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By A. M. Elmherig, M. R. Sunu, R. N. Singh

The presence and orientations of fractures and discontinuities in rock masses exposed in a surface mining excavation are likely to have a great influence on both slope stability and blasting efficiencies. The classification of rock materials requires detailed investigations which are of interest to the design engineer. In designing a safe mining excavation, an engineer must take a number of decisions regarding face support and orientation based on the evalu¬ation of local strength and structural conditions encountered. The description of rock masses requires information additional to the properties of the rock material, discontinuities and other characteristics of engineering importance. Such information involves the acquisition of the following data: The description of the rock mass with reference to major geological structures. The orientation, nature, spacing and persistence of discontinuities. Degree of weathering. A critical review of rock mass classification systems and their application to surface mine excavation design and stability analysis is presented. The field investigation techniques for collecting rock mass data are described together with the techniques of analysis and presentation of data. Laboratory tests are carried out to determine intact rock strengths and deformation parameters of rock. The paper presents two case studies from the British hard rock surface mining industry to illustrate the application of the rock mass classification systems to stability analysis and excavation design.

Jan 1, 1986

By John F. MacDonald

This paper describes the driving of a 400 m long by 25 m diameter highway tunnel through sensitive, overconsolidated silts and clays. The design concept requires the construction of the permanent support system, consisting of 24 concrete filled perimeter drifts, before excavating the mass core. General construction procedures used during the construction of the perimeter drifts are described.

Jan 1, 1985

By Ricky Chipka, Roshan Thapa, Richard Yovichin, Greg Rogoff, Patrick Niemuth

A 4.5-mile-long, 96-inch-diameter outfall pipeline was constructed between North Texas Municipal Water District’s proposed Sister Grove Regional Water Resource Recovery Facility and the Stiff Creek Discharge Structure. Two TBM-mined tunnel segments were excavated for the outfall pipeline through rock and mixed-face conditions within the Austin Chalk Formation. The TBM mining performance was tracked in detail and evaluated during mining. This paper discusses the TBM configuration, TBM utilization, advance rates, and challenges of both tunnel segments.

Jun 13, 2023

By D. Earley

High metal prices and new world trade standards and accounting for environmental liability in financial disclosures are creating markets for metals commodities that are produced using ?green technologies?. A promising "green" gold leaching system uses a polysulfide based lixiviant which is non-toxic and non-polluting. Laboratory testing has demonstrated selective gold extraction rates comparable to those of cyanide. The polysulfide lixiviant is a dilute aqueous solution which can be inexpensively produced from readily available chemical reagents and even mining wastes. The reagent system is self-buffering and maintains the optimal chemical environment for leaching. Treatment of residual leach solutions is not necessary because the lixiviant itself is not toxic, and breaks down as the system equilibrates. Simple closed system boiling is used to recover gold from process solutions. The polysulfide lixiviant can then be readily renewed and recycled back into the system, forming a closed loop system that conserves reagents and energy which minimizes operating costs. Economic projections have shown that the system can be used profitably for standard ore types and grades.

Jan 1, 2009

By E. J. Wasp

The transportation of mine products incurs a cost which can have a significant bearing on the competitive position of the manufactured product. Clearly, the engineer who is responsible for selecting a mode of transport must base his decision, at least in large measure, on economic comparisons. And today, the engineer usually finds that he has to choose between several modes, including slurry pipelines. For the purpose of an initial economic screening, it is not necessary to go deeply into the technical details of a slurry system. What is usually needed, however, is a method with which the engineer can make a quick economic assessment to determine whether a slurry pipeline should be included in the detailed final analysis. This paper presents a rapid method for making such a preliminary appraisal. Experience with commercial slurry pipeline systems in several countries and with a variety of solid materials has shown that if several assumptions pertaining to critical design variables are made, it is possible to roughly estimate the transportation cost of a slurry system on the basis of only three factors: the specific gravity of the solid material, the length of the system, and the quantity of slurry to be pumped each year. It is assumed that conditions pertaining to field construction, corrosion inhibition, and the like, will be favorable. This assumption is critical because any factor which analysis shows to be particularly unfavorable will raise the total transportation cost estimate which this paper establishes. If the engineer employs this estimating procedure and decides that the use of a slurry pipeline is economically unattractive, his chances of being wrong are small. Conversely, if his quick appraisal indicates that the use of a slurry system is economically favorable, the engineer is justified in committing the time and money needed to make a more detailed investigation of the slurry pipeline potential.

Jan 1, 1969

In recent years there have been significant advances in computing power and programming technology, enabling more complicated processes to be modelled in greater detail. This has led to increased understanding of these complex processes, including mineral processing circuits. JKSimMet was developed over the past 35 years, incorporating outcomes from various research projects conducted at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), part of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland. It is a steady-state software program that allows the user to mass balance, model fit and simulate crushing, grinding and classification circuits. JKSimFloat has been developed over the past 20 years, incorporating outcomes from the JKMRC and other institutions around the world through the AMIRA International P9 project ? The Optimisation and Simulation of Mineral Processing Circuits. It is also a steady-state software program, similar to JKSimMet, but is focused on analysing flotation circuits. Both programs have been used in a wide variety of optimisation and design projects over many years. This paper provides an overview of both JKSimMet and JKSimFloat and examples of how both programs have been used to better understand, develop and optimise mineral processing circuits around the world.

Feb 27, 2013

By Anthony Leddin, Gillian Dooley

This paper is concerned with mineral policy in Ireland and how it might be improved to encourage more exploration and investment in mining in the country. The approach is to first outline the main desirable characteristics of a comprehensive national mineral policy document. This aspirational document is then used to assess the current regulatory, legislative and fiscal frameworks for mining in Ireland. The analysis also contains a brief account of the history, structure and characteristics of the mining industry in Ireland. The main focus of the paper is to identify those aspects of the existing framework that erode Ireland’s attractiveness to mineral investment and to suggest policy improvements.

Jan 1, 2005

The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of a filtered air delivery system to reduce respirable dust exposure of roof bolter operators in underground coal mines. When performing roof bolting operations, roof bolter operators may experience exposure to high levels of respirable dust during a working shift, especially when working downwind of the continuous mining machine. While drilling and installing roof bolts, this filtered air system supplies a clean curtain of air over the roof bolter operator by means of a plenum mounted beneath the canopy. This experimentally designed air curtain, adapted for roof bolting machines used in this study, is based upon previous design prototypes, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and trial-and-error testing. Both the prototype and final designs were tested in the full-scale mining galleries at the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) in Pittsburgh, PA before being taken underground for field testing. Test results of the system in both laboratory and field studies show reductions in operator exposure to respirable dust when the operator is positioned directly under the protected zone of the canopy.

Jan 1, 2012

By Steven R. Lowe

Construction of a pump station, consisting of an inlet chamber, wet well and pump chamber, required excavation to a depth of 9.7 m (32 ft) below ground surface and more than 7.6 m (25 ft) below the ground water table in a rural, but rapidly developing part of southern New Jersey. Private houses are located [ ] within a few hundred feet of the pump station that use shallow wells for water supply. The pump station design anticipated support of the entire pump station on shallow foundations bearing directly on the underlying natural soils. However, during construction, uncontrolled ground water flow caused ground loss and damage to the bearing qualities of foundation soils. As a result, remedial repairs were required including support of the pump station on drilled pile foundations and releveling of the pump chamber that had settled. This case study is an example of where a poor understanding of the significance of upward flowing ground water had a major impact on the cost of construction. Anticipated subsurface conditions The pump station layout is shown in Fig. 1 with the locations of two borings made prior to construction superimposed. One of the borings was located within the footprint of the deep wet well excavation. Generally, this is not advisable where a deep excavation is required below the ground water table. This is because there is a history of projects where ground water seepage, or pressure, has broken out into an excavation through an ungrouted borehole and compromised the integrity of foundation soils. Logs of the borings did not indicate that the borings [ ] were grouted upon completion.

Jan 1, 2011

By Shawn P. Coughlin, Michael A. Schimmenti, Juan Leonardo Tello del Pino

"The Sistema de Potabilización Área Norte project (Northern Area Purification System) was a major expansion of the potable water system in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The aim of the project was to transport and purify raw water from the Paraná River to provide potable water for five communities in the northern part of the province, benefitting up to two million people. The project was constructed by a joint venture (JV) of four South American contractors and consisted of the following key components:• Treatment plant: A 16-ha (39-acre) area was cleared for the construction of a treatment plant to purify 900,000 m3/day (1.2 million cu ft/d) of raw water from the Paraná River and distribute it to the surrounding communities.• Bored tunnel: Nearly 15 km (9 miles) of 3.6 m (12 ft) inner diameter tunnel, ranging from 18 to 22 m (59 ft to 72 ft) below grade, was bored with two earth pressure balance (EPB) tunnel boring machines (TBM) to draw the raw water from the river. The TBMs started from a central launch shaft and proceeded in opposite directions. Cristina advanced northbound to the Paraná River Intake System, and Liliana advanced southbound to the new treatment plant.• Access and ventilation shafts: Five access shafts and eight ventilation shafts were installed along the length of the tunnel. The access shafts were designed to provide entry points for inspection and maintenance of the final tunnel. The five shafts consisted of one central launch shaft in the middle of the tunnel alignment, one retrieval shaft at each end of the tunnel (intake and treatment plant, respectively) and two intermediate shafts. The intermediate shafts were installed before the TBM passed, with a final liner to be installedafterward."

Sep 1, 2016

By Paul Soros

A major share of the increase in the energy demands of Ontario province in the next decade will be supplied by bituminous coal mined in the U,S, To be competitive with alternative sources of energy, it is essential that the delivered cost of coal, inclusive of all transportation charges, be kept at a minimum. The Bessemer aid Lake Erie Railroad Company and the Pittsburgh and Conneaut Dock Company are currently building a shiploading terminal at Conneaut, Ohio, to service this tonnage, together with expected increases in coal consumption in the Eastern Lake Erie - Lake Ontario area, (see Fig, 1).

Jan 1, 1965

By L. Max Scott

[INTRODUCTION] The significance of gamma exposure to uranium miners has been recognized only in the last few years. Most ore deposits which have been underground mined, were 1% or less U308. Full-time mining of this grade ore can result in exposure exceeding 1 Rem per year. Several companies in Saskatchewan are planning to mine recently discovered ore bodies which contain ore pods in excess of 10% U308. The purpose of this paper is to present dose data which can be used to estimate gamma exposure from high-grade ore deposits, and to present mining techniques which will minimize miner exposure. [Dose Estimates] When one has a point source of radiation, the conventional laws of isotropic emission and the fall of dose with square of the distance, make dose calculations relatively easy. However, if one has an area source of infinite thickness, the assumption must be made that a uniform gamma flux is being emitted from all faces of the source (Figure 1). Dose from gamma emission would fall off only due to air attenuation up to such a distance at which the source can be considered to be a point source (usually 10 times the largest dimension of the source). For short distances, such as to the cab of ore-moving equipment, the dose reduction would be negligible. Assumptions: 1) Radium and gamma-emitting daughters are in secular equilibrium with uranium. 2) All gamma radiation is emitted from radium and its daughters. 3) Average gamma energy of 0.8 MeV. 4) Uranium ore has a linear attenuation coefficient of 0.212 cm-1, similar to that of Si02(sand). 5) Uranium ore density of 3.0 gm/cm3. 6) One curie of radium emits 6.84 x 1010 photon/sec(l). 7) One percent uranium ore contains 1 x 10-8 Ci/cm3 of radium. 8) Each MeV of 0.8 MeV photon results in a dose of 2.10[ ]10-3 mRem/hr. per MeV/cm2 -sec. 1) 9) Minimum ore depth 100 cm. 10) Linear attenuation coefficient instant for radium gamma of 0.374 cm -1 [ ] The photon flux from a radioactive slab is computed as follows: [Flux = photon/cm3 3(1) 2u S] [where, us is the linear absorption coefficient of s the source (uranium ore).] Thus, 1% uranium ore, in the form of an infinite slab, emits 1613 photon/cm2-sec, which results in a dose rate of 2.71 mRem/hr. Since the dose from an infinite slab is the same as a dose from an infinite radius right circular cylinder, the only correction needed from the above dose rate is for finite radius and point of dose above the end of the cylinder (Figure 2) [Dose = mRem/hr. {E2(bl) - E2(b3) - [(E2(b1sec[E] -E2(b3sec[E]]cos[O](1)]

Jan 1, 1981

By Carmel Bofinger, Maureen E. Hassall, David Cliff, Eric Stemn

Incident investigation is of utmost importance in most high-risk industries and is often used to improve organisational safety. This study was undertaken to examine the content of past incident investigation reports to determine the effectiveness of the incident investigations. The study uses a semi-quantitative method to assess the effectiveness of incident investigations in the Ghanaian mining industry by evaluating the quality of past investigation reports. The assessment tool consists of five elements with several indicators and rating scales for assessing the quality of an investigation report as a measure of the effectiveness of the investigation. The method was applied to 304 investigation reports of three Ghanaian large-scale gold mines, and the results correlated with incidence rates of the mines to determine if any relationship existed. The results showed that the mines differ significantly in the quality of their investigation reports, suggesting differences in the effectiveness of their investigations. In addition, the incidence rates of the mines negatively correlated with some elements of the assessment tool. In general, the method was found useful and revealed areas where improvement is needed.

By C. C. Stewart

Jim Walter Resources, Inc. operates four underground coal mines in Alabama. In 1986, during longwall recovery operations, sparks from a torch ignited methane that migrated onto the face after a roof fall. The fire quickly spread to the gob at the tailgate end of the longwall. The fire was successfully "area" sealed and mining operations resumed after five weeks. However, several problems were encountered during this process. This paper describes the events following the fire, methods used to control the situation, problems encountered, and steps taken to ensure preparedness for any future occurrences of this type.

Jan 1, 1993

By ERIK CHARRIER, HUGH MILLER, JOSEF BOURGEOIS

In this study, a unique excavation system was characterized, utilizing waterjet technology as the primary tool for material removal during rehabilitation of reinforced concrete and shotcrete structural liners. Through empiric testing, this research seeks to validate the hypothesis that waterjet removal of these support systems will result in less unintended damage than conventional removal methods. The intent is to develop a viable technology that will reduce the collateral damage caused to surrounding liners during excavation, improve the adhesion between shotcrete and the substrate for longer lasting ground support, and improve overall safety for workers in underground environments. An analysis on the fracture mechanisms and operating parameters of each method was completed. Instrumented shotcrete panels were physically tested and examined through visual inspection and ground penetrating radar (GPR) to compare substrate damage according to each testing method. After testing was completed, the data strongly indicates that waterjet cutting causes less collateral damage to the surrounding intact liner and substrate when compared to that of conventional impact hammers. This research is intended to provide a scientific basis for additional applied research in the rapid excavation and repair of shotcrete support systems.

Sep 23, 2021

By Mustafa Akser

Dwindling economic deposits of rutile (TiO2) prompted research on recovering it from secondary sources. One such resource is in Southwestern Turkey feldspar mining rejects that contain 5%-6% TiO2 mostly rutile. Previous studies could only upgrade the TiO2 to 36% TiO2 grade, claiming that the leftover flotation reagents on the surfaces of rutile and host minerals detrimentally affected upgrading of the rutile. As a potential remedy to this concern, a laboratory sample (from an operating feldspar mine in Milas, Turkey) was first caustic scrubbed, then air calcined at 400°C to evaporate the oily reagents. Subsequent physical separation of rutile included wet screening, gravity, magnetic, and electrostatic separation technologies. Such processes indeed improved the grade of the rutile concentrate up to 83 % TiO2 Low recovery of the TiO2 (<20%), was attributed to lack of full liberation of rutile, even at 125x44 micron range; interference with impurity minerals such as sphene and zircon; and simply the process inefficiency in upgrading the fine grains through conventional separation technologies for heavy minerals.

Jan 1, 1999

By A. B. Cecala

An evaluation was recently performed on a district recirculation system at a trona mine in Granger, Wyoming. A 1.52m (5 ft) diameter, 37.3kw (50 hp) vane axial fan was installed in a crosscut between the intake and return airways and recirculated approximately 31.4 m&apos;/sec (66,578 ft&apos;/min) of air back into the intake. This amounted to a recirculation factor of approximately 20 pct of the return air. This air was part of the primary ventilation to three different continuous miner sections at operating distances of between 6l0m (2,000 ft) and 1,829m (6,000 ft) from the recirculation fan. The mine environment was constantly monitored for respirable dust, methane, and carbon monoxide in the operating sections and in the main intake and return entries. In addition, air samples were taken with and without the recirculation system during the evaluation and analyzed using gas chromatography. The results of this study showed only small increases in dust, while all other mine contaminants remained at such low levels that it was impossible to determine any relative changes from the recirculation system. Because of this, a brief SF. tracer gas analysis study was subsequently performed to more precisely determine an increase in a mine contaminant with the recirculation system.

Jan 1, 1991

By R. L. Virta

Four companies mined ball clay in four States during2004. They were H.C. Spinks Clay (owned by Franklin Minerals) Kentucky-Tennessee Clay (owned by Imerys),Old Hickory Clay and Unimin. Production was estimated to be 1.46 Mt (1.61 million st) valued at about $56.9 million, based on a preliminary survey of the ball clay industry. In 2003, production was 1.31 Mt (1.44 million st) valued at $56.2 million. Tennessee was the leading producer state with 61 percent of production. It was followed by Texas, Kentucky and Mississippi.

Jan 1, 2005

By Ralbern H. Murray

Typical First Year Selling Price Strip Mined Western Sub-Bituminous Coal Based [Fixed Capital (1) $600 MM Construction Loan Interest $100 Working Capital $ 30 Start-up Costs $ 30 Total Capital Requirement $760 MM Annual Costs (First Year) $M/Year Coal (2) 443,550 Operating Costs(3) 53,000 Depreciation(4) 36,500 Interest(5) 45,220 After Tax Profit(6) 34, 200 Federal Income Tax (48% Rate) 31, 570 Gross Revenue Required 245,040 (Less) By-Product Sales (18, 000) Net Revenue Required 227, 040]

Jan 1, 1975

By T. M. Barczak, Zach Agioutantis

The Support Technology Optimization Program (STOP) has been developed by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to provide a comprehensive tool for evaluating the performance of available secondary roof support systems and designs based on support strength, convergence, cost, installation time and material handling considerations. This program uses engineering models developed from full-scale testing of numerous supports under controlled loading conditions in the unique NIOSH Mine Roof Simulator load frame to determine the support load-displacement performance as a function of the various sup- port design parameters. Both standing supports, such as wood cribs installed within the entry, and intrinsic supports such as cable bolts, can be evaluated. Support systems can be designed and compared for use in a new mining section or to evaluate potential replacements for an existing design. The support design requirements are defined from 1) estimating the failure height in the immediate roof, 2) in-mine measure- ments of support and strata interaction or development of ground reaction curves from numerical modeling, 3) the performance of an existing support system, or 4) from any arbitrary load and convergence criteria. All settings can be saved to permit resuming an evaluation in progress at a later time. This paper presents the updated MS Windows version of this tool, which can be easily installed and run on a personal computer. This Windows implementation will feature a project and application scenario setup where multiple scenarios can be assigned to one project. Scenarios can then be compared on support parameters and cost. Cost parameters can be provided either as individual cost items or using a price grouping feature. Additional support performance curves and/or additional ground reaction curves will be distributed with program updates as new information is developed. Users can also provide their own support and/or ground reaction curves.

Jun 25, 2024