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By Sidney A. Suhler

The persistent requirement for methods and equipment capable of detecting hazardous anomalies in advance of underground mining has led to the development by the U.S. Bureau of Mines of a directional radar probe. The probe operates from boreholes drilled from the surface into the underground region to be mined. The engineering model radar was completed in early 1982 and field demonstration tests were performed in May of that year at a selected coal mine. Preliminary in-situ electromagnetic tests were performed at several candidate coal mines to evaluate the radio-frequency characteristics of the coal. A coal mine in New Mexico was selected on the basis of low EM propagation losses in the coal and the presence of an extensive coal seam displacing fault as a radar target. The borehole radar was operated in two vertical boreholes which intersected the coal seam at approximately 25 and 40 feet from the fault interface. Radar reflections from the coal/ rock interface were detected in both tests. Underground tests in a horizontal borehole in the coal were less successful because of interfering reflections. Additional borehole-to-borehole tests were performed with a separate ground penetrating electromagnetic system to obtain radar range calibration data. The coal was found to be bounded by very lossy roof and floor sandstone and shale while propagation through the coal seam was obtained at distances up to 175 feet between test boreholes. Coal seam continuity was indicated by the hole-to-hole experiments through a section of the seam previously thought to be completely cut off by the fault.

Jan 1, 1983

By R. D. Wunder

The Chino Mines Company, a Kennecott-Mitsubishi partnership, located in Hurley, New Mexico, recently completed a $405 million modernization of its mine, concentrator, and smelter facilities. The mine/ concentrator modernization commenced in 1980 and the smelter modernization began during 1982. Modernization of the mine and concentrator facilities involved increasing the mining rate from 98 kt/d (108,000 stpd) to 152.2 kt/d (167,800 stpd). Ore mining was designed to increase production from 20.2 kt/d (22,300 stpd) to 34.0 kt/d (37,500 stpd). A new concentrator was constructed near the mine using semi-autogenous grinding. The new smelter uses the INCO flash smelting process, increasing capacity by 40.8 kt/a (45,000 stpy) to 99.8 kt/a (110,000 stpy) of salable copper.

Jan 1, 1985

By S. H. Brown

In our work as health physicists*, we do a lot of public speaking and interaction with the public on issues related to development of uranium mining and milling (?uranium recovery?) in the US. Understandingly, the public has important concerns about this. Accordingly, this paper is presented in a ?question and answer? format in which we have tried to capture what are some of the most common concerns we hear from citizens and address them. We have attempted to do so based on the best scientific information we have, representing information well documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature and consensus positions from both national and international scientific standard setting bodies and related committees. We have included some of the more important of these scientifically-based references to support the information provided. Practical space limitations prevent completeness in this regard in some cases. Visit the Health Physics Society?s web site or feel free to contact me directly for additional references, information or detail ? Steve Brown. The health physicist?s primary objective is to manage the beneficial uses of ionizing radiation while protecting workers and the public from potential hazards. For more information on what a health physicist is and on the Health Physics Society, visit the Society?s web site at www.hps.org.

Feb 23, 2014

By Z. J. Hladysz

The Hladysz Rock Tester was developed at the South Dakota School of Mines as a portable rock strength tester. The hand held device is placed against a rock surface and struck by a hammer. The impacted force causes a steel ball in the device nose piece to indent the rock and simultaneously indent a standard steel bar also contained in the nose piece. By comparing the two indented diameters the compressive strength of the rock can be calculated using laboratory determined correlation coefficients.

Jan 1, 1984

By W. Clark Ashby

Trees are an essential ingredient of sound reclamation in nearly all surface mining regions. There are, however, possible problems in current reclamation regulations and practices which need to be evaluated and remedied. Recognition and accomodation of growth requirements for trees and other plants will greatly increase reclamation success. Surface mining encompasses a series of processes from a pre-mining baseline study to bond release following revegetation. Land owners, and society, have a great interest in subsequent plant growth on reclaimed areas and in future land values.

Jan 1, 1981

By Verya Nasri, Mehdi Bakhshi

"Fiber reinforcement has emerged as an alternative to steel bars in precast concrete segments due to advantages such as saving cost and reducing production time while developing a more robust product with improved handling and long-term durability. ACI recently drafted a new report as the first design guideline on FRC tunnel segments to provide specific guidance for this emerging technology. ACI document offers general information on the history of FRC precast segments from tunneling projects throughout the world; a procedure for structural analysis and design based on governing load cases, and a description of the material parameters, tests and analyses required to complete the design. This paper summarizes the design considerations in this ACI guideline prepared by the authors of this paper as the main contributors. Application of this guideline to design of a tunnel with an internal diameter of 5.5 m (18 ft) results in elimination of steel bars.INTRODUCTIONPrecast concrete segments are installed to support the tunnel excavation behind the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) in soft ground and weak rock applications. The TBM advances by thrusting off the completed rings of precast concrete segments that provide both the initial and final ground support as part of a one-pass lining system. These segments are typically designed to resist the permanent loads from the ground and groundwater as well as the temporary loads from production, transportation and construction. Tunnel segments are generally reinforced to resist the tensile stresses at both the Serviceability (SLS) and the Ultimate Limit States (ULS). With traditional rebar, a significant amount of labor is needed to assemble the cages and place the rebar, which results in higher production costs.Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC) can be used to enhance the production, handling, and placement of precast concrete segments. This is because of the uniform dispersion of fibers throughout the segment to include the concrete cover, which is very advantageous for resisting the bursting and spalling stresses. These stresses develop as a result of the high loads induced on the segments during the TBM jacking process. The presence of fiber in the concrete matrix helps mitigate against unintentional impact loads during segment handling and tunnel construction operations."

Jan 1, 2016

By Clarence O. Babcock

Model pillars of limestone, marble, sandstone, and granite, with length-to-diameter ratios of 3, 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 (0.286 for granite), were broken in axial compression to determine to what extent an increase in end constraint increased compressive strength. Radial end constraints of 13 to 23 percent of the average axial stress in the pillar, produced by solid steel rings bonded with epoxy to the ends of dogbone-shaped specimens, increased compressive strength somewhat above that of cylindrical pillars without ring constraint. However, when the results were compared with those obtained by other investigators for straight specimens of several rock types taken collectively, with L/D ratios greater than 0.5, the resulting strengths were not significantly different. Thus, the amount of end constraint produced by the solid steel rings was about the same as that produced by the friction from the steel end plates. In other tests a radial prestress of 3,000 psi or 5,000 psi was applied prior to axial loading by adjustable hardened steel rings to increase the constraint above that obtained for the solid rings. The average radial constraint stress, expressed as a percentage of the average axial pillar stress at failure for the 3,000 psi prestress, was 54.3 percent for limestone, 40.3 percent for marble, 44.7 percent for sandstone, and 23.4 percent for granite. The average radial constraint stress, expressed as a percentage of the average axial pillar stress at failure for the 5,000 psi prestress, was 74.2 percent for limestone, 51.2 percent for marble, 61.6 percent for sandstone, and 29.7 percent for granite. These constraints increased the compressive strength significantly above the strength of straight specimens and solid-ring constrained specimens. These results suggest that large horizontal stresses in orebodies mined by the room and pillar method should increase the strength of the pillars and allow an increase in ore recovery by a reduction of pillar size when major structural defects are absent.

Jan 1, 1969

By Bruce R. Lipin

Chromite, the only ore of chromium, occurs almost exclusively in mafic-ultramafic rocks and their weathering products. However, not all kinds of mafic-ultramafic rocks are favorable hosts for possible low-grade chromite deposits. For instance, chromium-bearing basalts are not favorable because they commonly contain < 0.3% Cr2O3, and chromite is almost always less than 50 um in diameter, if it is present at all. Chromite-bearing ultramafic rocks in stratifonn and alpine complexes tend to be either ore grade (> 25% Cr203) or very low grade (< 2% Cr203); intermediate rocks are scarce. In most complexes large tonnages exist only in the < 2% Cr2O3 group and the composition of the chromite is commonly unsuitable for metallurgical use. Some nickel laterite districts contain more than 108 tons of material with 2.0% to 5.5% Cr2O3, and hence, chromium could be a byproduct of nickel in some laterite districts.

Jan 1, 1982

By Giovanni Barla

This paper examines the application of gelatin mixture models to the study of factors such as gravity effects, tectonic and residual stresses, anisotropy, physical nonlinearity, time-dependent behavior of the rock mass and connectedness of the geologic space. The calibration technique of gelatin mixtures, proposed by Richards and Mark in 1966, is applied to the particular problem considered. Similitude relationships between model and prototype are discussed with reference to the constitutive equations describing the physical behavior of the rock mass. The interaction between two openings in a linearly elastic medium, under conditions of plane strain, is used as an illustrative example, with the view of describing the history of stress and deformation changes on the rock medium and lining around a slusher drift while undercuts are made in block caving.

Jan 1, 1968

By R. D. H. Bedd

GEOLOGICAL NOTES The area under discussion is situated approximately 150 m north of Loraine No. 3 shaft at ± 1500 m below surface. The block being mined extends from about halfway between 50 and 52 levels to just below 48 level (see Fig. 1). The EB reefs form the lower portion of the EB zone of the Elsburg series and in the 81 line area the various conglomerate bands show the best development. Up to 18 separate reef bands are developed and the distance from the bottom conglomerate band to the top is ± 26 m. The thickness of the quartzite which forms the middling between the various reef bands varies from 0.1 to 2 m. The strike is roughly north-¬south. The reef bands are payable individually. However, owing to the steepness of the reefs and their close prox¬imity, conventional mining would prove very difficult. The nonpayable reef bands all carry varying amounts of gold and the whole area is a massive payable reef body approximately 26 m wide and 60 m high at 300 to 400 m on strike. The major structure of the area consists of a north¬-south trending syncline. The western flank of the syncline has a steep easterly dip, in places approaching the vertical. This flank cuts out against the overlying rocks of the EA zone. The latter forms a noncon¬formity with the underlying EB zone. The eastern flank of the syncline dips to the west at an average dip of 0.17 rad (10°). The 0.1 rad (6°) north-plunging syncline was sub¬jected to severe faulting. The most important are the Nos. 4 and 10 faults, both of which have a roughly north-south strike. The No. 4 fault dips to the west at an angle of 1.04 rad (60°) with a downthrow of approximately 150 m to the west. The dip of the No. 10 fault is 0.69 to 0.81 rad (40° to 50°) west, with the western block having moved 150 m updip relative to the eastern block. The EB reefs are being mined by the sublevel stoping method down from the sub-outcrop position to the cutoff against the No. 4 fault. On the downthrow side of the No. 10 fault, that is just above the 54 level, two reef bands are payable and will be mined conven¬tionally. ROCK MECHANICS From the section in Fig. 1, it can be seen that the area under consideration is surrounded by stoped-out areas. This will naturally change the stress distribution extensively. The only way to calculate the stress field for such a geometry is to use the finite element method. It was established that this method worked for the present geometry and so the method was applied to predict the stress behavior of the final geometry. From the results, it appeared that the effect of the old stopes was to destress the area. There are, however, some areas-such as the 50 and 48 north footwall haulages-which will require continuous attention. In these two footwall haulages, deterioration can take place due to tensile stress which

Jan 1, 1982

By Howard E. Banta

From Alaska to Florida and California to Maine, the National Forest System (NFS) is host to unprecedented levels of prospecting and development. The NFS is large (191 million acres), geologically attractive from the mineral standpoint and relatively unexplored. Significant recent finds and developments involve silver, gold, platinum group metals, molybdenum, cobalt and phosphates. Exploration and development are closely regulated, but most of the NFS is open. The Forest Service endeavors to be a good host to the mineral industry, but increasingly is asked or forced to delay or disapprove mineral projects to protect the environment.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. B. Tippin

Great Salt Lake Minerals & Chemicals Corporation (GSL), a subsidiary of Gulf Resources & Chemical Corporation, is located on the east side of the Great Salt Lake, approximately 20 miles from Ogden, Utah. GSL processes brine from the north arm of the lake to produce potash, salt cake, salt and magnesium chloride brine. Potash fertilizer, in the form of K2SO4 is GSL&apos;s primary product. The GSL Sulfate of Potash Complex The GSL potash complex (depicted in Figure I) is divided into a solar evaporation pond system and the process plants. The solar,evaporation system consists of a 17,000-acre (68.8 Km2) ponding operation where the various salts deposit during the summer evaporation season, and a harvesting operation which recovers the deposits during the remainder of the year. The harvest is either preconcentrated in the flotation plant or processed directly in the chemical plant where sulfate of potash (SOP) is produced. The chemistry of the lake brine results in a solar deposit con¬taining primarily kainite (KCl-MgSO4.3H20), schoenite (K2SO4?MgSO4^ 6H2O), and halite (NaCI), with some carnallite (KCl.MgCl2.6H20) and epsomite (MgSO4.7H20). Other minor minerals may be deposited, depending upon the weather during the evaporation season. Each year, the solar deposit in the evaporation ponds will greatly depend upon the summer weather conditions, which have in the past proven to be quite unpredictable. Weather may alter both the quantity of the solar deposit and the composition of this deposit. During, a "short" evaporation season, the tonnage deposited decreases, but depending upon the short-term weather, the potash mineral content

Jan 1, 1977

By Sandip K. Mukherjee

This paper describes the application of pressure foam to control respirable dust in a double-drum longwall mining section. The feasibility of passing an adequate quantity of pressure foam through the shearer drum was initially established in the laboratory. Thereafter, underground testing of the foam system to determine its effectiveness on an active operating longwall was conducted in a mine in West Virginia. The foam system proved superior to the water spray system. The de- tails of the laboratory and field investigations, the results obtained, and the degree of acceptance of this system by the mining company are discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. M. Smailer

Detailed description of the development of the FIOR process1 and, subsequently, other technical papers relating to the operation and start up of the FIOR plant2,3 are available in the technical literature. The Fluidized Iron Ore Reduction (FIOR) process plant constructed in the Matanzas region of Venezuela represents the first commercial application of this technology. The FIOR process was developed by Exxon Company during the 1950&apos;s and 1960&apos;s; and the facility in Venezuela was designed and constructed by Davy McKee with the plant start up in 1976. While there is a minority government ownership in the company, FIOR de Venezuela operates as a private sector company with the majority of the ownership being private capital.

Jan 1, 1981

By D. C. Seidel

The role of surface charge in soluble salt flotation, which was developed in Part 1, is extended to relate the theory to the specific phenomena of KCI- NaCl separations. Temperature-collector solubility relationships, metal ion activation, and particle size effects are discussed.

Jan 1, 1967

By Haydn H. Murray

Although alumina constitutes about ii percent of the earth&apos;s crust, it is expensive to separate and purify for the production of aluminum with the exception off the alumina in bauxite. The United states has a variety of non-bauxite resources that could substitute for bauxite, including high alumina clays, alunite, dawsonite in oil shale, anorthosite, and nepheline syenite. Each of these resources are discussed from the standpoint of geology, geography, processing, potential recovery, and environmental problems. Potential by-products include silica from clays, potash and sulfuric acid from alunite, soda ash from dawsonite, and soda ash and potash from anorthosite and nepheline syenite.

Jan 1, 1982

By C. B. Clemmens

Accurately predicting ground control conditions before mining requires a comprehensive exploration approach including photogeologic mapping (satellite and low altitude), delta modeling and, particularly, geophysical logging. In situ properties, density; strength indices; grain size; clay content; and aquifer location, can be estimated with this inexpensive technique. Geophysical measurements can be spot-checked by field or laboratory tests on core samples and by hydrologic (pressure) testing. Each phase of drilling should be accompanied by refinement of the delta model, facilitated by log signatures. Measured properties can then be projected into geologically similar areas. A properly planned program will delineate both the "worst-case" and normal support conditions. Suspect areas can be avoided by mine layout and the mine plan can contain support contingencies for anticipated trouble spots.

Jan 1, 1985

By D. P. Gold

Major sources and reserves of Cb/Nb, Ta, REE, Y, Sc, Zr, Hf, Cu, apatite and vermiculite may be concentrated in primary and secondary minerals associated with different stages and depths of emplacement in carbonatite complexes and kindred alkalic intrusive rocks. Exploration targets include: apatite and pyrochlore (Nb) in the plutonic and hypabyssal core and ring-dikes: bastnaesite (REE), strontianite, barite and fluorite in hydrothermal veins and cone-sheets (subvolcanic setting): thortveitite (Sc,Y) and vermiculite in metasomatized aureoles (fenites): high grade eluvial deposits of apatite and pyrochlore, and secondary REE, Nb, Ti. and V-minerals in supergene and weathered zones.

Jan 1, 1991

By Frank Ruskey

Many problem associated with potential hazards in a proposed mining area may not be adequately appraised because of the complexity of trying to evaluate them in terms of production requirements. Frequently, encountered hazards have to be dealt with by day-to-day operational schemes that require the miner to either force a way through them or avoid them by blocking off the area in which the hazards are known to exist. These considerations, after the mine is in full production, can be costly to the mine operator and can increase the danger to the miners. A hazard-evasion computer program for mine planning that will appraise proposed mine layouts on the basis of existing or potential hazards has therefore been developed. The program is intended for use during the planning phase of a mine, where it should assist the mining engineer in making decisions in mine design. With the output from this program, the mining engineer should be able either to corroborate his judgments made on the basis of mining experience or to find unanticipated solutions to design problem. The program tests hundreds of possible solutions to a mining layout, and by sorting out the 10 best (based on a criteria of minimum-abandoned-coal) limits the number of choices that need to be considered and appraised for applicability to a given mine scheme.

Jan 1, 1973

By Shahab Alizadeh, Ahmad Khodadadi Darban, Mehdi Mohseni, Mahmoud Abdollahy

This study probed the selective separation of lanthanum and yttrium in a nitrate medium in the presence of aluminum and calcium impurities using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA). The factors studied in a central composite design (CCD) included extractant concentration, pH, concentration ratio of total impurities to rare earth elements, and interaction of these three factors. The extraction mechanism and types of extracted metal-containing species were delineated by the slope analysis method. The obtained thermodynamic data showed that lanthanum and yttrium extraction by the D2EHPA extractant was exothermic. The extraction of both rare earth elements was accompanied by an entropy reduction. The negative magnitude of ΔS in yttrium extraction reaction suggests stronger D2EHPA-Y(III) complexation relative to La(III). As entropy decreased and enthalpy increased, the extraction process became unspontaneous. Using the proposed flowsheet, lanthanum and yttrium products with > 90% purity were obtained.

Aug 10, 2021