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By P Cameron

Many products and technologies have been developed from outcomes of research projects carried out by the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC). When these products and technologies are applied to the design and optimisation of blasting, comminution and separation, improvements in profitability can be realised. In 1970 Alban Lynch promoted two practical ideas to improve plant operations: Ore and equipment properties can be separated allowing experience with one type of ore or equipment to be transferred to other types of ore and equipment. If this experience was encapsulated in a mathematical model, then these properties could be combined and used to simulate (ie to design and to optimise) complete mineral processing circuits. Many problems associated with scale-up from laboratory to industrial equipment could be eliminated by experimental work on full-scale equipment in the plant. Many JKMRC research projects have focussed on the development of models of unit operations in mineral processing and their application to process simulation. Models of comminution and classification developed at the JKMRC have been used since the early-1980s. Ore characterisation techniques developed to support these models are licensed world wide through JKTech. The application of comminution modelling techniques to blasting, which optimises the process feed size distribution is used in Mine-to-Mill? projects. The advances in the understanding and modelling of froth flotation over recent years have provided the opportunity for integrated ore characterisation and process optimisation from resource to product. JKMRC project outcomes often provide proven opportunities for the mineral industry to improve performance and productivity. JKTech was established in 1986 to commercialise and market the most promising outcomes and thus ensure their continuing availability to the mineral industry. These include: commercial software (JKSimMet, JKSimBlast and JKMetAccount); monographs (Comminution and Blasting); technologies (Mine-to-Mill? and flotation optimisation); and hardware products (JKFrothCam, JKJetLift? and the Mineral Liberation Analyser). This paper summarises these technologies and their benefits.

Jan 1, 2002

By Staff

In 2012, the estimated value of mineral production increased in the United States for the third consecutive year. Production and prices increased for most industrial mineral commodities mined in the United States. While production for most metals remained relatively unchanged, with the notable exception of gold, the prices for most metals declined. Minerals remained fundamental to the U.S. economy, contributing to the real gross domestic product (GDP) at several levels, including mining, processing and manufacturing finished products. Minerals? contribution to the GDP increased for the second consecutive year. Trends in other sectors of the domestic economy were similar to those in mineral production and consumption rates (Table 1). After continued decline following the 2008-2009 recession, the construction industry began to show signs of improvement late in 2011 and throughout 2012, with increased production and consumption of cement, construction sand and gravel, crushed stone and gypsum, mineral commodities that are used almost exclusively in construction.

May 1, 2013

By Arthur Phillips

THE progress made in recent years in the art of dispersion-hardening has naturally led to an intensive study of alloy systems capable of yield-ing supersaturated solid solutions at ordinary temperatures. In general, the investigations have been confined to rather precise determinations of solubility limits and to experimental approaches designed to furnish more complete information regarding the rate and nature of precipitation under appropriate thermal conditions. Efforts are being made to focus more sharply on the atomic changes that are a direct consequence of the instability of the supersaturated solution. Here precision X-ray methods have come to be of considerable importance because lattice parameter measurements indicate very precisely the concentration of solute atoms in the solvent lattice. In spite of the general acceptance of parameter values as a criterion for the placing of solubility limits, it may be suggested that no thorough appraisal has been made of the several factors that conceivably may affect such measurements. More specifically, little attention has been devoted to the significance of surface energy conditions, specimen size and method of preparation, with par-ticular regard to the genesis of the grains and the surface concentration changes as a consequence of heat treatment and etching. Stenzel and Weerts1 recently published the results of a detailed study of precipitation reactions in aluminum-rich copper alloys. They found that, although copper lowers the lattice constant of aluminum, a 5 per cent copper alloy quenched from 150° and 225° C. had parameter values unquestionably higher than that of pure aluminum. Their results seem to substantiate, at least qualitatively, the earlier work of von Göler

Jan 1, 1934

By R. W. Wein, L C. Bliss

Northern ecosystems are dominated by a harsh physical environment which dictates a need for biological adaptation. As yet, it is unknown just how these adapted plants and animals will tolerate industrial development. Our work, sponsored by university, government and industry, is part of an effort to evaluate this developmental impact. Our present studies and the results to date will be discussed. Other problems to which the environmental student may address himself in the future to ensure against environ-mental degradation will be suggested.

Jan 1, 1971

By R. D. Williams

In spite of the increasingly polarized and politicized view of climate science and climate change in the United States, many of the principles behind the ?theory? of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) or Global Climate Change (GCC) are in fact firmly established both in fundamental physics and detailed observations and are widely accepted elsewhere. The discovery of the earth?s ?greenhouse effect? dates back nearly 200 years to the work of French mathematician and physicist Joseph Fourier in 1824 and 1827. In 1872, John Tyndall an English physicist and mountaineer, described the capacity of various gasses to absorb radiant heat. He identified water vapor and carbon dioxide as the principal ?greenhouse? gasses. The work of Fourier and Tyndall was the foundation for the theory that increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere might be responsible for an increase in global temperatures developed by the brilliant Swedish chemist Svante August Arrhenius in 1896. This was backed up by the additional work of Gilbert Callendar in the 1930s, and Gilbert Plass, Hans Suess and Roger Revelle in the 1950s. There is little scientific dispute about the physics by which this occurs: carbon dioxide in the atmosphere absorbs long wave radiation that would otherwise escape into space, thus warming the lower atmosphere and respective temperatures worldwide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), approximately 2500 climate scientists from around the world, has concluded that increases in carbon dioxide resulting principally from the burning of fossil fuels are responsible for most of the continuing increases in global temperatures (IPCC, 2007). NASA?s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) states; ?The ten warmest years all occur within the 12-year period 1997-2008? (GISS, 2009). 2009 was the second warmest year on record and 2010 was tied with 2005 for the warmest year on record (GISS, 2010, 2011). The science is in fact settled; the earth has not cooled since 1998 as some have claimed. It continues to warm as evidenced by not only surface temperature records but also ocean temperature records as well as changes in physical and biological systems (IPCC, 2007).

Feb 27, 2013

By Juan Pablo Guevara, Victor Munoz, Rob Bush, Gonzalo Marias

Cerro Negro Mine, property of Goldcorp Inc., is in the process of developing four separate underground access ramps for the exploitation of high grade, narrow vein gold deposits with vertical to sub-vertical dips. The Mariana Central, Mariana Norte, and San Marcos accesses are primarily in the development stages, while the Eureka access began production stope blasting in April of 2013. Mariana Central will also begin production in May or June of 2014.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jean-Michel Rendu

Electronic data processing' is becoming a necessary part of all large mining operations. Accountants, geologists, mining engineers, samplers, and truck drivers are needed to operate a mine. So appear to be systems analysts, computer operators, and software engineers. Trucks, loaders, and drills must be used to extract useful material from the ground. So must be mainframe and microcomputers, plotters, digitizers, and computer terminals. The papers presented in this section describe experience gained in Europe, Australia, and North and South America. The mining and data processing environments and the size of the companies vary significantly, but the conclusions drawn are often strikingly similar. Common answers to often-asked questions can be summarized as follows: - Why invest in data processing? The main reason is that information systems can supply accurate and timely information for better decision-making. Other reasons are mentioned including, to speed-up the processing of large volumes of information, to perform operations which cannot be performed manually, or to reduce costs. But all of these reasons appear ancillary to that of supplying accurate and timely information.

Jan 1, 1989

By D. Gignac, P. A. Studemeister, H. Koza

Two epiclastic horizons in an Archean volcanic sequence host the gold occurrences on the Dunraine property near Wawa, Ontario, Canada. The Grace horizon of cherty and pelitic tuff strikes northnorthwest and dips east. Native gold occurs with arsenopyrite in bedlike and podlike bodies of quartz lenses and stringers set in a pelitic matrix. The Parkhill horizon of lithic graywacke with associated flow-breccia strikes southwest and dips south, Native gold occurs with minor sulfides in similar bodies of quartz erratic within the Parkhill horizon. The auriferous bodies occupy paleotopographic channels and troughs within the two horizons. The former producers are the Parkhill mine with 1689 kg (54,300 oz) Au, Darwin mine with 473 kg (15,200 oz) Au, and Van Sickle mine with 48 kg (1536 oz) Au between 1902 and 1944. The gold occurrences are syndepositional with the host volcanic sediments laid during a pause in explosive volcanism. Fumaroles along steep gullies on the flank of a subaqueous volcanic center precipitated aprons of auriferous silica-sulfide mud. Downslope slumping resulted in exhalative debris flows; gold concentrated in flexures and depressions along slumpage channels. Renewed explosive volcanism covered the auriferous sediments with pyroclastic tuffs, arresting the slumping of in situ fumarolic deposits.

Jan 1, 1986

By Taylor R. N

Flow simulations have been performed on the flash-smelting burners currently used at KNS. This paper presents studies of the heat transfer between gas and particles at the burner exit. Gas and particle temperatures, velocity and concentration profiles of the two-phase flow are calculated by the mathematical model. The predicted gas temperatures have been favourably compared against values measured by thermocouples placed near the burners in the flash furnace. The predicted particle temperatures are also reasonable when compared with the measured temperatures.

Jan 1, 1992

By S. Leong

This paper reports on research examining disclosures from mining companies regarding their water usage in the Macquarie and Lachlan catchment areas, both parts of the Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales, Australia. The objective of the research was to assess whether this disclosure is sufficient to allow communities to determine whether mining companies are complying with mining conditions of consent and abiding by the requirements of their water licencing agreements. These requirements are then compared to the water reporting requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Water Accounting Framework for the Minerals Industry (WAFMI). Communities are concerned about whether the mining industry?s use of water will have impacts on their livelihoods and lifestyle and thus require information concerning the quantity of water that will be extracted, how much water will be left for other stakeholders and whether the mining will affect water quality. This is an archival study. It has involved examining relevant publically available information released by mining companies and government regulators and determining if this is sufficient to meet the needs of the local communities. Additionally, it has involved looking at information indirectly provided by mining companies, via the use of intermediaries. Further, information availability concerning basic water accounting and regulatory breeches and whether such information is available at the mine site level has been considered. It is found that while NSW legislation places very little reporting requirements on mining companies, the development consent conditions for new projects and extensions to existing projects are quite significant and should be sufficient to meet the needs of local catchment residents though such information is not always easily accessible for the layperson.

Aug 1, 2013

By R. W. Heins, N. Street

Recently Hiller1 reported results on the impairment of the strength of quartz glass rods through wetting, indicating that there was general agreement with the prediction of the Griffith formula in that for the liquids used the rods were weakest in water i.e. the liquid which probably had the greatest free energy of immersion. The Griffith equation predicts that the tensile stress necessary to propagate a crack of length c is where ? is the interfacial free energy, E Young's modulus. Since for a solid immersed in a liquid of surface tension ?L and contact angle 8 at the solid-liquid-gas contact, ?s - ?SL = ?L cos ? where ?s is the surface free energy of the solid. Hence comparison between ?L cos 0 and strength impairment should be possible. In a study of the usefulness of the Kuznetsov pendulum2 as a means of studying rock drillability we have determined the effects of various liquids on the pendulum hardness of Bavarian limestone. The pendulum used had diamond points (Burgess Vibro-graver), a period of 1.14 sec and a total on sample weight of 1191 g. The decline of the pendulum oscillations was recorded by a light beam on light sensitive paper carried on a kymograph. Rehbinder's expression relating hardness to amplitude attenuation as a function of time can be written In A = - (1/H) t + In Ao where A, A, = amplitude at time t and initial amplitude respectively, H = hardness parameter, and t = time. The line of best fit to the experimental points was determined using the IBM 7090 electronic computer, the computer also gave A, by extrapolation to zero time. The results for the various liquids tested are given in Table I and Fig. 1. The limestone surfaces were highly polished before testing and each reported hardness value represents the average of at least ten separate determinations of the pendulum decline curve. On each newly prepared surface the water value was again determined (also

Jan 1, 1964

By V. Korobko, M. Byantogtokh, N. Byambadorzh, V. Bysov

A three-stage operative planning of mining operations in ore opencasts is considered. The hierarchy of monthly-weekly, weekly-daily, daily-shift planning is offered. For the fastest elimination and deviations in problematic situations a level is analysed and weekly-daily or monthly-weekly operative plans are being constantly updated. Operative planning is formulated on information received of preparation and working of mining panels. The electronic maps of these panels are considered for automated operative planning. On the data of the registration of blasthole drillings on a panel, the position of blasthole entry, their depth and the number of a line are determined. The geologist specifies boundaries of ore grades by the bored silt. The qualitative characteristics of ores are determined by the chemical analysis of slime or magnetic logging of blastholes. The missing geologic information is obtained by interpolation on the data of detailed and operational explorations. During working of the mining panel the technologists mark the movement of shovels, associating this movement to blastholes. For this purpose technological attributes are used: when was the blasthole drilled, what drill-rig participated in drilling, what shovel was used and when was it worked? Around each blasthole the zone of its influence is built up. It represents a discrete, elementary volume of ore or waste. The discrete form of the data is most convenient, as it allows step-by-step methods to be employed of the scheduled tasks in many and various combinations. The account panel working technology avoids ‘combination’ explosions. The elementary blocks should be placed in a trajectory of shovel movement and the trajectory can not be arbitrary. It’s determined by the technological rules of extracting and loading of mine mass. In linking to blastholes, the trajectory of shovels is simulated by the sum of step-by-step moving from one elementary block to another. For this purpose a geometrical linkage of blastholes is used. At a railway haulage, or complete mining with truck haulage, the trajectory of movement is a shuttle along the front of operations in the panel. At a selective mining of ores the number of possible directions is limited to three: moving of a shovel by idle running along the front of operations in the panel, frontal pull all the way down of the panel, and withdrawal. The technologically acceptable trajectories of shovel movement are stored for the following estimation and selection of the best. The estimation is carried out on mathematical models with criteria on the method of the least squares of deviations based on preset parameters from the plan, uniform loading of shovels, and mixing of ore at unloading points. The equations of balance type and directive parameters of the plan, as well as technological restrictions of solid and of elementary blocks within the limits of a trajectory are the restrictions of the model. Depending on an industrial situation it is possible to choose one of the predetermined models. The presented technique is used for longitudinal shovel bench at the Erdenet ore-dressing company.

Jan 1, 2003

By K. Vaajoensuu

En los últimos años, la tendencia de la industria finlandesa se basa en concentrar las actividades mineras sobre yacimientos mineralógicos de grandes a pequeños con una disminución continua de la ley. Por ello, la planificación de las operaciones como la técnica usada conllevan requerimiento exigentes con el fin de hacer rentable la mina. En ese sentido, el presente texto señala la importancia de la experiencia de Finlandia en su propia industria minera obliga donde se busca continuar todavía más con el desarrollo de métodos económicos, técnicos y métodos de la organización.

Nov 1, 1981

By José Galíndez

Frente a una población rural aproximada de 6 millones de habitantes que enfrentan fuertes carencias en infraestructura y servicios básicos, el autor concluye que en Perú “no se podrá lograr el desarrollo sostenible ni para las empresas ni para las comunidades, si no cambiamos sustancialmente la manera en la que se viene gestionando esta relación”. El artículo detalla la importancia de promover y alcanzar, en el sector mineroenergético, acuerdos estratégicos sostenibles sobre manejo de residuos y reciclaje; capacitación en agricultura, piscicultura y actividades afines; desarrollo de programas de salud y educación y de uso de energías eco-amigables.

Sep 30, 2020

By W. H. De Blois

Introduction In the contact process for ?the manufacture of sulphuric acid, sulphur dioxide gas - produced by the burning of sulphur or of sulphur-bearing ores, or as a by-product in the treatment of sulphide ores - is made to combine with the oxygen of the air to form sulphur trioxide, which then only requires the addition of water to form sulphuric acid. The substance, as for example platinum, causing this combination is usually referred to as a catalyst, a convenient term, in the definition and explanation of which many pages have been written. Catalysis is now a comparatively common means of effecting chemical combination, but if the question were raised here tonight as to what actually goes on when this apparently innocent third party unites the parties of the first and second . part, without itself being altered in any way, I am afraid even our most learned members would have to confess their inability to entirely explain the phenomenon; for although the subject is under investigation, there is still much to learn. The contact process, however, is one of the outstanding achievements in chemical engineering. ? From the standpoint of the difficulties involved and the time absorbed in their solution, it probably stands alone in the field of technical chemistry. In fact, the manufacture of sulphuric acid has, from the earliest days, been surrounded with problems which have interested the ablest chemists. The Chamber System Although this paper has particularly to deal with the contact process, it may not be amiss to refer briefly to the chamber system, which was, and still is, a most important factor in the sulphuric acid industry.

Jan 1, 1927

By Sabine Knott

The thermodynamic properties of four liquid ternary zinc alloys, Au-Sn-Zn, Ag-Sn-Zn, AI-Sn- Zn and Cu-In-Zn were measured with an electromotive force (emf) method at three or four cross-sections with an constant X:Sn or Cu-In ratio. At the Au-Sn-Zn and AI-Sn-Zn system calorimetric measurements were also carried out in order to compare the integral enthalpy of mixing from the direct measurements with the data of the emf measurements, which were derived by Gibbs-Duhem integration.

Jan 1, 2003

By Andy B. Wallace

Veins in the Pyramid district of northwestern Nevada occur along steep fractures in Oligocene and Miocene quartz latite tuffs. The vein mineralization is zoned from a central enargite-pyrite zone outward through a complex polymetallic pyrite-tetrahedrite-sphalerite-galena-chalcopyrite-bornite-chalcocite zone, and finally to an outer zone of pyrite and galena. Wall rock alteration includes advanced argillic and sericitic envelopes along veins superimposed on district-wide propylitization. The ore distribution and alteration patterns were probably produced by an increase in pH, a decrease in sulfur fugacity, along with cooling of the migrating hydrothermal fluid.

Jan 1, 1981

By G J. Showers, P Botman, A G. Hunt

Iron Road Limited (Iron Road) is currently evaluating the feasibility of producing 21.5 Mt/a of high-grade (>66 per cent Fe) magnetite concentrate from a 3.7 Bt resource (JORC) located at Warramboo on the central Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Bulk concentrate can be produced via a conventional grind and low-intensity magnetic separation flow sheet. Due to the comparatively coarse magnetite liberation size (106 µm), consideration was given to enhancing both the grind economics and coarser product sizing via gravity separation.This paper outlines the test work, flow sheet design and engineering design of a gravity beneficiation circuit (GBC) conducted by Mineral Technologies for Iron Road. The resulting circuit optimisation necessitated mass balance simulation by Iron Road’s SysCAD model to quantify the resulting changes in mill recirculation load. This included the determination of project-critical grinding power and energy requirements with and without the GBC installed into the primary ball mill classification circuit. The outcome of this work was the design of a GBC, including spirals and up-current classification, which led to a substantial reduction (33 per cent) in ball mill recirculating load and power requirements, together with a favourable coarsening of final product size due to the relatively coarser gravity concentrate. This has led to a significant reduction in project design capital and operating costs. A further benefit of this approach is increased recovery of (paramagnetic) hematite and lesser titano-hematite via gravity separation compared to an all-magnetic separation approach.CITATION:Hunt, A G, Showers, G J and Botman, P, 2015. Test work and design of a gravity circuit for Iron Road’s Central Eyre Iron Project, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 139–142 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

Some attempt to minimise the importance of the greenhouse phenomenon. They do so by observing that global temperatures are still within the range of recent variations and that it is still not possible to predict with any certainty what the precise consequences of greenhouse will be. Both observations are true though the conclusion is dangerous. Ice core samples from the Antarctic and Greenland have established the composition of the atmosphere and global temperature over almost the last 200,000 years. The profile of these twin variables shows that they have moved together; when the concentration of CO2 has been up, the temperature has been up and when the former has been down the temperature has also been down. Over almost 200,000 years the CO2 content has ranged between lows of 190 ppm and highs of 270ppm. In just 200 years of industrialisation the CO2 content of the atmosphere has increased to 350 ppm, 50% higher that the mean of the last 200,000 years and 30% higher than at the start of the industrial age. Carbon dioxide is now increasing at 0.5% p.a. Methane, about twenty times more effective than CO2 as a greenhouse gas has doubled in concentration in the last two centuries and is now increasing at about 1.1% p.a. Methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons together with a number of lesser gases will double the greenhouse effect due to in creased CO2 over the next 40-50 years.

Jan 1, 1989

By Harry R. Johnson

Laboratory experiments were conducted to study the carbon deposition characteristics of a high-gravity, paraffin-base crude oil. The results of these experiments indicate that a fuel supply adequate to initiate a combustion wave can be deposited in high-gravity-oil reservoirs. These results are significant because there has been considerable doubt whether oils over 35° API gravity are able to deposit sufficient fuel. Considered in these studies were the effects of air flux, temperature, initial oil saturation, and time on carbon deposition. Conditions that maximized carbon deposition in the laboratory and an understanding of the nature of carbon formation are shown by graphical interpretation of the data. Statistical techniques were used to design and analyze the results of the retort tests. For the same amount of laboratory work, this approach yields more information about the systems that were studied than the classical method of research presently used in many laboratories. In addition, the accuracy of calculating the effect of each variable on carbon deposition is twice that of the classical approach. This paper develops the statistical approach to research without complex mathematics, thus enabling the reader to grasp the concept of how statistics can be applied to study many complicated problems.

Jan 1, 1966