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By Tuncel M. Yegulalp, Selamet G. Ergelebi

A description is given of a method of analysing modern mining systems in terms of reliability and their effects on productivity. Non-exponential distributions, such as the Weibull and lognormal distributions, for failure and equipment repair times are also considered. The resulting non-homogeneous Markov process is solved by the method of stages. A longwall mining system is analysed as an example.

Jan 4, 1993

By John Craw

This paper has formulated the methods, both medical and engineering, for the control of pneumokoniosis in the haematite-mining industry in West Cumberland, but this is only part of a general service to improve the lot of the worker in these mines, to make him a better and happier workman, and to permit him to enjoy his work and leisure in comfort and good health. This organization has now been functioning for more than ten years and the results are indeed heartening, but it is only as a result of constant vigilance from the mining and medical point of view that such a plan can operate efficiently. The human element and its full understanding is by no means the least of the problems.

Jan 1, 1947

By J. Drzymala, K. L. Wolters, T. Chmielewski, T. D. Wheelock, D. H. Birlingmair

Microflotation tests were conducted with a modified Hallimond tube equipped with a fritted glass disk and magnetic stirrer to determine whether the results would support an equation that predicts a linear relationship between particle size and the reciprocal of particle density in water for a specified flotation recovery in a given time. Data obtained with the tube for either hydrophilic or hydrophobic solids fit the equation satisfactorily. It was also shown that the natural flotability of molybdenite is somewhat less than that of elemental sulphur and that sodium dithionite is a good depressant for sulphurised pyrite. In addition, it was found that the untreated pyrite and galena used in the study were hydrophilic and did not float by particle-bubble attachment.

Jan 4, 1992

By L. T. Matthews, C. E. Loo

During sintering, porous ore particles are easily assimilated by liquid melt. Two simple models of the process are considered: the dissolution of a solid by a liquid and the penetration of a liquid into a porous solid. Laboratory sintering studies covering a range of experimental conditions were undertaken to characterise the assimilation of large particles of ore and flux by melts formed from different mixes of fines. For ores, the process appeared to be complicated by the detachment of fines from the ore surface prior to melt formation, according to the mass of adhering fines and surface roughness of the particle. This delayed the onset of assimilation and sometimes reduced it, although melt penetration was fast and effective. Studies using different temperature profiles suggested that the assimilation of haematite was controlled by the transport of Fe2O3 away from the surface of ore particles. The assimilation of limestone depended more on thermal conditions than on the three magnesia-bearing minerals considered. Changing the composition of the initial melt significantly altered the extent of assimilation of ores and limestone, but again had a less marked effect on the magnesia-bearing fluxes.

Jan 8, 1992

By P. Rama Krishna, B. Narasimha Rao, P. Ali i Peera

Induced polarisation (IP) surveys are commonly used in uranium exploration programmes in India. The IP method is effective in detecting the disseminated metallic sulphides that are often associated with uranium minerals. However, conductive and polarisable host rock or overburden often introduces inductive or electromagnetic (EM) coupling into time domain IP measurements. This makes it difficult to distinguish between responses due to such coupling and those that might indicate economic mineralisation. Attempts must be made to remove the EM effects before the IP technique is used in drilling programmes. Transient decay curves which were recorded during field surveys at Pisnari were factorised using the Marquardt algorithm. Dispersion plots of the amplitudes and relaxation times of the composite exponential function enable a clear distinction to be made between the effects of EM coupling and those of mineralisation.

Jan 4, 1993

By L. G. Billington

"The Agnew nickel deposit occurs in a major linear greenstone belt in the Archaean Eastern Goldfields Province of Western Australia, and has been subjected to mid-amphibolite facies nietamorphism of dynamic style. The largest dunitic ultramafic body in the Perseverance Block is host to the bulk of the nickel mineralization. The Perseverance Ultramafic is mineralogically zoned and has an embayed western margin against a mixed metasedimentarv-metavolcanic wallrock sequence.Three categories of nickel sulphide mineralization are concentrated on this western margin at the thickest part of the ultramafic exposure. Massive sulphides characteristically occur as contact mineralization, internal mineralization and as remobilized concentrations in vein form structures. Disseminated ore constitutes the largest volume of mineralized materials in the deposit and occurs in three separate shoots in en-echelon relation. Weakly mineralized 'cloud sulphide' zones surround and envelop the shoots and persist much further along strike. In the upper mine levels the shoots are truncated by a shear or crush zone, which inhibits geological knowledge to the south but marks a major fundamental structural break.Most of the ore types have suffered supergene alteration and there is a complex variable distribution of the mineralogical facies. The ore types have been metamorphically retextured, but the oreshoots can be characterized by their Ni tenor and some chemical ratios. S/Se values, PGF. and precious metal values are distinctly different from those of other nickel sulphide ores extracted.Despite intense structural and metamorphic modification of the mineralizations, some features support an original magmatic derivation for the sulphides. These include the localization of massive sulphide ore types on one marginal contact within an emhayment structure, the general distribution of disseminated mineralizations located immediately above the massive sulphides and the Ni/Cu, Ni/Co, Fe/Ni ratios of the oreshoots being similar to those of deposits that typify the intrusive dunite- associated class of nickel sulphide deposit. Varying S/Ni ratios between different shoots suggest a revision of the single magmatic intrusion model in favour of a changing composition between successive magmatic episodes."

Jan 1, 1984

Further discussion at the Mniing Institute of Scotland's annual general meeting held in Glasgow, 8th April 1916, of the paper published in Trans. I.Min.E. vol li, 1916, p.169-186 with discussion p.187-188, included oral and written contributions by McLaren R. and Waddell H.

Dec 1, 1916

By O. Dojcar

Equations for calculating the parameters of controlled blasting (burden and spacing of boreholes and weight of the bottom charge) are derived and analysed on the basis of empirical values and made more precise through incorporation of the properties of the rock being blasted and explosive applied. For the success of controlled blasting the correct choice of the blasthole diameter/charge diameter ratio is critical. This relation is defined as the coefficient of radial decoupling of the charge; it is recommended that it is chosen to be between 3 and 3.5. Analysis of smooth blasting, cushion blasting and presplitting indicates that cushion blasting is a less destructive alternative to smooth blasting, but it has a slightly higher blasthole consumption and limited possibilities of use. There are definite economic advantages to controlled blasting, especially in rock masses of low and medium strength

Dec 1, 1996

By D. C. Cooper, P. M. Green, J. A. Plant, P. R. Simpson, A. J. Reedman

Paper presented at the 28th International Geological Congress held in Washington DC, July 1989 (International geochemical mapping sessions). The Grampian Highlands and English Lake District evolved as part of the American and European continental plates, respectively, and were separated by the Iapetus Ocean until they were tectonically juxtaposed during the late stages of the Caledonian orogeny. The similarity in the controls of the distribution of gold pathfinder elements and gold mineralisation in the two regions thus provides important information for understanding the genesis of gold deposits in comparable tectonic settings elsewhere. The data presented are inconsistent with models that invoke a juvenile source of gold or its pathfinder elements. Instead, they support a model whereby gold and its pathfinders were initially concentrated in volcano-sedimentary sequences in rapidly subsiding, tectonically controlled basins and in associated volcanic rocks. Remobilisation and mineralisation occurred subsequently, probably as a result of an increase in oxygen fugacity associated with the influx of granite magmas into the crust and the establishment of hydrothermal convective circulation systems

Jul 1, 1991

By D. R. Hudson, M. J. Donaldson

"Study of gravity concentrates from the gold-recovery circuit of the Kambalda nickel mill has enabled an assessment to be made of the nature, relative abundance and compositional variability of platinum group element (PGE) minerals and other associated heavy minerals that are present in the Kambalda nickel deposits. The major platinum minerals are sperrylite, PtAs2, and nioncheite, (Pt. Pd, Ni)(Te, Bi)2, and the major palladium minerals are sudburvite, (Pd, Pt, Ni)(Sb, Te, Bi), stibiopalladinite, Pd6Sb2, and palladoarsenide, Pd2 (As, Sb), together with a palladium antimonide and a palladium arsenide that have not been fully characterized. Palladian melonites, which contain up to 10 wt% Pd, and palladian nickeline are also important PGE hosts. Sperrylite and sudburyite are by far the most abundant discrete minerals in the gravity concentrates.Gold occurs as argentian, cuprian and nickeloan—cuprian gold, and as the tellurides calaverite, petzite and auriferous hessite. Silver is present in petzite, hessite and volynskite. Other rare phases contained in the gravity concentrates include native bismuth, altaite, frohbergite, breithauptite, gersdorffite, parkerite, scheelite, tantalite, cassiterite, rutile, bunsenite, gahnite, barite and uvarovite.Descriptions of in-situ occurrences of PGE minerals at Kambalda are rare. Michenerite, PdBiTe, and testibiopalladite, PdSbTe, have been described from a telluride-rich quartz-carbonate vein that intersects massive sulphide ore in Lunnon Shoot. Moncheite has been observed in chalcopyrite-rich stringers, and sudburyite occurs as inclusions in nickeline in a quartz- carbonate veinlet. No discrete PGE minerals have been found within the massive and matrix ore zones in the Kambalda ore- shoots, and the geochemical distribution of PGE suggests that the formation of discrete PGE phases may be related to post- magmatic processes—in particular, metamorphic segregation of sulphides, and the interaction of the ore sulphides, containing PGE in solid solution, with younger hydrothermal fluids. This has led to local redistribution of the PGE, with concentration in footwall stringers and veins, and in reaction zones."

Jan 1, 1984

By Eric Forssberg, Vigen Zeng

During mechanical grinding high intensity vibration is emitted that contains information on the mill's operating state. Tests, using a laboratory ball mill, studied the influence of operating parameters on the vibration signature. The parameters studied were: mill speed; powder filling; pulp density; grinding period; and pulp temperature. Vibration signals were detected by an accelerometer, amplified by a vibrometer and recorded onto digital audio tape. A digital oscilloscope converted the signals into IBM-compatible data format. Digital signal processing and multivariate data analysis were carried out with specially developed software. The power spectral density was estimated from the time-domain vibration signal. Four new latent variables were used to describe changes in the vibration spectra. A relationship was established between operating parameters and latent variables which could form the basis of a quick and automatic method of monitoring operating parameters in ball mill grinding.

Jan 4, 1993

The mineralogical composition of the ore was determined and the mineral phases with which nickel is associated were identified. The ore was prepared by grinding to -420 micrometres and classification into granulometric fractions. Prior to the main series of experiments the effect of agitation rate on nickel recovery was investigated. The influence of sulphuric acid concentration, temperature and particle size on the kinetics of nickel extraction was then studied, both quantitatively and qualitatively, over fixed value intervals. Application of the initial rate method enabled determination both of the order of reaction with respect to sulphuric acid concentration and the activation energy for the dissolution of nickel. The results indicate that a physical mechanism can be ruled out as the rate-determining step in the extraction of nickel from the ore and that a chemical mechanism is more likely

Dec 1, 1991

By E. H. W. Hornbrook, P. W. B. Friske

Paper presented at the 28th International Geological Congress, Washington DC, July 1989 (International geochemical mapping sessions). The objective of the programme is to establish and maintain a nationally consistent geochemical drainage database. Towards this end systematic surveys have been conducted since 1973. To date more than 200 surveys have been completed to the required standards, representing 180 000 sites and covering about 2 100 000 km2 throughout Canada

Jun 13, 1905

By Evans E. C.

At first sight, the extinction of a mine fire by the action of some such gas as carbon dioxide would appear to be quite a simple and practicable operation. From a consideration of the theoretical aspects only of the question, it becomes evident that the matter is not so simple as it appears to be at first sight. The fire at the Senghenydd Colliery occurred as the result of the disastrous explosion of October 14th, 1913. This explosion was confined to the west side of the colliery; and as a result the timbers in the main intake on this side were set on fire; but these were soon buried beneath falls, and the tire continued under them. Attempts were made to extinguish it with water, with the aid of chemical extinguishers, and by digging it out; hut these had to he abandoned, and ultimately the fire-zone was sealed off by “ bashings” (stoppings). By December, progress in the decrease of combustion was so slow that it was decided to try the effect of inert gas. The installation, control and operation of the carbon dioxide plant and associated water-gauge are described in detail and conclusions drawn for the extinguishing of mine fires by CO2

Dec 1, 1916

By G. J. Lyman

Mayer curves are used for process calculation in coal preparation. They can also be used to smooth washability data by fitting a hyperbola of particular properties to ash and yield, but to introduce the density variable an independent relationship with ash content must be adopted. When this ash-density relationship has a realistic form at low density, the implied form of the mass distribution function is unrealistic, suggesting that Mayer curves represented by a hyperbolic functional form are unsuited to coal washery calculations for low-density separations. Their use at higher densities is also uncertain. A similar conclusion can be anticipated when Mayer curves are used for other mineral systems.

Jan 8, 1992

By R. J. Gochin, P. Bevilacqua, G. D. Schena

This class of flowsheet-dependent simulators does not replace modular simulators, such as Modsim and Microsim, which are necessary for the assessment of different flowsheets before selection of the most desirable technical option and for investigation of the fine details of unit processes. The system presented here is regarded as complementary, serving in the early stages of feasibility studies as an aid to assessing the convenience and economics of preconcentration; the example used is of dense-medium preconcentration of a barytes-fluorite ore

Jun 13, 1905

By M. D. Gibbs, T. N. Smith, B. Verbaan

When heated in the absence of oxygen, pyrite from refractory gold concentrates decomposes endothermically to pyrrhotite, releasing sulphur. The decomposition starts at the particle surface and progresses inwards, leaving an adhering layer of porous pyrrhotite. Use of the conventional shrinking-core model implicitly assumes a negligible partial pressure of sulphur in the bed, but this pressure is in fact at least equal to the equilibrium vapour pressure of sulphur over pyrite, constituting the principal control of the rate of decomposition. Further experiments showed a decrease in reaction rate as the conversion increased. Both phenomena are attributed to the persistence of non-isothermal conditions in the fluidised bed during pyrolysis, caused by the endothermic nature of the reaction and the relatively slow rates of heat transfer to particles and vapour removal from the bed. Equipment must be developed to maximise these two parameters

Jun 19, 1905

By Marshall Charles Riddell, John Carlon

local news

Jan 12, 1997

By R. W. Schultz

Mineral exploration carried out in Ireland since the mid-1950s has resulted in the discovery of ore deposits that are now in production atTynagh (Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag), Silvermines (Zn-Pb) and nearby Ballynoe (barite), and Gortdrum (Cu-Ag-Hg); a major Zn-Pb deposit at Navan that is now being drilled prior to development; potentially productive deposits at Keel (Zn-Cd-Pb), Ballinalack (Zn-Pb) and Aherlow (Cu-Ag); and a number of interesting prospects, including one of spodumene. Underground exploration of a formerly extensively mined copper deposit at Allihies has outlined new, albeit currently uneconomic, reserves at depth. The copper and pyrite deposits at Avoca have in recent years been re-explored and are now again being worked. Most Irish ore deposits are in the lower half of the Lower Carboniferous succession of limestones and subordinate shales and sandstones, and this stratigraphic zone is being most intensively explored at present. Other geological units under active exploration are Ordovician sediments-volcanics belts, Caledonian granites, and parts of the Old Red Sandstone and Dalradian series. Surface prospecting is made difficult in many places by glacial and other superficial deposits, including peat and alluvium. Geochemical prospecting methods have been outstandingly successful and primarily responsible for most new discoveries. Boulder hunting and outcrop prospecting have proved effective in detailed investigations of geochemically anomalous areas. Some parts of the country have been covered by three separate airborne geophysical surveys, albeit without success so far. The induced polarisation technique, the most widely used ground geophysical method, has contributed to several discoveries. The scope of application of electromagnetic surveys is more restricted than that of induced polarisation, but the method has been effective in a few cases and has contributed to the Tynagh discovery. To date, the resistivity and self-potential methods have found little application. Magnetic surveys are not applicable directly in the search for ore deposits of the various known types, but can be helpful in outlining geological structures in some areas. The gravity method has been used successfully in a survey over the Zn—Pb deposit at Navan ; it has also proved effective in trials over a blind sulphide deposit at Tynagh that cannot be detected with geoelectrical methods. An appendix lists summary descriptions of 15 Irish deposits and occurrences

Dec 1, 1971

"The sulphide nickel resources of Australia are concentrated in the Western Australian Shield. This shield is considered to have developed by extensive, but incomplete, Proterozoic reworking of once-continuous Archaean crust. It now constitutes relic Archaean cratons and intervening orogenic mobile belts transected by narrow, curvilinear tectono-thermal mobile belts of younger Proterozoic age. Remnants of the Archaean cratons are exposed in the Yilgarn and Pilbara Blocks. In the former an ancient (to ca 3600 m.y.) high-grade gneiss terrain (Western Gneiss Terrain) occurs along the western margin of the block and is interpreted to flank younger (ca3000-2800 m.y.) greenstone belts to the east. Ancient (to ca3500 m.y.) granitoid-greenstone terrains dominate the Pilbara Block.Proterozoic mobile belts contain only traces of nickel mineralization, except for one locality in the Halls Creek Province. The Archaean high-grade gneiss terrains contain no important mineralization, and the Pilbara granitoid-greenstone terrains contain only scattered examples of less important types of mineralization.The important deposits (e.g. Kambalda, Windarra, Agnew, Mt Keith) are all of komatiitic affinity and are best developed in the youngest greenstone belts of the eastern part of the Yilgarn Block. In particular, they are concentrated within, and adjacent to, the Norseman-Wiluna Belt, which contrasts in age, lithofacies and structural style with all other greenstone belts in the shield. It is interpreted to have been a rift zone. Within this belt the two main deposit types—the volcanic peridotite-associated and intrusive dunite-associated deposits—are concentrated into spatially separate zones. Precise controls on this heterogeneous distribution cannot be determined unequivocally from available data. One possibility is that the major volcanic peridotite-associated deposits were developed selectively in the actively subsiding axial part of the rift zone during the early extensional phase, whereas intrusive dunite-associated deposits were formed during a subsequent (less active?) stage of volcanic basin development. Distinctive sub-types (facies) of the volcanic peridotite-associated deposits form clusters that are generally within the rift zone. These may represent deposits related to discrete eruption centres, and at least part of their variation is due to relative position within extensive, topographically confined, linear flows."

Jan 1, 1984