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By R. Luchese de Moraes, J. A. Matthews, C. Feliciano Bruzual

The role of biomass char in blast furnaces has been re-examined by scientists worldwide, as a feasible option to reduce the carbon intensity of ironmaking. This contribution makes a technical and economic analysis of the ferro gusa industry in Brazil, with the last 172 charcoal-Blast Furnaces operating in the world. A key strategic question is presented: what is the current status and future prospects of biomass use in Blast Furnaces? Findings provide significant implications to metallurgists: while ferro gusa from charcoal is regarded as carbon neutral iron with low impurities, there are limiting factors that hinder the further proliferation of charcoal-BFs: biomass generation requires vast extensions of arable land and aggregates have low production capacity. Additionally, most of the charcoal is presently generated in beehive kilns with low yields. These elements combined make charcoal-hot metal expensive in price. With respect to the future prospects of biomass, the injection of small biochar particles through the PCI rigs in BFs (here coined Bio-PCI) and iron ore sintering may offer a practical alternative to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions in the ironmaking process.

Jan 1, 2015

By R. H. Fernald, C. D. Smith

When the United States Geological Survey began operations at the coal-testing plant erected at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, Mo., in 1904, it had already outlined a comprehensive plan for the systematic study of coals, lignites, and other mineral fuels with reference to their suitability for particular purposes and the methods by which they could be utilized most efficiently. Recognizing the need of information on the relative economy of producer gas as compared with steam for power purposes and the lack of comparable tests of American coals in the gas producer, the Geological Survey undertook investigations of the merits of different coals as producer fuel for the purpose of promoting efficiency in the utilization of the nation's fuel supplies. These investigations were carried on at St. Louis, Mo., and, later, at Norfolk, Va., and Pittsburg, Pa. The aet of Congress approved May 16, 1910, transferred the fueltesting work being carried on by the Geological Survey to the Bureau of Mines. This bureau is conducting producer-gas tests at P~ttsburg, Pa., and is publishing and distributing reports relating to all the fuel tests made by the Survey. These investigations into the possibility of generating producer gas in a commercial way for power purposes from the various fuels of the country have been associated with steaming, briquetting, coking, and other tests, all of which supplemented an examination into the nature, extent, and distribution of the fuels. The tests have all been made with carefully selected representative samples and carload lots of materials procured specially for the purpose by experienced collectors.

Jan 1, 1911

By E Widzyk-Capehart

The mines of the future can be envisioned as complex, large-scale technological systems being operated remotely from few centrally located (major cities) operating centres and skeletal crew stationed at the site. These systems will require remotely located human operators to constantly adapt to new and unforeseen system and environmental demands. In addition, the remote operators will need to match system properties to the changing demands and operational conditions, ie must be able to handle the ‘non-design’ emergencies, because the system designers would not have been able to foresee all possible scenarios of failures and provide automatic safety devices for every contingency. Therefore, it is highly important that the operators’ job, which involves problem solving and decision making at the workstation level, is facilitated by the proper interface designs. This paper argues that decision support systems and thus human-system interfaces for the mines of the future should be developed based on the principles of human-system integration that take into account human information processing and cognitive abilities. The information presented to the operator must support the operator in taking appropriate action through a human-system interface designed according to scientific principles of User Centred Design. A case study is presented where an iterative design process was used by CSIRO researchers as an evaluation method involving users (control room operators) at several stages of the user interface design in order to correct any design inadequacies as they emerged. This process allowed the designers to identify any usability issues before the user interface was fully implemented, which subsequently enabled the control room operators to easily adapt to the new interface and carry out all designated tasks in a timely and effective manner.

Nov 22, 2011

By F. Mohamm

"Recent changes in regulations and scientific advances concerning selenium bioaccumulation have placed greater importance on non-biological treatment systems for selenium control. Mining wastewater contains hexavalent selenium (selenate) as the predominant aqueous species and possibly small amounts of tetravalent selenium (selenite). Non-biological removal of selenite is accomplished readily and cost effectively by ferric co-precipitation and adsorption using ferric oxyhydroxides sourced from ferric salts or iron anodes in electrocoagulation cells. Selenate on the other hand is difficult to remove. It is often incorrectly assumed that electrocoagulation is suitable for removing both selenite and selenate. Selenate removal efficiency by electrocoagulation is low and the amount of waste residue produced high. In contrast, BioteQ’s Selen-IX™ process removes selenate very efficiently and produces a much smaller amount of stable residue. The process combines selective ion exchange with electro-reduction of selenate in electrocells that physically resemble electrocoagulation cells but are designed and operated differently. This paper summarizes four years of pilot scale demonstration on a wide range of mine waters and discusses the key benefits and limitations of Selen-IX™. The pros and cons of combining ion exchange with electro-reduction in comparison to direct electro-reduction of selenate are also reviewed.INTRODUCTION Selenium in Mining and Mineral Processing Effluents Similar to sulphate and metals, selenium presence in mining and mineral processing wastewater originates from minerals contained in the mined deposits. Therefore, no organoselenium species are typically present in these kinds of waters and inorganic species including selenite (SeO32-), selenate (SeO42) and elemental selenium account for the majority, if not all, selenium present in these streams. Elemental selenium is not always present in mine water but is often contained in smelter wastewater. To comply with new environmental regulations, a successful water treatment plant must remove selenium from all these forms effectively and economically without generating by-products that are difficult to dispose of or manage. Elemental selenium can be dealt with using filtration or gravity separation in clarifiers often assisted by flocculants and/or coagulants. Mine impacted waters typically contain other forms of suspended solids which are removed from water in this way. Once the solids are removed, the selenium species that remain untreated are the dissolved forms. In mining waters this is mostly selenate with small fraction of selenite. In smelter wastewater, the majority could be selenite. It is well established that tetravalent selenium is readily removed from water by using ferric iron co-precipitation at pH > 4 (NAMC SWG, 2010). Ferric hydroxide/ferrihydrite solids act as the adsorbent for tetravalent selenium when it is in one of the ionic forms of biselenite or selenite. This treatment for tetravalent selenium is highly efficient. Therefore, tetravalent selenium removal is generally not an issue and is often easily incorporated into lime neutralization or unit operations such as electrocoagulation used for removing other metals present in mine impacted waters. Another option of dealing with tetravalent selenium is sulphide precipitation in acidic pH which produces SeS2 and can separate selenite from other metals and/or sludge produced at neutral to alkali pH."

Jan 1, 2017

MR. RIGG: Gentlemen, I would like to welcome you all to the symposium this morning. My name is Jack Rigg, and I m a special assistant to Hollis Dole, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Mineral Resources. Hollis is not in town this morning, and I am here to pinch-hit for him. The first order of business this morning is remarks by the Honorable Russell Train, Under Secretary of the Department of Interior. Mr. Train. MR. TRAIN: Thank you, Mr. Rigg. Lest you think that Hollis Dole is not interested in this symposium, let me just say that fie is flying back from Australia just to be here. He is heading up a United States delegation in Australia meeting on resource problems in the Pacific. And I believe he will be here about noon.

Jan 1, 1970

By G. P. Halliwell, C. R. Austin

The investigation described in this paper deals with the development of high-temperature alloys of the Konel series over a considerable period of time at t,he Research Laboratories of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. The word ''Konel" has been coined to designate a class of alloys which are essentially nickel-cobalt-iron with other elements added, usually in small quantities. Most of these alloys contain titanium, usually about 2.5 per cent. The main consideration related to strength at high temperatures but the thermionic characteristics of the alloys was also of considerable importance. It is, however, with the mechanical properties at elevated temperatures that we are herein concerned. Much attention has also been devoted to their age-hardening characteristics. There is little need to stress the utilitarian aspect of this subject, as it has been discussed frequently. Alloys exhibiting superior properties at normal or elevated temperatures rapidly find many suitable applications. There may be some question, however, as to what constitutes a "superior alloy," or an alloy that may have good service possibilities at high temperatures. The problem is complex and various means have been employed to predict the useful life that may be expected of a material. In recent years the "creep limitJ' has been used as the best means of evaluation. Such tests necessarily are prolonged and hence collection of data is very slow. In a general survey of many alloys therefore the creep test is not desirable and recourse must be had to much shorter time tests in order more rapidly to select alloys which appear to show promise. For this reason the present survey has been made using the high-temperature tensile test and a bend test developed by Howard Scott.' In the tensile test the conditions have been standardized for all tests, so that values obtained are at least comparable, one alloy with another, although the absolute values recorded merely indicate the mechanical properties at the given temperature under a definite rate of loading.

Jan 1, 1932

"The rocks of Notre Dame Bay form part of the Central Paleozoic Mobile Belt (Williams, 1964) of the Newfoundland Appalachians. The Central Paleozoic Mobile Belt of the northern part of the island consists predominantly of Lower and Middle Ordovician rocks overlain by Silurian elastic and volcanic sequences and underlain in the marginal zones of the belt by polydeformed metamorphic rocks of the Gander Lake Group (Kennedy and McGonigal, 1972) in the northeast and the Fleur de Lys Supergroup (Neale and Nash, 1963; Kennedy, Phillips and Neale, 1972) in the northwest. The Ordovician rocks of the Central Mobile Belt have been subdivided into a number of local groups in different parts of the region. The Lush's Bight Group was first defined by MacLean (1947) . Recently Marten (1971) has revised the definition of this group, as shown in Table 1 and his revised definition is accepted in the present paper. Plate tectonic models that have been proposed for the development of the Newfoundland Appalachian System have indicated that the mafic volcanic rocks of western Notre Dame Bay represent oceanic crust (Bird and Dewey, 1970; Dewey and Bird, 1971; Church and Stevens, 1970) which marks the remnants of the proto-Atlantic Ocean first proposed by Wilson (1966) . Such models infer that the mafic volcanic rocks constitute the upper part of an ophiolite sequence. Analyses of the lavas show that they are tholeiitic and support this conclusion (Papezik and Fleming, 1967; Smitheringale, 1972) . A complete ophiolite sequence, consisting of peridotites overlain by gabbros, overlain by a sheeted diabase dyke complex which passes upward into pillow lavas, occurs at the base of the Snooks Arm Group (Upadhyay et al., 1971 ) . Sheeted diabase dykes are known to underlie the lowest mafic pillow lavas of the Lush's Bight Group at several localities in Notre Dame Bay (Strong, 1972, and pers. comm.) . However, several conflicting points about the geology of this region suggest that although a typical oceanic crustal sequence of Lower Ordovician age is present, older rocks occur within the ophiolite terrane in several places (Williams, Kennedy and Neale, 1972) ."

Jan 1, 1972

Obtaining financing for mining and exploration projects has been difficult for the last several years, particularly for junior companies. Today, though, the purse strings of investors appear to be loosening, leaving the industry with many questions about financing in the coming years. How have capital markets and exploration spending changed? Are there signs of improvement? Where has capital been raised in private, public markets, stock exchanges, private equity, etc.? What companies successfully raised capital in the last year? How are they spending it? How are traditional and alternative funding sources investing in mining? What are the issues mining companies need to know about when tapping alternative sources of capital? Those were some of the questions that were answered at the Current Trends in Mining Finance conference, sponsored by SME and the New York Section April 26-28. Held in New York City, the conference attracted 115 professionals who work on the finance and economic side of the mining industry. Three of the conference organizers talked with Mining Engineering about the conference and the state of financing in the industry today. Tim Alch (TA) is managing director with Behre Dolbear & Co. Alan Oshiki (AO) is executive vice president with the Abernathy MacGregor Group. Henry Weingarten (HW) is managing director with the Astrologers Fund Inc. Here is what they had to say.

By Charles M. Keenan

THIS PUELICATION lists and provides brief accounts of the major disasters not classified as explosions of gas or dust that have occurred in the cod mines of the United States from the earliest times to the present. Together with an earlier publication of the Bureau2 it provides information on all the known major coal-he disasters (disasters causing five or more deaths) in this Nation's history. Sources of each account are given individually. In each account the actual words of the original publication are used unchanged, but sentences or paragraphs referring to details that are not significant have been omitted. In those few cases where conflicting data were reported in different publications the selected version is the one that appears most logical and which in general is in agreement with most of the other accounts.

Jan 1, 1963

By V. J. McSweeney

This paper is directed at interested parties outside the Beach Sand Industry : the scope is quite broad. The geomorphology described is a successful working hypothesis which guided the author during prospecting and pegging campaigns : the author is not an expert in this field. The test data used in the text, for illustrative purposes, is original and may constitute a contribution to the state of the art. The operation- al and design philosophy embodied in the text is personal and describes the author's methods : all practising exponents would differ in some degree amongst themselves on these subjects. In this paper, no criticism of any existing operation or brand of equipment is intended and names are used to maintain a real contact with the subject matter. The author believes that the operational and design techniques evolved in the Beach Sand Industry under continual duress, have a wider application in the mining industry. This glimpse of the Industry is intended to enhance the respect for the present and past members. Space does not permit individual acknowledgements.

Jan 1, 1982

[lllc purpabr at thla report Vd, Lu JeLermlnr the health ar1J sdfet?; Nene11Le a octatc?J ultll Lne oar L.t support Ydlll ..up.I,ated lu dltetllative cupPurt svsLem, larrellLty hcle.g uaeJ af the Len,::rat 1, UI.Jlng 11-al tl. .1 a d 1 c L V h S LIdl'. L dal. I -ten- lu L he tt I .. L'., etuJ I e. 11'? L_1,1'1,11 .Jtd.. it, ..urn,at'l core ,LuJICCill JhLdll, an.: ...,La -IL .utia_tel .an LI?r oar of -l: l,.!rl .a..a. Ma terI.I auJ ...11,mc[Ii -ldla,tutcle 11. LI.ac .uwIttIca Welt a, a.. V.alte,, L.. .:Ltail, ..,,L., uI. LuClu,alug) Lelll anci ur devel?puJ I.,r Cul r1 , all. ...~.,rLrI Vt,ILt 1.'ere ~e,1C L? .Lher Gentiaii m111cc t, UL.-rye a Variety o. a rL vyl I pp.1Ca:t..n:. 'a.la IrL ..,_wLeiti, Iapl,.III ,tall ~,..:. IL all, maLertdl c1,arait-erlstIcs, JIRICn,IUIIe. and laden ul1.1 ILc rrgatrelaeuls. ,1 r.? p.'rt .a pro-1Jd, labor rep altrlarnts Jdta and illtlitI ieS tie l,ealtll d?J ,atetV ISSUC ,u-1aled Wit su furl Wall a an, CJl,wttuctSOn, I'aLentiaI appll.at1ou:. Ior support Walt, ,a,. , a, sdV.u,L111 .., u.1 retreating lungval1, single -t r-, roar al,- pi r. [,-+ln, anJ SuhIU..,Ina, Sill] b1OpplllgL ale 1:111neated aid al? e.aIWRac AS Sddemcni LV pre,C'IIL..: .,f LI. Clabllhty r+t rlul,I.,y111I? ulg4,rt .I Le.l,lwlug,. Lr i,,,rCASC Lllc rtCVLLrS rat, u., retrc.+tlnp .unui.,11? ur L., elply, A d v Ctnp IuI-,wall in uer;-!y iy1ng seam, . 11111.a1L .a1,.'iI1.-I,.. nr S.IU1tIVlil a1 milItlI; Lust, La LIldnt;2S L.~ gey support Vait Id tdmcLera la dlaa presents,.]

Jan 1, 1980

By R. W. Raymond

THE sudden death of Dr. Drown, on Nov. 17, 1904, brought to multitudes the pang of personal loss. Of all those who, as students at Lafayette College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Lehigh University, were brought under his influence, not one can have forgotten him, and all will now acknowledge, with an unfading gratitude, what they owe in professional equipment to his wise, clear, skillful guidance, and in character to his sympathetic, stimulating personality. Outside of this wide circle, the experts of both hemispheres will lament the departure of one who, in his department of scientific inves¬tigation, both knew what work was needed, and how to do it so that it needed not to be done again. The older members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers will remember with gratitude the part he took, as Secretary from 1873 to 1884, in promoting the interest of that organization, and in shaping the plan and policy which it has followed with such noteworthy success. And, in addition to all these (though partly included among them), there are a host of friends; who can scarcely think of the public loss by reason of their own. Thomas Messenger Drown was born March 19, 1842, at Phil¬adelphia, Pa. His parents were natives of New England; and. he was the youngest of their three sons. He received his preliminary education in the public schools and the High School of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1859. Be-

Jul 1, 1905

By George K. Clement

Manual estimating method through use of equations, factors and curves for preparation of feasibility type estimates for capital and operating cost of mining and primary beneficiation in the United States and Canada of various types of minerals occurrences, except fossil fuels, using state-of-the-art technology. User should have basic estimating experience in the mining industry and/or related fields. Primary usage of this handbook will be for the preparation of preliminary estimate within a reasonable degree of accuracy with relative small amounts of hard input data. Output may be used to determine if a more finite type of estimate should be produced.

Jan 1, 1978

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

Advances were made during 19b5 in many phases of a broad program designed to increase efficiency in the mining, preparation, and utilization of coal. Also recorded were achievements in activities devoted to mine health and safety, coal resources, and mine explosives. Featured in this report is a review of progress in environmental studies relating to coal mining and utilization. Environmental projects comprise a comprehensive program to facilitate mine reclamation and reduce air and water pollution associated with extraction and use of coal. Publications cited throughout this report present results of the coal program in greater detail. Organizations, institutions, and companies contributing to the program are listed in appendix A. Centers and laboratories conducting the coal research and related investigations appear in appendix B.

Jan 1, 1966

By Arthur Notman

For the period January 1st, 1942, to January 1st, 1946, the American Bureau of Metal Statistics records the gold production of the world as 118,788,000 fine ounces. If we include 1946 at the same rate as 1945 (26,- 590,000), we arrive at a total of 145,378,000 fine ounces in the past five years . Included in these figures are estimates of Russian output at 4,000,000 ounces per annum for the five years, and 1,300,000 ounces per annum for Korea and Japan. The remaining 120,000,000 ounces represent the aggregate production from official reports of the other gold producing areas of the world, with the exception of the 1946 figures, as noted above. At $35.00 per fine ounce, this represents $5,188,230,000. According to the reports of the Federal Reserve System of the United States, on December 31st, 1941, the monetary gold reserves of the United States were $22,736,- 600,000 (at $35.00 per fine ounce) , while on October 31st, 1946 (latest available) , they had fallen to $20,402,000,000, a decline of $2,334,600,000. Adding this decline to the value of the new production for the five years, we have a total of $7,522,830,000, which has been absorbed by the rest of the world since Pearl Harbour, a rate of absorption of over $1,500,000,000 per annum. This has taken place at a rime when the advocates of purely managed currencies had convinced many people that gold performed no really essential function in the world's economy, and that we could get along perfectly well without it. It was pointed out that gold could not be eaten, it could not clothe our nakedness, it could not shelter us from storms, and, therefore, it was a non-essential, even though it could be used to settle international balances of trade. Apparently, the world as a whole still regards it as preferable to the paper promises of governments, however sound, relatively, they may appear. Actually, we have no way of measuring the true strength of this feeling, because the principal governments of the world have made it legally impossible for their citizens to own gold, except in the form of ornaments.

Jan 1, 1947

By William B. Plank

IN this paper are presented the results of a complete statistical survey of the enrolment, courses and degrees, and the employment situation of recent graduates in all of the 46 institutions in the United States, including Alaska, and four of the six schools in Canada that grant degrees in mineral technology. The data were collected by the writer by means of a questionnaire in December, 1933, to which all the institutions, except one, replied. Included also are data of a similar study made by the writer in May, 1933, for the S. P. E. E. summer session of mining and metallurgical teachers at the University of Wisconsin and published in the Journal of Engineering Education for December. 1933. Some of the data of a paper of the writer's entitled, "The Trend of Mineral Engineering Student Enrolment in the United States," read at the A. I. M. E. meeting on Feb. 16. 1931, are given for comparison. Acknowledgment is made to all the administrative officers of the institutions who took the time from their busy lives to supply the in- formation asked for. Their fine cooperation has alone made possible these two surveys with a completeness of detail never before attempted

Jan 1, 1934

By G. Boehler

The purpose of this program is to demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of noise control for secondary and tertiary crushers in surface non-coal mining plants and mills. It is a part of the broad Bureau of Mines program to reduce noise in mines to levels mandated in the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. Utilizing the results of previous contractual research efforts in which noise levels of secondary crushers had been measured, two noise enclosures were designed and evaluated for the REXNORD Symons 7-ft diameter secondary and tertiary crushers installed at the Jackson County Iron Company, in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The first enclosure had a circular shape following closely that of the crusher and was built up entirely of quick-release panels which can be handled by the crusher operator alone. The second enclosure was octogonal in shape and can be rapidly removed, partially or totally using an overhead crane. Both enclosures fully satisfy the noise reduction objectives and permit daily and long-term maintenance of the crushers. Cost analyses show the cost of the enclosure to be less than 10 per cent of the cost of the crusher, the cost of the octagonal enclosure being estimated at only 60 percent of that of the circular one, e. g. $15,000 against $25,000. It is concluded that the octagonal enclosure best meets the needs of the Jackson County Mining Company and it is recommended that an experimental enclosure be built at the earliest possible time, as proof-of-concept.

Jan 1, 1977

By Robert C. Stanley

Early History Probably the first use of nickel by man was in the fashioning of implements, and later swords, from nickel-bearing meteorites, masses of metal that have fallen from time to time at many points on the earth's surface and which consist normally of iron carrying substantial amounts of nickel. Meteorites were perhaps the first metal known to man. The falling star, sought out with fear overborne by curiosity, was found to be a better stone than the earth-given, truly a boon from the gods. Archeologists tell us there is good evidence that the ancient oriental peoples learned at an early date to make these stones into useful implements. The invincible blades of the great warriors of old in China, Persia, and in northern Europe, were Heaven-sent, a fable which sounds significant of meteoric iron. Probably some of the ancient swords of Khorassan and of Damascus were of meteoric nickel-bearing iron (1). Fifty centuries were to pass before men learned to isolate nickel and add it to iron to produce the same alloy for much the same purpose. Meanwhile, man had found another natural alloy of nickel, known first to the Chinese as paktong, or 'white copper.' It was obtained from complex copper-nickel sulphide ores of Yunnan in southern China. This metal was brought by caravan through India into Bactria, a country north of the Hindu-Kush mountains, in what is now known as Russian Turkestan. The earliest specimen extant is a Bactrian coin attributed to 235 B.C. The rough reddish-white metal was also sent in the form of triangular rings to Canton, where zinc ores were added and the whole smelted to a more malleable alloy, also known later as paktong. This alloy was the forerunner of German-or nickel-silver. Specimens of this alloy, wrought into ornamental candlesticks and boxes, were brought from Canton to Europe by the East India Company in the early days of the China trade. Paktong was highly prized for its beauty as well as its eastern origin in far-away China. By 1760 the unwrought metal was imported into England for domestic manufacture.

Jan 1, 1935

By L. F. Reinartz

ANOTHER year has rolled by. We are twelve months further away from the start of the depression and. therefore that much nearer to recovery. The accumulated needs and wants 'of our lame, virile population are ready to burst their bonds as soon as confidence returns and credit is stabilized. The steel industry has been harassed by uncertainty of the Government's attitude toward organized labor's de¬mands, and irregularity in volume of production. Steel labor, if left to its own devices, would in most instances, march shoulder to shoulder with the management of steel plants in their effort to pull the industry nut of the ?red.? Cooperation between management and men has improved considerably during; the year.

Jan 1, 1935