Search Documents

By John E. Sweet

THERE have already been so many subjects of a purely mechanical nature presented to the Institute of Mining Engineers, that it is unnecessary for me to apologize for adding another to the list. When a new invention, or what is supposed to be a new invention, claiming simply an improvement on the well-known devices, is to be described, it is usual to point out the defects of the old and give a history of the object or the art up to date. But, as no doubt a large proportion of the members of this Institute know as much, or more, about the history and use of the steam-engine indicator than I do myself, I will not further preface the subject, than to remind you that what called for the Richards's improvement on the Watt's indicator was high speed ; that the leading improvement was the reduction of momentum in the reciprocating parts; and that this was accomplished by making the parts lighter, and reducing the travel of the heaviest of them, and consequently the speed and momentum. The use of the indicator has been extended, for the speed of steam-engines and other prime movers has been increased, until one engineer at least, John Cooper, of Philadelphia, says, "I want an indicator that will work up to a thousand revolutions." Mr. Thompson, of the Buckeye Steam-Engine Company, of Salem, Ohio, has improved on the Richards's indicator by another reduction in the momentum, which is done by putting the parallel motion nearer the fulcrum of the pencil arm, reducing both weight and travel. The characteristic feature of the indicator I am going to illustrate is a still further reduction in the same direction, which is accomplished by dispensing with the parallel motion altogether. As is often the, case, in putting a simple idea into shape, some difficulties

Jan 1, 1879

By Alper Kirmaci, Taghi Sherizadeh, Kutay E. Karadeniz, Dogukan Guner, Samuel Nowak

Injuries and fatalities resulting from roof falls are still a major concern in U.S. coal mines, and many researchers are focused on developing meaningful approaches to minimize this hazard. In the United States, coal mine roofs can vary widely in composition, geometry, and inherent heterogeneity, leading to a wide array of different roof fall failure types. Researchers frequently employ numerical modeling tools to reproduce this physical phenomenon and provide key guides to engineers regarding roof conditions and control as long as the input data and constitutive relations are appropriately selected. Simulating such complexity requires expertise and constitutive models that adequately simulate roof behaviors. However, the currently available constitutive models have shortcomings in capturing some of the roof fall failure types common in underground coal mines, such as guttering. A new constitutive model is developed to address the shortcomings of constitutive models commonly used for coal roof stability analysis. The constitutive model developed in this study combines the anisotropic-elasticity and nonlinear strain-softening responses. In addition, the developed constitutive model can simulate up to three different joint sets implicitly, allowing for use in both continuum and discontinuum settings, and can be used in both Lagrangian finite-volume and distinct element method codes of Itasca. First, the mathematical expressions of the model are provided. Afterward, the validation phase of the developed model that covers comparisons with analytical solutions and those of existing models (e.g., anisotropic elasticity, ubiquitous-joint, and bilinear strain-hardening/softening ubiquitous-joint plasticity) is presented. Finally, a hypothetical coal mine roadway facing high horizontal stress is simulated. The presented model successfully shows three distinct stages of a cutter roof in a shale roof: (1) initiation of shear cracks at the rib– roof intersection, (2) extension of cracks deeper into the roof (i.e., above the roof bolt length horizon), and (3) cantilevered roof. It is demonstrated that the presented constitutive model has the potential to help future researchers in simulating various roof responses.

Jul 1, 2023

By P. Somasundaran

Previous studies on semi-soluble minerals such as calcite (1) and apatite(2) and sparingly soluble minerals such as quartz (3,4) have given evidence for significant changes in their electrokinetic properties as a function of aging time. Such changes are relevant to mineral processing operations where the crushed ore particles might not have yet reached equili¬brium with the water that it is in contact with. In order that these changes be studied under controlled experimental conditions for long periods unattended or with fairly less intermittant attention, a streaming potential apparatus with an automatic streaming system was constructed. Also, a new streaming potential cell was incorporated into the system so that the effect of temperature, a variable coming into increasing usage in mineral processing operations(5), could also be studied. Conventional streaming cells(6) cannot be safely employed to conduct studies as a function of temperature since they have many glass joints that are prone to leakage, parti¬cularly under pressure, in the course of an experiment. This paper describes the new apparatus and some typical results that have been obtained with it far temperature effects.

Jan 1, 1973

By F. W. Bloecher

D ETERMINATION of the surface area of finely divided minerals is of interest to mineral engineers engaged in flotation, comminution, and dewatering studies. In the industrial minerals field, many materials are classified as to fineness according to their specific surface (surface area per unit weight). A method of surface area determination has been tested and used in the Richards Mineral Engineering Laboratories at M.I.T. It involves low temperature krypton adsorption measurements using the technique described by Beebe.1

Jan 3, 1951

By L. Yaun

In underground coal mining operations, gas content in a coal seam is used to assess the risk of coal and gas outbursts. To estimate the gas content, a number of systems have been developed, however issues remain about the rapidness and accuracy of these systems. To address these issues, a new and improved system has been developed that includes a sampling-while-drilling unit for coal sampling, a coal canister, an underground-based portable measurement unit, a surface-based measurement apparatus, and gas content calculation software. The system has been successfully applied in underground coal mines at Huainan, China. This new, rapid and accurate system, its main components and field trials are described in this paper.

Aug 1, 2013

By Warren L. J

In the mineral processing industry solid-liquid separation within a thickener usually requires the addition of a synthetic flocculant to enhance the settling rate of fine particles. The characteristics of the resulting flocculated suspensions may vary considerably depending upon the physical and chemical conditions which prevail during the flocculation process. For example, parameters such as flocculant type, dosage and solution concentration, surface chemical characteristics of particles and the suspension agitation conditions can influence the degree to which the particles aggregate. Aggregated suspensions exhibit various structures, and range from those composed of small, dense aggregates to those containing large, voluminous aggregates. The size distribution and structural type of the aggregates which form within the feed-well of a thickener can have a dramatic effect upon overall thickener performance. Thickener performance cannot be optimized without optimization of the aggregate structure produced in the feed by synthetic flocculant addition. This has required the development of new techniques to quantify the nature of aggregated suspensions, details of which are presented in this paper.

Jan 1, 1989

By Howard R. Hume, Terry R. West, William R. Judd

One of the outcomes of a sector slope design in a large open pit in the western United States has been the scrutiny of the structural domain concept. These domains essentially define the area of influence of particular structural characteristics. In the present instance these structural characteristics are joint discontinuities. One of the major drawbacks of defining a domain is that unless large quantities of discontinuity data are available this process of definition is largely qualitative in nature. Viewed from a discontinuity analysis aspect the orientations of all the major joint sets at a given point are a concise descriptor of the structural geologic regime at that location. This is important to domain boundary definition, this in turn is extremely important for assigning which joint sets to use as input for slope stability analysis in a given discontinuity domain. An attempt has been made to develop a quantitative method for defining these discontinuity domains based on limited amounts of orientation data thereby reducing the subjectivity normally involved in such operations. Subjectivity is not always a problem if large quantities of joint orientation data are available, since the mean and variance of joint clusters always can be compared and then grouped to define these domains. However, even this method suffers from the problem that only a single joint set orientation can be considered at a time during the grouping process. On the other hand a discontinuity domain requires that all joint sets at a point be considered simultaneously to truly define the structural discontinuity character of that point. This provides a far more complete

Jan 1, 1982

By Gordon B. French, Donald E. Garrett

INTRODUCTION Crude oil reserves in the United States are still very large, even though for many years they have not been sufficient to supply our entire domestic requirements. They are continuously being depleted as oil is pumped from the ground, but new discoveries and improved secondary and tertiary recovery methods are helping to reduce the rate of depletion. It is thus a slowly diminishing resource, but even as it is being consumed, immense reserves of oil are left behind as the so called "un-recoverable" portion of petroleum formations. Most oil fields can only obtain a 15 to 40% recovery of the original reservoir, and it is widely quoted that there are still about 300 billion barrels of this un-recoverable oil still in place (Mauch, 1980, etc.). With the present comparatively high oil prices, and the possibility of even higher future prices and short supply, this oil becomes an interesting potential reserve. Mining the petroleum formation would be one means of recovering at least a portion of this oil. The concept of oil mining is neither new nor limited to conventional oil fields, since the procedure could be equally employed with the otherwise difficult to produce heavy oil deposits, and the solid or semi-solid tar sands and diatomaceous hydrocarbon formations. Estimates place the U.S. tar sand resource at about 30 billion barrels, and heavy oil at 5-10 billion barrels (Unitar, 1982). Figure 1 graphically summarizes the heavy oil reserves based upon formation depth and characteristics, while Figure 2 shows their location. It is apparent that the preponderance of reserves are in California and Texas, but that they also occur in many other states. The major companies engaged in oil recovery from the heavy

Jan 1, 1983

The explosion of a charge in a drillhole sets the surrounding rock mass into vibrating stress wave motion. Except in the immediate vicinity of the drillhole, the dynamic stresses associated with this motion do damage only to pre-existing joints, cracks, or other weak planes, not to the rock material in between these. The joints are weak in tension, therefore the damage occurs as a result of tensile stresses. The initial damage process in the rock mass that ultimately breaks loose in front of the hole is similar to that in the remaining rock behind the drillhole. Recorded or calculated values of the vibration velocity and frequency contain a wealth of information about the combination of stress and strain that causes the damage. This paper outlines a new technique by which the peak strain energy derived from measured or calculated vibration velocity records is used to determine the local fragment size distribution. It combines two previously known and well tested techniques, namely the Holmberg-Persson calculation of the peak vibration velocity generated by an extended charge and King's calculations of the fragment size distribution as a function of the strain energy in rock crushing. Both of these calculations are based on experimental data and have been tested and found to agree well with actual conditions in their respective fields. Holmberg-Persson's calculated peak vibration velocities have been used successfully to predict and control damage to the remaining rock in cautious blasting, while King's calculation successfully describes the comminution of rock in mechanical crushing. Preliminary predictions of fragmentation in two types of rock blasting, a large hole open pit mining blast and a tunnel round, indicate that the new technique for fragmentation prediction has the potential for predicting fragment size distributions within the rock removed by the Blast.

Jan 1, 1995

By D. F. VanDine, H. George

"The possibility of spoil pile failure at the Kara Kara bauxite strip mine, Guyana, South America, is of major concern to the mine operators. The current mining technique requires the continuous operation of an 11 ms bucket capacity walking dragline on top of 18 metres of freshly spoiled uncompacted overburden material consisting of varying mixtures of kaolinitic clay and quartzitic sand. A field biased geotechnical study of undisturbed overburden and corresponding spoiled material has identified site-specific, non-linear correlations between vane shear strength, standard penetration resistance and spoil pile composition. Readily available geological exploration borehole logs has enabled a composite clay isopach map of the entire mining property to be drawn and critical areas to be zoned according to expected slope stability. Stability has been assessed using simple hand calculation techniques. Use of the resulting stability map provides the mine operators with a means of forecasting the need for appropriate preventative measures at varying stages of mine development, throughout the life of the mine.A similar investigation procedure could be employed at many presently operating and future strip mines.IntroductionThe Kara Kara bauxite stripe mine is located at Linden within the bauxite belt of Guyana in South America. The mining property covers a total area of 88 hectares of flat to gently sloping ground of which some forty per cent is being actively mined or being preparatorily stripped of overburden, prior to eventual mining (George and Gordon, 1979). The regional climate is tropic and humid. Temperatures vary from 16°C to 38°C and yearly rainfall averages 2600 mm, with at least 55 per cent of this precipitation occurring during the 'wet season' months of May to July and December to January."

Jan 1, 1983

The activiltion of sphalerite with electrolytically generated copper ions from a copper electrode instead of the usual practice of the addition of copper sulphate was studied in the laboratory. A large surface area of copper was provided by lining three sides of a bench flotation cell with copper sheeting. The lining was connected to the positive terminal of a low voltage d.c. source, and the cell impeller to the negative terminal.Sphalerite was effectively activated by this arrangement and was subsequently floated using xanthate as the collector.Flotation results comparable to those obtained with 1 lb/ton CuS04.5H20 (0,255 lb/ton copper) were obtained using 0·1062 lb/ton of electrolytic copper and 0·488 kWh of electrical energy. The wastage of copper due to the formation of insoluble precipitates was found to be dependent on the length of time the current was passed. Maximum current was passed for the shortest time to minimize wastage.

Jan 1, 1973

By D. Jeulin

For iron ore sinters to be good blast furnace burden, they need to possess certain basic properties such as cold mechanical strength, reducibility, etc. Relations between such basic parameters and sintering parameters (composition of the mix, fuel consumption, operating conditions of the sintering plant, etc.) are not always well understood. For example, one cannot explain the differences in quality noticed for sinters having the same chemical composition. In this paper a new approach is proposed for the characterization of iron ore sinters by a quantitative description of their morphology. The Texture Analyzer LEITZ T.A.S. is used for this purpose and such morphological parameters as sizes of microstructures and the size distribution of phases are measured on samples of sinters. The results indicate that these measurements can be correlated with the sinter quality.

Jan 1, 1977

By Luino Jr. Dell'osso, Richard L. Every

The enormity of the methane-in-coal problem is discussed, with a brief summary of the state-of-the-art. Laboratory techniques and data on the desorption of methane from Pittsburgh seam coal are presented and discussed and include the effect of time, temperature and vacuum. Under laboratory conditions, it was possible to displace 90 per cent of the residual methane by flooding the coal samples with carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide was found to be three times more effective than air and almost five times more effective than helium.

Jan 1, 1972

By K. Ohga, V. J. Hucka

The presence of methane gas in mines creates hazards of explosions, fire and suffocation. Under certain conditions the occurrence of methane also poses a danger of gas and coal outbursts. Consequently, prevention of gas and coal outbursts in coal mines requires a sound knowledge of methane gas occurrence in mine workings. However, the direct method of determining methane content of coals developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines is time and labor consuming for measurement, a new transportable methane tester was developed for Japanese coal mines. The instrument automatically measures emission gas from coal samples in the underground and also records and stores the data. Back on the surface, the tester can be connected via a RS 232 port to a PC computer for methane content estimation. Details of this technique are described here. Results on methane content determined in Japanese and U.S. western coal seams are discussed, as well.

Jan 1, 1991

By Forrester P. I, Richardson W

Methane in coal mines is an ever present hazard resulting in loss of lives and serious economic consequences. For effective control of methane, ventilation alone may not be totally adequate in some situations. In order to deal with such cases, new methods for the control of methane are being researched. One such method based on biotechnology has been investigated in Canada in the past several years. This method involves bringing methane oxidizing micro- organisms into contact with coal to oxidize the methane released to non-flammable products.

Jan 1, 1988

By B. R. Mohal, S. Chander

"A new technique to determine wettability of powders is presented in this paper. In this technique the times for immersion of individual particles from air into liquids, defined as imbibition times, are measured. Through the measurements of imbibition times for a large number of particles, it is possible to determine homogeneity/heterogeneity of a powder sample with regard to its wetting behavior. Quartz particles give a very narrow distribution of imbibition times showing a homogeneous wetting surface whereas coal particles give a broad distribution indicative of the heterogeneous nature of its surface. The imbibition time measurement technique is considered to have certain advantages over other methods to determine wettability of powders in surfactant solutions. In this study we have also compared the imbibition times with the wetting rate mea¬surements obtained by a modified Walker test.INTRODUCTIONSeveral methods are available for determining wetting characteristics of sol¬ids. Each of the methods has been used in the past to obtain very valuable information for comparing wetting behavior of various solids in a given liquid or for comparing the wetting behavior of several liquids for a given solid. Each method measures a somewhat different aspect of wetting and therefore quantitative correlations between techniques have been difficult. A general approach is to use a method in which close similarity between the technique and the application (where results of wetting measurements are to be used) can be maintained. The objective of this investigation was to develop a method which could be used to determine the wetting characteristics of single particles in surfactant solutions. Wetting of individual particles is of importance in cap¬ture of dust particles by sprays of surfactant solutions.METHODS FOR DETERMINING WETTING — A BRIEF REVIEWThe various methods available for measuring wetting characteristics of solids include: contact angle, immersion/sink time, bubble pick-up, induction time, capillary rise, and displacement method measurements. Some of the methods are briefly reviewed in the paragraphs that follow."

Mar 1, 1989

By B. Dubreuil

Arsenical bearing deposits are posing an increasing challenge for the mining industry. In particular, mineral processing of arsenical sulfidic ores for base and precious metals recovery tend to produce problematic arsenical tailings. This arsenic being present as sulphide or oxide, tends to dissolve, contaminating surface and underground waters. To meet the environmental regulations, it is often required to stabilize the arsenic in a more insoluble form. Nichromet has developed a new patented technology using vitrification of the arsenic oxide in an economical way, giving a stable solid, well below the environmental regulations upon leaching. This technology involves oxidation of As (III) to As (V), by using a low cost natural oxidizer and transformation of the produced arsenic oxide into calcium arsenate, which is not volatile at the melting temperature of the glass. This technology would be advantageously applied on most cases around the world where sulphide concentrates are oxidized in a fluidized bed or smelted.

Aug 1, 2013

By B. Dubreuil, J. -M. Lalancette, D. Lemieux

Arsenical bearing deposits are posing an increasing challenge for the mining industry. In particular, mineral processing of arsenical sulfidic ores for base and precious metals recovery tend to produce problematic arsenical tailings. This arsenic being present as sulphide or oxide, tends to dissolve, contaminating surface and underground waters. To meet the environmental regulations, it is often required to stabilize the arsenic in a more insoluble form. Dundee Sustainable Technologies has developed a new patented technology using vitrification of the arsenic oxide in an economical way, giving a stable solid, well below the environmental regulations upon leaching. This technology involves oxidation of As (III) to As (V), by using a low cost natural oxidizer and transformation of the produced arsenic oxide into calcium arsenate, which is not volatile at the melting temperature of the glass. This technology would be advantageously applied on most cases around the world where sulphide concentrates are oxidized in a fluidized bed or smelted.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. Abbruzzese, F. Vegliò, S. Ubaldini, R. Massidda

The aim of this paper was to study the influence of different water/organic solvent mixtures (isopropyl alcohol, ethanol and ethylene glycol) on the gold desorption process. The experimental work was carried out on laboratory scale, using activated coconut carbon with different temperatures and extraction times, without adding cyanide. Best results have been obtained in this order: isopropyl alcohol > ethylene glycol > ethanol. Starting from gold concentration of about 5 g Au per kg of carbon, best kinetics resulted in 97-100% of gold extraction, after 8 hours of desorption, at a temperature of 80ºC.

Jan 1, 2003

By C. Abbruzzese, F. Vegliò, S. Ubaldini, R. Massidda

"Gold solubilised during cyanidation can be recovered by precipitation (Merrill-Crow process) or by adsorption onto activated carbon, these being the techniques applied in industrial plants.Precious metals (Au, Ag) adsorbed onto activated carbon are extracted during a subsequent stage in aqueous phase, by various technologies, such as hot elution (70-80°C) or under pression desorption (100-130°), with hydro-alcoholic solutions.This stage is of great interest from an economic point of view, due to the high energy costs. Temperature represents the critical kinetic factor.The aim of this paper was to study the influence of different water/organic solvent mixtures (isopropyl alcohol, ethanol and ethylene glycol) on the desorption process.The experimental work was carried out on laboratory scale, using activated coconut carbon with different temperatures and extraction times, without adding cyanide.Best results have been obtained in this order: isopropyl alcohol > ethylene glycol > ethanol. Starting from gold concentration of about 5 g Au per kg of carbon, best kinetics resulted in 97-100% of gold extraction, after 8 hours of desorption, at a temperature of 80ºC."

Jan 1, 2003