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By Y. J. Wang

A critical path approach is presented for the problem of mine ventilation networks where regulators and fans are employed to control the airflow distribution. The problem is a classic one arising in mine ventilation planning. By identifying the analogy between the network for controlled flow and that for critical path method (CPM), the applications of the well known CPM technique to the ventilation problem become straightforward. The mathematical formulation of the problem is presented and the solutions are illustrated with examples. The cutset operation is introduced and employed for obtaining alternative solutions. The effects of booster fans on the total air power of the ventilation network are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1983

By A. B. Kinzel

SINCE the exposition of the behavior of certain iron alloys by Sykes1 involving the existence of an austenite loop and the discovery of such a loop in the chrome iron system by Bain,2 there has been much conjecture both on his part and on the part of metallurgists in general as to the exact shape and location of this loop. In previous work commercial steel has been used and the microscope has been employed to locate the critical points so that the position of the loop has been quite approximate. Numerous attempts have been made to measure the critical points of the carbon-free alloys but all of these for one reason or another have failed. A satisfactory method for studying these phenomena, is presented here. MATERIAL The first difficulty in this study was to obtain pure chromium-iron alloys. This has been overcome by melting in a vacuum electrolytic iron and chromium analyzing 99.84 Cr, Fe and C. A pure magnesite crucible was used and the melt allowed to solidify in the crucible. A typical analysis is chromium, 10.10 per cent., carbon, 0.006 per cent., silicon and manganese nil. To overcome the problem presented by segregation, ingots were made into wire 0.04 in. in diameter. This was accomplished by hand-forging the ingots into rods, using an oxyhydrogen flame for heating, in order to avoid carbon. Subsequently the rods were swaged too wire, the heating being carried out in hydrogen. Thus local segregation was eliminated although differences in analysis between portions 50 ft. apart were noted. An electric-resistance method was first tried to determine the critical points, but due to the physical defects in the wire this failed. Bain had previously shown the presence or absence of critical points in a qualitative way by observing the sag in a catenary. The author has devised the following method which gives an accurate determination of the critical points from expansion-temperature curves of suspended wire, a special telescopic dilatometer being used for the purpose.

Jan 1, 1928

By A. B. Kinzel

SINCE the exposition of the behavior of certain iron alloys by Sykes1 involving the existence of an austenite loop and the discovery of such a loop in the chrome iron system by Bain,2 there has been much conjecture both on his part and on the part of metallurgists in general as to the exact shape and location of this loop. In previous work commercial steel has been used and the microscope has been employed to locate the critical points so that the position of the loop has been quite approximate. Numerous attempts have been made to measure the critical points of the carbon-free alloys but all of these for one reason or another have failed. A satisfactory method for studying these phenomena is presented here. MATERIAL The first difficulty in this study was to obtain pure chromium-iron alloys. This has been overcome by melting in a vacuum electrolytic Eton and chromium analyzing 99.84 Cr, Fe and C. A pure magnesite crucible was used and the melt allowed to solidify in the crucible. A typical analysis is chromium, 10.10 per cent., carbon, 0.006 per cent., silicon and manganese nil. To overcome the problem presented by segregation, ingots were made into wire 0.04 in, in diameter. This was accomplished by hand-forging the ingots into rods, using an oxyhydrogen flame for heating, in order to avoid carbon. Subsequently the rods were swaged to wire, the heating being carried out in hydrogen. Thus local segregation was eliminated although differences in analysis between portions 50 ft. apart were noted. An electric-resistance method was first tried to determine the critical points, but due to the physical defects in the wire this failed. Bain had previously shown the presence or absence of critical points in a qualitative way by observing the sag in a catenary. The author has devised the following method which gives an accurate determination of the critical points from expansion-temperature curves of suspended wire, a special telescopic dilatometer being used for the purpose.

Jan 1, 1928

By A Dennis, T Hunter, R Coleman

For metallurgical plant design, it is necessary to progress through successive phases of test work, piloting and process development before involving all the other engineering disciplines and “freezing” the process design criteria and flow sheet. This process usually relies upon the experience, skills and personal preferences of various technology providers, study and engineering entities, test work and metallurgical laboratories and, most importantly, the owner’s team and its operators. Current industry trends include lower grades, more complex orebodies, geometallurgy in defining orebody variation and design envelopes, more common “hybrid” plant processes and the market demands for more reliable, timely and predictable early plant performance.This paper will discuss interaction of these trends and provide guidelines for the level of detail and technical complexity required for a number of different “typical” examples. The paper will pay particular attention to the study definition level translated into the required detail and certainty needed by the overall process “owner” and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) equipment suppliers to ensure the best real plant performance. Some recent case studies will be discussed. In many projects, at a late stage of project definition, it has become common practice to undertake a “value engineering” phase. Although it could be argued that this should be undertaken earlier, it is largely driven by an overall need to reduce capex and “optimise” the perceived “fat” built into the project during the detailed design process. This value engineering can be very counterproductive to project timing and operational performance and warrants discussion.The paper is intended to promote discussion on a topic of wide interest. The authors’ diverse backgrounds and experiences are integral to the views in this paper.CITATION:Dennis, A, Coleman, R and Hunter, T, 2017. Critical process design considerations from test work to operations, in Proceedings MetPlant 2017, pp 12–30 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 11, 2017

By Howard Scott

THE GREAT advances made in mechanical engineering during recent years through the use of alloy steels, as illustrated by the development of the airplane and automobile, may be ascribed primarily to the application of nickel as an alloying element. The ternary system iron-carbon-nickel has a wide industrial application and forms, further; the fundamental basis of the even greater class of the widely used quarternary steels such as nickel-chromium, nickel-silicon, and nickel-vanadium. As is not uncommon with such cases of virile growth in an industry, the application of the alloy steel in a largely empirical manner has outstripped its scientific development so that a fertile field for metallographic research still remains. In this field, the basic nickel steels require first consideration and are the subject of the present investigation, which is offered as a preliminary to the study of the more complex alloys of industrial importance. Of the principal tools of metallography-microscopic examination, determination of -mechanical properties, and thermal analysis-the last has developed much more slowly in its application to industrial needs so that the situation often exists that heat treatment operations are based on empirically determined temperatures; that is, temperatures determined without regard to the actual transformation characteristics of the alloy. This situation is undesirable as there is no uniform standard for comparison of results. It is due, outside the usual difficulties involved in temperature measurements, to the pioneer character- of much of the published work; to the lack of definiteness of the Ac2 transformation,1 particularly in low-carbon steels; to the failure to define operating conditions completely; and to the paucity of information correlating thermal characteristics with results of heat treatment.

Jan 2, 1920

By L. Tercero Espinoza, F. Marscheider-Weidemann, C. Gandenberger

"A reliable supply of non-energy raw materials is a precondition for the functioning of the European economy. In line with its importance, the issue of raw materials supply has become more prominent in the past years, especially owing to turbulent raw material markets. However, these turbulences are not due to depletion of the geological resources but to a missmatch of (expected) supply and (expected) demand, with several interacting factors influencing the markets both from the supply as well as from the demand side. A recent evaluation, published in June 2010 within the framework of the EU Raw Materials Initiative, sought to bring together these two sides of raw material markets and asked the question "which raw materials are critical for the EU?" Herein we present the methodology used by the Ad-hoc Working Group on Defining Critical Raw Materials and the results obtained, complemented by results from the study "Raw Materials for Emerging Technologies"."

Jan 1, 2011

By Reno H. Sales

The syngenetic, metamorphic water, and source bed concept theories of ore deposition proposed by Anton Gray, C, Lo Knight and others, to explain ores in sedimentary rocks, are challenged on the basis of a survey of the literature and personal observation, A hydrothermal origin for the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt deposits is indicated by the presence of post-Roan age igneous rocks and post-gabbro mineralization, the wide distribution of ore in the various Lower Roan lithologic types, and the zoning of the copper-iron sulphlde minerals and minor elements The proposal by Gray and Knight that igneous rocks are not favorable as guides to nonferrous metal deposits, and Gray's hypothesis that the redistribution of connate waters and their dissolved metals by metamorphic processes was responsible for the emplacement of ores, are rejected as contrary to field evidence, The absence of exposed potential igneous source rocks is shown to be an invalid argument for the proponents of any syngenetic hypothesis, The common association of ore deposits with calc-alkaline intrusive rocks and their derivatives is, however, demonstrated to be convincing evidence that an exploration program based upon a magmatic theory of origin, would have found most of the important known non-ferrous metal deposits of the world, It is urged that prospecting be continued on the sound basis of accumulated knowledge of the lithologic and structural facts surrounding known ore deposits.

Jan 1, 1960

By M. K. Larson

Proper employment of numerical stress analysis design tools is based on the demonstrated ability of a model to capture key elements of the geologic site model and accurately simulate how these elements interact with a mine design. While these tools have progressed markedly, they are, at heart, a gross simplification of the abundant complexity of a natural setting and its response to mining. A generic deep longwall site model was developed that includes aspects of the geology of deep coal mines in the Wasatch Plateau and Book Cliffs coal fields of Utah. The site model contains a set of common features and observations of how these features typically respond to mining. This site model was the basis for evaluating use of empirical, boundary element and volume element stress analysis tools to analyze the distribution of stress around a deep longwall panel. More specifically, this evaluation examined shifting of stress to panel abutments and gob, distribution of stress in the abutment, and deformation and failure of bridging strata. Measurements of abutment stress changes at two sites in the Wasatch Plateau region were used to illustrate model calibration. Overall, these comparisons highlight the considerable differences between methods. Volume element tools can incorporate considerable detail and have fewer underlying assumptions, but this detail carries a considerable computational cost. Boundary element tools are much more efficient. But this efficiency also comes at a cost of added assumptions. These assumptions were challenged by the presence of a strong sandstone unit in the overburden, leading to boundary element results that depart significantly from volume element results. Empirical rules are the simplest, but are even more burdened by assumptions, many of which are implicit in underlying cases. Insight into the nature and impacts of underlying assumptions in each method is essential to proper use of results in mine design. Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Jan 1, 2009

By R. J. Enright

Eight mines in canada and three in Australia were visited between September 1987 and Februacy 1988. All mines had encountered problems with sulphide dust explosions and had introduced defence mechanisms to prevent or limit the extent of these explosions. Techniques included dispersion of limestone by various methods, use of water foggers, placing of water and inert stenuning in blast holes, and removal of settled dust to prevent secondary explosions. The techniques were evaluated and it was concluded that certain practices should be modified or discontinued as they were of little value in preventing dust explosions.

May 11, 1988

By D L. Head

Critical risk management (CRM) has become one of the latest safety buzz terms in mining. Everyone seems to be doing it, everyone seems to know about it, yet we are still having fatalities in our industry from well understood hazards such as mobile equipment amongst others.

May 5, 2022

By C Young

In the vast expanse of Western Australia’s mining sector, a critical issue has come to light: many mining operations overlook the power of a Broad-Brush Risk Assessment (BBRA) to uncover their critical risks. This oversight has led to a cascade of challenges, where some mining endeavours find themselves grappling with: - Unidentified and unmanaged fatal risks, casting a shadow of uncertainty and heightened compliance risks. - A bewildering landscape where the concept of critical risks remains enigmatic, with some mistaking the risk register for the BBRA. - A fog of confusion surrounding the guardianship of these critical risks, leaving safety responsibilities blurred and undefined. Yet, the solution lies within our grasp. An effective BBRA empowers organisations to: - Pinpoint with unwavering certainty every ‘true’ critical risk. - Clarify ownership for each critical risk, ensuring accountability and swift action. - Create a prioritised roster of critical risks, illuminating the path to safer operations. - Lay the foundation for essential follow-up actions like bow-tie analysis, the identification of critical controls, and the fortification of the safety and health management system. Join us in this presentation, where we delve into the heart of an industry-leading BBRA process. Discover practical insights that will enable your organisation to craft and implement BBRA strategies, bridging the gaps in your journey toward preventing fatalities and fortifying safety protocols.

Apr 16, 2024

By J Rola

This paper outlines a laboratory-based design method, founded in critical state soil mechanics, for identification of an appropriate compaction specification to ensure dilative conditions prevail across the design TSF stress range. The method makes use of the critical state line (CSL) and consolidation tests prepared at varying compactive efforts. The CSL and consolidation curves are plotted together in e-log p’ space, with the compaction curves transformed from vertical effective stress to mean effective stress using the coefficient of earth pressure at rest (K0). Consideration is given to the sensitivity of K0 as it is generally not available during the design phase. An example of the design method is illustrated with laboratory data.

Jul 1, 2021

By B. M. Larsen

AN increasing amount of attention is being paid to the possible influence of oxygen, in its several modes of occurrence in steel, upon some of the properties of the metal; but clearly investigations along this line are unlikely to yield significant results until reliable analytical methods for the determination of oxygen have been established. This paper presents some results of a study of an improved Ledebur method which aims to determine a definite portion of the oxygen; namely; that which presumably is present in diffusible form in the. solid steel. These more or less preliminary results lead us to believe that the oxygen so determined has some significance; their presentation at this time will, we hope, stimulate discussion of, and focus attention upon, certain rather neglected aspects of the problem. Considerable work has been done recently on methods of estimating inclusions and on the vacuum-fusion method for oxygen; with results which, however, are of somewhat questionable significance. It is commonly presumed that the oxygen in a bath of molten steel in a furnace is present partly as a separate phase consisting of suspended particles of oxides or silicates, partly in solution, the latter being probably the more important. Upon addition of a deoxidizer, it reacts with some portion of the dissolved oxygen and precipitates it as additional suspended particles; the oxygen not eliminated in this way, which remains in solution in the liquid steel, may be regarded indifferently either as dissolved oxygen or as dissolved FeO. When the steel is poured, some of the suspended particles rise towards the surface, others remain trapped in the finished steel, appearing as nonmetallic inclusions in amounts corresponding usually to about 0.01 to 0.03 per cent 02 in the steel. The dissolved oxygen may be partly eliminated as CO during freezing of the ingot, but some remains either in solution or in part precipitated as FeO. Finished steels may thus contain oxygen in several forms: (1) In non-metallic inclusions which are probably quite insoluble in the solid metal at all temperatures; (2) in solid solution which at lower temperatures may be supersaturated; (3) in FeO particles produced by relief of this

Jan 1, 1932

By T. E. Brower

SHORTLY after our previous paper on this subject was printed,1 we located a source of uncertainty in the results arising from the unexpected fact that hydrogen slowly reduces silica at 1100° C. in presence of iron, even when the iron nowhere touches the silica, although in absence of iron it does not do so. This difficulty has been completely obviated by the use of a small high-frequency furnace, which enables us to heat the specimen for analysis without raising the temperature of the silica vessel to a point at which any appreciable reduction of the silica glass occurs. We now describe this modification of procedure, and present some typical results obtained with it. For any given specimen of steel, the results are entirely definite and. reproducible, but their precise significance is still open to some question, as indeed is true of all methods of oxygen determination so far developed. Further elucidation of this question is to be expected from the cooperative comparison of the several methods now under way under the auspices of the Bureau of Standards at the instance of the Iron and Steel Division of the A.I.M.E.

Jan 1, 1934

By M. Yekeler

The critical surface tension of wetting values (Ye) of realgar (AsS), talc [Mg3si401o (OH) 2]' stibnite (Sb2S3), and sulfur (S) were determined by flotation in the absence of conventional flotation collectors as 38.7, 38.0, 35.5, and 30.0 dyne/cm, respectively. The surface tensions of flotation media were arranged by methanol. Separation of binary mixtures of these minerals was performed exploiting their Ye differences-which form the basis of the "ganuna flotation process". One step flotation test showed that sulfur floats preferentially from its mixtures with realgar and stibnite at recoveries of 73.6 and 70.7 % and grades of 81.7 and 91.2 %, respectively. The separation of stibnite from realgar gave a recovery of 4.1 % and a grade of 41.2 % for stibnite, indicate that a minimal Ye difference of 3.6±0.2 dyne/cm is essential for such separation when conventional flotation reagents are not used. This paper presents data and describes the approach employed in these separations.

Jan 1, 1994

By M. Abouhamad

According to the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), 140 Billion CAD is required to maintain, rehabilitate, and replace subway infrastructure between 2010 and 2014. The current practice adopted by transit authorities for prioritizing subway stations for rehabilitation is based on the station structural needs. While this classification is reflective of station condition, other factors, such as station size, location and passenger capacity, play an important role. The criticality of a station is an index that represents the functional importance of a station depending upon a set of identified factors. The system criticality is based on several attributes, such as station location, size, and nature of use. This paper presents a novel method of clustering subway stations for rehabilitation priority based on their criticality level. The different stations in a subway network are rated according to their relative importance against predefined attributes. The weights and scores of the attributes are computed with the help of experts and current subway network data. The analysis is done using the Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) to accommodate the subjectivity of human judgment as being expressed in natural language which entails ?fuzziness? in real-life problems and account for the interdependency between the selected attributes. The output of the model is a criticality based clustering of subway stations. The proposed framework helps authorities prioritize stations for rehabilitation and highlight stations with more criticality for a more robust asset analysis.

Aug 1, 2013

By P. R. Ineson, D. W. James

For a criterion to be useful it must either demonstrate directly the role of exhalative processes in the formation of a deposit or describe a unique attribute of exhalative deposits. Few of those employed in previous investigations entirely satisfy either condition. The limitations of three of the most frequently employed criteria are illustrated by studies of the geology of the King Island Scheelite deposit in Tasmania.

Jan 12, 1993

By George Filz, Peter R. Cali

"Unnecessarily restrictive specifications could be limiting the cost effectiveness of deep mixing (DM) applications and therefore limiting use of DM on projects where there are other options. Excessively restrictive standards demanded for strength and permeability certainly increase contractors’ bid prices, and costing the owners and, in the case of Government projects, the taxpayers more than necessary. Yet, lax or ineffective specifications often exist for some vital components of the quality assurance and quality control. In this paper, specifications for key elements of DM design and construction are examined. Recommendations are made to improve and streamline DM specifications to better serve the common objective of constructing a safe and cost effective ground improvement project.INTRODUCTIONSpecifications should, at their best, convey the project design requirements and provide clear direction to the contractor regarding requirements for submittals, materials, execution, measurement, schedule, and other aspects as necessary. The specifications should not be overly conservative, restrictive or ambiguous, and they absolutely should not be deficient in measurement of quality. Guide specifications or recycled sections from previous projects often form the template for new project specifications. But standards that appear in guide specifications or from former successful construction should be critically scrutinized by the designer for relevance before using the copy/paste functions of the specifications writer’s keyboard. Because work does not always go as smoothly as planned, specifications for remediation of non-compliant construction should be clearly stated and enforced. Often, non-compliancy is reviewed after-the-fact and deemed to have met the design intent, indicating that either the specifications were too restrictive or the enforcement too weak.The Federal Highway Administration Design Manual: Deep Mixing for Embankment and Foundation Support, October 2013, was written by a panel of DM expert design practitioners and contractors. Guide specifications are included as Appendix C of the FHWA manual. Those guide specifications have been updated in the deep mixing section of the www.GeoTechTools.org website, and the updated specifications represent the most complete and authoritative compilation published to date. Although the specifications for DM at www.GeoTechTools.org are current and complete, and they portray the state-ofthe- practice, they too must be modified to fit specific DM applications, project needs, and site conditions. The keys to a good set of specifications are to prescribe construction only to the level that is required to meet the design intent, to require appropriate quality control and quality assurance (QC/ QA) activities, and to clearly address remedial measures required for non-compliant work."

Jan 1, 2015

By J. N. Van der Merwe, M. Mathey

"The South African squat coal pillar strength formula, developed by researchers from the Chamber of Mines Research Organization in the 1980s, predicts an exponential increase in coal pillar strength once a critical width-to-height ratio of 5 is exceeded. The arguments that have been proposed in favour of this formula are discussed critically in this paper.Field experience with squat pillars in the USA and evidence from published physical, analytical, and numerical model pillar studies corroborate the fact that a squat effect is unlikely to occur in coal pillars at width-to-height ratios less than 10. Furthermore, an exponential increase in peak strength of coal pillars does not exist. An alternative design criterion for squat pillars in South Africa is therefore suggested. IntroductionFive decades of coal pillar research in South Africa have produced a wealth of information on the mechanisms contributing to the strength and failure of in-situ coal pillars and accompanying phenomena. The relevant knowledge was sourced from, and for, a South African coal mining environment that remained largely unchanged in the second half of the 20th century. The depth of mining seldom exceeded 250 m, with mined seam thicknesses averaging 3 m and typical pillar width-to-height ratios (w/h) of 3–4.It is therefore not surprising that comparatively little research has been directed at the prediction of coal pillar performance in deeper deposits, where squat pillars of larger width-to-height ratios will be required to support the overlying strata. However, a thorough understanding of squat pillar performance will be necessary should the remaining deep coal deposits of the country be extracted in future, for instance in the Waterberg or Ermelo coalfields.A squat coal pillar strength formula has already been proposed in South Africa. The origin of this formula will be discussed in some detail in the following sections and its appropriateness will be critically reviewed against a great amount of evidence from relevant squat coal pillar research conducted internationally."

Jan 1, 2016

By Ian S. Thompson

"Exploration properties form a continuum from grass roots to those with favourable geology, geochemical and/or geophysical anomalies, mineralization, showings (prospects), and finally to those with defined mineral deposits. Often properties exhibit a composite of these categories.The most problematic to value are properties or deposits that are not economically exploitable at the time of the valuation, due to a lack of exploration, insufficient grade or tonnage, poor mining conditions, or the imposition of socioeconomic, environmental, or legal constraints.Various acceptable methods of valuing the range of all such mineral properties or deposits are reviewed. Some inappropriate methods are also discussed.BIOGRAPHYIan S. Thompson is President and Principal of Derry, Michener, Booth & Wahl Consultants Ltd. (DMBW), an independent consulting practice, specializing in exploration, ore reserve estimations, engineering and valuations of mineral properties.Mr. Thompson is a graduate in Honours Geological Sciences from the University of Toronto with over 35 years Canadian and International experience in mineral exploration and development, including the discovery of base metal. gold and uranium deposits.DMBW is affiliated with DMBW, Inc. in Colorado, and works with independent engineering and financial groups in North America, Europe, Australia and Africa.Mr. Thompson is a national member of CIM; the Associations of Professional Engineers of Ontario and British Columbia; The Geological Association of Canada; The Society of Economic Geologists; The Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada and the BC and Yukon Chamber of Mines.INTRODUCTIONThis paper is presented in response to the request of the Mineral Economics Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy for a Review of Approaches to Valuation of Mineral Properties, as recommended by the TSE/OSC Mining Standards Task Force.Exploration properties with undeveloped mineral resources range from grassroots acreage without exploration history, to those containing mineralization (or a mineral resource) that is insufficiently explored, to well explored deposits which lack either continuity, or sufficient grade/tonnage, or have poor mineability or metallurgy, such that they are not currently exploitable at the time of the valuation. This does not imply that they do not have value."

Jan 1, 2003