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By Dan Eyde

Low levels of thallium were detected in the mine water drainages, and process water discharges of western mining and smelting operations. This required remediation under state regulatory standards, which allow discharges of no more than .0017 ppm thallium in mine water discharges. Influent streams containing thallium can be mitigated to state discharge standards after a single pass through the series of fluidized upflow columns. Test work to determine the optimal flow rates used pilot scale systems at two separate locations treating 5 - 25 gpm of effluent. The test system at the gold mine mimics the full-scale system, which will be based on the existing upflow carbon tanks that have been converted to zeolite columns. The system installed at ASARCO's East Helena smelter has a far more complex influent stream with a high loading of competing cations. Nevertheless the columns filled with CABSORB® are successfully mitigating the thallium contamination. CABSORB® ZS500RW is a product based on the sodium analog of the zeolite mineral chabazite named herschelite.

Jan 1, 1998

By Jamal Rostami, Tom Iseley, Saleh Behbahani

Tunnels and underground infrastructures assets, like all assets, deteriorate with time. At some point, they reach the end of their useful life. Therefore, frequent inspections, higher levels of maintenance, and rehabilitation are needed to address loss of life and safety concerns. The repair cost of tunnels will increase if maintenance of tunnels is not satisfactory and timely. Historically, tunnel inspections have primarily relied on visual and manual procedures. Due to their time-consuming nature and susceptibility to human error, there is a demand for alternative automated techniques that can enhance efficiency and reliability in tunnel inspection. By utilizing a tunnel scanning system, such as laser scanner and thermography, or photogrammetry system, tunnel inspection cost, time, and personnel can be reduced. The goal of this study is to utilize deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automated identification of defects in tunnel lining inspection. This paper presents a framework to classify two types of defects in tunnel lining (water leakages and cracks) using CNNs. The CNNs were trained and tested using 4,608 images. The Precision, Recall, and F1 Score were each 99.6%, confirming the viability of this approach in the automated defect identification in tunnel lining.

Jun 23, 2024

Over the past 18 months the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd operations have made a concerted effort to move away from using the traditional shock tube initiating systems. These systems are being systematically replaced by the use of electronic delay detonators (EDD). Various trials were conducted in both host rock and kimberlite rock masses to improve tunnel advance as well as to optimise delay timing during trough openings (Ngoma et al, 1999; Mohle, 1999; Baltus, 2000). The high cost of EDDÆs, when compared with traditional initiation systems, led to a number of detailed studies being conducted on the mines where EDDÆs were being used. These studies aimed to quantify the additional benefits when blasting with electronic detonators. The studies showed that the change was justified on the basis of increased quality control and reliability gained through the use of EDDÆs. However, these benefits attract other related benefits, like fragmentation control, and backbreak reductions. When compared to the shock tube initiating systems the increased development face advance and the reduction of oversize during production blasting using EDDs, compared favourably to the less costly systems. As blasting engineers gained experience and confidence in the use of the system bigger blasts were initiated in mass under-cut blasts and slot raise development, by using multiple hole firing and second delay periods between holes. In the open pit and sublevel open stope mining methods the control of the fragmentation distribution and the effect of the mass of explosive detonated during a blast is detrimental to the loading and hauling production rates and the stability of the rock mass behind the blast. With a stable rock mass the bench cutting can be executed to establish steeper overall slope angles leading to large cost savings due to a reduction in waste stripping. It is the purpose of this paper to indicate through quantification that the use of the EDDs as an initiating system improves all-round blasting performances and assists in meeting customer requirements. The customer being the ore treatment plant.

Jan 1, 2001

By Dean Nichols, Matt Ortel

Explosive accidents in the United States have brought increased attention to emergency operation plans (EOP) at all facilities that manufacture, transport, or store hazardous materials – particularly explosive materials. Explosions are sudden, powerful, and complex events that are difficult to characterize in terms of the thermal, over pressure, and debris effects. Industry, regulatory, and public officials require emergency response planners to not only anticipate the blast effects of an explosion, but also to prepare an appropriate response.

Jan 1, 2016

By Javier A. Llano

GPS, wireless communications and on-board and off-board computing capabilities provide today’s mining companies with unprecedented process improvement and cost reduction opportunities. All aspects of the operation from engineering, surveying, drilling, loading, hauling and support can benefit from products like CAES and Drill Monitor. These technologies, which have been working at world class mines around the world in some cases for over three years, are helping customers achieve new lows in cost per ton. Manually intensive and time-consuming processes like in field surveying are replaced by timely mine status information wirelessly transmitted from the machines to the office.

Jul 17, 2000

By M. H. Ali

Codelco, a multi-process primary copper producer, is undertaking a full life cycle inventory (LCI) of all its commercial products based on copper and molybdenum. During this work, many questions have surfaced regarding the contribution of process unit design to specific aspects of a product's LCI and, more importantly, how such designs could be improved using a life cycle perspective. Management strategy efforts were undertaken to improve the LCI footprint, however it was found that the corrective actions were almost impossible to apply at the operation level in plant, given the ongoing timing pressures of extractive mining, and costs saving priorities. Additionally, it was found that most of the important comparative differences between operations had structural reasons. In this circumstance, the LCI practitioner group from 1M2, and the environmental managers from Codelco, decided to shift its efforts to place the critical LC1 aspects to the design process of future developments. Hatch Associates has developed unique tools in their Sustainable Plant Design (SPD) package that compliment and enhance LCA methods; these effectively drive sustainability into the heart of the design process. By using LCA and SPD in a project design phase, you cannot only address potential hotspots, but also decide on materials, location and size of certain facilities to optimize for energy efficiency. Moreover, you can avoid the shifting of environmental burdens upstream or downstream within the plant and finally it is extremely useful in identifying opportunities for greenhouse gas reduction.

Jan 1, 2007

By S. G. Britton

"Strategies to improve performance in mining production, maintenance and mineral processing operations have evolved over time from straightforward time studies of individual machine performance in the 1960s-1970s to more sophisticated and better focused statistical and financial tools that have emerged in the 1980s-1990s. These newer strategies fall under the broad descriptive category of operational excellence.Operational excellence is the term that embodies a number of performance evaluating strategies, the most popular and relevant to mining include the following:• Six sigma for addressing errors within mining or milling process and work standards.• Lean manufacturing to optimize organizational and operational performance through continuous improvement.There are other strategies that can be applied as well and this paper is not focused on a review of the pros and cons of any one strategy. However, the common threads in these strategies embody the expectation that expected results from these efforts can be quantified and that value will positively benefit the targeted work process, organizational unit, equipment deployment or time schedule when applied to it as part of continuous improvement efforts.The priority for proceeding with any one or more of these efforts is based on the calculated net value of the required resources to make the change versus the estimated value gained. The practice is identified as the value mapping process.This discussion summarizes the value mapping process methodology used at a mature uranium mine and mill in northern Canada to work through the myriad of potential improvement efforts available through the operational excellence process for continuous improvement."

Nov 1, 2016

By J Herd, J Rowe, M Cutbush, d F. Aziz

WearApp provides expertise for assessing the degradation of removable screening media panels on vibrating screens right in a user’s pocket. Through the WearApp application, users can simply take a picture of a panel using their mobile, enter some basic information and have the application assess the wear to provide a recommendation for whether the panel needs to be replaced. Where traditional mechanisms for assessing panel wear only measure a few points across the panel face and rely on having personnel with specialised knowledge available to perform the assessment, WearApp uses deep learning models to analyse the entire panel face and support the user to make an informed decision. The application works through analysing a panel image and using a model to automatically detect the corners of the panel. Given the known dimensions of the panel, this enables the application to calibrate the pixel size against a known reference. A second set of models then detect the apertures and measure their dimensions. With the aperture dimensions defined the application assesses the wear of the panel through referencing a stored 3D model of the aperture. Finally, the data from each aperture is collated and the wear of the entire panel face defined. Since WearApp performs measurement of the entire panel face, it also allows the user to perform a more detailed analysis of the panel’s wear profile. Where typically, the panel wear is only measured in a few locations, WearApp’s analysis enables users to visualise the panel wear across the entire panel face, identifying areas of high wear that could be leading to premature panel replacement. Additionally, because the entire panel face is measured the change in screening efficiency can be calculated accurately for the worn panel, even taking into account the impact of aperture pegging by small rocks.

Sep 1, 2024

By Tom Gabardi, Peter Clarke

"MillMapperTM is a new 3D laser scanning technology that has only recently been introduced into the North American mining industry. It enables mill operators to gain a much more complete understanding of the condition of their mill internals and to more accurately predict how liners will perform in the future. This paper describes the technology and techniques used to obtain data on internal mill conditions, how this data is processed into meaningful information which enables better prediction of liner life and gives examples of the reports provided by the software. Examples are given, using client sites data, on how this information is being used to reduce the costs and improve the revenue from SAG and ball mills.INTRODUCTION Scanalyse Pty Ltd developed the MillMapperTM technology in Australia over a number of years and has recently introduced it into North America with a significant take-up in Canada. The technology was commercially released in Australia in late 2006 and there has been significant technical development in the features provided since that time. MillMapperTM has been accepted as a useful technology in the Australasian region and more recently has been introduced to sites in Chile, Peru, Brazil, USA, Canada, Laos and South Africa. Over 100 different mills have been scanned and the technology has been thoroughly tested and validated. It has become an integral tool in condition monitoring and improvement programs for SAG and Ball mills across many sites and is now providing significant and measurable benefits to the mining industry. Some of these benefits will be described in this paper using actual examples."

Jan 1, 2012

By Felix Degold, Mark Ganster

Achieving a customer optimized fragmentation by using robust data from new technologies e.g. GPS positions of boreholes, fragmentation analysis to calibrate the geology and fragmentation prediction models. The inclusion of the collected data into the blast’s design makes it possible to accomplish a desired particle size distribution.

Feb 1, 2020

By C. H. Buck, A. J. Taylor

"In 2015 Vale’s Clarabelle Mill began the process change to enable a higher degree of Cu separation. The flowsheet modification was part of a complete divisional flowsheet change being implemented in Vale’s Sudbury Operations. This paper will centre on some of the Operational Readiness (OR) work, culminating in the commissioning of the circuit in March 2017. The emphasis will be on the implementation of an integrated test plan to prepare for the process flow change through the mill.BackgroundClarabelle Mill (CBM) began making a saleable Cu concentrate in 2006 with the installation of the Cu separation circuit. Typical separation rate was 35-40% of Cu in feed reporting to Cu concentrate based on a target Ni concentrate Cu:Ni target of 0.7-0.8. The remainder of the recovered Cu (55-60%) reported to Ni concentrate and was smelted through the Copper Cliff Smelter.In 2013 a capital project, Surface Facility Upgrade (SFU), was implemented to focus on matching the surface plants capacities with the future mine plan to maximize revenues. This was to be achieved by redistributing the metal flow, specifically Cu, through CBM to increase metal unit content through the Smelter. The amount of redistribution of Cu was determined to be based on maintaining a stable Cu to Ni ratio (Cu:Ni) in the Ni concentrate.The change in Cu:Ni ratio in the Ni concentrate would affect the Sudbury divisional flowsheet, and required process changes across the all of the surface plants. The detail that surrounds the flowsheet changes as a whole will not be discussed, but the outcome of the decisions plays a large role in the operational readiness interactions between the mill, its suppliers and its downstream customers."

Jan 1, 2018

By Luis Valentim, John E. Wiegand

Highwall or face profiling has long been used to facilitate the design and placement of front row blastholes to ensure optimum burdens. Traditionally, a large number of laser measurement points obtained from the rock face or highwall, were input in profiling software packages. This method can be time consuming and requires access to the rock face with a complete view of the highwall, to be successful. Stereo photography has also been used to generate the rock face surface, but this method also requires access to the highwall (and pit floor in some instances) for measurement of reference targets or points.

Jan 1, 2016

By E. Isokangas

The production of minerals for economic use is a two-stage process, involving mining to extract the mineral from the ground, and processing to convert the mineral into a marketable product. Generally, mining and processing have been viewed as self-contained entities. Both have separate objectives, separate cost centres and key performance indicators (KPIs) that do not reflect the customer/supplier relationships that inherently exist. However, mining and processing operations are inter-connected and therefore intimately inter-related with the performance of one operation affecting the performance of another. Optimizing each stage separately without considering the whole system often misses potential economic benefits and energy savings. During the past fifteen years, the authors have been involved in implementing a holistic methodology ?Mine to Mill Process Integration and Optimisation (Mine to Mill PIO)? to maximize the overall profitability of the operation rather than just optimizing any individual process in a mining operation. Metso Process Technology and Innovation (PTI), along with their project partners, have conducted several projects to significantly increase their production- generating typically 5% to 20% higher throughput and improve the overall mine and concentrator performance through PIO methodology. This proven methodology has applications ranging from greenfield projects to long-standing operations with AG/SAG, HPGR or conventional grinding circuits. This paper explains the Mine to Mill PIO methodology and discusses the benefits of such an approach on the energy consumption, the overall costs and benefits of mining operations. The paper also summarizes several case studies illustrating the use of PTI methodology in a variety of applications. Keywords: integration, optimization, simulation, modeling, mine-to-mill, comminution, blast, drill, crushing, grinding

Sep 1, 2012

By Omid Asghari, Amin Mousavi, Arshad Ranjbar

Geometallurgical modeling of the production benches is an attempt to estimate the geometallurgical variables of the different ore domains, which leads to a better understanding of the ore and its properties. Having geometallurgical variables results in a more accurate prediction of ore characteristics, an improved drilling and blasting operation, and better efficiency of the processing plant. In this research, the geometallurgical variables required for the geometallurgical modeling of the extraction benches are discussed. Then, the relations between Bond work index (BWi), as one of the most important geometallurgical variables and the primary grindability index, and rock geomechanical properties are investigated based on the previously published studies. The BWi is the main parameter for measuring the resistance to the grinding of ore minerals. It represents the energy required for processing (e.g., crushing, grinding) ore rocks in the beneficiation plant. As a real case study, BWi of a production bench in Sungun Copper Mine, located in East Azarbaijan province, Iran, was estimated. The rock’s geomechanical properties were measured using laboratory tests, including uniaxial compressive strength, Brazilian tensile strength, point load strength, and hardness. Then, BWi was estimated using the proposed formulas in the literature and the results of the rock’s geomechanical properties. The selected bench consists of three ore zones and two dyke domains. The laboratory tests revealed that the first ore zone has a slightly higher compressive strength than the other two zones, while the compressive strength of the waste rocks is larger than the ore domains. Using the proposed equations in the literature, the predicted values of the BWi for the samples in ore zones are in the range of 6.36 – 14.44 (kWh/t), and therefore this wide range must be considered when the short-term production schedule is planned. In addition, variations are observed in the samples within a specific zone and between the ore zones, demonstrating heterogeneity in the selected bench. Finally, wide-open results obtained by different equations show a necessity to perform a geometallurgical program specifically for the Sungun mine.

Oct 28, 2021

Real-time data collection and plant historians are becoming common place in mining and processing plants. This vast quantity of data must be turned into easily accessible and actionable information for all levels of the organisation.Queensland Nickel use a combination of Microsoft and SAP business intelligence tools to collect, cleanse, aggregate and present plant information to the appropriate people for supporting decision making in the business. SAP Business Objects, for visualisation, and SAP MII, for integration, allows complex and accurate metrics to be delivered as real-time dashboards. Designing a rigid data management architecture to segregate the data collection, integration and logic and visualisation into distinct logical layers, allows for rapid report development and greatly assists with IT maintenance, while also minimising the complexity of any customised programming. This type of architecture ensures a common data source for all business reports, ensuring one version of the truth. The past few years at Queensland Nickel have seen process and maintenance engineers spending considerably less time collecting and integrating data and spending more time analysing what is happening in the plant. Real-time reports and dashboards have been developed around the business needs rather than around the data. Two years ago Queensland Nickel introduced an employee bonus scheme based upon meeting monthly performance targets; an easy to use dashboard that allows everyone, from operators through to management, to monitor these metrics day-to-day.

Sep 26, 2011

By E. Isokangas

A mine is essentially a series of operations, including drilling and blasting, crushing, milling, flotation, and leaching, that are interconnected and therefore interrelated, with the performance of one operation affecting the performance of another. Optimizing each stage separately without considering the whole system often causes potential economic benefits and energy savings to be missed. However, the PIO methodology is a thorough approach which considers these individual process activities within the context of the whole process. The basic principle is to optimize the process as a whole, rather than each process step in isolation from the others. Metso?s Process Technology and Innovation (PTI) group offers a global consulting service for the mining and construction industries. A significant amount of this consulting work involves process integration and optimization (PIO) studies. When conducting a PIO study, every aspect of the process is considered. In addition to drilling and blasting, transportation, handling and storage, crushing, screening, grinding, flotation, separation, and recovery, other aspects including equipment utilization and energy consumption and even greenhouse gas emissions are also included if necessary. In a PIO project, it is very important to understand what type of material is being processed at any point in time. That is, which domain or domains is the material part of? This is necessary in order to observe the effect of different ore sources (and the blending of sources) on concentrator performance. Linking the ore from the pit to the concentrator required the development of an ore tracking system. As a result, PTI developed a radio-frequency based material tracking system called SmartTag?. This system allows tracking of ore from its source through blasting, run-of-mine (ROM) pads, crushers, intermediate stockpiles, and finally into the concentrator. Using the SmartTag? system, definitive correlations can be made between the performance of the plant and the plant feed characteristics, including the domain from which the feed ore originated. Since its commercialization in 2007, SmartTag? has been used in the majority of PTI?s consulting projects and several permanent systems have been installed worldwide1. Successful applications of the SmartTag? system have encouraged development to allow the system to be used in a wider variety of plants, in particular plants with finer crushing and screening stages. This paper describes how the SmartTag? system is being utilized by PTI and the benefits being gained by its use in PIO projects, as well as presenting some case studies.

Jan 1, 2012

By J. E. Feddock

To succeed in today's competitive coal market, coal companies must continuously improve production and lower cost. However, the coal industry's historical management practices must change to remain viable? The practices of the current day efficient coal mine manager are reviewed and examined using W. Edwards Deming's definition of management. The statistical tools, including Pareto Charts, Control Charts and Scatter Diagrams, which identify the problems management must approach differently to increase productivity at a coal mine, are discussed.

Jan 1, 1993

By H Arvidson, A Walker, N Pollock

Following the recent tailings tragedy in Brumadinho, the Investor Mining and Tailings Safety Initiative was formed representing institutional investors in the mining industry. This Initiative, led by The Church of England (CoE), requested data from 726 mining companies on each of their Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs). What this exercise confirmed was that there was no public database of TSFs, and that there was a clear gap in tailings management systems within the disclosing companies. We present an approach using technology to support best practice TSF management, governance and disclosure which was originally submitted as part of University of Cambridge Post-graduate studies in Sustainability Leadership in January 2020. The aim of the paper is to discuss how technology could be used to deliver a Tailings Management Solution (TMS) that is aligned with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM), and supports rigorous governance leading to disclosure. Subsequently the goals of the plan are aligned with that of the co-conveners of the GISTM (the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)) which is to facilitate operators’ trajectory towards zero harm to people and the environment. Most of the focus to date around tailings management post Brumadinho has been on monitoring technologies, of which there are many. It is obviously important to acknowledge the critical role of monitoring technologies; however, our approach is agnostic to monitoring technologies and assumes that all of them are relevant. Our focus is on the data management, reporting and governance leading to disclosure of the information. Critical components of developing the TMS include adapting existing software products and solutions, recognising a system thinking approach is needed, strategic partnerships to deliver an accessible solution faster and more cost effectively, and, new ways of collaborating. The TMS should also accommodate relevant regional geotechnical codes and standards. The industry need for a TMS is well established and urgent, with significant pressure from regulators and civil society for the industry to address this significant issue.

Jul 1, 2021

By T. R. Paquin

Powerful, easy to manipulate, ventilation modeling software is readily available to most mining engineers. Too often when preparing an initial ventilation model, engineers will go overboard in their design, creating a complex model with hundreds of branches. When, in practice, the creation of a less complicated ?to the point? model, containing a few well-constructed branches, would have delivered the same results. In this paper the author will demonstrate, by using actual feasibility report examples, that when designing a ventilation model, engineers should make more use of the K.I.S.S. (?Keep It Simple, Stupid?) Principle. As mining industry consultants we must continue to improve on, and deliver timely and cost-effective results to our customers.

Jan 1, 2009

By Dean E. Albon

In the late 1940's and early 50's in southern Illinois, the usual open pit blasting in the coal field consisted of one or two rows of churn drilled vertical holes being shot with instant electric blasting caps. The entire shot detonated at one rime. In southern Indiana and Ohio most mines were drilling horizontal holes and they too were primed with instant EB caps. During the ten years from 1355 through 1965 many changes occurred in drilling and blasting methods. The churn drill in southern Illinois and the horizontal drill in Indiana and Ohio were replaced by the rotary vertical drill. The ammonia dynamites and liquid oxygen explosives were replaced by ANFO. The elctric blasting cap in the hole was replaced by a detonating cord down line and detonating cord trunk lines made the connections between holes and rows of holes. Host open pit mining was in areas far enough from town that the noise and vibration from blasting was, if not ignored, at least tolerated. During the 1960's open pit mining expanded to account for nearly 50% of the coal produced. Mines came closer to town and towns expanded along the highways with suburban homes and mobile homes. The mines began receiving complaints about the noise and vibrations from blasting operations.

Jan 1, 1976