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By K. Negishi, H. Izui, Y. Komiya

"Aluminum has the disadvantage of low strength. In order to obtain the high strength composites, crystals were refined in the composites. Grain refinement was approached at two process points, generating new grains and grain growth. It is important for refinement how to control the grain growth. Spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique and TiB2powder addition prevent grain growth. To investigate effects of strain and additives to the alloy, aluminum powder was sintered at 70 MPa and 80 MPa, changing the content of TiB2additive powder by SPS method. As the results, the crystal grain size was finer in the composite sintered at higher sintering pressure and with larger amount of additive, though over 1.0mass% TiB2addition dissuades grain refining. These grain refinements improve hardness and tensile strength of sintered aluminum alloys.INTRODUCTIONAluminum matrix composites have low density, high specific strength, and low cost. Their applications are growing continuously in the field of automotive and aerospace industries. Recent studies to improve their good mechanical and tribological properties use different ceramic materials such as Al2O3(Das, Munroe, & Bandyopadhyay, 1996; Ashwatha & Anthony Xaviorb, 2014),SiC(Hassani, Bagherpour, & Qods, 2014), B4C(Ehsan, Masoud, Touradj, Amir Hossein, & Ali, 2015),TiC(Ehsan, Ali, Masoud, Kamyar, & Touradj, 2017), and TiB2(Fei & Zhong-Hua, 2013).On the other hand, grain refinement is also an important techniques for improving the properties of aluminum alloys. Finer grains improve the mechanical properties of the alloy. For cast and wrought alloys, addition of grain refiners in molten alloys accelerates generation of nucleus and suppresses grain growth. Al-Ti-B alloy is generally added as grain refiners in the molten aluminum alloys(Easton & Stjohn, 2001). Especially, TiB2has very high melting point, low density, and excellent hardness. Therefore, TiB2was selected as additions into aluminum alloys. Liquids reaction leads to high cost, oxidation, discoloration of molten alloy, and clustering of additive powder as compared with solid reaction such as sintering. However, sintering of aluminum alloy powder with ceramic powders is difficult for oxide layer surface. Recently, we take attention to spark plasma sintering (SPS) as advanced sintering process. SPS process can easily sinter a high quality specimen at a lower sintering temperature and in a shorter time than conventional sintering processes. By SPS process, we have sintered titanium powders that are as difficult to be sintered by any other processes as aluminum powders, and improved mechanical properties by adding hard ceramic powders TiC and TiB(Kamegawa, Izui, Komiya, Kobayashi, & Arimoto, 2015; Sampei, Izui, Komiya, Shigimura, & Suzuki, 2015). Furthermore, it is important to consider not only pure aluminum but alloys for solid-solution or precipitation strengthening. Actually, pure Al does not have enough strength compared with the alloys. Al-Cu alloy and Al-Mg alloy demonstrate adequate strength for industrial and commercial sectors. Al-Mg alloy retains good formability, and has high resistance to corrosion. It is therefore used for many applications. We must consider alloying processes. The most cost effective process is blended elemental technology where alloying elements are added to base powder as elemental or master alloy powder (Smugeresky & Dawson, 1981; Yasue, Radjai, Miwa, & Sakaguchi, 2003; Bolzoni, Esteban, Ruiz-Navas, & Gordo, 2012)."

Jan 1, 2018

By J. Schick, V. Granger

Nowadays, all French former uranium mining sites are remediated and redeveloped. If needed, mining waters containing radium have to be treated before discharged into the environment. Classical radium treatment consists in a (Ba,Ra)SO4 salt precipitation and radium monitoring was carried out using a time-consuming analysis called emanometry. Three zeolite samples have been tested to remove 226Ra from mining water. In batch experiment, radium was totally (R=100%) and quickly removed after 2 minutes contact time. Continuous sorption experiments were carried out through a vertical column at lab scale. Chabazite is the most efficient zeolite with an 226Ra activity below 0.2 Bq/L until 60000 Bed Volume. Chabazite is always efficient although radium content in material reaches 150 Bq/g. 226Ra uptake was also tested at semi-industrial scale on a pilot plant. More than 3000 m3 were successfully treated with a radium content below 0.1 Bq/L. The environmental impact assessment of Ra-chabazite was characterized by using batch leaching tests made according to the NF EN 12457-2 standard as applied on all wastes. Ra-chabazite stability is excellent during this test: radium leaching is very low, less than 0.005%. A new 226Ra measurement method was developed by ICP-MS for a better analysis reactivity. This new method was carried out in a couple of minutes with a lower sample volume than emanometry. The validation was performed according to the French NF T90-210 standard for the calibration function definition, the limit of quantification, the accuracy and the interferences.

Jan 1, 2020

By Walter I. Nelson

THE geology of the Copper Mountain mine has been ably described by Dr. Victor Dolmage in Memoir 171 of the Geological Survey. Reference is invited to that paper for a more extended description of the geology of the ore deposits than will be given here. The important orebodies of the mine occur in fragmencal volcanic rocks, parallel with and adjacent to the gabbro of the Copper Mountain stock. In the mine area, the contact strikes N.45°W. and dips either vertical or steeply co the southwest. For a distance of 500 feet or more from the contact, the fragmental rocks have been intensely metamorphosed both dynamically and hydrothermally. The dynamic effects are reflected in the foliation and fracturing parallel with the contact, which occurs throughout the mine, and the volcanic rocks within this foliated zone are, in places, highly schistose. Superimposed upon thi.s structure is a system of fine, straight, parallel frac-tures that strike nearly normal to the foliation (and contact) and dip between 65° and 75° to the north; it is with this last-described fracture system that the ore minerals are structurally associated. The fractures are mineralized with bornite and, to a considerably less extent, with chalcopyrite and some pyrite. A notable characteristic is the extreme fineness of the fractures; even in high-grade ore they are rarely larger than pencil lines. The tenor of the ore, therefore, varies directly with the fracture spacing. Replacemcnr of the host-rock between two or more fractures, varying in degree from finely disseminated sulphides to masses of nearly solid bornite up to 18 inches wide and 2 to 3 feet long, is not uncommon in the higher-grade portions of the orebodies. Two structural types of orebody are recognized in local nomenclature: the 'contact' orebodies, so-called because they occur along the contact; and 'outlying' orebodics, which are enclosed in the volcanics. The former arc tabular or lenticular bodies elongated along the strike and dip of the contact. The 'outlying' orebodies are coniform, chimney-like masses roughly elliptical in plan; with depth, their roots plunge at steep angles toward the contact. All of the orebodies are cut by a number of light-coloured granophyre and felsite porphyry dykes. These dykes-the so-called 'mine' dykes -enter the mine area from the north, curve gently southeasterly across the orebodies, and then cross the contact into the gabbro at the south end of the mine. All the dykes dip vertical to steeply east.

Jan 1, 1941

By C S. Stevens

This paper describes the problems encountered and the steps taken to solve them in milling an ore containing relatively large amounts of pyrrhotite. A complex and greatly lengthened flotation circuit was required to recover the pyrrhotite. A very low pH had to be maintained in the cyanide circuit in order to get good recovery of the gold and maintain reasonable cyanide recovery. Introduction D ELNITE Mines Ltd., a gold mine situated about 5 miles by road south and east of the town of Timmins, Ontario, is serviced by two shafts. No. 2 shaft extends from surface to the 2875-ft. level, and No. 3 shaft, an internal winze, extends from the 2875-to the 5275-ft. level. No. 2 shaft was stopped at the 2875-ft. level because of a heavy band of chloritic schist which necessitated a drive to the north for 1000 feet, where No. 3 shaft was sunk. The latter bottomed in the schist at the 5275-ft. level. From the 2500 to the 2875-ft. level in No. 2 shaft, the ore was

Jan 1, 1965

By V. G. Papangelakis, M. Cheung, M. Dry

The high pressure acid leaching of laterite was modelled and simulated using a combination of two commercially available software packages, namely Aspen Plus 11.1 and the OLI Stream Analyzer. New kinetic parameters for the acid-controlled metal dissolution and precipitation reactions at temperature were first determined from previous experimental data on the leaching of limonite. A grain model with cylindrical pellets was used to model the solid-liquid dissolution reactions. Precipitation reactions were modeled via aqueous equilibrium chemistry. A dedicated thermodynamic database previously developed at the University of Toronto was used in conjunction with the OLI software to model the solution chemistry and calculate the concentration of hydrogen ions in solution at the leaching temperature. Mass balances were handled by Aspen Plus. The simulation gave good predictions of nickel dissolution under industrial and laboratory conditions, for the dissolution of limonite and limonite/saprolite blends. Computational

Jan 1, 2005

By L. M. Wang, G. P. Jiang, Y. Jiang, Liao. W. S.

ABSTRACT The authors measured porosities and permeabilities for cores from a low-permeability sandstone uranium deposit in Inner Mongolia. Features studied included fine pore structure, mineral composition, cation exchange capacity, granule appearance, and cementing features. In general, grading of the grains was relatively poor, which decreased the radii of the pore channels. The pore throat distribution was significantly heterogeneous. Pore channels ranged from small to large, but the lack of large pore channels led to low permeability. Cementation by calcite and clays, including montmorillonite, chlorite, and kaolinite, resulted in pore channel narrowing, further decreasing the permeability of the formation.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. R. Whittemore

PROGRESSIVE industrial organizations have recognized the importance of maintaining an adequate reference library of volumes covering all phases of their particular branch of industry, but it has been the experience of the writer that few engineers know how to use to the best advantage this store of extremely -valuable information which has been accumulated for their service. Nor does the average engineer appreciate the fact that it is only through the current technical literature that he can keep abreast of the rapidly developing fields of engineering. The present-day ramifications of the engineering field are of such wide scope that the human mind is not capable of storing away more than a small fraction of the information available on any particular topie; yet, from time ? to time, such information would prove invaluable. An engineer can know intimately only a small part of his own branch of engineering; but he cannot afford to neglect to take the fullest possible advantage of all that is already known in his own particular field. Technical information may be obtained by one or more of the following methods: (1) by enquiring of the individual who knows; (2) by performing the experimental investigations necessary to ascertain the facts; (3) by consulting the technical literature, where a record may be found of the work of others. This last method is the one we wish to examine. Our main consideration is the question of how to use the library, but first it is necessary to give some attention to the kind of enquiries one takes to the library, and to the nature of the sources of information available.

Jan 1, 1938

By Eugene Barsky

"At present, theoretical concepts of gravitational separation processes are mainly limited by the study of the interaction between a flow and a solitary particle. Then the main conclusions of this analysis are applied to a mass process. However, this analysis is absolutely insufficient, because some elementary phenomena such as the ingress of coarse particles into the fine product output and vice versa cannot be interpreted from its standpoint. It is also impossible to predict the results of the classification of a material with a specific granulometric composition on a specific apparatus on its basis.In the present paper, an extended model of the process is suggested. The model is based on the behavior of all the particles of a specific narrow size class, and not on that of an individual particle. Similarity criteria of the process, which were empirically derived previously, are obtained from the analysis of this model.INTRODUCTIONIn case of gravitational separation, a part of solid phase moves, as a rule, vertically upwards with the flow, while another part settles against the flow. This flow is extremely complicated and chaotic due to various random factors. Among these factors are mass interactions of particles with each other and with the apparatus walls, non-uniform character of concentration and velocity fields, turbulent vortices and local fluctuations, real particles shape difference from spherical one, etc.Particles rotation results in a transverse force (Magnus' effect). At the motion of a non-rotating particle in a non-uniform velocity field, a transverse force also arises (Saffman's effect).A great number of publications have been devoted to the account for all these factors in two-phase flows in recent decades. Very complicated models have been developed, but the problem has not been completely solved as yet [1, 3].At the same time, simplified models of the behavior of a solitary particle in a flow are being developed. Despite their schematic nature, such models often prove to be useful for establishing general laws of the process and its similarity criteria [1]."

Jan 1, 2016

By A. H. Onur

Spontaneous combustion of coal is a significant hazard in underground coal mines. It causes serious problems for miners for many years after the fact. It threatens workers? lives and causes economic losses for companies. It disrupts coal production and makes it necessary to abandon the main drift where the spontaneous combustion occurred. Coal fires have to be prevented before they occur; otherwise they are very hard to control. Precautions thus have to be taken in potentially risky areas. For coal to spontaneously combust, it needs 3 elements: fuel, oxygen and heat. If one of them is missing, the fire cannot occur. The best way to prevent spontaneous combustion is to prevent contact between coal and air. Coating of the coal surface with an air-proof lining material would be a practical and useful solution to prevent spontaneous combustion of coal. In the scope of this study, a lining material for coating the coal surface was designed at laboratory conditions. Lining material to be used for preventing coal fires should be airproof, cheap, sufficiently strong, have low rebound, be water- and heat-resistant, and easily obtained and applied. It should also be safe for human health when in contact with mine ventilation. By considering these obligations, 3 kinds of gypsum (plaster, satin plaster, molding plaster), as well as lime, cement and fly ash and different mixtures of these materials were applied in laboratory conditions to form a lining material. Samples of lining material were subjected to uniaxial compressive strength tests to determine their behavior against roof loads. Although there is no need to carry any roof load, the lining material has to be sufficiently strong to stay in place on the applied surface. If the lining material is broken, coal and oxygen can react again. Air permeability and curing time of the mixtures were also tested in laboratory conditions. Then the tested mixtures were applied on a wall with a pump to test the applicability of mixtures. After all tests were performed in laboratory, the most suitable mixture was determined as the optimal lining material to prevent coal fires.

Aug 1, 2013

By Karl J. C. Harries

"The Table of Contents that follows is only an example and is the Table of Contents from an actual negotiated agreement. It is merely intended to show how an agreement might be set out and the nature of possible provisions. As a negotiated agreement the format was dictated by the negotiations. It is not offered as a precedent of what should be contained in a joint venture agreement (“JVA”), the “proper” sequence of Articles, or a complete listing of the contents of joint venture agreements generally. The set-up used for an agreement should be decided by the parties and be one they consider flows in a logical and workable sequence. This example sets out the “deal” first, followed by the provisions relating to how work is to be carried out and then by administrative provisions necessary to make the agreement work. If you are more comfortable with, say, having the Committee provisions at the beginning, by all means have it drafted that way -- you are going to have to live with the agreement and work under it.Notes:1. The Table of Contents provisions appear in bold print. The italicized sections are annotations, which have been provided in some cases where the heading may not clearly describe the contents. They are not intended to be comprehensive, but refer to some specific matters that are considered to be of interest or to need some clarification.2. The subject matter of many of the articles and paragraphs is discussed or commented upon in the text of the book. Some of section cross-references have been provided. Such references are only to sections where the topic is a principal subject and no attempt has been made to provide a comprehensive indexing.3. Although this particular agreement is a three-party agreement, *B* and *C*, the Owners, are required to act as a unit (see para. 1.09. – § 8.44.), making the agreement effectively a two-party agreement. The parties insisted upon having a decision-making Committee and structuring the agreement accordingly. As is explained in § 8.11., such an arrangement is not recommended and can result in problems.5. See also §§ 8.24., 8.41. and 14.13. for discussions on tables of contents, summaries, and headings."

Jan 1, 2003

By Karl J. C. Harries

"3.1. INTRODUCTIONThis chapter discusses briefly the common law concepts of fiduciary relationship, constructive trust, and breach of confidence. Following a discussion of confidentiality agreements, the last section of the chapter compares and comments on two common law cases, the LAC Case and the Metalore Case. Civil law readers should not ignore this chapter or § 3.5. the comparison as, to a large extent, the concepts and comments are universal, even though the procedures for applying them may vary.1It should be appreciated that, regardless of the legal system, if the Court sees that a wrong has been done, it will attempt to right that wrong, either by awarding monetary damages against the wrong-doer to compensate the injured party or by attempting to make the injured party whole again by such means as negating an agreement (as in the Metalore Case) or returning property to a wronged party (as in the LAC Case). The methodology for accomplishing either of these results will vary with the jurisdiction, and the two are not mutually exclusive.These two Ontario cases have been chosen, not because they are the only ones available – they certainly are not – but because both are relatively well known within the minerals industry and they deal with problems that may face any explorationist (although it is to be hoped that the facts of the Metalore Case do not represent “normal” behaviour). Each judgment offers useful guidelines, as well as insight into a judge’s approach to problems, the type of information he expects to receive, how his mind works, and, particularly in the Court of Appeal judgment in the Metalore Case, how he might reason through and “justify” his decisions.3.2. SOME LEGAL CONCEPTS In order to appreciate some of the matters discussed in this chapter, it is necessary to have some idea of the common law considerations of fiduciary relationships, constructive trust, and breach of confidence."

Jan 1, 2003

By H. W. Smith, R. D. Fournier

This paper presents the results of an investigation of a full-scale rod mill. Appropriate numerical techniques are developed for the experimental determination of the parameters of a dynamic mathematical model from steady state data. The results confirm that this full-scale rod mill behaves similarly to laboratory-scale ball mills for which results have previously been obtained. It is noted, however, that although the model presented is adequate for predicting over-all particle size distributions, the size distributions of individual components of a multicomponent ore cannot be predicted.

Jan 1, 1972

By Maurice Morton

THE use of organic and inorganic stains has found wide application as a means of detection and estimation of organic fibres. Such stains have enabled the analyst to distinguish between organic fibres of different type and even between wood fibres produced by different processes. Among these stains, aqueous iodine solutions have figured prominently, as in the case of the well-known Sutermeister and Herzberg stains. At the Johns-Manville laboratories, the idea of applying a stain to asbestos fibres was first considered solely as a visual aid in the microscopic examination of such fibres. The staining medium used in this work consisted of a 1 per cent solution of iodine in C.P. glycerine, the latter being used extensively here as a dispersing and mounting liquid for asbestos fibre. This iodine solution was found to have distinct staining properties when used on the local chrysotile fibres, and to improve greatly their visibility under the microscope. It was soon revealed, however, that this staining is apparently limited to the chrysotile variety of asbestos, as against other varieties. It can be readily seen that, if such were the case, the staining test would become a very useful tool in differentiating between chrysotile fibre and the other mineral fibres, without recourse to a lengthy chemical analysis. Hence this investigation was launched, with the purpose of obtaining more information as to the selectivity of this stain as well as its mechanism. The only previous work of this nature that could be found in the literature was that of Van Winsen and Graham (1, 2, 3) on the adsorption of erioviolet dye by serpentine and related magnesia minerals. However, these authors did not refer to any specific behaviour of chrysotile as against other types of asbestos fibre.

Jan 1, 1941

By M. Sutherland

"Increased efforts to improve mine safety have led to various successful forms of ground control in Canadian underground mines. At Inca Limited's T-3 Mine in Thompson, Manitoba, a perimeter blasting method has been implemented in jumbo drilled development headings.The technique utilizes an increased number of perimeter blast holes in the drill pattern while decreasing the linear charge density of explosives in any individual perimeter hole. The decrease in perimeter charge density means less blast damage to the surrounding structure.The benefits realized include increased safety through less loose ground and substantially less scaling time, less overbreak and improved long-term drift stability. This paper highlights the development and implementation of the perimeter blasting program.IntroductionThompson Mine Thompson Mine is a 6000 ton per day underground nickel mine located just outside the city of Thompson, 400 miles north of Winnipeg. The mine is serviced by the T-I shaft and by the T-3 shaft. The shafts are 10 000 ft apart and are connected on several levels with the deepest operating levels at T-1 and T-3 being 4000 ft and 2400 ft respectively.The T-3 Mine presently produces 52% of the total Thompson Mine production and 65070 of the 3000 ft of mine development each month. Current development of the 5 million ton 1, C orebody below 2400 level at T-3 will maintain these production and development ratios.Depending on equipment requirements, development headings at T-3 Mine vary in size. The 1, C ramp, at 17 1/2 ft wide by 10 1/2 ft high, is presently the largest development heading at T-3. Fifty- two per cent of the development footage is done with four Gardner Denver two boom electric /hydraulic jumbos and one Gardner Denver one boom electric /hydraulic jumbo. The remaining 48% is driven with hand-held jack-leg drills."

Jan 1, 1990

By F. Bosché

Previous research has shown that ?Scan-vs-BIM? systems are powerful to provide valuable information for tracking structural works (progress, quality, safety). However, the transferability of this capability to other construction areas such as MEP works has not been assessed so far. Comparatively, the construction of MEP systems, in particular pipes and ducts, tends to be more flexible with respect to the positioning of individual components, so that Scan-vs-BIM systems could be defeated when tracking MEP installation works. This paper presents recent results on the feasibility and performance of using a Scan-vs- BIM system to track MEP works. The approach followed is presented and then tested with two real-life challenging case studies were conducted simultaneously but totally independently in Canada and Italy. The results show that, as expected, pipes and ducts tend to be more loosely positioned than structural elements leading to a poorer performance of the Scan-vs-BIM system. Nonetheless, it appears that the system works well to assess the level of conformance of site installation works, providing valuable information for estimating emerging performance metrics like ?percent built as-designed?. In addition, the proposed system could also be useful to accelerate and thus reduce the cost of delivering as-built BIM models for in the case of new builds.

Aug 1, 2013

By F. Flores

With the World Summit for Sustainable Development planned for 2002 in mind, nine of the world's largest mining companies decided to initiate a project to examine the role of the minerals sector in contributing to sustainable development, and how that contribution could be increased ? the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Project (MMSD). This project assumed from the start that sustainable development could provide a useful framework to guide the minerals sector which main goal was integrating economic activity with environmental integrity, social concerns, and effective governance systems. The broad steps of MMSD project strategy can be grouped into four major categories: increase understanding of sustainable development; create organizational-level policies and management systems for implementing the principles of sustainable development; collaborate with others with common interests to take joint steps towards sustainable development, and; increase our ability to work towards sustainable development at the local, national, and global levels. In opinion of the article's author, to go ahead with the MMSD strategy and achieving the sustainable development objectives, it is necessary to consider the concept of self-organization, fundamental of the emergent new scientific paradigm, and the consequent epistemology and values that conform a supporting culture for sustainable development.

Jan 1, 2007

By H. W. Fleming

In 1955, the results of a regional, geological interpretation of the northern portion of New Brunswick were used as a basis for selecting, for intensive exploration, three areas in which structural and stratigraphic conditions were believed to be favourable. Airborne electromagnetic work, in one of these areas, provided the justification for acquiring the Murray group. Even though the initial results were discouraging, this geological interpretation, combined with the fortuitous discovery of cop• per-bearing float, was sufficient reason for carrying out further work using geochemical methods. This work finally resulted in the discovery of the Murray massive-sulphide deposit, after about eighteen months of coordinated exploration on the property. While this deposit is a typical New Brunswick-type base-metal occurrence, extensive leaching has produced a fossil gossan that rendered it an elusive target for exploration techniques of limited penetration Full credit for localizing the target area is given to the geochemical techniques, but geophysical surveys were needed to provide the necessary

Jan 1, 1961

By Louis Frost

MINE ventilation has for many years been the subject of intensive study by numerous investigators who have presented their findings in forms that are understandable to the average mining man, and all this writer hopes to do is to review those findings in relation to the 'manager's' problem in mine ventilation. It would not, perhaps, be wholly correct to acclaim practical mine ventilation as an exact science, because of the many variables entering into the problem. Each mine has its own particular problem and ventilation characteristics. Fan design, in contra distinction to mine ventilation, is an exact science, but the designer cannot always take into proper consideration the practical variations to which each mine is subject. Fan designers, accordingly, are forced to base their design on such data as the mine manager or engineer is able to supply, and, when it is borne in mind that the mine characteristic is constantly changing, it is not at all surprising that fans do not always show efficiencies hoped for. In many instances, fans work far beyond the de-signer's limitations, and, in consequence, are an economic disability in the colliery cost-sheet, and it is of paramount importance that the colliery manager evaluate all the factors involved in relation to fan performance for the colliery to receive full benefit from its investment.

Jan 1, 1941

By Laxman M. Amaratunga

Laboratocy flarmnability tests were perfonned on dust samples from Fraser Mine in a 1.2 L Lindenburg horizontal tube furnace to detennine the percentage of sulphur oxidized during ignition. The explosion pot ential of sulphide dusts depends on their degree of spontaneous oxidat ion, which was measured by the quantitative analysis of so2 gas released during ignition. Test results indicated that dusts with low sulphur content could exhibit a higher degree of oxidation than a sample with high sulphur content. txlst characterisation using image analysis techniques suggests that the structure and the texture of dust are important factors influencing the explosibility of sulphide dust at ignition temperatures. Therefore for safe mine operations% sulphur content cannot be considered as a reliable single index that could be used to predict the potential of a sulphide dust explosion. Physical, chemical and mineralogical characterisation of dust plays an important role in the detennination of suitable indices for the prediction and prevention of sulphide ore dust explosions.

May 11, 1988

By A. Warczok

The computer simulator of slag cleaning in an electric furnace is based on a set of mathematical models describing heat liberation, the rate of slag reduction and gravitational coalescence of matte and metallic copper inclusions. The simulator consists of a mass and heat balances as a frame, in which the kinetic equations of the slag reduction and phase separation are incorporated. Friendly user-screen interface allows for dynamic control of process parameters in real time together with simulation of typical operations, such as furnace charging with liquid slag, solid reverts and coke, tapping out of the slag and matte, motion of electrodes and control of the transformer. The batch, semi-continuous or continuous process can be simulated. The process parameters are displayed and continuously recorded for further analysis. The computer simulator is a powerful tool for process optimization, training of furnace operators and the design of new slag cleaning installations.

Jan 1, 2007