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By Alan Weakly

The Powder River Basin (PRB) of northeastern Wyoming and south-central Montana is the largest strippable reserve of compliant coal (0.6 or less lb of sulfur per million Btu) in the United States. In mining parlance, it is the Mother Lode! Wyoming’s portion of the Basin provides one fifth of the coal produced in the United States annually, and the state has been the nation’s top coal producer for the past six years. Based on 1993 production statistics and estimated strippable compliance coal reserves, Wyoming may remain the nation’s top producer for the next 76 plus years. Past articles on the PRB have focused mainly on production. After living and working in the Basin for the past five years, I have developed an appreciation for the area and its major industry that transcends size and production data. In the fall of 1993, MINING ENGINEERING’s publisher and I decided to present a series of articles that would cover many other aspects of the Basin. Ten topics were outlined, and specific individuals, selected for their knowledge and experience, were asked to contribute articles about their specialties. Although Montana has four large mines producing coal from the PRB, this series of articles will concentrate on the Wyoming portion of the Basin.

Jan 1, 1994

By W. Langer

Of the 50 or so most often utilized industrial minerals, more than two thirds are, or have been, produced in the western states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Some commodities, such as natural aggregate, currently are produced in all 13 states; others such as beryllium and iodine are produced in only Utah and Oklahoma, respectively. Together, the 13 western states make a significant contribution to the US industrial minerals industry.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. P. Roy, P. K. Singh, A. K. Mishra, Ashish K. Vishwakarma, Vivek K. Himanshu

Ground vibration is one of the major hazards produced by rock-blasting operation. The accurate prediction of vibration is necessary for designing controlled blasting parameters. The existing vibration predictors consider maximum explosive charge weight per delay and distance as the parameters responsible for ground vibration. These predictors are based on the assumption that the geometrical parameters of the blast will be constant for a site. However, the mining sites with bigger production targets have varying geometrical parameters to suit the excavator utility. Accordingly, the other blast design parameters will also have an impact on ground vibration intensity. A principal component analysis is a dimension reduction technique. This technique along with multivariate logarithmic regression has been used in this paper to predict the ground vibration. The technique has classified the blast design parameters into four principal components. The regression with the scores from these principal components has been carried out. The evaluation of the model performance of predictors along with the existing empirical predictors has been carried out using R2 and RMSE values. The evaluation suggests that the predictor with logarithmic regression followed by principal component analysis gives better performance with respect to the existing empirical predictors.

Jul 30, 2022

By G. Van Weert

Mining project feasibility is projected from a geological model and a mining plan. Ore grade is assumed to be continuous, based on drill hole assays as much as 80 m apart. Eighty meter is 80,000,000 micron. Base metal concentrators may be said to work at 80 micron, for flotation at least. In short, metallurgical and financial performance in green field metal mining is forecast on rejecting waste after comminuting the ore down by roughly a volume factor of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (1018) from the feasibility/banking study parameters. This is the gap between mine and mill, between present sulphide mining practices and mineral dressing capabilities, and ultimately between lenders/shareholders expectations and mine/mill performance. By inserting a new upgrading technology in this gap, new opportunities for reserve enhancement and cost reduction are created, and risk could be reduced. Blast holes for extracting the outlined ore might be 8 m apart. Most ore bodies do not abruptly change composition at 8 m intervals; nor are they homogeneous in grade at the 8 cm (3?) rock size, optimum size for sorting. Mining in 8 m blocks will inevitably cause dilution of the mill feed and ore losses in the waste rock. This is well recognized in the mining industry. Much work is going on applying the vast data storage and manipulation capability of computers to mine scheduling. One only has to consult the SME Annual Meeting presentations. At the 2007 Meeting, Clark and Dagdelen described the challenges faced by Newmont at its operations and the application of sophisticated software tools and methods in its search of solutions to mining optimization. Block models can often contain in excess of one million blocks. Additional complexity exists when multiple grades are modeled for each block. The authors identify the main optimization problem as the system?s ability to cater to large scale problems in an acceptable timeframe; in other words, still larger computers are needed. At the same Meeting, Menabde et al (2007) presented a new pit development planning tool called Blasor, developed by BHP Billiton Technology, and its co-developed Blasor IPD (In Pit Dumping), (Zuckerberg et al (2007)). For purposes of this paper, Blasor/IPD incorporates options on processing capacity constraints and blending targets, eliminating arbitrary up-front decisions about cutoff grades for each block of material in the extraction sequence.

Jan 1, 2008

By M. Grun, A. C. Marlowe, I. Littleford

SYNOPSIS A Wirth tunnel borer owned by Anglo American Corporation completed a 1150m long tunnel some years ago and was subsequently extensively modified by Technical Development Services. In 1982 this borer provided new and particularly interesting information In the field of hard rock boring. The abrasive quartzltes traversed proved to be a challenge to the cutter manufacturer and the project team. This paper examines the problems faced, the solutions found and the lessons learnt.

Jan 1, 1983

By W. P. Diamond, S. L. Cario, F. Garcia, J. D. Byars, T. P. Mucho

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been conducting research at a Pittsburgh Coalbed longwall mine to evaluate and optimize bleeder ventilation and gob gas venthole longwall methane control systems. Gas flow into these two methane control systems was investigated using a combination of Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6)tracer gas studies and gob venthole pressure monitoring experiments. The insights gained from this research has facilitated the development of a longwall subsided strata methane control system conceptual model. This model provides the basis for design suggestions to increase the efficiency of the gob gas venthole system to permit the bleeder ventilation system to become a "safety net" for methane control.

Jan 1, 2000

Editor's note: Biographical information about Ihor Kunasz, president, Newmont Uzbekistan, can be found in the February 1998 issue of ME, page 94 and in the May 1996 issue, page 92. Your personal assessment of the minerals business. Gosh! When I think about what has happened to the minerals industry over the past 27 years that I have been a member of SME! There have been fundamental structural changes in the industry. And I think that SME has been quite successful in coping with these changes as well. There has been a reorientation in how the minerals industry does business. It used to be called rationalization. Today we call it reengineering. In addition, the minerals industry has become more complex and more global. Shareholders have become more vocal and demanding in the management of the business, asking for protection of their shareholders' value. In the 1980s, a fundamental change was precipitated by a merger and acquisition fever in all industries, including the minerals industry. Raiders such as T. Boone Pickens put enormous demands on companies that, in turn, had to spend substantial management time to fend off the raiders. This resulted in a major restructuring of the mining houses. Today, for example, Anaconda, Kennecott and Amax are only historical names.

Jan 1, 1998

By R. D. Peterson

As underground mine operations expand, the ventilation systems supporting them become complex. Complexity increases with periodic ventilation changes. New diagonal connections require a rebalance of resistance to maintain airflow in affected splits in the system. Incidents of mine fires and explosions have occurred in U.S. coal mines when diagonal connections resulting from ventilation changes have resulted in changing airflow directions. MSHA regulations prohibit the reversal of airflow and poor ventilation practice in general, but regulations cannot stipulate or recommend proactive preventative measures because every situation is different. This paper discusses the phenomenon of diagonal branches and recommends practical precautionary measures that can be taken to prevent airflow reversal in planned ventilation changes.

Jan 1, 2012

By T. R. Ellis

Considerable movement is afoot internationally to rationalize standards and regulations relating to valuations and the qualifications for valuation professionals. In July 2000 the International Valuation Standards Committee released expanded standards, and additional important improvements are planned by 2003. Possible updates to the International Accounting Standards (IAS) and potential adoption of IAS by the U.S. could significantly impact minerals appraisers. Standards designed specifically for mineral asset valuation are under development in Canada and the U.S., with Australia’s internationally respected VALMIN Code providing the benchmark. In the U.S., the all-encompassing Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) is annually modified and continues to gain deeper acceptance, while the SEC holds fast to its antiquated rule prohibiting reporting of a quantitative estimate and value for non-reserve mineralization. Some important international trade agreements are driving actions to free the trade in professional services. In July 2000, an international workshop was held to initiate discussion on minimum qualifications for appraisers to work internationally. Pressure for uniform minimum qualifications and rules for professionals internationally will continue to build. The U.S. is historically among the slowest countries to implement such initiatives, with its state level licensure barriers having the potential to cause some of its professionals to be stranded in an international backwater. Structural change is needed in Australia’s VALMIN Code to remove conflict with the latest International Valuation Standards. The mineral valuation standards developers of Australia, Canada and the U.S. should work jointly on updating VALMIN for global use.

Jan 1, 2001

By R. Gunda

Due to the rapidly increasing production rates and deepening of mine working areas, there is a drastic rise in the number of thermal issues to be addressed for maintaining a safe mine environment. As high temperatures and humidity in underground mines could affect the health and performance of workers, and ultimately the production rate, it is necessary to provide a properly controlled safe environment. The backfilling of stopes in metal, non-metal mines results in different thermo-physical properties for the hanging, side and foot walls, modeling of which is not provided by any existing mine climate simulation software. This paper presents the modeling of such a single stope using the MULTIFLUX (MF) software, developed at the University of Nevada, Reno. A special case is presented in this paper, where a case study from the Homestake mine in the US with a drift and ramp connected to a stope with high Virgin Rock Temperature (VRT) and various spot heat sources is modeled in MULTIFLUX and CLIMSIM, and the results are compared against each other. Another case is presented in which the stope of the previous case is modeled with walls, each having a different set of thermo-physical properties. These results are compared with the former results to analyze the effect of anisotropic properties.

Jan 1, 2011

By M. G. Irish, E. E. Vidal, M. J. Jahraus, P. R. Taylor

An experimental system has been designed to monitor on-line variations of leaching parameters in a closed circuit of cyanide leaching solutions and gold bearing ores. Experiments performed to deter-mine variations in some important leaching parameters of the solution: pH, dissolved oxygen, free cyanide, oxidation/reduction potential, gold content, temperature, pressure and solution chemistry. By comparing results obtained when the leaching solution is allowed to become acid or kept basic, it was possible to infer the chemical reactions that occurred between the solution and the ores.

Jan 1, 2004

The 18th annual American Mining Hall of Fame Awards Banquet sponsored by the Mining Foundation of the Southwest will be held on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2000 at The Westin La Paloma in Tucson, AZ. The 2000 inductee, guest of honor and featured speaker at the banquet will be Ronald C. Cambre, chairman and chief executive officer of Newmont Mining. He will be honored for his role in positioning Newmont as an innovative and key player in the gold mining industry.

Jan 1, 2000

By K. Huttu, A. van Wageningen

"The Kittila underground mine is extracting one of the largest known gold deposits in Europe and has an estimated mine life through 2034. The Kittila mine is located in the Lapland region of northern Finland, approximately 900 kilometres north of Helsinki and 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. The ore at the Kittila mine is refractory, making gold extraction relatively difficult because the gold is generally locked inside the two main sulphide minerals – arsenopyrite and arsenic-rich pyrite. The orebody consists of a complex pinch-and-swell structure including up to 100 different gold mineralization lenses. Fluctuating gold prices and other economic considerations increase the need to maintain and update the mining plans more frequently. Over 3,000 stopes need to be designed and optimized once a year for the LOM-plan and more frequent updates are needed for mid- and short term plans as well as production studies. As a large part of ore body is very sensitive to cost and gold price changes, stope optimization is crucial to find the best possible production scenario for every moment. Kittilä has gone through several methods for stope design and optimization. Most recently the Deswik Stope Optimizer (Deswik.SO) has been successfully used. Dewsik.SO has helped Kittilä to design and optimize stopes in a timely and cost efficient manner. Together with the Deswik suite of planning tools, reliable and auditable plans are created. This paper describes the methods used for stope design and optimization at Kittilä. THE KITTILÄ MINE The Kittila underground mine in northern Finland is extracting one of the largest known gold deposits in Europe. Kittila achieved commercial production on May 1, 2009, becoming Agnico Eagle’s first mine to open outside of Canada. The Kittilä orebodies were initially mined from two open pits – Suuri and Roura – and underground operations were added in October 2010. The pits were mined out in November 2012, so mining is now entirely underground in the Suuri and Roura deposits. Additional, small open pits will mine any remaining near-surface reserves in the future. The Kittila mine is located in the Lapland region of northern Finland, approximately 900 kilometres north of Helsinki and 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. With a mine life estimated through 2034, Kittila is Agnico’s longest-life mine. The mine’s proven and probable reserves contain 4.7 million ounces (32 million tonnes at 4.6 g/t gold). Ore has been mined from underground since 2010. The original 3,000-tonne-per-day operation underwent an expansion project to increase the throughput capacity of the mill by 1,000 tonnes/day, starting by the end of 2014. The region around the Kittila mine is underlain by mafic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Kittila Greenstone Belt oriented nearly vertical. This greenstone belt is similar to those hosting Agnico Eagle's Canadian deposits in Quebec’s Abitibi region and Nunavut. At the contact point between iron-rich and magnesium-rich rocks lies a 100- to 200-metre-thick structural zone known as the “Suurikuusikko Trend”. This trend hosts the Kittila deposit, where multiple mineralized zones have been traced over a strike length of more than 25 kilometres."

Jan 1, 2015

By S. Kenzap, V. Kazakidis

Risk assessment is an essential component of mine feasibility studies. However, it is often challenging to identify the appropriate analysis and derive the required input data. The uniqueness of a mining project and the associated technical issues require customization of the risk assessment approach to meet both requirements and characteristics. The uncertainty driving the operating risk in mine feasibility studies and its assessment through Monte Carlo simulation as a component of a cash flow analysis are discussed in this paper. The paper introduces the use of the analytic hierarchy process for derivation of qualitative input and conducts quantification of the three main sources of operating performance delays, equipment, ground and schedule problems, in a cash flow simulation. A methodology for the assessment of operating risk in mine feasibility studies is presented.

Jan 1, 2011

By P. C. Thakur

In Part I of this paper, it was established that the width of longwall faces in highly gassy mines is primarily limited by the volume of air reaching the tail-end of the face. The ventilation air reaching the tail-end of the face should be not only enough to keep methane concentrations below the statutory limits (generally 1 percent) but also enough to prevent any gas layering. The air volume leaking from the longwall face into the gob should also be able to push the explosive methane-air mixture away from the gob area immediately behind the longwall face where active roof-fall is taking place (typically 30-45 m). The second group of variables that also controls the width of the longwall panel consists of (a) the rate of advance, (b) bleeder air quantities, (c) specific methane emissions for the gob area and, (d) efficiency and cost of gob gas capture. This paper will discuss the second group of variables and its impact on the optimum width of longwall faces in highly gassy coal mines.

Jan 1, 2009

By X. M. Yuan

In the flotation of Zn-Pb ores, sphalerite is floated following copper sulfide activation. In this type of sulfide ore, pyrite is commonly treated as a gangue, and poor selectivity between sphalerite and pyrite/quartz is often reported. But pyrite may also appear in association with gold, and flotation of such auriferous sulfides is of great importance in many countries (e.g. South Africa, Australia). In the cationic flotation of sulfide ores with dodecyl amine, sphalerite can be floated while depressing quartz and pyrite. While in a well-aerated pulp in the presence of lime (especially after oxidation with H2O2) the cationic flotation of pyrite is depressed, oxidation of pyrite in the presence of Na2S makes it floatable with amines even in very alkaline environment.

Jan 1, 2002

By Richard Addison

Introduction A staccato beat rings out across the Australian bush. The stamps are at work, slowly pulverizing gold-bearing ore for a patient, grizzled prospector. This is the State Battery near Marvel Loch, a tiny 22.6-t/d (25-stpd) capacity gold plant operated by the Western Australia government. It is one of many such plants located in remote corners of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. They are miniature custom mills operated for the benefit of prospectors and small mine operators. These state batteries are so called because they are operated by state governments and because the principal item of machinery in the plants are stamp batteries. They are fascinating anachronisms - throwbacks to times past, a century ago, to the hard and heady existence of gold rush days. Marvel Loch plant Typical of these operations, and perhaps a trifle more sophisticated than most, is the plant near Marvel Loch, a small center for mining and farming about 400 km (250 miles) due east of Perth. Marvel Loch. The name evokes visions of a pristine lake set in a cool, green, misty glen of the Scottish highlands. Actually, it is probably a hot, dry salt pan somewhere nearby. Just where the "loch" is difficult to discern. There is no sign of it on the map.

Jan 7, 1986

By A. B. Cecala

Enclosed cabs have been used on surface mining equipment for many years to protect equipment operators from health and safety hazards. The surface mining and quarrying process is a highly mechanized process that generates large quantities of respirable dust. Due to economic factors, more older mining equipment is being used today than in years past. With this older equipment, it is common to observe deterioration of many components on the enclosed cabs which greatly reduce their protection effectiveness. NIOSH has performed a number of different field studies, as well as a comprehensive laboratory study evaluating various factors and parameters regarding enclosed cabs. NIOSH has recently completed a cooperative research effort with Sy-Klone International and Vulcan Materials Company to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly designed uni-directional filtration and pressurization system that brings all the clean filtered air in at the roof of the cab and extracts all recirculated air near the floor. This design provides the highest air quality to the equipment operator. Testing on this new system showed an almost 10-fold reduction in respirable dust inside the enclosed cab. The uni-directional design is easy to incorporate and should be considered for all new and retrofit systems in surface mining equipment.

Jan 1, 2009

By R. Mier

The metals and minerals mining industry has evolved dramatically from the earliest objects ever made out of native copper circa 9,000 BC to the modern developments we see today. To better appreciate past developments and to get a sense of where the industry is heading, a brief overview of mayor industry highlights over the last 100 years will be presented, followed by a discussion on potential global scenarios and by a review on mayor industry trends.

Feb 27, 2013

By Charles W. Daugherty, James P. Gould, Kenneth R. Ware

INTRODUCTION As illustrated in Figure 1, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) rapid transit system (METRO) ultimately will comprise 100 miles of line divided among 10 routes. At this time about 46 per cent of the system is under construction or in operation. Planning and design of an additional 38 per cent is at an advanced stage. Of the 84 miles under development or construction, about 10.4 miles consist of soft ground tunnels, and another 1600 feet of mixed face. This paper describes most of the factors considered by designers in setting grades for such tunnels. It is hoped the paper will be a useful guide to planners and engineers in developing similar transit systems. The problems faced in Washington, including those related to geology, are not so unique that the solutions cannot be applied to other systems. The paper also may be of interest to contractors who have not perceived the logic behind the selection of a particular vertical alignment. An attempt is made to explain the background constraints that make most tunnel alignments a compromise among competing alternatives. Readers might assume that the choice of alignments is largely controlled by geological conditions. In fact this is merely one of many factors to be considered.

Jan 1, 1976