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By R. Shen

This paper presents results of a feasibility study of recycling manganese furnace dust generated in production of ferromanganese and silicomanganese at Tasmanian Electrometallurgical Company, Australia. Dried manganese furnace dust contains about 20 wt% of carbon, in average 33.4 wt% of manganese and 1.3 wt% of zinc. Manganese in the dust is in the form of MnO, Mn3O4 and MnCO3; zinc is mainly in the form of ZnO andZnSO4. Analysis of the zinc balance with dust recycling showed that to keep zinc intake at the acceptable level, it should be partly removed from the dust. In the reduction laboratory experiments, zinc oxide was reduced to zinc vapour by tar of the dust. Reduction of zinc oxide started at 800°C and zinc removal rate increased with increasing temperature; removal of zinc was close to completion at 1100oC. Optimal conditions for removing zinc from the dust include temperature in the range 1000-1150°C, inert gas atmosphere and furnace dust fraction in the furnace dust-manganese ore mixture above 60%. In the sintering of manganese ore with addition of manganese dust in the sintering pot, zinc was reoxidised and deposited in the sinter bed. Removal of zinc in the sintering pot tests was in the range 4-17%. Up to 30% zinc removal was achieved from the bottom layer of the sinter bed. It can be concluded that zinc removal will be low during the processing of manganese furnace dust in the sinter plant. The zinc removal rate will be the highest when pelletised manganese furnace dust is added to the bottom layer of the sintering bed.

Jan 1, 2007

By Mark Coleman

Pnuematic Conveying and Process Injection Technologies have been implimented in the metals markets for the last 40 years and have consideribly improved the productivity and the performance of many processes. There have been many steps forward in handling technology and this paper seeks to consider those now offered by Clyde Materials Handling who as an established customer-driven solutions provider, which has turned its attention to supporting the Metals Market. Clyde seek to utilises its knowledge, expertise and technologies to transform the production processes of its customers, who operate in the ferrous and non-ferrous metals industries. With over 30 years experience in the process improvement industry, Clyde Materials Handling has helped their global customer base transform the way in which they operate their processes, which has enabled them to generate sustainable economic benefit and maintain their positions as leaders in their respective markets. Operators within the metals market have developed and deployed pneumatic conveying and pneumatic injection technologies. These environmentally supportive and sustain-able solutions have been used to transport raw materials within operating facilities, from storage to silo, as well as injecting these materials directly into the heart of production processes. Operators, such as Codelco in Chile, Corus Steel in the UK, and many others across the World have seen pneumatic injection solutions transform their process and costs. To inject a consistent, pulseless and accurate flow of material to a copper concentrate bath smelter, or injecting granular or pulverized coal as a coke substitute in to a blast furnace via the Tuyeres helps to increase the operational capacity, availability and productivity and reduce the cost of the operation. This paper will discuss and highlight the ways in which pneumatic conveying and injection technologies, created by Clyde Materials Handling, and applied in partnership with the customer, have helped to improve the operational performance of the production processes of operators across the non-ferrous metals markets with specific reference to applications in the Lead and Zinc Industries. With examples from Zinc Fuming in Australia, Zinc Calcine and Powder Handling in Korea, Precision coal injection to QSL and TSL Furnaces, and metered distribution of Zinc Calcine to Reactors.

Jan 1, 2008

By A. Rejeb, A. Millard

ABSTRACT: An evaluation of the importance of the thermo-hydro-mechanical couplings (THM) on the performance assessment of a deep underground storage design has been made as part of the international DECOVALEX III project. It is a numerical study that simulates a generic repository configuration in the near field in a granite medium. The thermo-hydro-mechanical evolution of the whole configuration is simulated over a period of 100 years. The model used to represent the unsaturated behaviour of the various porous media makes allowance for moisture transfers through the effect of thermal and water gradients. The paper presents a comparison of the temperature, water pressure and stress fields obtained by TM, TH, HM and THM coupled calculations. The results demonstrate that temperature is hardly affected by the couplings. In contrast the influence of the couplings on the mechanical stresses is considerable. This is attributed to the key role that water has on bentonite swelling or shrinkage effects that are dependent on its saturation level variations. KEY WORDS: Modelling, thermo-hydro-mechanical couplings, temperature, pressure, stress. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG : Im Rahmen des internationalen Projekts DECOVALEX III wurde untersucht, wie groß der Einfluss thermisch-hydraulisch-mechanischer Kopplungen (THM) auf die Leistungsfähigkeit eines Konzeptes zur Lagerung hoch radioaktiver Abfälle zu bewerten ist. Bei dieser numerischen Behandlung wird eine generelle Lagerungskonfiguration in granitartigem Milieu simuliert. Die thermisch-hydraulisch-mechanischen Prozesse werden für eine Dauer von 100 Jahren simuliert. Bei dem Modell, mit dem das Verhalten der verschiedenen, unterschiedlich porösen Milieus in ungesättigtem Zustand dargestellt werden soll, werden die Feuchtigkeitstransporte infolge thermischer und hydraulischer Vorgänge berücksichtigt. Verglichen werden in diesem Artikel verschiedene Temperatur-, Wasserdruck- und Beanspruchungsfelder, die sich aus TM-, TH-, HM- und THM gekoppelten Berechnungen ergaben. Dabei stellte sich heraus, dass die Temperatur nur gering von den Kopplungen berührt wird. Die Einflüsse der Kopplungen auf die Mechanik sind hingegen bedeutend; ausschlaggebend dafür ist der Faktor Wasser, der den Bentonit je nach Sättigungsgrad quellen oder trocknen lässt. SCHLÜSSELWÖRTER: Modellbildung, thermisch-hydraulisch-mechanische Kopplungen, Temperatur, Druck, Beanspruchung. RESUME : Dans le cadre du projet international DECOVALEX III, une évaluation de l’importance des couplages thermo-hydro-mécaniques (THM) sur les performances d’un concept de stockage de déchets fortement radioactifs a été menée. Il s’agit d’une étude numérique simulant une configuration générique de stockage en champ proche dans un milieu granitique. L’évolution thermo-hydro-mécanique de l’ensemble est simulée sur une période de 100 ans. Le modèle utilisé pour représenter le comportement non saturé des différents milieux poreux prend en compte les transferts d’humidité sous l’effet de gradients thermiques et hydriques. L'article présente une comparaison des champs de température, de pression d’eau et de contraintes obtenues par des calculs couplés TM, TH, HM et THM. Les résultats montrent que la température est peu affectée par les couplages. En revanche, l’incidence des couplages sur la mécanique est importante; ce qui est attribué au rôle majeur joué par l’eau à travers les effets de gonflement ou de retrait de la bentonite selon la variation de son degré de saturation. MOTS-CLEFS : modélisation, couplages thermo-hydro-mécanique, température, pression, contrainte.

Jan 1, 2003

By S. Z. Pethö

Pillar extraction at shallow depths with small pillars that were not originally intended for secondary extraction can provide a huge benefit to the coal mining industry in those areas where a significant percentage of the remaining coal reserves are locked up in small pillars at shallow depths and where opencast mining methods are simply not as cost-effective and practical to implement. A system considering all of the pertinent geotechnical and mining aspects for the safe and efficient pillar extraction of small pillars at shallow depths at Xstrata Coal South Africa (XCSA) has been further developed and implemented as part of an ongoing improvement process addressing all of the relevant legal and associated risk aspects. This work follows on from the previous pillar extraction work carried out at the ATC, Boschmans, and Spitzkop Collieries. The process involved a number of in-house workshops and sessions arranged with all key personnel from Tavistock Colliery, and also included Professor Nielen van der Merwe of the University of the Witwatersrand, a world renowned authority on pillar extraction, towards reviewing and developing the Modified NEVID pillar extraction system employed previously at Boschmans Colliery. The system is currently being employed at Tavistock Colliery with success and no major accidents, with around 655 000 t of coal having been successfully extracted from the pillar extraction panels.

Jan 1, 2012

We present a novel hybrid algorithm for quantifying the ore grade variability that has central importance in ore reserve estimation. The proposed algorithm has three stages: (1) fuzzy clustering, (2) similarity measure, and (3) grade estimation. The method first considers data clustering, and then uses the clustering information for quantifying the ore grades by means of a cumulative point semimadogram function. The method provides a measure of similarity and gives an indication of the regional heterogeneity. In addition, grade estimations can be obtained at different levels of similarity using a weighting function, which is the standard regional dependence function (SRDF). Keywords: Grade, fuzzy clustering, similarity measure, point madogram, weighting function.

Jan 1, 2008

By A. Tsekov, Stefan Neufeind, T. Angelov, G. Savov

"A complementary ion exchange/solvent extraction process for the recovery of copper from low-grade ores developed by Iontech Engineering Ltd. is described. It has successfully been implemented on a full-scale plant level at the Buchim Copper Mine in Macedonia, yielding a maximum copper cathode production of 2400 tonnes per year. Technical and economic aspects of three years of operational experience are comprehensively compared with the Asarel Medet copper plant in Bulgaria, which is utilizing conventional solvent extraction in the enrichment/purification step. INTRODUCTION The concentration and separation of copper from primary leachates is one of the key operations in the hydrometallurgical processing of oxide ores (Langner, 2011). Conventionally, this basic operation is conducted by submitting the pregnant leach solution (PLS), with a 1–5 g/L Cu content, from the initial sulfuric acid leach to a solvent-extraction (SX) process in which copper reports to the organic phase (see Figure 1). After phase separation, the metal is stripped from the extractant/diluent mixture employing sulfuric acid to furnish a concentrated metal solution, usually containing 40–50 g Cu/L. The final products of the overall process are copper cathodes, which are obtained from a terminal electrowinning step.Although considered as “technology of choice”, SX to date is still suffering from several drawbacks, such as the risk of poor phase disengagement and the high capital costs of solvent-extraction plants. Especially, the processing of leachates with lower copper tenors (< 1 g/L) is often economically less attractive. As a result, tremendous efforts have been dedicated to the evaluation of alternative technologies to address these challenges."

Jan 1, 2015

By R. Dekkers, J. Plessers

The feasibility of using hydrogen to obtain clean steels is investigated. High hydrogen contents are generally considered as detrimental due to the risk of flakes, bubbles and breakouts during casting. Hydrogen can nonetheless be removed by degassing of the steel. The results of industrial campaigns, where total oxygen content and hydrogen content were monitored, are presented. High resolution microscopy of inclusions and laboratory experiments on the rate of inclusion removal by CaO-Al2O3 slags at different partial hydrogen have been carried out. So far, evidence that hydrogen may influence inclusions or the steel cleanliness is not clear. Keywords: hydrogen, cleanliness, inclusions.

Jan 1, 2004

By Lutz Markworth, Wolfram Jaspers, Johannes Kottmann

PNEUFLOT® technology has been applied for the past 20 years in coal, ore and other minerals processing plants. During the last two years this technology has achieved a breakthrough with some 42 units being sold signifying a rising trend. »Humboldt Wedag Coal & Minerals Technology« has performed extensive research and development work over the last five years. The results of which were used to design a new fourth generation aerator. Humboldt Wedag, through its association with EKOF, can offer a holistic solution encompassing both flotation equipment and reagents. It is the only company in the world able to offer such a package. The association with EKOF strengthens the Humboldt Wedag product offering, especially as the company in-troduced pneumatic flotation cells to the South African market in the form of the PNEUFLOT®. Before starting pilot scale test work, a mineralogical analysis has to be carried out to determine the mineral com-position as well as the liberation grade. HW-CMT works together with independent institutes. Different reagent regimes can be tested in laboratory scale. Pilot machines, each packed in a 20? container, are available to carry out extensive test work at customers? processing plants. A group of engineers from HW-CMT is involved in the pilot test work. The flexible pilot machines are designed to cater for coal, ores and other minerals. The small feed rates of 7 ? 12 m³/h only means the pilot machines do not disturb the operation of process plants. Batch tests have to be carried out to determine the numbers of PNEU-FLOT® stages. New applications in iron ore, copper ore, platinum group minerals, rock phosphate and potash were suc-cessfully tested in the last three years. In applications where the feed material is very fine, PNEUFLOT® technology is able to achieve high recoveries with particle sizes where conventional technology failed.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. Tangstad

Keywords: Pyrometallurgy, ROMA, Norway, furnace, fines The ROMA project is a competence project on optimizing the usage of raw materials and energy in the ferromanganese, silicon, and aluminium industries. One of the items investigated in this project is the effect of fines on the furnace, and the usage of agglomerates versus lumpy ore. From lab-scale experiments it is shown, that for the charge to agglomerate in the furnace, the charge has to be exposed to a temperature higher than about 1200°C, independent of fines content. The fines less than 1 mm also showed higher agglomeration properties, compared to 2?4 mm, which showed no agglomeration property at all. The properties of agglomerates are very dependent on the pre-treatment of the agglomerate. Sinter and pellets, which have been heated to high temperatures, show a better strength, but also a lower CO reactivity. Sinter also shows a lower melting temperature compared to the ore.

Jan 1, 2011

By C. Maree

Paper written on project work carried out in partial fulfilment of B. Eng (Chem. Eng.) This paper describes the development and use of a process simulator to optimize gypsum recovery at Afmine, a small plant near Yzerfontein on the South African West Coast. The simulator consisted of models of the major plant equipment, viz. hydrocyclones, surge bins, settling tanks, a primary sieve and a dewatering screen. Experimental data suggested that the equipment could be modelled satisfactorily from data published in the open literature. Simulation studies have indicated that gypsum losses on the plant could be reduced substantially by means of some relatively minor modifications to the plant layout. Moreover, sensitivity analyses of the plant have indicated that optimization of the settling tanks should receive priority over the other process units.

Jan 1, 2005

By M. Jacobs

Keywords: Smelting, converting, sulphide, sulphide smelting, platinum, platinum group metals, PGM, base metals, nickel, copper, matte, slag, furnace, electric furnace, Söderberg, electrode, granulation, converter, flash drier, sulphuric acid, acid plant, Ausmelt, Sirosmelt, pyrometallurgy, metallurgy, Anglo Platinum, South Africa Waterval Smelter complex is situated in Rustenburg, in South Africa?s North West Province. The smelter objective is to process wet concentrate to produce crushed, slow-cooled, sulphur-deficient nickel-copper matte rich in platinum group metals (PGMs), gold, and base metals for despatch to the Magnetic Concentration Plant at the Base Metals Refinery. Throughout its history, the smelter complex has been continuously upgraded in line with increasing production demand, changing feeds, environmental initiatives, and advances in available technology. The smelter receives filter cake and slurry from Anglo Platinum concentrators and joint ventures. Wet concentrate is fed through a flash drying process utilising coal-fired, fluidised bed hot-gas generators, to produce dry feed material for the electric furnaces and slag-cleaning furnace. For primary smelting, two electric furnaces are used, each with a rated capacity of 34MW. Furnace matte, containing the bulk of the base metal sulphides and PGMs, is tapped periodically into refractory-lined ladles and granulated using high-pressure water jets, then dried through electrically powered pneumo-driers to become the main feed to the Anglo platinum Converting Process (ACP). Slag is tapped semi-continuously, granulated, and treated through the slag mill. The ACP treats the combined matte output of Waterval, Polokwane, and Mortimer smelters. It is a top-blown furnace, with furnace matte, air, and oxygen being injected into the converter via a lance submerged in the slag. Converter matte is tapped and bottom cast into moulds, slow-cooled, crushed, and despatched to the refineries. Slag is granulated and dried for recycling to the slag-cleaning furnace. ACP slag is fed to the slag-cleaning furnace along with a reductant and a sulphur source. Slag-cleaning-furnace matte is granulated for processing by the ACP, while slag is granulated and processed in the slag mill. The slag mill and flotation circuit treats granulated slag from the electric furnaces and slag-cleaning furnace to recover entrained matte containing valuable PGMs and base metal sulphides.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. H. Rogers

Coal has been at the forefront of mankind?s drive to improve his quality of life and also for sustainable development, from the Industrial Revolution onwards. The international coal industry today is large, with some 3,7 billion tons being produced and consumed in 1997. South Africa is an important participant in the coal industry, selling some 220 million tons in 1997 of which 64 million tons were exported. It is the second-largest thermal coal exporting country in the world. Despite the size of the world coal industry, it is not immune to change. The address examines growth projections for the industry and the change drivers that will impact on it in the future. Environmental pressures, the most important of which being the climate change debate, the Kyoto Protocol arising from this debate and the development of clean coal technologies, to reduce the impact of coal production and usage on the environment are considered. Other major change drivers considered are competition from other sources of energy and that between coal producers, the deregulation of the electric power industry, corporate restructuring and for the South African producer, legislative reform. The declining (real term) coal price, the consequent squeeze on margins and the need for producers to actively contain costs is covered. Technology has, in the past, been the driver behind the growth and change of the South African coal industry and its future role in ensuring that coal is the fuel of choice for continued improvement in standards of living and economic development is addressed.

Jan 1, 1999

By Stefan Basista, Janusz Tomala

Modern constructions of electric ferroalloy furnaces are still based on applying in the lower "liquid" areas the standard carbon materials. What can be illustrated by the experience from several years, in the part of tap hole, hearth walls and bottom, is that so-called carbon or semigraphite microporous materials are successfully being applied. These materials, compared to the standard carbon, give better resistance to the attack by liquid metal and other wear factors. Generally this group includes materials characterised by considerable share of pores of diameters below1µm (significantly exceeding 90% of total porosity). The microporosity increases the resistance to the infiltration of the liquid metal. The effect of microporosity can be obtained by introducing silicon (or its compound) additive to materials based on electrically (or gas) calcined anthracites, electrographite and binder. Moreover, by introducing other ceramic additives, the microporous materials are more resistant to dissolution by the liquid metal. Observing the trends of "improving the materials" in the last years, it is clearly seen that the share of non-carbon additives is bigger and bigger, so we can reasonably speak of rather carbon-ceramic materials. In this paper, the survey of the most important quality criteria, which must be met by the carbon furnace linings, as well as the new testing methods will be presented.

Jan 1, 2007

By Y. Wang, S. Sridhar, B. Coletti, G. N. Shannon, S. Vantilt

The final removal of inclusions in the ladle, tundish, and mold in a continuous casting process involves the kinetic steps of liquid film drainage, interface rupture, and absorption of the inclusion into the overlaying molten slag. During this process, oxide inclusions can undergo chemical reactions with the slag. This paper presents recent results on imaging the slag/steel interface and elucidates the evolution of Al2O3and Al2O3-CaO inclusions during their separation from the steel and on their incorporation into the slag. Experimental results, obtained through a Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope, are compared with thermodynamic predictions.

Jan 1, 2004

By B. Tiryaki

Longwall shearers usually suffer from excessive pick and pickholder consumptions and severe wear of the back plate of the clearance ring section of shearer drums. In practice, most of the drums were seen to be withdrawn from the face due to the abovementioned problems, while vane picks and their holders were intact due to the improper lacing design of the clearance ring picks. However, few underground investigations and their results on the effect of lacing arrangement of clearance picks on the service life of shearer drums have been published. Nevertheless, the pick consumption characteristics of shearer drums were not investigated in detail, since these are fewer pick consumptions with shearers when compared to roadheaders. This paper is concerned with the comprehensive in situ trials on the effect of lacing of clearance ring picks on the lifespan of shearer drums, and the pick consumption characteristics of longwall shearers at Cayirhan Coal Mine in Turkey. The lifespan of shearer drums employed with shearers in this mine increased 70 per cent, while the consumption rate of clearance ring picks decreased threefold through using an alternative lacing for clearance picks, indicating the significance of utilizing proper design techniques for clearance ring picks for the service life of shearer drums. Statistical analyses carried out, using the raw pick consumption data, implied that the clearance ring picks experienced much higher loads than vane picks, revealing that special attention must be paid to designing clearance ring picks. An average maximum consumption value of 41 was determined for clearance ring picks, with corner-cutting picks having the most replacements, while it was 35 for vane picks, on three-day based pick replacements.

Jan 1, 2004

By P. Goosen, A. Paterson, E. Paulsen

Ticor South Africa is currently involved in the mining and processing of a heavy mineral oredeposit at Hillendale Mine on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. The orebody is characterized by a high ultra fine fraction (-45µm) that has a variable rheological behaviour when subjected to shear and hydration. Experience at Hillendale has shown that the ultra fine mineral tailings are sensitive to shear history in terms of shear intensity and shear duration as well as hydration history. This phenomenon expresses itself right through the primary beneficiation process influencing the mineral separation, but is especially prevalent on the residue disposal i.e. slurry transport and deposition on the tailings impoundment. Tube viscometer test work was conducted on the flocculated fine tailings that indicated that there was a change in rheology as a result of shear. This paper presents the results of the on-site test work conducted at the mine to measure the rheology at various stages in the process.

Jan 1, 2003

By N. R. Shoko, J. Chirasha

Zimbabwe Alloys has been producing Low Carbon Ferrochrome since 1953. A number of operational and technical advances have been made since then. Some of these advances improved production significantly. Process control, however, remained a challenge not only in the production process itself but also in the handling of finished product. In addition the handling of the slag created an environmental problem. Process control issues were addressed by Zimbabwe Alloys Limited and Japan Metal & Chemicals (JMC) entering into a Technical Transfer Agreement. The aim of the technical transfer was to improve production, alloy quality and, thereby, the financial performance of Zimbabwe Alloys. In addition, the Low Carbon Ferrochrome production process was made environmentally friendlier by modifying the final slag handling methodology. The aspects that are covered and discussed in this paper are, ladle refractory lining changes, improved control of the process, changes in the alloy casting methodology and granulation of the final slag. The improved control of the process was enhanced by the conversion from ladle duplexing to argon purging, introduction of on-line sampling and introduction of second stage process. The combined effect of the above was a significant improvement on on-grade material production, production efficiencies, unit cost of production and a cleaner working environment.

Jan 1, 2004

By C. Haberfield, J. Szymakowski

Recent studies by the authors into the behaviour of jointed rock masses using direct shear testing have confirmed that joint spacing has a significant effect on rock mass strength. The rock mass failure envelopes assessed from these tests have been compared to failure envelopes obtained using the Hoek-Brown GSI criterion. Good agreement between measured and estimated GSI strength envelopes where obtained when joint spacing was considered in the assessment of GSI. Les études récentes conduites par les auteurs sur le comportement des joints rocheux employant l&apos;essai direct de cisaillement ont confirmé que l&apos;espacement a un effet significatif sur la force de la masse rocheuse. Les enveloppes de ruptures obtenues pour ces essais ont été comparées à l&apos;enveloppe de rupture obtenue en utilisant le critère GSI Hoek-Brown. Une bonne corrélation a été constatée entre les enveloppes obtenues expérimentalement et les enveloppes calculées par la méthode GSI quand l&apos;espacement des joints a été pris en considération dans l&apos;évaluation de GSI. Kuerzliche Untersuchungen der Autoren betreffs Reaktionen von gebrochenen Felsmassen zu direkter Scherkraft, bestaetigen, dass die Abstaende von Rissen einen deutlichen Einfluss auf den Widerstand der Felsmassen hat. Die Bruchbereiche der Felsmassen die von diesen Untersuchungen entwickelt wurden, wurden verglichen mit den Bruchbereichen, die man mit der Anwendund der Hoek-Brown GSI Formulierung erhaelt. Eine gute Uebereinstimmung zwischen gemessenen und errechneten GSI Festigkeitsbereichen wurde erzielt, wenn der Abstand der Risse in der Berechnung der GSI in Betracht gezogen wurde.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. W. Ottermann, N. D. L. Burger, A. J. von Wielligh, P. R. de Wet, J. L. Steyn

A low noise blast hole drilling system was developed to limit the risk of noise induced hearing impairment in mining operations. Noise induced hearing loss has been identified as a major occupational health risk in SA mines. The noise generated by pneumatic percussion drills is a major contributor to such noise induced hearing. This motivated the South African Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC) to commission the development of a low noise rock drill system. The system had to be designed, manufactured, tested and demonstrated in a simulated underground mining environment. The specification required noise levels below 90 dBA. Other important design considerations were ease of manual transport, setting up and operation. The primary design concept was to encapsulate a standard Seco S215 pneumatic rock drill in a composite material tube. The tube is pushed onto the rock face by a pneumatic cylinder and is sealed at the rock face by an elastic seal. The drill is pulled towards the rock face by a rope and pulley mechanism fitted inside the tube. This mechanism is powered by a second pneumatic cylinder. The actions of moving and setting the drill require two persons. However, the team can carry out the drilling function itself on several drills simultaneously because of the self-thrusting design. The drill is supported by two camlocks. The exhaust (air containing dust, water, rock shavings, oil and grease) is removed from the encapsulating tubes via exhaust tube to the end of the stope. In this way exhaust noise and air pollutants are disposed of away from personnel. Tests were conducted in a test stope. Noise levels of under 90 dBA were achieved, thereby attaining the primary design specification. This was achieved without materially compromising ease of handling. Penetration rate was somewhat improved compared to that of the standard drill, so that productivity could be maintained. Keywords: Drill, rock drill, quiet, noise, mine, underground.

Jan 1, 2003

By S. J. Frank

Ferroalloy furnaces are well known to be extremely difficult to control from a metallurgical perspective. Mostly metallurgical control is still reactive in nature, causing a significant amount of reworking and product blending to achieve a proper product specification. Despite numerous efforts towards the model based control of primary smelting operations, actual metallurgical feed forward control seems to remain elusive. One of the key reasons in the failure to model these metallurgical reactors well, is that fundamentally orientated pyrometallurgists, statisticians, data miners and control engineers very often have diverging ideas how to model these systems. Furthermore, metallurgists have often come to rely on their ability to develop empirical regression models of furnace behaviour, as they have lost their faith in the ability of thermochemical and metallurgical engineering fundamentals to accurately predict the outcomes from furnaces. This paper shows how good thermochemical modelling can be combined with proper technological and systems analysis, as well as a proper inventory model, to predict the alloy and slag chemistry with good accuracy one tap into the future, at a time horizon of typically around 4 to 6 hours. For this modelling approach, a number of tools will be used, such as data reconciliation, thermodynamic modelling using Fact Sage®, inventory and heel estimation, neural networks and statistical data exploration. Furthermore, systems identification theory will be combined with the approaches given above to develop a truly dynamic predictive model. This paper seeks to demonstrate the need for a hybrid approach, which incorporates plant data and readily accessible thermodynamic data to develop a proper dynamic model.

Jan 1, 2004