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By D. Kok

A challenge in mine planning is the optimal allocation of resources to the appropriate workplaces within the shift cycle (labour, equipment type, and other resources) in order to carry out the shift cycle activities, achieve planned production targets, and ultimately maximize production within all infrastructure constraints. Generally, detailed mine planning is done on a monthly basis at a workplace level in order to determine the production targets. The production supervisor, mine overseer, or equivalent production manager must then make the appropriate resource allocation trade-off decisions on a daily basis per shift to try and deliver to the plan and required production target. Due to the complexity and number of permutations of possible resource allocation decisions, it is impossible for a human brain to make the appropriate and optimal allocation decisions that will result in achieving the maximum or target production. These allocation decision permutations must deal with the current status of workplaces (availability, position in the cycle etc.), the status of equipment availability (available, planned maintenance, or breakdown etc.), distance between the workplaces (traveling time of equipment between workplaces, etc.) and equipment type required for that shift cycle activity. All these factors need to be taken into account in resource allocation to plan for the shift, and even during the shift if a major piece of equipment becomes unavailable or a workplace activity is not progressing as planned. This paper is a case study on how an optimization algorithm can be used to create a production planning system for optimization of resource allocation in a mechanized underground platinum operation. A business case for optimal allocation of resources is demonstrated and compared to the current manual planned allocation.

Jan 1, 2012

By G. S. Pauley

Paper presented at a meeting on: Artificial intelligence in the minerals sector, held in Nottingham, UK, 20 April 1993 (original title: Case-based reasoning can be a catalyst for improvement). A new computer software technology known as Case Based Reasoning (CBR) can be used to produce small decision support systems that are economically viable. This is because the knowledge that they contain can be owned and maintained by their users. A CBR tool has been used to perform a pilot study with Anglesey Aluminium Metal Ltd. The results are encouraging. They suggest that a combination of CBR and participative design and implementation techniques (such as Checkland's Soft System Methodology) can achieve sustainable improvement in mineral processing functions. An explanation is presented of why traditional, rule based systems are often an ineffective way to implement support systems. It is shown that CBR may provide an appropriate technology solution. Methods of achieving sustainable benefit are indicated. The pilot study with Anglesey Aluminium Metal is used as a practical illustration of the development of a CBR application. A review of potential application areas and some observations about the implementation are presented

Apr 1, 1994

By Federico Pagliacci

Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) technique represents an important technological advance in the construction of piles in soft soils. The possibility of excavation under the water table with no need for drilling fluids, along with high productivity, have resulted in this technique?s becoming widespread in many countries. However, CFA technology has limitations because of its difficulty in penetrating hard layers and cross strata with cobbles and boulders. In these situations, pile verticality may be an additional problem. The Cased Augered Pile (CAP) technique consists of penetrating the soil with an auger housed in a casing. Two independent rotary heads sliding along the rig mast operate the auger and the casing. By adjusting the height of the casing shoe and auger bit according to soil type, it is possible to drill piles in very severe conditions - in the presence of cobbles and boulders - and to socket the pile into the rock. The use of a steel casing enables improved pile verticality. Therefore, the CAP technique is also used to construct secant piles to be used as diaphragm walls. The limitations of this technology are the depth, usually no more than 27 m (88 feet), and the size of the rig that supports the drilling tool, no less than 70 t (77 short tons) in working conditions. This paper illustrates CAP technology, the drilling system, and the characteristics of concrete and steel reinforcement and offers a case study of the Palermo-Carini second railway line, which used CAP to construct the new 30 km (18.6 mi) railway line, 20 km (12.4 mi) of which passes through the very congested downtown area of Palermo. More than 300,000 m (186.4 mi) of piles have been drilled in dense calcarenite formations with unconfined compressive strength of 15-25 MPa (2,200-3,600 lb/inch2), soft clay, and silt formations.

By Federico Pagliacci

Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) technique represents an important technological advance in the construction of piles in soft soils. The possibility of excavation under the water table with no need for drilling fluids, along with high productivity, have resulted in this technique’s becoming widespread in many countries. However, CFA technology has limitations because of its difficulty in penetrating hard layers and cross strata with cobbles and boulders. In these situations, pile verticality may be an additional problem. The Cased Augered Pile (CAP) technique consists of penetrating the soil with an auger housed in a casing. Two independent rotary heads sliding along the rig mast operate the auger and the casing. By adjusting the height of the casing shoe and auger bit according to soil type, it is possible to drill piles in very severe conditions - in the presence of cobbles and boulders - and to socket the pile into the rock. The use of a steel casing enables improved pile verticality. Therefore, the CAP technique is also used to construct secant piles to be used as diaphragm walls. The limitations of this technology are the depth, usually no more than 27 m (88 feet), and the size of the rig that supports the drilling tool, no less than 70 t (77 short tons) in working conditions. This paper illustrates CAP technology, the drilling system, and the characteristics of concrete and steel reinforcement and offers a case study of the Palermo-Carini second railway line, which used CAP to construct the new 30 km (18.6 mi) railway line, 20 km (12.4 mi) of which passes through the very congested downtown area of Palermo. More than 300,000 m (186.4 mi) of piles have been drilled in dense calcarenite formations with unconfined compressive strength of 15-25 MPa (2,200-3,600 lb/inch2), soft clay,

Jan 1, 2017

By John R. Grillo, Gordian Ulrich, Franz-Werner Gerressen

Most geotechnical construction professionals are aware of piling using hydraulic drill rigs and the so-called Kelly drill mode. Kelly drilling has many advantages as it can work with a wide range of tools facing almost all types of soil and rock conditions. Kelly drilling can also deal with diameters up to 10 ft (3.00 m) and bigger or depths of more than 330 ft (100 m). Nonetheless, there is a concern about Kelly drilling as it is a relatively slow installation process. Therefore, an alternative piling method like Cased CFA (CCFA) Piles (Cased Auger Cast Piles) provides a significant advantage in terms of installation performance, schedule and cost saving potentials. Major application for the Cased CFA system is the secant pile wall construction. Against the traditional secant pile wall systems like fully cased bored piles or CFA secant piling the Cased CFA secant pile wall system has the advantage in cost and time against the fully cased system and in quality against the standard CFA system. This paper will describe the methodology and installation process in general as well as first reference projects carried out in the United States. This paper will present the results in cost and schedule saving using this method. In addition, we will also describe the limitations of this method. INTRODUCTION In the changing construction environment, companies are searching for new technologies or improvement of existing technologies to complete their projects in shorter time frames to provide a good economic solution. Especially with the focus of increasing urbanization, the aim of fast construction becomes more and more important. When thinking of piling, most people will have the same picture in mind: that of a hydraulic drill rig working in Kelly drilling mode; however, the perpetual drill rig development provides a number of options for the execution of specialist foundation projects, either for foundations or for pile walls when using single pass applications like CFA, Cased CFA and Full Displacement Piling (FDP). Single pass means, in general, that the tool is pushed and rotated into the ground to the final depth in one stroke. After reaching the final depth, concreting is started and concrete is pumped continuously while the tool is withdrawn.

Jan 1, 2019

By Henk van Muijen

From an interesting and intriguing scientific research topic, deep sea mining has altered into an interesting mining prospect over the last years. Ten years ago most of the focus was on geological investigations, searching for typical deep sea deposits and getting answers on where we can find them and how these deposits were formed. At this moment we know much more about the interesting deposit possibilities and with our quest for minerals, metals and other materials to feed global economic growth, answers as to the technical and economic feasibility to mine these deposits are sought. This is not a new phenomenon as we already witnessed such question late 1970?s and early 1980?s. Most of the focus was on mining manganese nodules and brines in the Red Sea driven by the report of the Club of Rome that predicted shortages in near future at that time. Development went different, but later in the 1990?s a rival of interest could be noticed for mining deep sea deposits.

Jan 1, 2010

By L. E. Collins

"In western Canada, many new wells contain a significant fraction of H2S. As well, many older wells become increasingly sour over their operating lifetime. For these reasons, there has been increased demand for linepipe and casing for sour service applications in recent years. This paper will review the metallurgical factors which must be considered in designing steels for such applications. IPSCO’s development of linepipe and casing, and experience in fabricating products to meet test standards specified for sour service applications will be summarized. IntroductionWestern Canada produces the majority of Canada’s domestic crude oil and natural gas. A complex system of pipelines has been built to gather the oil and gas from the fields for transport to refining and/or cleaning operations. The gas carried in these pipelines can be either sweet or sour (i.e. containing no H2S or containing H2S) depending on the nature of the field from which it came. Many new fields contain a significant fraction of H2S and many older fields become more sour as their time in production increases. This uncertainty regarding product condition influences the user’s choice of materials for both casing and pipeline applications.It is well known (Merrick, 1989) that hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) will occur in steel when three conditions exist simultaneously: (1) the presence of H2S gas, (2) moisture, and (3) a susceptible material. Steelmakers can only address the latter of these factors. Development of steels to meet test requirements of sour service has been a major focus of IPSCO’s development work for several years."

Jan 1, 1998

By Steven W. Hunt, Ronald E. Heuer, Safdar A. Gill

A 3.3 m (11 feet) diameter, 51 m (168 feet) deep temporary steel casing which had been sunk within glacial soils buckled and collapsed on July 29, 1985. The collapse occurred at the CT-8 Dropshaft site in Milwaukee while two workmen were contact grouting outside the casing in an attempt to stop groundwater inflows through a bottom plug. This paper describes the soil and groundwater conditions at the site, the casing design, the method of shaft construction, and probable causes of the buckling failure. Specific aspects of the paper include: slurry method of shaft excavation and casing installation, soil creep, earth pressure due to three dimensional arching, and buckling strength of a casing surrounded by slurry rather than grout and firm soil. The paper should be of interest to designers and constructors of temporary ground support systems for deep shafts.

Jan 1, 1995

By E. Poiate, P. A. L. P. Firme, D. Roehl, M. A. Carrion, A. M. Costa

Drilling high-pressure/high-temperature wells in salt rock formations is still a challenge for the energy industry. Creep and solubility is part of the salt rock physical-chemical behaviour, which must be considered in the design of the wells. The stress redistribution caused by drilling, in addition to thermallyactivated processes, triggers creep deformation, leading to borehole closure and the imposition of loads on the casing. The drilling fluid is designed by computer modeling in order to control the creep strain rate to a limit which allows the drilling operations and the casing setting. Depending upon the composition of the drilling fluid, chemical reactions on the salt wall may occur, especially in case of water-based fluids in highly soluble salt rocks. In those cases, cavities by dissolution (washouts) can be generated and the casing column remains uncovered by the cementation and laterally unconfined along the cavity length. This scenario is propitious to the loss of integrity of the casing due to phenomena such as plastic collapse, buckling and non-uniform loading on the casing provoked by the closure of salt formation around it. The casing should remain intact during the wellbore life-time. In this work, a section of a typical well crossing salt formation composed by halite and carnallite is considered. An idealized-cylindrical washout cavity inside a highly soluble salt layer is assumed. The purpose here is to evaluate the effect of the dimensions of the cavity on the integrity of the casing. Several typical diameters and lengths of the cavity are adopted. Numerical analyses are carried out with an in-house finite-element system composed by the pre-processor MTOOL 3D®, the simulator ANVEC 3D® and the post-processor POS 3D®. Salt rocks are modeled as visco-elastic materials. Creep is simulated by the Double Mechanism Creep Law, widely employed in Brazilian salt rock mechanics research. Cement and casing (steel) are modeled as elasto-plastic materials described by the Mohr-Coulomb and the von Mises criteria, respectively. Casing integrity is evaluated with respect to vertical and horizontal displacements. Vertical displacements imposed to the casing can provoke the failure of the column by plastic collapse or by buckling. Besides that, horizontal displacements of salt due to creep closure shall lead to the undesirable contact with the casing. Failure envelopes based on displacements are generated. The results of the simulations have shown that the casing failure by plastic collapse occurs preferentially in short columns, as well as buckling occurs in long and slender columns. The occurrence of both failure modes is more frequent in large-diameter cavities. Additionally, failure caused by contact between salt and casing occurs preferentially in short-diameter cavities.

Jan 1, 2015

By E. R. Smith

ANALYSIS of the requirements for gun perforation equipment suitable for penetrating casing and cement showed that these points would be involved: (1) Powder charges electrically detonated under high fluid lieads and at remote distances. (2) Selective firing of sliots in sequence. (3) Sufficient velocity for the bullet to penetrate at least two strings of seamless casing and all cement beyond the strings. (4) Heat-treatment of steels to withstand great pressures and penetration. (5) Esclusiorl of fluid under extremely high hydrostatic pressure. (6) Stranded steel wire line acting as weight - suspending and current - carrying medium. (7) Firing controls operated above the surface. (8) Determining gun depth and suspended weight by means of the wire line. (9) Portability for field use.

Jan 1, 1936

By Iván Salas

Los bofedales (humedales altoandinos) son considerados ecosistemas frágiles, con características y recursos singulares, con baja resiliencia ante eventos naturales y presión antropogénica los cuales producen una profunda alteración en su estructura, composición y funciones, estas características hacen que la protección de estos ecosistemas sea legislada a nivel nacional e internacional. Hudbay Perú viene ejecutando el Plan de Manejo de Bofedales como parte de su compromiso de compensación ambiental el cual tiene como objetivo mejorar las condiciones del ecosistema del Bofedal de Cochapampa ubicado en territorio de la comunidad campesina de Chilloroya a 4300 m.s.n.m (comunidad de influencia directa de la Unidad Minera Constancia).

Sep 30, 2022

By Fred G. Hewett

Cassiar Mine in northern British Columbia began development in 1952. The deposir is found on rhe west limb of rhe McDame Synclinorium in a Mississippian serpentinite body. The serpenltntte, one of the McDame l ntrusives, imrudes Sylvester Group . rocks, which comprise a Lare Devonian to Early M1ss1ss1pptan eugeosync/inal sequence of argillites, quarrzires and volcanics. The foorwall conracr berween Sylvester Group rocks and rhe serpenrinire is a marked zone of broken and incomperent argillite and graphitic schist. The less marked hang- 111gwall contacr 1s a band of indurated argillite. The JurassicCretaceous emplacemenr of the Cassiar Graniric Barholilh is responsible for mosr of the numerous )aims, faulrs and shear zones found in the serpentinite body. Faulting occurred borh before and after asbestos formation. Asbestos is mined from an open pit ar rhe rate of 4,535 ronnes daily. It passes from the pir along a rramline to the mill, where it is concen/rared into nine direcr milling grades. Packaged fibres travel ro over 40 counrries around rhe world for use in the texrile, cemenr and other industries.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. M. Campbell

In his report on the Coal Resources of Southern Vancouver Island, Mr. J. D. MacKenzie stated that: "For various reasons it has been imagined that the coal deposits of Vancouver Island are extremely large and readily available." "Unfortunately," he added, "neither of these assumptions is correct." The chief disability under which the Island mines now labor does not concern the extent of the deposits. There is ample coal for the present demand. It does, however, concern the availability of the coal. If it were readily available the fuel-oil competition would not be serious and there would be no competition with Alberta, American, Welsh, or Australian coal along the Pacific Coast, for Vancouver Island coal could be produced at a price that would cut out all competition. The outstanding operating difficulty common to all Island mines is the extreme irregularity of the coal seams. To most people a coal seam is synonymous with uniformity, and in most coal seams a condition found at one point will be repeated at other points in the same seam throughout the basin. The accompanying drawings show how very far this is from being true in the Cassidy mine, which, in many respects, is typical of Vancouver Island mines. Figure I is a plan covering about 160 acres of the Douglas seam, the only workable seam in this part of the district. The area shown represents what has been the best producing part of the mine and indicates the very large percentage of the seam where the coal is either entirely lacking or so small in amount that it cannot be profitably recovered.

Jan 1, 1924

By Robert L. Martin, Brian W. Stump

"The Black Thunder Mine is located in the Powder River Basin of Northeastern Wyoming. Over 39.2million tons of coal were produced at the Black Thunder Mine in 1996. Just over 100 million pounds ofANFO/Emulsion blend were consumed in that same year. Currently around 30% of the overburden is cast to final with the use of explosives. With plans for a mine expansion, explosives will continue to play a very vital roll well into the future."

Jan 1, 1997

By Jeff Wachendorf

As the title "Cast Blasting Around Town" implies, this paper details the starting of a cast blasting program in and around the town of Colstrip, Montana. As strip ratios have increased, the need to adapt and find solutions to provide coal at a reasonable cost to the captive power plants has risen. Colstrip, Montana has a long history of coal mining which dates back to the early 1920's when Foley Brothers began supplying coal strictly for powering locomotive engines. Early mining days starting in the 1920's and the progression up through the 1970's when mine mouth power plants were built will be discussed. To accomplish the desired results, early mining techniques included steam and electric powered equipment as well as a lot of actual horse power.

Jan 1, 2009

By Winfried Rosenstock

The development of electronic initiation systems has partially reached or will reach in a short period of time full reliability for general use without limitations. Unfortunately those systems meet with a fully unprepared mining community and is confronted worldwide with blasting procedures which are not suitable to exploit the full range of the electronic option. This is for the time being only belonging to quarrying and general surface mining, for the use in underground operations the detonator is still not yet competitive, apart from special cases. It is not to be taken in doubts that the introduction for underground purposes will follow in a less shorter or longer period of time.

Jan 1, 2003

By Travis Watts, Chris Prater, G. T. Lineberry

Moving overburden at minimal cost is becoming increasingly important to coal mining companies throughout the U.S. The coal market is currently doing well, with an average spot coal price for Central Appalachia product (12,500 Btu, 1.2 SO2) standing at $62.00 for the week ending November 11, 2005, so it is at this time that companies stand to achieve healthy rates of return on their investments. Cast blasting is one method of blasting used effectively by some surface mining operations. This method allows most of the overburden to be removed and placed (cast) directly in the spoil pile by the use of explosive energy. With the proper design of a cast blast, a high percentage of overburden material can be directed into piles without the use of earthmoving equipment, hence increasing production and lowering the cost associated with overburden removal.

Jan 1, 2006

By Richard H. Sailors

Data from full scale marked ball tests are used to demonstrate the effects of abrasion, corrosion, and impact on overall wear rate. The predominate wear mechanism need be identified before the optimum alloy can be chosen for the grinding media. Use of high chromium grinding media often results in increased mill efficiency due to shape retention. Thus, a benefit from energy savings can result as well as a reduction in wear rate. Converting from steel to east high chromium grinding media requires close association and cooperation between producer and consumer in order to properly conduct these studies.

Jan 1, 1990

By R. H. Sailors

During the last 15 years, the North American Mining Industry has experienced increasing usage of cast high chromium white iron grinding media in wet grinding applications. First introduced into the cement industry (klinker grinding) where wear rate reductions of four or five times have been realized compared to steel balls, this same grinding media serve the iron, copper, and phosphate markets by resisting not only impacts and abrasion, but also corrosion which occurs in wet grinding. In these markets, single mills containing 250,000 kg of grinding balls are not un-common and hence the economic potential with respect to lower wear rates can be significant. Add to reduced wear rate the increased production efficiency that is possible and it is readily understood why much of the mining industry uses cast high chromium grinding media. Metallurgically, the alloys used consist of a martensitic matrix containing hard M7C3 eutectic carbides. Carbon (2.0 to 3.5%) and chromium (12 to 277.) are characteristically used to arrive at the desired properties.

Jan 1, 1989

By Slav Tchepak

The King's Wharf development is located in Sydney's Darling Harbour area. The site was originally used for industrial maritime purposes, which over the years has been reduced to accommodating leisure craft only. The site has been filled with various materials, resulting in fill materials varying from soils, to concrete and rock fill. A prestigious new residential development at the site required piles to found in Sydney sandstone that occurred at depths ranging from 1 to 27m. The selection of appropriate pile types is discussed, as are details relating to the design and construction of cast insitu Omega piles and CFA piles. A number of issues needed to be addressed relating to the piling, including the design of the piles, the potential for liquefaction of the fill material due to earthquakes, penetration of the piles through the fill materials, installation of the piles to a satisfactory positional tolerance and pile performance. A number of piles were dynamically tested to prove pile performance and these results are presented and compared with design expectations. The project was successfully completed on time and budget, indicating the selection of pile types in the difficult ground conditions to be appropriate.

Jan 1, 2000