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By Jürgen Kretschmann, Christina Suarez, Jürgen Brune, Stefan Möllerherm

"The Ruhr region in Germany’s North-Rhine Westphalia is going through significant change. By the end of 2018, the last two underground hard coal mines in the Ruhr, Ibbenbüren and Prosper-Haniel collieries, will close their portals and bring an end to more than 200 years of coal mining and an industry that was once the economic and cultural backbone of the area. Ruhr is undergoing an impressive economic and cultural transformation, as it gradually shifts from being a region once dependent on coal and steelmaking to a post-mining region focused on redesigning itself as a cultural center. This article focuses on the socioeconomic impacts of the transformation into post-mining and the roles of the government, labor unions and local community to aid the transformation from the perspective of an American student. It will look into the cultural values that are helping to drive the transformation and compare them to American standards and values in order to determine if a similar approach can be used in the United States and its coal industry. History and backgroundUnderground hard coal mining has had a long history and a significant impact on the culture and economy in Ruhr since the early 19th 20century. The Ruhr region is located in the heart of the German state of North- Rhine Westphalia. Ruhr is bounded by the Rhine River in the west, the Ruhr River in the south and the Lippe River in the north, with the Emscher River running through its center.The Ruhr is home to around 5.1 million people and spans an area of approximately 4,500 km2 (1,730 sq miles). Before the era of industrialization, the Ruhr was a rural, agricultural region. Small-scale coal mining began in the 13th century, with coal being used for heating, cooking and metallurgical processes, including steelmaking. With 19th-century industrialization, coal mining became a significant driver of the region’s economic structure. Steam engines, and soon, electric motors, allowed for the pumping of mine water and for powerful hoists hauling from deep shafts, enabling miners to reach deeper coal seams that were once thought impossible to mine. The Ruhr mining boom began in the 1850s, supported by Prussian economic policies that attracted many workers and their families to the region. The population grew from 400,000 in 1850 to 5.7 million in 1957. The coal and steel industries were key contributors to Germany’s “Wirtschaftswunder” — or “miraculous economic recovery”— in the 1950s. In 1956, the coal industry reached its peak production of around 112 Mt/a (124 million stpy) of coal and employed almost 600,000 miners."

Mar 1, 2019

By Adriana da Cunha Rocha, Carlos Bruno Eckstein, Gabriela Ribeiro Pereira, Clara Johanna Pacheco, Elaine Felix da Silva, Raphael Silva de Araújo, Laudemiro Nogueira Junior, Luiz Henrique de Almeida

A composição química da camada de óxido formada durante operação em um forno de reforma a vapor por 70000 h em um aço inox resistente ao calor grau HP-Nb, foi analisada através da espectroscopia Raman confocal, com o objetivo de correlacionar as características químicas e morfológicas dos óxidos com os diferentes estados de envelhecimento. Os espectros Raman, adquiridos pontos aleatórios da camada de óxidos, revelam que os óxidos de Fe (-Fe2O3 e Fe3O4), bem como os óxidos mistos NiFe2O4 e NiFeMnO4 são as espécies predominantes no estado de envelhecimento I. Amostras envelhecidas dão origem a espectros característicos de Cr2O3, MnCr2O4, Fe3O4 e NiFe2O4, em consonância com estudos recentes reportados na literatura.

Oct 20, 2019

By Letícia Miranda Alves

Os pós fluxantes têm como base o sistema CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-Na2O-CaF2 sendo que, em alguns casos, podem conter também MgO, Li2O, K2O e B2O3. Os resíduos de mármore e granito, oriundos dos processos de produção de rochas ornamentais, são passivos ambientais na região sudeste, sobretudo no estado do Espírito Santo. As composições destes resíduos são similares a dos pós fluxantes utilizados nos processos de lingotamento contínuo e portanto serão utilizados neste trabalho para formulação de novos fluxantes. Uma mistura de granito, pó de mármore e adições foi realizada com o objetivo de produzir um fluxante similar aos comerciais encontrados no mercado. O novo fluxante foi caracterizado por difração de Raios X antes e depois de passar pelo teste de susceptibilidade de formação de fases cristalinas ou “teste de Stollberg” modificado. Os resultados mostraram que existe a formação de fases similares às observadas em fluxantes comerciais. Avanços nesta área podem viabilizar economia de matéria-prima e a diminuição do impacto ambiental causado pelo mercado de rochas.

Aug 17, 2017

By C. J. Milam

Oil shale may not produce the same excitement of the gold rush days, but presently there is an "oil shale fever" among mining men. Such exotic equipment as 800-ton haul units, 75 ft. boring machines, and huge fully automatic multi-purpose jumbo drill units are only a few of the topics of conversation in the oil shale groups. I am dreaming, perhaps, but this type of exotic thinking will exuberate the advancement in mining technology and will only be tempered by the practicality and the availability of today's equipment.

Jan 1, 1975

By Amy McBrayer, Andrea Brickey

Area mining is a surface mining method that allows for efficient mining and contemporaneous reclamation of tabular or bedded deposits, e.g., coal. Mine planning methods for area mines differ from those of open pit metal mines. Area mines in the Powder River Basin (PRB) use various processes for mine planning at both the strategic and tactical stages. With the ever changing commodity markets, it is becoming increasingly important for mine operators to be able to react quickly to the changing business environment. Tools that allow for the development and rapid comparison of production schedule scenarios are key to ensuring agile mine operations. A survey of mine engineers responsible for mine design and production scheduling at coal operations provides clarity on the current mine design and production scheduling processes in the PRB, as well as a discussion on potential solutions to upcoming challenges. In this article, we describe various mine planning processes used by the coal producers in the Powder River Basin. The survey identifies a clear gap in the ability to create comprehensive schedules associated with limited tools and lack of engineering labor needed to frequently conduct the mine design and scheduling process.

Jul 8, 2023

By E Widzyk-Capehart

The mines of the future can be envisioned as complex, large-scale technological systems being operated remotely from few centrally located (major cities) operating centres and skeletal crew stationed at the site. These systems will require remotely located human operators to constantly adapt to new and unforeseen system and environmental demands. In addition, the remote operators will need to match system properties to the changing demands and operational conditions, ie must be able to handle the ‘non-design’ emergencies, because the system designers would not have been able to foresee all possible scenarios of failures and provide automatic safety devices for every contingency. Therefore, it is highly important that the operators’ job, which involves problem solving and decision making at the workstation level, is facilitated by the proper interface designs. This paper argues that decision support systems and thus human-system interfaces for the mines of the future should be developed based on the principles of human-system integration that take into account human information processing and cognitive abilities. The information presented to the operator must support the operator in taking appropriate action through a human-system interface designed according to scientific principles of User Centred Design. A case study is presented where an iterative design process was used by CSIRO researchers as an evaluation method involving users (control room operators) at several stages of the user interface design in order to correct any design inadequacies as they emerged. This process allowed the designers to identify any usability issues before the user interface was fully implemented, which subsequently enabled the control room operators to easily adapt to the new interface and carry out all designated tasks in a timely and effective manner.

Nov 22, 2011

By B E. De Gee, N Viviers, A Naidoo

In 2013 the Mopani Copper Mine Mufulira plant in Zambia embarked on a project that was aimed at improving concentrator recoveries. The project commenced with the automation of the milling and flotation circuits. This involved the installation of new instrumentation, namely measurement devices and actuators, and the connection of these to new programmable logic controllers (PLCs).The infrastructure changes were followed by the implementation of basic proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers on the PLCs. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) interfaces were also implemented to allow for switching between controller modes, inputting of setpoint variables and to provide a visual display for process monitoring. The final phase of the project involved the installation and commissioning of advanced process control (APC) solutions on the milling and flotation circuits. This work was carried out by Mintek over 21 on-site days. The APC solutions included the MillStar and FloatStar suites of advanced controllers.The MillStar control suite focused on stabilising the mill feed and mill discharge on the two primary mills as well as the flotation circuit feed. Mintek’s CyLas instruments, which provide a measurement of the hydrocyclone underflow angle, were also installed. The measurements were incorporated into the discharge stabilisation control on both milling circuits. The FloatStar level stabiliser controller provided flotation cell pulp level control on fourteen cells, including two columns.Performance tests showed that the Mintek APC system stabilised the mill feed and mill discharge while ensuring the process remained within operational constraints. The MillStar control system utilised the CyLas instrument to prevent roping on the hydrocyclone underflow. This was not always achieved under normal operation. Additionally, the flotation section was stabilised as a result of improved level control by the FloatStar control system.Performance comparisons showed that the Mintek control system improved the operation of the milling and flotation circuits resulting in a greater copper recovery.CITATION:Naidoo, A, De Gee, B E and Viviers, N, 2014. Implementation of an advanced milling and flotation control system at Mopani Mufulira copper mine, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 363–368 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

By A. Sokolov, M. Demsky, E. Hasikova, V. Gostilo

"Previously, we upgraded and implemented two gamma activation assay (GAA) systems designed to analyse the gold content in raw ores at Zarafshan laboratory, Uzbekistan, and achieved a detection limit of less than 0.05 g/t under actual industrial conditions. Having started to design a fully modern, industrial GAA system for mining companies, this paper analyses the advantages, disadvantages, and special features of all major system components that can influence the sensitivity and accuracy of the analysis. The results of a study to optimize the detector geometry and sample size are presented and the performances of the linear electron accelerator, detector array, and sample transportation system of a modern, industrial GAA system for analysing gold, silver, and rare earth elements are considered. IntroductionGamma activation analysis (GAA) has considerable potential as a future replacement for traditional fire assay analysis in gold mining (Hoffman, Clark, and Yeager, 1998; Morse, 1977; Bourmistenko, 1986, 1981; Sammut, 2016; Tickner et al., 2017). The essence of GAA is to irradiate ore samples with high-energy gamma quanta generated by an electron linear accelerator (LINAC) and then to use a gamma spectrometer to detect the induced activity of the excited gold nuclei. The advantages of this method are discussed in detail elsewhere (Hoffman, Clark, and Yeager, 1998; Morse, 1977; Bourmistenko, 1986, 1981; Sammut, 2016; Tickner et al., 2017), where it is shown that GAA is uniquely suited to analysing ore samples when mining for gold, other precious metals, and accompanying elements.These advantages were realized in three industrial GAA laboratories that were commissioned in Zarafshan, Uzbekistan in 1977, in Magadan, Russia in 1979, and in Batagay, Russia in 1986 (Bourmistenko, 1986; Nii Tekhnicheskoy Fiziki I Avtomatiki, n.d). In 1989, a fourth industrial GAA laboratory was commissioned at a gold mine in Tommot, Russia. However, the project was subsequently halted due to economic reasons (Moshkov and Tjamisov, 2017). Currently, only the laboratory of the Muruntau mine in Zarafshan, Uzbekistan is in operation. The gamma activation method for gold determination is widely applicable at this mine owing to its high productivity and low cost of analysis. An outstanding aspect is the performance of more than one million analyses per year."

May 1, 2019

By Richard L. Unger

The Bureau of Mines entered into a cooperative agreement with an eastern Kentucky coal mining company to comprehensively redesign the flow of equipment and supplies throughout its underground mines. Items were tracked from delivery to the warehouse and from surface storage areas to their final usage locations underground. Three underground mines were visited, and a great variety of tasks were videotaped for subsequent laboratory analysis. Of particular interest were tasks that required manual handling of the supplies or equipment components. Activities such as handling daily supplies (concrete blocks, rock dust, and cross- beams) and handling or lifting the continuous miner power cable were determined to be the most hazardous. Recommendations to the company included redesigned surface storage areas to facilitate the use of forklift vehicles to load the underground supply cars. Designs were also developed for different mechanical- assist devices to help in unloading the supply cars underground and to handle equipment maintenance tasks underground. Additionally, the videotapes of the underground manual handling tasks became the basis for simulating those activities in controlled laboratory conditions. This testing will contribute to developing guidelines for proper lifting techniques for low-seam coal mines.

Jan 1, 1986

By D. C. Sharpstone

THE Polaris-Taku mine is a new gold property, situated in the far north-west corner of British Columbia. Production was started in November, 1937, at the rate of 150 tons a day, and recently has been increased to 200 tons. The property, which promises to become one of British Columbia's important gold mines, was developed and brought into production in twenty-nine months after work was started on it as a virtual prospect in June, 1935, by Edward C. Congdon and associates. Inaccessibility, extraordinarily complicated geological problems, and difficult metallurgy retarded development of the property before acquisition by the present interests, an::l, in fact, discouraged two companies that had spent substantial sums upon it from continuing development. This paper is concerned with reviewing the development of the property and describing the principal features of the geology, the mining and metallurgical practices, and the equipment employed. Acknowledgments The writer is indebted to Mr. Edward C. Congdon, President of the Polaris-Taku Mining Company, and to various members of the mine staff for their assistance in assembling the data for this paper. Special thanks are due to Mr. George G. Griswold, Jr., of Butte, Montana, who generously and painstakingly prepared the section dealing with milling and power. Microscopic studies of ores were made by Professors Frank Grout an::l G. M. Schwartz, of the University of Minnesota, and by Mr. Griswold.

Jan 1, 1938

By D. Cox, M. J. Duggin, L. Zwell

The carbides of approximate composition and Mn have been studied using X-ray diffraction techniques. Those carbides of the type (Fe,Aln)zC ave isostructural with cementite. The cell pararmeters a and c have minimum values at approximately 10 at. pd substitution of manganese for iron; no satisfactory explanation has yet been found for this phenomenon. The carbide fFeMn4)C has a monoclinic unit cell whose dimensions are close to those of ,11,15Cz A neu-troip-dij~ractiot~ study of (F'eAlrz4)C~ reveals that, like MnsCZ, it is isostructural with Pd5Bz. The iron and manganese atoms occupy the palladium atom sites, while the carbon atoms were found to have the same atomic coordinates as the hovon atoms. A neutrorr-diffraction study of indicates that the carbon-atom positions are very close to those occupied in (Fez.,ll/lr~,.3)C. In both carbides studied, tlre iron and manganese atomzs were found to be essentially randomly distributed, although, in the case of (Fe,.811fn1.2)C, it is possible that there may be a slight preference of manganese atoms for- the general (d) positions and a corresponding slight preference of iron atoms for the special (c) positions. It has been found that a complete range of solid solution exists between Fe3C and Mn3C at 1050°C,I although Mn3C becomes unstable when the temperature is reduced to 95O0C,' and can only be retained by rapid quenching. It is also known that a complete range of solid solution exists from Fe5Cz to M~SC~,~ although the stability range of carbides of the type (Fe,Mn)sCz as a function of the relative proportions of iron and manganese is not known. X-ray examinations of Oh-man's carbide3 and Spiegeleisenkristall,~ which have the approximate compositions (Fe3.67Mnl.33)C2 and (Fe3-,Mn,)C, where x lies between 0.4 and 1, respectively, have been made. The following carbides have also been studied: ] The lattice parameters determined during these investigations are listed in Table I. It is seen that carbides of the type (Fe,Mn)sCz have a monoclinic unit cell while carbides of the type (Fe,Mn)3C have an orthorhombic unit cell. It is evident that the variation of lattice parameters with manganese content is not linear for carbides of the type (Fe,Mn)3C. The coordinates of the atoms in (Fe2.7Mno.3)C have recently been determined by single-crystal analysis., The fractional atomic coordinates have been shown by Fasiska and jeffrey to be in good agreement withj those deduced from an earlier analysis of Fe3C by Lipson and etch.' However, it was impossible to determine whether iron and manganese atoms occupied ordered positions because of the small difference between the atomic scattering factors of iron and manganese. The atomic positions in Mn5Cz (Refs. 8 and 9) and Fe5C2 (Refs. 7 and 8) have been obtained only by comparisons made with the isostructural compounds P~SB~.' Since X-ray diffraction techniques were used in these investigations, accurate positioning of the carbon atoms, which have a low atomic scattering factor, was difficult. No attempt has been made to determine the atomic positions in the other carbides previously studied. It was felt that an investigation of the lattice parameters of a number of intermediate carbides of the types (Fe,Mn)sCZ and (Fe,Mn)& would be of interest. It seemed likely that a neutron-diffract ion study of such carbides would indicate whether ordering occurred between the iron and manganese atoms because of the large difference between the neutron-scattering cross sections of iron and manganese. It also seemed probable that such an investigation would provide a determination of the atomic coordinates of the carbon atoms. I) EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS Specimens, each weighing approximately 20 g, were carefully prepared according to the following proportions: The components were 500-mesh powders of 99.995 pct purity iron and spectroscopically pure carbon and a 200-mesh powder of 99.995 pct purity manganese. The component powders were intimately mixed by prolonged shaking, then each specimen was inserted into a spot-welded cylindrical container of tantalum foil, whose end was closed but not sealed. Each specimen in its envelope was then sintered at 1050° C for 24 hr in a thin-walled evacuated quartz capsule, such a time having been previously found sufficient for equilibrium to be attained.' Each specimen was then quenched in order to attempt to retain the high-temperature phase, as the literature indicates that transformations may occur on cooling. Debye-Scherrer X-ray photographs were taken of each specimen using a 114.6-mm-diam camera, Fig. 1, patterns 2 to 6. The exposure time was 6 hr using filtered iron radiation at a tube voltage of 40 kv and a tube current of 12 ma.

Jan 1, 1967

By F. D. Aaring

"IntroductionTHE PINCHER CREEK gas condensate field, in Township 3, Range 28, and Townships 3 and 4, Range 29, West of the Fourth Meridian, was discovered in 1947 by the Canadian Gulf Oil Company with the completion of Pincher Creek No. 1 well in the Madison lime-stone of Mississippian age.This discovery was the result of a great deal of detailed seismic work in the area and is a credit to the geophysical personnel of the Company. The depth of the reservoir varies from 7,400 feet to 8,200 feet subsea, with the established water level at -8,200 feet. The predicted depth was but a scant 100 feet from that found in the discovery well, at 11, 705 feet. Since the discovery of the reservoir, three additional wells have penetrated the Madison limestone and have further verified the original •seismic interpretation of the limits of this reservoir.To date, •only a very small amount of gas has been produced from this field. Consequently, the reservoir studies that have been made so far are predominantly based on investigations of the phase behaviour of the fluid and physical characteristics of the reservoir rock. In view of the above limitations, it has been necessary to set up and perform model reservoir studies with the fluids and to recover as much core from the productive Madison limestone as possible in order that it might be analysed by conventional laboratory technique and be subjected to detailed microscopic geological examination."

Jan 1, 1952

By Luciano França Rocha

A medição online de umidade de finos de minério de ferro sempre foi uma informação muito desejada nas plantas de pelotização de minério de ferro. Controlar a umidade do pellet feed produzido pela unidade de filtragem além de possibilitar maximizar a produção deste setor da planta garante uma maior estabilidade no processo de pelotamento e de endurecimento. Para conseguir entregar esta medição à sala de controle, iniciamos um projeto utilizando a metodologia Design For Six Sigma para desenvolver uma forma de medição desta grandeza. Inicialmente foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica sobre o assunto. Posteriormente, foram realizadas visitas técnicas que eliminaram algumas possíveis tecnologias de medição. Finalmente, foram avaliadas as tecnologias de Absorção de RF e medição por um braço robótico para serem avaliadas. O primeiro teste industrial foi realizado com um medidor de absorção de RF que não apresentou bons resultados. A faixa de interesse de medição é muito estreita (9% a 11% de umidade). Esse fato exige uma boa precisão do equipamento para que a medida tomada do processo seja útil e sua incerteza não ocupe toda a faixa. Como nenhuma das tecnologias de medição online existentes no mercado se mostrou precisa suficiente para a aplicação, a alternativa foi utilizar um braço robótico para coletar, secar e medir a umidade através do método tradicional feito por um robô. Esta última alternativa se mostrou robusta e adequada ao controle de processo da unidade de filtragem, produzindo resultados confiáveis e precisos.

Jul 30, 2018

By Jafar Safarian, Manish Kumar Kar, Ahmad Hassanzadeh, Casper van der Eijk

To minimize the carbon footprint in the industrial valourization of bauxite residue, hydrogen was used as a reducing agent. The current study experimentally investigated hydrogen reduction of bauxite residue-CaO sintered and self-hardened pellets at 1000 °C, along with magnetic separation of these reduced pellets for iron recovery. Calcium was introduced to bauxite residue to form leachable calcium aluminate phases with the existing alumina in bauxite residue. This involved the addition of either CaCO3 or a mixture of CaO and CaCO3 while maintaining the fixed Ca content during pelletization. The former underwent sintering at 1150 °C, while the latter was self-hardened through the cementing effect of CaO in exposure to moisture and air. Both types of pellets were reduced in a thermogravimetry furnace at an elevated temperature under similar conditions. The pellets were characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and their physical and mechanical properties were measured via standard techniques. During hydrogen reduction, a negligible amount of gehlenite ( Ca2Al2SiO7) was formed in the self-hardened pellets, while this phase dominated in the sintered pellets. Alumina in the bauxite residue converted to mayenite phases during reduction in both the pellet types; however, reduced self-hardened pellets had a higher amount of alumina containing mayenite leachable phase. The two pellets showed similar reduction behaviour, while different chemical, physical, and mechanical properties were observed. The magnetic properties of milled reduced pellets were examined through a Davis Tube magnetic separator in a wet environment under a constant magnetic field of 800 G. Higher iron recovery was observed for the self-hardened reduced (41%) pellets than for the sintered pellets (27%).

Nov 23, 2023

By H. P. LeVan

The aced for reliable reserves of the essential element, manganese, has been a continuing concern of the Federal Government for more than three decades. Because of the increasing vulnerability of outside sources of supply efforts have been intensified to find a means for beneficiating United States domestic deposits. The deposits of most interest would of necessity be near, or have access to, suitable transportation to processing plants. The Georgia manganiferous iron deposits represent some 10 million tons4 of ore readily available to southern iron and steel industries, if a manganese recovery process capable of functioning in the presence of large quantities of iron can be developed. In addition, a successful method for beneficiating the Georgia ore could produce a significant quantity of high-grade iron concentrate. The Differential sulfatization process developed 47 the Bureau of Mines5 seemed to be well suited for this application, particularly because it results in low concentrations of iron in the leach liquors with relatively complete extractions of manganese. In this process, manganese in the presence of iron is preferentially reacted with sulfur dioxide at elevated temperatures and subsequently extracted with water.

Jan 1, 1962

By J. W. Thompson

The term "minerals" when employed in a conveyance in the State of West Virginia is understood to include every inorganic substance which can be extracted from the earth for profit, whether it be solid, as rock, fire clay, the various metals and coal, or liquid, such as salt, and other mineral waters and petroleum oil and gas. Horse Creek Land & Mining Co. v. Midkiff (West Virginia), 95 Southeastern 26, p. 27. TERM INCLUDES OIL AND OAS. The term "minerals" used to describe the interest in land granted or reserved bona fide includes petroleum oil and natural gas. Horse Creek Land & Mining Co. v. Midkiff (West Virginia), 95 Southeastern 26, p. 27. INJUNCTION TO PREVENT RElllOVAL. The removal of ore from the premises of another without his consent will be enjoined. Barnes v. Esch (Oregon), 169 Pacific, 512, p. 518. TITLE TO MEXICAN BULLION-JURISDICTION OF FEDERAL COURTS TO DETERMINE. Where bullion within the jurisdiction of the Mexican Government was seized, condemned, and sold for war supplies by the Constitutionalist forces in the revolution acting under authority from Gen. Carranza, claiming to be the provisional President of the Republic of Mexico, a United States district court of Texas, into which State the bullion has been imported from Mexico, has jurisdiction to try and adjudge as to the validity of the title acquired by and through the seizure, appropriation, and sale by the Carranza forces as against an American citizen claiming ownership of such bullion prior to its seizure.

Jan 1, 1919

By Roy A. Grancher

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Not only is 1971 the Centennial Year of the AIME, but it also marks the One Hundredth Anniversary of the United States Portland Cement Industry. On September 26th in 1871 David O. Saylor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, received his patent Numbered 119,413 for the manufacture of portland cement. "Cement" had been used in the United States before that. This was, however, natural cement - a direct product of rocks as found in nature, usually burned at low temperatures in open kilns. During the early 1800s this natural cement played an important role in such projects as the building of the Erie Canal. It was only after the Civil War that small amounts of high priced portland cement was imported from Europe. The successful use of this material in construction led to Saylor's experiments and subsequent patent for the manufacture of a scientifically controlled product in this country. These one hundred years have witnessed four major "ages" of cement . . . three of them occurring in the last quarter century since World War Two. The first age was the "Age of Development", a seventy-year period which saw the growth of cement and its concrete end uses as major construction materials. Next followed a period called the "Age of Demand" when, after the war, cement became in short supply relative to large building requirements. In effect a cement shortage existed. The decade of the Sixties proved to be the "Age of Reaction", with its courses of action coming in response to the problems that arose when the industry's expansion programs provided too much capacity. Today cement, and the concrete industries, find themselves entering the "Age of Reason". Overcapacity, low price, rising costs, and poor returns are several of the reasons behind that name, As these industries face the construction challenge of the Seventies, and beyond, the application of basic management principles (otherwise known

Jan 1, 1971

By T. P. Meloy

A methodology is presented for finding feasible or locally optimal designs in the class of homogeneous, countercurrent, processing networks performing two-component non-sharp separations. The advantage of the methodology developed here is that given a set of independent performance criteria (specifications such as network separation factor, beneficiation ratio or recovery), a feasible or locally optimal countercurrent network design meeting those criteria can be found in one step. In the methodology, graph-theory was used to explicitly obtain the exact network responses of specific countercurrent networks. These responses were used to formulate the linear recursion equations whose solution gives the expressions for the countercurrent network responses which are a function of the stage transfer functions for two-component, non-sharp separations. These expressions are also functions of the network variables n and c. These expressions, together with the set of independent design criteria, were solved simultaneously for n and c using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for systems of constrained, non-linear equations. The network variables n and c embody the coded network design information which is used to find the feasible network design which satisfies the set of independent performance criteria.

Jan 1, 1994

By Todd Schrauf, James Scott, Mark Smith

"Cyanide heap leaching of gold ores in areas with extremely low winter temperatures requires special considerations to prevent freezing of the leach solution. Factors that impact the solution temperature include ore temperature at the time of stacking and during operation, burial of drip irrigation lines, use of geomembrane covers and heating of the leach solution. Thermodynamic modeling was performed to simulate expected ore and solution temperatures under different operating strategies for Kaminak Gold’s Coffee gold project in the Yukon Territory. Mean monthly temperatures at the site ranged from a low of -22.5 °C (-8.5 °F) to a high of 13.6 °C (56.4 °F), while in situ ore temperatures ranged from -0.5° to about -1.5 °C (31 ° to 29 °F). The modeling results were used to optimize the operational parameters and indicated that a combination of drip line burial and heating of the leach solution during the winter months was required to maintain solution temperatures above freezing during the initial years of stacking, although as the size of the heap increased, heating was no longer necessary.Modeling objectivesThe successful operation of a cyanide heap leach under extremely cold winter temperatures requires the implementation of operational strategies to prevent freezing of the leach solution and the ore within the heap. Thermodynamic modeling of the heap provides the means to quantify the effectiveness of these different operational parameters on maintaining the required operating temperatures to avoid freezing within the heap. The operational parameters that were evaluated with the model included:"

Apr 1, 2016

A rotating disc geometry was used to provide a uniformly accessible surface for a kinetic study of the cementation of cadmium, lead, and silver from dilute aqueous solutions. This work is an extension of studies carried out on the Cu-Zn and Cu-Fe systems for which the reaction rate was found to be completely solution phase mass transfer controlled.When the amount of material deposited was greater than 0·2 to 0·4 mg/cm2 there was an apparent enhancement in rate which is attributed to the formation of a roughened deposit. This same phenomenon was observed in the Cu-Zn and Cu-Fe systems. Again, the rate of reaction of each system investigated was found to be solution-phase mass transfer controlled.

Jan 1, 1971