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By Jun Lu, Mark Van Dyke, Daniel W. H. Su, Greg Hasenfus

"This paper presents the geologic and ground control challenges that were encountered by CONSOL Energy’s mining operations in southwestern Pennsylvania. A sandstone-to-limestone geology transition was encountered by Mine A, where the primary 8-foot bolts were anchored in claystone. Upon experiencing roof sags and a roof fall in the return entry, 6-foot high-tension, fully-grouted primary bolts were employed along with 16-foot center cable bolts at every other strap to improve beam building and to ensure proper anchorage into the competent limestone. No longwall delay was reported within this geologic transition zone, although there was some difficulty in maintaining an open #2 entry airway behind the longwall face.The geologic encounter in Mine B was more complex, where fluvial deposits of massive sandstone channels, shale channels and pyritic-rich, green claystones were encountered on both sides of the mains, and which impacted both development and longwall ground control. In particular, poor transitional roof areas near the edges of the sandstone and shale channels often posed significant ground control challenges. In addition, hydraulic fracturing was sometimes utilized to enhance caving of massive sandstone behind the shields to relieve pressure at the face. Longwall face conditions and advance rates were documented to illustrate the effects of sandstone channels, shale channels, and green claystones on safety and productivity and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the hydraulic fracturing.Shale channels, slickensided zones, laminated roof zones, soft floor, and a regional syncline were encountered in Mine C, the combination of which posed unique ground control challenges during both development and longwall mining. The presence of soft floor, coupled with the presence of thick floor coal and deep cover, resulted in headgate convergence during retreat of the first right-hand longwall panel. Two-piece 8-foot bolts were sometimes observed to fail at the coupler within the laminated roof zone, and 6-foot, 1-piece, fully-grouted point-anchor bolts were employed as the primary bolts thereafter."

Jan 1, 2015

By Evan Bennet

Jul 20, 1955

By J. Dienenthal

Automatic Charging and Stoking Machines for use at ferroalloy furnaces are in operation for more than 20years. Dango & Dienenthal Maschinenbau GmbH (short: DDS) has developed several machine generations. Today advanced solutions help to achieve better charging and stoking results to minimize cost and to improve the working environment around the furnaces. Three different alternatives can be considered: Rail-mounted solution The machine(s) travel(s) on an overhead monorail to one or several furnaces and is locked in the desired working position from where charging and stoking is performed. Mobile solution This machine travels on the charging platform and is also locked at the respective working position to perform charging and stoking. Automation of a standard mobile charging and stoking machine A standard charging and stoking machine can be adapted for automation. A reliable navigation system is included. Charging and stoking is performed with the moving machine. Advantage versus other solutions: considerable lower investment cost and possibility to upgrade the mobile charging and stoking machine for later automation. Overall, automatic charging and stoking can save up to 10 per cent of the specific smelting energy. A better and more consistent furnace operation can be achieved. Different programs are used to cope with different furnace conditions and changing raw materials. All machine movements can be recorded and correlated to other furnace parameters. Working environment on the charging platform is greatly improved.

Jan 1, 2007

By Erdal Ünal

The computer program introduced in this paper is based on design guidelines developed for selection of support systems used in mine roadways. The support types considered include rock bolts as well as rigid and yieldable steel arches. Using the computer program, the design engineer can select the type, pattern and specifications of the support systems suitable for various roof conditions. The concepts utilized, assumptions made, support selection criteria and description of the computer program, developed for the PC, are included.

Jan 1, 1989

By Alberto Barreda

A medida que la extracción del mineral progresa, la necesidad de madera en la construcción de edificios e instalaciones de la mina, también se incrementa. Por ello, el objetivo del presente trabajo señala la importancia de la madera como factor de producción en la industría minera, al tiempo que describe la silvicultura como técnica agronómica de ayuda en dicha manufactura. Revisando los cuadros estadísticos realizados en el Perú durante los años 1949- 1955, muestran que de cada extracción global de minerales (metálicos y carbón), obtenemos el promedio de 0,9 pies cúbicos de madera por tonelada de mineral extraído, con un equivalente de 5 pies tablares por pie cúbico, como factor de conversión. El problema surge cuando al intentar desplazar la venta de madera importada, se agotan las fuentes de desabastecimiento local, generando una crisis de reservas en el mercado libre. En consecuencia, se propone el establecimiento de plantaciones forestales en áreas localizadas y dentro del plazo de 10 a 12 años, las cuales prolongarán la conservación de la madera nacional, mejorarán la calidad de la misma y a su vez disminuirán los precios de venta.

Jul 20, 1956

By Nickol Estrada, Maylin Mendoza, Jean Bueno

El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar mediante las campañas de sondajes de perforación diamantina un nuevo dominio litológico, que hemos denominado- “Volcanico mineralizado” que sea económico y rentable para la producción, este volcanico mineralizado tiene características físicas, químicas y mineralógicas distintas a las que ya conocíamos cuya inclusión en los procesos de extracción y recuperación de mineral, significo un gran reto para los profesionales de Cerro Lindo, para esto fue necesario combinar varias herramientas geológicas para su caracterización (litológica, mineralógica, alteración y estructural), la estimación de las reservas así como la aplicación de las mismas en la Geometalurgia, para superar los desafíos encontrados.

Sep 29, 2023

By R. C. D. Phillis

The annual mine planning process is one of the most important tactical/operational steps towards achieving strategic goals. These tactical plans are part of a very comprehensive Mineral Resource Management process, with the natural sequel to planning being execution. The execution of an underground hard rock mine plan is a multi-project environment that comprises many development-construction-equipping-stoping single project paths, which are referred to as ?stoping paths?. The uncertainty that typifies execution of projects comes in the form of untimely disruptions to constituent tasks and/or project paths. Annual mining plans also include quantified objectives for occupational health and safety, production, quality, cost, employee morale, environment, and corporate social investment. Such objectives make for a highly complex environment that management must contend with?complex in the sense that all the paths and objectives have interdependent constraints. Furthermore, at the time of this paper, Sections54*and 55**of the MHSA*** put the onus on management to ensure legislative adherence. It stands to reason that planning estimates allow excess capacity?buffers?that cushions the impact of untimely disruptions. This paper concerns the fact that despite all the buffers allowed for, time, scope, and budget creeps impact on mine planning and threaten its successful execution. As a consequence, the paper deals with buffer management, the essence of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). Effective buffer management provided strategic (executive level) updates without losing the tactical/operational detail necessary for job card creation, especially where professional skills and experience are in short supply. Indicative bottom-line results showed CCPM to be highly effective.

Jan 1, 2011

By Gisell Sumaria, Mike Martos

La analítica avanzada permite analizar los datos (en tiempo real, históricos, no estructurados, estructurados, cualitativos, cuantitativos, etc.) para identificar patrones, optimizar indicadores, mejorar procesos, generar conocimientos para informar y, en algunos casos, resolver conflictos con una mínima intervención humana, es decir, automatizar decisiones. El proceso analítico ha demostrado ser un excelente aliado para la toma de decisiones, o inclusive, desde el origen hasta la decisión, control y seguimiento de resultados del proceso.

Sep 29, 2023

By Pilon CG, Deakin RC

It is proposed that a waste rock dump be constructed on slopes consisting of soft colluvium and weathered Chim Formation mudstone at the Porgera Gold Mine, in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Geolog- ical, geomorphological and geophysical investigations were conducted in support of geotechnical studies to assess the physical character of the 6km2 site. Geomorphological studies focused on the extent and nature of colluvium cover and landslide activity. Detailed ground traverse mapping resulted in classification and delineation of eight terrains and seven material types. Seismic refraction and resistivity profiling, combined with drilling, provided subsurface data. Results were presented as standard profiles, coloured contoured sections and plans. Subsurface features, including deep colluvial channels, buried cliffs, slump blocks and buried alluvial channels, were identified. Results of the combined investigations allowed designers to model the colluvium/ bedrock surface and identify critical areas of deep, mobile colluvium and weak bedrock. A design approach was developed which accounted for the morphology of landslide systems and distribution of colluvium types.

Jan 1, 1991

By Stuart St. Clair

EARLY in 1936, when the American Petroleum Institute issued -J "American Petroleum Industry," which was a survey of the current position of the petroleum industry, and its future outlook, and the figures for petroleum requirements .for 1950 and 1960 were widely publicized by the several oil journals, the impression was given that the petroleum- industry must be nearing maturity and would by 1950 have passed the high' point of its obligations to business progress in the United States.`' Let -us look at the figures which might conduce, this thought. Referring to p. 32 of the report, the total indicated crude-oil requirements in 1940 are 1,099,000,000 bbl-; for 1950, the peak, 1,109,800,000 bbl.; for 1960 a decline to 1,071,020,000 bbl. This downward trend, then established, is probably expected to continue. And this in the face of a crude production in 1935 of 993,942,000 bbl., 38,858,000 bbl.

Jan 1, 1936

By Ruilin Yang

Blast vibration in the highwall from a cast blast in open pit mines or in the hanging walls from a stope blast in underground mines is a common concern. Vibration in such cases is a typical near-field situation where the distance from a blasthole to a point of interest varies significantly compared to the distance between the blast as a whole and the point of interest. Most existing blast vibration models are designed for far-field vibration using a single seed wave to represent all blastholes within a blast and do not simulate wave shape change over the distance. Using the site parameters from the analysis of signature hole vibrations, the present blast vibration model yields reasonable agreement with field measurements in terms of vibration amplitude and frequency. Case studies show that the model has been used successfully to assist field vibration control.

Jan 1, 2010

By F. A. Seward

A1though the expanding Eltran1 configuration has been used in induced polarization exploration for several years, there has been little application of this method to straight resistivity problems. A comparison of results of resistivity exploration by this technique versus those obtained from Wenner configuration surveys reveals a number of advantages in interpretative resolution as well as in field operation. The application of electrical resistivity to ground-water exploration is well known.= In the past a major portion of this work has been accomplished by use of one or more variations of a technique employing the Wenner3 electrode configuration. With the introduction of the frequency domain technique of induced polarization measurements, used primarily in the exploration for disseminated sulfide deposits, there arose the need for an electrode configuration by which potentials could be measured externally to the current electrode spread in order to minimize coupling between current sending and potential receiving circuits. It was also deemed desirable that the configuration would provide information laterally along profile as well as with depth. To reach these objectives the expanding dipole-dipole configuration (which probably first was used in the electrical transient method of exploration and from which the name 'Eltran' was derived) has been adapted to induced polarization exploration. The author has successfully applied the same techniques

Jan 1, 1963

By M. Craig Miller

As the trend continues in the U. S. toward inceased capital investment in longwall mining equipment and wider panels. the risk also increases for gotential financial and production loses due to undetected geologic anomalies. This paper describes how RIM Sm (Radio Imaging Method) is utilized in conjunction with more traditional exploration and interpretive methods to delineate fluvial channels. displacement faults and poor roof conditions in a Southeastern Ohio coal mine

Jan 1, 1990

By Markus Reuter, Antoinette van Schaik

In this paper the link between process metallurgy, classical minerals processing, product centric recycling and urban/landfill mining is discussed. The depth that has to be achieved in urban mining and recycling must glean from the wealth of theoretical knowledge and insight that have been developed in the past in minerals and metallurgical processing. This background learns that recycling demands a product centric approach, which considers simultaneously the multi-material interactions in man-made complex ‘minerals’. Fast innovation in recycling and urban mining can be achieved by further evolving from this well developed basis, evolving the techniques and tools that have been developed over the years. This basis has already been used for many years to design, operate and control industrial plants for metal production. This has been the basis for Design for Recycling rules for End-of-Life products. Using, among others, the UNEP Metal Recycling report as a basis (authors are respectively Lead and Main authors of report), it is demonstrated that a common theoretical basis as developed in metallurgy and minerals processing can help much to level the playing field between primary processing, secondary processing, recycling, and urban/landfill mining and product design hence enhancing resource efficiency. Thus various scales of detail link product design with metallurgical process design and its fundamentals.

Jan 1, 2014

By A. P. N. Sutherland

Pipelines for transporting high concentration slurries are often designed using methods applicable to homogeneous non-Newtonian laminar flow. Many industrial slurries though comprise coarse particles in a non-Newtonian carrier fluid, and existing experimental evidence from tests with such slurries demonstrates that they are not homogeneous. Under laminar shear conditions the coarse particles settle, even in statically stable carrier fluids. To understand this better, the Institute of Materials Science and Technology (IMST) at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) is conducting ongoing research into the flow of these high concentration non-Newtonian settling slurries. Since pressure gradient and flow rate measurements alone are insufficient to adequately model the flows, an electrical resistance tomography (ERT) instrument developed by the University of Cape Town (UCT)was incorporated into the pipe test loop to determine pipe cross-section concentration and velocity profiles. The software developed to do this is modular and allows different image reconstruction and cross-correlation algorithms to be implemented and tested without significantly changing the rest of the application. At a total frame capture rate of 566 frames/sec a 2.67 GHz Intel Celeron processor with 500 MB of RAM is fast enough to calculate and display velocity profiles in ?real-time? at an update rate of one profile every two seconds. Examples of experimental concentration and velocity profiles obtained using the system are shown and some proposed improvements/extensions to the system are listed.

Jan 1, 2008

By Van Dusen M

The involvement of concerned parties in all aspects of the Lihir Project from an early stage has promoted good relations between all groups. Activities involving landowners, the Lihir community, the New Ireland Provincial Government (NIPG) and the prospective developer include the Lihir Liaison Committee, Lihir Working Group, Environmental Planning Committee, Provincial Mining Task Force and the Lihir Mining Area Landowners Association (LMALA). With modifications, the Lihir Liaison model may be of use in promoting good relationships among parties in other mineral developments.

Jan 1, 1991

By N. R. Paterson, D. G. MacKay

"The geology of the Mattagami mining camp, while of particular economic significance, is unfortunately obscured by a very thick mantle of overburden. For this reason geo-physical methods have been relied upon heavily in exploring the area. Geophysical data over five important sulphide discoveries show how targets are selected for drilling and how effective geophysics has been in assisting subsequent development programs."

Jan 1, 1960

By H. Foster Bain

THERE has never been a great civilized nation which did not have a mining industry; civilization cannot flourish without metal mining. Without tools we can have none of the 'industries that are the foundation of civilization and without metal mining we cannot produce the material of which tools are made. Therefore, if we have no metal mining we have no metals, no tools, no civilization. An example to illustrate this may be drawn from a recent article in the Saturday Evening Post which described the run-down condition of modern Athens. Athens is nothing but a busted mining camp! In its palmy days the Greeks so applied the leasing system to the silver mines of Laurium that the royalties, paid the expenses of government and instead of a tax bill the inhabitants received a pay check. The Persians came over to capture these mines but the Greek navy was built to defend them. When the silver mines played out, Greek civilization declined.. Our mining must continue if our civilization is to continue.

Jan 1, 1921

By A. R. Barnes, N. Stubina

Increasingly, gold producers are forced to treat ever more refractory ores. While ores containing pyrite, arsenopyrite and carbonaceous material have been subjected to complete pressure oxidation (PDX) as the standard process for such ores, recent improvements in fluid bed roasting technologies have led to a resurgence of interest in roasting as a viable alternative. The lower capital and operating costs of roaster installations add further impetus to this trend. The Extractive Metallurgy Group at Xstrata Process Support operates four fluid bed reactors of various sizes which have been utilised on a large number of projects to treat highly refractory ores. Preliminary mineralogical modelling of both the physical and chemical aspects of the roasting process and subsequent testing under carefully controlled conditions has allowed clients to obtain gold recoveries approaching or matching those achievable by PDX. The flexibility of the units to operate in various modes- " bubbling bed", circulating bed, two stage, sub-stoichiometric and combinations of these, and the range of sample sizes accommodated, from a few kilograms to a few tons, has enabled XPS to accommodate clients with a wide variety of gold bearing refractory ores from all over the world. This paper outlines the key challenges of fluid bed roasting of refractory gold ores, describes the methodology used to design the testwork program and provides some results from select test campaigns.

Jan 1, 2011

By Frank Cook

In this two-year study, an evaluation of mining and reclamation practices at 159 randomly sampled surface coal mines in the United States was conducted. It is concluded that reclamation practices in most of the 22 coal-producing states were adequate during 1975, but that improvement in reclamation performance was desirable in the acid area of the central U. S. and in mountainous southwestern Virginia. Productivity improvements should result from research to determine efficient or optimal operating procedures for dragline stripping of single and multiple seams, surface mining of lignite, multicut and multiseam haulback mining on steep slopes, mountaintop removal, and surface mining in swampy or deeply glaciated areas. Specific candidate research projects are discussed in this report.

Jan 1, 1976