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By M. T. G. Davis, J. V. Cleasby, H. J. Wright

Mining practice in the Kimberley Division of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited by J. V. CLEASBY. B.Sc.. A.R.S.M. (Fellow). H. J. WRIGHT. B.Se.. M.Sc.. (Fellow). And M. T. G. DAVIES. B.Sc. (Visitor) T his paper highlights the changes that are taking place at De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited in mining methods, mechanization, and employment practices. De Beers has four underground mines in Kimberley itself (Dutoitspan, Bultfontein, De Beers, and Wesselton), and two open-cast mines outside Kimberley (Finsch and Koffiefontein). Emphasis is placed on the new method envisaged for Koffiefontein when it becomes an underground mine. The paper also includes notes on chemical drilling and on winding practices.

Jan 12, 1975

By P. Smit

Health hazards of South African . mIne water by P. SMIT, M.B., Ch.B., D.T.M.H., D.P.H. (Visitor) The water supply in South African mines is not as good as most mining engineers would like to believe, nor is sufficient care taken to ensure the safe dispensing, transportation, and consumption of water. As long as cases of dysentery and typhoid continue to occur in large numbers, it can be assumed only that the water supplies are not safe, or that the water-dispensing methods are poor. A dual water supply is a real health hazard. The ideal water supply is a single safe source for human consumption and industrial use.

Jan 4, 1977

By M. E. Williamson

A seafloor based robotic drilling system is being developed for the National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai, India to support a National initiative for marine methane hydrate research. The system will be capable of core sampling to 150m below the seafloor in 3000m of water under telemetric control of an operator onboard a research vessel at the surface. Unlike previous robotic drilling systems, this unit (designated the ACS) will use wireline methodology to reduce the number of tool handling operations required to complete the borehole (conventional rod drilling requires 2025 tool handling operations to complete a 100m hole, while wireline requires only 48 operations to reach the same depth).

By Richard E. Steffens

The underground portion of Duke Power Company's Bad Creek Pumped Storage Project in northwestern South Carolina consists of a powerhouse cavern (132 m. long, 23 m. wide, 50 m. high), 407 meters of shafts and approximately 3615 meters of tunnel, both lined and unlined, with diameters varying from 4.2 meters to 9.0 meters. A case history is presented, including the early pilot tunnel exploratory work and how this affected design, the design of the project, and the excavation, rock support and tunnel lining work. Problems and experiences encountered during the construction are given. The effects of high horizontal insitu stresses in the granitic gneiss are discussed along with solution taken.

Jan 1, 1989

By P. A. Riveros

This paper describes the leaching of the common copper minerals tennantite (Cu12As4S13), tetrahedrite (Cu12Sb4S13) and enargite (Cu3AsS4) in acidic media using Fe(SO4)1.5, FeC13 or 02 as oxidizing agents. At temperatures <100°C, tennantite dissolves slowly in Fe(SO4)1.5-H2SO4 media, and the rate is directly proportional to the area of the sized tennantite. The rate increases sharply with increasing temperature and the apparent activation energy is 69 kJ/mol. Increasing Fe(SO4)1.5 concentrations slightly increase the tennantite leaching rate. The kinetics of dissolution of disks of synthetic iron-bearing tetrahedrite in Fe(SO4)1.5-H2SO4 media are linear; the leaching rates are slow but increase significantly with increasing temperature, with an apparent activation energy of 120 kJ/mol. The dissolution of sized particles of natural Ag-bearing tetrahedrite in FeC13- HC1 solutions proceeds according to the shrinking core model, and both Cu and Ag dissolve at about the same rate, provided that the total chloride concentration of the solution is sufficiently high to solubilize the AgC1 reaction product. The leaching rates are slow, and the apparent activation energy is 116 kJ/mol. The addition of sulphate ions to the FeC13-HC1 system reduces the tetrahedrite leaching rate to values similar to those realized in the Fe(SO4)1.5-H2SO4 system. At <100°C, enargite dissolves slowly in either Fe(SO4)1.5 or FeC13 media, and the dissolution rate obeys the shrinking core model. The rate increases with increasing temperature and the apparent activation energies are 50-64 kJ/mol. The rate increases slightly with increasing FeC13 concentrations in 0.3 M HC1 media. The leaching of enargite at elevated temperatures and pressures was also investigated. Potentially useful leaching rates are achieved above 170°C, at which temperature sulphate, rather than sulphur, is produced. Lower temperatures (130-160°C) lead to fast initial leaching rates, but the dissolution of the enargite is incomplete because of the coating of the enargite particles by elemental sulphur.

Jan 1, 2007

By D. Kunstelj, M. Stubicar, A. Tonejc, A. Bonefacic

A. Bonefafcic, D. Kunsfeli, M. Stubicar, and A. Tonejc The present communication is concerned with the variation of the texture in aluminum wires with die angle and temperature, at constant speed of extrusion. Experiments were carried out concurrently on refined samples, with a stated purity of 99.997 pct pure A1 and commercial samples of 99.5 pct Al. Ingots of refined aluminum samples were machined to 30-mm-diam by 150-mm-long billets. These billets were transformed to 5-mm-diam wires by drawing. The final form, suitable for examination, was obtained by extrusion through conical-face dies with a 1-mm hole diam and extrusion ratio 5:l in diam. The initial form of the commercial aluminum samples was drawn wire 5 mm in diam. These samples showed a poorly defined texture with (111) as a major and (001) as a minor component. A similar defined texture appeared in the refined aluminum samples after drawing to 5 mm diam. Conical-face dies with different angles (defined by the axis and the generating line of the cone) were used in our experiments. The values of the angles were 27, 35, 45, 57, 63, and 90 deg. The extrusion container was fitted with a heating element and controller permitting temperatures up to 600°C to be maintained within i5"C. Extrusion was performed at 250°, 300°, 350°, 400°, and 500°C at constant speed (approximately 1 mm per sec) and constant die reduction. The extrusion product was a wire 1 mm in diam and approximately 20 cm long. In order to remove the surface layer with the "conical" texture and to reduce the absorption by the X-ray examination of the samples, the extruded wire was etched to 0.22 mm in diam. Experiments were performed in the middle sections of the 20-cm-long wires. In addition to the die of l-mm hole diam, dies with a 1.5-, 0.7-, 0.6-, 0.5-, and 0.4-mm hole diam and 63-deg die angle were constructed. In our experiments we did not find in these ranges any important difference concerning the texture of the extruded wires and we continued our work solely on the 1.0-mm die. The diffracted X-rays (Cu K radiation) were recorded photographically. Diffracted intensities were measured on the (111) reflection with a microphotometer. The relative amounts of texture components were determined from the areas under the diffracted maxima. We found the texture of extruded aluminum wires to be strongly influenced not only by the temperature of extrusion and the purity of the sample but also by the form of the die. It is generally admitted that cold-drawn aluminum wires have mainly a (111) texture with a small amount of (001) component, Table I of Ref. 1. In our experiments with wires extruded in conditions represented by Fig. 1, in some cases a single (001) texture was obtained. If these wires were drawn repeatedly at room temperature, X-ray measurements revealed a duplex (001)-(111) fiber texture. Further drawings increased the (111) and decreased the (001) texture component. In Fig. 1 the percentage of material oriented with (001) parallel to the extrusion direction is represented as a function of the temperature and the die angle (a), for commercial and refined aluminum samples, respectively. From these diagrams we may draw the following conclusions. The slope of the die (a) influenced more strongly the texture at the lower rather than the higher temperatures. Again, a stronger influence was found in the case of the commercial in comparison with refined aluminum samples. In the case of the commercial aluminum samples the amount of material with (001) texture increases with increasing wire temperature in an approximately linear manner. This effect is less pronounced in the pure aluminum samples, with the exception of the die with a = 45 deg. In this case the (001) texture decreases with increasing temperature, as shown in Fig. 1. Component (001) is more pronounced in higher-purity aluminum samples. Our experiments led to the conclusion that both (001) and (111) components are essentially stable in extruded aluminum wires. As we obtained a single (001) texture starting with a sample of drawn wire in which the (001) component was very weak, our experiments revealed that the (001) component is not a remnant of the initial texture; this is in disagreement with the findings of Vandermeer and McHargue.1 We gratefully acknowledge discussions with Professor M. Paic. 1 R. A. Vandermeer and C. J. McHargue: Trans. 7MS-AME, 1964, vol. 230, p. 667.

Jan 1, 1969

By Rob Sloan, Simon Yu, Rob Robison, Mark Schmidt

"In 2000-2009, Highland Valley Copper (HVC) tested new generation 660 mm cyclones supplied by various manufacturers in an aim to replace existing first generation 762 mm cyclones without success. Due to plant infrastructure limitations, new generation larger (838 and 800 mm) cyclones were not feasible. In 2010, an approach of testing hybrid 800 mm diameter cyclones was initiated by HVC. The hybrid cyclone consists of an 800 mm cyclone upper head section and the use of existing 762 mm cyclone conical sections. Three hybrid 800 mm cyclones were engineered and fabricated, targeting a throughput of 850-950 mtph and were installed in the E line cyclone cluster. Since starting operation on September 20, 2011, three hybrid 800 mm cyclones have been running at combined throughput ranges of 750 to 1050 mtph. Based on plant Daily Met Reports, the test hybrid cyclones demonstrated a decrease in misplacement of coarse copper bearing material to the cyclone overflow and better cyclone efficiency when compared to the existing 762 mm cyclones at the same throughput. The hybrid 800 mm cyclones also demonstrated significantly higher capacity per unit when compared to the existing cyclones. Based on the improvement demonstrated in the full plant trials, HVC decided to install the new hybrid 800 mm cyclones in all five grinding lines starting in July, 2012. A more detailed discussion of the full plant trials and initial results of the first complete retrofit of E line will be presented. INTRODUCTIONHighland Valley Copper Partnership (HVC) is Canada’s largest base metals mine and one of the world’s largest producers of Cu-in-concentrate. The mine, located in the central interior of British Columbia, is owned (97.5% interest) and operated by Teck Resources Ltd. In 2011, HVC produced about 210 million lbs. of Cu and 8 million lbs. of Mo. HVC’s Mill Modernization Project (MOP), which was budgeted for $475 M, is currently under intensive construction and is scheduled for commissioning in Q1 2014. The following description was valid at the time of writing this paper.The operation has been expanded a number of times since the startup of the original Lornex mill in 1972. The plant started up with two 9.75 m (32 foot) diameter primary SAG mills. It was expanded in 1981 with the addition of a 10.36 m (34 foot) diameter SAG mill. In 1988, the Highmont concentrator grinding mills and flotation section were moved and attached to the Lornex mill site. This added two10.36 m (34 foot) diameter AG primary mills to the Highland mill. This brought the total number of primary mills to five referred to as Line A, B, C, D and E: three SAG mills (A, B and C) each with two ball mills in parallel and two AG mills (D and E) each with one ball mill. Each AG mill line is equipped with one short head pebble crusher. Ball mill circuits are classified using 8 clusters of ten Linatex 762 mm cyclones to reach a target P80 330 micron (equivalent 43% +100 mesh), before the cyclone overflow product advances to the bulk flotation circuit."

Jan 1, 2013

By Antti J. Perala, Teemu J. Yli-Kovero

"Efficient use of land is constantly requiring more underground construction. Minimized execution time and disturbance to surroundings and nearby structures are essential benefits for all construction techniques. To meet the demands of a modern construction project, suppliers have to be able to provide high-quality and tailor-made products just on time. RD pile wall is a retaining wall based on drilled steel pipe piles which are connected to each other with special interlocking profiles. RD pile wall is a solution which enables penetration of overburden soil, dense fill layers including stones and boulders, and embedding into the bedrock in one single operation. Several test installations and laboratory tests have been made to develop the system and to test and improve the water tightness of the wall. Beside these tests, RD pile wall has also proven its reliability in almost 70 projects. Largest project so far has been Pasila Tripla project in Helsinki, Finland. A permanent retaining wall with surface area of 18,000 m2 (193,750 ft2), excavation depth of 21 m (68 ft) and over 17 m (56 ft) of water pressure was made with 711 mm (28”) and 406.4 mm (16”) pile sizes. Piles were delivered to site in one piece with lengths up to 33.5 m (110 ft).INTRODUCTIONExcavations in cramped city centers and in between of existing buildings and other structures are facing more and more challenges. Installation of sheet pile walls is often problematic or even impossible due to obstacles in ground from old structures and due to demand to extend the excavations to even deeper and harder soil layers. Also installations of secant pile walls are facing difficulties due to cramped construction sites and constantly tightening execution times.On the other hand, an efficient and reliable piling technique suitable for the demanding soil conditions described above, percussion drilling, has been developed since the 1960’s, and especially from the mid- 1990’s, when the concentric drilling method with the ring bit and pilot was introduced. A new retaining wall application, the RD pile wall, was developed by combining that drilling method with the widely used retaining wall solution based on steel pipe piles and welded interlocks (a pipe pile wall normally installed with vibratory or impact hammers).PRINCIPLE AND MAIN BENEFITS OF THE METHODRD pile walls can be used in all soil conditions. Most beneficial the system is in extremely demanding soil conditions where the installation of traditional retaining walls is challenging or even impossible. The RD pile wall is a combination of drilled steel pipe piles and interlocking sections as shown in Fig. 1.Individual RD piles are connected to each other with interlocks welded to the piles on the automated welding line at the workshop. The matching dimensions of the drilling system and interlocking sections allow the installation of RD piles through stones and boulders and even into the bedrock, if necessary, in a single operation. Installation is done by a down-the-hole (DTH) hammer using the centric drilling system and oversized ring bits or a drilling system consisting of a pilot bit and reamer wings shown in Fig. 2."

Jan 1, 2017

By Peter Cali, David Yang, Rakshya Shrestha, Ralph Griffin, Sushil Kafle, Motoji Watanabe

"As a part of the ‘US Army Corps of Engineers - New Orleans to Venice, Louisiana Hurricane Protection Project’, deep mixing ground improvement was designed to reinforce the soft ground for the emergency repair of a 7297-foot (2,224 m) long section of the Mississippi River West Bank levee in Buras Levee District under the contract ‘Emergency Levee Repairs – Contract P-17A, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana’. The ground improvement utilizes a series of soil-cement panels oriented in the transverse direction of the levee. Each soil-cement panel consists of overlapped columns installed by the deep mixing method (DMM). DMM is performed from the existing top of levee and extended to competent stratum at depths varying from 26 feet (7.9 m) to 47 feet (14.3 m) below the working platform. The main purpose of the DMM panels is to provide shear resistance to the levee against lateral loads at high flood water condition. The DMM panels support the additional vertical load created by the increased height of the levee for hurricane protection and control the long-term settlement of the remediated levee, which might otherwise occur due to the compression of soft foundation soils. The total amount of DMM treatment is approximately 54,000 cubic yards (41,500 cubic meters). This paper reviews the project background, subsurface soil conditions and presents the design, construction and quality control of the deep mixing work for this levee repair project.INTRODUCTIONIn August 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused major damage to the federal and non-federal flood control projects in southeast Louisiana. In September 2005, Hurricane Rita caused further damage to this flood protection system. In an effort to minimize further damage and to enhance the protection level, certain non-federal levees located on the west bank of the Mississippi river in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana were incorporated into the New Orleans to Venice Hurricane Protection project by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). DMM techniques were then utilized by the USACE in several of these emergency projects and in many medium sized projects between 2006 and 2010 (Bruce et al. 2012). This project (called P-17A hereafter) which forms a part of this protection system is executed under the contract Emergency Levee Repairs, Contract P-17A. This is one of the largest projects of the USACE after LPV- 111. The huge LPV-111 project (5.5 miles (8.9 km) of levee) treated by DMM), the largest DMM project ever conducted outside Japan, began in 2010 and was completed in 2012 (Cali et al. 2012, Bruce et al. 2012).DMM is utilized at P-17A to construct a series of soil-cement panels oriented in the transverse direction of the existing levee to provide shear resistance to the levee against the lateral load during high flood water condition. The project extends 7297-foot (2,224 m) along the West Bank Levee of the Mississippi River in the Buras district of Louisiana, parallel to Louisiana Highway 23 (LA-23) as shown in Figure 1. It is located approximately 60 miles (96 km) south-east of downtown New Orleans."

Jan 1, 2015

ALABAMA Aldrich -Thomas, D A Altoona -Cain, J Anniston -Cowie, L K Walmsley, W N White, H E Ashland -Sturdevant, J C Bankhead -Connaway, M B Bessemer-Ball, E M McKenzie, W C, Jr Mitchell, F R Morgan, C Thompson, N E Birmingham -Abbott, C E Adams, J H

Jan 1, 1923

By B. G. Meyburgh

E. H. D. Carman: The results achieved at Buffelsfontein Gold Mining Company Limited are very encouraging and it seems certain that as far as the conventional uranium recovery process is concerned solvent extraction must entirely supplant the old resin ion exchange process. The operational costs given by Mr Meyburgh indicate that the chief cost items in solvent extraction are reagents. In other words 38.4 per cent of the operational cost at Buffelsfontein is due to the replacement of the organics lost from the plant. It is reported from a wide field of experience that loss, particularly of amine, is a direct function both of the quantity and nature of finely divided suspended solids in the pregnant solution and the extent to which the design of the mixers causes the formation of secondary dispersions which do not easily separate in the settler. There is in addition the unavoidable loss of amine due to its solubility in the aqueous solution which is thought to be about 4 p.p.m. In order to minimise solvent losses therefore, efficient clarification at the head of the solvent extraction plant would appear to be a most important requirement. For this reason the newly erected plant at West Driefontein Gold Mining Company Limited has two Funda Pressure Filters each with a filtering area of 540 sq. ft. which are together designed to handle up to 440 g.p.m. of filtrate. This plant has not yet been commissioned but preliminary testing indicates that suspended solids in the sub micron size range which do not settle even on protracted standing of the solution, will rapidly blind the clarifiers. This should not affect solution clarity but frequent backwashing adds to the cost of precoating. The difficulty was countered in the laboratory with continuous additions of filter aid in addition to the precoat but, as Table 11shows, cost of filter aid is high and its use will have to be optimized against organic losses due to less efficient clarification. This will need much careful observation over a relatively long period of time. Costs shown in Table 11 are based on Mr Meyburgh&apos;s figures adjusted to probable conditions at West Driefontein Gold Mining Company Limited. The assumption based on small scale testing is that it will cost 5.2c/ton in filter aid to clarify filtrate to a level of about 5 p.p.m. of suspended solids, in order to restrict the amine loss to 10 p.p.m. which is likely to be equivalent to an entrained organic loss worth approximately only 2.6 cents per ton. Of course poor clarification as mentioned earlier is only one of two or even more causes of organic losses and it seems obvious on the above basis that the operation and economics of pressure clarification will need close investigation. A second important consideration at West Driefontein has been the design of the pump-mixers which must perform the dual function of phase mixing and providing the necessary hydraulic gradient for counter current flow of the two phases. The arrangement is shown in Fig. 1.

Jan 10, 1970

By W. P. Clement, M. C. Bell

"PT International Nickel Indonesia, a subsidiary of Inco Limited, mines and processes nickel laterite ores for the supply of nickel matte, primarily to the Japanese market. It has large ore reserves and a substantial portion of its energy requirement is supplied from its own hydro-electric plant. Since the early 1980s, the company has increased its production level and has dramatically reduced its unit costs. Projects are in progress to further decrease costs and recently a major expansion - 31% increase in nominal capacity - has been undertaken, consistent with marketing opportunity in Japan. The expansion project, which has a low capital cost per unit of production, is outlined in this paper.IntroductionPT Inco is a fully integrated mining and smelting facility located in Indonesia on the island of Sulawesi, and is based on a very large, world class nickel laterite orebody located 60 km inland from the Gulf of Bone. Construction of a single furnace line plant started in 1973. Complete supporting infrastructure of townsite, hospital, schools, shopping centres, road systems, and an airport, all had to be built. Prior to completing the first phase, the decision to expand the plant to a three kiln-furnace line was made. A major factor in the decision was the ability to develop the hydroelectric potential of the nearby Larona River. This involved construction of a 30 m high dam, and a 7 km surface canal to the generating station. The penstocks drop 150m to three 55 Mw turbines. The power generated is sufficient to supply the entire electrical load for the complete smelting complex and town site. The unique capability to supply the high smelting energy requirements for a lateritic nickel ore by fully captive hydro power, has, over the past decade insulated PT Inco from the large upward swings in oil prices suffered by other lateritic nickel producers.Wet ore is first partially dried to 20% moisture in two co-currently fired rotary driers, screened on an internal trommel, and delivered to two dry ore storage buildings. The partially dried ore is calcined at 750°C and partially reduced in three large 100 m by 5.5 m kilns. Reduction is accomplished by lancing bunker C oil onto the ore bed at the discharge end of the kiln. The kilns are equipped with five air pipes with onboard blowers to gradually bum the combustible gases generated by the lance oil. The kilns were also originally equipped with two side burners to supply additional heat close to the feed end of the kiln. Calcined ore is transferred by 20 ton refractory lined containers to the furnace feed bins at the top of the smelter. Smelting is carried out in three 18 m diameter furnaces powered by 45 Mw transformers. Slag is skimmed at 1550°C through water cooled breast plates and removed to the slag dump by Haulmaster Carriers. Matte of 25% Ni, 1O% S, 65% Fe is tapped at 1350°C into the converter aisle. The iron is slagged in converters to produce a nickel sulphide matte at 80% Ni. Three rotary Kaldo converters were initially installed. The product matte is granulated, dried, and shipped in returnable rubber bags to Japan. Most of the matte is fluid-bed roasted to nickel oxide and then directly reduced in a second reducing fluid bed reactor at our facilities in Japan.The smelting complex was designed to smelt two million tonnes of dry ore per year, equivalent to 34 000 tonne nickel production at an ore grade of 2% Ni. The cost of the entire project including working capital was $900 million."

Jan 1, 1990

By Andrew Franklin

The eightieth regular meeting and convention was called to order by the President, John T. Atkins, at 9:15 a.m. Monday, June 25, 1984 in the Colorado Ballroom of the Marriott&apos;s Mark Resort in Vail, Colorado. President Atkins welcomed the members and their guests to the convention and noted that the annual business meeting would be held Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in the same room. A convention update was made by the Conven¬tion Liaison Officer, Loren V. Linville. This was followed with a program report by the Program Chairman, Doug Ingram. The chair then called on Clifford Barrett, Upper Colorado Regional Director of the Bureau of Rec¬lamation of the United States Department of the Interior. He presented the Bureau&apos;s Citizen Award to RMCMI former president Ira E. McKeever for his outstanding contributions to the joint private/ Federal effort and the open planning process for AQUATRAIN. According to Barrett, "from 1981 to early 1984, McKeever led private industry work in the AQUATRAIN project, a proposal for a 1,400 mile long pipeline system. AQUATRAIN was conceived as a possible alternative to solve the government&apos;s problem of rising salinity levels in the Colorado river, as well as the private sector&apos;s need for a more economical coal transport method. The Citizen Award cites McKeever&apos;s efforts in developing a model for future cooperative ventures between government and industry that can benefit the nation." Following this presentation, the formal program of the 80th meeting and convention began with the president, John Atkins, introducing the convention kickoff speaker, Andrew Franklin, President of Nerco Mining Co., Inc., followed by the convention keynote speaker, Dr. Margaret N. Maxey of the University of Texas. These speeches are printed in this Proceedings together with those of all other convention speakers. I&apos;m Andrew Franklin, President of Nerco Min¬ing Company, and I&apos;m delighted to be here to kick off the annual convention of the Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute. This has always been a very special convention in my eyes and I&apos;m sure this year&apos;s will be no exception. I am also here to share my thoughts on the western coal industry and how we&apos;re all affected - for good and bad - by public policy decisions. Although the title of my talk is "Western Coal: An Industry Under Siege," I believe a more accurate title might be "Western Coal: The Pit and The Pendulum," because of the wide swings in public policy and coal development in the past 15 years which have cut a zigzag path for growth over this period. As one of the nation&apos;s largest coal producers, Nerco is well aware of the problems facing western coal production. Nerco Mining Company is the western coal mining subsidiary of Nerco Inc. We have been "in coal" for more than 25 years through our parent company, Pacific Power & Light. To state my conclusion at the outset, I feel it&apos;s extremely important that consistency and common sense should guide our national policy for the development of valuable energy resources. In particu¬lar, we must reduce the wide swings in government policy and activities which have affected energy development. In short, we must decide what kind of game we&apos;re playing so that the "players" and the "referees" can keep their eyes on the "ball." Business today faces two main types of uncertainty market uncertainty and public policy uncertainty. As businessmen, we expect and are used to facing the familiar challenges and uncertainties of the market in which we operate. Over the past 10 years, the market has appeared to be bullish on coal. But the facts make our future less rosy. Last year, western coal producers faced over 50 million

Jan 1, 1984

BUFFALO J R Atkinson, Chairman (Hamilton, Ont, Canada) C E Moyer, Vice-Chairman H A Morlock, Secretary CHICAGO H Erler, Chairman (Gary, Ind ) M E Nickel, Vice-Chairman A M Kroner, Secretary-Treasurer CLEVELAND C W Cravens, Chairman (Cleveland) E J Sobey, Vice-Chairman E Kondas, Secretary Leo Svete, Treasurer

Jan 1, 1958

By J. W. Downey, A. E. Dwight, M. H. Mueller, H. Knott, R. A. Conner

Sixty new ternary equiatomic compounds are reported with a hexagonal crystal structure that is isostructural with or very similar to Fe2P, D3h-P62m. HoNiAl is a typical example, with a, = 6.9893 ± 0.0003Å, C, = 3.8204 ± 0.003Å, and c/a = 0.54 7. Three holmium atoms occupy (g): x,0,1/2 three aluminum atoms occupy (f): x,0,0; one nickel atom occupies (b): 0,0,1/2; and two nickel atoms occupy (c): 4, + , 0. The nonequivalent 1(b) and 2(c) sites give rise to two sets of unequal interatornic distances (i.e., Ho-Ni and Al-NL in the case above), which account for the prevalence of Fe2P-type tertmry compounds and the scarcity of binary examples. Unit-cell constants are presented for the sixty compounds and density measurements on the compounds HoNiAl and UFeGa confirm that three formula weights are present per unit cell. Neutron and X-ray powder diffraction intensity measurements were made on CeNiAl and HoNiAl, respectively. The atomic posiLiotml parameters in CeNiAl were determined from neutron data to be x = 0.580 5 0.001 for cerium and 0.219 5 0.001 for aluminum. An investigation of the quasibinary section between the binary compounds CeNi2 and CeA12 revealed a new ternary compound CeNiAl. The compound has a hexagonal structure and is isostructural with the prototype compound Fe2P. Additional examples discovered or confirmed in this investigation provide a total of sixty ternary compounds that are isostructural with or closely related to Fe2P. Previous investigators1&apos;2 reported the unit-cell constants for the hexagonal compounds UFeA1, UCoAl, UIrA1, ZrNiAl, ZrNiGa, HfNiAl, and HfNiGa and the present investigation has confirmed that the compounds are isostructural with Fe2P. Independently, Steeb and petzow3 reported the same structure type for UCoAl, UIrA1, and UNiA1. However, the present results suggest a different atomic site occupancy for the component atoms in the three compounds. A detailed investigation of the relative positions of the three kinds of atoms in the compounds CeNiAl and HoNiAl will be discussed. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The equiatomic alloys were prepared from elements of 99.9+ pct purity by arc melting under a helium-argon atmosphere. After homogenization at temperatures from 700" to 900&apos; C, a metallographic examination was performed by conventional methods, and density measurements were carried out by the immersion method in CCl4. A powder sample was prepared for diffraction studies by crushing a portion of the annealed button. X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained with a Debye-Scherrer camera, in which the annealed powder was glued to a quartz filament, and indexed with the aid of a Bunn chart. Unit-cell constants were calculated from the computer program of Mueller, Heaton, and Miller4 and d spacings were obtained by the program of Mueller, Meyer, and Simonsen.5 The intensity values were calculated from the relation I, ~ (m)(L.P.)F2 by a computer program written by Busing, Martin, and Levy.6 The absorption and temperature correction factors were neglected. An X-ray study of HoNiAl was carried out to take advantage of: large differences in atomic scattering factors for holmium and aluminum, X-ray patters free of background darkening, negligible oxidation at room temperature, and negligible weight loss in the preparation of this alloy. The neutron diffraction studies were made on a powder sample of CeNiAl contained in a -in. diam V tube and a pattern was obtained with neutrons of wavelength The neutron scattering factors employed (x 10-12 cm). In contrast to the scattering amplitude for X-rays, cesium does not have the largest cross section, however, there is a sufficient difference in the neutron scattering amplitudes to distinguish between the atomic species. The neutron transmission was high, 86 pct; therefore, absorption corrections were not necessary for the cylindrical sample. Most reflections could not be observed individually, because of the relatively large unit cell (a = 6.9756 and c = 4.0206Å) and relatively short neutron wavelength; therefore, the intensity of grouped reflections was considered. The Kennicott modification7 of the Busing-Martin-Levy program6 was employed to determine the identity of the atoms at the various lattice sites and the positional parameters. RESULTS A structure for the prototype compound Fe2P was first reported by Hendricks and Kosting;8 however, the structure was in error. The correct structure, as reported by Rundqvist and Jellinek,9 is as follows. The unit-cell constants and volumes per formula weight (V/M) are given in Table I for the sixty compounds examined in this investigation and classified as Fe2P-type compounds. The structure type was determined initially from a comparison of the unit-cell constants of HoNiAl with other known examples of this structure type1&apos; and from the density of HoNiAl, given in Table 11. The density indicated that three formula weights comprised a unit cell, as in the prototype compound Fe2P. The assignment of the three species to lattice sites was made initially on the basis of atomic size. The large holmium atoms were assigned to the 3(g) sites that have a relatively large interatomic distance to nearest neighbor positions, the small nickel

Jan 1, 1969

By N. Staroselsky

"Significant energy savings are often possible for centrifugal compressors operating in parallel by improved control strategy and improved instrumentation. Blow-off can usually be reduced by improved surge control combined with a better control strategy for loading and unloading the group of machines. More precise and stable pressure control then becomes possible. This improved control strategy will also decrease the frequency of operation near the dangerous limits of surge or overload or overspeed. A sample station of mixed centrifugal and reciprocating compressors is examined and a substantial energy saving with the recommended control strategy is projected from operating data. Present Operating Conditions of the Compressed Air StationThe Compressor StationThe compressor station described here has three centrifugal compressors and three reciprocating. It supplies a mine in New Brunswick.Compressed Air and Power ConsumptionFigure I and Figure 2 provide graphs of air consumption and pressure changes based on the owner&apos;s data.During the typical two-shift operating day (Fig . I) in the non-productive shift (midnight to 8:00 a.m.), the consumption stays at a level of 9,000 SCFM. This corresponds to a pressure of 110 PSIG. Then, after 8:00 a.m ., the air consumption starts to increase and th e pressure decreases. Around 10:00 a.m., the consumption reaches its maximum level at 97 PSIG. Around II :30 a.m., the air consumption starts to decrease because of the production drop during the lunch break of the first shift. Pressure increases again up to 109 PSIG. After the break, consumption rises to its maximum level over 16,000 SCFM andpressure drops to 97 PSIG.Around 2:30 p.m., the air consumption drops sharply to 9,000 SCFM because of the production decrease to zero level. This drop results from changing of shifts. The pressure at this time increases again up to 110 PSIG. The second shift (2:30 to II :30 p.m.) is an alogous to the first.During the three-shift operating day, the break around 4:00 . a.m . and the shift change around 6:30 a.m. cause sharp drops in air consumption. The pressure for almost the entire night shift stays near 110 PSIG because the station is working with blowing-off even under the maximum consumption. The analysis of Figures I and 2 shows that the pressure varies with the air consumption changes. During non -productive time (non-production shifts , shift changes and breaks) or during the night shift, the total station capacity is proportional to the discharge pressure. By decreasing the level of this pressure up to 97 PSIG, the flow of the station may be decreased during the non-production time as follow s:"

Jan 1, 1980

LIST OF MEMBERS AND ASSOCIATES ARRANGED ACCORDING TO STATES AND TOWNS ALABAMA Aldrich, Aldrich, W F Anniston, Noble, A E, Smith, N B Aibacoche, Bradley, D II Bessemer, Fergusson, V Birmingham, Aldrich, T H, Aldrich, T H, Jr, Bowron, J, Bowron, C E, Davis, F H, Dimmick, F D, Hillman, McCarthy, M E , McCormack, McCrery, Ramsay, E, Shook, A M Bridge¬port, Wheeler, S K Ensley, McDonald, S, Shook, J W Fanbanks, Hamil¬ton, A L Helena, Squire, J Huntsville, Moss Lehigh, Toulmin Oxmoor, Green¬amyer, A G Plasma, Gage Rock Run, Garvin Sheffileld, Miller, D I Tuscaloesa, Lodge, J University, McCalley Woodward, Bukofzer, Woodward, A H ALASKA Dawson, Buck Douglas Island, Corbus, J P , Macdonald, J Hames, Le Wald, E A Jualin, Hoggatt, W B Juneau, Denby, Gaifield, Garside, Hamp¬ton, W H Rodman Bay, Phillpots Snettisham, Tisdale Sumdum, Thane Tel¬ler, Hirshberg, M R Treadwell City, Batcheller, J H , Kinzie Valdez, Esterly, G M Yukon, Dawson, Elmer, J M ARIZONA Bisbee, Clark, G C, Coombs, H L , Douglas, W, Hoatson, Parnall, S A, Pelton, R T, Ricketts, L D, Sherman, G F G, Smith, F W, Smith, H A Black Diamond, Bagge Blanchard, Cummins, Murray, J J Casa Grande, Rich¬mond, A B Clifton, Colquhoun, Grabill, Murray, H T , Plater, Smith, J D A, Veitch, Watson, W S Congress, Goodloe Crown King, Alexander, G E Douglas, Cornell, Kraemer, E L, Lee, G B, Rutherford, F Globe, Berray, Hoar, Snell Harrisburg, Smith, F C Jerome, Clark, W A, Thomas, C A Kingman, Treadwell, Wallace, J P Kirkland, Bretherton, G K Kofa, Lamp¬shire, J O , Pomeroy, H G Mayer, Haggott, E A Metca j, Blumenkranz, M , Forbes, D L H Morenca, Clark, C D, Fleming, J B, Honey man, Mills, C E, Wallace, L R Morristown, Stevens, H W Nogales, Glove, H G, Sandoval, A , Sandoval, P Octave, Rose, G W Phoenix, Armstrong, T , Butler, C E, Defty, Lindsay, L Prescott, Blauvelt, H , Bunker, C E, Claypool, W M , Drescher, F M , Fairbank, Nissen Tombstone, Gage, Poindexter, C L , Staunton, Walker, E W Troy, Cutting Tucson, Blake, W P, Burgess, De Lashmutt, I, McCleary, Mann, Prout, J W , Jr ARKANSAS Fayetteville, Purdue Fort Smith, Bache, F , Denman, H Little Rock, Fordyce, Scholz CALIFORNIA Alameda, Arents, King, L Arnador City, Downs, Tregloan Angeles Camp, Dig¬gles, R N , Kenney, C E Antioch, Belshaw Auburn, Coe, I J Ballarat, Thorns Berkeley, Abadie,, Christy, Dozier, Hall, F F , Hersam, Landfield, Lind¬say, L , Mansfield, N T, Morley, W S , Sharwood, W J Bag Oak Flat, Dron Bodae, Hamilton, W R, Hoover, T, Hoover, T J, Jackson, B L , Nutter , E, H Bullion, Power, H T Callahan, Scott, E H Campo Seco, Baird Cartero,

Jan 1, 1910

By G Tripp, G Lorusso

The Velvet gold orebody (153 Koz Au) is located near the Kanowna Belle gold deposit in the Boorara Domain of the Kalgoorlie Terrane, a subdivision of the Archaean Eastern Goldfields Superterrane (Swager et al, 1990). Gold mineralisation at Velvet is hosted within an intrusion of intermediate composition that broadly follows a sub vertical hanging wall splay of the Fitzroy Shear Zone.Velvet was discovered in 2003 during an underground exploration drilling program targeting potential strike extensions to the Kanowna Belle deposit. Diamond drill hole KDU1595 returned a downhole intercept of 36 m grading 4.6 ppm Au approximately 500 m west of the deposit and at a vertical depth of 700 m below surface in the immediate hanging wall of the primary Kanowna Belle host structure, the Fitzroy Shear Zone. Subsequent drilling completed following the initial discovery, from both surface and underground collar positions, failed to replicate this result.In 2014, KDU1595 was resurveyed gyroscopically and the mineralised intercept correctly located. Additional drilling was undertaken to follow-up the repositioned discovery hole. Challenges included poor drilling angles through the Fitzroy Shear Zone, excessive deviation during drilling and the unknown geometry of the target. Navigational drilling helped to successfully penetrate the Fitzroy Shear Zone and in April 2015, drill hole KDU3234 returned a significant downhole intercept of 45 m grading 5.6 ppm Au.Additional drilling success resulted in a decision to develop a 600 m drive to serve as a dual-purpose access for further exploration and mining. This was a potential risk considering that the orebody geometry was unknown and all significant drilling results were clustered within a 50 m &#215; 50 m panel. Development commenced in June 2015 and the first ore cut taken in April 2016. Geological mapping and structural interpretation, together with multi-element and spectral analysis of drill samples has enabled several other target areas to be identified for exploration. The Velvet mining area is critical to continued production at Kanowna Belle. Geological understanding must advance as mining progresses to ensure continued resource growth and optimal extraction of reserves.CITATION:Lorusso, G, Rogers, J and Tripp, G, 2017. Velvet underground exhumed – discovery and development of a new mining front at the Kanowna Belle gold mine, in Proceedings Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017, pp 169–174 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 20, 2017

By Chen Xia, G. Deschenes, Wan-Tai Yen

"Ammonium thiosulphate is a potential replacement for the cyanide in gold leaching. However, the high reagent consumption hinders its practical applications. In order to reduce the thiosulphate consumption, chemical additives were used. The gold leaching tests were conducted on a sulphide copper-bearing gold ore with 0.3M thiosulphate, 0.03M copper sulphate and 3M ammonium hydroxide solution at 44% solids and pH 10.2. Sulphate, sulphite, amino acid and chelating agents were initially used as additives. It was found that chelating agents (EDTA and NTA) could reduce the thiosulphate consumption from 30 kg/t to 17.8 kg/t with some increase of gold extraction. The improvement from other additives was not significant. Other approaches were also attempted to reduce thiosulphate consumption with some success. The thiosulphate consumption could be reduced to about 17 kg/t by reducing copper sulphate concentration fiom 0.03M to 0.0015M; adding 0.04M of EDTA; replacing copper sulphate with 0.001M of nickel sulphate. The increase of pulp density fkom 44% to 60% solids could reduce the thiosulphate consumption to 17 kg/t as well. Limiting the dissolved oxygen content by sparging nitrogen reduced the thiosulphate consumption further to 10 kg/t. It could be concluded that the regulations of copper and oxygen supply in the lixiviant were the keys to reduce the reagent consumption.INTRODUCTIONCyanidation, as the predominant gold leaching method, has been used in mining industry for more than a century. The low reagent requirement and the high performance are the reasons for its great success. However, cyanidation cannot deal with ores containing large amount of copper, nickel, arsenic and zinc minerals. This type of ore may consume more reagents and result in a poor gold extraction. On the other hand, the carbonaceous materials may preg-rob the gold from pregnant solution and make cyanidation a problem leaching method. Further more, the high toxicity of cyanide represents another challenge to modern gold mines. In the beginning of the year 2000, an environmental disaster caused by an accidental spill in Yugoslavia was broadcasted world-widely (Gurevitch 2000). Gold mine operators are facing higher social pressures and increasing costs on environmental protections. The usage of cyanide in mining industry has been banned in some countries and locations such as Czech Republic, Japan, Turkey, California, Colorado, Wisconsin and Montana States. Thus, a non-cyanide lixiviant is required."

Jan 1, 2002

During the past 10 years, research work to improve the survey of stope limits after mining supplied useful information, particularly for large open and sub-level stopes, regarding waste dilution caused by differences between final production limits and planned stope limits. However, the efficiency of this information to improve the overall efficiency of the mining process is limited, given that the impacts of inaccurate ore limits leading to dilution (sensu stricto) and ore losses haw not been considered adequately. Geological/sampling information should be optimized in terms of quantity and/or quality for the deposit characteristics and the constraints of the mining method used. As industry practice regarding the definition and recording of dilution is flexible and as ore losses frequently am poorly doc-umented, the use of these terms is reviewed. Simulations were carried out on two typical narrow gold deposits, based on an earlier study at Inco&apos;s Thompson mine regarding the impacts of wide to narrow delineation grids using recorded variations of vein geometry. Vertical to sub-vertical deposits of 3 m and 6 m widths mined by long-hole open stopes were considered. Deposits delineated by 7.5 m (25 ft) grids were taken as a base case and the impacts of less accurate limits in conjunction with long hole mining based only on a 15 m (50 ft) delin¬eation grid. The impacts of overestimation (dilution) and underestimation (metal losses) were considered separately, using the average error of +/-0.62 m recorded in the Inco study. The impact of less accurate information was much stronger on the narrower deposit: both dilution and ore losses diminished the net present value of the 3 m wide deposit by 39.27% and 45.41%, respectively, and that of the 6 m wide deposit by 12.84% and 11.55%. As the impacts of ore loss and those of dilution on the net present value am almost identical in these simulations, we could, in practice, assume a 50/50 split between dilution and ore losses in such a case. These results do no take into account the effects of local optimization measures taken at the mine production level (blasthole sampling near stope limits, etc.) The potential impacts of geological and sampling uncertainties in terms of lower NPV justify and require more systematic efforts to ensure that deposit appraisal work and feasibility studies are adequate to optimize company revenue and competitive returns to investors from mine production activities.

Jan 1, 2005