Search Documents

By Rolf A. Knopp

This paper discusses how design differences in FLP diesel equipment in underground coal mines came about. "Design standards" tend to create differences between countries while fostering uniformity among products of competing manufacturers. "Performance requirements," on the other hand, tend to eliminate differences between countries while encouraging competitive development of better products. Examples of regulations from the U.S., Canada. Great Britain. Australia. South Africa, etc., are used to illustrate differences in the design and certification of diesel equipment for underground coal mines.

Jan 1, 1978

By D. Vanin

"Conventional single heading track drifting in the hard rock mining industry has not shown any significant improvements in advance rates, despite the advent of modern track jumbos and igh speed muck handling systems .This paper presents Kiena 's experience in using a 7 ft 2 in. diameter larva Mark 6 Tunnel-Boring Machine (TBM) for driving 6000ft of drift.IntroductionKiena Gold Mines is located about 5 miles west of the town of Val d'Or, Quebec, approximately 300 miles north of Montreal. The mine commenced production in October 1981 and has gone through various expansions of ore production with 287 916 metric tonnes in 1982 to reach 453 800 metric tonnes in 1986.Due to the majority of claims being covered by a lake, a grassroots exploration drive of remote areas of the property was required to allow diamond drilling on a yearly basis. High speed sequential excavation methods (SEM) of single heading drifting in the mining industry has not progressed much in the past 20 years despite the advent of electric-hydraulic jumbos, Haggloader and Hagglund type cars. Certain examples of record SEM drifting advances have been performed in the past but only under very specific ground and cost conditions."

Jan 1, 1987

By The Hollinger Mill Staff

ALTHOUGH cylindrical grinding mills have long been used, there is wide divergence of opinion as to what constitute best operating conditions. Questions such as mill diameter, diameter-length ratio, revolutions per minute, type and size of grinding media, volume of charge, circulating load, pulp level, pulp consistency, liner design, and size of feed, have all been given serious consideration by competent scientific investigators as well as by operators. While many laboratory and plant tests have been made that would seem to justify certain definite conclusions, there is a dearth of definite data giving actual results obtained when a grinding mill working between fixed limits is operated at its maximum capacity under varying conditions as to ball load, circulating load, speed, etc. In tests conducted recently at the Hollinger, extending over a period of thirteen months, to determine the best operating conditions for a ball-mill 6 ft. 6 in. diameter inside the liners, some very interesting facts have been ascertained. This paper is presented in the desire to make public the results of these tests and not with the idea that the last word has been spoken in regard to grinding. We feel, however, that these facts justify certain definite conclusions and hope that, by the fullest and frankest criticism and discussion, the essentials necessary for the correct design and operation of grinding mills will become better known.

Jan 1, 1937

By K. H. Concannon, K. I. Hindle

"The use of simulation modeling in the primary metals industry (including mining, smelting, and metals processing) is expanding as significant cost-benefits can be realized by companies employing capital intensive processes. The economic scale and complexity of operations found in this industry is well-suited to applications using this ""what-if' computer modeling technique, ranging from proof-of-concept projects to testing facility design or configuration, and determining resource requirements. More recently this technique is being used to support on-going planning and scheduling for operations using the simulation as the engine to derive the best schedule. With increased computer processing capability, deterministic models are now being developed to capture the workings of a production system or conversion process, allowing real-time monitoring and scheduling of these operations. This paper presents a sample of some recent discrete-event simulation modeling applications that demonstrate the capability and benefits of this technique in the primary metals industry. These include the use of simulation to support the long-range planning of underground mining operations; the modeling of a metals supply chain network that employs a multi-modal distribution system; the scheduling of a metals coil finishing process using a deterministic simulation model; and a more detailed description of the use of simulation to model furnace and converter aisle activities within a smelter operation in Northern Canada."

Jan 1, 2007

By Jerry Ran

Many large underground mines using the open stoping method have changed their primary applications of consolidated rock fill (CRF) to paste or consolidated hydraulic fill due to considerations of demand in infrastructure and equipment, system reliability, backfill capacity and material sources. However, some smaller or even large mines still use or consider using CRF for backfill purpose due to factors such as capital expenditure, availability or suitability of other fill types or in some cases local regulatory requirements. As demands on CRF applications diminish among major mining companies, there is a lack of recent literature on application of CRF to open stoping in design and operation. There are several methods being used for fill strength design. Results from these methods have been successfully applied to paste or hydraulic fill. However, the design strength for CRF is much higher than that determined by use of these widely accepted methods. In operation, CRF preparation and placement have significant impacts on the quality of placed CRF and therefore the mining performance. This paper reviews the current fill design methods and their applications to open stoping with presentation of the bench marking data, presents fill failure cases and various CRF preparation and placement arrangements and discusses quality assurance and control programs.

Jun 1, 2012

By A. G. Roach

HISTORY AND LOCATION SEAL HARBOR GOLD MINES, LIMITED, was incorporated in January, 1934, to take over 116 acres of mining lands in the Stormont gold district, Guysboro county, Nova Scotia. The nearby ten-stamp Mulgrave mill was also purchased, and since that time 974 acres of adjoining properties have been secured from the Government by direct lease. The property is served by a motor road and is about two miles from the village of Goldboro, situated on the shore of Isaac's harbour. The bulk of ?the supplies are brought in by coastal steamer from Halifax, a distance of about 100 miles, since the nearest railway connections are at Antigonish, some 40 miles distant. EARLYY WORK The Seal Harbor properties include the old Partington and Beaver Hat mines. A small tonnage of ore was mined from each and treated on the properties in stamp mills, which were later torn. down . A survey of old records shows that this ore averaged about $8.00 gold per ton. Development work by the present Company was confined to the 100-foot level until February, 1935, but after that rime the incline shaft was deepened to 425 feet and the 300-foot level was explored east and west of the shaft. Six belts of ore were intersected to the west of the shaft. The ore from these belts was hand sorted and the ore portion was put through the 10-stamp Mulgrave mill to defray operating expenses and to serve as a sample of the deposits. The average recovery per ton from this sorted ore was $6.10. Samples of the ore were sent to the testing laboratories of the Mines Branch, at Ottawa, and of Canadian Industries, Limited, at Toronto. Recommendations from both of these authorities were for removal of the coarse gold by concentration and barrel amalgamation, followed by cyanidation of the residue.

Jan 1, 1937

By J. A. Cox, R. S. Mattson

"One of the main problems encountered in employing sublevel caving is the inherent high dilution factor. The operating results at Granduc illustrate that this dilution can be closely controlled and satisfactory recoveries achieved, in base metal ores grading less than 2.0% copper equivalent, by using an assay grade control system based on the fundamental draw characteristics. The history of draw control procedures employed since the start of operations provides an effective comparison between this system and one based mainly on tonnage. The transverse and longitudinal sublevel caving mining methods are described and it is shown how improvements in design layout, operating practice and draw control in narrow complex ore zones (12-foot minimum width) have raised the operating performance of the longitudinal system to a satisfactory level."

Jan 1, 1973

By M. Kozlowski, I. Candy, S. Kashani-Nejad

The production of ferronickel and matte from nickel laterite ores is dominated by the Rotary Kiln, Electric Furnace (RKEF) process. Over time, major improvements have been made to kiln operation. In particular, kilns are now required to perform substantial amounts of reduction of the metallic oxides, thereby reducing the load on the electric furnace and substituting less expensive fossil fuel for electrical energy. To the basic refractory lined cylinder have been added: internal features such as dams and lifters, aimed at changing residence times in different sections of the kiln and enhancing gas/solids interaction, on-board fans to introduce tertiary air and on-board scoop mechanisms to allow reductant coal additions to be made at advantageous locations along the kiln. Many of these advances in design have been made on a trial and error basis and by 'borrowing' technology from related kiln processes, supplemented by proprietary modeling to various levels of sophistication. This paper presents a conceptual review of modeling components for the development of a computational model for granular material flow, combustion and heat and mass transfer in a nickel laterite kiln. These components include: granular material flow and segregation models for the simulation of bed motion, heat transfer models that simulate heat transfer by turbulent diffusion and radiation and the distribution of this thermal energy within the bed, and fluid flow models for the prediction of combustion aerodynamics.

Jan 1, 2005

By G. P. Gormley

"Future open pit metallurgical coal mines in western Canada will be developed in complex geological environments. The success of these operations will be influenced by the mine operators' ability to prepare accurate mine plans and to predict and, subsequently, 10 control both out-of-seam dilution and coal recovery. Quintette Coal Limited has been mining its tightly folded and severely faulted Mesa depo sit at annual rates of up to 9 Mt of raw coal, since October 1982. Ongoing development drilling combined with continuous utilization of blast hole information, has been required to achieve an acceptable geological data base for short range mine planning. Thrust faulting has been a primary geological cause of difficulty in selectively mining waste and coal, which has resulted in higher than expected dilution in plant feed. The same geological phenomenon has also increased reserves by 6.3% and allowed for expanded mine plans to include a lower thrust plate, ultimately doubling the mines original reserve base. This paper illustrates the geology of the Mesa deposit and the type of work involved in its interpretation. Regional GeologyThe Quintette Coal Limited (QCL) property is located in the Peace River Coal Field of northeastern British Columbia. In this area, northwesterly-trending folds of the Rocky Mountain foothills are commonly cut by multiple, low-angle thrust faults, which dip to the southwest. The Lower Cretaceous Gates Formation, of near shore continental origin, contains 5 to 7 mineable seams of medium volatile bituminous metallurgical coal (Figs. I and 2). These seams normally range in thickness between 0.75 m and 9.5 m and have an aggregate thickness of between 15 m and 22 m."

Jan 1, 1988

By M. M. O?Brien

THE SULLIVAN MINE The Sullivan mine of the Consolidated Mining and ? Smelting Company of Canada, Limited, is situated at Kimberley, B.C., nineteen miles from Cranbrook, a divisional point on the Crowsnest Pass branch of the Canadian Pacific railway. Production started on a small scale in 1900, and in 1914 the mine became the largest lead producer in Canada. In 1925 it was the largest single producer of lead and zinc in the world. Since operations commenced, 4,800,000 tons of ore have been produced from stopes and 170,000 tons from development. At the present time, ore is being mined at the rate of 1,100,000 tons per year, with a yield of about 200,000 lb. lead, 110,000 lb. zinc, and 4,000,000 oz. silver. The town of Kimberley is easily accessible by road as well as by rail. The altitude at Mark creek, a tributary of the St. Mary's river, is 3,700 feet. To th'e north of the creek, Sullivan hill rises to a height of 6,100 feet, and it is on the southern slope of this hill that the mine is located. Sullivan hill is in the Purcell range, which rises between the Rocky Mountain trench on the east and Kootenay lake on the west. It thus lies within what is commonly referred to as the East Kootenay district.

Jan 1, 1926

By A. K. Ratte, C. M. Brown

"IntroductionIn autogenous mills, grinding of the ore feed is accomplished by the direct action of the variously sized rocks making up the feed on each other and the mill interior. Size reduction is achieved without the addition of grinding media foreign to the mill feed, differing in this respect from rod, ball, and pebble milling. The term ""semi-autogenous"" has entered common usage in the industry to describe autogenous mills to which supplementary grinding ball additions are made to increase the rate at which size reduction of the mill feed occurs, beyond that achieved solely by the action of rock on rock. In a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill, 50Jo to 10% of the mill volume may be occupied by grinding balls, whereas a range of 25% to 45% is more usual in ball milling.The comminution of mineral ores using ""conventional"" techniques has been described in previous papers. In conventional operations, size reduction of mined ore, and liberation of the valuable mineral content, is typically accomplished using flowsheets employing two to four stages of crushing. Crushing is followed by one to three stages of grinding and classification using various combinations of rod, ball, and pebble mills. This paper describes operations employing autogenous or semiautogenous grinding as the principal stage in the comminution process. Primary crusher discharge, or in some instances run of mine ore, is fed directly to an autogenous or semi-autogenous grinding circuit. Final product sizing may be accomplished in a single grinding stage, the mills operating in closed circuit with classification equipment, or in several stages using autogenous and semi-autogenous mills for primary grinding, and ball or pebble mills for secondary grinding. In several operations a portion of the primary mill discharge is crushed in an intermediate comminution step, these circuits being called autogenousball- crusher circuits (ABC). Many different flowsheets exist, but common and important to most are crushed ore stockpiles, reclaim feeder and mill feed conveyor systems, pumps, screens, and classifiers. Autogenous grinding is employed in both wet and dry processes, although today wet predominate."

Jan 1, 1989

By A. Romero, M. Carvalho, D. L. Millar

"The number of underground mines replacing diesel by battery powered mobile equipment is growing worldwide. The latter produces locally zero emissions and less heat, improving air quality in the working areas, and can potentially reduce energy costs due to lower ventilation requirements and in the face of higher fuel prices. However, there is a lack of systematic approaches to evaluate the potential economic benefit of switching from diesel mobile technologies to electric ones. This paper presents a method to answer the question of whether a mine with known operating conditions should invest in battery-powered electric equipment to reduce its total costs. Furthermore, this method provides the optimal number of electric and diesel equipment in relationship with their impact on the ventilation system and the total costs of running the mine from the energy perspective. A case study of an underground mine in Northern Ontario (Canada) is presented to validate the method proposed. The scenarios studied include the specific climatic conditions of the region, and the possibility to use heat recovery for the ventilation system. Overall, results show that the use of electric mobile plants is cost competitive, especially so when electricity cost can be lowered through load-shedding strategies.INTRODUCTIONOf the multiple advantages of using electrical vehicles (EV) underground in mining, the potential increase in air quality and comfort is the most significant (Paraszczak, Svedlund, Fytas, and Laflamme, 2014). Until recently, fully battery-powered electrical underground heavy duty machinery (i.e., loaders or trucks) were not available, so that tethered and trolley assisted vehicles were the only electric alternatives to diesel powered vehicles (Bétournay et al., 2011). Today, several commercial battery-based alternatives are available (General Electric Fairchild, 2015; RDH Mining Equipment, 2015; Paraszczak et al., 2014). Operational details can be found in Ewing (2015). The main battery technology used (Lithium Iron Phosphate, LiFePO4, or LFP) was already anticipated in Bétournay et al. (2011) as a good candidate for these types of vehicles. More details on these batteries, along with state of the art and future perspectives can be found in Zubi, Dufo-López, Carvalho, and Pasaoglu, (2018)."

Jan 1, 2019

By A. H. Harvey, M. Delangen, A. D. Fernie

"A large-scale expansion to Pacific Coast Bulk Terminals Ltd. has now been completed and placed in operation. The original plant, built approximately eight years ago, consists of the direct rail-car to ship transfer of bulk commodities. The extension includes additional rail-car unloading, a transfer house system for directing commodities to storage or ship, major storage and reclaim facilities, a second shiploader and a second deep-sea berth. In addition to the facilities for overseas shipments, a wood-chip loader and a barge berth have been installed for domestic shipments of wood chips and, occasionally, for other local commodities. The design considerations imposed by the nature of the products to be handled are covered in this paper."

Jan 1, 1969

By J. G. A. Stevenson

GENERAL Location of Property THE Stirling zinc-lead-copper deposit is in Richmond county, Cape Breton, about a quarter of a mile southwest from Stirling P.O., and some 45 miles southwest from Sydney. The property is accessible by road for at least nine months of the year, and during the navigation period coastal boats maintain a service touching at the port of Fourchu, eleven miles from the mine. When flying conditions permit, the Cape Breton Flying Club, of Sydney, will carry passengers to or from the property, a service which has been particularly advantageous on two occasions when hospitalization was urgently required. The Company has mining rights on leases Nos. 73-74, 78-80, and 101-104, inclusive, and owns 166 acres at Stirling and one acre at Fourchu. The ore deposit is in lease No. 73. History The Stirling deposit was discovered in the 'nineties', probably about 1895. The original discovery is said to have been made in the bed of Copper creek, which traverses the ore-zone. For a number of years, indifferent development work was carried on with a view to copper production only, and it was not until1915-16 that attention was directed to the possible production of zinc. Previously, the ore had been considered too complex for metallurgical treatment. During the period 1916-24 several operators attempted to develop the property, among them being the Stirling Exploration Company, Stirling Mining & Smelting Company, New Jersey Zinc Company of New York, Hayden & Stone Company of Boston, and The Eastern Mining & Milling Company. Up to 1924, the work was limited mainly to trenching, stripping, ? diamond drilling, and shot drilling.

Jan 1, 1937

By Shigeru Sarata

A wheel loader is one of the main loading machines in open pit mines. The authors have been conducting research and development on autonomous operation of loading by a wheel loader. The most common loading method by a wheel loader is the ?V shape? path method. The loading operation consists of cycles of scooping from the pile, traveling to the dump truck, loading on the dump truck and return traveling to the scooping point for the next cycle. The traveling path includes a switchback in the middle of the path. The moving direction of the loader is changed at the switchback point. From observation of V shape path loading operations by experienced human operators, it seems that they control the bucket position between the scooping point and loading point on a shorter path for higher productivity. A new path planning method is proposed this paper, whereby a point on the center of the tip of the bucket is controlled moving from the initial point and the final point. The motion of the controlled point is generated by the wheel steering the wheel loader. The controlled point is moved along the direction to the final point; however, the motion and mechanism of wheel loader have restrictions, such as the velocity of the loader, the steering angle, and the steering angular velocity. Because of these restrictions, the path of the controlled point is not a straight line between the initial and final points. When this control method is applied between the scooping and the dumping points directly, the planned path is not stable in the leaving wing of V shape path. Therefore, the initial position of the wheel loader is set at the switchback point, then two approach wings to the scooping and the dumping points are made. The whole planned path is obtained by connecting the two paths. The shape of the planned path is strongly affected by the position of the switchback point, as well as the scooping and the dumping points. By simulation of path planning at different switchback points with the combination of the scooping and the dumping points, the paths for more effective loading are determined. The results of the simulation are presented in the paper.

Aug 1, 2013

By E. H. Mulligan

THE ERRINGTON B-I mine is located on the Errington orebody of Steep Rock Iron Mines, Limited, at Steep Rock Lake, Ontario. In 1946, this orebody entered the shipping lists of the Lake Superior iron ranges as an open-pit operation. During the period 1946 through 1953, the mine produced a total of 9,000,000 tons of iron ?ore. In 1950, as the mine approached the economic limits for open-pit operations, ground was broken for an underground development to exploit the deposit at depth. The mine is designed for an ultimate production of 1,500,000 tons per year by the block-caving system of mining. The initial shaft is 1,200 feet deep and will produce or-e from the 700 and the 900 levels. The 1,100 level will be used as a drainage level and as a haulageway for waste rock, which is hoisted to surface by skip. Ore from the two production levels moves by a system of ?ore passes to a crushing plant located below the 900 horizon and is hoisted from this point to surface by conveyor belt. At the present time, all material handling on the levels is by tramming, but as tram distances increase conveyor haulage will probably be installed. The initial stage of the Errington B-1 development is expected to produce 6,000,000 tons of ore over a period of four years. The second stage will require deepening of the shaft and development of lowe1? production levels. The conveyor hoisting plant will be extended to serve these new levels. We visualize the mining of this orebcdy down to 2,500 feet by these methods.

Jan 1, 1956

By J. Wong, M. G. Lipsett, L. K. Daneshmend

"Current trends of increased size, complexity, and automation of surface mining equipment necessitate more comprehensive and objective techniques for equipment comparison and selection. The field of reliability analysis provides tools to generate quantitative bases for maintenance and reliability aspects of such comparisons. Results from statistical analyses of failure and repair time data are used to perform the comparison. A case study is presented which analyzes five machines of two different technologies and three different designs.IntroductionThe surface mining industry is currently faced with a rapid evolution in production equipment. The more obvious trend in this evolution is the steady introduction of even larger machines. Parallel, and complementary, to this increase in size is the introduction or adaptation of new technologies. Together, these two trends result in new surface mining equipment designs; these designs are often more complex and may feature technologies that have yet to be proven for the application or at the scale they are now fielded.The prospect of significant automation of open pit equipment is also bound to add complexity to future equipment designs. Semi-automated features, such as drilling controllers (Aquila, 2000), have already been commercialized. Fully autonomous haul trucks have been demonstrated in open pit mines (Jackson and Zoschke, 2000). Design concepts for comprehensive teleoperation of open pit operations have been formulated (Lipsett, 1998).With this rapid availability and deployment of new technology and equipment, managers and maintainers are faced with a multitude of decisions regarding what equipment to acquire and what maintenance strategies to implement. In light of this evolution in mining equipment, it is necessary to develop better methods for making equipment management decisions (Dessureault et al., 1999; Paraszczak, 1999). The incentive for development of such techniques is that a large portion of an open pit mine’s operating cost is maintenance related, as shown in Table 1."

Jan 1, 2000

By P. V. Golde, R. A. Poole, G. R. Baiden

"INCO is committed to proceed into the next century using automation and robotics to achieve safety and productivity goals necessary to enhance its competitive position. Stobie Mine, decades old, is the first of its mines to change from labour-intensive to automationassisted techniques. This paper is a synopsis of the progress made during the transition period including overviews of some of the projects as well as some of the difficulties in the assimilation of the technology. BackgroundThe ObjectiveThis paper is an update on remote control and LHD automation installation at Stobie mine. The communications system installed at the mine and the ability to remotely control underground equipment from surface is reviewed (Poole et al., 1996, 1997). It discusses some of the experiences and processes required to further the concept to consolidate the operation of multiple machines under a single operator. It considers the communications systems requirements and their focuses, particularly on the development of systems for the tele-operation of LHDs and drilling machines from surface."

Jan 1, 1998

By D. M. Morrison

"The most important factor in Canadian mining is not the operating cost of current projects but the availability of capital for future projects. The future of mining at depth will be producing ore from the top of the orebody working downward with very effective, tightly controlled mining methods, i.e. either selective mining or bulk mining with well controlled dilution and fragmentation. The key characteristics of future mines will be smaller access excavations, more effective ground support, very precise blasting techniques and more efficient and reliable materials handling systems. Equipment will be smaller and designed for high efficiency and low maintenance, reducing both the capital and operating cost. This means there will be fewer scoops, more continuous mucking machines and conveyor belts, both lateral and vertical.Orepass failures have become accepted and the resultant redevelopment and retramming has become common. The capital investment in so-called permanent ore passes and crusher stations becomes questionable, particularly when crushers are only necessary for less than 10% of the ore going through the system. The best way to solve the chronic instability of ore passes is, as with all of the stability problems at depth, by reducing the excavation size rather than increasing ground support. Smaller access drifts would reduce the capital cost and increase the rate of development as well as reduce the amount of waste to be handled, reducing the ground support and the ventilation requirements. Large drifts and ore passes are essential only for the equipment needed to handle large pieces of ore and the productivity of scoops is very expensive when the requirements for ventilation and large access drifts are taken into account. The key issue is the fragmentation generated by primary blasting.The future of mining in Canada will depend on simple and robust technology geared to the environment in which it will have to operate. Its survival will depend on some-thing much more fundamental and difficult to accomplish than a technological advance — it will require a dramatic change in the way the mining process is managed, how work is organized, how effort is rewarded and how costs are measured — a complete change in mind-set."

Jan 1, 1996

By Ian L. Price

Description of the Springhill Coal Field The Springhill coal basin, which lies in the approximate centre of Cumberland county, Nova Scotia, is of Carboniferous age, and forms a syncline plunging to the westward at an angle of 32° at the outcrop but gradually flattening to the dip. It contains several workable seams of varying thicknesses, a generalized section of the measures in descending order from the surface being: [] The 1,114 feet of strata is composed of shales and sandstones, and all of the coal seams mentioned, with the exception of No. 4 and No. 5, have been mined commercially. The coal is said to be the best steam and domestic coal in the Province of Nova Scotia.

Jan 1, 1946