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By Byron M. Jones

The use of computers in system analysis is well established. Analog computers have been used for this purpose since about 1940. As the power of digital computers increased and their cost decreased, much of the analysis formerly done by analog computers has been diverted to digital computers. The mathematical foundation for system analysis was laid between the years 1700 and 1900. In the 1930?s, telephone repeater amplifiers were designed using systems analysis techniques. From 1940 to 1960 systems were analyzed using either direct simulation or LaPlace transforms. Since 1960 analytical methods have been expanded to include linear vector space theory. All of these methods are being used to analyze the dynamic behavior of mining machinery.

Jan 1, 1974

By P. Massacci

The modelling of phenomena by nonlinear dynamic Systems Theory representations require the specification and identification of suitable models of the phenomenon and the availability of good optimization algorithms to determine the optimal controls. Stochastic disturbances and difficulties of monitoring the process lead invariably, otherwise, to suboptimal performance. It will be shown that an algorithm can be formulated which will simultaneously identify and optimize such a system. The properties of the algorithm will be derived and its convergence to an optimal control proved. Some results of actual applications will be presented and it will be shown how this approach generalizes easily to optimal control of the actual processing system. These results generalize those of optimal learning and input conditioning.

Jan 1, 1991

By Carl L. Morris

This short dissertation concerning "what the client expects from the engineer" is directed mainly at the design and construction of metallic ore concentration or beneficiation plants. However, practically the same conditions apply to the design and construction of cement and lime manufacturing facilities, with the exception that the latter facilities reflect the client's and engineer's concepts of customer service and in some cases reflect promotional considerations for the product manufactured and distributed. The client expects his engineering contractor to contribute in an efficient, cooperative, and economical manner current industry-wide know-how and experience to the specific project under consideration through the client's organization

Jan 1, 1969

By Hamed Khodadadi, Hamid Ghadiri

In this study, a fuzzy logic self-tuning PID controller based on an improved disturbance observer is designed for control of the ball mill grinding circuit. The ball mill grinding circuit has vast applications in the mining, metallurgy, chemistry, pharmacy, and research laboratories; however, this system has some challenges. The grinding circuit is a multivariable system in which the high interaction between loops, the variation of the system parameters with time, and time delay are some of the problems that pose a challenge. Since the controller parameters are determined offline in classic PID control, these gains are unchangeable and cannot overcome the mentioned challenges in this system. Hence, a fuzzy logic self-tuning PID controller, which is a combination of fuzzy logic and a conventional PID controller, is proposed to control the grinding system, especially in the presence of model mismatch and disturbances. In addition, in order to solve the system challenges, a multivariable control approach based on an improved disturbance observer is proposed to suppress the effects of the disturbances. The most important feature of the algorithm proposed in this paper as the combination of fuzzy logic self-tuning PID and improved disturbance observer is its ability to eliminate system interaction, attenuate internal and external disturbances, and compensate the effect of system uncertainty on the performance of the ball mill grinding circuit. Simulation results in the cases of the set-point change in particle size and circulating load in the presence of model mismatch and external disturbances confirmed the controller performance compared to other controllers.

By William C. Peters

The Alpine-Himalayan system, the only major active tectonic belt mainly exposed in a continental mass, is of increasing interest to exploration geologists as well as to theoreticians. Answers to the broader problems of plate tectonics are being sought in this intricate system where the geosynclinal concept was born and where the geotectonic cycle was first applied to metallogeny. The search is all the more intense because it involves scientists from more than a dozen countries with a stimulating variety in perspective. The international Geodynamics Project has allocated the Alpine-Himalayan system to two separate study groups with one directing its attention to the Alpine-Mediterranean region and the other giving consideration to the Himalayan region. This geographic division is accepted in this paper, with remarks being confined to the former and to the west of boundary zone between the European-Asian and the Southeast Asian plates as envisioned by Dewey and Bird (1970). The region is well-mapped in some parts and it includes some of the most intensely-studied geology, most classic mines, and newest orebody discoveries. Within the region, an Alpine-age copper-molybdenum metallogenic belt extends from Rumania to Pakistan. The belt can be considered in terms of plate tectonics, and there is the possibility of using plate tectonics concepts in exploration.

Jan 1, 1973

By J. W. Hawkins, K. B. C. Brady, M. W. Smith

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP) has been issuing surface mining permits since 1984 that authorize remining in areas that will affect preexisting pollutional discharges. These permits require the mine operator to employ best management practices to reduce pollution loading from abandoned mine discharges. A total of 110 completed mining operations with 233 discharges were evaluated to determine the impact to water quality. Overall, acid loading from these discharges was reduced by 7,200 kg (15,900 lbs) per day or 61%. Metals loadings were also reduced. For acidity, 49% of discharges improved or were eliminated, 52% showed no significant change, and fewer than 1% got worse. Loading reductions resulted from a combination of reduced concentrations and lower flows.

Jan 1, 2002

By Madan M. Singh

A new mining project can raise questions about what effect it will have on the community after it closes. Historically, little was done by communities to plan for and accommodate the changes in the economic infrastructure when a mine project is finished either after the ore runs out or if market conditions deteriorate and make it unprofitable. Projects that were underfunded were generally unable to withstand periodic market downturns. However, data in a recent study conducted by the Seidman Research Institute leads to the conclusion that, even when a mining project is terminated, there can be (and, in the specific case studied, is) a residual beneficial economic effect in the community, which lasts for a long period of time.

Jan 1, 2010

By A. Juganda, H. PINHEIRO, J. Brune, N. SANDOVAL, G. Bogin, K. Gallagher, F Wilson

The present work discusses the nuances of scaling and flow similarity to develop a 1/40th scale version of a longwall coal mine. Details on the geometric, kinematic, and dynamic scaling of the physical model are presented and discussed. This works also discusses using a 30% CO2 – 70% He gas mixture as a surrogate for methane. It also presents the implications of various Reynolds numbers (ranging from 7,000 to 140,000) and rotation of the shearer drums in the dynamic representation of the airflow and gas mixtures in the physical scaled model.

Mar 19, 2022

By D. Erik Spiller

Mineral processing technologies are being used in the environmental arena for remediation and secondary recovery. Comminution and/or scrubbing for liberation, coupled with separation of the liberated particles, is known as soil washing. Other metallurgical unit operations have found application in remediation and recycling: size classification, gravity concentration, flotation, magnetic and electrostatic separation, eddy current separation, and liquid/solid separation. This paper presents specific examples of the use of these technologies to clean up contaminated soils and plant residues, and to recycle valuable materials from waste streams.

Jan 1, 1993

By Keith G. Wallace, K. M. (Chris) Chmura, Kirk H. McDaniel

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) performed a feasibility analysis for the purpose of either modifying, supplementing, or replacing its two main mine fans. The WIPP, located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fa¬cility designed to demonstrate the permanent, safe disposal of U.S. defense-generated transuranic waste in a deep bedded salt deposit. Since the centrifugal fans were installed in 1988, multiple op¬erational and performance concerns have been identified. A com¬prehensive engineering study was conducted in 1995 to: 1) Qualify and quantify operational concerns, 2) Evaluate possible alternatives, and 3) Recommend an optimum solution. Multiple system modification and/or replacement scenarios were evaluated with associated cost estimates developed. The study considered replacement with either centrifugal or axial fans. Multiple fan duties are required at the WIPP. Therefore, Variable Frequency Drives and Inlet Vane Controls (IVC) were investigated for centrifugal fans. In-flight adjustable blades were investigated for axial fans. The study indicated that replacing the existing system with two double-width, double-inlet centrifugal fans equipped with IVCs was the best choice. This alternative provided the most desirable combination of: 1) ensuring the required operational readiness, and 2) improving system performance. The WIPP is currently planning to replace the first fan in 1997.

Jan 1, 1997

By Patricio Vergara Lara, Jorman Barrera

The selection of the production level elevation is one of the most critical strategic decisions faced by large-scale block or panel caving projects. This elevation largely affects project timelines, capital expenditures, resource recovery, and may even constrain the mine’s maximum production capacity. Over the years, many computational tools have been developed to assist in this decision, most of them based on the same principle of maximizing the project value given its production level elevation. However, for large and inclined deposits, or those extending significantly in the vertical dimension and where extraction cannot be achieved from a single level, traditional selection techniques involving multiple production horizons often lead to suboptimal results. This paper proposes a methodology ensuring that the selection of production level elevations in a multiple horizons (“lifts”) case is globally optimized. Input parameters include economic and cost variables, maximum extractable column height, and deepening costs. The methodology is demonstrated through a real case study to illustrate its potential impact on project value.

Feb 22, 2026

By H. Y. Sohn, M. Pérez-Tello, J. Löttiger

An investigation of the oxidation reactions of two industrial copper mattes was performed using dflerential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at heating rates of 20°C and 8°C/min, respectively. The temperature of incipient reaction, the total exothermic and endothermic heats of reaction and the weight change during the oxidation process were measured as functions of the oxygen concentration in the oxidizing gas, matte grade and matte particle size. The temperatures of incipient reaction measured from the DSC experiments were found to increase monotonically with all three input variables. TGA experiments showed that Cu2O and CuO CuSO4 are formed before the complete oxidation of Cu2S to CuO.

Jan 1, 2000

By Im C. J.

The addition of coal preparation plants changed the coal industry during the past. Now it is time co once again improve the quality and types of coal products coming from future coal preparation plants to meet the changing needs of our society. Clean Coal Technology, along with federal support provided, is forcing our industry to provide cleaner coal products for industrial applications. Liquid fuels from coal is just one of many new products from a coal preparation plant that has a ready market in the transportation sector. UCC Research Corporation is developing these new liquid coal products and this paper will describe the progress and the new slate of coal products to be provided from future preparation plants.

Jan 1, 1989

By Martin Herrenknecht

Tunnel boring machine (TBM) development continues to take on not only larger diameters, but also more difficult ground conditions. Ground conditions consisting of unstable faces with water pressures up to 15 bar have required innovative design approaches. A systems approach has been required to produce tunneling machines that can safely excavate the tunnel in an efficient, cost-effective manner that stresses production and labor saving approaches. This article reviews the current design developments and present recent projects where these most recent principles have been applied. The world?s growing population and rapidly proceeding urbanization are boosting an enormous demand for new and high-capacity infrastructures to secure the mobility of goods and people. Densely populated areas face the challenge of providing efficient traffic infrastructure such as a modern public transport system. At the same time, the maintenance and modernization of supply and disposal structures for water, sewage, energy and communication are essential. Last but not least, are supra-regional transportation routes such as long distance water diversion schemes. All of these projects are as demanding and are characterized by a tight time schedule. In this context, the demand for efficient tunnels for traffic and utility lines is increasing, as new infrastructures often leads underground because of limited space above ground. Also, tunnels are the obvious choice to cross natural barriers like mountain ranges. To handle the complex and variable geological conditions and other constraints, such as low overburden, high water pressure or long tunnel drives while facing increasing demand of a quick completion of a project, mechanized tunneling sets standards regarding safety, profitability and environmental protection in traffic tunneling projects as well as in the trenchless construction of utility tunnels. Different machine types and working principles have been developed to master various geological and hydrogeological requirements. Continuous activity in research and development leads to constant improvement of the mechanized tunneling process.

Jan 1, 2008

By R. Switalski, M. Schafer, R. Pintabona, M. Kritzer, B. Lukajic, S. Janosko

Methane gas caused an eight-month shutdown of mining operations at the Mill Creek, Phase 3, Tunnel. The gas-related shutdown occurred as the tunnel was advanced to an approximate distance of 2,700 feet, which constitutes approximately18% of the total tunnel length. The construction of an emergency ventilation shaft, a comprehensive program of de-gassing wells and an expanded gas monitoring system were used to mitigate the gas condition. When complete, this tunnel will be utilized to convey and store combined storm and sanitary sewage collected from a portion of Cleveland, Ohio and ten suburbs. This paper will provide an overview of gas related remedial measures and explain how these measures were integrated into the project to ensure safe tunneling conditions.

Jan 1, 2007

By III Kimball

For many years, Arizona merely shadowed EPA's environ-mental regulation of mining operations and waste. During this period, Arizona generally assisted EPA in the implementation of federal programs and enacted environmental laws patterned closely after their federal counterparts. A growing public concern about protecting water quality, particularly groundwater quality, eventually caused the State to depart from this pattern.

Jan 1, 1989

By Martin B. Hudson, John Yao, Matthew R. Crow, Yiming Sun, John T. Waggoner, Roozbeh Geraili Mikola

"The Wilshire Grand redevelopment project in downtown Los Angeles includes construction of a new 73-story tower. Construction required excavation up to 93 feet deep (28 m). The south side of the excavation, up to 57 feet deep (17 m), required placement of shoring within about 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3.0 m) horizontally away from a 400-foot-long (122 m) section of one of the existing Los Angeles Metro Red Line twin subway tunnels. These tunnels were constructed using a 22-foot-diameter (6.7 m) digger shield, and were initially supported with expanded, precast concrete segments, with final cast-in-place reinforced concrete lining. The temporary shoring system for the deep excavation consisted of soldier piles generally spaced at 8 feet (2.4 m) on center with multiple levels of tieback anchors extending above the subway tunnels. The lowest level of bracing consisted of rakers supporting walers attached to the soldier beams because installation of tieback anchors at that level would conflict with the tunnels. Numerical analyses were performed to predict tunnel movement caused by the excavation and its effects on the train operations. This paper describes the numerical modeling, tunnel and geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring program, and comparison of the computed and observed tunnel responses to the deep excavation and tower construction. With increasing urban redevelopment in major cities, the project is a valuable case history for excavation adjacent to existing tunnels. INTRODUCTION The Wilshire Grand redevelopment project includes the demolition of a 16-story hotel built in the early 1950s and the construction of a new 73-story tower in downtown Los Angeles (LA) that will be the tallest building in the western United States. The project site is situated on approximately 2.7 acres (1.1 Ha) of land bounded by Figueroa Street to the east, Wilshire Boulevard to the north, Francisco Street to the west, and 7th Street to the south (see Figure 1a). The new tower is being constructed by Turner Construction for Hanjin International Corporation. Construction of the basement and foundation of the new tower required excavation up to 93 feet (28 m) deep. Shoring was designed by Cefali & Associates and installed by Malcolm Drilling Company. Along 7th Street, an excavation up to 57 feet (17 m) deep required shoring to be installed within about 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3.0 m) horizontally from an existing 400-foot long (122 m) section of one of the LA Metro Red Line subway tunnels (see Figure 1b). The tunnels, extending from the 7th/Metro Station to the Westlake-MacArthur Station, were constructed in the late 1980s and early 1990s with an excavated diameter of approximately 22 feet (6.7 m). They were initially supported with expanded, precast concrete segments with a final cast-in-place reinforced concrete lining. The existing hotel was demolished in 2012 and 2013, with shoring installation and excavation for the new basement occurring as the demolition occurred. At the time of writing, January 2016, the structure of the building adjacent to the tunnels is largely complete."

Jan 1, 2016

By E. J. Garrison

Discussion by E.J. Garrison A.C. Noble presents a clear and concise summary of the factors pertinent to a competent reserve evaluation of a mineral occurrence. However, I believe that he confuses the difference between a resource and a reserve. By definition, a reserve estimate includes all known economic, legal, mining, metallurgical and environmental factors impacting the recovery of the product(s) found in the deposit. A resource estimate, however, is an estimate of what is there - what is available for exploitation and should not include economic and other considerations. Only after defining the resource, its extent, location, physical and chemical properties, can an intelligent selection process begin of the extraction and processing technologies most appropriate to the circumstances encountered. The early and almost certainly inappropriate application of these often cookbook choices has probably lead many companies to walk away from good properties. (How many mines have been found in others rejects?) An example of the process is the early selection of metallurgical samples, after encouraging values are found in a few holes or surface samples, in an attempt to determine the economics of the prospect. Unfortunately, the sampler does not know how representative of the occurrence the sample is because he does not know what the deposit looks like. As a consequence, the property becomes saddled with a bad metallurgical sample that is often inappropriately used in evaluating the deposit which it does not represent. Reply by A.C. Noble E.J. Garrison asserts that I confuse the difference between a resource and an ore reserve. In fact, this paper was motivated by the observation that resources and reserves are almost universally confused throughout the industry. While Garrison is concerned that too-early consideration of engineering, metallurgical and economic factors will result in dropping properties too soon, some issues that must be considered include: •The purpose of exploration is to discover ore reserves, not to discover resources. •Ore reserves are always smaller than resources. • Decisions on exploration expenditures must be made based on the expectation of the quantity of ore reserves that will ultimately be defined. Noble's Fig. 2 can be used to give guidance as to when it is appropriate to begin reserve calculations. When exploration enters the "flat" portion of the curve, representative samples can be selected for metallurgical studies and appropriate mining methods chosen. It is at this stage that we know enough about the deposit to make intelligent choices of representative samples and recognize constraints on mining caused by the deposits shape, environment and physical properties. Once the appropriate technologies have been chosen, then their cost can be estimated with reasonable accuracy. Early entry of economic and process factors gives the false appearance of reserve status to the resource estimation. It would be more informative and less subject to abuse and misunderstanding if resource calculations were made at a number of cutoff grades. The cutoff grades should be chosen to cover the range of grades found in practice in existing operations of similar type. This would emphasize the open nature of resource estimates and encourage creative evaluation of mining and process technologies. It does not preclude the use of economic, environmental and recovery technology factors in deciding the advisability of continuing exploration expenditures, but would highlight their speculative nature. It is thus hoped that decisions on the future of the deposit would not be made on the presumed suitability of a given technology but on the actually known reality. I agree that resource estimates should be reported as a range of cutoff grades. Since reporting at a cutoff implies application of underlying economics (even by analogy to similar properties), however, it should be clearly stated that resources do not consider economic, mining or cost factors, and that ore reserves will be substantially less. The dilemma of the explorationist is that until the continuity and limits of ore-grade mineralization have been established, it is difficult to make quantitative estimates of either resources or ore reserves. Further industry discussion is needed regarding standards for disclosing early exploration information in such a way as to fairly represent the potential of an exploration property.

Jan 1, 1995

By William P. Walsh

In December 1983 the author undertook an investigation in east Texas which was organized to learn the feasibility of applying geophysical techniques over shallow lignite deposits. The work embraced experimental high resolution seismic reflection and offset Wenner resisitivity sounds over three 1/4 to 1/2 mile test sections. This site also was sponsored by Woodward-Clyde Consultants (WCC) and a consortium headed by North American Coal Corporation. The principal objective of this investigation was to learn whether the aforementioned geophysical techniques could be applied over shallow lignite deposits (i.e. located at approximately 100' to 300' in depth) and consequently provide structural and stratigraphic information useful for resource and reserve characterization. A secondary objective was to determine if these same techniques could disclose the nature of the overburden and the distribution of ground water therein.

Jan 1, 1986

By C. Bazin

The fundamental error associated to the sampling of heterogeneous ore particles is unavoidable and can only be minimized by an adequate selection of the sample mass and/or size reduction of the sample before division into sub samples for testing or assaying. The preparation of ore batches to carry out the mineral processing evaluation of an ore is a sampling process. The fundamental error associated with the division of the ore into batches is responsible for the differences in the composition of the batches. This paper attempts by various means to assess the reproducibility of the gold content of test batches prepared from a gold ore sample. The results of the investigation shows that for fine gold grain sizes the variability in the composition of the batches is less than that predicted by Gy?s formula and that the gold grain size is a strategic information in the assessment of the gold content variability of test batches.

Feb 23, 2014