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By M. Zaske, E. R. Mortensen

"As mine operators continuously look for ways to improve functionality and increase capacity of their facilities, existing process equipment is often pushed to and past its designed limitations. As a result, equipment manufacturers are asked for economical solutions to meet redefined processing needs. Newmont USA (Newmont) in Nevada was faced with such a need in their Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) train. In a collaborative effort between Newmont and Derrick Corporation, tests were conceived to assess the viability of drop in replacement screen using a three dimensional screen panel. The urethane pyramid screen panel was designed to increase flux while maintaining the existing equipment footprint. The test is the end result of an ongoing research and development project that Derrick undertook in an effort to refine and upgrade their urethane screening media. The application of this new screening media is presented for this CIL application along with future plans to implement the technology in trash, safety, carbon dewatering, carbon sizing, and other scalping applications.INTRODUCTION In Spring of 2014, Process Machinery Associates (PMA), Derrick Corporation’s (Derrick) local area representative, met with Newmont USA (Newmont) to discuss the operation of the in tank screens in the carbon in leach (CIL) train at Twin Creeks, near Golconda, Nevada. The process was originally designed for 13,000 +tons per day (tpd) but has been steadily rising since the plant was commissioned and now Newmont requires 16,000 tpd to be processed. The original screens were running at their maximum capacity and Newmont required additional screening capacity to continue the upward trend in production. Physical separation by use of screening is one of mineral processing oldest methods. Screening media can be prone to blinding and pegging and the necessary support structures required for finer apertures result in smaller open areas. Therefore, more screening area generally requires larger panels and therefore larger machines, screening media that doesn’t blind, or a combination of both. In an effort to avoid larger machines, Derrick Corporation had been working on a revolutionary three dimensional panel which would add non blinding screen area in the same footprint of an existing machine. Alpha testing of the new screen panels began at Newmont Mill 2/5 (Carlin, Nevada) in July of 2013 and was still occurring when PMA approached Twin Creeks about beta testing a refined machine and pyramid panel. After presenting the initial results, Twin Creeks determined that an upgraded machine and pyramid panels would be a possible solution to meet production needs. The testing of a machine eliminated the risk of capital costs to Newmont and provided Derrick the opportunity to obtain additional data."

Jan 1, 2015

By Nelson R. Shaffer

Biotechnology has become a household word of the nineties, and it is expected to become as important in the next century as the computer is in the present. Numerous books and articles portray biotechnology developments as nothing less than a scientific revolution. Almost everywhere one looks new biotechnical breakthroughs are being reported that offer almost limitless opportunities to harness the force of living things to produce materials and manipulate their properties. Biotechnology has been broadly defined as any applications of biological organisms, systems, or processes to manufacturing and service industries. This seemingly new technology is, in fact, one of mankind's oldest scientific activities (Table l), which has been recently revolutionized by techniques of genetic engineering that arose out of basic research in biology, biochemistry, genetics, and information sciences. From fields as old as agriculture and medicine to those as new as monoclonal anti-bodies, transgenic plants, or biocomputers are encompassed by biotechnology. Like most human endeavors, industrial minerals play critical roles in biotechnology. In addition biotechnology holds real potential to improve extraction and beneficiation of certain industrial minerals themselves. BIOTECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW Companies using established biotechnical techniques make up large and diverse groups such as agriculture, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The massive US Pharmacopia (Anon., 1990a) provides detailed specifications for minerals used in medicines. Alumina, zirconia, apatite, and bioactive glass have seen service as implant materials (Williams, 1990) and new uses for minerals in health sciences are being actively researched. Agriculture produced $361 billion worth of food and drink during 1991 in the United States; organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and enzymes accounted for $68, $59, and $42 billion, respectively (Anon., 1992a). It is not possible to separate the contributions of industrial minerals to biotechnical products, but they represent a very large and rapidly growing new field of uses. The new biotechnology has nearly 300 small companies, plus 15 established companies with 742 biotechnology-related firms (Dibner, 1991b). Revenues exceeded $2 billion in 1990 and are expected to grow to $50 billion by 2000 (Anon., 1992c), with worldwide sales exceeding $100 billion (Burrill and Roberts, 1992). Federal research amounted to $3.4 billion in 1990 (Anon., 1992b). The United States is the world leader in biotechnology, but other countries have large, well-funded programs. Despite debate about safety, obstacles to new biotechnology products are declining (Embers, 1992, Gibbons, 1991). Fifteen biotechnology drugs valued at $1.2 billion (Thayer, 1991a) are on the market, and more than 100 are in various stages of testing (Edington, 1992). Many diagnostic tests are also in use or development (Demain, 1983, Anon., 1992). Large scale efforts to produce or transform important chemicals are also underway (Ng et al., 1983, Hinman, 1991), and research into geologic uses of biotechnology has begun. Much has been published about microbial mining, oil recovery, desulfurization, bioremediation, and other geologic aspects of biotechnology, but this chapter is the first attempt to explore interactions of biotechnology and industrial minerals. This chapter examines uses of minerals in biotechnology; how biotechnology can be used to discover, recover, and beneficiate industrial minerals; and speculates on some potential, but as yet untried uses. Definitions What exactly does the word biotechnology mean? Bud (1989) states that the first use of the term was by Karl Ereky in 1919 to cover the interaction of biology and technology, and in 1933 the term was used in Nature. After citing seven different definitions, Smith (1988) concludes that biotechnology is a series of enabling technologies involving practical applications of organisms or their subcellular components to manufacturing and service industries or to environmental management. Walker and Cox (1988) suggest a definition of "the practical applications of biological systems to the manufacturing and service industries and to the management of the environment." Primrose (1991) says that it is "the commercial exploitation of living organisms or their components." There is essentially an older broad use of the term and a new use. The US Office of Technology Assessment (Anon., 1984) uses a broad definition that includes any technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants or animals, or to develop micro-organisms for specific uses. Definitions are different, but they all have several fundamental elements that include the control, management, or manipulation of living things for commercial, industrial, or useful ends. While such a definition encompasses all of agriculture in practice the "new" biotechnology is restricted to processes involving microorganisms-plant and animal cells, or enzymes. Many consider biotechnology to be recent, but it is one of our oldest technologies as evidenced by the prehistoric origin of brewing, cheese-making, and other techniques. [Table 1] gives some of the important developments in the history of biotechnology. Smith (1988) breaks down historical developments of biotechnology into four phases: 1) prehistoric with no understanding of underlying processes; 2) nonsterile processes; 3) sterile processes after 1940; and 4) genetic and recombinant DNA technology deliberate design of special organisms or processes.

Jan 1, 1994

By Bart Bartholomew, Randall J. Essex

INTRODUCTION In June of 2004, at the North American Tunneling Conference in Atlanta, an all-day workshop was conducted to review the application of Geotechnical Baseline Reports (GBRs) for underground construction. The moderator for the program was Bart Bartholomew, former President of Fruin Colnon Construction Company. The program involved commentary by a panel of engineers, owners, contractors, and legal representatives within the North American tunneling industry, as well as an extended audience discussion. The panelists were: Peter Douglass, President, Peter Douglass, Inc. Randall Essex, Executive Vice President, Hatch Mott MacDonald Joseph Gildner, Deputy Director for Technical Services, Sound Transit Randall Hafer, Esq., Kilpatrick Stockton Robert Fitzgerald Esq., Watt, Tieder, Hoffer, & Fitzgerald Kirk Samuelson, Senior Vice President, Kiewit Construction Group DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM FORMAT The focus of the program was to assess the state of the practice in the preparation of GBRs, and to discuss improvements that could and should be made with regard to their preparation, interpretation, and application. The approach used to achieve this focus in the broadest possible way was unique, in that it involved the panelists’ preparation of the workshop format and materials months before the presentation of the workshop. First, each of the six panelists was selected by the moderator based on their reputation and involvement in their respective fields of expertise, taking care to maintain balance and contrast within the collective pool of talent assembled. Following selection and agreement to serve on the panel, each panelist was asked to independently submit to the moderator a list of the six most pressing issues involving GBRs that they each frequently encountered in their individual professional experience. Each was asked to rank their issues in descending order of perceived importance. This process resulting in a pool of thirty-six potential or “candidate” issues for use in the workshop program. Contrary to the moderator’s expectations, there was surprisingly little duplication among the thirty-six issues submitted.

Jan 1, 2005

By Thomas A. Simpson

Heretofore, underground coal mines in Alabama have operated under only 60 to 360 meters of cover: however, new mines (at least 5 in the early opening or development stages) will be operating under cover ranging from 600 to 660 meters. With increased rock confining pressures, roof stability problems will become more critical. Initial studies in two 7 ½ -minute quadrangle areas in the Warrior coal basin of Alabama indicate that the orientation of certain lineament and fracture-trace modes mapped from ERTS-1 (Earth Resources Technology Satellite) imagery correlate closely with the strike of joint and fault modes. High altitude (118,000 m) U-2 aircraft data were used to support these findings. In addition, over 50 percent of the normal faults mapped in the study area could be directly correlated with ERTS and U-2 lineaments and fracture traces. These correlations provide clues to the structural development of the Warrior coal basin and may, in turn, be used as a guide to the prediction of roof-stability conditions in advance of mining.

Jan 1, 1975

By Alan R. Grant

Interpretation of presently available geological information indicates that most of the periods of significant metal deposition in the Washington Cascades Range are, at least in part, genetically related to late Cretaceous -Tertiary intrusive episodes. Chemically, the most favorable environment for base metal deposition is high in potassium. Characterizing the advanced stages of these chemical alteration conditions are the silicate mineral assemblages orthoclase and/or secondary biotite. Wall rock alteration includes both deuteric and hydrothermal processes, the intensity of which primarily depends upon the degree of fracturing in the country rock prior to the introduction of secondary material. Broadly speaking, the primary physical controls for the distribution and concentration of sulfides appear to be a series of structural couples involving both northwest (paralleling regional trends) and northeast--striking systems. Meaningful base metal exploration in the Washington Cascades demands a basic understanding of the various geologic factors related to the distribution of the sulfide deposits. Any geologist contemplating Cascade work should be well grounded in the fundamental concepts of petrology and structure.as these constitute two of his most beneficial aids. The acquisition of the detailed data necessary for this understanding may seem a bit academic, yet it has been demonstrated in numerous instances that a fair economic appraisal of a particular property or mining district depends primarily upon the ability of the geologist to recognize the subtle environmental differences which could lead to the discovery of a major ore deposit.

Jan 1, 1971

By Donald C. Wotring, Douglas A. Gabriel, Michael G. Vitale

"The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) recently completed the 24-foot diameter Euclid Creek Tunnel using a steel-fiber reinforced concrete segmental lining. During construction HMM, the McNally/Kiewit JV, CSI/Hanson JV, and the NEORSD performed a test program to evaluate replacement of steel fiber with synthetic fiber. A section of synthetic-fiber-reinforced cast-in-situ lining was also placed as part of the permanent works for the starter and tail tunnels. Laboratory and field testing were performed on two complete segmental rings reinforced solely with synthetic fibers. This paper summarizes the testing program, construction, and results of the synthetic-fiber-reinforced CIP lining and concrete segments. INTRODUCTION The principal feature of the Euclid Creek Tunnel (ECT) project is a CSO storage tunnel that is one component of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s (NEORSD) Easterly CSO storage and conveyance system. The tunnel, shafts, and appurtenant facilities will be used for the collection and storage of CSOs from the northeastern part of Cleveland, Ohio and subsequent conveyance to the NEORSD’s Easterly Wastewater Treatment Plant for treatment. The ECT project includes five drop shafts that extend as deep as 220 feet below the ground surface. The ECT alignment and shaft locations are shown in Figure 1. Traditionally in northeast Ohio, tunnel excavations were supported with a two-pass system using steel ribs and timber lagging, followed by cast-in-place concrete. Control of rock overbreak proved difficult with large-diameter two-pass operation, and invert degradation led to train derailments. To mitigate these risks, the ECT was supported using one-pass, precast, bolted, gasketed concrete segments reinforced with steel fiber alone. Tunneling operations were very successful and experienced no significant delays or claims. As a result of the positive ECT experience with steel fiber-reinforced segments, Hatch Mott MacDonald, LLC (HMM), McNally/Kiewit (MK) joint venture, CSI/Hanson (CSI/H) joint venture, and the NEORSD performed a test program to evaluate replacement of steel fibers with synthetic fibers in segmental rings. This paper presents the laboratory and field testing program, construction, and results of the synthetic-fiber-reinforced cast-in-place (CIP) lining and concrete segments."

Jan 1, 2016

By A. Bhagwat, S. Tadolini

"Steel members of the ground support systems in underground mines are routinely exposed to corrosive environment that may range from acidic to alkaline. Corrosion of steel bolts leads to metal loss and thereby, reduction in strength and useful life. Protective coatings are commonly applied to the steel bolts to combat corrosion. However, coatings are expensive and often cumbersome in practical applications. Instead, Minova has developed an innovative technology based on sacrificial anodes. The anodes were designed from non-ferritic alloys that are inferior to steel on the Galvanic Series. This paper will present data from field testing to show significant benefit of the technology. Potential applications in current products will be discussed. INTRODUCTION Corrosion is a physical alteration of a steel material from electrochemical reaction with its environment that often results in reduction of the mechanical and physical properties of that material. Mine roof bolts, the subject of this investigation, are particularly susceptible to corrosion as they can be exposed in their working environment to ground water and air with high humidity. As other researchers have determined, corrosion increases markedly in sulfide ore bodies due to acid runoff. There are several types of corrosion that a rock bolt is likely to undergo when used for ground reinforcement in underground mines (Aziz et al., 2013). Of all the types of corrosion, pitting is particularly dangerous as it can remove capacity for the bolt to deform with subsequent strata movements. Sudden failure of a bolt is likely to occur when severe pitting corrosion is experienced. The type and nature of corrosion depend on the nature of the ground condition and bolt encapsulation. Generally, the type of corrosion and severity of the corrosion varies along the axis of bolt. Almost all of the mine roof bolts used in mines, with the exception of fiber reinforced polymers, are made from steel. The corrosion of iron is an electrochemical phenomenon with the overall equation:"

Jan 1, 2018

By R. R. Klimpel

Introduction The grinding of coal-water slurries has received increasing industrial attention during the last decade. In particular, there is long-term interest in the use of pulverized coal-water slurries to replace oil in combustion equipment and in the development of coal gasification/liquefaction processes that require coal-water slurries as feed. More specifically, the use of coal-water slurries in gasification requires grinding a high-density slurry containing the smallest amount of water consistent with slurry pumping and spraying. As part of a fundamental engineering research support program aimed at the industrial implementation of dense coal-water slurry grinding, this author has published several papers on how specific rates of breakage vary as a function of slurry rheology (Klimpel, 1982,1982/83). These papers demonstrated that there is a consistent pattern of change in specific rates of breakage of coal in dense slurries with controlled variation in slurry rheology. By matching rheological data with laboratory grinding results, it was possible to identify directly slurry conditions that correspond to: 1) slowing down of breakage rates, 2) the occasional acceleration of breakage of some sizes, and 3) conditions where chemical additives will increase rates of breakage. In brief, these conditions were analyzed using two different criteria: a) the net production rate of material less than some specified size (e.g. kg/min of minus 325 mesh) in a standard batch laboratory mill test as a function of controlled changes in grinding conditions, and b) the use of the one-size-fraction feed method, which consists of following the disappearance of this largest size over grinding time in a batch laboratory mill to arrive at well-known specific rates of breakage (Austin et al., 1984). Detailed references to the methodology used as well as the conclusions are available (Klimpel, 1982, 1982/83) and will not be repeated here. The purpose of this paper is to further demonstrate several additional characteristics of dense coal-water slurry grinding that were shown in a simplified sense in the earlier publications of the author but which have clearly demonstrated themselves as being very important in the industrial simulation and scale-up of such coal-water grinding systems. In particular, this includes the clear and unambiguous demonstration of how the simultaneous acceleration of breakage of some size fractions and slowing down of the breakage of other size fractions is occurring as a function of changes in coal-water slurry density. In the earlier publications (e.g. Klimpel, 1982), it was shown by specially designed experiments that the addition of fine material and/or the use of a chemical thickening agent accelerated the specific rates of breakage of coals of coarser size fractions using the one-size-fraction method. There were also numerous examples given of non first-order breakage (the slowing down of coal breakage rates) using also the one-size-fraction method due to the presence of excessive amounts of fines which corresponded to the development of a rheological yield value. The problem with the simulation and scale-up of any laboratory and/or pilot-scale mill data to an industrial scale using the mechanistic modelling approach involving specific rates of breakage and breakage distribution parameters (e.g. Austin et al., 1984) is the number of assumptions involved in translating the smaller mill breakage parameters to the predicted larger mill breakage parameters. It is apparent, at least to this author, that to accurately simulate and predict larger scale equipment performance from smaller scale data (given that the larger scale data performance is known and hence predictions can be thoroughly checked) requires a better knowledge of breakage parameters than is currently available. More specifically, it was felt that one of the chief problems was the inability of the one-size-fraction method of determining breakage parameters to sufficiently represent the actual magnitude and sometimes even the directions of. the complicated interactions involved with slurry density changes in coal-water slurry grinding. Thus, a special set of experiments was conducted in a somewhat larger batch ball mill (0.457 m diam x 0.610 m length) than the 0.203-m-diam mill used in the original rheology characterization paper (Klimpel, 1982) so as to minimize any unusual effects due to wall-ball interactions (2.54-cm-diam balls used in both mills). More importantly, the measurements of specific rates of breakage were done using a proprietary tracer method on a portion of a given size fraction, which was then remixed into a natural feed size distribution before grinding. The experimental procedure and analysis of subsequent data was done in exactly the same manner as the radioactive tracer technique on coals as originally developed by Gardner (1962). The advantage of such an approach is that it makes no assumptions such as the independence of the specific rate of breakage of any size on the absolute sizes and amounts of other sizes present (both larger and smaller) in the mix of natural feed material. It will be shown that the measured rates of breakage using the direct tracer technique and the one-size fraction method on the same coal are indeed different. In fact, an accurate assessment of what is happening to the rates of breakage as a function of changing slurry density can only he made by measuring particle breakage under grinding conditions approximating the size distributions actually being produced in practice. Experiment procedures and results The pilot mill used was 44 cm diam x 60 cm long with a volume of 91,250 cm3 and was fitted with six 0.5-in. lifter bars.

Jan 1, 1992

By Richard A. Thomas, Liming Yuan, Lihong Zhou, James H. Rowland

Hydrogen (H2) gas released during battery charging can result in cross-interference for carbon monoxide (CO) sensors used for early fire detection and compromise the integrity of the mine atmospheric monitoring system (AMS). In this study, a series of laboratory-scale and full-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the responses of different CO sensors to H2 gas. In the laboratory-scale experiments, constant H2 concentrations in the airflow, from 100 to 500 ppm, pass through sensors. While in the full-scale experiments, increasing H2 concentrations generated as a byproduct from charging the batteries at the battery charging station rise to the sensors under different ventilation scenarios. The H2 concentrations at the CO sensor location were measured using H2 sensors and were correlated with the CO sensor response. The effects of ventilation and sensor location on the CO sensors responses were also analyzed. The results of this study can help mining companies to select appropriate CO sensors and improve the deployment of these sensors to ensure the safeguard of underground miners.

By A. Unal

Barbaro et al. (1990) implemented a tedious study aimed at delineating the short-scale spatial variability of sulfur in a coal seam. It is not possible, however, to extend their conclusions to any other coal seam or use theirs in any other fashion, because the background geology was not presented. Nor were the conclusions accompanied by geological interpretations in the paper. In addition, an unfortunate printing error occurred where the total sulfur (determined by High Temperature Combustion) variogram in Fig.3 was duplicated in Fig. 2 instead of the seam height variogram. A more serious error, however, has been committed in the definition of the variable, seam height. What is defined as seam height by Barbaro et al. (1990) is, in essence, mining height, and is not a regionalized variable that should be studied by geostatistical methods directly. Despite the fact that the variable, seam height, is not defined in the paper explicitly, the following quotation discloses the fallacy: "All roof rock that exceeded 1.8 m (6 ft) from the floor was not taken because the longwall was operated to not mine more than 1.8 m (6 ft) unless the coal seam height exceeded 1.8 m (6 ft)." From this definition, the seam height, and therefore the sampling height, is equal to the actual coal thickness, if the coal thickness is greater than 1.8 m (6 ft). Otherwise, it is equal to the sum of the coal thickness plus the thickness of the roof rock that complements the thickness to 1.8 m (6 ft). In the latter case, the seam height is constant and equal to 1.8 m (6 ft). It is possible to conduct a variogram study on a pool of samples that are realizations of two different variables. But the conclusions derived would not belong to any one of the two variables uniquely and, therefore, do not possess any significance. Geostatistical analysis is irrelevant for the sum of multiple regionalized variables formed by arbitrary selections. In a two¬seam setting, for example, the mining height, as defined by the thickness of one seam at one location and the thickness of both seams at another location (due to quality and/or minimum thickness considerations perhaps), should not be used in the calculation of one common variogram. The two seams should be modeled separately. They can then be combined according to the specific purposes of the study. On the other hand, if a constant is added to a regionalized variable (to incorporate dilution perhaps), the variogram of the new variable will not change. Barbaro et al.( 1990), surprisingly, does not give any geologi¬cal interpretation of their results despite the fact that most of them can be explained by the origins of sulfur in a coal seam. The presentation of the results of a geostatistical study with no reference to the geology of the deposit is uninformative. It may also be misleading for the potential users of geostatistics. It is not unusual to find nuggets of pyrite in coal seams. In such cases, pyritic sulfur will probably display a spatial structure for only a very small distance that will appear in the experimen-

Jan 1, 1991

By C. Meyer, J. J. Eidel

C. W. Hunt I wish to register strong disagreement with the choices of drilling sites chosen by the Continental Scientific Drilling Committee, while endorsing the stated objectives. Of special significance is the lack of any site involving the metals most needed today in the US, while 9 to 13 km of drilling are allocated to gold and silver districts and 11 to 17 km to base metal (mainly copper) districts. Why is nothing proposed for platinum group or chromite? Is this because the committee did not know of such a site? If so, I offer such a site in California (see Fig. 1). The mineralization shown in Table 1 occurs in a large peridotite body in western Tehama County, CA. Petrography has demonstrated unequivocal evidence of migrated PGE deposited in peridotite and chromite of hypabyssal nature. Active diapirism (due probably to serpentine buoyancy) above a reactivated mantle to surface conduit marks the position of the conduit. Young explosion breccia cemented loosely by volcanic glass and tuff demonstrates the significance of the conduit as the prime source of the various emissions. Deep drilling could result in major metals discoveries as well as shedding light on the grand questions of platinum group mineralization. What role water has played in this occurrence is not yet certain; but chlorine and asphaltite have been detected in and adjacent to native PGM, suggesting a major role for water. The explosion breccia suggests that this excellent site could overlie entrapped geothermal steam.

Jan 6, 1987

By M. A. Schimmelpfennig, A. D. S. Gillies

M.J. McPherson Having worked on the thermodynamics of air/liquid-water mixtures passing through the surface fans of deep mines, I find this paper of great interest and congratulate the authors on producing it. There are two matters, however, deserving discussion. First, the authors have described the classical theory of fog formation with fogging occurring at "supersaturation." In fact, the process of fog formation begins well below 100% humidity. The more strongly hygroscopic nuclei in the atmosphere will attract water molecules and begin to grow at a relative humidity perhaps as low as 70%. The process is a dynamic one with both condensation and evaporation taking place throughout the mixture on microscopic liquid surfaces. As saturation is approached, the rate of condensation accelerates rapidly producing the familiar reduction in visibility. Hygroscopic nuclei are present in all natural atmospheres and under the appropriate conditions of pressure and temperature, will produce clean fogs. However, if the air is polluted by particulates from combustion or other processes then the resultant coagulation with growing liquid particles may produce dense (and sometimes photochemical) smogs. It is this process that is likely to occur in underground mines when moist air is cooled below dew point. Second, the authors have summarized very well the individual measures that might alleviate the problem. In particular, I agree that neither heating nor refrigerating the air, by themselves, provides a satisfactory solution. However, there is a combination of these that provides a neat and effective control of fog formation. This involves a small, self-contained refrigeration unit within a duct but without the usual external heat rejection facility. The air is cooled below dew point and, hence, dehumidified on passing over the cold evaporator coils. The heat from the condenser is rejected back into the air downstream from the water eliminator, as shown in Fig. 1. The duct configuration can be designed to create good mixing at the outlet. I have used a climatic simulation program to illustrate the effect, assuming a 500-m (1,640 ft) long airway of cross section 60 m2 (645 sq ft), an airflow of 9 m3/s (318 cu ft per sec), inlet conditions of 19/19.25°C (66/67°F) wet bulb/dry bulb temperatures, a virgin rock temperature of 17°C (63°F) and typical rock thermal properties for a hard-rock mine. I have also assumed that 10% of the rock surface is wet. Figure 2 shows the variation in temperatures along the airway if no measures are taken. The relative humidity remains close to 100% and condensation will occur throughout the length of the airway. Before any such installation is designed, the exercise must, of course, be repeated for each location with accurate data. However, this example demonstrates the potential of the system. The idea is not new - the principle is sometimes used in air-conditioning plants for buildings. Figure 3 shows the effect of removing 30 kw of heat by evaporator coils sited 40 m (131 ft) along the airway and rejecting that heat (plus another 10 kw of compressor and fan power) into the air at 60 m (197 ft). Condensate water is produced, at a rate of 0.45 L/min (0.12 gpm). The result of this sequential cooling/dehumidification/heating process is to separate the wet and dry bulb temperatures along the length of the airway. The relative humidity increases from 80% at the duct outlet to 92% at 500 m (1,640 ft). The airway is maintained free from fog.

Jan 11, 1983

By K. Holmberg, D. Herriot

This paper by Mr. McIvor is yet another contribution to the eternal controversy surrounding the benefits, or otherwise, of high circulating loads in closed circuit grinding. Throughout the paper it is difficult to establish whether the author is referring to effects relating to the mill, classifier, or to the overall circuit. Table 1 is put forward as indicating the advantage of operating at high circulating loads. From the two (it would be interesting to see more) product sizing points provided in each case, the conclusions to be drawn are that cases one and two have very similar size analyses. The third case, however, indicates a much flatter curve, that is to say, higher fines production and a very wide spread of size ranges. If the objective of this circuit is to provide a closely sized product with minimum overground slimes to the downstream process, then it would appear to be the less "efficient" by far. No data is given for product pulp densities either. The term "efficiency" should never be used without a careful and clear definition. In this case, "efficiency" is used to express an apparent percentage reduction in operating work index (Bond) from the measured "standard" at 250% circulating load operation. The Bond calculation is itself based upon

Jan 1, 1990

By J. Tuzson, H. McL. Clark

Introduction Wear of pumps, wet cyclones and pipelines by suspended solid particles will impact their operating economies by limiting their useful life, reducing their reliability and increasing the amount of servicing. Erosion is considered a materials problem. The empirical solution consists of testing different materials in field applications. Such tests are time consuming and expensive. The prediction of localized wear rates, life estimates and appropriate material selection demand a better understanding of the slurry wear process in environments corresponding to those found in working equipment. Key words: Wear, Slurry abrasion, Coriolis erosion tester The slurry wear process Solid particles suspended in liquid generally move with the flow, but such particles deviate under the centrifugal and Coriolis forces encountered in pumps. The concentration of particles will increase, and a solid layer or bed may accumulate if the acceleration is directed against the flow passage wall. Large particles in dilute suspensions may impact the wall. dissipating their kinetic energies and removing material. However, particles smaller than about 11)(1 µm encounter great drag when moving through the liquid. and such par¬ticles have little kinetic energy left when they reach the wall. They cannot penetrate the stagnant boundary layers present in pumps. Therefore, small particles tend to form beds that slide along the wall, removing material by a process that could he called sliding erosion or wet abrasion. Wear by impact erosion from large particles in dilute slurries can he predicted by appropriate analytical and empirical methods. However, laboratory tests and calculations of wear rates that correspond to sliding erosion are more likely to correlate with field experience from wear under similar conditions. Specific energy Data from laboratory slurry erosion experiments have shown that the amount of material removed is approximately in proportion to the energy expended in the erosion process. Thus. the specific energy-energy expended in removing by erosion a unit volume of material-offers a simple, practical measure for the erosion resistance of materials. The concept was found to also apply to sliding erosion (Clark et al.. 1997). Generally, the study of the material-removal process in slurry erosion continues to remain a subject of research. Conceptually, if the flow velocities and accelerations could be calculated in a pump or pipeline, the energy dissipated at the passage walls could also be estimated, and the material removal rate would become known from the specific energy determined by laboratory tests. Slurry erosion testing Laboratory devices made specifically for slurry erosion testing may be grouped into the following: jet erosion devices, slurry pots and the Coriolis test machine (Pagalthivarthi and Helmly, 1992). Jet erosion devices use a slurry pump and nozzle to produce a high-velocity slurry jet that is directed at a flat material specimen, either perpendicularly or at some acute angle. Combined impact and sliding erosion are produced. but the processes cannot be separated, and the wear is difficult to assess except by weighing. Slurry pots consist of a cylindrical vessel containing the slurry of interest. In the slurry pot, test specimens are attached to a rotating arm. The samples are rotated in the slurry and experience local flow conditions that result in combined impact and sliding erosion. Wear depth measurements from detailed laboratory experiments have been successfully correlated with results from an analytical model of the process, and specific energy values have been calculated (Wong and Clark, 1995). In industrial use, the samples are weighed to determine the total material loss. Materials are ranked with respect to some reference material. The Coriolis erosion tester (Tuzson, 1984) consists of a rotor with a central cavity, from which two opposing radial passages lead out (Fig. 1). The slurry is fed to the centerof the rotor in one pass from a stirred overhead tank. The slurry particles are subjected to the Coriolis acceleration as they flow out through the radial passages. The material specimens are mounted into the radial passage walls facing the direction of rotation and are eroded by the particles that are pressed against them as they flow out radially. A narrow groove is worn into the sample within a few minutes, using a few gallons of slurry. Material removal is estimated accurately from profilometer traverses across the wear scar at different locations. The energy dissipated by the particles can be estimated, which leads to a well-defined experimental value for the specific energy.

Jan 1, 2000

By C. A. Rowland

Introduction Rod mills are horizontal, cylindrical, rotating, tumbling mills in which steel rods, that are usually about 6 in. shorter than the length of the grinding chamber, are used for grinding media. Fig. 33 shows a cutaway view of a rod mill. Rod mills were first used around 1910 because of their ability to grind in open circuit, consistently produce a uniformly sized prod¬uct, give greater continuous availability, and give lower maintenance costs. They have basically replaced roll crushers and coarse grinding ball mills in comminution flowsheets. The present 20-ft limit on rod length, based on rod manufacturing methods, and the pulp flow char¬acteristics, that influence mill capacity, have established the maximum rod mill sizes' of 15 x 21 Vs ft using 20-ft rods and drawing from 2,200 to 2,300 hp. Rod Mill Uses. The principal uses for rod mills are: preparing feed for ball or pebble mills, grinding gravel or aggregates to the size analysis required for making concrete sand, preparing coarse agitator feed for leaching operations, and for primary grinding circuits, particularly in industrial mineral applications. Wet grinding is the most frequently used grinding process for rod milling. There are a few special cases where dry rod milling is used. Preparing feed for ball or pebble mills is the most common use for rod mills. In ferrous and nonferrous ore concentrators, wet open-circuit grinding is used to prepare ball-mill feed. Figs. 34 thru 37 show the four basic grinding circuits used in these concentrators. In rod mill-ball mill grinding circuits, where the rod-mill discharge contains 25% or more of the grinding circuit product-size material, the rod-mill discharge can be fed to the ball- or pebble-mill classifier as shown in Fig. 34. This is the most frequently used rod mill-ball mill circuit in the nonferrous ore concentrators. In a few concentrators such as Anaconda's Weed concentrator,55 the rod mill discharges to one classification stage which makes the same or a slightly coarser particle-size cut as the classifiers used to close the ball- or pebble¬mill circuits, as shown in Fig. 35. In concentrators where rod mill-ball mill circuits are used to grind low grade magnetic iron ores such as Reserve Mining Co., Silver Bay, Minn.; Erie Mining Co., Hoyt Lakes, Minn.; Eveleth Taconite Co., Forbes, Minn.; US Steel, Mt. Iron, Minn. and Atlantic City, Wyo.; Inland Steel-Jackson County Iron Co., Black River Falls, Wis.; and The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., Adams mine, Kirkland Lake, Ont., the rod mills discharge to rougher magnetic separators (cobbers), the concentrates from which are fed to a ball milling stage as shown in Fig. 36. The same basic circuit is also used with gravity concentra¬tion methods such as spirals (Hanna Mining Co., Groveland, Mich.), tables (St. Joe Minerals, Bonne Terre, Mo.), and jigs. When the rod-mill discharge contains less than 25% of the grind¬ing circuit product size, this indicates an ore that does not readily produce the fines needed to help carry the coarse feed into the ball charge. When this occurs, the fines in the rod-mill discharge are needed in the ball mill or pebble mill so the rod-mill discharge flows direct to the second-stage mills as shown in Fig. 37. Rod mills are used to make feed for open-circuit ball mills such as those used in wet grinding cement raw material (American Cement, Brennan Ave¬nue plant, Detroit, Mich., and Port Huron, Mich., plant, and at the South Dakota State Cement plant, Rapid City, S. Dak.). Grinding gravel or aggregates to the size analysis required for making concrete sand is used in areas where natural sand of the proper particle size gradation required to make concrete is not availa¬ble. Three-quarter inch crushed aggregate is ground to 4 mesh using center peripheral-discharge rod mills (Fig. 38) operating in open circuit. US Corps of Engineers specifications state that the sand product be 93-100% passing 4 mesh and contain no more than 3-7% passing 200 mesh. It may be necessary to classify the rod-mill discharge to remove any excess -200 mesh sand produced in the rod mill. Particu¬larly when processing aggregate with high abrasion indices, center peripheral-discharge rod mills are used instead of hammer mills, fine bowl crushers, and crushing rolls for the production of specification sand. If the -4 mesh size fraction of the rod-mill feed is removed

Jan 1, 1985

By Donald C. Rotherham

The Endako, British Columbia, deposit was initially discovered in 1927 by two local men, Charles H. Foote and Alf Lagdon, who were at that time on a hunting expedition. Four mineral claims were located to cover an area of quartz-molybdenite float that was centered on two small ridges. They subsequently uncovered a 0.5-m (1.6-ft) wide vein on which an inclined shaft was sunk to a depth of 8.3 m (27.2 ft) in 1934. Additionally, a short adit was driven to intersect another vein. Numerous trenches and small pits were also dug. Small test shipments of vein material from this early work were sent to G.S. Eldridge and Co. in Vancouver for metallurgical testing. A concentrate assaying 89.2% MoS, was produced with a recovery reported as 93.3%. The concentrate was essentially free of copper, arsenic, and phosphate. The property was examined by many geologists and engineers during 1934 to 1952, but the only work done was undertaken by the owners in order to maintain their claims in good standing. In 1952, Kennco Explorations (Canada) Ltd. carried out a limited program of bulldozer trenching, sampling, and geological mapping before relin- quishing their option. In 1956, American Standard Mines Ltd. acquired an option on the property, but no assessment work was apparently recorded and the property was allowed to lapse. The key claims were restaked in 1959 by C. Riley and H.T. James of Vancouver. The property was optioned from the new owners by Andrew Robertson in July 1961, and a small amount of trenching was conducted. Robertson, on behalf of his own company, R & P Metals Corp., reoptioned the property in January 1962. The initial results of this work were favorable and justified further exploration. The additional finances required to continue the program resulted in the formation of Endako Mines Ltd. (N.P.L.) on June 21, 1962. Field work by R & P Metals and the first Endako Mines exploration was directed by Bob Couts.

Jan 1, 1991

By Kenneth F. Wyman

The following report details the successful construction of Contract 2A of the Three Rivers Water Quality Management Program, Intrenchment Creek Combined Sewer Overflow Conveyance System, in DeKalb County for the City of Atlanta, Georgia. The contract required construction of approximately 2878 m (9443 ft) of tunnel bored to an initial diameter of 7.95 m (26 ft 1 in), with provisions to concrete line those portions designated by the engineer to a finished internal diameter of 6.91 m (22 ft 8 in). Flanking the tunnel are two shafts. The upstream shaft was excavated to a nominal diameter of 4.87 m (16 ft) to accommodate a finished internal diameter of 3.66 m (12 ft). This shaft required a transition boot fully concrete lined to final dimensions of 6.91 m (22 ft 8 in) wide, 13.72 m (45 ft) long, and varying in height from 6.91 m (22 ft 8 in) to 12.80 m (42 ft). Associated work necessary to complete the contractual obligations included installation of 22.86 m (75 ft) of cut-and-cover box culvert, 484 m (1589 ft) of open-cut sewer installation in sizes ranging from 0.30 m (12 in) to 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in), one river crossing, 137.46 m (451 ft) of monolithic concrete trapezoidal channel, and installation of 19125 cu m (25000 cu yd) of select fill material compacted and graded to finished contours. The downstream shaft was excavated to a minimum diameter of 12.04 m (39 ft 6 in) and concrete lined to a finished internal diameter of 10.67 m (35 ft). Requirements here included installation of a complete pumping station with all mechanical, electrical, and structural elements necessary for dewatering the tunnel through the controlled use of four 250 hp submersible pumps discharging into the facilities of the Intrenchment Creek Water Pollution Plant. The objective of this project was to collect combined storm runoff and sanitary flows currently coursing through Intrenchment Creek

Jan 1, 1985

My first regular job nearly fell through. My parents were spending the summer in California and I joined them at Lake Tahoe where we were guests at the lovely summer home of the Reids of Belmont. The time went quickly but I was eager to start work so I left for Bisbee a few days earlier than I had arranged. This was lucky, as just after I left a letter came from Gene Whitely, chief engineer of Calumet and Arizona, saying that because of the depressed copper industry there would be no job. I reached Bisbee on a Saturday morning, a day or two before my 23rd birthday, July 27, 1907. The brown plastei four-story Copper Queen Hotel was only a few steps from the station where the branch railway ended. I rented the cheapest room on the top floor and, of course, there was no elevator. I soon learned how to walk up the mile of switching tracks to the Calumet and Arizona office at the Irish Mag mine. I was horrified when Whitely told me about his letter telling me not to come, but since I had not received it he relented and said I could work for a short time anyhow. I was to start at 7:30 the next Monday morning, "holding the ignorant end of the tape”-in other words being surveyor's assistant, at $100 a month. Hours were from 7:30 to 5: 00, seven days a week. I spent Sunday walking around the town. I rented a room at the Royal Lodging House, which was cheaper than the hotel. It smelled strongly of carbolic acid but that meant no bugs. Compared with Cobalt or Cripple Creek, Bisbee didn't seem unattractive. The main street, with one or two-storied stores and saloons, followed the bottom of the canyon with high steep hills on both sides. My lodging house was on a rock in a narrow spot in the canyon, discouragingly called Tombstone Canyon. Chihuahua Hill, opposite the

Jan 1, 1976

By Daniel Su

This paper describes recent ground control challenges encountered at the longwall recovery areas of one of Bailey Mine?s two longwall faces and the proactive measures taken by CONSOL management and engineering to mitigate them. The challenges derived primarily from the following causes: (1) irregular roof coal and draw slate thickness, (2) presence of thick sandstone at the recovery area and extremely weak rocks below the sandstone, (3) close proximity to a regional anticline, (4) low shield set pressure and tip load, and (5) ineffective primary roof support that led to progressive failure of the headgate roof. The presence of the anticline contributed to extensive fracturing of the sandstone. Excessive pot-out in advance of the shields frequently occurred near mid-face due to the presence of thick draw slate and irregular roof coal near the recovery area. This, in turn, resulted in face heights that exceeded the maximum reach of the shields. Subsequently, during longwall meshing, when the advance rate slowed considerably, fractured sandstone would often break loose, causing the shields to yield, thereby reducing the height and inhibiting shearer movement. To improve the headgate and face conditions within the longwall recovery area, several actions were taken, including: (1) assessing site-specific roof geology by conducting in-mine roof coring around the recovery areas and by mapping immediate draw slate and roof coal thicknesses within surrounding entries, (2) increasing pump pressure and thus shield set pressures (3) diligently monitoring shield set pressures and longwall extraction horizon, (4) installing additional cable bolts and roof screening to prevent progressive failure of the immediate headgate roof, (5) fully-grouting supplemental cable bolts to improve headgate support stiffness, and (6) gluing the headgate roof within the recovery areas with polyurethane. As a result of these collective efforts, longwall recovery delays at Bailey Mine were reduced from 21 days in 2006 to nearly zero in 2009.

Jan 1, 2009

It took me nearly nine months to make the move from Arizona to Berkeley, opening an office and planning our new home. While I was in Warren Dorothy had rented two rooms for my office In the new California Commercial Union Building at 315 Montgomery Street in San Francisco. She made such a good choice that this remained my address for more than 50 years Dorothy had also looked over many lots In Berkeley, and took an option on the one that pleased her the most. It was a beautiful lot, or rather three, as we took three lots to protect our view. The only possible drawback was that it was in a new district and there were only two houses within two blocks. No one could tell how the area would develop but we liked it so much that we bought the lots on the spot and signed a note to guarantee payment. Dorothy's good judgment was shown by the fact that after 50 years we are still glad to be living on the same property, at 168 Southampton Avenue. We arranged a meeting with the distinguished architect Bernard Maybeck-and employed him to design a house for us. Dorothy spent most of her time with Maybeck planning the house and an attached studio for her, and she later wrote an amusing essay on her dealings with Maybeck. They were so successful that even now we could not think of any changes we would have wanted. It took several months to design a house that suited Dorothy and would fit on our hilltop. I was glad to overcome some of Maybeck's scorn for "only an engineer" by showing how, by rotating the studio addition 45º, it would fit the lot without serious excavation. We finally signed a contract with Maybeck, borrowing so much money that it scared us. First Consulting After short jumps to the gold mines in the Secret Pass District near Kingman, Ariz., and to the Espiritu Santo prospect adjoining the rich

Jan 1, 1976