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By P. R. Stephenson

Mining projects depend on the amount and quality of the mineral reserves, which in turn depend on the amount and quality of the mineral resources. Only Measured and Indicated Resources may be converted to mineral reserves and Inferred Resources may not, with certain exceptions, be used in economic studies. Responsibility for the estimation of mineral resources rests with the Qualified Person (QP) and there is a wealth of literature, text books and case studies to guide the QP. Responsibility for the classification of the mineral resources also rests with the QP. While there is some industry guidance and common practice on approaches to resource classification on which the QP can draw, the process is (or should be) heavily dependent on the exercise of judgement by the QP. However, this inevitably leads to situations where, for example, one QP?s Inferred Resource is another QP?s Indicated Resource. If the QP?s judgement is poorly reasoned or illogical (as is sometimes the case), it can have a major impact on the project, often with substantial cost or value implications. Project managers and company executives should not unquestioningly accept QP?s classification decisions and should apply the same intensity of due diligence that they apply to other critical elements of the project.

May 1, 2011

By Patrick S. Hudd

Traditionally in hard rock mining, large diameter raise boring was thought of as 3.04 metre or 3.66 metre diameter holes 300 metres deep. Mine and ventilation engineers were challenged to design systems either incorporating such holes, or slashing and modifying to suit. Now, 5.49 metre diameter holes up to 1,000 metres deep are being excavated. The ability to pilot and ream such holes not only creates new options for mine engineers in mine ventilation system design, but also creates new opportunities in mine access. By combining holes of this diameter with the ability to accurately drill long pilot holes within the diameter of the pilot hole through the entire length of the hole, borehole hoisting systems are now fully capable of being main production or service accesses for mines. This paper will review the present day capabilities of large diameter raise boring, potential applications for such excavations and some considerations for companies contemplating using large diameter raise boring in their operations

Oct 1, 2010

By Peter Heine

Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. (DDMI) has treated systems development as an integral part of the construction project when it built Canada?s second diamond mine. Fully aware that the proper collection and processing of operational data is needed to drive business decisions during production and planning, key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were defined to effectively manage operations when the mine went into production. The Production Information Management System (PIMS) allows KPIs to be measured, reported, and transferred to other systems in a reliable and convenient manner. PIMS provides a mechanism to collect real time production data from the various control systems around the site and acts as a tool to ?drill-down? and establish the important cause-effect relationships that impact the value of a KPI. Thus PIMS provides a data collection, storage, management, and an environment in which cause-effect relationships can be analysed and statistically verified. This understanding of the real cause-effect relationships, close to the source of the data and in the context of the operation, can be used to improve both operations and maintenance performance. The PIMS includes the PI Database implementation, its associated external interfaces with the various Control Systems, Cleaning Packaging Weighing System, Environmental System, Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) System, and Diamond Tracking System (DTS), as well as laboratory data collection, custom applications (downtime tracking, data reconciliation) and user clients. The interface with the EAM system provides material flow quantities and equipment availability on which the plant performance reports are based. The transfer of equipment usage to the EAM system is fed into the maintenance notifications and work orders functionality in the EAM. The environmental system interface provides the mechanism for capturing water consumption data required to generate the various regulatory reports. The interface to the cleaning-packaging-weighing system provides the mechanism for capturing batch data for transfer to the DTS for diamond product tracking at the production splitting facility in Yellowknife. The PIMS lab application provides a means of getting sample data into the system for critical metallurgical metrics, and the data reconciliation application provides a means of manually verifying the data before it is published or passed onto other systems.

May 1, 2003

By Steve Massman, Edward Wipf, Gary Beerkircher

"As mine size and tonnage continues to increase, material handling/processing equipment has also increased in size with 400 MT haul trucks, 2000 KW crushers, 12 M SAG/AG mills, 8.5 M ball mills, 3000 M3 flotation cells and 12.5 MW HPGR’s all with planned designs to increase in size further. Related equipment including vibrating screens have also increased in size with screens seeing feed rates of 3000 MTPH. Open circuit SAG Pre-Crush and closed circuit HPGR flowsheets are becoming more common with large screening requirements. Large multi-slope (banana) or horizontal screens are commonly used for these applications, however as the size of these screens has increased, the number and size of the brute force/overhead exciters has increased but with limitations. An example is a SAG discharge screen that will see surges of material from the SAG mill which overload the screen, reducing the screen stroke or throw causing a large reduction in screen efficiency with excessive fines & moisture in the screen oversize feed to the pebble crushing circuit. This paper will present some actual examples of the use of Two-Mass screens as a solution to these overloading problems and the advantages of Two-Mass screens in other high tonnage applications.Brute Force Drive Compared to Two Mass Drive Vibrating ScreensThe standard single mass screen as depicted by figure 1 is generally recognized in the mining industry. It is characterized by the screen body – labeled as the single mass (Mt) that is supported by isolation springs (Kiso). The stroke needed to process material is obtained by incorporating large eccentric wheels and/or drive boxes (Fb) directly mounted to the screen body via a drive tube."

Jan 1, 2017

By Malcolm Powell

"Predicting the performance of the whole mining process is surely the holy grail of predictive simulation. This can be named ‘Integrated Process Prediction’.The objective is to be able to predict the response of the processing chain, from mining to concentration, to changes in the ore type. This can apply to greenfields design – selecting processing options to optimise the overall mine performance within the constraints and aspirations of the greater community and environment; expansion and optimisation of existing plant to deal with changes in economic drivers and ore types; and on-line control – predictive reaction to ongoing changes in ore processing types in an operation.In order to achieve this there are several broad key components that are required: ore characteristics based on in-situ rock properties; a reliable 3D map of the ore body by the key processing parameters; prediction of how the rock fragments and the energy requirement to break it; the ability to predict and track progressive mineral liberation of the rock through the reduction process; the response of rock to separation processes as a function of the rock mineralogical properties. This requires the identification of primary rock properties and associating them with the rock particles as they move along the mining process chain to a concentrate or various forms of waste.This paper looks at the value of this integrated approach; the challenges it poses; the technology and capability we require; and how as a mineral processing community we can address the challenges."

Jan 1, 2016

By Dwight Newman

This paper discusses the author?s work identifying international law norms of consultation with indigenous communities and poses a potentially counterintuitive argument that corporate stakeholders? interactions with indigenous communities may have effects on the content of those norms. The claim is counterintuitive because the international law of pertinence is customary international law, which arises from consistent state practice and opinio juris (a belief by states that they are acting in a way they are legally bound to do so). Customary international law traditionally has no reference to corporate conduct per se. The paper first surveys several sources on developing international law on consultation obligations. Then it references the impact these norms can have on corporate stakeholders in industries like mining. Then, it poses an argument as to an economic ratcheting effect that can occur through various agreements between corporate stakeholders and indigenous communities that then feeds through into international law via several mechanisms. The consequences for mining companies are diverse and include the possibility that conduct by one company can have longer-term implications for the obligations of other companies and, indeed, of states. The effects will differ in the context of different competitive environments and may actually have effects on the economics of different competitive models.

Aug 1, 2013

By Steve Wilson, Bern Klein, Jeff Drozdiak, Stefan Nadolski, Andrew Bamber

"In the adaptation of high pressure grinding rolls (HPGRs) to hard-rock mining applications, circuit development has mainly focused on placing HPGRs in the role of tertiary crusher in the preparation of ball mill feed. In order to take advantage of the potential energy benefits associated with HPGR and stirred mill grinding technologies, work was done to investigate the potential of and resultant energy benefits of placing the HPGR in series with a high speed stirred mill in replacement of the conventional cone crusher / ball mill arrangement. The proposed circuit was designed to operate with two stages of HPGR grinding followed by high speed stirred milling.Using a pilot-scale HPGR unit inline with a 20 liter stirred mill, the design criteria, circuit arrangement and consequent comminution energy requirements for a circuit processing copper sulphide ore from Teck Resources’s Mesaba Copper project were determined. These results were then compared to two other circuits, an HPGR / ball mill circuit and a conventional crusher / ball mill circuit processing the same ore.The testwork indicated at a proof-of-concept level that the HPGR / stirred mill circuit could potentially be appropriate for this duty and further work on the concept is merited. While the results indicate that the HPGR component of the circuit was more energy efficient than conventional cone crushing, the energy efficiency of the stirred mill was found to be lower than that of a comparable ball mill undertaking the same duty. However, increased energy efficiency of the stirred mill portion of the circuit is possible with further optimization and further work on the concept is indicated."

Jan 1, 2010

By Victor Maksaev, Marcos Zentilli

"Abstract - The Domeyko Cordillera, the westernmost uplifted crustal block of the composite High Andes of northern Chile (20°S to 28°S) hosts a narrow N-S trending belt of Late Eocene-Oligocene giant porphyry copper deposits, which include Collahuasi, Chuquicamata, El Abra, La Escondida, and El Salvador. These deposits are spatially and genetically associated with the closing igneous activity along this range, prior to a 30 km eastward jump of the magmatic front in response to tectonic plate interaction. The porphyry copper deposits are also spatially associated with a major intraarc strike-slip shear system, the Domeyko Fault System. Although the tectonic uplift of the 3000 m to 5000 m high range has generally been assumed to be mostly Miocene in age, field relationships suggest that the Domeyko Fault System and tectonic uplift were active as early as the Eocene, coinciding with porphyry copper emplacement between 41 Ma and 30 Ma. Apatite fission track (FT) thermochronology provides both age data and a time-temperature history for rocks since they cooled below a temperature of ca. 125°C (equivalent to a depth of 4 km to 5 km under normal geothermal gradients) on their way to the surface during exhumation, or after a heating event. Apatite FT data from the Paleozoic crystalline basement of the Domeyko Cordillera indicate that at least 4 km to 5 km of rocks were eroded during exhumation of this tectonic block between ca. 50 Ma to 30 Ma (Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene), a time that immediately precedes and overlaps with the emplacement of giant porphyry copper deposits. The FT data constrain the age and duration of a period of crustal thickening and extensive erosion known as the Incaic compression, an event recognized in the Andes of Chile and Peru. Assuming that cooling was due to denudation alone, modelling of the FT data allow estimation of denudation rates between 200 and 100 m/My during this period. In contrast, exposures of pre-porphyry Paleocene intrusives on the western edge of the Domeyko Cordillera reveal apatite FT ages that are concordant with biotite 40Ar-39Ar dates, indicating shallow emplacement, fast cooling and negligible exhumation. The apatite FT ages of the Chuquicamata and El Abra porphyry copper deposits are only marginally younger than their 40Ar-39Ar dates, implying fast cooling/exhumation of shallow mineralizing systems (ca. 2 km to 3 km). Their FT time-temperature history is compatible with extremely low rates of exhumation (ca. 50 m/My) since about 30 Ma (Early Oligocene). This limited extent of erosion, due to exceptional aridity, has greatly contributed to the preservation of rich supergene enriched blankets above some of the porphyry copper deposits.A model is proposed, which is consistent with field relationships, geochemical, and geochronological data. High relative velocities and intermediate-angle oblique convergence between the Nazca and South American plates in the Eocene-Early Oligocene led to intra-arc transpression partitioned into reverse faults of opposing vergence and a right-lateral shear system (the Domeyko Shear System) localized along the magmatic front. Crustal shortening and thickening led to uplift within the Domeyko Fault System and to erosion of at least 4 km to 5 km. Crustal thickening deepened the zone of magma generation, and magmas accumulated in the lower crust, allowing small volumes to rise rapidly to shallow levels along transtensional domains of the regional shear system. A similar model of crustal thickening and shortening before and during porphyry copper emplacement in zones of transtension may also apply to the Miocene-Pliocene giant porphyry copper province of central Chile."

Jan 1, 1999

By W. Zheng

Pipelines can develop stress corrosion cracks in either intergranular or transgranular form. Since the mid-1980s, numerous colonies of transgranular cracks have been found across Canada and many other countries in the world. While the intergranular form of cracking has been well studied in the past 40 years, the mechanisms governing SCC in near-neutral pH environment, i.e., the transgranular form of the cracking, are yet to be understood in greater depth. Over the past ten years or so, a large number of research publications have been available on this subject and this paper summarize our latest progress in understanding the mechanistic aspect of the problem. Better understanding of the role of mill scale surface and the steel metallurgy in crack initiation has been indicated in the recent literature. However, the initiation of SCC in the lab research still relies on loading conditions that are far more aggressive than those encountered in the field. Most crack growth studies in the past are also performed under very aggressive mechanical conditions, which could have prevented the observation of environment effects. However, more recent research at lower K or Delta K ranges seems to suggest a strong role of the environment. Naturally, modeling of growth should reflect the effect of the environment, steel metallurgy, and the changing mechanical properties of the pipe steel with time. For a specific steel in a given environment, the crack growth rates tended to increase with the strain rate, indicated either by the nominal applied loading frequency or by the calculated crack tip opening rate. Future research needs to address the issue of concurrent growth of multiple interacting cracks. More attention should also be given to concurrent initiation of multiple cracks in a colony, as failure is usually caused by a coalesced crack not by an individual crack. The effect of soil environment should not be limited to the chemistry of soil solution; other factors such as cathodic processes, the variation of environment with time and physical conditions of coatings should also be considered as part of the study.

Jan 1, 2005

By L. Vinnett, T. Ledezma, F. Contreras, F. Díaz

"Mass balances in secondary grinding are subject to critical constraints mainly because of the unknown load distribution from the SAG mills, the uncertainties in the hydrocyclone split estimations and the lack of flowmeters in the key streams. In this paper, a methodology to support mass balances based on the use of radioactive tracer is presented. This approach was successfully implemented in two secondary grinding circuits of Minera Los Pelambres, which operate with ball mills of 21’ x 33.5’. The method allowed the load distribution of the SAG product (secondary grinding feed) to be determined. This load distribution was used as an input in the mass balance data reconciliation.The effective residence times of solid tracers were obtained in the secondary grinding equipment, where irradiated solid was used as a tracer. The residence times were obtained from the parametric deconvolution between the input and output tracer signals. The model fitting was performed to reconstruct the normalized output tracer concentration. Effective residence times of solid tracers in the ball mills ranged from 1.9 min to 9.5 min. The use of radioactive tracer measurement in grinding circuits is a powerful tool to consolidate mass balance results as well as to characterize grinding mills.INTRODUCTIONGrinding is the last stage of the comminution circuits. At this stage, the ore particles are reduced in size by a combination of impact and abrasion, either dry or wet (Austin & Concha, 1994). The grinding equipment mostly used in industrial operations correspond to horizontal tumbling mills (Wills & Napier- Munn, 2006). Tumbling mills employ steel balls or rods as grinding media. Ball mills, which are a type of tumbling mills, use steel grinding media with greater surface area per mass unit than SAG (semiautogenous grinding) mills or rod mills (primary grinding). Hence, the ball mills are suitable to obtain the particle size required in the next separation stages (Napier-Munn et al., 1996; Wills & Napier-Munn, 2006)."

Jan 1, 2016

By John Hoffert, Darren Colwell, Greg Tucker, Jeremy Kinch, Greg Rasmussen

"The Kemess Mine, a major producer of gold and copper, is located in north-central British Columbia. Kemess was brought into production in May 1998 by Royal Oak Mines. On February 11, 2000 Northgate Exploration Limited acquired Kemess Mine from receivership. Since acquisition in 2000 Kemess has seen many accomplishments, including the reduction of costs by 40%.One of the largest site capital costs was the construction of the tailings storage facility dam, which when finished will be one of the largest earth filled dam structures of its type. The existing construction design by AMEC called for a kilometer wide rock dam to be built from the 1350 M elevation to the 1504 M elevation at a 5.5:1 slope by hauling over 30 million tonnes of non-acid generating waste rock 7-kilometers from the open pit to the tailings dam, which was highly expensive.Kemess realized an opportunity for cost reduction was possible if the dam could be built from suitable quality tailings sand; however the sand did not meet the neutralizing potential ratio specifications. It was determined that cycloning combined with flotation to reduce pyrite concentration in the sand would produce a non-acid generating product for dam construction. The sand plant design challenges were to remove the sulphides from the tailings to obtain an NPR greater than 2:1 and provide a consistent sand product for the construction with a fines content of less than 15% passing 200 mesh. After a 2-year testing design and construction period, the sand plant was successfully started at the end 2002 resulting in higher than expected sand quality and production rates.This paper describes the plant design phase, commissioning, and operation of the tailings sand plant for construction of the tailing storage facility dam to enable us to meet all the engineering and regulatory requirements. The many challenges faced were successfully met using several innovative designs. The operational, economic, and environmental benefits are detailed."

Jan 1, 2004

By B. G. Cousins, B. O’Rourke, C. Spence

"Some non-flotation chemistries are added to flotation circuits directly and indirectly to control issues such as scaling and dust. Since the dosage levels are generally not very large, a standard laboratory float test may not be able to determine the effect a specific chemical has on the productivity of the flotation circuit. Hudbay and Ashland Water Technologies developed a laboratory testing protocol that uses kinetic float studies to test the effect of normal to extreme doses of antiscalant and dust chemistries (5 ppm to 500 ppm). Laboratory results indicate that this protocol helps to predict the potential interference that a particular chemistry will have on the flotation circuit.INTRODUCTIONFrom a chemical perspective, flotation is a very complex system involving more than the reagents used for flotation. Along with collectors, frothers, modifiers, suppressants and activators, there can be antiscalants for water treatment, dust suppressants used in the mining process, residual flocculants from recycled thickener overflows, grinding aids, and many other types of chemicals that are added upstream of a flotation circuit. Although these other chemicals are usually used at very low doses, it is important to know if they affect the flotation process detrimentally in the event of a spill or a build up from recycled water.Laboratory flotation testing of these chemicals characterizes their effects, but testing at expected doses in the float can mask the effects of the chemicals in the plant. Also, simple tests that do not measure the kinetics of flotation do not reveal the effects the other chemicals have on the flotation circuit. Thus, a new flotation protocol was needed to expose the full effects of chemical additives and to assist in choosing the chemical with the lowest potential for a negative effect.FLOTATION KINETICSMeasuring recovery kinetics in a laboratory flotation cell is a well-established procedure: analyzing concentrates taken in a timed sequence to determine the recovery rate of individual cells in a flotation circuit. The recovery from the early flotation cells are a true measurement of how well a flotation chemical is performing. The principles of kinetics can be mathematically determined by the following functions (Houston, 2006):"

Jan 1, 2013

By Garston Blackwell

Abstract - During geostatistical estimation of block grades, the kriging process produces a measure of error, the kriging variance or the kriging standard deviation. Estimation of the block error depends on the semi-variogram model for a deposit, which reflects fundamental characteristics of a deposit such as (1) nugget effect, (2) range of influence of grades, (3) different local spreads of data as a function of average grade (proportional effect), (4) nested structures, and (5) underlying anisotropies in the data; this model may be affected by sampling or assaying limitations, however. Because the kriging error incorporates so many features of both the deposit and data to be used for estimation, it may offer a substantial improvement on block classification over traditional procedures such as data density. Practice indicates that the relative kriging standard deviation (RKSD) is particularly useful for block classification in measured, indicated and inferred categories. Plots of RKSD in plan and section also can be used to demonstrate where extra drilling and sampling would be most advantageous for upgrading the class of some blocks. Moreover, the use of grade and RKSD filters can show where material near cut-off grade is poorly defined, indicating sampling target areas to improve block classification in the vicinity of the ore-waste boundary.

Jan 1, 1998

The paper will cover the basic reasons for alkaline leaching, a brief description of the circuit and the reasons for the flowsheet used. Changes made to the flowsheet, including the use of mechanical agitation of pachuca slurry, the use of oxygen and its effect on extraction, the use of lime and its effect on process economy, and the environment, will be described. A brief description of a unique semi-autogenous mill and future circuit changes will be included.

Jan 1, 1979

By M. Boher, J. Lehmann, M. C. Kaerlé

"In the production of high quality steel, the understanding of the interactions between liquid steel and refractories and of their effect on steel purity and cleanness are becoming more and more important.An experimental study has been per-formed in order to estimate the importance of the reaction between a MgO-based tundish refractory and an Al-killed steel. The results show a pollution of the liquid steel:•the silicon content of the liquid steel increases due to the reduction of the silica of the refractory by the aluminum contained in the steel; and•a reoxidation of the steel occurs and the formation of an oxide layer on the refracto-ry, mainly composed of spinel crystals and of Ca-aluminates is observed.The transfer mechanisms of the various elements are analyzed."

Jan 1, 1997

By R. Sharon, P. M. Hawley, X. Ochoa

"Development of Barrick Gold’s Pierina gold mine in north-central Peru requires construction of a waste dump for disposal of nonore grade materials stripped from the open pit to expose the ore. The waste dump site is located near the open pit in a U-shaped valley that is underlain by thin colluvial and morainal soils with locally thick peats and glaciolacustrine deposits. Bedrock underlying the site consists of variably weathered volcanics. The site is subject to moderately high seasonal rainfall and significant seismicity. The geotechnical quality of the waste rock is highly variable, ranging from low-quality, degradable, soil-like materials containing appreciable quantities of silt and clay, to high-quality, hard, durable, blocky waste rock.A hybrid dump design concept was developed that requires in-pit segregation of highand low-quality waste, and selective placement of materials in the dump to maximize stability and enhance internal and subsurface drainage. The design includes a rock drain beneath the dump along the axis of the valley and a series of connected finger drains. Extensive peripheral diversions and stormwater control measures to inhibit infiltration of precipitation are also included.This paper discusses the unique challenges presented by the site and waste materials, the design methodology and stability analyses, and planned monitoring systems."

Jan 1, 2003

By E. Vesely, A. Saxena

"SAG mill liners are designed for protecting the mill shell and providing lifting power for ore charge and grinding media. Due to the impacts from the charge and the grinding media, the liner experiences dimple, plastic deformation, strain hardening, fatigue, peening and final failure. Because of the collisional environment directly measuring such dynamical loads is extremely difficult if not impossible. In this study we tried to evaluate the liner failure risk by simulating the collisions of solid particles with mill liner using Discrete Element Method (DEM). DEM simulation has been proved to be a very useful tool in evaluation of granular flow and its impacts on the solid structure. But there are certain limits in DEM coherently, such as the number of solid elements, the computer runtime, etc. Here we first present the general feature of the particle-liner collision in terms of impact force and collision energy. Then the effects of parameter selection is discussed. Our simulations show the fatal collisional event of huge impact force is very rare and the collisional events of low impact is much more frequent. The fatal event may contribute most to the liner failure. The rarity of the fatal events may be missed in a short runtime simulation. This technical challenge combined with lacking of criterion to evaluate varying impact loads in fatigue problems may further complicate the evaluation. Should we use the largest impact force alone or we should use the more frequent events is an open question and requires more effort. In order to evaluate the quality of liner design, we proposed a relative comparison method. In the end we show the implication and application of this method in liner optimization by a work example. In particular, the effects of the charge level of grinding balls and their size on the operation performance is presented.INTRODUCTION Grinding is one of the most important and expensive steps of mineral processing. A variety of grinding mills such as rod mills, ball mills, semi-autogenous (SAG) mills and autogenous (AG) mills are being utilized for comminution of mineral ores (Gupta & Yan, 2016). Up to today, SAG mills and AG mills have been widely used to reduce operation costs and increase throughput. In an AG mill, a rotating drum throws larger rocks of ore in a cascading motion which causes impact breakage of larger rocks and compressive grinding of finer particles. Unlike AG mills, SAG mills use steel grinding balls to break ores of size quite small such that they cannot be easily broken in AG mill. SAG mill liners are designed for protecting the mill shell and providing lifting power for ore charge and grinding media. Due to the impacts from the charge and the grinding media, the liner experiences dimple, plastic deformation, strain hardening, fatigue, peening and final failure. Quality and performance of SAG mill liners play a fundamental role to enhance efficiency of grinding mills, because failure of liners is the major cause for unexpected breakdown (Banisi, Hadizadeh, Mahmoudabadi, & Eilkhany, 2006)."

Jan 1, 2019

By Carol A. Pilon

"IntroductionRECENTLY, the Saskatchewan Research Council (Saskatoon ) marked the completion of one of its coal-related projects with the publication of the Bibliography and Index of Coal in Saskatchewan and Adjoining Provinces and States, hereafter referred to as the Bibliography and Index of Coal. Over a two-year time period, literature was surveyed and indexed and bibliographic data were compiled using a computer-assisted information retrieval system called FAMULUS. The final publication contains 1150 bibliographic references, which are cross-referenced by six indices.The project was initiated in September 1974, in support of Saskatchewan's Coal Resources Evaluation Program , an ongoing research program sponsored by the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources (Ottawa) and the Province of Saskatchewan. This program places emphasis on such areas of concern as the occurrence of deposits, chemical and physical properties, calculation of reserves and computer-assisted applications for the evaluation of lignite resources in the Province. Attention is also given to aspects of geophysical exploration, mining conditions and economics, by-products and the transporting of lignite. These are the subject areas .covered by the Bibliography and Index of Coal.The over -all objectives of the literature indexing project may be enumerated as follows: (1) to build a specialized resource library by surveying established public and specialized libraries, and commercial data bases; (2) to enter library data into the FAMULUS information retrieval system, to be used to generate bibliographies and indexes, and to retrieve information by the use of specified searching techniques; (3) to make this library data available to interested persons."

Jan 1, 1977

By J. L. Dion

"A study of the techniques to integrally cast copper tubes in copper tuyeres for use in blast furnaces has been carried out. The work has been performed in support of current efforts to produce two-compartment tuyeres having improved water-cooling capacity. A test pattern corresponding to a vertical section of a two-compartment tuyere, and including a cast-in-place copper tube, was used to investigate such variables as tube preparation, tube coolant, pouring temperature, pouring rate and gating design. Successful castings, either with a good metalfurgical bond or good intimate contact between the tube and the casting, were produced, with all combinations of gating system and position of the tube tried. However, the pouring temperature, the pouring rate and the effectiveness of the coolant are interrelated and must be controlled to produce a good metallurgical bond.IntroductionAs part of its contribution to, and in collaboration with, the Copper Casting for the Steel Industry Committee, CANMET has undertaken research into the methods and techniques needed for the integral casting of copper tubes into high-conductivity copper castings.The objective was to produce two-compartment copper blast furnace tuyeres in which the water-cooled nose compartment consists of a copper tube metallurgically bonded to the wall of the high-conductivity copper casting. This design, developed in the UK, has demonstrated a much extended service life with attendant economies; unscheduled shutdown of blast furnaces due to tuyere failure is a significant problem in the steel industry. The Canadian steel industry believes that this design will replace the currently used single-compartment tuyere in blast furnaces within a few years.The technology to produce these tuyeres does not exist in Canada. One of the main features is the inclusion of a smooth-walled cooling channel in the nose, which permits high velocity cooling water to be employed. A second compartment acts as a reservoir backup, should failure in the nose occur. This would allow continued use of the tuyere for a period of time, permitting a scheduled shutdown for repair s. To assist the Canadian producers of tuyeres to maintain their market, and the Canadian steel industry to have a reliable domestic supply, it is important that the necessary technology for the production of two-compartment tuyeres be developed and transferred to industry."

Jan 1, 1982

By A. K. Debnath

Coal is the mainstay of Indian energy supplies. The many-fold increase in demand for coal puts a huge pressure on augmenting production, primarily from opencast mines. The increase in production necessitates heavy blasting in overburden and coal benches of opencast mines, which poses numerous challenges in carrying out blasting operations techno-economically. Presently, the consumption of industrial explosives and accessories in Coal India Limited (CIL) has touched a whopping figure of $350 million USD per annum and CIL will be spending approximately $1 billion USD between 2012?2013 to 2014?2015 for procuring explosives and accessories. This paper discusses some of key challenges faced in various mines of CIL during blasting, where blast instrumentation at the mine level will prove to a harbinger for practicing blasting engineers. Presently, the problem of scattering in surface detonators and down-the-hole detonators affects the blast performance significantly by increased blast induced ground vibration and reduced fragmentation. The paper discusses a case study carried out at Umrer opencast project of CIL to investigate the effect of scattering by using blast simulation techniques (i.e., JKSimblast) and observing the actual blast results with the help of a high-speed camera and multi-channel high frequency data acquisition systems. The fragmentation assessment was carried out by adopting Digital Image Analysis techniques and using the granularity software viz. Wipfrag. The blast instrumentation in the case study mine resulted in improvement in fragmentation of 12.76% and a direct savings in explosives cost of 28%. Geophysical techniques such as the seismic survey method have been used at Umrer Project, CIL to characterize the rock mass using the Multi Channel Analysis of Surface Waves system for selecting the explosives technoeconomically. The minimum deck thickness for mines of CIL using drill cuttings as decking materials should be 10 D, where D is the drill diameter. The estimation of blast performance on the basis of prescribed Powder Factor (i.e., kg of explosives per m3 of rock) is technically unscientific as the criterion of a good blast depends on many factors (i.e., good heave, loose muck, muck profile angle, ease of digging, uniform fragmentation). The present paper proposes a new methodology for techno-economic evaluation of blast performance. The new methodology involves four significant factors viz. specific energy consumed by the loading equipment, charge factor, productive yield and diggability index for assessing blast performance. The use of user-friendly, accurate, reliable, rugged and handy instruments in blasting will significantly improve mine productivity, equipment efficiency and economics. The improvement in blast performance, even by 1%, will provide a significant savings of $3.5 million USD per annum to CIL. It may be concluded with high degree of confidence that blast instrumentation at the mine level will influence the mine productivity and economics.

Aug 1, 2013