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By S. Khoshjavan

Separation of refractory rock phosphate (P2O5 = 11.5%) from the Dalir area, Iran, containing quartz, calcite and other impurities, by calcination and flotation processes has been successfully used to upgrade the phosphate values. Petrographic studies of this ore showed that collophanite was the major phosphate mineral and the main gangue minerals were calcite, dolomite and quartz. The results of characterization studies showed that the liberation degree of apatite occurred below the average grain size of 140 µm. Preliminary flotation tests were used to process the phosphate samples. Results of preliminary flotation tests showed that they don?t contain any desirable efficiency (grade or recovery) of P2O5. Calcination was the best process for preconcentration of this ore. In the desliming stage, about 14.4% of total P2O5 was removed. Encouraging concentrate grades were obtained after flotation with anionic and cationic flotation, successively. The reagent schemes that have been used in this study consisted of COCO-amine acetate and fatty acid as silicate and apatite collectors, respectively, as well as fuel oil and anionic poly acryl amid as promoter collectors. The optimum pH values for direct and reverse flotations of phosphate were 11 and 6, respectively. Experiments conducted using d80=140 µm deslimed fractions has yielded an acceptable grade of more than 30% P2O5 with a recovery of more than 62%. Finally, a laboratory flowsheet for the processing of Dalir refractory phosphate ore has been proposed.

Jan 1, 2011

The price of copper has gone into the tank. So has gold. Environmental regulations are more restrictive. Global warming has world leaders and environmental groups seeking international regulations to keep the planet from heating up - mostly by restricting the use of fossil fuels. And the US Secretary of the Interior wants to make it more costly -prohibitively so for smaller companies - to mine hard rock metals in the United States. By rights, miners should be carrying around a pessimistic attitude about their industry. But miners are an optimistic lot, always believing that things will improve. That optimism was in evidence in Tucson, AZ in early December, when about 620 miners met at the Double- tree Hotel for the Annual Meeting of the Arizona Conference, put on by SME. Attendees listened as a United States congressman commented on the recent tax cut bill, mining regulations and the continuing need for the mining industry to improve its image in the eyes of the general public. Session speakers discussed how improved technology has made their processing operations at Sierrita and Morenci more efficient and cost-effective.

Jan 1, 1998

By R. P. King

The MODSIM mineral processing plant simulator is used to find optimal combinations of target separation specific gravities in a typical modem coal washing plant. A plant that is set up with these optimal targets can deliver up to 10% more yield at the same ash content as the same plant set up with separation targets chosen by conventional methods. MODSIM is the only simulator currently available that can simulate the liberation of pyrite and other mineral matter during open-and closed-circuit grinding operations. The simulator can therefore be used to assess the benefits of grinding operations in the flowsheet.

Jan 1, 1997

By D. G. Kotlyar

Oxidized sulfide minerals, commonly formed by weathering, increasingly are becoming important resources as primary sulfide deposits are depleted. Oxidation, in general, reduces selectivity and recovery in flotation. The objective of this research was to determine the mechanisms of oxidation and collector adsorption in sulfide systems as a step towards developing improved technologies for beneficiation of oxidized sulfides. Data from microcell flotation tests are combined with electrochemical and spectrophotometric measurements. The adsorption of ethyl xanthate (EX) on oxidized sulfides was characterized using AC impedance techniques and correlated to flotation response. The floatability of chalcocite, chalcopyrite and pyrite was dependent on the extent of oxidation. Oxidation for 1?) d at 65? C inhibited flotation of chalcocite, and chalcopyrite even after the addition of a large amount (1 x 10') M) of collector. Heavily oxidized (27 d) chalcocite remained unfloatable. However, longer oxidation of pyrite and chalcopyrite restored the floatability. Oxidation resulted in an electrically resistive, nonporous surface layer.

Jan 1, 1993

By M. L. Wouden

The Bureau of Mines investigated pegmatite and granite formations at Copper Mountain, Fremont County, Wyoming, for recovery of tantalum and niobium. Sampling of surface exposures identified about 1.27 mega tonne of pegmatite resource material ranging between 0.02 and 0.04% Ta20, and 0.007% Hb20,. Beneficiation studies were conducted involving coarse-grained and fine grained pegmatite samples. Over 80% recovery of the coarse-grained tantalite was achieved in a concentrate averaging over 45% combined tantalum-niobium oxide. Lower concentrate grades and recoveries resulted from the treatment of fine-grained pegmatite.

Jan 1, 1991

By M. Ashraf Mahtab

In Louisiana salt mines a sudden erruption or outburst of salt and gas occurs when the heading face approaches a pressure pocket (altered salt with high pressure gas). The resulting cavity is semi-ellipsoidal, reaching lengths of 50m or more. Potential risks from the outbursts include loss of life and equipment. A gas outburst is initiated by "disking" of the salt in biaxial compression and propagates by spalling of the cavity walls and further disking. The outburst is terminated by a combination of dilatancy hardening, increase in stress along the cavity axis, and enlargement to boundaries of the pressure pocket.

Jan 1, 1982

By W Medina, G Angulo, A Anani

A current challenge faced by the mining industry is solving the integrated transition mine problem (TMP) that maximizes the net present value (NPV). This study aims to develop an optimization framework capable of solving the TMP. The problem is NP-hard and therefore computationally intractable. Three ad hoc approaches – Exact solution, Benders’ decomposition, and Benders’ decomposition with Bienstock-Zuckerberg (BZ) algorithm – are compared for different scheduling periods. The TMP is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model, implemented in Python, and solved with the Gurobi optimizer. The results showed that Bender's decomposition with the BZ algorithm outperforms the other approaches in execution time, computational cost, and feasibility to address large problems in exchange for a marginal cost in the quality of the NPV obtained. In addition, the probability of finding the optimal point of transition is higher regardless of the number of feasible crown pillar locations evaluated. This is achieved through the optimality cuts proposed in the algorithm.

Jun 25, 2023

By Wilfred Walker

A working hypothesis is presented herein mineral belts are split as all world oceans opened. Rather than plate tectonics, expansion is favored as the most recent expression of the sequence of convecting systems in the Earth's mantle. Throughout the geological record this sequence has produced similar mobile belts. This similarity lends itself to both stratigraphic classification and the theme of mineralization in mobile belts demonstrated by Y. A. Bilibin. Crustal evolution should, therefore, serve as an important guide in understanding Pacific mineral belts.

Jan 1, 1982

By W. A. Yuill

A process has been developed for increasing the grade of chalcopyrite concentrates from about 25 percent copper to about 60 percent copper. The concentrates are treated with two steps of autoclaving and then by flotation. Because of the lower associated weight, copper in the concentrates could be shipped and smelted at less cost than untreated concentrates. Use of the process can also increase overall yield from an orebody if a lower grade concentrate is sent to enrichment than would be sent to a smelter. Potential applications of the process would be for treating concentrates that must be transported a long distance for smelting or for treating concentrates so as to increase the capacity of a smelter.

Jan 1, 1984

By R. Hogg

Based on a simplified model for the motion of particulate materials in horizontal, rotating cylinders, approximate expressions have been derived relating the power consumption of a tumbling mill to its dimensions and speed of rotation and to the amount and nature of the charge. The basic assumptions underlying the model are that there is no slip between the charge and the mill shell, that the free surface of the charge remains essentially planar during rotation and that there is no transfer of momentum from the material flowing down the free surface back to the mill shell. The relationships formulated from this model have been shown to be in excellent agreement with experimental results taken from the literature. While the requirements of the model are most closer met at low speeds of rotation, the results appear to be valid even for speeds up to 70-80 percent of the critical speed. Poorer agreement between theory and experiment is found when the charge consists of relatively large particles (balls) and when the filling of the mill exceeds 50 percent of the available volume. Qualitative explanations of these deviations have been offered.

Jan 1, 1971

By William Gleason

"Komatsu has been on the cutting edge of autonomous mining for the past 30 years and the company remains at the forefront of the technology that is changing from concept to a full-fledged reality.In 1996, Komatsu America Corp. (KAC) purchased a controlling interest in Modular Mining Systems; a move that enabled both companies to expand their product lines. It was through this effort that Modular helped to deploy the first autonomous haulage system (AHS) — the Komatsu FrontRunner system. In January 2008, the first commercial implementation of the FrontRunner system occurred at Codelco’s copper mine in Chile. Since then, Komatsu has put more than 130 haul trucks into seven sites on three continents to haul copper, iron ore and oil sands and its equipment has moved 1.8 Gt (2 billion st) of material with zero lost time incidents attributed to Komatsu’s autonomous trucks. The 1.8 Gt (2 billion st) is the most of any commercial mining autonomous haulage system and there is more to come. In November, Komatsu announced that an additional 150 autonomous haul trucks will be deployed to the Canadian oil sands over the next seven years.Komatsu has continued to pioneer autonomous haulage development, creating a range of autonomous options that includes semiautonomous and teleremote options all the way up to a haulage vehicle that stole the show at the world’s largest mining equipment trade show.In 2016, Komatsu advanced the concept of driverless haul truck to a new level when it displayed its Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle (IAHV) at MINExpo in Las Vegas, NV. The concept vehicle is the first mega class haul truck designed to be fully autonomous, without an operators’ cab included on the vehicle.Unlike other haul trucks, the vehicle was developed exclusively as an unmanned vehicle designed to maximize the advantages of unmanned operation. Among other advancements, it was designed to distribute equal load to the four wheels, both when the vehicle is loaded and unloaded, and adopt four-wheel drive, retarder and steering. Komatsu said it is aiming for high-performance shuttling of this vehicle in both forward and reverse travel directions, thereby eliminating the need for K-turns at loading and unloading sites."

Dec 1, 2018

By J. R. Nawrot

Reclamation of potentially acid producing coal processing waste requires a 4-foot cover, and/or treatment to allow vegetation establishment. If not planned properly, soil covering alone does not prevent refuse acidification or formation of acid seeps. Adequate neutralization enhancement prior to soil covering can maintain an alkaline environment in the soil refuse interface and prevent acidification. Direct vegetation establishment using only limestone amendment (without soil cover) can successfully reclaim aged and weathered fine (Blurry) and coarse (gob) refuse if adequate neutralization treatment is provided for the oxidized surface zone. Acid seeps, representing an "after-the-fact" verification of an imbalance of acid-base equilibrium may also be corrected using upslope alkaline recharge techniques. Concentrated alkaline recharge pools have been constructed above previously soil covered acid gob at the Peabody Will Scarlet Mine to abate acid seeps. Preliminary monitoring results (1989-1992) from a concentrated alkaline recharge pool demonstration project in the Pit 4 area of the Will Scarlet Mine have documented a 50 to 80 percent reduction in acidity in the principal recharge pool groundwater zone. A 22% reduction in acidity has occurred in the primary seeps located downslope from the alkaline recharge pools. The initial improvements in water quality are seen as a positive indication that groundwater acidity will decrease further and amelioration of the acid seep will continue.

Jan 1, 1993

By J. MCGUIRE, E. J. Haas, B. Demich

Near misses can enhance awareness of the potential causes of injury and prompt safety management initiatives. Although most companies require near-miss reporting, the value of these reports and how they influence subsequent actions or controls to reduce on-the-job risks are unclear. Researchers at the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a case study with an aggregates company in which near-miss reports were analyzed at each of their locations over an entire quarter during the summer of 2018. Within that quarter, workers recorded 249 near misses. The analysis provides insight into ways that risk-communication and management programs can be improved to reengage workers and their situational awareness on the job.

By Mark E. Smith

To allow recovery of gold values from ore which cannot be economically processed by the mill, Pinson Mining Company has developed a run-of-mine heap leaching facility. In order to estimate production scale recovery rates, reagent consumption and percolation problems, a series of pilot scale tests were performed. These tests typically consisted of 3,630 metric tons (mt) (4,000 tons) leach ore at a grade of .94 to 1.56 grams per metric ton (g/mt) (.03 to .05 oz.) Au/Ton. Test heaps were loader stacked to approximately 4.3 meters (14 feet) high. Information from these pilot scale tests was employed in the design and construction of the production scale facility. Parameters such as spray rate, leach cycle, sprinkler placement, and barren solution chemistry were determined by the pilot tests.

Jan 1, 1983

By Cyrus W. Field

Metalliferous sediments constitute an important component of the sedimentary veneer that overlies basaltic oceanic crust of the Nazca Plate and elsewhere. Although first collected more than one century ago near the East Pacific Rise during the Challenger Expedition and recognized for their anomalously high content of Fe and Mn, occurring as very fine-grained, yellow-orange, oxides, hydroxides, and oxyhydroxides, it was not until the more detailed studies of Bostrom and Peterson (1966) that their geologic significance and concentrations of other transition metals were fully appreciated. The Nazca Plate is a dynamic lithospheric unit bordered by the Peru-Chile trench and the East Pacific Rise to the east and west, and by the Galapagos Rift and the Chile Rise to the north and south (Fig. 1). Samples employed in this study were taken from piston core recovered from the Nazca Plate (Fig. 2), D. S. D. P. drill core from the northeast Pacific (Dymond and others, 1973), ferromanganese nodules from dredge-haul s at several locations, and from hydrothermal mineral deposits of the Andes. Our efforts have been largely sponsored by the National Science Foundation through its International Decade of Ocean Exploration Pro- gram. The metalliferous fraction of these sediments is widespread, but generally small. Sedimentation is dominated by biogenic silica in the equatorial latitudes, terrigenous debris adjacent to the South American Continent, and by biogenic carbonate elsewhere, except at depths below 3500 m in the central and northwest parts of the Nazca Plate near the East Pacific Rise. Contributions of these distinctive sediment types are shown by the distributions of Si02, A1203, and CaC03 given in Figure 3.

Jan 1, 1982

By K. Fuenkajorn

Geomechanics and geohydrological considerations for the seal design for mine openings are presented. Design guidelines derived from laboratory and in-situ experiments are proposed. The results suggest that seal design, specifications and material selection should be site-specific. Performance requirements for a specific seal location should be identified. Evaluation of sealing effectiveness should be made on the entire seal system, i.e. seal, seal-rock interface, excavation-induced damage zone and the surrounding rock.

Jan 1, 1997

By H. Fayed

Froth flotation technology is the backbone of the minerals pro-cessing industry where minerals are concentrated by selective separa-tion; either direct or in-direct flotation. In direct flotation useful minerals are conditioned to become hydrophobic (water-repellant) and attach to air bubbles while impurities (non-useful particles) remain in water. The hydrophobic particles are transported by air-bubbles to the top froth (foam) layer in flotation tank which can be removed as a concentrate. There are many factors that controls this selective separation process such as: particle’s degree of hydrophobicity, size, mass loading, air holdup and bubble size distribution. Turbulent fluctuation of the slurry in the tank is another important factor that controls the collisions rate between particles and bubbles and hence attachment rates. The turbu-lent fluctuations are measured by the local distribution of turbulent dissipation rates. Conventional flotation machines are restrained by residence time of the slurry that is about 3-5 minutes that results in a large footprint and limits the capacity of flotation plants. The designers of conventional flotation machines try to reduce the footprint of flota-tion tank by scaling up the flotation machines to increase plant throughput. The scale-up process reduces the specif power consump-tion and the local distribution of shear rates and turbulence dissipation rates. This scale-up results in a larger mean bubble size and lower particle-bubble attachment rates.

Feb 1, 2023

By S. Managi, M. C. Williams, N. H. Behling

Particle processing is a key to using solid particles in fuel cell applications. Selectivity with regard to reactivity, impurities, etc. is important feature and the treatment of particle surfaces could greatly impact the performance of direct carbon fuel cells. Solid fuel particles will become increasingly important in the future. Present energy conversion systems for solid fuels are too inefficient. New energy conversion systems for solid fuels with higher energy conversion efficiencies are possible. Fuel cell technology is a key-technology in these new conversion systems. The direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) operates on carbon particles obtained from a variety of solid fuel feedstocks. The DCFC is the only fuel cell designed to directly oxidize carbon particles in a special anode chamber. The particles are generally graphite structure with high purity. The electrolyte used is the high temperature solid oxide, molten carbonate or hydroxide electrolyte. Since a pure stream of CO2 is produced the stream can easily be sequestered and disposed. Pure carbon dioxide produced as a by-product would also have a market in many industries. A well-defined technology roadmap identifying key research and development (R&D) issues is necessary to provide a framework for the development of these systems and to prevent entrenchment in inherently inefficient technologies. This review paper describes the direct carbon fuel cell and its system, how it works, the developmental status, the characteristics of the carbon particles needed, and the research and development issues for the technology. INTRODUCTION The DCFC has been under development for many years. It was researched as early as 18961), but an intense research and development is necessary to realize its potential. William W Jacques, a US electrical engineer and chemist, described a DCFC in 1896 in US Patent 555511 for a “Method of converting potential energy of carbon into electrical energy”. Jacques used coke electrodes in a molten NaOH electrolyte. Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), solid oxide (SOFC) or hydroxide electrolyte (AFC) technologies can be used as the basis for the DCFC technology. A schematic of the direct carbon fuel cell in the MCFC mode is shown in Figure 1. The molten carbonate fuel cell operates at approximately 650°C (1200°F). The high operating temperature is needed to achievesufficient conductivity of the carbonate electrolyte, yet allow the use of low-cost metal cell components. A benefit associated with this high temperature is that noble metal catalysts are not required for the cell electrochemical oxidation and reduction processes. For the hydrogen reaction the half-cell electrochemical reactions are

Jan 1, 2019

By J. L. Kohler

The knowledge-based expert systems (KBES) is a potentially powerful technique to the mining engineer in traditional areas of mine design and operations, as well as in the emerging areas of mining automation and robotics. Since KBES is still experimental in many respects, caution must be exercised as this "high tech" tool is developed and applied to mining. The objective of this paper is to demystify expert systems by introducing the elements of KBES, discussing the strengths and weaknesses, and identifying some areas of application in mining, based on the authors' experiences.

Jan 1, 1986

By T. W. Beck

Drilling into coal mine roof strata to install roof bolts has the potential to release substantial quantities of respirable dust. Due to the proximity of drill holes to the breathing zone of roof bolting personnel, dust escaping the holes and avoiding capture by the dust collection system pose a potential respiratory health risk. Controls are available to complement the typical dry vacuum collection system and minimize harmful exposures during the initial phase of drilling. This paper examines the use of a bit sleeve in combination with a dusthog- type bit to improve dust extraction during the critical initial phase of drilling. A twistedbody drill bit is also evaluated to determine the quantity of dust liberated in comparison with the dust-hog-type bit. Based on the results of our laboratory tests, the bit sleeve may reduce dust emissions by one-half during the initial phase of drilling before the drill bit is fully enclosed by the drill hole. Because collaring is responsible for the largest dust liberations, overall dust emission can also be substantially reduced. The use of a twistedbody bit has minimal improvement on dust capture compared with the commonly used dust-hog-type bit.

Jan 1, 2014