Search Documents

By Charles A. Weinstein

INTRODUCTION As a set of management practices, "Knowledge Management" (KM) has disappointed many of its early advocates. The core notion behind KM can be summed up in the oft- quoted adage, "If we only knew what we know." KM describes a set of tools, practices, and approaches for using data, information, and expertise-knowledge-resident in an organization to improve the performance of that organization. The idea was incubated, hatched, and grew among some the largest and most successful companies in the world. Some of these companies created "Chief Knowledge Officers." Many more collectively invested billions in a huge range of KM efforts, all designed to use their organizations' information and expertise to innovate, improve margins, sell, or accomplish any of a myriad of sound business goals. Some KM efforts were successful, and many were not.* Today, it is indisputably the case that KM as a named set of practices has fallen out of favor. Why, then, should KM be discussed at a conference on "Things that Actually Work" for plant operators? Because, in many instances, KM has actually worked. The practices that represent KM done right offer significant opportunities for plant operators to achieve real gains, especially in times of resource constraints and in the face of ever-increasing technical and commercial goals. The KM fad is all but over. The KM benefits continue to accrue to those who have applied the lessons learned from that fad, and implemented sound * Fair disclosure: I am not unbiased with respect to the potential impact of KM. Teltech has been a pioneer and leader in KM, both as a practitioner and as a leading consultant to other organizations.

Jan 1, 2004

By J. C. Rhodes

The demand for good white minerals for many industries including paint and plastics have made it necessary to import high grade industrial minerals from various parts of the world. Some of the calcium carbonate, barite and talc minerals are from China, Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti. These materials can be processed by custom processors. The custom processor can provide a service to the Industrial Mineral owner. The imported materials can arrive in various feed sizes from lumps (3"-6") down to 325 mesh. The materials can also be in various size shipments or container loads. The economics for importing should be investigated thoroughly. The two factors just mentioned can influence the quantity of material to be processed. These two factors can also influence the total cost for each end product.

Jan 1, 1989

By R. G. Church

Belle Ayr Mine was established in 1972 as the first large surface coal mine in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. During the mid-1980s, it was eventually out-distanced in productivity by newer mines, and management recognized that the mine must recapitalize its major mining equipment and enhance its workforce flexibility in order to be competitive in the deteriorating market situation. Therefore, state-of-the-art haulage and loading equipment was placed into service, and a 12-hour rotating shift and a technician-based workforce was implemented. Belle Ayr Mine is located 29 km (18 miles) southeast of Gillette, Wyoming, in Campbell County (Figure 1). The mine is a part of AMAX Coal West, Inc., and with its sister mine, Eagle Butte, located 8 km (5 miles) north of Gillette, is a major contributor to the overall coal production of AMAX Coal Industries, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas. This paper addresses mine planning, recapitalization initiatives, and innovative workforce changes which propelled this large, surface coal mine to the forefront of productivity in the ever tightening low sulphur coal market.

Jan 1, 1994

By Lance Rasband, Richard Hanke, John Starcevich

"Mining on Seattle’s SR99 tunnel began in July of 2013. Initial mining progressed slowly through a 4.5 m (14.9-ft) thick fiber-reinforced concrete headwall before immediately entering the first of three planned safe havens. Once through the headwall and safe haven the machine would move through roughly 122 lineal m (400 ft) of jet grout improved soil at a rate of slightly more than 1.6 m/d (5.3 ftpd). It was anticipated that once mining has passed through the improved area, “Bertha” – now the world’s second largest tunnel boring machine (TBM), would be moving at a rate of almost 11 m/d (36 ftpd). By the end of October 2013, Bertha had mined roughly 131 m (430 ft), averaging 1.4 m/d (4.7 ftpd), and had begun mining within native soils. By the start of December 2013, tunneling had reached the 244 m (800 ft) mark and Bertha was averaging 3.6 m/d (11.9 ftpd), achieving as much as 12.8 m (42 ft) of progress on given days. Unfortunately, on Dec. 6th, 2013, Bertha began to stumble and all progress quickly came to a halt.Initial reports stated an obstruction had stopped Bertha in her tracks. The preliminary investigation involved installation of 10 deep dewatering wells to reduce the hydrostatic pressure within the ground around the TBM, to allow the contractor’s personnel to inspect the cutter head from within and also to investigate for the presence of obstructions at the face of the cutter head. During inspection, the contractor’s crews found fragments of steel pipe entangled in the cutter head. The steel was apparently from an abandoned 254 mm (0.9 in.) diameter monitoring well casing, previously installed by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to monitor groundwater conditions for the design and planning of this tunnel project. After the steel was removed from the cutter head and cleared from Bertha’s path, she attempted to move forward but was only able to generate a slow crawl."

Jun 1, 2016

By Paul H. Miller

After passage by the Congress, Public Law 95-87, the "Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977" was signed by President Carter on August 3, 1977. This law, in its simplest form, was intended to control the environmental effects of surface coal mining and to ensure that mined land is restored to a condition equivalent to that prior to mining. Immediately after the signing, the wheels of government bureaucracy began turning to establish a new federal agency -the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement or OSM -in the Interior Department that would implement the provisions of the Act. Since this took time and because the Congress had not yet provided funding for OSM, a special task force was assembled within the Interior Department to begin the task of writing interim regulations to implement the Act. With respect to the use of explosives, the Act specified that a blasting plan be included in the application for a mining permit. The blasting plan will outline the procedures an operator will use to meet specified environmental protection performance standards. The performance standards established by the Act require explosives to be used only in accordance with existing state and federal laws and regulations and with regulations to be promulgated by the regulatory authority. The regulatory authority was defined as either a state agency operating under an approved state program or the OSM operating under a federal program. As a minimum, it was specified that the regulations should include provisions to require that: 1) a blasting schedule be published in a local newspaper and be mailed to local governments and to all residents living within 1/2 mile of the blasting site . 2) daily notice be given to residents in the area prior to blasting. 3) blast reports be prepared that are maintained for three years and available on request to the public. 4) blasts be designed to prevent injury to persons, damage to property outside the permit area, adverse impacts on underground mines and adverse effects on ground or surface water channels or availability outside the permit area. 5) upon request of residents or property owners within 1/2 mile of the permit area, preblast surveys shall

Jan 1, 1978

Potassic alteration domains of greenstone belt lode gold deposits are characterized by systematic partitioning between different groups of incompatible elements, such that Al, Ga, Th, U, Ti and V are decoupled from K, Rb, Ba, Cs and Tl. The former group of elements have concentrations and interelement ratios in alteration domains which reflect host rock control, implying approximately isochemical behaviour. In contrast, K, Rb, and Ba are strongly coenriched, and linearly correlated over th4ee orders of magnitude in abundance, where K/Rb = 260, and K/Ba = 40: K/Cs (-10 ) and K/T1 (-2x10 ) are also correlated, though more weakly. Lithium abundances, and Rb/Sr ratios are erratic in altered rocks. These interelement trends, collectively, are present in deposits variously hosted by ultramafic, mafic, or felsic volcanic rocks, and sediments or granitoids.

Jan 1, 1988

By K. E. Hjelmstad

Solution mining operations often encounter difficulty maintaining adequate leach solution flow into the ore formation because of loss of formation permeability near the injection well. Permeability loss caused by swelling and breakup of clays and fine particle migration can often be the cause of the problem.

Jan 1, 1989

By Dan Norrgran

In recent years, a great deal of attention has been focused on developing mill liners to increase wear resistance, improve grinding efficiency and reduce energy consumption in milling applications. The installation of an appropriate mill liner is critical as it affects the overall cost and product quality. A mill liner has two specific functions. The first is to protect the mill shell and mill ends from direct contact with the abrasive grinding media (in this case, the liner serves as a wear surface). The second function is to transport the grinding media, creating energy for size reduction. The liner acts as a lifter, mechanically transporting and cascading the grinding media. The mill lining is a major cost in the milling operation. The costs associated with the mill lining include the capital cost of the lining, downtime required to replace the worn liner and the labor for installation. Generally, in hard rock mining, the life of a mill liner in secondary ball mills is 12 to 24 months.

Jan 1, 2009

By John R. Bogert

The title of this session is "Wall Street Looks at the Mining Industry," and I am going to attempt to answer the question: Shouldn't Mining Stocks Sell at Higher Price Levels? Or, What Does Wall Street See When Looking at the Mining Industry? Well, it sees a capital intensive business, a technical industry, and a growing industry becoming more vertically integrated. But, at the same time, Wall Street sees a cyclical industry, a fragmented industry of erratic earnings, spotty public relations, a feast-or-famine business where the public usually does not differentiate between coal mining or metal mining, and does not appreciate either the risks or the rewards. As a result, mining stocks generally sell at relatively low price learnings ratios in comparison to other industrial groups. This PIE ratio, the current market price of the capital stock divided by annual earnings per share, is probably the most popular index of a stock's value. The average of the price/ earnings ratios of the 30 stocks comprising the Dow Jones Industrial Average is over 14. This diverse group of stocks is widely regarded as being a cross-section and representative of the industrial companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. However, in comparison to 14, Asarco and Kennecott shares are currently available for about 8 times annual earnings. Even discounting earnings from South America, the stock of these two companies sells at only 10 times earnings. Of course, Peruvian politics is currently preventing Cerro shares from selling above 6 times earnings, and Chilean politics keeps Anaconda shares at a PIE multiple of 7. However, even in better times, these companies rarely sell above 10 times earnings. American Metal Climax and Newmont sell at only 11 times earnings as does Phelps Dodge and St. Joseph Lead. Few mining companies then have what can be considered a high PIE ratio-a figure higher than

Jan 1, 1970

By J. G. Pippenger

The Coteau Properties Company's Freedom Mine is a surface lignite mining operation located near Beulah, North Dakota. Coteau, a wholly owned subsidiary of The North American Coal Corporation, produces more than 13.5 million tonnes per year, ranking it among the largest mines in North America. In 1993, Coteau ranked seventh in terms of annual coal sales, becoming the largest mine outside the Powder River Basin of northeastern Wyoming. However, for the Freedom Mine to stand among these Powder River heavyweights, Coteau over-came several obstacles, including a coal seam with three quarters the heating value and overburden to coal ratios three times higher than the Powder River mines. Coteau's ability to compete has been built around a program of continuous productivity improvement, cost efficiency, and innovation. This report highlights a few of the major improvements implemented in recent years.

Jan 1, 1995

By H. Y. Sohn

The paper discusses two processes, flash ironmaking technology (FIT) and moving-bed ironmaking technology (MBIT), which aim to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the ironmaking industry by using concentrate directly without pelletizing and without using coke.

Aug 1, 2023

By W. Perkins

The Smoky Canyon Mine has recently installed a PROMPTED GAMMA NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS (PGNAA) on-line analyzer as part of a long-term advanced process control program. The on-line analyzer was adapted from a continuous dry analyzer and a large on-stream wet analyzer to a compact, multiplexed 3" slurry analyzer. The analyzation feed system utilizes a multiplexer system to accommodate up to fourteen (14) different plant process streams. The corresponding sampling system also provides for dewatering of sample streams too dilute for timely analysis. Key analysis includes, but is not limited to, phosphorus, aluminum, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. This data currently allows plant operations to be manually evaluated and controlled. Future development of a plant-wide supervisory control system will utilize the data for plant operations. This paper discusses the design, installation, and operation of the PGNAA on-line analyzer at the Smoky Canyon Mine.

Jan 1, 1996

By Jerry Williams

GEORGE WEINMAN: At this time, our co-chair, Jamie Davis from Phelps Dodge, will come to the podium. JAMIE DAVIS: Our next speaker is Jerry Williams from Phelps Dodge, Morenci. Jerry is the maintenance planning supervisor and is in charge of preventative maintenance and maintenance scheduling. Jerry's group uses predictive tools to monitor and predict the equipment failure throughout the mine, from pumps to shovels to motors, you name it. The title of Jerry's talk is "If You're Not Using Predictive Tools, You're Behind the Curve." I’ll turn it over to Jerry.

Jan 1, 1998

By David Maust, Rob Albinger, Mike Walling, Michael Rispin

The safeguarding of health and life is the number one priority for underground infrastructure projects. While culture and approach are critically important, the industry has also seen the development of innovative tools and technologies that assist in making the underground environment and working places more safe and secure, both on an everyday basis and in the event of an unexpected occurrence.

Dec 1, 2022

By E. M. R. Santos

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a serious environmental problem in mining activities. Prediction is the first step for evaluate the potential of acid generation and there are some possible methods to estimate it. They are described as static tests, which examine the balance between acid producing and acid consuming materials, and kinetic tests, which attempt to predict drainage quality over time. Static methods are very simple and give a qualitative classification of the ores based on their potential to generate acid drainage. The characterization of ores to determine their acid producing potential is vital for the prevention of long term environmental liabilities. Laboratory tests were conducted under different methodologies to predict the acid producing potential of sulphide overburden, ore materials and tailings from a deposit of copper ore.

Jan 1, 1999

By Ebelia Manda, Peter RK Chileshe, Sydney Chinyanta, Abdul Samson, Victor Mwango Bowa

Buttressing is a widely employed control measure for mitigating slope failure in various settings such as openpit mines, road sections, dams, and hilly or rocky terrains. This paper presents a study on the effects of buttressing, specifically concerning slide-head toppling failure. Drawing insights from a case study of slide-head toppling in Zambia, our investigation employs both analytical (limit equilibrium) and numerical (3DEC software) modeling techniques. The analytical and numerical models exhibit notable similarities in their schematics and overall results, revealing a subtle effect of buttressing in controlling slide-head toppling failure. This study contributes valuable insights into the nuanced role of buttressing in slope stability, with implications for optimizing buttress design parameters. While the overall findings suggest a modest influence of buttressing on slide-head toppling failure, further discussions delve into the specific implications and potential refinements for practical applications.

Jan 1, 2025

By Jr. Chesson

"Phosphate" is a misnomer as often used. The word is increasingly used to refer to any material containing phosphorus - an element essential to any form of life. Phosphate rock, a mineral - fluorapitate - is recovered from Florida's sedimentary deposits in particle sires ranging from 0.1 to 13.0 millimeter. This product of mining, washing, screening, and flotation is commonly called "phosphate". Its phosphorus content, measured and reported as P2O5, varies from 29% to 35%, and is essentially insoluble. "Phosphate" is also used to describe products containing soluble phosphorus obtained from acidulation of phosphate rock with mineral acids; primarily, sulfuric acid. Many miners have nearby chemical plants wherein phosphate rock is converted into upgraded products such as phosphoric acid, superphosohates, and ammonium phosphates with 45% to 70% P205, soluble and suitable for use as fertilizer. The rock and upgraded products are all commonly called "phosphate"; the plants, "phosphate plants' and the producers collectively are known as the "phosphate industry". The public in Central Florida generally loses identification of the individual operators that include major corporations such as IMC. Williams Companies, W.R. Grace, Mobil, Embark, U.S. Steel, Borden, American Cyanamid and others. They all become just a "phosphate company".

Jan 1, 1978

By F. Calizaya

This study summarizes the ventilation requirements for the highly mechanized PT. Freeport Indonesia's underground mine operation in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. The deep ore zone (DOZ) is a coppergold deposit that is being developed underneath the current intermediate ore zone (IOZ) mine. One of the company's current plans is to prepare this mine for a steady ore flow of 25 kt/d (27,500 stpd) by 2003. This study includes the estimation of airflow requirements for various mining activities, the design of major intakes and returns, the determination of airway resistances and specifications of fan duties. It also includes the results of air pressure/quantity measurements in existing airways and the standards stated by the current Indonesian mining law.

Jan 1, 2000

By E. J. Duggan

In the course of the grinding experiments conducted at Climax over the past twenty years one interesting phenomenon was discovered. This was that balls made of certain types of steel grind more ore than some others. The most significant variation was found in the results secured with a hard alloyed forged bail compared with the forged carbon ball supplied by most ball manufacturers These findings were confirmed in many repeated controlled tests. The value of these tests depends on the methods used, the facilities available and the care with which the investigations were conducted. These are described in the following. This testing has largely been done in eight 91 x 81 low discharge ball mills in closed circuit with 7811 duplex screw classifiers. The mills run at 20 RPM on a feed approximately minus 3/8 inch. The ore is ground through 28 - 35 mesh in one stage. Each mill and auxiliary classifier is in a separate, parallel grinding and flotation section The, ore to each: section is the same in every particular and is fed to each mill bin from a common conveyor tripper. The ore from the bin to the ball mill is weighed on a conveyor scale. The power input to each mill motor is determined with a watt hour meter which measures the power to the mill motor only. Both the scales and meters are checked periodically by standard methods and have been found to give consistent readings. Automatic samplers are employed on each section to obtain accurate measurement of the size reduction. A size analysis of the classifier overflow is made each shift and a composite size analysis is obtained from a weighted average of the various shift analyses. The mills are driven by 450 horsepower synchronous motors so that there is no speed variation and shell liner age is kept as nearly the same as possible in mills under test. The same set of operators is assigned to a mill under test as to the control mill. In all other particulars such as ball load, mill density, liner design, etc., the mills are operated in precisely the same manner. This is an ideal arrangement for plant testing. From observations of ball mill performance over the past twenty years, it is the opinion of the operating staff that variations of as little as one to two percent in mill capacities may be determined if sufficient operating hours are devoted, to a test. Relations between mill capacities, fineness of grinds and power consumptions have been established with a high degree of accuracy. In Table I are given the figures for one test. These show that while the grind with the hard ball was slightly coarser, the tons ground per hour was 5.4 percent greater with the soft ball, and 6.1 percent greater on the basis of minus 100 mesh produced. The power consumed per ton with the hard ball was 4.4 percent greater on a tons per hour basis. The soft ball was inferior in wearing qualities and steel consumption per ton of ore was 24 percent greater with it. In this test the mills were charged with the two different balls for a period of three months to allow the ball loads to come to equilibrium. In Table II are given the specifications of the two balls. The difference in grinding rates may be accounted for by the nature of the ball surfaces. The surfaces of the soft balls after being worn a while are rougher to the touch. Enlarged photographs of the worn-in surfaces of hard and soft balls are shown in Figure I. These show the presence of scratches or skid marks on the hard ball surface which indicates less nipping effect. The Climax ore pulp has a pH of 6.0 and is in a dispersed state. The viscosity is low compared with most ores especially those that are conditioned with lime. This would lower the tendency of the pulp to adhere to the balls with a lower grinding efficiency as a result. It was also thought that the relative rates of wear from surface to center might affect the make-up of an equilibrium ball charge. This probably has little effect on capacity as shown by the size analyses of the two ball charges in Table III. This hypothesis was subsequently investigated by the use of rationed charges. The rationed charge did not overcome the advantage in

Jan 1, 1958

By Arthur E. Belton

Ever since the industrial Revolution both major and small companies have put much emphasis on the use of incentives to compensate top management for extra effort and extra skill. For many years industries have also provided hourly rate employees with incentive plans. More recently incentive plans have been extended to include the "front line" supervisors. Many companies have what are called Christmas bonus or profit-sharing plans. The incentives for foremen in mining, which we shall discuss, differ from such bonus plans in that the incentives are paid on a definite measured performance for each individual, and thus directly reflect his effort and skill. What is the objective for paying incentives? The objective for any part of an industrial Engineering Program is to increase productivity and reduce unit cost. The unit cost must include the entire cost of the program. From what base do we start an incentive plan? One should think of art incentive program as the top rung of the Industrial Engineering ladder. Therefore, a company must take several steps before reaching this top rung. The following steps are necessary:

Jan 1, 1960