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By B. L. Averba

THE determination of retained austenite by X-ray diffraction uses the following relationship:"" Pa = constant . RVaA (8) [1] where: P is the diffracted power from phase a; R, the calculated intensity factor; A, the absorption correction; 8, the diffraction angle; and Va, the irradiated volume of phase a For a flat sample making a glancing angle + with the incident beam the absorption correction is calculated as: * 1 sin (28 - 4) A .= 1 [2] µ sin, (28 — 4) + sin 4 where µ is the linear absorption coefficient. Beu3 has proposed that the computed absorption correction be combined with the constant and that the experimental observation of the absorption correction used in the original method be eliminated. This procedure is permissible only if: 1—There is no preferred orientation in the sample, and 2—The geometric requirements have been met precisely. If these conditions are not met the validity of the determination is questionable. Unfortunately the necessary conditions must be tested experimentally for each determination, and this is done most easily by observing whether the apparent absorption has the form of Eq. 2. In practice it may be convenient to plot P/R vs the parameter sin (2? — )[sin (28 — +) + sin +] to obtain straight lines for the ap- parent absorption correction. Deviations from straight lines indicate either that the sample has not been positioned correctly or that the relative intensities are incorrect. Geiger counter spectrometer methods also have been used successfully for retained austenite determinations. In the usual spectrometer arrangement the sample makes equal angles with the incident and diffracted beams (8 = ); thus the absorption correction is simply 1/2µ and independent of 8. The retained austenite is then easily calculated from integrated intensity measurements on austenite and martensite lines. If the austenite content is not too low and if excessive fluorescence is not encountered it is possible to use filtered radiation and a recording spectrometer. The integrated intensities are then proportional to the areas of the diffraction peaks. For lower austenite contents the following technique was used: A bent quartz monochromator and a Geiger counter spectrometer are employed. The monochromatic radiation is focused on the front slit, and the counter slit is made broad enough to include the entire line. A series of readings are taken in the vicinity of the diffraction peak. The highest reading includes the diffraction line plus background. The background is obtained from the average of several readings on each side of the peak. The integrated intensity is obtained by subtraction. CrK, and FeKa have been used for such determinations. This technique has been found to be as sensitive and as accurate as the photographic methods. In the spectrometer methods the ratio austenite/ martensite may be obtained from readings on austenite and martensite lines and the application of Eq. 1. It is also possible to use external standards and to obtain the austenite contents from measurements on the austenite lines alone. The small correction for carbides then becomes unnecessary. The best standards are probably samples with known

Jan 1, 1954

By Arthur Smith

THE Verde mining district is in Yavapai County, in north-central Arizona. Jerome, the principal town, has a population of 6000 and the two important mines of the district-the United Verde and the United Verde Extension-lie almost within its limits. Perched high on the southwest side of the Verde valley, at elevations of 4800 and 5500 ft. (1463 and 1676 m.) respectively, both mines have long tunnels from their lower levels through which the ore is hauled to the smelters. Clarkdale, the smelter town for the United Verde mines, lies in the Verde valley 4.1 miles (6.5 km.) distant in an air line from Jerome and at an elevation of 3560 ft. The two towns are connected by the standard-gage railroad of the Verde Tunnel and Smelter R. R., a subsidiary of the United Verde Copper Co. This road is 11 miles long and has a compensated grade of 4 per cent. At Clarkdale it connects with the Verde valley branch of the Santa Fe railroad. Clemenceau, the smelter town for the United Verde Extension mine, lies 3.5 miles (5.8 km.) in a southeasterly direction from Clarkdale, at an elevation of 3420 ft. It is connected to the Verde Valley branch of the Santa Fe railroad at Clarkdale by the Arizona Extension R. R., . a subsidiary of the United Verde Extension Mining Co. The portal of the haulage tunnel, at an elevation of 3757.5 ft., is also connected with the smelter town by 4 miles of standard-gage track belonging to? the same company. In the vicinity of Jerome, the great southern escarpment of the Arizona plateau forms the northeast side of the Verde valley. The general level of this escarpment, or "rim" as it is called, is about 4000 ft. above the Verde River. A corresponding elevation is reached only by the highest peaks of the Black Hills, which bound the valley to the southwest. Two lava-capped mesas, known as "Mingus" and "Wood chute mountains," form the culmination of the Black Hills. That part of the Old Black Hills mining district which lies between their crests and the Verde River is now known as the Jerome, or Verde, mining district. If the . smelter towns are not included, a strip about 7 miles long by 3 miles (11 by 5 km.) wide, embraces practically all of the properties belonging to the Jerome district. This strip lies parallel to and along the side of the Verde valley from First View, 2 miles northwest from Jerome, to the vicinity of Allen Springs, at the south end of Mingus mountain and all within the boundaries of the Prescott national forest reserve.

Jan 3, 1924

By T G. Vizcarra, B Wong

Optimisation projects are regularly undertaken without knowing the root cause of an issue. It is all well and good to trial a multitude of flotation reagents, change the operating characteristics of your flotation cells, or add more media into your ball mills, but time and again, root cause analysis traces issues back to the performance of hydrocyclones. In JKTech's experience, hydrocyclones are poorly operated and maintained (in both primary grinding and regrind circuits), exacerbating issues that many operations commonly experience.Recent case studies are presented where JKTech has been engaged to improve the process only to discover that the hydrocyclones were the main issue. At one operation it was found that the hydrocyclone feed density gauge was reading significantly lower to the actual density. Following re-calibration of the gauge, and with further improvement of cyclone operational and design parameters using JKSimMet, a significantly sharper efficiency curve was achieved. This resulted in improvements to downstream recoveries while alleviating pumping capacities that were previously constrained by fines and water caught up in recirculating loads.Several other case studies are presented which may seem to be relatively basic, but many basics seem to be getting lost in the day-to-day responsibilities of the modern plant metallurgist. Simple fixes to hydrocyclones can result in significant production increases, but more focus is needed in monitoring these to sustain the benefits.CITATION:Wong, B and Vizcarra, T G, 2018. What category cyclone is devastating your plant?, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 665–673 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018

By A. B. Kinzel

ALTHOUGH vanadium is an important constituent of almost every brand of high-speed steel manufactured today, little is known as to its role in this series of alloys. The now standard 18 per cent tungsten and 4 per cent chromium constituents were the result of developments and improvements before 1903. In that year, vanadium was added to the steel by Dr. J. A. Mathews. This proved to be an outstanding con-tribution, so that the standard high-speed steel of today is generally referred to as the 18-4-1 type-18 per cent W, 4 per cent Cr and 1 per cent V. Various modifications have been attempted, since then, but with the exception of the introduction of cobalt, no striking improvements have occurred. Vanadium has been increased to 2 per cent in many of the common brands, and at least one brand contains 5 per cent V in addition to the usual tungsten and chromium. The carbon has been gradually increased so that it is not uncommon to find 0.80 per cent in the standard grade, although the carbon in the 5 per cent vanadium steel mentioned above is approximately 1 per cent, and even 1.2 per cent has been made experimentally. The role of vanadium has never been well understood, and although vanadium has been increased to 2.5 and even 5 per cent in certain high speed steels, it has not been generally established that the higher vanadium contents 'result in superior cutting properties. However, in all of the investigations, of which the writers are aware, the interrelation of the vanadium and carbon contents was not considered as a prime factor. The carbon content was held at 1.2 per cent or less-generally at the usual 0.65 to 0.75 per cent.

Jan 1, 1932

By Wei-feng Liu

On the basis of the brief introduction of the gold-antimony concentrate smelting process in China, some problems in the original process were analyzed and the corresponding improvements were introduced in this paper, such as the treatment of antimony matte, the refinement of gold-silver alloy, the concentrating gold from gold-antimony alloy, the treatment of soda slag. The roasting method that was used to treat the antimony matte was transferred to the ore dressing method. The solvent extraction was used to refine the gold-silver alloy instead of the electrolytic method. The technology of selective chlorination leaching under controlling potential was applied to concentrate gold from the gold-antimony alloy and gold-lead alloy instead of the electrolysis method. Soda slag was recovered by the second reducing smelting method substituting for the mixed-salt method of sodium arsenate. After those improvements, the process has been done smoothly; the direct recovery rate of metals has been greatly increased. Meanwhile the procedure

Jan 1, 2008

By Watkins JR

Movements in the mineral trade cycle are almost invariably out of phase with the gradua- tion rate of mining engineers, metallurgists and geologists. This commonly leads to situations where graduates are scarce in "boom" periods and in free supply when the trade cycle is depressed. This problem reflects the difference in elasticity and flexibility between the educational and industrial environments. In the educational system the decision that brings students to graduation is made three to five years prior to the event. This is quite a lengthy period of time in terms of mineral trade cycles. By contrast, the mineral industry has far more elasticity in responding to short term fluctuations in mineral trade. The authors do not believe that the mis- match between the availability of skilled personnel and the manpower requirements of industry in the short term is intractable. Much is to be gained by more realistic and rational manpower forecasting combined with greater flexibility in the educational realm.

Jan 1, 1982

By Kenneth Robertson

THERE is probably less known of this subject than of any other connected with the metallurgy of iron. In all the books that treat of this matter, there ore given analyses of slags, their chemical formulae, the loss of iron, etc. ; but few, if any, give the character of the iron mode at the time; none give analyses and physical characteristics of the ores and limestones used, and they present merely isolated examples from various furnaces, and consequently one is more frequently puzzled than enlightened after reading them. During two years I have had occasion to analyze the slags and many of the pig-irons from two furnaces, and for this article I hove made analyses of all the different grades of pig mode by them. A

Jan 1, 1873

By H. Lyn Bourne

The is the 14th consecutive year for this column and the 13th in which the royalty data have been tabulated. Some holes still exist in the list of royalties that readers hopefully will fill. Construction aggregates - either sand and gravel or crushed stone - are the most common mineral commodity. In spite of their pervasive use nationwide, royalty information for these commodities has been difficult to acquire from some states. Readers can help. Share information about these missing states and next year there will be fewer states without information. Dennis Bryan sent a copy of a report, "Regional Appraisal of Mineral Materials: Carson City District, BLM." The report was authored by real-estate appraisers. It contains more than 50 references to leases of various construction materials in Nevada and nearby states. It gives a thumbnail sketch of each lease and is a good reference. However, the authors erroneously imply that the royalty rate and the in-place value are the same. Several of this year's new entries come from the report. However, the royalties for landscaping materials vary from state to state and by rock type. Some boulders used for landscaping in Nevada have a royalty reported at $1.10/t ($1/st). At the other extreme is lava from Idaho. Used for the same purpose, it has a royalty range of $11 to $18.70/t ($10 to $17/st). Chuanming Tian of Beijing, China has shared some information about the changing mineral royalty policies in China. China first implemented an oil and gas royalty in 1984. In 1992, the government expanded that to include iron ore. In 1994, the royalty policy was extended to all mineral commodities. At the same time, the royalty rate for iron ore increased tenfold.

Jan 1, 1995

By Guy R. B. Elliott

If chemical mining is to work, it is extremely important to watch heat balances. Some reactions with coal give off heat and others absorb heat. The reactions of coal with oxygen or air give off heat, but the reactions of coal with steam or with carbon dioxide absorb heat. By balancing the proportions of the two types of reactions, the energy of the coal can be almost completely recovered and environmental damage is minimized. The chemical reactions are listed in Table 1 in the usual form with subscripts (s) and (g) indicating solid or gaseous materials. In reaction 1, solid corbon, C(s), reacts with gaseous oxygen, O2(g), to produce gaseous carbon dioxide, CO2 (g). H means enthalpy or available heat in the material; F is free energy, and it measures whether the reaction can go at all, and if so, how much.

Jan 9, 1973

By K-S Kim, C-Y Kim, D-G Kim

In tunnel construction or other underground construction, a detailed knowledge of the rock mass ahead of the face is essential for both safety and efficiency of work. Many tunnel collapses have been reported to occur because of lack of appropriate information, such as the geological conditions ahead of the tunnel face. One of the methods which can identify rock mass conditions is the application of drill monitoring data obtained from blasting drill holes, which can detect abrupt and unexpected changes in ground conditions, geological structure and the mechanical and physical properties of rock mass. This paper presents a new approach to how drill performance parameters can be used for prediction of geological conditions ahead of tunnel face. The predictions are based on monitoring the drill parameters of instantaneous advance speed, torque and tool pressure. In order to assess conditions ahead of tunnel face, tunnel seismic profiling (TSP) and a horizontal boring investigation were undertaken and the obtained data compared to the drilling data. The predicted results using drilling performance parameters correlated well with geological conditions ahead of tunnel face.

Jan 1, 2008

By Andrew K. hg` Officer, A. L. Griffiths, J. Andrew Hindmarch, Gert Wittneben

Durban Harbour in South Africa is one of the continent’s busiest ports however the harbor entrance is currently too small for the new generation of container ships. There-fore it is to be deepened and widened by the National Ports Authority in the near future. An existing immersed tube tunnel carrying major sewer, water and other utilities under the harbor first needs to be removed and replaced by a deeper 4.4 m ID ser-vices tunnel. Construction of the deeper tunnel saw the first use of a slurry machine in South Africa and was required to negotiate grades up to 20%.

Jan 1, 2007

Lower Silesia Coal Basin/SW Poland/ is adjacent to highly gas saturated igneous massiv and since the beginning of this century more than 1500 outbursts have occurred in four existing mines, including 1295 in the most hazardous mine Nowa Ruda. Prevailing part of these are carbon dioxide/coal outbursts of ejected masses 50-5000 tonnes/av.200/t and gas volume released from 200 m3 to 800,000 m3 Magnitude of these phenomena is growing with the depth and for present extraction levels/ 375-753 m/ may be expressed by a formula: M = 4.25/H-400/, where M-masses ejected, t and H - depth of extraction, m. Regulations obligatory hitherto call for gas pressure measurements to be made in 3 m long and 42 mm dia. boreholes spaces not more than 25 m along the longwall face and taking sample of drillings for desorption testing. Criteria of a hazard are following: pressure higher than 30 kPa /for C02/ or 80 kPa /for CH4/ and desorption more than 1,44 cm3/g. These criteria are not satisfactory because many outbursts occurred in spite of low values of parameters measured and for several times no hazard was evident after very high values were obtained. Moreover, observations show that a huge majority of case outbursts occurred in coal weakened by local geological distortion.

Jan 1, 1980

By Diane M. Doyle-Coombs

In late July 1985, air samples from a sealed portion of the Quinland coal mine in West Virginia showed the presence of carbon monoxide (CO). Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) personnel concluded that a fire was burning behind the seals. Since an imminent danger existed, the mine operator was given a closure order. The gases behind the seals were monitored and almost 2 million ff of carbon dioxide (C02) gas was pumped into the sealed area to stabilize the environment. Sixteen days after the closure order was issued, MSHA allowed the mine to return to production. Approximately 1 yr later, mine management submitted a seal breaching request to MSHA in order to drive a set of entries to further develop the mine. The Bureau of Mines established a sampling strategy and monitored gases from behind the sealed area during the breaching operation until the atmosphere was safe. This report is an account of the seal breaching conducted by the mine, MSHA, and the Bureau. The logistics of this event, the sampling strategy, and the equations applied could be used by the mining industry in future breachings or mine recovery operations. Time to reenter the area was calculated by using the methane (CH4) concentrations sampled at the discharge of the seals. Tracer gas was used to verify the ventilation flows through the area.

Jan 1, 1988

By W. Laird

For years, the coal industry has been confronted with face ventilation problems, ignitions, dust, and their effect on productivity. To improve face ventilation, minimize face ignitions, and control dust in the face areas, studies have been conducted over the past 30 odd years by coal companies, federal government research programs and others. These studies included brattice curtains, water spray nozzles, water pressures, highly efficient water filtration systems, auxiliary fans, differ fans, various dust collection systems and the recently developed "Spray Fan" ventilation system. This system consists of spray banks strategically placed on continuous miners to ventilate immediate face area.

Jan 1, 1984

By Cuppam Dasarathy

THE object of this note is to report briefly certain results of investigations on the Fe-In phase diagram. BISRA-high purity H-iron and 99.9 pct pure indium were used to prepare the alloys. The experimental techniques consisted of thermal analysis, optical metallography, and X-ray diffraction. A phase diagram based on the present results as well as those reported earlier by the author' is shown in Fig. 1. It is seen that the liquidus points fall on a smooth line which meets the monotectic isotherm at 1470°C. The liquidus extends up to 3.4 at. pct In. The phase boundary separating the two liquidus L1 and L2 is shown dotted. The experimental solidus meets the monotectic isotherm at -0.9 at. pct In. The 6/6 + L2 boundary drops steeply to the 6 + La/y + L2 boundary at -1350°C. In this region, it is impossible to detect satisfactory thermal arrests because of the steep phase boundary. The present diagram shows that indium lowers the temperature of the d/y transforma-tion and raises the temperature of the y/a transfor-mation. The y +d region is found to be very narrow. Indium gives rise to a restricted y field when alloyed with iron. The width of this field is between 0.4 and 0.5 at. pct In. Details of the alloys containing 40 and 50 at. pct In have already been reported by the author' and the transformation temperatures of these alloys are included in Fig. 1. It appeared from optical metallography and X-ray diffraction that the room temperature solubility of indium in a iron is less than 0.28 at. pct since alloys of 0.28 at. pct In and above, slow cooled to room temperature, contained dark etching second phase particles situated both in the matrix and grain boundaries of the a-grains, see Figs. 2 and 3. These particles were identified to be unalloyed indium by X-ray diffraction. The lattice parameter of the a phase reached a maximum of 2.8672A at the indium level of -0.28 at. pct. The present diagram, Fig. 1, is in substantial agreement with that of Stadelmaier and Fiedler' except for certain differences in detail. For example, they found the monotectic composition and temperature to be 7.0 at. pct In and 1443oC, respectively, while the present work indicates them to be 3.4 at. pct In and 1470°C. The 6 + L2/y + L2 transformation is indicated in the present work to occur at -1350°C, whereas Stadelmaier and Fiedler find this to occur at -1320°C. They also claim that the width of the y field is 0.2 at. pct In while the present work shows the width to be between 0.4 and 0.5 at. pct In. 1) Indium, when alloyed with iron, gives rise to a restricted y field, the width being >0.5 at. pct In.

Jan 1, 1970

Techniques have been developed for the dissolution of a wide range of rocks and minerals by a sodium peroxide sinter process. A olarge number of elements are determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy, and other elements such as arsenic and sulphur are determined by chemical analytical methods. The methods adopted to overcome inter-element and ionization effects on the atomic absorption results are discussed.

Jan 1, 1974

By R. R. Webster, H. T. Clark

I. A. Sirel—I would like to ask Mr. Sims what would the preferred hot metal analysis be as far as manganese and silicon are concerned if you used specially made iron for this process instead of basic iron. C. E. Sims (authors' reply)—A preferred composition would contain somewhat less silicon than the basic pig iron used in these experiments. High silicon requires a large lime addition. Lime must be added in sufficient quantity to neutralize the silica formed and to leave an excess for dephosphorization. Manganese presents almost no problem in operation. It is almost completely oxidized and, in burning, develops considerable heat. The evidence indicates, however, that, in continuous commercial operation, there will be an excess of heat produced, and the bath will need to be cooled in some manner as by the addition of scrap or by utilizing the energy for the direct reduction of ore. There do not seem to be any serious limitations on composition of pig iron. One heat was made with an iron containing 2.27 pct silicon and the phosphorus finished at 0.007 pct. In another, the iron contained 0.45 pct phosphorus which was lowered to 0.019 pct. This indicates considerable leeway in composition. D. R. Loughrey—We are all very much interested in the recent discovery of very large deposits of iron ore both in Labrador and in Venezuela. I would like to ask Mr. Sims if the iron ore at either or both of these places is such that it would lend itself to the manufacture of iron suitable for use in the turbohearth. C. E. Sims-—According to my information, those ores are not essentially different from ores now used in this country for making basic pig. They should, therefore, be adaptable to this process. D. I. Brown—You have spoken about the leeway, or spread in analysis of the various irons you can use in the vessel. I would like to have you tell us, if you can, about the different kinds of steels which can be made in such a vessel. The turbohearth process, or it might more aptly be called pneumatic openhearth, is a little different from that used in most Bessemer shops and in the one in which I worked. If we had a blow in the air over 10 min, the boss was in the pulpit in a hurry

Jan 1, 1951

By R. V. Ramani

This paper is based on the thesis that the demand for computer-oriented mining engineers will continue to sharply increase in coming years. It presents the philosophy behind the development of a mine systems engineering program at The Pennsylvania State University. The paper discusses the current status of mining engineering education and the problems encountered in integrating extensive computer background and education into a traditional mining engineering program. The paper analyzes the interrelated roles of research, graduate studies, and continuing education in developing a comprehensive program of study. It is hoped that this program philosophy will be useful to other institutions which are contemplating new programs and courses in emerging technologies.

Jan 1, 1982

By R. V. Ramani, R. Bhaskar

One of the primary means of .control of health hazards from respirable contaminants in mine atmospheres is through design and operation of mines to meet mine health and safety regulations and recommended practices. A U.S. National Academy of Sciences study concluded that for significant progress in coal mine dust control, research should be directed more toward obtaining fundamental understanding of the origin, transport and characteristics of respirable coal mine dust. Theoretical and experimental studies on transport of dust in mine airways, particularly coordinated efforts to validate theory with practice, are scarce. Some empirical models, developed on the basis of experimental data, are available but these models cannot be applied to new .conditions. The purpose of this paper· is to present the results of theoretical and experimental studies on the transport and deposition of dust in mine airways. This study is a part of an on-going research project in the Generic Mineral Technology Center on Respirable Dust. In the paper, the assumptions of the modeling phase of the project and the development of a convection-diffusion equation for dust transport in mine airways will be outlined. The important aspect of the modeling effort.is the capture of the deposition phenomenon. The experiments performed under controlled conditions in a typical mine airway as well as under normal mine operating conditions will be discussed. The comparison of the model predictions ·with experimental results will be made to identify critical areas of agreements and deviations. The implications of the findings and areas for further research and development will be identified.

Jan 1, 1990

By David Runnels

The Mount Wright iron are mine and upgrading plant were brought on line in the fall of 1975. The mine is located near the Quebec - Labrador border some six hundred miles northeast of Montreal. This paper describes the crushing, grinding and concentrating facilities at Mount Wright, and some design: criteria used in equipment selection and flow sheet design. Also mentioned are some "asbuilt" modifications. A brief description of the over-all flowsheet is also included. Introduction IN SEPTEMBER 1970, the Quebec Cartier Mining Company started development of the Mount Wright iron ore mine. The estimated are reserve is in excess of 1,000,000 ,000 long tons of concentrates, with an average crude are grade of 31.5% Fe. The run-of-mine ore is crushed, ground and concentrated to a product having 66% Fe and 5% silica at an annual concentrate production r ate of 18.4 million long tons. The daily production rate of over 50,000 long tons of concentrate necessitates a daily mine output of approximately 250,000 long tons of material, of which 50% is waste.

Jan 1, 1977