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By Chris Lynagh, Collin Schroeder

Determining the best excavation method is a critical step in successful tunnel construction. In rock tunneling, several factors can dictate the excavation method, such as: (1) rock characteristics, (2) tunnel size and length, (3) nearby utilities/infrastructure, and (4) contractor’s preferred means and methods. This paper discusses the various rock tunnel excavation methods utilized on the Doan Valley Storage Tunnel Project (DVT), a project constructed as part of the broader Project Clean Lake in Cleveland, Ohio. The differences between each method’s initial and final lining, geology, and cycle sequence will be analyzed and compared.

Jun 13, 2023

By I. Duckworth

P.T. Freeport Indonesia operates a mining complex located in the highlands of Papua, Indonesia. This district consists of underground and surface operations. The East Ertsberg skarn system (EESS) is one of the major orebodies in this district. Subsurface caving of the EESS has been carried out in a systematic series of mining lifts dating back almost 30 years. Present production from the third lift deep ore zone (DOZ), has reached 80 kt/d (88,000 stpd) during 2010, with this rate sustained through 2015. The orebody was proven below the existing caving level, with the next vertical block called the deep mill level zone (DMLZ).

Jan 1, 2010

By Robert C. Handfield

The trip from Denver southwest to Gunnison crosses seven main geologic and physiographic areas as shown on the accompanying map. These are: I Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary rocks of the Denver Metro area from downtown Denver to the foothills near Morrison. II Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Front Range from near Morrison to the west side of Kenosha Pass. III Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of South Park (Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Tertiary) from the west side of Kenosha Pass to Trout Creek Pass. IV Precambrian granitic rocks (1,350-1,480 M.Y.) between Trout Creek Pass and the Arkansas River. V Tertiary and Quaternary sedimentary rocks and sediments of the Arkansas River valley. VI Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Sawatch uplift from Maysville to near Doyleville on the west side of Monarch Pass. VII Mostly sedimentary rocks of Cretaceous and Tertiary age from the Doyleville area west to beyond Gunnison. Each area will be elaborated in the following pages but no detailed road log is given since these are available elsewhere. An attempt has been made to point out some deposits and features of interest to economic geologists but it is by no means complete.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. Kwak, S. Han, J. Kim, Y. Lee

"INTRODUCTION In carbonate rocks, it is difficult to characterize due to the high degree of heterogeneity in pore geometry. Carbonate rocks have various types of pore systems such as fractures and vugs, and this heterogeneity should be considered for more realistic prediction of oil production in carbonate reservoirs. This study carried out water flooding experiments using five carbonate rock samples in order to observe the change of physical properties. Firstly, qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted for each carbonate samples by use of XRD and XRF to evaluate the mineral content. All samples are mainly composed of CaCO3 and after that, the ICP experiments were carried out for the water passing through the carbonate. As a result, it was possible to measure the quantity of CaCO3, MgO, Fe2O3 component in water and due to this effect, the permeability of carbonate was altered especially in the front part of the core. Finally, after the carbonate was saturated by 30 API crude oil, water injection to enhance the oil recovery was repeated and it was confirmed that the oil-producing characteristics are different depending on the dissolution characteristics of carbonate rock samples. CORE SAMPLE ANALYSIS Porosity and Permeability Experiment Porosity and permeability were measured. The procedures are as follows (Figure 1). 1. Measure the diameter and length of the dry core using Vernier caliper. 2. Put the core in the core holder, run vacuum pump until the inlet and outlet pressure gauge equal. 3. Saturate the core using ISCO pump to inject water at 650 psi 4. Measure the amount of water and calculate the porosity 5. Set up the outlet pressure at 500 psi. 6. The flow rate measure when the equilibrium 7. Calculate the permeability through Darcy’s Law. 8. Cutting of core upstream and downstream about 13cm, and measure the each of permeability."

Jan 1, 2016

A Mark IV surface force apparatus (SFA) was used to conduct direct force measurements between mica surfaces in dodecylamine hydrogen chloride collector solutions at varying pH levels. It was found that long-range hydrophobic forces reach a maximum at pH 9.5, which also corresponds to the maxima attained by the contact angle and flotation recovery of quartz. The charge densities are comparable on both mica and quartz surfaces (0.40 to 0.48 nm2), making it possible to draw conclusions on the flotation of quartz from the direct force measurements conducted on mica. Therefore, it may be suggested that, in the pH range of 8.0 to 10.3, the maximum flotation recovery of quartz may be attributed to the appearance of a long-range hydrophobic force, which, in turn, can be related to the formation of a close-packed monolayer (or hemimicelle) in the presence of neutral amines formed as a result of hydrolysis.

Jan 1, 1998

By Charles B. Manula

This paper describes the development of a mathematical model for simulating the behavior of a longwall coal production system. The longwall simulator is a design simulator incorporating both deterministic and stochastic methods to calculate: (a) the size and density of support; (b) the cutting force, power requirements and haulage speed for the loader-shearer; (c) the conveyor size, speed and power requirements; and (d) delay generation at head and tail-gates and the longwall face.

Jan 1, 1978

By Allan M. Hale

The central Florida phosphate industry is not a recent development. The first phosphate mining occurred in approximately 1888 (1). Many of the original mining companies were "wildcat" operations operated with rapid phosphate extraction as the sole purpose and no long-term commitment to development. Many of the early pioneers were ill-equipped to mine phosphate at either a practical or economical level; as a result many of these early companies "folded" after only a brief period of operation. However, as these early companies went out of business, several large companies developed, expanded their mining territories bought up the folding companies and by 1903 (little more than 10 years after the first mines were started), approximately 37 of the original 60 mines were control- led by three major companies (1). In the early period, mining reclamation was nonexistent. The mined out areas were left to revegetate and reclaim "naturally" over the period of many years. Reclamation practices were only started relatively recently and the various reclamation techniques developed and used in the past have continued to be employed with varying degrees of success through the present time. The reclamation techniques used in the past and currently include land and lakes restoration, sand tailing reclamation, slime ponds reclamation and overburden fill.

Jan 1, 1980

By J. W. Furlan

Due to the time consuming nature of froth testing in a laboratory environment, it is required, due to practical limitations, to develop a method of applying a single set of performance test data (Visintainer & Whitlock, 2012) obtained for a single froth pump at a given speed, to a range of froth pump speeds and sizes, % air contents, and liquid viscosities. Head, efficiency, and flow all vary as functions of both liquid viscosity and air content. As such, it is necessary to develop a technique which can be used to interpolate from existing test data in order to predict froth pump performance for pumps of various sizes running at variable speeds. Details of the technique developed in order to achieve this goal as well as the insights gained from analysis of the resulting regressions are discussed. Additionally, comparisons are made between the performance predictions of this test-derived method and those of the Hydraulic Institute Standard for the effects of liquid viscosity on centrifugal pump performance (ANSI/HI 9.6.7-2010).

Feb 27, 2013

The 2012 North American Tunneling (NAT) conference is expected to attract more than 800 tunneling and underground construction professionals. But don?t let the North American part of the meeting?s title fool you. Many of the attendees will come from all over the world. The meeting is scheduled for June 24-27 at the JW Marriott Indianapolis Hotel in Indianapolis, IN. In addition to two and a half days of technical programming, the accompanying exhibit has attracted 116 exhibitors in 140 booths. And the conference will include short courses, a field trip and plenty of social activities that will give attendees the opportunity to catch up with each other.

Jan 1, 2012

By William R. Nash

Case histories of water problems in underground mine shafts and tunnels are outlined to illustrate varying degrees of sophistication in grouting techniques currently applied in such construction. The interception of water underground can be one of prior knowledge, i. e., the site investigation provides necessary data to plan a grouting program prior to construction start, or excavations may encounter "changed conditions" or unplanned water. The latter includes catastrophic inflows and emergency situations where the structural integrity of a building or concrete shaft lining are jeopardized. The presentation of this paper outlines some applications of grouting work in underground mine construction throughout the United States in a variety of geological provinces and for a variety of minerals.

Jan 1, 1984

By P. Somasundaran

Three major types of solution chemical equilibria involving flotagents (Le. flotation reagents such as collectors, frothers and modifiers), minerals and solution play a crucial role in determining the behavior of complex flotation systems. Minerals of phosphates (apatite and francolite), tungsten (wolframite and scheelite) and associated carbonates (calcite and dolomite) are sparingly soluble in aqueous solution and form dissolved mineral species in bulk solution. Such dissolved species interact with mineral solids, often resulting in surface conversion of the minerals. In addition, they can interact with various flotagents and lead to surface or bulk precipitation and loss of selectivity in the flotation. Relevant solution equilibria of such sparingly soluble minerals and their interactions with oleic acid and structurally modified reagents were determined in this study using a multi-pronged experimental approach. Methods to manipulate and control the solution chemical equilibria and thus achieve selectivity in flotation systems are discussed.

Jan 1, 1990

By D. B. Stephens

Milling operations throughout the world have created vast amounts of waste by-products, or tailings, which are often disposed on the land surface. The wastes may be disposed behind dams, on untreated ground, or on compacted clay or synthetic liners of impoundments and trenches. Often one of the principle concerns of environmental regulatory agencies is whether seepage from the waste pile could move through the vadose zone to the water table and possibly contaminate an aquifer. The seepage may be generated by the drainage of liquids initially deposited along with the tailings or by infiltrating meteoric water which leaches solutes from the tailings. The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the commonly held assumptions regarding storage of seepage wastes in the unsaturated zone. The significance of recent studies of water movement in dry climates which pertain to tailings site selection will be presented. The paper is relevant not only to seepage from impoundments at mill sites, but to many other fluid waste impoundments as well in part this article reinforces earlier work by Stephens and Siegel (1980) and an excellent review paper by McWhorter (1985). The present report addresses considerations in porous media; for a discussion of the effects of fractures and anisotropy in the unsaturated-zone, refer to the paper by McWhorter (1985).

Jan 1, 1985

By O. Ozdemir

Soda ash, an essential raw material for major industries, such as the glass, chemicals, soap and detergents, pulp and paper, mining and water treatment industries, is traditionally produced by chemical and thermal treatment of trona ore. The treatment processes for trona ore are not only chemically expensive but also energy intensive. Hence, the production of a high-purity trona concentrate at a lower energy and operating cost is of considerable interest to the trona industry. In this study, we describe a possible two-stage process for concentrating trona ore, involving dry magnetic separation followed by flotation, to remove insoluble impurities from the trona ore. The results showed that a trona concentrate of 91.7% purity with a recovery 91.1% can be obtained by two-stage magnetic separation, which could be further improved to 98.1% purity at a recovery of 83.8% by subsequent flotation of the non-magnetic trona product. The purity of trona concentrate is limited by the particle size and impurity content of the trona ore. The operating parameters for magnetic separation and flotation have been identified to obtain an acceptable quality concentrate.

Jan 1, 2011

By William C. Dixon

Since the mid 60's, several haul cycle simulation programs have been developed. However, most of these programs are believed to employ the continuous, rather than the discrete, event-oriented simulation approach to determine the haul cycle times. This paper describes the recently developed haul cycle simulation approach where time is advanced in varying amounts only as the system changes occur. This approach results in greater computational accuracy and increased computational efficiency. The program is written in FORTRAN and requires equipment performance curve and haul road profiles as input. Unique program capabilities include the handling of switchbacks and intersections. The program uses a master data file concept in which various haul road profiles found during the mine life can be simulated all in one job submission. The results of the model validation using the actual time study data provided by an open pit mine operator near Tucson, Arizona, are also described in this paper.

Jan 1, 1978

By K. Wangerud, B. S. Caruso

A water-balance model with deterministic and stochastic components was developed and used for the Gilt Edge Mine Superfund Site in South Dakota. The model was developed to evaluate the risks of contaminated runoff discharging to surface waters based on assumed water treatment plant (WTP) rates, for different remedial alternatives. The objectives of the modeling were to use a stochastic approach for the analysis of precipitation based on historic records and to make a probabilistic estimation of annual and monthly runoff from disturbed/mining activity areas that now require, or will need, treatment at the WTP, water storage and changes in a major pit, and risk of contaminated water bypass of the WTP to a downstream drainage. Subareas/source areas generating contaminated runoff requiring treatment were delineated. A simple water-balance model was used based on precipitation inputs and evapotranspiration and groundwater losses. Annual and monthly precipitation records for Lead, South Dakota, were used to estimate precipitation at the mine site. A lognormal distribution was estimated for monthly precipitation. The stochastic software package/ Excel add-in "@Risk" was used to generate random monthly precipitation values using a Monte Carlo method based on the distributions. The average annual and monthly distribution of pan and lake evaporation and of groundwater losses were also estimated for the site. Stochastic outputs from the model for the end of each month and year included contaminated runoff requiring treatment, water storage in mine pits and the risk of WTP bypass given different assumed WTP rates. The probability of the time required to dewater the pits was also modeled.

Jan 1, 2003

By Clark Harrison

It is not uncommon for overall quality of coal from a mine to deteriorate as the mine is developed or for an improved-quality coal specification to be imposed during the life of the mine. Either of these conditions typically results in management pressuring mine personnel to take greater care in delineating the seam from top and bottom rock. When mining and seam conditions require a portion of the seam to be removed to ensure sufficient rock is removed to meet the quality specification, physical-coal cleaning may become economically competitive with in-pit seam grooming. The additional cost of coal cleaning may, in some cases, be justified by permitting higher recovery of the coal seam than is possible when cleaning the seam with excavators in the pit. This paper compares projected coal cleaning results with present in-pit grooming techniques and reports the economic results.

Jan 1, 1987

Asgco’s design of the Arrowhead Ceramic Lagging provides solutions to problems experienced with conveyor belt slippage around the drive pulley and severe wear problems on snub and bend pulleys. Asgco has developed a range of pulley lagging from ceramic, drive rubber and non-drive rubber lagging that is available in abrasion-resistant SBR and MSHA grade rubber for conveyor pulleys from slow belts all the way through to high-speed, high load belts. There is a growing need for a maintenance-free and reliable pulley lagging to ensure conveyor belts run to their highest efficiency.

Jan 1, 2006

By T. J. Smolik

The Golden Sunlight Mine started full-scale operations in February 1983, with a conventional open-pit mine supplying 4464 tonnes (5000 tons) per day of milling ore. After crushing and grinding, the ore is leached with cyanide solution in large agitation tanks. Soluble gold values are removed from the sand portion of the leached ore with five stages of countercurrent washing cyclones. After thickening of the cyclone-wash overflow slurry, the gold is recovered in activated carbon with a six-stage carbon-in-pulp circuit and a five-stage upflow carbon column circuit. Pressure stripping, carbon reactivation, electro-winning and refining complete the gold recovery process.

Jan 1, 1984

By Y. Nakahiro, T. Wakamatsu, M. S. Elsalmawy

The flotation of quartz, feldspar and alumina was studied as a function of pH when using N-alkyldiamines as collectors. The lengths of alkyl chains of diamines were 8, 9, 10, and 12 carbon atoms. It was found that shorter hydrocarbon chain length of alkyldiamines has stronger tendency to float quartz while the feldspar responded poorly to flotation with these collectors at high pH values. The effect of addition of nonionic surfactant of Brij type, when using dodecadiamine as collector, was investigated. Flotation studies in the absence and in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfonate were carried out. These studies have indicated that sodium dodecylsulfonate, in the concentration studied, functions as strong depressant for feldspar.

Jan 1, 1995

By M. Schultz

The cost of remediation often drives the selection of the preferred remedial alternative at hazardous waste sites. The use of probabilistic cost/risk analyses can aid in predicting costs of remedial alternatives. Three types of information are discussed in performing cost/risk analyses: (1) data on the quantity of contamination versus the contaminant concentration; (2) unit costs of remediation for the remedial alternatives; and (3) risk to contaminant concentration relationships. Cost/risk evaluations are performed on a site-by-site basis, to account for combined risks of different contaminants and differences in quantity to be remediated versus contaminant concentration. The cost/risk analysis produces a graph of risk versus cost for each of the remedial alternatives. These costs are then compared to facilitate selection of a preferred alternative. An example of comparison of alternatives is illustrated for a historic coal gasification site.

Jan 1, 1992