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By Niles E. Grosvenor

One of the most important considerations in the efficient operation of an under¬ground mine is the haulage system. Often the determining factor between profit or loss is the quick removal of ore and waste from the working places to secondary and main-line haulage areas, and so on to the outside. Important, too, is moving supplies from the surface to the working faces so that the loading process can continue with little interruption. Men must he transported in a rapid but safe manner. It has been through the efficient use and generally the combination of mine cars, track, belt conveyors and rubber-tired haulage equipment that underground operations have been able to compete with the more popular strip or surface mining. As near-surface ore bodies are exhausted, underground haulage will play an expanding part in economically furnishing the world's needs for all types of minerals. The choice of underground haulage equipment, wherever possible, should be one that will give the smallest overall cost of ore removal during the life of the mine while meeting necessary safety requirements. The reader is referred to Sec. 12 for equipment such as scrapers and load-dump-¬haul units that perform loading as well as haulage duties. 14.1-MINE CARS AND TRACK NILES E. GROSVENOR Main-Line and Secondary Haulage-Many mines today use a combination of belt and rail haulage. Even if a- belt system is used to carry the product from the face to the surface, track is used to transport workmen and supplies. A track system, when properly installed, will provide interruption-free and safe haulage. Schrecengost 2 lists the following as major advantages of track haulage: 1. Safety in transporting men in and out of the mine in personnel cars. 2. Easy and rapid transportation of supervisory personnel. 3. A temporary shutdown occasioned by a roof fall or power failure along the haulage system will not shut down the production areas. 4. Quick availability of repair parts and supplies. 5. Large pieces of coal or rock can be handled without damage to the haulage equipment. 6. In areas where quality fluctuates noticeably, different cars may be separated out for special preparation. 7. Rock or equipment may be loaded and moved out of the mine without interference with the production or preparation of the coal. 14.1.1-MINE CARS Mine cars with steel bodies are used in all types of present-day mining. Wooden cars usually are more bulky and less resistant to wear and damage, but are more easily repaired. Regardless of the type of mine car selected, it is most practical to standardize on one type or make to simplify repairs and limit the amount of spare parts necessary to stock. Rigid-body flat-bottomed cars are simpler and usually lower than others of equal capacity. Advantages are: ease of loading because of the low sides, simplicity, cheapness and high ratio of capacity to weight. The disadvantages include the

Jan 1, 1973

By N. Sheikh

In galena flotation, lead ethyl xanthate, Pb(EtX)2, is precipitated and is physically adsorbed in the form of multilayers on the chemically adsorbed first layer of Pb(EtX). 1,2) The solid particles are coated with layers of Pb(EtX)2 in heterogeneous manner over surface areas possessing both anodic and cathodic character (3,4) It is anticipated that the mode of formation of Pb(EtX)2 and the number of ions present, together with stable or unstable by-product species, have great influence on the surface characteristics of galena. The information obtained from a study of these parameters may have important practical applications in flotation. Lead ethyl xanthate is sparingly soluble in water. The metal and xanthate ions released to the aqueous solution during its dissolution undergo various types of reactions depending upon the pH values of the system. Extensive work (5,6) has been carried out to elucidate the mechanism involved in acid decomposition of xanthate ions. Different decomposition paths (7,8) have been proposed for the hydrolytic decomposition of xanthate in neutral and alkaline solutions, The concentrations of lead ions vary due to a number of chemical reactions, regulated by the pH and the temperature of the bulk phase. The hydrophobic character of Pb(EtX)2 may change with the nature of chemical reactions. Some of the numerous by-product species in solution may adsorb on the solid and change the properties of surface film either favourably or adversely. The flotation performance of galena, therefore, may depend to a considerable extent on the physical and chemical stabil¬ity of Pb(EtX)2 layers. Since little work has been reported in literature dealing with the stability of Pb(EtX)2 and its correlation with the flotation of galena, attempts have been made In this study to evaluate the behaviour of freshly formed Pb(EtX)2 in aqueous systems at various pH values.

Jan 1, 1971

By George S. Austin

Adobe, dried mud bricks, have been used since before historic time in the construction of dwellings. Building materials are normally evaluated for thermal performance based on measurements known as R- and U-values. The R-value is an indicator of the ability of a wall to insulate effectively and the higher the R-value, the better it is as an insulating material. The U-value, or value of conductance, is the reciprocal of the R-value and reflects the rate at which heat is conducted through a material. But the "heat capacity of the wall" must also be considered. This measures the length of time that passes before a steady state of heat flow is achieved. The effective U-value measures both the resistance to the transfer of heat and the capacity to hold heat. These latter value make adobe a far more interesting as a modern building material that was formerly recognized.

Jan 1, 1983

By B. Mishra, K. Savage, T. Evans, A. Noble

"Recent government initiatives and commercial activities have targeted asteroids for in-situ characterization, manipulation, and possible resource extraction. Though emergent technologies may be effective for such undertakings, uncertainties remain concerning the effects a space environment may have on the mechanical behavior of rocks. Various non-destructive rock characterization techniques can empirically predict in-situ rock strength on Earth; however, these techniques must be adapted to account for unique space conditions. In order to mimic one element of a space environment, various rock samples were evaluated after prolonged exposure to low temperatures ranging from -75°C to 0°C. Tests included uniaxial compressive strength, Schmidt hammer, and ultrasonic pulse velocity, while rock types included shale, limestone, and chalk. This data was used to generate a temperature correction for the non-destructive methods and evaluate the accuracy of these methods in predicting strength values. Overall, these results provide insight on the mechanical behavior of rocks at low temperatures and may be used to design robust systems needed for asteroid rock characterization INTRODUCTION NASA and various commercial entities have recently targeted near-Earth asteroids for exploration and scientific investigation to better understand their in-situ properties, mechanical characteristics, and formative processes. In particular, NASA’s Asteroid Initiative encompasses several studies and mission plans that will enable future investigations while vetting technologies that can be applied to deep space exploration. One component of the Asteroid Initiative is the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). This multi-stage space mission proposes to rendezvous a robotic spacecraft with a large near-Earth asteroid. Upon approach and after landing, the spacecraft will prospect the surface and identify a multi-ton boulder (up to 5 m in its largest dimension) suitable for capture. The robotic spacecraft will engage the boulder, remove it from the parent asteroid, and return the sample to a controlled lunar orbit. Once the asteroid mass is in stable orbit around the moon, astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will engage with the retrieved asteroid for manned exploration that will include sample collection and geologic prospecting. Launch plans for the ARM robotic craft are expected as early as 2020, and manned explorations of the asteroid mass in lunar orbit are expected to follow sometime in the mid-2020s (NASA, 2015). Overall this mission will demonstrate NASA’s ability to intersect, manipulate, and redirect an extraterrestrial body, while supplying scientific information that is relevant for planetary defense and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) applications."

Jan 1, 2016

By Harold R. Kokal, Madhu G. Ranade

A metallurgical/flux is a substance that is added to combine with gangue (unwanted minerals) during ore smelting, with impurities in a molten metal, or with other additives in metal refining processes to form a slag that can be separated from the metal. Because slags are immiscible with the metallic melt and are of lower density, a separation of the slag and metal occurs if the viscosity and surface tension are of the proper values. The chemistries of slags are adjusted to provide the proper melting point, viscosity, surface tension, conductivity, specific heat, density, or chemical properties to effect the desired task. In addition to absorbing impurities from the metal, the purposes of the slag are to thermally insulate the metal bath, protect the molten metal from the atmosphere, and control the chemical potential of the system. Several excellent references on slags and metallurgical fluxes are available (Boynton, 1980, Lankford, Jr., et al., 1985, Turkdogan, 1983, Rosenqvist, 1974, Fine and Gaskell, 1984). The function of the slag might vary at different stages within a process prior to final melting. For example, the slag composition and behavior will change as materials descend in the iron blast furnace, or as they melt in the early stages of formation of steel- making slags. Selection of the chemistry for a slag might be influenced by factors outside the primary function as when blast furnace slags are used to make cement, rock wool insulation, or fertilizer supplements. Sometimes slags contain a sufficient amount of valuable recoverable elements to be sold as raw materials for other processes. Fluxes are often referred to as acid, basic, or neutral. Acid fluxes are those that generally form acids in water and bases are those that would generally form bases in water. Typical acid fluxes are silica, alumina, and phosphorus, although alumina can function as either an acid or base. Typical basic fluxes are lime and magnesia. Fluorspar, or calcium fluoride, is a neutral substance because it can be viewed as the reaction product of a base and an acid. The degree of acidity (ratio of acids to bases) or basicity (ratio of bases to acids) is often specified to characterize the slag chemistry for a particular system. The system might also be referred to as acid or basic depending on the choice of slag, for example, basic steelmaking uses slags with more bases (lime and magnesia) than acids (silica and alumina). Many forms of minerals and compounds have been used as fluxes depending on the process requirements, availability, costs, requirements for recycling of intermediate products, and environmental concerns. Because slags are most often mixtures of oxides and silicates, fluxes are usually oxides, carbonates (which decompose to oxides) and silicates. Slags comprising phosphates, borates, sulfides, carbides, or halides have also been used (Rosenqvist, 1974, Moore, 1981, Szekely et al., 1989). In ironmaking and steelmaking, some acidic components are sometimes added. In nonferrous processes slags and fluxes are acidic with silica as the primary component, and although the use of basic flux such as limestone or lime is not extensive, some amount is used to modify slag properties and some refining slags are lime based. The production of iron is accomplished by smelting of ores, pellets, and sinter in blast furnaces with subsequent refining of molten iron and scrap in oxygen-blown processes. The electric furnace is used to make steel, stainless steels, ferroalloys, and special alloys, whereas ferromanganese is often made in blast furnaces. Fluxes are used in all of these processes, and either limestone or lime is the major flux component with some dolomite, dolomitic lime, silica, alumina, and fluorspar being used. In ironmaking, the flux is added either by direct charging or through sinter and fluxed pellets. In steel refining by the basic oxygen process, flux is added as lime and dolomitic lime that are either charged as lumps or injected as fines. Some small amount of limestone is sometimes used. Fluorspar is often added as lumps or mixed with other fine materials in briquettes. Alumina is sometimes added to blast furnaces either by direct charging of sized lumps or through sinter. Typical acid fluxes are sand, gravel, quartz rock, used silica brick, or raw siliceous ore (Lankford, Jr., et al., 1985). Olivine, which is a magnesium-silicate mineral, has been added to iron blast furnaces to enhance removal of alkalis (Lankford, Jr., et al., 1985). Alumina in the form of bauxite, aluminiferous clay, and recycled alumina brick has been used as flux. Alumina can function amphoterically as either an acid or base, for example it can form aluminum silicate in high silica slags or calcium aluminate in lime-bearing slags (Lankford, Jr., et al., 1985). Limestone (calcium carbonate) and dolomite (magnesium-calcium carbonate), or fluxstones as they are sometimes called (Boynton, 1980), and their calcined forms, lime and dolomitic lime are the major basic fluxes. In the latter cases, the carbonates are de- composed in a kiln-type process to drive off carbon dioxide that might otherwise interfere with the subsequent smelting or refining process or require expensive forms of energy to effect the decomposition (e.g., by combustion of coke in the iron blast furnace). Limestone is considerably less expensive than lime because it is not calcined; however, lime is far more difficult to handle and reacts readily with water. Dolomite and dolomitic lime are used for their magnesia content. Fluorspar is a neutral flux often used as an additive in steel- making slags to improve fluidity, but it has also been used in combination with lime as a primary slag in electroslag refining (Duckworth and Hoyle, 1969). Fluorspar is available in several grades, with the lowest grade often used for steelmaking. When the price of fluorspar has risen, substitutes including aluminum smelting dross, borax, manganese ore, titania, iron oxides, silica sand, and

Jan 1, 1994

By Robert J. Russell

The importance of grinding as a unit operation in all industry has caused much effort to be expended toward improving the facility with which grinding can be done. Endeavor has continued nearly 100 years to formulate laws governing crushing and grinding. This has not been without controversy. However, grinding is an experimental science and our useful knowledge originates in experience. The recorded experience is grinding history. Today, many types of size reduction equipment, each with variations, are available to industry. Frequently, more than one type of grinding equipment will meet a requirement of grinding. However, an economic evaluation of installation and operating costs generally indicates a preferred type. The selection of grinding equipment requires' a consideration of the purpose in grinding, the characteristics of the material to be ground, equipment available for grinding, and the manner in which it can be applied best.

Jan 1, 1960

By Arland R. Krueger

You have asked me today to tell you how quarried stone is meeting the challenges of contemporary architecture. The new position of stone, the oldest building material, in contemporary architecture, was described to me very concisely the other day by a very distinguished avant garde architect. He said rather wryly, "Do you know, if quarried stone had only just been discovered, we would all be calling it the most miraculous of all the modern miracle building materials." His prognosis was, I believe, much more than a witty quote. It echoes the surprise and. enthusiasm with which a considerable segment of the architectural profession is rediscovering stone as a most modern building material that offers unsurpassed values in beauty and practicality - well deserving of the term "miracle".

Jan 1, 1960

By A. Kepeski

Cement industry relies heavily on the control of large volume of raw materials in the proximity of plant operations for clinker and cement manufacturing. These mineral resources are perhaps considered as ?low-profile? (mostly comprise limestone's, clays, marls and sands), but their availability, accessibility and suitability ? the later with respect to chemistry, mineralogical and physical characters ? are factors of paramount importance and may largely affect production cost and plant productivity. The combination of scarcity of good quality raw materials deposits and the growing environmental concerns have challenged the cement producers towards sustainability and the responsible exploitation of natural resources. In open pit mining and quarrying, the evaluation of mineral resources vs. handling of the non-usable overburden and other off-spec materials directly affects the medium to long-term production planning, quality control practices and environmental management. It is a general trend for many cement producers and a usual case for a number of Titan Cement plants worldwide, that redesign of quarry pits is necessary not only for stability purposes but also as a result of environmental constraints and emerging issues. The material reserves then have to be re-evaluated in the light of the new final pit design, safety distances from houses, other infrastructure and Law restrictions and according to criteria of safety of operations, reduction of environmental impacts, pit optimisation and proper future reclamation. The paper discusses the case of three active quarries of Usje Cement Plant, in Skopje (Macedonia), namely Usje (marl), Goverlevo (lime-stone) and Ljubosh (sand), where a large campaign of redesign and evaluation of recoverable reserves and the needs in rehabilitation took place in 2004. Technical and environmental issues and criteria are presented in the form of master plans and the highlights of the first attempts to propose and apply a reclamation scheme are discussed, by also examining alternative solutions for each quarry area. Finally, the 2005 progress in applying changes to the design of benches and pit layout, as well as experiences gained, are discussed.

Jan 1, 2005

By John T. Awald

The Bradshaw Mountains of west-central Arizona cover an area of 1600 square miles and contain numerous old mines and prospects. The area has been geochemically sampled on a reconnaissance basis to relate mineralized areas to regional structure and rock types. Copper analyses of stream sediments have been classified and contoured to show the distribution of low background, high background, and low, intermediate and highly anomalous areas. Contoured results are compared to geology and known mines. Several prospecting areas are indicated.

Jan 1, 1970

By Colin D. Jardine

Rapidly increasing energy costs and more rigid customer quality requirements necessitate improved control of pelletizing processes. With the introduction of dedicated microprocessor-based controllers, sophisticated control strategies are now possible. A recent application of this technology at Carol Project has resulted in fuel savings, improved pellet quality, and standardization of operating procedures. This was accomplished with no production loss by the use of a "building block" approach to design and equipment selection. Details of this approach and the results obtained are described.

Jan 1, 1982

By James Paone

Subsidence movements have damaged houses, schools, streets, and public utility lines in some undermined sections of Belleville and Maryville, Ill. In cooperation with local officials and the State of Illinois, the Interior Department's Bureau of Mines is sharing experience in backfilling abandoned coal mines to demonstrate that bituminous coal mine workings in south-western Illinois can be successfully backfilled and subsidence-prone areas stabilized. Subsurface investigations revealed that mine workings are dry and underlain by underclay deposits susceptible to instability upon wetting. Backfilling will therefore be accomplished by pneumatic injection instead of the hydraulic methods used in previous subsidence-control projects.

Jan 1, 1977

By Ernst P. Hall

The Irwin Basin. (Fig. 1)* is a synclinal or shoe-horn *Figure numbers throughout refer to color slides not included with the preprint shaped basin in the Pittsburgh Coal Seam, It is approximately 10 miles wide and 22 miles long at its maximum points. The surface of the land above the basin is hilly, rolling farmland,, typical of this area of Pennsylvania, and it is criss-crossed with streams and highways and liberally dotted with farm houses and communities. In-general the coal is pitched from north to south with a total drop of 610 feet'. The coal seam cross-section from east to west is bowl-shaped and rises as much as 375 feet from the low point of the bowl to-the-outcrop. Cross-sections showing coal elevations are shown on Figs, 4 and 50 Ground cover above the coal will vary from 0 to 550 feet, averaging about 350 feet throughout the area. This area is richly endowed with a history of coal mining. The first car of coal shipped cast of the Allegheny Mountains was mined in the Westmoreland Coal Company's Shady Grove (later North Side) Colliery in Irwin, Pa., early in 1853, This mine was opened in 1852 by Coleman, Hillman & Company. The coal was hauled from the mine to the freight station by horse-drawn wagon and. loaded into a then "standard" box car of 18,000-pound capacity. Coal mining in this region flourished and grew as steel production in nearby Pittsburgh demanded more and more of the high quality, metallurgical-grade coal of the region.

Jan 1, 1959

By John J. Dwyer

As one begins to contemplate the organization of a talk with the title "Iron Ore - The Permanent State of Evolution," the main divisions appear to be the past, the present, and the future. But distaste for repetition of the present production achievements, which scarcely need additional description on this occasion, soon leads one to the conclusion that a more appropriate division of the subject is simply the past and the future . . . with emphasis on the future. We are working in the present, but it can only be understood by what has taken place in the years and decades gone by, and/or under what terms we will have to face the future. Evolution is more often thought of as a steady change - but steady change is really the product of revolutions, sometimes making headlines but often unnoticed at the time. With hindsight, we recognize the great importance of the emergence of the Bessemer converter and the open hearth and the vast influence that both have had on steel making and the changing ore demand. In this country we also see schooners opening the era for lake transportation of iron ore from Michigan to Take Erie. Later, steamships haul the ore from the Mesabi Range to the steel centers of the country. In order to take full advantage of the inland seaway, there had to be revolutions in ship design, loading and unloading facilities and channel and lock development. Full scale utilization of the resources of the Mesabi Range, itself, required parallel upheavals such as the development of new production equipment, and substitution of modern forms of energy for horsepower, and, yes, manpower, as well.

Jan 1, 1968

By R. E. Hucko

The goal of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) coal preparation R&D program is to develop technology to reduce the ash and sulfur contents of United States coals to levels such that the resultant product can be formulated into a high- quality solid or slurry fuel that could replace oil or natural gas in both new and retrofit applications. The Coal Preparation program is implemented by the Pittsburgh Energy Technology Center (PETC) and is conducted both in-house and by a cross section of industrial organizations, universities, and national laboratories.

Jan 1, 1986

By M. Paul

"INTRODUCTION In 1990, the uranium production of SDAG Wismut in East Germany was stopped. 45 years of inconsiderate destructive exploitation had scarred both landscape and nature. With the “Wismut law” which came into force in December 1991, the Federal Republic took responsibility of the remediation of the legacies from former uranium ore mining and milling in Saxony and Thuringia. A unique opportunity turned out in order to remove environmental damage, to enhance the life quality of the local population, to shape new landscapes and to advance the economic restart. (1) The results of nearly 25 years of remediation activity are evidence that this opportunity was used at all former SDAG (Sowjetisch-Deutsche Aktien-gesellschaft) Wismut sites. The reference project “Wismut“ has evolved into a joint project of all parties involved and radiates beyond the affected regions. This is particularly reflected by the Know-how transfer starting from Wismut and the increasing activities for third parties abroad.WATER MANAGEMENT AT WISMUT REHABILITATION Within the Wismut project, water management and conventional technical water treatment are by far the most cost-intensive long-term tasks of the remediation programme. Over the medium term, there is no viable alternative to the operation of active systems to catch and treat contaminated mine waters at the Ronneburg, Schlema, Königstein, Pöhla, Seelingstädt and Helmsdorf sites. Based on the status quo, this paper outlines the key issues of the Wismut GmbH water management strategy over the medium and long term. It is focused primarily on achieving protection goals for potentially impacted water bodies in the surroundings of Wismut sites and on optimising associated remediation expenditures as well as on creating the prerequisites for achieving low post-remedial care and maintenance or walk-away system status over the long term. (2) The applied mining practices during the active SDAG Wismut period have not been up to the high standards of modern mining operations and their requirement to leave former production premises and deposited residues in a condition that was not only physically but also chemically stable. Rather the emission of mine and seepage waters laden with high acidity, metal and salt content is a frequent corollary and difficult legacy of historic mining and processing operations (4, 5). As a consequence, the control or mitigation, respectively, of environmental impacts associated with contaminated mine waters ties up enormous public resources worldwide (6, 7)."

Jan 1, 2016

By Lester G. Rollins

Coal today enjoys a dominant position, serving the energy and metallurgical marketed The measure of success in the market place is, and will continue to be, the price per million BTUs or price per ton delivered to the user. The Coal Industry's remarkable record of price stability since World War II is well known. The next twenty years promise to be equally as challenging. This challenge will be met our president, Mr. Drain, has often stated that, ?The Joy Manufacturing Company is betting that coal will meet the challenge.? To this end, the resources of Joy have been committed to doing its part. Joy's efforts are directed toward a target which has been defined as: 1. Deliver coal to the user at a price of $.15/MBTU or less. or; 2. Deliver coal to the mine portal at a cost of $1.00 or less.

Jan 1, 1966

By George M. Meisel

This paper is devoted to a discussion of the factors governing design of concentrators for large grinding circuits. Emphasis is placed on the manner in which use of ever larger grinding mills has affected the size of grinding bays, service cranes, gear reducers and electric motors, and the selection of ancillary equipment for cushioning of the starting load of large mills. Information is presented on the effect of using large grinding mills on the capital and operating costs of concentrators, e. g. : (Fig. 1) ? Benefits in lower cost of mills, drives and materials handling equipment, plant space, power, grinding media, operating labor and maintenance, and in ease of instrumentation and automation. ? Penalties in distribution of materials from the grinding mills to multiple lines of equipment which have not been developed to commensurately large sizes, and higher cost of ancillary equipment.

Jan 1, 1968

By Ernst P. Hall

As a scientist and an engineer whose responsibilities include the consideration of air pollution and its control, I am frequently called upon to answer variations of two basic questions, These questions may I be set forth as: (1) How much air pollution does the coal industry cause? (2) How serious is the air pollution problem to the coal industry? At first these questions may seem elementary and almost trite, but serious consideration of them will show that they are technologically involved and I further complicated by the subjective base to which they must be evaluated.

Jan 1, 1963

By H. Verakis, M. A. Hockenberry, A. C. Smith, J. H. Rowland III

Four different types of fire suppression systems were evaluated in large-scale fire experiments to study the effect of air velocity on their effectiveness in extinguishing conveyor belt fires. The four different types of suppression system were water sprinkler, deluge-type water spray and two different dry chemical fire suppression systems. The large-scale fire tests were conducted with 1.8-m- (72-in.)-wide fire-resistant rubber belt that met the Mine Safety and Health Administration flame resistant requirement specified in Title 30, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 18, section 18.65 (also known as the 2G Flame Test). Each fire suppression system was tested at air velocities of 152 - 168 m (500–550 ft) per minute (mpm) and 411 - 457 mpm (1,350 - 1,500 fpm). Two tests were conducted at both air velocities for each fire suppression system. Both of the water-based fire suppression systems were able to suppress the fire to the point that a miner could extinguish it with a fire extinguisher. However, the amount of water needed to suppress the fire to the point where a miner could walk up to and extinguish any smoldering belting was greater than the current MSHA regulations required. MSHA regulations only require 10 minutes of water supply for a suppression system. In the test setup, neither of these systems would have suppressed the fire had the water been turned off to the system after 10 minutes. The dry chemical suppression systems produced mixed results. Dry chemical suppression system A did not suppress the conveyor belt fire at either air velocity. Dry chemical system B suppressed the fire at 152 mpm (500 fpm) air velocity, but produced mixed results at the higher air velocity. Details are presented on the large-scale fire test setup, arrangement of the fire suppression systems and conclusions regarding the effect of air velocity on fire suppression system design and performance.

Jan 1, 2010

By Thomas M. Lynberg

WIDCO is a surface coal mine located near Centralia, Washington. The WIDCO preparation plant processes over 7 million tons of run- of-mine coal each year with a product yield averaging 72%. In the jig type preparation plant the fine refuse amounts to approximately 130 dry tons per hour of 28mesh by 0. This fine refuse material is thickened in a 160ft. diameter static thickener with the use of lime as a coagulant and organic polymer as a flocculant. Once thickened the fine refuse, which is predominately bentonitic clays, has been dewatered and disposed of using several different methods. These methods will be discussed and include vacuum disc filters, ponds, solid bowl centrifuges, belt filter presses and experiments with electrokinetic dewatering.

Jan 1, 1981