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By A. Swanson

The Australian coal industry has been subdued in recent years and only a few new plants have been constructed, but the drive for greater efficiency has seen continued technological developments. The paper lists the new plants and major upgrades, plus summarizes technical developments in the areas of dense medium processing, fine coal treatment, froth flotation, dewatering and on-line analysers.

Jan 1, 2001

Termination of membership In accordance with By-Law 7.6.1. of the Constitution of the Institute, the names of the undermentioned members have been removed from the membership register. Colloquium and General Meeting A General Meeting and Colloquium on 'Heavy-medium separation and ore sorting' was held on 18th September, 1974, at 09h15, in Kelvin House, Johannesburg.

Jan 12, 1975

By C. A. Preece

Finsch Diamond Mine, part of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM), is situated between Kimberley and Postmasburg in the Northern Cape, South Africa. The kimberlite pipe was discovered in 1960 and De Beers assumed full mining rights three years later. Production commenced in 1966 from an opencast mine, and the operation moved underground in 1990 by developing and implementing a new mining method of blast hole open stoping. A mechanized block cave was brought into production in 2005. While block caving was not new to DBCM, with productive caves having operated in Kimberley and Cullinan, from the outset, the Finsch caving operation was designed as the most advanced with a semi-automated ground handling system. The extraction level was laid out as a single sided herringbone system due to the very poor ground conditions on the south side of the pipe. These factors combined to create a unique environment, which necessitated a completely new approach to draw control. The required system was developed by a team consisting of DBCM personnel from head office and Finsch, GEMCOM and Sandvik-Tamrock, the equipment manufacturers. It was essential that the system could be run quickly, provide daily updates and issue calls directly to the LHDs. It was also important that the base data were obtained from the resource model, which was to be depleted on a monthly basis, thus forming a close link between mine planning and draw control. A further requirement of the system was that it would form a central database for the extraction operation where all data pertaining to delays and changes in conditions, be they production or ground condition related, could be recorded and analysed. The design brought together empirical rules and tables developed at Cullinan plus concepts from programming developed for the front cave at Koffiefontein so that the new system was based on sound practical experience. These facets were incorporated into PCBC (GEMCOM) and CMS and PCS (Sandvik-Tamrock programmes). The system has now been operational for just under a year and while modifications have had to be made, it has proved itself as a practical and reliable tool with which to manage the draw control at Finsch. The system is unforgiving and has forced the production team to focus on the specified drawpoints. Problems have been encountered but most of these have been related to re-educating a workforce, familiar with a flexible mining method, to the strict discipline required for a modern block cave.

Jan 1, 2007

1. Book reviews Quantitative texture analysis, edited by H. ,}. Bunge and C. Esling. Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Metallkunde, 1982. 551 pp. Reviewer: L. 1\'1.Matthews Boundary element methods in solid mechanics by S. L. Crouch and A. M. Starfield. Reviewer: J. A. C. Diering World mineral statistics 1976-1980. Produdion,' exports,' imports, by Institute of Geological Sciences. London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1983. £18.00 Reviewer: R. P. King 2. New publications Canadian mines,. perspective from 1982. Mineral Bulletin MR 197. Supply and Services Canada, Hull, Quebec K1A 059, Canada. Copper' s changing cost structure, by Commodities Research Unit Ltd (31 Mount Pleasant, London, WClX OAD, England). Petrology of metamorphic rocks, by M. Suk. New York, Elsevier, 1983. 320 pp. U.S. $68.00. Applied geomorphology, by H. Th. Verstappen. New York, Elsevier, 1983.442 pp. U.S.$95.75. Tin and its uses, no. 137, by the International Tin Research Institute. Greenford, the Institute (Fraser Road, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 7AQ, England), 1983. 3. New journals Mining Science and Technology, edited by C. 0, Brawner and B. N. Whittaker, is to be published quarterly in one volume per year by Elsevier. Aluminium, published monthly by Aluminium -Verlag GmbH, P.O. Box 1207, D-4oo0 Diisseldorf 1, F.R. Germany. DM 690.00 per annum. Rock mechanics The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy is to hold two schools on 'Rock Mechanics in Mine Management' at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, from 23rd to 27th January, 1984, and from 30th January to 3rd February, 1984. The Federation of Societies of Professional Engineers The Federation of Societies of Professional Engineers (FSPE) has been a member of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (W FEO) for many years and has regularly sent delegates to the biennial conference of that organisation. Second progress report by ASRET The Professional Engineers Joint Council was estabislhed in 1960 and initially its main fWlction was to represent the interests of engineers. Explosives technology The Center for Explosives Technology Research (CETR) has been established at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Tech) in Socorro, New Mexico. International Tunnelling Association A conference entitled 'Ita Tunnels 1984' will be held in Caracas, Venezuela, from 2nd to 7th June, 1984. Automation The IFAC Symposium on Automation for Mineral Resource Development is to he held in Brisbane (Australia) from 9th to nth July, 1985.

Jan 1, 1983

By J. Levin

Bond's Standard Work Index (SWi) indicates the grindability of an ore, and his Operating Work Index (OWI) indicates the performance of a grinding mil or circuit. The comparison of the two indices offers a measure of the efficiency of the grinding operation. Mil (or circuit) performance, particularly on the Witwatersrand, is often indicated by the index kilowatt -hours per tonne of minus 75 µm material produced (kWh/t minus 75µm or OE75)' The paper shows that a standard kWh/t minus 75 µm index (SE75) can be obtained from the standard Bond grindability test (which provides the SWi), and asks whether the two E75 indices can be used in the various ways in which the two Work Indices are used. For the answer, the paper presents averaged values for the standard grindability indices of the gold ores of the Witwatersrand, averaged values for the performance of grinding mils operating on those ores, and the results of laboratory grinding tests on a composite of several Witwatersrand ores. The particle-size indicator for the calculation of the Wi indices, the am size, is constant in its relation to the largest particles present, whereas the percentage minus 75 µm, the indicator of size for the E75 index, varies with the degree of grinding in its relation to the size of the largest particles. Because of this difference, the standard Work Index increases as the grind becomes finer, whereas the standard kWh/t minus 75 µ value decreases. The Wi and E75 indices nevertheless serve similar purposes when applied to moderately fine grinding-finer than 70 per cent minus 75 µm. Open circuit laboratory grinding tests revealed three stages in the grinding process, and credible values for the open circuit Work Index were obtained only from the second stage. The conversion of the open circuit Work Indices to the equivalent of close circuit indices by the application of Bonds open circuit inefficiency factor (a constant for grinds indicated by the d80 size) was of limited success; however, the development of a conversion factor related to particle-size should not be difficult. Initially difficulty was experienced in the calculation of the 0E75 indices from the results of the laboratory tests, but it was eventually considered that a constant value of the index derived from the results would be close to the true open-circuit index. The open-circuit grinding test could there fore be a convenient method for the detection of differences in the grindability of ores.

Jan 1, 1992

By P. Otto, G. Borm, Th. Dickmann, F. Amberg, R. Giese

Based on many years experience, the well proven Swiss Tunnel Seismic Prediction System TSP has been substantially augmented for online geological prognosis in underground construction. In its latest version, the Integrated Seismic Imaging System ISIS provides high resolution seismic images of the rock mass around a tunnel face via an array of standard anchor rods. These rods contain 3D-geophones at their tips and can be readily installed during excavation work. A further innovative component of the system is the newly developed high-power repetitive source for application in hard rock: a pneumatic hammer with laser triggering to be mounted on construction machinery. A user-friendly software package permits online data acquisition and processing, 3D-visualization, and a first geological interpretation. Tomographic images of compressional and shear wave velocity fields at fault zones in metamorphic rock of the Gotthard Base Tunnel in the Central Alps are presented. Das langjährig bewährte Schweizer Tunnelseismische Vorauserkundungssystem TSP wurde inzwischen wesentlich weiterentwickelt. In seiner neuen Version, dem Integrierten Seismischen Imaging System ISIS, ermöglicht es hochauflösende seismische Abbildungen des Gebirges im Vorfeld und Umfeld einer Tunnelauffahrung mit Hilfe einer Anordnung von Felsankern, die an ihren Spitzen 3-Komponenten-Geophone enthalten. Eine weitere Neuerung von ISIS ist die pneumatische Hochleistungs-Impulsquelle mit Laser-Triggering. Eine benutzerfreundliche, interaktive Software ermöglicht die online Datenerfassung und -auswertung, 3D-Visualisierung und eine erste geologische Interpretation. Tomografische Abbildungen von Kompressions- und Scherwellengeschwindigkeitsfeldern an Störungszonen in metamorphem Gestein des Gotthard-Basistunnels werden gezeigt. Basé sur de nombreuses années d’expérience, le système suisse, bien établit, de reconnaissance sismique à l’avancement des tunnels (système TSP), a été sensiblement amélioré pour obtenir une prévision géologique en temps réel durant l’avancement de travaux souterrains. Sa dernière version, le Système Intégré d’Imagerie Sismique (ISIS), fournit des images sismiques haute-résolution du massif rocheux à l’avant d’un tunnel grâce à un réseau de tiges d’ancrage standard. Ces tiges, équipées à leur extrémité de géophones 3 composantes, s’installent très aisément durant les travaux d’excavation habituels. Le élément d’innovation récente concern le nouvelle source très répétitive et de forte puissance pour les applications aux roches dures: un marteau pneumatique déclenché par un système à laser. Un ensemble de programmes informatiques convivial permet l’acquisition et le traitement en temps réel des signaux et produit une vue 3D ainsi qu’une première interprétation géologique. Nous présenterons des images de réflexion d’ondes de compression et de cisaillement ainsi que des inversions tomographiques de zones de faille dans des terrains métamorphiques obtenues à l’occasion du creusement du tunnel de base du Gothard, dans les alpes centrales.

Jan 1, 2003

By A. N. Brown

Underground rock boring was the topic of the mining vacation school held at the University of the Witwatersrand in the week 4th to 8th February, 1980. The School, which dealt with the management and economics of the subject, attracted 75 delegates from all sectors of the South African mining industry, in addition to two delegates from Germany and one from Zambia.

Jan 1, 1980

By H. L. Monro

Al forward sales are made on the spot market, and are counter productive because they can only lower the price of gold, as one would expect from any additional supply of gold. Hedging against any further fall in the price of gold can be carried out on one of the World's Futures Exchanges in the same way as other commodities.

Jan 1, 1993

By H. M. Friede

Discussion of the above paper by A. SIFF The steely nature of the Iron Age objects mentioned in Dr Friede's paper point to two hypotheses. (1) The African iron workers were conversant with the art of direct steel manufacture. (2) They were less knowledgeable of the art of the production of carbonless iron. In this context I cannot but quote T. A. Wertime.

Jan 1, 1980

By J. Meintjes

by I. J. BARKER and A. B. STEWART J. MEINTJES I read the above paper with considerable interest. I would like to point out, however, that it is fallacious to conclude that the adverse effects of a high inductive reactance on furnace operation can be cancelled by connecting capacitors in series - or for that matter, in shunt - with the power supply.

Jan 1, 1980

By P. J. Nel, A. Täuber

SYNOPSIS A method is described whereby finely ground glassy granulated blastfurnace slag mixed with small quantities of clay, whiting and quartz has been used for making ceramic tiles in the laboratory. The tiles were semi-dry pressed and devitrification as well as sintering occurred during firing. The properties of the resulting product compared favourably in many respects with ordinary ceramic flooring materials.

By T. V. Owen

This paper describes the flotation of cassiterite from fine slimes at Rooiberg Tin Limited, and gives an of the Amdel on-line analysis system that was instaled in 1984 to aid in the control of the concentrate The system, which is easy to install and maintain, and which uses X-ray-fluorescence analysis, has improved control, and therefore a better recovery of tin.

Jan 1, 1988

By R. C. A. Minnitt, A. Akpabio

This study presents a rigorous comparison between ordinary kriging and commonly used machine learning algorithms, those being, linear regression, support vector regression, decision trees, random forests (RF), and k-nearest neighbours for spatial interpolation of platinum grade estimates in a complex ore body within the Bushveld Igneous Complex. Using only X and Y coordinates as predictors, both ordinary kriging and machine learning models were evaluated at point and block supports under traditional and spatial block cross validation frameworks. While naive validation results suggested superior performance for k-nearest neighbour and random forest (R² = 0.92 and 0.86, respectively), these were revealed to be overly optimistic under spatial dependence. Spatial block cross validation results demonstrated substantial declines in model performance, with R² often falling below zero, particularly for decision trees and k-nearest neighbour, indicating strong overfitting and limited generalisability. Ordinary kriging exhibited more stable, albeit modest, performance under spatial validation, reflecting its strength in geostatistical interpolation when contextual geological variables are unavailable. The study underscores the critical importance of spatially aware validation in resource estimation and highlights that machine learning models constrained to spatial coordinates behave as interpolators rather than true learners of geological variability. Recommendations are provided for future work incorporating geological information to enhance predictive robustness.

Mar 30, 2026

By S. Ramatsoma, D. N. C. Phillpotts, B. Whitehead

Changes in flotation performance have been correlated to changes in froth structure, velocity and stability. Literature has shown that when the aeration rate is varied for a specific float cell, the recovery of the valuable mineral reaches a peak which also coincides with a peak in the air recovery – a measure of froth stability. Peak air recovery optimisation methodology is a way to use direct readings of physical phenomena by froth cameras to optimise the metallurgical performance of a flotation plant. The aim of this paper is to show the transient nature of the peak air recovery value and the variety of conditions required to attain the peak air recovery on an industrial flotation plant with tight base-layer control of the feed and internal conditions. Industrial site tests that were conducted under controlled conditions showed different peak values at significantly different corresponding aeration rates during normal operation. The measured peak air recovery points corresponded to maximum PGM recovery during normal flotation, as expected. This dynamic nature of the peak air recovery point conditions has not previously been discussed in literature and indicates the need for online measuring equipment and informs the design of process control algorithms required to exploit the phenomenon for optimisation. Keywords: Froth flotation, flotation control, flotation optimisation, peak air recovery

Jan 1, 2020

By M. Saghaeian, R. Hejazi, L. Hosseini, M. V. Sheikhzadeh

Blaine number has long been used to evaluate the pelletising ability of iron concentrate in the industry. Much information and practical data are available about the effect of Blaine number on pelletising efficiency of different concentrate types. But not many researchers have focused on the effect of Blaine increasing method on pelletising behaviour of coarse concentrates. In this paper the effect of two different grinding methods (i.e. HPGR and Ball Mill) on physicochemical properties of coarse magnetic concentrate green and fired pellets were investigated. Microstructural studies by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) showed that the concentrate for which the Blaine number had been increased through HPGR grinding, has flake-like morphology. In contrast, increasing the Blaine number through ball mill grinding results in more granular particles. Two samples were prepared using HPGR and ball mill. The Blaine number of the HPGR product and ball mill product were 900 cm2.gr-1 and 1200 cm2.gr-1 respectively. The results revealed that pellet properties of this HPGR product are comparable to that of the ball mill product; this is due to the fact that the flake-like morphology leads to enhanced pelletising performance of coarse magnetite concentrates. Keywords: Iron pelletising, Blaine number, HPGR, ball mill, coarse particles

Jan 1, 2020

By E. M. Sacris

The semi-autogenous grinding mill is the bottleneck whenever treating hard and finely fragmented ore at Benguet Corporation's Kaline Concentrator. Low milling rates result from very high and fluctuating mill power draw. Attempts to use a mill horsepower control loop to regulate feed rate were unsuccessful because of operational upsets caused by fluctuations in feed rate on downstream operations. The objective of the computer control was to maximize tonnage throughput by stabilizing the power draw at a high but safe level without upsetting subsequent operations. The semi-autogenous mill is operated in closed circuit with a stationary screen. Instrumentation consists of a feed weightometer, a power transmitter to measure mill load, a headwater flowmeter and an ultrasonic level sensor to measure the mill discharge sump level. A 64 k-byte FOX-3 Foxboro computer processes field data from various sensors and manipulates the input control variables. These variables are the fresh feed rate and the headwater flowrate. Feed rate is controlled through a supervisor-type computer program aimed at maximizing and stabilizing power draw. The control scheme was according to how the operators responded during an operator-directed automatic control mode. Mill dilution is similarly controlled. Results achieved reflect a 3% increase in tonnage milled because of the reduction in control variability that ensued.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. N. Van der Merwe

The principal goal of the research described in the paper was to determine, by measurement of pillar scaling on pillars that have not failed, whether the pillar life prediction method developed by van der Merwe (2003) was valid as it stood or whether adjustments were necessary to the rates indirectly derived from observation of failed pillars. To this end, measurements were taken on over 350 pillars at 13sites on 6 mines. The project was done as a collaborative effort between the University of Pretoria, the Nancy School of Mines and CSIR Miningtek. During the course of the investigation, it was found that the majority of pillars display maximum scaling at mid height, that there was no clear preferential direction of pillar scaling, and that pillar corners do not scale significantly more than the mid pillar areas. The most important conclusion was that the scaling rates found by measurement agreed with the inferred rates found in the previous work. The previously developed procedure for the prediction of pillar life spans consequently requires no adjustment, although the error span is in the region of 20%. It is recommended to do further research into the effect of sealing of panels and, possible chemical changes taking place in the pillars as they age on the scaling rate.

Jan 1, 2004

By R. Flatabø, K-E. Johansen, L. Hunsbedt, P. M. Cowx, J. A. Bustnes

Eramet and Tinfos are two producers of manganese alloys in Norway, which have worked hard for several decades to improve both the internal and external environment. Furnaces producing ferro- and silico- manganese alloys generate large amounts of off-gas that contains substantial amounts of dust, heavy metals and organic by-products. The dust is separated from the gas in venturi scrubbers by washing with water. The water is cleaned and recirculated, and the surplus water coming from moisture in the raw materials, is discharged to the adjacent fjords after further treatment. Emission figures show that the discharge of suspended solids, manganese, zinc and PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) have been reduced substantially over the last three decades as a result of process improvements and installation of state of the art environmental control measures. The two plants were the first world wide to install mercury cleaning of the off-gases from the furnaces. Mercury emission reduction has exceeded 90%. Concerning other environmental issues, such as utilisation of off-gases for energy recovery and chemical purposes, both plants have achieved good results. Major effort in the environmental work has come from the plants themselves, but other players like FFF, The Norwegian Ferroalloy Producers Research Association, and SFT, The Norwegian Pollution Control Authority, have contributed to the achieved results.

Jan 1, 2007

By P. Forbes

Mining and metallurgical processing companies that have adopted the principles of good environmental management often find it difficult to carry out an environmental assessment that yields meaningful opportunities for improved performance. This topic was investigated by means of a case study of a South African Base Metal Refinery (BMR) producing primarily nickel. A process-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was carried out on the refining process, with the environmental impacts related to the production of reagents and utilities forming part of the assessment. The lifecycle inventory (LCI) was based on plant operating data spanning 31 months of production, from which a baseline environmental profile could be generated and interpreted to indicate the main sources of potential environmental impacts. Consequently, opportunities for improved environmental performance could be identified from the LCA model, which expressly related potential environ-mental liability to specific sub-processes in the assessed industrial operation. The on-site steam plant was found to be the primary source of potential environmental impacts in most of the impact categories considered. In closing, the paper discusses some of the limitations encountered in use of the LCA method. Keywords: life cycle assessment; LCA; life cycle inventory; LCI; base metal refinery; improved environmental performance; environ-mental management systems; nickel refining.

Jan 1, 2000

By H. Scott-Russell

Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my great pleasure on behalf of The South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and The Geological Society of South Africa to welcome you to the 15th CMMI Congress and to Southern Africa. It is a great honour to be hosting this event and we have been looking forward to it for a long time. I am sure the technical discussions and visits will be of great value, and I am confident you will return with pleasant memories of places and people in South Africa and neighbouring countries. The theme of this Congress, Resources and Technology', is appropriate for discussions on the ways and means of going forward in the minerals industry to create the employment and wealth so sorely needed in this region. The technical programme will give mineral industry professionals from different parts of the world the opportunity to share experience and expertise for the purpose of making operations more productive, safer and environmentally acceptable to the world at large. Delegates will be exposed to current technical developments by means of 133 papers prepared for the congress: 30 on geological subjects, 45 on mining, 29 on extractive metallurgy, and 29 in the field of metals technology.

Jan 1, 1994