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By Steve Lloyd, Mary Anne Antonioli, Byron Darnton

Pegasus Gold Corporations' Montana Tunnels mine began oper­ation in March 1987. The process plant at startup consisted of a bulk flotation circuit followed by leaching of the reground bulk concentrate. The leach residue then advanced to selective Pb/Zn flotation. This original circuit had its share of problems, and the leach circuit was abandoned after six months. The bulk flotation circuit was modified to selective Pb/Zn flotation at this same time. Gravity concentration was researched early on, prior to selecting bulk flotation with leach as the flowsheet of choice. Flotation was deemed to be more practical than gravity due to the lower capital and operating costs. No further work was done concerning gravity concentration until 1990 when it was decid­ed to investigate ways to diminish the occurrence of free gold reporting to the flotation tailings.

Jan 1, 1996

By Joe D. Allison, Tom D. Baugh

The analysis for total cyanides (CN, or the cyanide due to the combination of free, weakly associated and refractory cyanide complexes) is required by most regulatory agencies for determination of effluent compliance. This method requires a distillation of the sample at low pH's and is most often sent to contract laboratories at a high time and monetary cost. This paper describes a new micro­distillation apparatus which allows for a multiple of CN,"' analyses to be carried out simultaneously saving both time and money. It can be used in the field, since only electrical power is required for the method. While not being appropriate for reporting values to the respective regulatory agencies as of yet, it is quite valuable for screening a large number of samples prior to submission of the samples to a contract lab for "official" reporting.

Jan 1, 1990

Wyoming State Geological Survey, Capitol bldg , Cheyenne, Wyoming. John G Marzel, State Geologist. Unfortunately, most of the publications of the Wyoming State Geological Survey are now out of print In particular should be mentioned Bulletins describing the various oil fields of Wyoming, and Bulletin 17, Bibliography and index (1918), all of which are out of print State geologic and topographic maps are also not available. A list of publications will be sent upon request Still available are: Bulletin 18, Mining laws, state and federal (1921), 19, Mineral hot springs of Wyoming (1926), 20, Atlantic City-South Pass gold mining district (1926), Circular 5, Operating regulations to govern the production of oil and gas on state and patented lands (1929). The last two Biennial Reports, issued 1928 and 1930, are still available. The bulletins and reports listed are distributed free.

Jan 1, 1933

By A. L. Hinde, A. A. Bradley, P. J. Lloyd

The results of slow crushing tests in a stiff testing machine for both small and large step reductions of particle size are given. The energy consumption required to produce a given weight of minus 74 um material was determined when both single-crystal quartz and Witwatersrand reef were crushed. For comparison the two materials tested were also comminuted in a ball mill under optimum conditions. There are indications that slow crushing under stiff conditions is the most efficient method of breakage that can be devised. The comparison with ball milling results thus yields a value for the efficiency of ball milling of approximately 80 per cent. These results confirm that the best current estimates of milling efficiency, which are based on the free boundary surface energy of the material being milled, are probably too low by at least one order of magnitude.

BULLETIN 177. The decline and ultimate production of oil wells with notes on the valuation of oil properties, by C. H.- Beal. 1919. 84 pp., 4pls., 80 figs. BULLETIN 179. Abstracts of current decisions on mines and mining, reported from September to December, 1918, by J. W. Thompson. 1919. 166 pp. TECHNICAL PAPER 214. Motor gasoline; properties, laboratory methods of testing, and practical specifications, by E. W. Dean. 1919. 33 pp., 2 figs. TECHNICAL PAPER 219. Combustion and flue-gas analysis, by U. S. Fuel Administration. 1919. 12 pp., 5 figs. TECHNICAL PAPER 223. Cost-keeping for small metal mines, by J. C. Pickering. 1919. 46 pp. Only a limited supply of these publications is available for free distribution. Publications should be ordered by number and title. Applications should be addressed to the Director of the Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C.

Jan 7, 1919

By F. P. de Kock, P. West-Sells, B. Wassink, D .. B. Dreisingerl

During the cyanide leaching of gold ores containing copper minerals, aurocyanide (Au(CN)f) is produced and typically recovered using activated carbon. However, free cyanide, as well as cyanide associated with cuprous cyanide complexes, are generally not recovered from the barren liquor. This results in a significant economic penalty in high cyanide consumption due to the dissolution of copper. 1\vo different configurations of a novel method for the treatment of barren liquor streams for cop­per recovery and cyanide recycle are described. Recovery of copper and cyanide is affected using solvent extraction (XI 7950). Loaded organic is stripped with a high copper, high caus­tic solution which is electrowon to produce copper metal. Depleted electrolyte is treated with sulfuric acid to recover cyanide which is returned to the leaching circuit. Results of benchscale and mini-pilot plant experiments are presented.

Jan 1, 1996

Almost all the countries of the south-west Pacific and the Australian states have recently completed or have commissioned mineral royalty reviews. The prime reasons for this widespread and consistent action is the desire of the governments of these entities to redress perceived effi- ciency and equity imbalances and to ensure that the revenue raising motive does not override the necessity to maintain mineral exploration and development incentives. Governments are tending to adopt royalty systems comprising a com- bination of base royalty and a profit component. Resource rent royalty and royalty holidays have been introduced and anomalies, such as royalty free gold production, still exist but appear to have uncertain futures. Tasmania ranks as the Australian state with the lowest aggregate royalty levy/production value ratio whilst Papua New Guinea has the highest royalty objective achievement level in the south-west Pacific region.

Jan 1, 1988

By Peter Smith

The construction of one of the world's largest goldrecovery plants to treat run-of-mine ore is progressing on schedule at the President Brand Gold Mine in the Orange Free State. Designed to treat 390 kt per month, the plant will recover 96 per cent of the gold from the ore at a capital cost of 160 million rands in terms of January 1983 money. It will replace the existing gold-treatment installation, as well as provide a 30 per cent increase in capacity. Mintek reports Report M161 Improved recoveries of gold from auriferous calcines and pyrites by fine milling. Report M171 The development of a versatile computer programme for the evaluation of batchflotation results. Report M178 The reduction of chromite in a transferred-arc plasma furnace. Report M179 Optimization of an inductively coupled plasma by the simplex method.

Jan 1, 1985

By J. le Grange, M. Tullmin, A. Strauss, F. P. A. Robinson, C. A. O. Henning

An experimental feritic stainless steel with a chromium content of 40 per cent was welded by laser and electron beam (EB) welding processes. These techniques were found to be particularly suited to the welding of this alloy in that the impact toughness of the weld metal and heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the laser welds compared favourably with those of the parent aloy. When the EB process was used, the impact toughness of the weld metal was over 180 J/cm2. Grain growth in the HAZ was minimal for welding with these two processes. Corosion tests, conducted in a solution consisting of 20 per cent sulphuric acid and 100 p.p.m. of potassium thiocyanate, and In a highly corrosive industrial solution, indicated that the laser and EB welds were free of sensitization effects, thus confirming the metalographic results.

Jan 1, 1989

By A. Pavlidis

This paper investigates variations of lignite quality attributes with geostatistical methods. The study focuses on lignite from the Southern Field in the Greek province of West Macedonia. The targeted quality variable is the ash water-free content (AWF). A geostatistical model is constructed based on data from 480 drillholes (approximate drill hole spacing of 250m). For each drillhole, the vertical average of the AWF is calculated. The coarse-grained AWF is then modeled as the superposition of a trend surface and fluctuations. The spatial dependence of the fluctuations is modeled by means of the experimental variogram. Kriging estimators are used to determine the AWF values on a rectangular grid, and the uncertainty of the estimates is calculated. Implications of the analysis for the variability of the produced lignite are discussed, and recommendations for additional drilling are proposed.

Jan 1, 2006

IF lead be heated with concentrated sulphuric acid two distinct actions will usually be observed. In the first, bubbles begin to be evolved more or less rapidly from the lead, and in the second, which occurs at a higher temperature than the first, hydrogen and sulphur dioxide are evolved, free sulphur is liberated, and leadsulphate is formed. The second action may be violent and usually continues till the lead is all consumed.Attempts have been made to apply these reactions, by means of a standard procedure, as a "Flash test" for the acid resisting qualities of chemical sheet lead. The purpose of this article is to comment on the best method of performing the test, on the various phenomena which may be observed during the course of it and on the interpretation of the results when obtained.PREVIOUS WORKIn 1919, Barr...

Jan 1, 1930

C. W. WASHBURNE; New York; N. Y. (communication to the Secretary *).-It has long been known that sulphur and oxygen react upon crude oils, removing hydrogen and thereby creating unsaturated hydrocarbons which unite with each other, producing heavier forms. Dr. Rogers now finds that the percentage of sulphur in the oils of several fields in California is roughly proportional to the specific gravity of the oil. This additional proof is most welcome. It is rather surprising, , in that the impression had prevailed that practically all the reacting sulphur escaped from the oil as hydrogen sulphide, and did not remain in combination with the oil. It would be interesting to know what part of the sulphur-plotted by Dr. Rogers is in solution as free sulphur and hydrogen sulphide, and what part is, in more complex compounds, such as thiophanes, etc.

Jan 10, 1917

By Drupad B. Desai, Alexander Rosenbaum

In recent years, there has been an increasing use of two-pass tunnel lining system consisting of segmental unbolted expandable precast concrete initial lining and cast-in¬place concrete final lining in the United States. Used so far in soft ground tunneling performed under free air, it often includes a waterproofing or gasproofing membrane placed between the initial and final linings. This paper describes the utilization of this two-pass system for an extension of the Baltimore Metro, constructed in part under compressed air. It offers a description of the extension project, known as Section C; addresses the tunnel lining selection process and the design of the lining elements; examines the effect of the adopted lining system and tunneling technique on the design of the project's major structural components; and describes design modification instructions in order to accommodate constantly changing field conditions.

Jan 1, 1993

By N. Rajmohan, K. T. Jacob

Presented is a thermodynamic feasibility analysis of extracting base metal chlorides from low-grade, multi-metallic oxide ores using CaC[1]2 as a chlorinating agent in the presence of SO2 and O2. The oxides react to form corresponding chlorides, while CaC[1]2 is converted to CaSO4. The Ellingham diagram is used for comparing the standard Gibbs' free energy change for the sulfation-chlorination reaction of a large number of oxides. Except for alumina, silica and chromia, most of the other metal oxides will be converted to their respective chlorides. The volatile chlorides can be condensed, and the chlorides present in the condensed state can be leached. A process is proposed that uses a nontoxic chlorinating agent and gives an efficient separation of the metallic values from the gangue.

Jan 1, 1993

By Evangelos Spyridonos, Thomas Frommer, Wolfdietrich Skala, René Prissang

Operational grade modelling is a technique that uses production data to run daily updates of property models. It will enable mining engineers to use property predictions based on the most recently acquired data as support for quality control and decision making. The approach necessitates that the properties of the run- of-mine material can always be attributed to individual mining blocks or charges. The software employed must be highly reliable, because a system failure or the loss of data could seriously affect the mine's quality management. An operational grade modelling system has been developed for the Breitenau magnesite mine. It makes use of the Linear Octree Based Property Modelling system which was conceived and realised at the Free University of Berlin. This paper describes the system design and gives an account of the experiences during the first six months since system start-up.

Jan 1, 1996

Reverse circulation (R.C.) drilling or the dual tube method as it is quite commonly known, has a unique place in conventional mineral drilling. It can be classified half-way between open hole drilling at the lower end of the scale and diamond drilling at the upper end. The system basically consists of two tubes, one inside the other, with compressed air flowing between the inner and outer tubes. Sample cuttings return up the inner tube through the head of the rig and via a hose to a cyclone where the sample is collected. This system means that the cuttings are free of contamination as they are at no time in contact with the outside formation of the hole.Reverse circulation drilling is divided into two areas: R.C. Roller and Blade for softer formations; and R.C. Percussion for harder formations.

Jan 1, 1986

By Gilbert Thiessen

THE purposes of this paper are (1) to show that the mineral matter content of coal is satisfactorily represented by the Parr formula; that is, Mineral matter = 1.08 Ash + 0.55 Total sulfur (2) to compare ash-to-mineral-matter ratios with factors by which ash values must be multiplied in order that dry, factor-times-ash-free values shall equal Parr unit coal values; (3) to examine such ash-correction factors and to compare them with similar factors corresponding to certain simplifications or modifications of the Parr formulas and (4) to show that ash-correction factors used for simplification in calculating approximate unit coal calorific values cannot be. correctly used for the conversion of other determined values in an analysis to the unit coal basis, but that each type of calculation requires separate treatment in simplification.

Jan 1, 1934

By C. E. Capes

A number of novel but increasingly-important methods of size enlargement in liquid systems are reviewed. These techniques use relatively strong bonding and specialized equipment to form dense and substantially permanent agglomerates directly from particles in liquid suspension. In addition to separation of particles from suspensions, these methods have other broad objectives, including the production of granular (often spherical) materials, displacement of suspending liquid from the product and the selective agglomeration of one or more components of a multi-particle mixture. The underlying principles of the methods discussed include agglomeration by immiscible liquid wetting and by polymeric flocculants. Other procedures to produce granular, free-flowing products based on dispersion and solidification in liquids are also noted briefly. Applications in a variety of fine particle systems are considered with emphasis on minerals and fuels beneficiation and on waste treatment.

Jan 1, 1980

By W. J. Sharwood

(San Francisco Meeting, September. 1915) THE assay or estimation of the total gold content of an ore presents little difficulty, when circumstances permit of securing a thoroughly representative sample. The general practice has been fairly standardized, and such errors as occur in the results obtained are for the most part attributable to the methods of sampling rather than to those of assaying, while duplicate assays made by skilled workers usually agree closely. When it is a question of estimating the "free" or amalgamable gold of an ore, as opposed to the total gold, there is but little uniformity in the methods employed by different workers, and often equally little in the results obtained when duplicate determinations are attempted, no satisfactory standard method having been generally adopted. The methods in use are of two general types-"panning" and "amalgamation."

Jan 8, 1915

By Ralph B. Adair

The Bureau of Mines conducted laboratory and small-scale, continuous tests of weathered mica-pegmatite ores from Randolph County, Ala., to determine the feasibility of recovering commercial-grade mica concentrates by flotation. Two flotation methods were used in continuous tests for recovery of mica. One method utilized acid-cationic flotation for the recovery of coarse mica and alkaline-anionic-cationic flotation for recovering fine mica. This method yielded mica concentrates containing 98.6 percent mica with a recovery of 85.9 percent. The other method was based on the Bureau-developed alkaline-anionic-cationic method, and yielded concentrates containing 97.5 percent mica with a recovery of over 90 percent. In both methods, preconcentration of the ground ore on a Humphreys spiral was employed to reject over half of the feed in a product virtually free of mica.

Jan 1, 1968