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By Ulrich O. Lange

Coal is America's most abundant energy resource. Therefore, it IS logical to assume that coal must be produced in much greater quantifies in order to make the United States self-sufficient, as far as energy is concerned by 1985. However, there are a number of obstacles which have to be overcome in order to achieve such a great task. According to one of the most outspoken American Mining men, there are three major obstacles. Those are: (1 ) Mining technology (2) Public image of the coal mining industry (3) Governmental policy toward the mining industry The following will be dealing with Shortwall Mining, which is a very specific part of mining technology and which might influence the image of the coal mining industry as well as the governmental guidelines, at least to make it easier to live with those guidelines. During recent years the operation of coal mines has been more expensive than ever. Since 1970, the cost of producing coal increased by 30% and the productivity dropped by just about the same amount. Those are alarming signs.

Jan 1, 1975

By S. Angioletti

This paper addresses strategic investment decisions when they are nested in a project development format where each project is implemented in phases and each phase is approved to move on to the next phase only if certain technical and economic requirements are met. This configuration is sometimes referred to as a ?Project Portfolio?. Mining companies maintain project portfolios in their exploration investment plan. This study proposes a procedure to best manage an exploration project portfolio including technical and economic uncertainties. The procedure may support decision makers in a simple and intuitive way, while maintaining the rigor and precision required by the rather large amount of financial resources typically called for by mining projects. The procedure was tested in a real case study of a gold mining company and its exploration projects portfolio. The procedure uses the following approaches: i) investment valuation methods under technical and market uncertainties based on Option Pricing Model, Real Option Theory and Option Space; ii) portfolio management and Stage Gate®1 method; iii) Monte Carlo simulation.

Jan 1, 2010

By R. E. Anderson

Canada encompasses an area of approximately 9,976,000 kilometres. It is comparable in size to the United States, but because of climatic conditions and limited transportation facilities, much of the area is unsuitable for agricultural or industrial development. We have a population of 22,000,000 - most of whom reside within a hundred mile belt paralleling the Canadian-U.S. border. Our principal cities in order of size are Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. We have a total of 10 provinces, each of which elects its own - government. The Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories covering the northern half of the country, are administered by federal government agencies. The mining industry employs approximately 9% of the labour force and accounts for more than 40% of all tonnage shipped on Canadian railroads and inland waterways. In 1974 it produced $4,800 million in mineral wealth. Canada ranks first in world production of asbestos, nickel, zinc, and silver and has significant production of copper, iron, molybdenum, lead and other mineral commodities. During the past decade Canada, like many other western countries, has undergone dramatic economic and social change. This trend is continuing, and its effect on the Canadian mining industry has produced conflicting results. From the industry's point of view, some of the more negative aspects include a steadily increasing involvement by government at municipal, provincial and federal levels through the imposition of Stricter controls, regulations and taxation policies, a rising tide of nationalism, which advocates public ownership of all natural resources, the spectre of inflation (currently increasing at the rate of 8% per year) and unsettled labour conditions.

Jan 1, 1976

By M. K. Buder

Over the years, electric utilities have been faced with declining steam-coal quality, rising coal prices, and increasingly rigid and costly environmental standards. As a result, many utilities are beginning to show an interest in coal cleaning to upgrade coal by improving its heating value and reducing its sulfur content. Among the primary questions that must be answered for these electric utilities is whether the cost of coal cleaning can be offset by the potential cost savings in coal transportation and utilization in power generation. In search of at least a preliminary answer to this question, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) engaged Bechtel to perform a case-by-case economic study to examine the cost effects of using cleaned versus raw coal to fuel new electric power plants. The results of two of the seven cases studied which involved western coals - one from Montana and another from Utah - are reported in this paper. Coal cleaning appeared to be a cost effective option for the Utah coal, but only marginally economical for the Montana coal. These cost results are expected to change to favor coal cleaning to a greater extent with the application of the final revised New Source Performance Standards regulating SO2 emissions just issued by the EPA. The study was based on the regulation originally proposed by the EPA under the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments.

Jan 1, 1979

By N. Weidner, V. A. Samaranayake, K. Awuah-Offei, S. Que

"This research sought to facilitate improved stakeholder (community) analysis using discrete choice theory (DCT). The work considered 16 project attributes and four demographic factors. The discrete choice experiment was conducted in Salt Lake City, Utah to illustrate the usefulness of DCT in mining stakeholder analysis. The data was used in discrete choice modeling of individual preferences. The approach answers three important questions for enhanced stakeholder analysis: (1) What are the factors that affect individual preferences? (2) What is the effect of demographics on individual preferences? (3) What is the value of environmental and social impacts to individuals in the community? INTRODUCTION Stakeholder analysis is crucial for effective stakeholder engagement because it is important to identify and characterize stakeholders in order to effectively engage in dialogue with them. This is not only true for all stakeholders but true for characterizing the members of a particular stakeholder. The local community is usually the largest and most diverse single stakeholder group. Also, the local community is perhaps the most important stakeholder group. Thus, analysis of the local community is essential for project management. Conventional mining stakeholder analysis is a three-step process, which involves evaluating: (1) each stakeholder’s view of the project (positive, neutral, or negative); (2) how influential each stakeholder is (high, medium, or low); and (3) how they will be impacted by the project (high, medium, or low) (ICMM, 2012). The results of this evaluation are documented in a stakeholder analysis matrix (Table 1), which is used to classify the stakeholders into three groups: highly influential supporter of the project, neutral about the project, and highly influential opponent of the project. This process can be used to describe groups of stakeholders (e.g. community, non-governmental organizations, etc.) or individuals making up a particular stakeholder group (e.g. members of the local community)."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. S. Huyett

The opportunity to cooperate with the Mining Department of the Pennsylvania State University in their Student-Trainee Program is accepted by The New Jersey Zinc Company who believes that the participation in this type of a program will lead to a larger supply of high calibre engineers in mining. Trainees compete with other employees to earn the cost of their education while gaining practical experience in the mining industry. The practical experience is arranged to complement the technical education through a variety of work assignments. Job opportunities for the trainee are related to the work requirements of the Company and to the performance of the trainee. Management must consider and deal with a good many problems uncommon with regular, full 'time employees. For a number of reasons this program is recommended to other companies as a means to encourage outstanding young men who are interested in a career in the mineral industry to obtain a professiona1 education.

Jan 1, 1963

By B. A. Massey

Sooner or later, we'll encounter a subordinate, peer, or boss that will test our management skills to the limit. The chances are good that our formal educations have not fully prepared us to effectively handle the situation, and through trial-by-fire, we have learned that the management of people is often as much an art as it is a science. Assertiveness - as opposed to agressiveness - is basically positive persuation. Assertive management techniques can help combine the art and science of managment to sell ideas, accomplish goals, direct the workforce, and generally promote the corporate - as well as our own - objectives

Jan 1, 1986

By L. Yuan, J. H. Rowland

"In 1995 and 2003, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) conducted surveys to determine the number of atmospheric monitoring systems (AMS) that were being used in underground coal mines in the United States. The survey reports gave data for the different AMS manufacturers, the different types of equipment monitored, and the different types of gas sensors and their locations. Since the last survey in 2003, MSHA has changed the regulation requirements for early fire detection along belt haulage entries. As of Dec. 31, 2009, point-type heat sensors are prohibited for use for an early fire detection system. Instead, carbon monoxide (CO) sensors are now required. This report presents results from a new survey and examines how the regulation changes have had an impact on the use of CO sensors in underground coal mines in the United States. The locations and parameters monitored by AMS and CO systems are also discussed.IntroductionThe last survey conducted by the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) on atmospheric monitoring systems used in underground coal mines in the United States was in 2003 (Francart, 2005). A total of 146 active mines were surveyed. The survey report states that since 1995 there had been a steady increase in the use of atmospheric monitoring systems in underground coal mines as the technology of carbon monoxide (CO) sensors was improved by manufacturers. Atmospheric monitoring systems had become more reliable, and some CO sensors could be purchased with the capability to discriminate between the CO produced by a fire versus CO produced by diesel equipment. This increase in reliability had reduced the number of false alarms and the response time. The faster response time to a developing fire allowed miners to take the necessary action to put out the fire or exit the mine.At the time of the last MSHA survey, some mines still used point-type heat sensors to detect the presence of a fire on conveyor belts. This detection method works by measuring the temperature of the air around the sensor. As a fire starts to develop, smoke and hot gases are produced from the combustion process, and the air is heated up. Once the air and gases reach a designated temperature detected by the point-type heat sensor, a fire alarm signal is generated. Studies have shown that the response times for detecting the presence of a fire using CO sensors are much shorter than when using point-type heat sensors (Conti and Litton, 1995)."

Jan 2, 2018

By John A. Dunn

The history of underground coal mining has developed through the years from a manual digging and loading process to the highly mechanized pro- cess that it is today through the use of electric power. Mine power systems have closely followed the continued pattern of improvement and mechanization, through necessity and the application of technological advances, At the beginning electric power used in coal mines was confined to haulage. Since d-c power was better suited to traction drives, mine power systems naturally developed using direct current. During this development, a number of street railway systems were in service, using 550 volts, and it was natural that mine trolley systems went in at 550 volts. As machines for mining operations developed and the number of operating mines increased, a safety hazard developed through the use of 550 volts. Most regulating agencies opposed the use of 550 volts, and after a time the maximum voltage permitted was limited to 300 volts hot line to ground. Up until this time most mines had operated with one central generating station, which served utilization power to the whole mine. Power demands were not very great and transmission losses were within reasonable limits.

Jan 1, 1964

By David R. Hargis

Large-scale groundwater withdrawals are necessary to depressurize a confined aquifer system allowing the dry open-pit mining of the overlying phosphate ore. The extent of the existing and planned groundwater development led to the establishment by the State of North Carolina of Capacity Use Area No. l. Groundwater use in the Capacity Use Area is regulated by a permitting system. A two-dimensional finite-difference ground- water flow model was developed for North Carolina Phosphate Corporation. The aim of the model is to aid the Corporation in matters relating to permitting by serving as a predictive tool. The model can be used to project regional water level impacts resulting from various scenarios of depressurization pumping.

Jan 1, 1983

By K. Voltaire

As can be guessed from the subtitle, this paper will not be a geologist's one since neither of the authors is a professional geologist. This will be an attempt to present the various aspects of the legal, economic and geological setting that condition the exploration for mineral resources in Haiti. Before going any further, we are going to present a summary of our rather short mining history. One must first mention that Caribbean countries are latecomers to the mining business. If we go back to the colonial period (1500-1600's) there are net many traces of mining activity. The major exception to this is the recovery of alluvial gold in Hispaniola, Puerto-Rico and Cuba and also some sporadic copper mining in Hispaniola (notably in Haiti near the city of Gonaives and in some of the old mining districts in Santo-Domingo). These easily minable deposits were quickly exhausted and mining quite naturally came to an end as agriculture rose as the major economic activity. In the Haitian case, aside from very erratic mention during the 19th Century of the presence of some minerals (i.e. haematite, chalcopyrite) no serious geological work was undertaken. In the meantime, the peasants in the northern part were still looking for alluvial gold in some streams but this amounted to next to nothing. One has to come to the 1920's to find the first comprehensive geological survey. At the time, the country was under the military control of the United States. The American Government sent a team from the U.S.G.S. headed by the late W. Woodring to initiate a survey of the country. Given the lack of transportation, this was a tough task and Woodring and his associates did it magnificently. As a result of their efforts, they published a very thick piece of work of more than 600 pages. "The Geology of the Republic of Haiti" although it was published in 1924 is a classic and is a must for anyone interested in the geology of Haiti.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. J. Swan

A computerized on-line process control system designed to monitor and control the seven-cone copper precipitation operations at Kennecott Copper Corporation's Chino Mines Division in New Mexico has been continuously operating since April, 1972. The cone monitoring system consists of plant sampling components, process measurement instrumentation, on-stream X-ray spectrometer, control computer, typewriters for programming and for operating reports, foreman's communication console, and cone automation hardware. The system provides the following functions: (1) assays for copper and iron from ten process streams on a continuous rotating basis, (2) directs hardware to automatically flush and start up cone units based on measured performance variables, (3) provides continuous plant operating data and calculates metallurgical averages as well as production figures for shift and daily summaries, and (4) provides data logging capabilities. The system is very reliable and improves plant performance by increasing yields, reducing scrap iron consumption, and reducing operating manpower requirements.

Jan 1, 1975

By Dr. R. W. Mead

There are two basic problems when one attempts to separate a solution of metal ions utilizing a chelation-solvent extraction cascade (commonly called liquid ion exchange). First, it is impossible to produce any great degree of separation unless the separation factor (also called selectivity, which is the ratio of the distribution coefficients) is very large. Second, the richest possible extracted product, using an infinite number of equilibrium stages, is at best only in equilibrium with the feed solution. These factors combined with equipment design considerations have led to a situation where only the most selective chelating agents are applicable to economic industrial operations. The authors know that distillation techniques are used routinely to separate compounds with nearly identical relative volatilities and that there should be a way of operating solvent extraction cascades in an analogous manner to obtain separations of metal ions. The advantage of this approach would be that solutions of metal ions of any desired purity could be obtained even if the separation factor was close to unity. This paper presents this idea and suggests some possible applications.

Jan 1, 1977

By N. Edmonson

An examination of the statistics of the world phosphate fertilizer industry since 1980 reveals an increasing tendency for fertilizer manufacturing activity to concentrate in phosphate rock mining areas. The economic justification for this resource-oriented strategy is clear. The choice between shipping phosphate rock, a comparatively low-value product, and shipping more valuable finished fertilizers will always be resolved in favor of the latter if cost considerations control the decision. The historical existence of substantial phosphate fertilizer manufacturing capacity oriented toward fertilizer-consuming activities and dependent on imported phosphate rock shows that narrow cost considerations have not always determined the industry's location. One is entitled to ask what conditions have changed to precipitate the observed relocations, and how permanent these changes are. These questions are the subject of this investigation.

Jan 1, 1995

By C. L. Wilsey, K. M. Oakes, W. J. Reich, M. J. Protani

The time frame required to complete the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for a new mine or the expansion of an existing mine can range from nine to 24 months, or even longer. The time frame will vary depending on whether an environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS) will be completed Completing properly designed baseline studies to collect natural resource data to support the EA or EIS prior to the start of the NEPA process can shorten this time frame. In this paper, a two-year natural resource baseline study by Homestake Mining for the Ruby Hill Mine, Eureka County, NV, is used as a case study to describe how a properly designed and executed natural resource baseline study streamlined the NEPA process.

Jan 1, 2003

By Michael Schultz, Gregory Sanders

In 2017, the North Texas Municipal Water District (NTMWD) initiated the design of the Sister Grove Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility (SGRWRRF) to provide additional treatment capacity for future population growth within the Lavon Lake watershed. To provide a discharge location for SGRWRRF approximately 4.5 miles of 2.4- meter (96-inch) internal diameter pipeline will be constructed, including 2.3-kilometer (7,800) feet and 487-meter (1,600 foot) long tunnel segments. This paper will discuss the anticipated geology of the two tunnel segments, selection of the tunnel alignment, the anticipated initial tunnel support requirements and other aspects of the project design

Jun 13, 2021

By Ross W. Whipple

Applying geophysical techniques in potential geothermal areas has received: little attention in the United States, though it is widely used and accepted in New Zealand and Italy. In those countries it has been demonstrated that geophysical surveys can be useful in locating new geothermal areas and in directing test drilling programs. Geophysical studies in a thermal region can provide structural information and, if conditions are right directly; locate subsurface hot waters. They can give indications of sub-alluvial rock types and of the thickness of alluvial cover. In certain cases they can be used to estimate the power potential of a hydrothermal system.

Jan 1, 1963

The global mining industry will always face significant challenges. Some, though, are bigger than others. What do you consider the major challenges facing the mining industry as a whole and SME in particular? Without a doubt, the major issue in both coal and metal/nonmetal mining industries is the ?graying? of the workforce in all aspects of mining. As the baby boomers continue to age, valuable experience is being lost by industry, government and academia. And there is the potential for SME to lose some of its membership. Now with that said, I should note that, despite the aging of the workforce, SME membership continued to grow by 7.1 percent during 2011.

Jan 1, 2012

By NARAYAN K. BHAGAT, ARVIND K. MISHRA, Aditya Rana, M. M. Singh

The paper presents an innovative directional controlled blasting (DCB) technique for excavating unstable slopes along the Konkan railway in India without disturbing the traffic. New empirical formulae for small geometry blasting to estimate burden and throw were developed. A unique sequence of firing and excavation with powder factor varying between 0.04 and 0.39 kg/m3, irrespective of the actual free face, was used for rock blasting. The process controlled the throw of blasted material over the track and resulted in a smooth and stable wall. The slope angle was changed from 80–82 to 45–47 degrees, and possible wedge, planar and toppling failures were eliminated. No incident of rockfall and slope failure along these slopes has been observed after the stabilization.

By John E. Miller

Unit Rig & Equipment Co., manufacturer of Lectra Haul Trucks, is continually studying methods of reducing the operating costs of large haulage trucks. Reduction of haulage system operating costs is an important goal that equipment operators and equipment manufacturers constantly try to improve on. One of the most variable and important factors affecting operating costs is actual truck operating practices. An examination was centered on methods to optimize truck utilizaion. It was found that a very effective method of accomplishing this goal would be an Automatic Truck Control (ATC) system to automatically control a fleet of haulage trucks in a predetermined pattern. Economic studies were conducted which showed a very favorable reduction in mine operating costs by use of an ATC system. In 1970, Unit Rig & Equipment Company, in conjunction with SAAB-SCANIA began preliminary development of adapting for truck use a proven automated control system previously used for train systems, small trucks, and military target vehicles.

Jan 1, 1979