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By A. Navarra, A. Quelopana

The mine production scheduling problem (MPSP) has been studied since the 1960s, and remains an active area of computational research. In extending the concepts of the MPSP, the automated mine may now be regarded as a hierarchical intelligent agent in which the bottom layer consists of distributed robotic equipment, while strategic functionality occupies the higher layers. Here we present a disambiguation of artificial intelligence, machine learning, computational optimization, and automation within the mining context. Specifically, the Q-learning algorithm has been adapted to generate the initial solutions for a high-performing strategic mine planning algorithm, originally developed by Lamghari, Dimitrakopoulos and Ferland, based on the variable neighbourhood descent (VND) metaheuristic. The hierarchical intelligent agent is presented as an integrative conceptual platform, defining the interaction between our new Q-learning adaptation and Lamghari’s VND, and potentially other hierarchically controlled components of an artificially intelligent mine, having various degrees of automation. Sample computations involving Q-learning and VND are presented.

Dec 1, 2021

By M Scoble

This paper is based upon the experiences of collaborating academics in two mining schools and their personal view of attempts to integrate the principles of sustainable development into mining education and research. In this quest, the concept of sustainable mining practices is proposed, not only relating to environmental, social and economic performance but also stressing mine safety and efficiency. These practices need to support strategies that enable flexibility and resilience within mine operations to counter recessionary cycles. Also, these counter-cyclical strategies are now imperative for sustaining mining education and research itself. There is a critical interdependence between these two different perspectives on æsustainabilityÆ. The paper concludes by demonstrating models of strategies that promote inter-disciplinarity, collaboration and networking for sustaining mining schools.

Jan 1, 2009

This paper describes the technical development of the Newman beneficiation plant over its 23 years of operation and how this development relates to the mine ore reserves of high-grade and low-grade ore. It also discusses the importance of the beneficiation product grades in the overall blending of shippable products from a range of mines to optimise overall ore resource utilisation. Also discussed is the importance of the ore reserve reconciliations in resource utilisation. Data is provided on the capacity and quality improvement results of the plant upgrade, carried out in 1999. This shows how the original capacity upgrade targets have been exceeded and the additional quality benefits that have been obtained from this capacity.

Jan 1, 2002

By I. Le May

"The assessment of integrity in plants is discussed, together with the codes that are being developed for in service evaluation of engineering fitness for service. The use of Risk Based Inspection is described and some examples are provided of the evaluation of in service components in which flaws have been detected. An example of the assessment of the structure of a mine processing facility is described, and application of Risk Based Inspection and plant assessment procedures to mines is discussed. Periodic assessment of large plants and components to determine their integrity for continued safe operation is becoming a more accepted approach than formerly when regular shutdowns were the normal practice. This is on the way to becoming the preferred procedure for petrochemical plants and power generating plants, and the same philosophy is appropriate for many mining operations. Both the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) have committees developing codes for the continued operation of equipment as distinct from the existing design codes. The philosophy is one of risk-based inspection, which can be on a purely qualitative basis or more quantitatively based.The purpose is to reduce the inspection of unnecessary and non-critical items and to concentrate on the most critical components, reducing costs and downtime and increasing safety. The approach differs from that considered by many maintenance engineers, in that defects that are identified during an integrity evaluation do not automatically cause a component or structure to be condemned or require that repairs are made right away. The seriousness of the defect must be considered and the safe operating life can be estimated before it becomes necessary to replace or repair the unit or component. This is no different from what is done today with passenger aircraft and, to an increasing extent, with pressure vessels, reactor vessels and similar components in the petrochemical and power generating industries."

Jan 1, 1998

By Donald T. Robertson

This paper presents case histories of driven concrete pile damage detected with dynamic testing methods utilizing strain gages and accelerometers embedded in the pile at the prestressing yard during pile construction. Data from the embedded instrumentation is compared with data taken with external bolt on instrumentation and other test methods such as low strain testing on the same pile. In the most severe cases, the piles were extracted revealing and corroborating the embedded data collector results.

By Donald T. Robertson, Kurt Hecht, Michael K. Muchard

"This paper presents case histories of driven concrete pile damage detected with dynamic testing methods utilizing strain gages and accelerometers embedded in the pile at the prestressing yard during pile construction. Data from the embedded instrumentation is compared with data taken with external bolt on instrumentation and other test methods such as low strain testing on the same pile. In the most severe cases, the piles were extracted revealing and corroborating the embedded data collector results.INTRODUCTIONDynamic testing of driven pile foundations was originally developed in the late 1960’s and commercialized in the early 1970’s. While the methods of analyzing dynamic test data have improved with the advancement of computer technology, the test method and the sensors used to acquire the data have changed little. In 1998, under a research grant provided by the Florida Department of Transportation, (McVay et al, 2002) an Embedded Data Collector system (EDC) was developed. The collector utilizes two sensor packs, each consisting of one strain gage and one accelerometer, embedded near the pile toe and pile top. Utilizing the toe sensor pack, the system provides reliable real time pile end bearing capacity measurements. This end bearing capacity is combined with a Case Method Solution augmented with an automatic damping calculation to provide the overall pile capacity, pile skin friction capacity and pile end bearing capacity. Also, since the gages are embedded, they have the ability to track all changes from the casting yard (i.e. prestress), driving, and subsequent setup (freeze, relaxation, etc) at both the top and bottom of the pile."

Jan 1, 2017

By R. T. Stain

Integrity testing of deep foundations is now common practice in Europe, indeed in the City of London such testing is a contractural requirement on every site. This paper is in two parts: Part 1 describes the most commonly used test methods and their applications. Part 2 presents a case history where both of the above techniques were used.

Jan 1, 1987

By Simon Chiartano

A global reflection on the design of blast furnace main runner was investigated in this paper. TRB Company used its skills and expertise to understand what the best option for this sensitive component is, including some innovative tools: intelligent block design for safety lining, thermal & thermomechanical numerical simulation, immersive measurement by thermocouples, IR thermal camera, 3D laser scanner.

Oct 1, 2019

By Arman Hazrathosseini, Ali Moradi Afrapoli

Fleet management systems (FMSs) as the pivotal part of any surface mining operation find it essential to evolve from conventional into intelligent systems because of both Mining 4.0 requirements and some shortcomings inherent in conventional methods. However, this novel transformation needs to be investigated technically and strategically. To this end, the previously published research works on intelligent FMSs are explored to track the latest status of these third generation frameworks within the surface mining context. Following that, their underlying models are compared in terms of five categories of allocation and dispatching features to pinpoint the technical gaps ignored. Having drawn the future lines of research, the present article then leverages the popular SWOT analysis method to outline the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the advent of these intelligent FMSs in mines of future. By and large, the analysis indicates that advantages outweigh disadvantages. Solutions are offered to address the existing weaknesses and threats.

Nov 10, 2023

By P SSrkkS

Mining is commonly seen as a typical basic industry with rough and even dangerous working conditions, heavy environmental load, and a low level of high-technology and automation with much manual work and operations. A mining operation (open pit or underground) is a very complex one consisting of many manual, physical, mechanical and logistical operations with different human interfaces and decisions. For this reason it is a demanding and potential area for all applications of automation and information technology: controlling difficult non-linear, time varying multivariable processes and machines; solving of ergonomic safety and environmental problems; automation of logistical systems; applying robotics, mechatronics, and information handling, etc. In addition to that, big economic sums are involved with these operations. On the other hand, automation technology has developed towards intelligent and adaptive systems including some from the above mentioned fields of automation. Connecting them with modern information and communication technologies makes the idea of an intelligent and unmanned mine more and more feasible in the near future. This requires intensive co-operation and co-ordination between the mining industry and manufacturers of mining machinery. This has been successfully accomplished in the five-year Intelligent Mine research and development program as well as the three years of subsequent implementation of its results in Finland. The basic elements of an Intelligent MineTM concept are:mine-wide information and data acquisition system; high-speed two-directional mine-wide communication network for real-time monitoring and control; computerised information management, mine planning, control and maintenance systems; automated and tele-operated machinery and equipment which are connected to the information system; and links to the public information networks. The degree of automation of an intelligent mine depends on many technical and economical factors. The basic precondition for such an approach is that it will improve the total economy of the mine. This paper will describe the Intelligent Mine Technology Program with the results. Also the implementation which took place during starting of a new underground mine (Outokumpu Chrome Oy Kemi Mine) will be described.

Jan 1, 2000

By Satyam Tiwari, Sarat Kumar Das

Tailings from mines and industries impose danger to the environment as evidenced by the recent failures of tailing storage dams. The tailings are mostly non-plastic with silt-size particles, but their behavior is largely dependent on the extreme void ratios of the material. Hence, the critical state provides an appropriate perspective in explaining the behavior of these geomaterials. Based on a comprehensive dataset of non-plastic tailings and non-plastic soils, an attempt has been made here to correlate critical state parameters to extreme void ratios and stress parameters. A hybrid algorithm with multi-objective feature selection (MOFS) and extreme learning machine (ELM) was used to establish the correlation and to identify the most influential input parameters. Based on the information from the proposed hybrid algorithm, a comprehensive prediction model is proposed using multi-gene genetic programming (MGGP) algorithm to facilitate quick estimation of critical state parameters. The performance of both models has been assessed using several performance metrics. The results from the study indicate that hybrid MOFS algorithms perform very well in the prediction of critical state line parameters and the identification of influential features. The findings of the study have significant implications for future research on the safe management of tailing storage facilities.

Dec 22, 2023

By J. Creamer

Pumping plays a major role across multiple process and facility applications in the mining world. Examples include: raw water supply, leach solutions, chemicals, dewatering, and mine drainage, and process water for metal recovery. Mining operations such as grinding, classifying, separating and concentrating minerals all have pumps at the heart of the operations Special purpose pumps such as dewatering, process water and slurry pumps are at the heart of many of these processes. Unfortunately the pumps themselves are often overlooked in terms of energy savings potential as they are often embedded into these sophisticated processes which are the ultimate operational focus.

Feb 23, 2014

By William J. Pardee, Michael A. Shaff

"Deeper materials science knowledge from mathematical models and in situ material property sensors will be exploited in next generation factory process controllers to improve productivity and quality. These intelligent control systems will accelerate productivity growth and materials science application through the ease with which they can be modified to accept new materials knowledge and sensors. Carbonization of resin matrix carbon fiber composites, specifically, is a violent solid state chemical reaction with large stresses due to gas pressure, matrix shrinkage, and differences in thermal expansion. The matrix strength falls sharply, then rises again during the process. At least two competing reaction paths are important; the first cleaves methylene bonds, reduces toughness, density and stiffness; the second reforms those bonds, ultimately resulting in aromatic ring condensation that increases density, strength, and modulus. Since these reactions have different temperature dependencies, one can expect to shift the process towards the second path by changing the heating rate, but that change must be accomplished without producing macroscopic interlaminar crack growth. To accomplish this, we employ gas sensors to infer matrix chemical state and acoustic emission to identify microstructural changes and to recognize brittle fracture. The latter does not prevent delamination, but is important in testing models for the causes of delamination and in improving the processing cycle. This paper describes a control strategy to accelerate the process while still lowering the risk of failure.IntroductionDeeper materials science knowledge from mathematical models and in situ material property sensors will be exploited in next generation factory process controllers to improve productivity and quality. These intelligent control systems will be more easily modified to accept new materials knowledge and sensors, thus accelerating productivity growth. Such a control strategy for carbonization control is described below.Carbon-carbon composites are time consuming and costly to manufacture. Processing methods have been developed empirically and are usually very conservative because the process often fails when any change is made. Apparently minor changes in materials or geometry can produce failures that are difficult to diagnose and correct. We will describe below several essentially unavoidable sources of variability. These are best dealt with by applying materials science to adapt (i.e., closed loop control on materials properties) the process in real time to reduce the effect of unavoidable model idealizations, material variability and environmental noise. The most critical issue in control of the carbonization process control is avoiding catastrophic delamination. The strategy developed below makes use of a priori materials knowledge and real time sensors to accelerate the now very slow process without destroying the material, and without requiring unreasonable resources to determine the statistical properties of the material."

Jan 1, 1988

FOR twelve successive years Canada's mineral production has shown a steady increase, rising from a value of $0.5 billion in 1945 to $2.06 billion in 1956, and the outlook for the future is one of continued growth. A great deal of credit for this growth must go to Canada's tax policies, which recognize that mines are difficult and costly to find, and that once found, they are a wasting asset. These tax policies take form under the Income Tax Act, which provides a tax- free period of three years on initial production for new mines and, after that period is over, allows all proper expenses of operation to be deducted from mine revenue. These allowable expenses include write-off of plant and pre-production development expenditures. From the resulting profit figure after this procedure, a further deduction of one-third is allowed for depletion before net taxable income is arrived at. Tax rates of 20 pct on the first $20,000 and 47 pct on the excess are then applicable to the net taxable income.

Jan 12, 1957

Mine site rehabilitation is the repair of the disturbance caused by mining on the immediate mining area and also on the surrounding environment. The long-term objectives of rehabilitation can vary from simply returning an area to a safe and stable condition, to restoring the mined land to a state as close as possible to its pre-mining condition, capable of being self-supporting and having a beneficial final land use. This paper investigates the importance and benefits of environmental planning, in particular for rehabilitation, and how input into daily operations can allow mining to progress with limited impact on the surrounding environment. It will also identify some of the key mistakes currently made during mining which could be averted by implementing prior planning and incorporating environmental consideration into daily operations. A number of rehabilitation opportunities will also be detailed for the different stages of the life cycle of a coal mine.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. W. Grabinsky, J. H. Curran

"Characterizing the spatial distribution of rock stresses is a challenge, especially in the geologically complex environments typically found at most metalliferous mines. Therefore, instead of focusing, specifically, on the task of making stress measurements, the engineer should instead attempt to develop a better understanding of the interaction between stress, mining geometry and rock mass behaviour. This paper demonstrates such an approach using a Canadian Shield hardrock mine case study, in which geomechanical models are used to relate stress, mining geometry, and rock mass properties to observed excavation response, and numerical modelling is used to better quantify this interaction.IntroductionUnderstanding how the mine geometry, field stresses and rock mass interact to produce the observed rock mass response to mining can be a significant challenge. Consider our present ability to quantify the basic geomechanical design input data. Mine geometry is normally quantified in more detail than is required for analysis purposes. Our understanding of rock mass strength and stiffness is far from complete, but established procedures do exist to obtain estimates of these parameters based on index and laboratory testing data and field mapping. Our ability to quantify field stresses is probably the most limited, in part because stress measurements are difficult and expensive to carry out, and in part because the stresses vary to an unknown degree from point to point within the rock mass. The engineer must, therefore, consider whether or not stress measurements are justified and, when they are, where the average stress state needs to be quantified and how many of which type of measurements will be required to determine the average stresses.Such was the case at Ansil mine, a massive sulphide deposit in hard rock located at a depth of more than one kilometre in the northern Québec portion of the Canadian Shield. The Ansil orebody was relatively rich, but small, with the potential for significant stress-related problems. As a result, geomechanical design had to be done carefully from the start – there would be little opportunity to modify the mining strategy once production had begun, and the economic consequences of stope dilution and rock mass instability would be severe. An extensive stress measurement campaign was carried out, but the determined stress magnitudes were unexpectedly low. The designers were, therefore, faced with a dilemma:"

Jan 1, 1997

By John C. Brower

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Gays in which- the policies of the U.S. government, mining companies and third world countries affect each other with regard to the availability of minerals. The interaction involves U.S. policy towards the mining industry, the policies of the companies themselves, and the policies of third world countries towards the U.S. and multinational companies. It is assumed in this discussion that U.S. policy will continue to be to seek certain minerals from abroad rather than attempt to develop domestic sources for all its requirements. This would seem to make sense both from the standpoint of cost, and for preserving what domestic resources there are so as to maintain some degree of market leverage. In today's jargon, this means greater dependency on the "third world", which, for this discussion, includes virtually all the nations in Africa, South America and Asia. Concern for availability raises the important distinction between dependency and vulnerability, and as the Director of the Bureau of Mines has pointed out, the two are not the same. Dependency is not neccessarily a bad thing; it is vulnerability that counts (Norman, 1980)

Jan 1, 1982

By Marcelo B. Mourao

Interactions of carbonaceous materials with liquid Fe-C melts have been investigated experimentally by determining the volatile yield due to rapid devolatilization (Flash Pyrolysis) and rates of dissolution at temperatures ranging from 1623 to 1873 K. The volatile yield increased with increasing the temperature. The comparison of results of different types of carbonaceous materials was possible by expressing the volatile yield in terms of Enhancement Factor, fE. The rates of dissolution of spectroscopic graphite and an industrial coke seemed to obey the correlation for natural convection under turbulent conditions. The experimental data for the graphite suggested that the rate of dissolution was controlled by the mass-transfer in the liquid boundary layer adjacent to the solid sample. The value for the empirical parameter correlating the dissolution coefficient and the operating variables was found to be 0.19 which was close to that reported in the literature. The comparison of the results obtained for the coke samples with those for the graphite revealed that the impurities and the porosity of the samples can effect the dissolution rates.

Jan 1, 1992

By R. H. Crist

Reactive components of algal cell walls include uronic and alginic acids: In addition, many marine species have half ester sulfate groups which function as fixed anions. Associated metals vary with the media, eg., Ca and Mg in fresh water (FV) and Na, Ca, Mg in seawater. . These metals readily exchange with aqueous phase protons or metal cations. A plot of the total amount of metal cations displaced by protons vs .. pH shows one inflection at pH 4 for FV algae and' in addition a second inflection at pH 2, 3 for marine algae. The first inflection is interpreted as. Indicating the cations associated with carboxyl groups ,and the ,second with half ester ?Sulfate groups. The exchange capacities of various aigal ,species vary widely. When FV algae is placed in a Pb2+ solution,- the amount of Pb2"' deposited on the algae is. Equivalent to the. Total Ca2?, Mg2, and H+ displaced? thereby confirming the ion exchange mechanism. Ion exchange equilibrium constants are reported for the displacement of ca2+ from Vaucheria. With Mg2+, sr2+, Cd2+, Pb2+_ and Na+ as well as the reverse reactions. Cd2+ can .be removed partially from algae by precipitating it as CdS or Cd(OH) 2 Pb2+ and Cu2+ are also partially removed as the hydroxides. Rates of reaction for various alkali hydroxides decrease with increasing .unhydrated cation radius. It is concluded that theory is useful in predicting viable applications for algae in pollution abatement.

Jan 1, 1991

By F. Patisson

During exothermic gas-solid reactions, heat generation makes temperature rise and modifies the rate of the various mass transfer processes, namely the chemical reaction itself, the pore diffusion and the external transfer. We have investigated this thermal effect during the oxidation of zinc sulfide porous pellets in a thermo balance furnace, between 550 and 900°C-and under O2-N2 atmosphere. The results have been' analyzed by using, firstly, the law of additive reaction times derived from the isothermal Grainy Pellet Model, and, secondly, a new numerical model taking into account non-isothermal conditions. Both the models can satisfactorily simulate conversion versus time, but the numerical model also depicts the temperature evolution within the pellet. Finally it is shown that owing to the heat generation the zinc sulfide oxidation takes place under diffusion control (3/4 internal, 114 external) in all the cases studied. During the course of reaction, the. pellet undergoes strong temperature variations, with thermal gradients confined to a shell oxide layer.

Jan 1, 1996