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By Barrie A. Wigmore

There are two aspects of financing western coal development -- whether there is going to be enough money to finance the prospective large development of the industry, and the specific techniques of raising money for that development. To take the first question of whether there is going to be enough money around to finance your industry, I think it is quite clear that the restrictions on the development of western coal are going to be non- financial. Environmental impact problems are creating the greatest delay in coal mine development, at the moment; but getting enough personnel, mining equipment, railroad equipment, and failure of the Department of Interior to act on leasing federal coal lands all appear likely to create significant bottle- necks in the development of western coal -- larger bottlenecks than financing. Financing appears straightforward for the industry. There are many projections of the financing required to meet Project Independence goals. The National Academy of Engineers estimated that development of 500 million tons per annum of western coal would be necessary by 1985 to meet the Project Independence goals which might require $20 billion of capital spending. It is generally agreed that 500 million tons a year is not a realistic possibility. Carl Bagge?s estimate of production of 250 million tons a year by 1983 appears a more reasonable projection. Development

Jan 1, 1976

An approach to underground mining of shallow dipping, thick seam coal is proposed in broad outline. The method is based upon overhand slice and fill, with hydraulically emplaced washery refuse as the filling material. Likely fill behaviour and character- istics are discussed and likely problem/investigational/ research areas defined.

Jan 1, 1976

By A. F. Banks

"Potash processing has much in common in terms of unit operations and plant operating strategy with other mineral processing plants. As it is a rather large topic the processes will be broad brushed to give you some background and then I will go into a little detail on the things we do in the Cominco plant that may be of interest to the group as a whole. In particular the centrallized computer control system and associated instrumentation and the operator training programs will be covered as well as the mill fire, something that could happen in any plant. THE ORE AND PRODUCTSThere are differences in potash ores as you would expect. It is my intention to deal with the ores processed in the Saskatoon area. These are mined from the beds in the Patience Lake Member and have a mineralogical description as follows:Sylvite (Potassium Chloride) 40%Halite (Sodium Chloride) 55%Insolubles (Slimes) 5%A number of products are made from this ore. It is characteristic of a potash plant that you put as much effort into grading and converting the sylvite to meet market requirements as you do in recovering it."

Jan 1, 1976

Among the various methods of thick-seam mining already well-tried in practice longwall caving with extraction of a single slice, as thick as possible, abandoning the top and/or the bottom coal, seems to be the most suitable one for the Australian coal mining industry. The production units of the future should be equipped with heavy double-drum shearer-loaders, wide armoured conveyors, (with one or two central chains) and shield support. Material of this type has been developed for seams up to 6 m thick. Output figures of more than 6,000 tROM/d from a single face can be looked upon as a quite realistic expectation. The problems of co-ordinating such large production units with the whole layout of the mine are discussed. The factors to be taken into account in the planning work and for preven- tion of mine fires caused by spon- taneous combustion are dealt with. For economic reasons the highest possible utilization factor of the very expensive equipment must be aimed at. Furthermore, the seams or parts of seams to be extracted should be carefully selected.

Jan 1, 1976

By A. H. Lindley, R. Shorr, Frazier M. Stewart, F. Crerie

The mineral industry, so important to industrial development, faces a major challenge in creating the most effective financial structure to provide funds essential for seeking, evaluating, developing, and extracting minerals. The acquisition of funds for mineral development and plant erection do not differ greatly from fund-raising in nonmineral ventures because risks are essentially comparable. High-risk exploration funds, however, are more difficult for the mineral industry to acquire. With the world's ever-increasing appetite for minerals, the internally generated cash of major oil and mining companies cannot be expected solely to maintain the world's mineral supply. The augmented costs, risks, and difficulties of exploration have been shared increasingly by the smaller independent operator and by private and public participation drilling programs within the petroleum industry over the past 30 years. Only recently has the mining industry awakened to the need for utilizing exploration and development funds derived from sources other than established mining and banking circles. Almost from its inception, the oil industry was forced to drill deep holes through overburden without the aid of a mineral "outcropping" which required geological, and in subsequent years, geophysical interpretation. The poorly financed, nontechnical prospector, who depended on a mineral outcrop, was not to play an important role in oil exploration as he did in mining. Because of the high cost of drilling and the demands for technical judgment to locate an exploration drill hole, corporate and sophisticated private funds generally financed oil discoveries. When external funds were subsequently required, these financially sophisticated explorers would turn to the banking community from which came numerous ingenious innovations, taking cognizance of existing tax laws. Like the oil explorer, the miner is now faced with probing below the surface, relying solely on regional geology and geophysical anomalies. The day is gone, for practical purposes, when the prospector discovers a deposit from a mineral outcrop. There is little doubt that the mining industry will now follow the course taken by the petroleum industry in acquiring external funds if it is to meet the future raw material requirements of the world. The oil industry has been able to attract bank funds more readily than the mining industry after a mineral discovery has been made because: (1) with few exceptions, an oil discovery can be placed into commercial production and will generate cash at much less expense and time than a mine; and (2) generally, costs of oil production, the value

Jan 1, 1976

By S. Ramachandran, L. A. Vazquez, N. L. Grauerholz

A novel process is described for the selective flotation of scheelite from low-grade (- 0.5% W03) tungsten ores having appreciable quantities of calcareous and siliceous gangue minerals. Specifically developed for the Tempiute, Nevada facility of Union Carbide, the process yields tungsten concentrates exceeding 15 percent W03 with at least 85 percent recovery. This condition was not achieved through conventional processes. This process consists of conditioning the ore pulp with judicious amounts of lime, followed by soda ash and sodium silicate as modifiers. The scheelite is then floated using a mixture of oleic and naphthenic acids as collector. Contrary to the common observation as to the deleterious effects of calcium in fatty acid flotation systems, lime addition is found to be beneficial in achieving satisfactory results. The process has also shown excellent results on a Brazilian scheelite ore.

Jan 1, 1976

By Robert J. Ramsey, N. Finkelstein, Robert D. Jeppson

Introduction The Utah Copper Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation will present its contribution to the A. M. Gaudin Flotation Symposium in four parts. The first two segments will discuss briefly the historical development of the Utah Copper Division and describe the ore body. The third segment will review the facilities and operating procedures for the Utah Copper Division's newest plant, the Bonneville Concentrator. The fourth segment describes flotation process circuitry, including molybdenite recovery procedures, at the Arthur and Magna concentrators. (The Bonneville concentrator is a crushing and grinding unit and does not have its own flotation plant). 1. Historical Development Progress through change has been the key to the successful operation of the Utah Copper Division for more than 70 years. As the original low-grade copper operation, the pressures to remain competitive and profitable have dictated the timing and extent of each change. Much of the change has occurred through technological and economic advancements in the area of ore concentration. The Utah Copper Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation had its origin June 4, 1903, when the Utah Copper Company was organized. The initial mill of 300 tpd (tons per day) capacity was built at Copperton a few miles below the present Bingham Canyon mine site. From 1904 to 1910, the Copperton mill was expanded to a capacity of 1,000 tpd, and all of the known apparatus for gravity concentration were evaluated.

Jan 1, 1976

By Simon D. Strauss

COPPER In terms of mining activity, copper is the leading nonferrous metal. It is true that in recent years the volume of aluminum consumption in the non-Communist world has exceeded the volume of copper consumption, but virtually the entire primary aluminum supply is derived from bauxite. On the average, only four tons of bauxite need be mined to produce a ton of aluminum. By contrast, the highest-grade, large-scale copper mines now in operation (those in the Congo) must mine at least 20 tons of ore to produce a ton of copper. In the United States an average of 150 tons of ore must be mined to produce a ton of copper. This does not take into account the huge amounts of waste overburden that must be stripped from the open-pit mines to account for their steadily rising share of the world's copper output. Copper epitomizes the economic problems of the mining industry in many ways. Its price is highly volatile, considering its great economic importance. It has been a tool of mankind longer than any other of the base metals-the dawn of history has been classified as "The Bronze Age." World Copper Production Although copper is mined in many countries, in recent years 70% of the non-Communist world production has come from six countries. Two of these are industrialized countries and are large consumers-United States and Canada. The other four are developing countries with very small domestic requirements-Chile, Zambia, Zaire, and Peru. Heavily dependent on copper exports to sustain their domestic economies, these countries find themselves oscillating between prosperity and depression with the changing levels of copper prices. In an effort to control their own destiny, in 1968 they formed an organization of copper exporting countries (CIPEC) which was designed to study copper markets and possibly to intervene actively in these markets. (When this chapter was being prepared, no actual steps along such lines had been taken.) Many of the leading industrialized nations are wholly dependent on imports for their primary copper supplies. These include West Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and many others. Japan, now the non-Communist world's second largest copper consumer, produces only 10 to 15% of its requirements from domestic mines. Although the bulk of the copper output is smelted in the country where it is mined, there is a limited international trade in copper concentrates. Canada, the Philippines, Australia, and Papua-New Guinea are significant exporters of copper concentrates; Japan, Germany, the United States, and Sweden are importers. However, this trade accounted for only about 10% of the non-Communist world production of copper during the decade of the 1960s.

Jan 1, 1976

By Carl G. Schwenk

Rusk County is located in the northwestern portion of the state of Wisconsin, roughly 130 miles east of Minneapolis (Figure 1). The topography is generally flat with dairy farming the principal activity. Forest and swamp lands are common, as well as pasture and cultivated ground. Rusk County falls near the southern terminus of the Precambrian Shield and is covered by a thick layer of glacial drift. Outcrops are quite rare, but the few available exposures indicate that the subsurface is comprised of steeply dipping metamorphosed volcanics and sediments of Early Proterozoic age. A thin section of flatlying Cambrian sandstone is sometimes found directly under the glacial till. The depth to Precambrian basement has been recorded to be as great as 150 feet beneath the surface.

Jan 1, 1976

By B. R. Palmer, G. Gutierrez B., M. C. Fuerstenau

Flotation responses of chrysocolla and rhodonite are correlated with electrophoretic mobility and infrared spectroscopy measurements. Flotation is effected in the pH ranges in which hydrolysis of the metal ions comprising the mineral occurs. The roles of mineral solubility and precipitate formation are suggested.

Jan 1, 1976

By Edward J. Jr Walter

This paper discusses the use of slant hole drilling and water matting as an effective method of reducing costs in shaft sinking operations through a general review of cost priorities for the contractor.

Jan 1, 1976

By Jagdish C. Agarwal

Although copper ranks very low in the order of abundance of elements in the crust of the earth, it has been one of the first metals utilized by mar, at his emergence from the Stone Age, about 10,000 years ago. Use of copper for weapons, tools, utensils and ornaments dates back to the twilight of history, 6,000-5,000 B.C. Native copper outcrops and the malleability of the metal explain its very early use by the cave-dwellers. The working, melting and extraction of copper from its minerals are among the oldest metallurgical achievements of the human race. The oldest complete smelting installations for the extraction of copper from its minerals, dated about the fourth millenium B.C., were recently discovered in the Timna Valley, Wadi Arabah, Israel. (1) The history of the developments of the extractive metallurgy of copper has been adequately reviewed recently. (2,3) The center of copper production migrated from the Eastern Mediterranean to Northern Europe (Mansfeld, Germany, Swansea, Wales) towards the end of the Middle Ages (1500 A.D.). The production of the metal was boosted tremendously in North America since the end of the nineteenth century (Fig. 1).

Jan 1, 1976

By Richard J. Gonzalez

The petroleum industry includes varied and extensive operations required to supply increasing quantities of refined petroleum products and natural gas that are essential for the economic progress of an expanding population Petroleum has provided the power for the transformation from the "horse and buggy days" to the age of jets and space exploration, and for the remarkable improvement in productivity per worker in agriculture and manufacturing. Without increasing quantities of oil and gas, the world would face painful readjustments to more expensive forms of energy and lower standards of living Petroleum operations start with exploration, development, and production activities that supply the basic crude oil and natural gas Pipelines, ships, barges, and trucks first transport the raw materials to processing centers and then move the finished products to the ultimate consumers. Processing plants extract liquids from natural gas and refineries convert crude oil into a wide range of products These products include transportation fuels, feedstocks for conversion into numerous products (such as fabrics, rubber, and plastics), light fuels for heating, lubricants, and heavy residual materials (industrial fuel oil, asphalt, and coke) The final activity of wholesale distribution and retail marketing moves products into millions of homes, farms, industrial plants, and motor vehicles The use of coal exceeded that of oil and gas until 1946 in the United States and until 1968 in the rest of the world. However, oil and gas have proved to be such convenient and attractively priced fuels that they now supply three-fourths of the total commercial energy (including coal, hydroelectric, and nuclear power) used in North America and more than one-half in the rest of the world. LARGE SCALE OF OPERATIONS By the beginning of 1970, world crude oil production exceeded 43 million bbl daily, -equivalent to more than 2200 million tpy In addition, natural gas and the liquids recovered from processing natural gas supply about 40% as much energy as crude oil Production of oil and gas provide by far the highest value of all mining operations. In the United States, the value of oil and gas production in 1969 of $13 8 billion exceeded the $13 0 billion value for all other minerals The rate of expansion in use of petroleum has been extremely rapid since World War II World crude oil production doubled from 7,500,000 bbl daily in 1946 to more than 15,000,000 bbl daily by 1955 It doubled again to 30,000,000 by 1965, and will double again by 1975 The use of natural gas has increased greatly in the United States and also in Europe, as important discoveries in the Netherlands and the North Sea and technology for moving liquefied natural gas from Africa provided attractively priced supplies

Jan 1, 1976

By Peter N. Yanker

The two types of dryers used in the drying of copper concentrates are the rotary dryer and the spray dryer. The rotary dryer has until recent history been the traditional drying method used, Although spray dryers have been used in the chemical field for many years it is only recently that they have been accepted for drying of copper concentrates. The comparison made here will apply in a narrower sense to the drying of copper concentrates as fed into the reverbatory furnaces of the Smelter. To compare a rotary dryer and a spray dryer, which are two totally different methods and pieces of equipment, it is best to view them as systems each made up of certain elements

Jan 1, 1976

By Yoshinori Iwasaki, Shosei Serata, Yutaka Mochida

A new comprehensive insitu instrumentation technique named this RCC Method has been developed for rapid assessment and improvement of the structural stability of underground openings. When applied to tunnel construction, the degree of present and prospective safety of underground openings can be determined in quantitative terms within 10 to 20 minutes of microcreep observation. When applied to mining, roofs and floors can be stabilized by controlling the stress conditions. This stress control method has eliminated the need for intensive roof bolting and extensive floor renewal in all cases where it was applied. Use of this technique is illustrated by field examples from the Seikan Undersea Tunnel of Japan and deep potash mining in Canada. NEW INSTRUMENTATION TECHNIQUE: THE RCC METHOD Failure problems in underground excavation usually arise in weak non-elastic grounds where conventional rock mechanics theories of elasticity are not only useless but also misleading. Presently, discontinuity planes in the ground are being considered a factor in assessing these failure problems, and while this development is interesting academically, it is not of much use in actual excavation work, where it is nearly impossible to identify and quantize all existing planes of discontinuity. Even if such an extraordinary task could be accomplished at an underground excavation site, effective use of the data would be difficult and impractical for rapid excavation work, with the possible exception of rare cases of ideally elastic ground.

Jan 1, 1976

By Ross W. Smith, Salim Akhtar

INTRODUCTION Flotation of oxide minerals, particularly silicates, with cationic collectors differs substantially from classic flotation of sulfide minerals using sulfhydryl collectors. In the case of cationic flotation of these minerals, in general: 1. There is a greater importance of electrostatic interaction between mineral and collector. 2. Longer-chained collectors are required; as a rule at least 10 carbons must be present in the hydrocarbon chain. 3. Moderate concentration of collector is required. 4. Attachment between collector and mineral appears to be less strong even though the system may exhibit a large contact angle. 5. Required conditioning time before flotation is usually relatively short. 6. There is sensitivity to slimes. 7. The collectors usually possess frothing power. 8. Selectivity of cationic collectors for specific minerals is usually poor. Almost any of the oxide and silicate minerals may be floated using cationic collectors. However, specific response to these collectors varies with mineral type. The following classes and minerals are

Jan 1, 1976

By Hugh Douglas

ANTIMONY Antimony (Sb) has been used since the early Egyptian dynasties. Prior to World War I, total demand amounted to only 6000 to 7000 tons per year (tpy). Wartime uses and rapid rise of industrialization in the Northern Hemisphere nations have pushed world antimony use to the 78,000-tpy level. An overwhelming supply of low-cost antimonial resources in the Sino-Russian bloc countries has and will continue to have a major impact on availability and price to users outside the bloc. Table 14.4.1 shows trends in world production, United States production and consumption, and prices. Demand Antimony is used principally as an alloy in lead-based metals and other alloys. Pure metallic antimony usage is small and is confined to such areas as laboratory and electronic applications. Lead-antimony alloys are used in automobile storage batteries, chemical pumps, and pipes, tank linings, roofing material, and cable sheaths. The metal increases the hardness of lead, and, for such uses as foundry printing type, reduces shrinkage for casting and lowers the melting point. Antimonial oxides are used for ceramic purposes, white paint pigments, glass forming, textile finishing, fire retardants in military clothing, matches, and solder. Wartime applications include use as hardener for bullets, an element for tracer bullets, and ingredient for producing dense white smoke for visual markers. A small but rapidly growing use for antimony is for metallic compounds in semiconductors and thermoelectric devices. In the United States demand for antimony is about evenly divided between metallic end-use markets and nonmetallic markets. In metallic end uses, antimonial lead accounts for 27% of total metallic and nonmetallic use; in nonmetallic areas major uses are flame retardants (15%) which is the fastest growing market, plastics (13 % ), and ceramics and glass (11%). While antimony has advantages in most of its applications, there are uses in which other materials can be substituted, including: mercury, titanium, lead, zinc, chromium, tin, and zirconium in paints and pigments; tin in sheathings; calcium in battery plates; and bismuth in type metal. Supply Antimony is produced from both antimony ores and as a byproduct of smelting other ores. The principal ore mineral is stibnite (Sb2S3), along with its oxidized antimonial minerals and derivatives which occur in small discontinuous replacement veins or fissure vein implacements. Stibnite occurs in quartz-gold veins and copper-lead-zinc

Jan 1, 1976

By Booker Morey, Ashok Gupta

Amid controversy, the resource recovery industry is rapidly approaching its first commercial operations. Some of the problems are reviewed along with some of the important systems that are being developed for resource recovery. Market specifications for the inorganic fraction recovered from municipal solid waste are reviewed along with the details of the unit operations that have been tested.

Jan 1, 1976

By Robert Lundquist

REAM is a unique method of rock breaking using high energy projectile impact. This report-describes the most recent in a series of tests demonstrating mining applications for the REAM method. In an underground limestone mine at Greer, West Virginia, REAM was used to drive a short tunnel and drill a large diameter borehole. Along with breakage data from these tests the goal of the program was to examine environmental problems which might result from the use of cannons under-ground. A total of 103 shots was used to advance a 14-l/2-feet high by 10-feet-wide face a distance of 5-1/2 feet. It is estimated that the 9.3-pound-concrete projectiles launched at 5000 feet per second will break an average of 0.78 tons of limestone or 67 percent of the 1.125 tons of granodiorite broken in previous tests. The 9-inch-diameter borehole was drilled horizontally by repeated axial impact for 7 feet, 2-1/2 inches by 21 shots giving an average of 4.12 inches per shot. Scaling this result to compressible impact energy yields an estimated 5.8 inches per shot for a 12.8-inch-diameter hole compared to 8 inches per ~hot for a 16-inch-diameter hole in granodiorite. Noise measurements indicate that a silenced cannon can be used within a few hundred feet of mine personnel in a room and pillar mine within the legal limit of 140 dB impulse without additional protection. Some fume measurements were made with satisfactory results, even though the military propellants used produce much greater quantities of toxic fumes than the liquid propellant proposed for the future.

Jan 1, 1976

By E. I. Robinsky

"This paper describes a new, proven approach for tailing disposal. Not only is the disclosed system less damaging to the environment, it is also less costly to operate, to close down and maintain in perpetuity. The basic concept is to discharge thickened tailing from one permanent location.This creates a conical or hill-like deposit which:(1) requires lower perimeter dykes for equivalent storage capacity;(2) eliminates decant towers and decant lines;(3) requires no steep dams built of tailing;(4) is stable:(5) requires only a small pond outside the deposit;(6) decreases pollution of the surrounding environment by water seepage and deflation; and(7) simplifies abandonment and ""closing-down"" operations.The approach is made possible by the fact that, at a sufficiently high ratio of solids to water, tailing material can be made to accumulate at slopes of 5 or 6 per cent -- considerably steeper than possible by traditional methods using low solids-to-water ratios. To achieve the necessary solids-water ratio (35 to 60 per cent), it may be necessary to install a thickener. It is expected, however, that at many concentrators it may be possible to discharqe relatively clear plant water through a line separate from the tailing line, thus reducing the load on the thickener."

Jan 1, 1976