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By J. D. McAuliffe

The Homer-Wauseca Mine is operated by the Hanna Mining Company, three miles north of Iron River, Michigan on the Menominee Iron Range. The mine produces 5,300 tons of direct shipping iron ore daily. The present main producing level is at a depth of 1,500 feet below the collar. The ore body continues to a depth of 2,700 feet below the collar, to which depth the modern circular concrete shaft has been completed. A view of the property is shown in Figure #1. This paper is a report on the development of large underground boreholes used initially to conduct stope filling material into inaccessible, mined-out stopes. Later holes were drilled for ventilation raises, for mine drainage, for passageway for power cable, also for the primary breaking point for long hole stoping. Some, which were drilled as ventilation raises, were later stripped to a suitable size for a manway or ladder road. The holes varied in size from 6" to 30" with the present popular, economical working size being 16 1/4", used as a stope fill passage in mined out areas and for ventilation in deeper development. Foremost has been the desire to develop equipment suitable for drilling raises large enough for manways.

Jan 1, 1963

By Lauro Lacerda

Shotcrete is a highly adaptable and widely used underground construction material at infrastructure and mining projects around the world. In fact, many projects could not have been completed without its utilization. As underground projects became larger the use of mechanized wet-mix spraying gradually replaced manual dry-mix shotcrete applications. This paper details some of the reasons for that and provides information on the equipment and operational factors including safety and productivity required to successfully complete underground shotcrete projects.

Jun 13, 2021

By F. Dingwu

The latest technology and novel equipments in kaolin processing industry in China are described in this paper. Some typical experimental results are presented, which include laboratory-, pilot-or commercial-scale tests. The characteristics of kaolin processing technology are summarized, and the developing trends are indicated.

Jan 1, 1995

By MARK J. VANARELLI

Estimating groundwater inflows in rock deep tunnels is critical to the safety of personnel constructing the tunnel and the cost of construction. This paper presents two case studies for estimating steady-state groundwater inflows into deep rock tunnels. The case studies included the Chattahoochee and Nancy Creek tunnels. In this paper, statistical methods were applied to packer test data obtained from exploratory borings during geotechnical site investigations. A semi-empirical procedure was utilized for estimating groundwater inflows into these deep rock tunnels. The Chattahoochee and Nancy Creek tunnels are deep rock tunnels which exhibit radial flow conditions. For the radial flow condition, a statistical analysis presented in this paper indicates that the semi-empirical procedure works well; however, variations in the procedure and/or an insufficient amount of testing could lead to underestimations of the inflow quantities. Packer test data plotted in histograms were observed in all cases to be log-normally distributed for the radial flow condition. Modeling using Monte Carlo simulations was observed to be an effective tool for removing irregularities in the distribution of the data and incorporating high-end permeability data to derive reasonable groundwater inflow estimates.

Jun 13, 2021

By Robert B. Scott

The Dents Run Demonstration Project near Morgantown, West Virginia, was a cooperative venture involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Water Resources Division (WRD)(1) of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the Christopher Division of the Consolidation Coal Company (CONSOL). The object of this project was to demonstrate pollution control methods and to clean up a 37.8 sq km (14.6 sq mi) watershed severely polluted by coal mine drainage. A study entitled, "Water Infiltration Control to Achieve Mine Water Pollution Control" (EPA-R-2-73-142),(2) was conducted by the Cyrus Wm. Rico Division of NUS Corporation for the grantee to determine the feasibility of utilizing remedial techniques to improve the Dents Run water¬shed. This study showed that the Dents Run watershed was discharging as much as 6,870 kg/day (15,100 lb/day) of acid; 1620 kg/day (3,560 lb/day) of iron 17,250 kg/day (38,000 lb/day) of sulfates; and 29,500 kg/day (64,900 lb/day) of total dissolved solids into the Monongahela River near Morgantown, West Virginia. This pollution was caused by the combination of borehole pump discharges from active underground mines, runoff from abandoned strip mines, and runoff from refuse dumps.

Jan 1, 1977

By Edward S. Plotkin, Gary A. Almeraris, Thomas F. Peyton

The lining of the tunnel and shafts for a new section of New York City's- water system required extensive components to produce, deliver and place a continuous tunnel linning. The project placed approximately 153,000 CM (200,000 cy) of concrete for 5,340 M (17,520) of drill and blast 7.3 M (24 ft.) ID tunnel, located at depths of 152 M (500 ft.) to 213 M (700 ft.) . This section of tunnel will be connected to the surface water distribution system via four shafts of varying diameters ranging from 5.8 M (19 ft.) ID to 1.5 M (5 ft.) ID . All work was done beneath the streets of Manhattan under the rigid constraints of the City of New York and the Bureau of Water Supply regulations.

Jan 1, 1987

By Gene Mattila

Each installed rock bolt costs in excess of 520.00. High cost in conjunction with the primary purpose of safety makes it only logical to install the highest quality anchors possible. Each bolt has designed support capabilities in axial, shear and fluctuating ground condition, if installed to manufacturers recommendations. The quality of anchor is not; however, only affected by material specifications, but by transportation, handling storage, installation procedure, machine performance and geology. The quality is not only affected by many variables, but reliability should be assured. Non-destructive methods of testing reliability are only available for several types of bolts.

Jan 1, 1985

By Lake H. E.

The request to participate on your theme panel was accepted with some reluctance but indeed as an honor. My subject was outlined to cover 'Energy Resources - both nuclear and conventional' as related to your theme 'Minerals - Treasure Trove of the West'. This is indeed quite an order and I hope you will forgive me for concentrating mainly on the nuclear-uranium portion with brief references only to conventional fuels some of which will be covered in detail later in your conference. In regard to Uranium, I am speaking on the fringe of the area containing half the uranium reserves in your country and no doubt to many who are very conversant with knowledge of these resources. Nevertheless since our two countries have been very closely allied in both nuclear developments and uranium supplies I hope an exchange of information may be mutually beneficial. Concentration on the nuclear fuel resources is I hope understandable as nuclear energy is the coming source of power which will augment the rapid demand in the industrialized countries and provides hope for economic power in many of the more underdeveloped countries. The situation regarding conventional fuel resources is more widely known and their expanding future revolves around production cost reductions, research into diversified uses, plus more assurance of imports from countries less effected by international controversies determining export policies.

Jan 1, 1967

By A. Johnson

When are SMART transmitters the smartest choice? To answer this question requires a closer look at SMART transmitter technology. It is necessary to understand this technology in order to recognize how it can best be utilized to give the greatest value for the application. And, once the decision to buy transmitters has been made, it becomes a question of whose SMART transmitter to buy. For, although the under-lying technology is similar, the differences that exist in how the technology has been implemented can make a dramatic difference in the end result. What prudent users of SMART technology do is to analyze their needs by application before making their buying decision.

Jan 1, 1988

By G. van Eck, H. Smit, L. Meyer

The Cook Islands (CI) possesses within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) a massive field of polymetallic nodules representing one of the world’s largest undeveloped cobalt deposits, along with large quantities of other metals critical to achieving global energy transition targets. In February of 2022 the Seabed Minerals Authority (SBMA) of the CI granted Moana Minerals a license to conduct our nodule exploration program. This paper describes how Moana Minerals chose to approach conducting exploration activities, one of the greatest challenges to Deep Sea Mining (DSM) development and the securing of the social license to advance to eventual mining of the resources, in an unconventional manner. The remote location of the project poses logistical challenges in mobilizing to and operating in the region and is a significant cost driver. Historically, exploration campaigns mobilized large vessels from mainland Europe, the Americas, and Asia as this model works well when contemplating long duration and widely temporally spaced campaigns without the need to revisit. Moana Minerals, when considering these challenges determined a multi-year deep sea mining (DSM) exploration program conducted in such a remote location can be better optimized by the deployment of a smaller yet highly capable “exploration optimized” vessel that is dedicated to the task and is based full time in the Cook Islands. INTRODUCTION The paper describes the challenges of exploration in remote regions including the South Pacific, and how an unconventional consideration of the problem led to the solution. Completion of an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment begins with a detailed environmental scoping study, resource update sampling requirements, and engineering data and sample requirements, which identifies the exploration goals of the project and technology needed to accomplish those goals. The method walks the reader through vessel and technology selection, discusses the challenges of equipment selection considering size and capability, describes the final arrangement, and provides results from the initial exploration campaigns. We followed the project from conception through the shipyard conversion, mobilization, and initial operations in the Cook Islands. The result shows how a smaller vessel with limited budget makes a large impact on the exploration capabilities in the region while building public trust. The Anuanua Moana is the first dedicated deep sea minerals exploration vessel modified with a suite of technologies that allow it to compete technically with existing ships but operate locally in the smaller ports of the South Pacific. The unique combination of size and technical capability gives the Anuanua Moana advantages over other vessels. This paper shows the importance of the Anuanua Moana in the development of offshore exploration strategies in the emerging deep sea minerals space.

Feb 22, 2026

By H. J. van Antwerpen

AngloGold Ashanti operates the world`s deepest mine, Mponeng gold mine, in South Africa. A vast refrigeration and ventilation system provides acceptable working conditions 3800m below surface at 60°C rock temperature. In such a system, optimisation and assessment of modifications becomes very difficult. With that in mind, a research project was launched to determine whether recently developed system simulation technology can be applied to a mine as vast and complex as Mponeng. Using the techniques and methods as implemented in FLOWNEX software, it was indeed proven to be possible to do a mine-wide combined simulation of compressed air flow, ventilation air psychrometry and refrigeration water systems. Interactions between the various streams included heat transfer, pressure drop, evaporation and condensation. The simulation model was used in a parametric study to test various water flow and temperature operating points for the refrigeration system. It was found that, given current limitations, the mine refrigeration system is running fairly close to optimal but with some opportunities for improvement. The simulation model also provided useful insight for future changes or extensions to the system.

Feb 23, 2014

By David Harrison

Exxon Minerals Company uses geostatistical techniques for ore resource evaluation of its mineral projects. These techniques provide the most reliable estimates of recoverable tonnage and grade and uniform and realistic confidence limits. A schema has been developed which categorizes the company's successive evaluation phases. Clear separation is intended between geostatistical estimates and other factors in project evaluation such as mining, metallurgy, and economics. Company management seeks consistent and reliable estimates for investment decision-making and to meet growing demands for disclosure of mineral assets.

Jan 1, 1983

By James S. Goff, Stephen J. Navin, Wesley W. Moulton

The White River Shale Oil Corporation (WRSOC), as agent for Phillips Petroleum Company, Sohio Shale Oil Company, and Sun Shale Oil Company, is developing a prototype oil shale facility on Federal Lease Tracts Ua and Ub, located in northeastern Utah and known as the White River Shale Project (WRSP). The Ralph M. Parsons Company (Parsons) has been retained as the design engineer/constructor for the project. This paper covers the successful pregrouting of the Bird's Nest Aquifer in conjunction with the sinking of a 9.2-m (30-ft)-diameter shaft and driving of a 3.89-m by 5.64-m (18.5-ft by 12.75-ft) decline. The Bird's Nest Aquifer derives its name from the ellipsidal solution cavities caused by leaching of random-size nacholite nodules. The sodium bicarbonate nodules occur as persistent bands within a matrix of siltstone and marlstone. The team, made up of the owner, engineer/contractor, and subcontractor successfully grouted the shaft down to an inflow of less than 0.06 lps (1 gmp) and the decline down to less than 0.12 lps (2 gpm) by injecting a total of 213.190 kg (470,000 lb) of Celtite Terraseal, 113,400 kg (250,000 lb) of limestone dust, and 41,730 kg (92,000 lb) of cement into the formation.

Jan 1, 1985

By Herry Poernomo, Agus Prasetya, Iga Trisnawati, Himawan Tri Bayu Murti Petrus, Gyan Prameswara, Panut Mulyono

We studied yttrium extraction from untreated zircon sand processing waste tailings. Xenotime mineral as the rare earth element source with an abundance of yttrium (REY) was detected in sufficient grade for extraction. As much as 9.03% yttrium exists in zircon tailings (analysed by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry). The presence of yttrium was confirmed by X-ray diffractometry in xenotime minerals, which are yttrium carriers (Y-PO4). The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of leaching conditions on yttrium recovery from zircon sand after alkaline fusion treatment. Alkaline fusion was chosen to decompose phosphate into hydroxide in the xenotimemineral,which will reduce further required hydrometallurgical processing.Alkaline fusionwas carried out for 3 h at 450 °C, with a ratio of sodium hydroxide to zircon tailings sand of ~ 1:1. The alkaline fusion product was leached with water, followed by hydrochloric acid treatment to leach the yttrium. Yttrium recovery reached 87% under optimum conditions (60 °C, 1MHCl, and solid-to-liquid ratio = 1/10 for 7.5 min). A suitable model for yttrium dissolution with hydrochloric acid was diffusion through a solid particle ash layer. The calculated activation energy (EA) for this model was 20.21 kJ/mol.

May 26, 2020

By W. J. Dolinar

The U.S. Bureau of Mines implemented the Fe2+ /Fe3+-SO2 anode reaction in a Cu electrowinning cell with full-size electrodes. Electrowinning was conducted using industrial electrolyte at 258 A/m2 (24 A/ft2) and 40 'C. Manifold injection of electrolyte provided circulation between the electrodes. Five-day operation using an optimized manifold gave an average cell voltage of 0.94 V at 89% current efficiency, which amounted to an energy savings of 2.82 MJ/kg (0.355 kW-hr/lb) compared to conventional electrowinning. Acid misting was completely eliminated, and SO2 concentration 23 cm (9 in.) above the cell averaged 0.06 ppm.

Jan 1, 1995

By Felicia F. Peng

One of the serious environmental problems related with the extraction of coal for carbon and energy resources is that upon preparation of coal a large quantity of fine coal has been discarded and/or lost to tailing impoundments. These problems present hazardous conditions to the local community. Also, the precious heating value of energy resources has been wasted and Left unrecovered in the tailing impoundments. Both RCR and SMRC ACTs recognize and mandate an investigation into slurry impoundment problems, including consideration of potential use of those coal fines in the tailing ponds. Bituminous coal producing district 46 encompasses the northern panhandle of West Virginia. The major producing seam in this district is the Pittsburgh coal, 1-7 meters thick. 75 percent of the coal producted in this district is deep mine. This district produces approximately 3 million tons of coal waste materials annually. One of the coal preparation plants in the district which we have visited has been processing Pittsburgh too. 8 seam coal for the past ten years. The characteristic data of the Pittsburgh raw coal is shown in Table 1. The raw coal produced in this district is characterized by its high heating value, high ash and high sulfur contents. The coal preparation plant flowsheet designed and used to process this Pittsburgh raw coal prior to 1979 is shown in Figure 1. It was a partial coal cleaning plant' with 1 092 mt/hr designed capacity, which consisted mainly of a coarse coal cleaning circuit. The rejected fine particles in the size range of -600µm which consisted of vorsiv underflow and cyclone underflow from clean coal streams and spiral classifier overflow from refuse stream were settled down in a thickener with the aid of anionic flocculant prior to being pumped to the tailing ponds for disposal. Figure 2 shows that the same coal preparation plant in Figure 1 was modified to a semi-complete coal cleaning plant and expanded its designed capacity to 1 820 mt/hr, when market of coal fines becomes feasible in 1979. Tabling in the clean coal circuit and thermal dryer in the dewatering circuit were added to the flow sheet. The purpose is to recover more coal fines, reduce more pyritic sulfur and ash contents in coal and also to reduce solid waste material to be stored into the slurry impoundment, giving them a Longer Life. The rejected fine particles fed to the thickener are clean coal fines from two cyclone overflows and the fine refuse from the rufuse cyclone overflow. The clean coal fines presently lost to the tailing impoundments are in the size range of -150 µm and constitute about 5 percent of the overall plant feed. Total amount of tailing waste material accumulated in a tailing impoundment is estimated at 1.3 million metricton for the past ten years.

Jan 1, 1982

By Tim Langmaid, Steve Skelhorn, Stephanie Robillard, Allen Mitchell

"The Port Mann Main Water Supply Tunnel project provides a critical water main crossing of the Fraser River for the owner, Greater Vancouver Water District (Metro Vancouver). The project consists of two 60-metre-deep slurry panel shafts and a 1-kilometre-long, 3.5-metre excavated diameter tunnel located near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The initial tunnel lining is a precast concrete steel fiber reinforced gasketed segmental lining. The final lining is a 2.1-metre-diameter welded steel pipe. This paper describes the challenges encountered during tunnel construction and the solutions implemented. Key challenges include earth pressure balance tunnelling at up to 6 bar pressure—the highest to date in Canada—a water-crossing without surface access for the majority of the tunnel drive, ground freezing from a river platform for a critical TBM intervention, and boring through cobbles and boulders in dense glacial till. INTRODUCTION Metro Vancouver supplies drinking water to 18 municipalities, one electoral district and one treaty first nation, serving a population of more than 2.4 million residents. Water is collected in three mountainous watersheds to the north of the Greater Vancouver area, in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. To supply the growing demands of Metro Vancouver’s customers, treated water must be conveyed across two significant water bodies: the Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River. The existing Port Mann water main is one of several key links between the watersheds north of Vancouver and the municipalities south of the Fraser River. The Port Mann Main Water Supply Tunnel (PMMWST) is the first of a series of upgrades, to increase capacity, enhance scour protection, and improve seismic resilience. The new tunnel is 3.5 metres (11.5 ft) in diameter and 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) long. When completed, it will contain a new 2.1 metre (7 ft) diameter steel water main that will help ensure the continued, reliable delivery of drinking water to these municipalities, and will more than double the capacity of the existing 1.2 metre diameter main."

Jan 1, 2016

By R. L. Godfrey

The Custom Coals advanced coal cleaning plant will be designed with a unique blending of existing and new processes to produce two types of compliance coals: Carefree Coal? and Self-Scrubbing Coal?. Carefree Coal will be produced by cleaning the coal in a proprietary dense media cyclone circuit utilizing fine magnetite to remove up to 90 percent of the pyritic sulfur and correspondingly greatly reduce the ash. While may utilities can achieve full S02 reduction compliance with Carefree Coal, others face higher sulfur reduction requirements due to the higher sulfur content of their existing fuel supplies. For these circumstances, a patented Self-Scrubbing Coal will be produced by taking Carefree Coal and pelletizing limestone-based additives with the finest fraction of the clean coal. These technologies will enable over 150 billion tons of non-compliance U.S. coal reserves to meet compliance requirements.

Jan 1, 1995

By T. J. Fronapfel

Impacts to ground water from mining are being comprehensively regulated in Nevada through specific requirements for design, construction, operation, permitting and closure. This program is the nation's most comprehensive for control of activities at mining operations which have the potential to cause groundwater degradation. It encompasses virtually all types of facilities, including placer, physical separation, flotation, testing, leaching and milling. Minimum design requirements are established by regulation, and must be met by each facility. Site-specific monitoring requirements are established for each facility, and are heavily emphasized. Regulatory and technical requirements and relevant permit conditions are presented and discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By Kristin K. Mueller, Lucie Coudert, Thi Yen Chau Nguyen, Lan Huong Tran, Jean‑François Blais, Guy Mercier

Fluorite (calcium fluoride—CaF2), also known as fluorspar, is an industrial mineral used in metallurgy, hydrofluoric acid production, and ceramics manufacturing. Based on the results from a previous study, a low-grade fluorspar by-product (20.0% CaF2) originating from the exploitation of a rare earth carbonatite deposit can be improved to 75.4% by combining magnetic separation and acid leaching. The present research aimed to develop and optimize a column flotation process to increase the purity of this fluorspar by-product by removing residual silicate minerals and meeting the requirements for ceramic manufacturing (> 85% CaF2). The optimal flotation conditions required for maximizing the recovery and improving the grade of a fluorspar by-product were identified using a conventional approach combined with a response surface methodology (Box-Behnken design). Optimal fluorspar flotation was achieved under the following conditions: 3.6 g/kg of sodium oleate as the collector, 2 g/kg of sodium silicate as the pH modifier and depressant, a conditioning time of 35 min, a flotation time of 7 min, and a solid-to-liquid ratio (S/L) of the pulp of 5%. Under these conditions, 86.8% fluorspar recovery was achieved, and the grade increased from 76.5% in the feed (metallurgical grade) to 88.6% (ceramic grade) in the final concentrate. The silicon content decreased from 5.66% in the feed to 1.12% in the fluorspar concentrate. Using magnetic separation before the flotation improves the final content of fluorspar in the concentrate with the final grade of 94.4%.

Sep 9, 2022