouped into the following categories: reduction of dust generation; dilution of dust; capture or knockdown of dust; and dust avoidance. Control techniques can be divided into basic and effective dust control techniques; additional necessary controls; and optional supplementary controls. This information should allow longwall mine operators to select control methods applicable to their particular operations and to develop a dust control plan that meets Federal dust standards. Basic and effective dust control techniques There are three basic dust control techniques (Taylor and Jankowski, 1982) that should be implemented on all longwall mining operations. • A passive barrier or external water spray system design that confines shearer generated dust near the face and away from the operators. • Large quantities of water through the sprays, particularly the drum sprays, to aid in dust knockdown and prevent dust becoming airborne. • A cutting sequence that allows the shearer operators to work primarily on the intake-air side of the lead cutting drum. Shearer clearer There are some poorly designed shearer-mounted spray systems with nozzles directed upwind at the cutting and loading zone of the intake-side drum. These actually carry dust away from the face and upstream of the drum. Where, it mixes with the clean intake air (Fig. la,) and is carried out into the walkway over the shearer operators. The Bureau developed a novel shearer spray system, called the shearer clearer. It takes advantage of the air-moving capabili-

Jan 10, 1986

By S. Ilyas

Technical innovation in electrical and electronic equipment with new functions and design, stimulate consumer?s purchasing desire towards the latest equipments and this leads the rapid increase in the production of increased amount of waste materials Treason et al (2006) have reviewed the data on electronic waste generation in different parts of the world. Studies by Bertram et al (2002) have also affirmed that waste electrical and electronic components are the fastest growing waste category; this emphasizes the need for efficient recycling strategies. Recycling of electronic waste is an important subject not only from the point of waste treatment but also from the recovery aspect of valuable materials. However, recycling of electronic scrap is still quite limited due to the heterogeneity of the materials present in the products (Veit et al. 2005). A bioleaching based process offers a number of advantages compared to the conventional pyro or hydrometallurgical methods (Lee et al. 2007; Lee and Pandey, 2012). The advantages include simple, inexpensive (in some cases) and eco-friendly approach besides, generation of less active leach residue then other metallurgical processes. Though, biohydrometallurgical process has been successfully applied for the leaching of metals from ores (Olson et al. 2003; Rawling 2000), data pertaining to its application for the extraction of electronic scrap is still scanty. Recently, a few studies have been undertaken for extraction of metals from electronic scrap/printed circuit boards (Brandl et al. 2001; Faramarzi et al. 2004; Choi et al. 2004, Ilyas et al. 2007; Ilyas et al. 2010). These studies were conducted with mesophilic chemolithotrophic (Acidithiobacillus ferooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans) or cyanogenic bacteria (Chromobacterium violaceum) or moderate thermophilic bacteria (Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans). However, compared to bacterial leaching, fungal leaching has the following advantages: (i) ability to grow under higher pH, and thus is more suitable in bioleaching of alkaline solid waste (ii) a generally faster leaching process with shorter lag phase (iii) Chelation of excreted metabolites (e.g. organic acids) with metal ion, thus reduce its toxicity to the biomass (Burgstaller et al. 1993; Aung and Ting 2005). The specific objective of this work was to; ? Collection, isolation and enrichment of fungal strain ? Evaluate the abilities of Penicillium chrysogenum to leach metals from electronic scrap at various leaching modes (one-step bioleaching, two-step bioleaching, spent medium leaching, fresh medium leaching, leaching with deionised water and chemical leaching). ? Comparative study of all leaching modes

Feb 27, 2013

By M. N. Semenoff

On July 8, 1999, EPA announced the RCRA Cleanup Reforms, a set of administrative reforms designed to achieve faster, more efficient cleanups. This paper will discuss the Reforms, the status of their implementation and assess these potential impacts on the mining industry.

Jan 1, 2001

By M. A. Barclay, D. Samson, A. M. Esteves

Several companies have adopted policies and standards aimed explicitly at increasing ‘local procurement’, recognising that local economic participation has benefits for companies and communities alike. From a corporate perspective, local economic participation is seen as one means of maintaining a social license to operate, as well as ensuring reliability of supply by having a supplier located nearby. From a community perspective, the participation of local businesses in the resource project is a means by which the benefits of resource development can flow into their communities. This paper is based on the research undertaken to produce a good practice guide for the mining, oil and gas sector. Our research revealed that the extent to which the local community will actually benefit from local procurement initiatives is dependent on the capacity of the community to supply goods and services to the project and, even more importantly, on its ability to adapt to the inevitable changes that accompany large-scale resource development. We provide guidance on adapting impact assessment tools to guide planning of procurement interventions.

Jan 1, 2011

By J. Winterton

Estimating the residual metal inventory of large heap leaching operations is desirable for many reasons. Several methods have been tried with limited success. Drilling data from the Valley Leach Facility at AngloGold Ashanti's Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine has been used to develop a robust inventory estimation technique. The technique is presented along with discussion of the particular inventory components and evaluation methodologies.

Feb 27, 2013

By R. C. Freas

Composite materials are finding new applications daily, ranging from automotive parts to synthetic lumber. The variety of applications seems almost limitless. However, these emerging products bring both new opportunities and new challenges to the field of industrial minerals. One of the primary challenges is from alternative materials other than industrial minerals. Thus the question is asked whether industrial minerals will truly benefit from the growth in market applications for composite plastics. This article highlights some of the opportunities for industrial minerals while focusing on performance and competitive demands on mineral products intended for use in this developing market.

Jan 1, 2000

By H. Lyn Bourne

This is the seventh annual tabulation of royalty information. It is also the first year in which some data have been deleted to make room for new data. The concept of royalties evolved from a time when the government owned all of the land, including mines, to the situation where free miners won the right to claim minerals but paid a portion of their production to the royal treasury. Today, a mineral royalty is a payment to the owner of the mineral rights for the privilege of producing the mineral commodity. However, some people incorrectly believe that the selling price and the royalty are the same thing. The contract between the owner (lessor) and the mining company (lessee) is the mineral lease. Some clauses that are common to mineral leases include: identification of property, granting clause, reservations, definitions, royalty rate, taxes and title, indemnity, termination, inspection, assignability, successors, and reclamation. There often are variations in royalty rates for a given commodity that reflect differences in location, quality, market conditions or public versus private ownership. History In the time of ancient Rome, the government owned the mining properties by virtue of conquest. It would lease the mines to favored citizens who would pay rent to the State. Various conditions of sovereign ownership of both land and mineral rights continued in Europe until the Renaissance. As the laws evolved for land ownership by private citizens, the concept that minerals belonged to the State (King, Crown, sovereign) continued until about the 15th century. Free miners challenged the notion of sovereign ownership and won the right to discover and claim minerals. But a portion of their production had to be paid to the sovereign - a royalty. So, the original concept of a mineral royalty was a tax on production that was due to the Crown or Church. The term mineral royalty, as it is known today, is a payment to the owner of the mineral rights (formerly the royal owner) for the privilege of mining and producing the mineral commodity. The owner of the mineral rights, the lessor, and the mine operator, the lessee, enter into an agreement to mine the property. The agreement is the lease. While this concept is common, there are some who do not understand that the royalty is a portion of production paid to the owner as agreed on in the lease document. This author has seen reports where the selling price of a commodity has been quoted as the royalty. ("They get 70 cents a ton royalty at their pit and the guy down the road only has a 65 cent royalty.") These reports have been authored by people not familiar with the mining industry. Lease clauses In addition to the amount to be paid the lessor, there are several other items to be addressed in the lease agreement. The following list may not be all inclusive, but briefly describes most of the common clauses any good mining lease should contain. Identification: This opening clause names the owner (lessor) and the operator (lessee), the address of each, and gives the legal description of the property. Granting clause: This part of the lease gives the time period or duration of the agreement and information about renewal periods. It also has language about the exclusive right of the lessee to mine the property. Reservations: If the owner wants to exclude any portion of the property or set some specific conditions about the operation, there needs to be a clause that describes these reservations. Definitions: This section should address some of the technical terms that the lessor may find confusing - short tons versus cubic yards, dollars versus percentage of average selling price, any escalator indices such as consumer price index or producer price index, and material mined versus material sold. Royalty: This section spells out what the royalty rate will be, how often it will be paid, if there is an annual minimum, the pay dates, and how the records will be kept. This section also describes the conditions under which the lessee is exempt from the annual minimum - natural disasters, strikes, governmental actions, or other causes referred to as force majeure. Taxes and title: The lease needs to identify who is responsible for the property taxes, severance taxes (if applicable), and other taxes that relate to the mining activity - taxes on equipment, improvements, or stockpiles. This is a good place in the lease for the owner to certify his ownership of the property and its mineral rights and also certify that no other leases are in effect. The lessees may want language that allows them to pay mortgages or other debts on the property to keep their lease in effect. Indemnity: This portion of the lease identifies that the lessee assumes the risks for lessee's mining operation. Lessor should expect indemnification by the lessee through standard insur¬ance policies - workers compensation, liability and property damage. Termination: Both the lessor and lessee want language that will allow them to terminate the lease. This section of the lease describes the conditions under which one of the parties may terminate the lease (failure of the

Jan 1, 1989

By M. Ge

Pattison Mine is a small sandstone mine located in Iowa. The sandstones produced by the mine are not common construction and aggregate materials. The stones are used to produce a special type of sand for hydraulic fracturing, a critical technique for recovering tight gas and shale gas. These sandstones are very different from the minerals and rocks which have been studied extensively in mining. On the one hand, they are brittle as characterized by an unusually high friction angle, up to 69°, and steeply curved failure envelopes. On the other hand, they are friable, possessing extremely low, and in most cases zero cohesion. The scarcity of the ground control techniques for this particular mining environment has created many difficulties for the mine operators. In order to resolve these problems, a research program was set up by the mine and Missouri University of Science and Technology. This paper discusses the preliminary results of this investigation.

Jan 1, 2012

By L. O’Connor, E. Tarshizi

The objective of this work is to provide a detailed review and a list of references in chronological order, comprising 80 recent technical papers, on the use of discrete-event simulation (DES) modeling in mining engineering. In this article, the review papers of published mine simulation projects through 2007 are summarized, and then a comprehensive review of individual articles published from 2008 to 2015 is presented. This survey work also includes analyses of the simulation tools used in the published projects, mining types and applications in order to assess these key features and evaluate the recent state of research in mine DES simulation. In addition, an interactive map visualization for the locations of the simulated projects is made available on a website to benefit current and prospective scholars in the field. The results of this investigation revealed that the most common application of DES in mining had been mining equipment selection and analysis, while ore processing and risk management projects were less frequently reported. The results also showed that modeling surface mines were in the majority, but the trend of publications for underground mine simulations had also increased. According to the results, ARENA was the most popular simulation software package, but several simulation tools that were only used once or twice in the mining projects are also included in this review.

Jan 1, 2018

By L. O’Connor, E. Tarshizi

The objective of this work is to provide a detailed review and a list of references in chronological order, comprising 80 recent technical papers, on the use of discrete-event simulation (DES) modeling in mining engineering. In this article, the review papers of published mine simulation projects through 2007 are summarized, and then a comprehensive review of individual articles published from 2008 to 2015 is presented. This survey work also includes analyses of the simulation tools used in the published projects, mining types and applications in order to assess these key features and evaluate the recent state of research in mine DES simulation. In addition, an interactive map visualization for the locations of the simulated projects is made available on a website to benefit current and prospective scholars in the field. The results of this investigation revealed that the most common application of DES in mining had been mining equipment selection and analysis, while ore processing and risk management projects were less frequently reported. The results also showed that modeling surface mines were in the majority, but the trend of publications for underground mine simulations had also increased. According to the results, ARENA was the most popular simulation software package, but several simulation tools that were only used once or twice in the mining projects are also included in this review.

Jan 1, 2017

By Gary E. McIntosh

This paper will discuss a U.S. Bureau of Mines project designed to assess and predict the impacts which surface coal mining will have on the regional shallow groundwater systems in the Powder River Basin. The primary objective will be met through the accomplishment of the following: (1) The design and establishment of a regional network for monitoring of shallow groundwater systems in the Basin. (2) Monitoring of the direction and rate of flow, water quality, and aquifer characteristics of the shallow groundwater systems. (3) Development of a regional groundwater simulation model with appurtenant subroutines to determine local effects.

Jan 1, 1978

By Lon Santis, Gregory M. Rumbaugh, Christopher Mark

This paper examines the relevant theory, experience, and past practices relating to development mining near gas or oil wells. It addresses setback distance for both coal and stone room-and-pillar mining. This study also involved a review of accident reports involving well interceptions and downhole well surveys. It provides technical considerations for decisions regarding safe setback distances for development mining throughout the United States. The study’s scope is limited to mining near active or inactive (i.e., non-producing, abandoned or inadequately plugged) wells with known surface locations.

Jun 25, 2024

By Xinghai Lei, Yuqi Shang, Guiming Li, Lu He

There are many factors affecting the stability of open-pit mine slopes, among which slopes with soft interlayers have become an important factor inducing deformation and instability due to their poor mechanical properties. In this paper, for the destabilization of a slope with soft interlayer under rainfall infiltration in an open-pit mine in Zhejiang Province of China during the rainy season, a sudden change of displacement at the monitoring point and the formation of a continuous plastic deformation of the slope are proposed as the criteria for slope destabilization through the establishment of a rainwater seepage-stress coupling model combined with the strength reduction method, and by using COMSOL Multiphysics finite element numerical simulation software to establish a three-dimensional numerical model based on the actual mining slope conditions. The safety principle is introduced through the strength reduction method to analyze the stability of the slope with soft interlayer under the coupling effect of seepage and stress. The safety coefficients of the slope with soft interlayer are calculated by using Numerical methods under the coupling effect of seepage and stress. The influence of rainfall intensity and duration on the stability or safety factor of the slope with soft interlayers was studied through analysis of stress, saturation, displacement, and pore pressure evolution. The mechanism of rainfall affecting slope stability was investigated, and the findings were validated using an engineering case study of a slope with a soft interlayer. The findings show that rainfall intensity is the main factor affecting slope stability in the open-pit mine slope with soft interlayer. The higher the rainfall intensity, the faster the shallow soil forms a saturation zone, whereas soft interlayers speed up the process and endanger slope stability. The slope prevention and control technology of the prestressed anchor cable (rod) framework was proposed based on the slope management construction conditions of the mine, and the effectiveness of the measure was verified through on-site industrial tests. The research findings provide a reference for preventing and controlling slope with soft interlayers in open-pit mines under similar conditions.

Feb 20, 2024

By Brenda Myers-Bohlke, Tor L. Brekke

INTRODUCTION In recent years several cities in the Eastern United States have constructed subway systems in deeply weathered igneous and metamorphic rocks. Portions of these transit tunnels and shafts have penetrated zones of saprolite. The purpose of this paper is to define saprolite and discuss saprolite behavior in terms of construction and design of tunnels and shafts. Saprolites are products of in situ weathering of rock, with properties intermediate between those of soil and rock. A well-developed weathering profile can be divided into zones of residual soil, saprolite, transition zone materials, weathered rock, and fresh rock. Saprolites are distinguished by a high degree of weathering and by retention of parent rock textures and discontinuities. These structures persist as relict features because of iso-volumetric weathering (Cleaves, 1974) and formation of intergranular bonds that give cohesion to the saprolitic material. As saprolite continues to weather, the bonds are broken, causing the saprolite to decompose and disintegrate into a true residual soil mass without relict structure. Saprolites may form from igneous, metamorphic or sedimentary rocks, but are most easily recognized when derived from igneous and metamorphic rocks because of their inherent structures. The physical characteristics and properties of residual material vary as a function of mineralogic composition, structure, and discontinuities of its parent rock.

Jan 1, 1985