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By Cheryl L. Allen

The power required to operate a ventilation system can be 25% to 50% of the total energy requirements of a mine. In an effort to reduce energy consumption, initiatives are being introduced at Vale Inco to increase the efficiency of ventilation systems with the objective of decreasing energy usage. One energy conservation measure being introduced is the use of variable frequency drive (VFD) technology for fan motor control. Advancement in technology is making VFD applications more of a standard in industry. The benefits include improved operating performance and system control, reduction in current peak demand, and optimized power usage. This paper describes the application of VFDs for main and auxiliary mine fans; and associated potential energy savings.

May 1, 2009

By Gerald Sanders

Presentation Topics ? We?re Going to the Moon Again? ? What is Lunar Mining ? In-Situ Resource Utilization? ? What Are The Challenges to Lunar Mining? ? What is NASA Currently Doing?

May 1, 2009

Burr Mineral Resource has: ?Grade / Thickness / Tonnage ?Dry Caprock ?Low Carnallite ?Low Clay / Insolubles ?Flat & Continuous Deposit ?Proper depth

May 1, 2009

By B. S. A. Tatone

The surface roughness of unfilled rock discontinuities has a major influence on the deformational and hydraulic behaviour of discontinuous rock masses. Although it is widely recognized that surface roughness is comprised of a large-scale (waviness) and small-scale (unevenness) components, most investigations of surface roughness have been restricted to small fracture surfaces (< 1m2). Hence, the influences of the large-scale components of roughness are often neglected. Furthermore, these investigations typically focus on analyzing roughness in terms of two-dimensional profiles rather than the complete three-dimensional geometry, which can lead to potentially biased estimates of roughness. This contribution demonstrates the use of a new optical digital measurement system, based on the principle of triangulation, to digitize a large-scale natural rock discontinuity surface at both outcrop-scale (~6m x 2m) and lab-scale (~100mm x 100mm). Subsequently, the digitized surfaces are systematically analyzed using the three-dimensional roughness methodology proposed by Grasselli to investigate the dependency of roughness on sample window size and measurement resolution.

May 1, 2009

Mining companies around the globe have long struggled with the need to ensure that earth moving equipment is designed to be operated and maintained under all site conditions without causing harm to people. Incident and accident data from a range of sources clearly identify mining equipment related issues as major causal factors. One Australian source, the NSW Department of Primary Industries? International Mining Fatality Database Project Report (2008) noted that ?Approximately 77% of mining accidents resulting in a fatality have? involved equipment?. The largest number of fatalities were associated with trucks; the next with LHDs. Many of the technical advances in equipment design over the past few decades have not been matched by advances in the human factors design of mining equipment, resulting in a ?design vacuum? that must be filled prior to commissioning new equipment. This ?design vacuum? is generally filled by local dealers. They retrofit equipment according to customer requirements to mitigate risks that have not been designed out by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Mining companies have been frustrated by lost time and additional costs associated with this need to retrofit ex-factory designs. Some companies have attempted to address the problem by negotiating company or site-wide ?solutions? to equipment designs, but this has not simplified or clarified the issue from the point of view of the equipment manufacturers. A number of mining companies operating in Australia first discussed the concept of a joint customer approach to improve the Human Factors design of earth moving equipment at the factory level in 2004. They agreed that a new approach to engaging with OEMs was needed; one that would define the ?Problem?, in other words, the basis of the risks, rather than dictate the ?Solution?. The Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table (EMESRT) was formally established in 2006 by six global mining companies to establish a process of engagement between Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and mining customers.

May 1, 2009

By Keith Donovan

Why are we here? Improve equipment performance & health ? Eliminate undesirable downtime and expensive secondary damage ? Maximize equipment life, optimize running costs (reduce costs) ? Improve safety and environmental performance ? Capture and consistently apply equipment knowledge ? Improve Proactive Maintenance processes & practices

May 1, 2009

By L. Li

The rock quality designation (RQD) was initially introduced by Deere (1963) for civil engineering. But, its application has been largely extended to rock mechanics and has become a fundamental parameter in geotechnical engineering (e.g., Hoek & Brown 1980; Milne et al. 1998). The success of this definition is due, in great part, to its simplicity. However, this index includes a number of limitations. Among these limitations, a critical one is associated with the arbitrarily selected threshold value (e.g., Priest & Hudson 1976). Consequently, the RQD value would vary with different threshold length for the same core. Also, using the customarily and universally adopted but very arbitrarily selected threshold value of 10 cm (for NX cores) in the assessment of RQD, the RQD values usually tend to be either high or low in most rock engineering. Some intermediate values (50%) are less frequently encountered (Harrison 1999). The original definition of RQD does not well represent the actual quality of rock masses. In this paper, an improved definition of rock quality designation (RQDc) is given.

May 1, 2009

By G. V. Poropat

Roughness of a discontinuity may be an important factor influencing shear strength of the discontinuity. Traditionally, determining the roughness of a discontinuity surface and providing a numerical measure of the roughness has required considerable effort or specialised equipment. The development of new 3D imaging tools that are easy to use has provided effective fast and accurate means of creating 3D surface models from which roughness measurements can be readily obtained. These new techniques are versatile enabling a user to measure roughness along any desired profile and at any resolution up to the limit of the spatial subtense of a measurement on the discontinuity surface. This paper primarily reviews extensions to the use of 3D imaging that enable the measurement of roughness. Additionally we provide some examples of the measurements and examine some of the issues associated with extracting measures from the spatial data that will support estimation of shear strength.

May 1, 2009

CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS (CWs) ?Human-Constructed ?Built Specifically to Remove Contaminants ?Can Treat a Wide Variety of Wastewaters Including Stormwater(SW) ?Three Major Kinds ?Pond Wetlands ?Free Water Surface Wetlands (FWS) ?Sub-Surface Flow Wetlands (SSF) ?HSSF & VSSF

May 1, 2009

The rock mass classification systems were developed for different functions, including support selection, excavation method selection and the determination of rock mass engineering properties for excavation design, among others. This explains in part why we have several rock mass classification systems. It is often cautioned that the rock mass classifications are to be used for preliminary excavation support design, but this caution is now often overlooked and detail/final support design based on the rock mass classification systems. This paper advocates differentiating between rock mass classification for pre-excavation support planning and rock mass classification for at-face excavation performance assessment. It is concluded that most at-face excavation performance problems are attributable to confusing the virgin rock mass rating with the rock mass rating on exposure during excavation, and that this observation is independent of the method of excavation. Procedures are then presented for virgin rock mass rating and for at-face rock mass rating/assessment during excavation.

May 1, 2009

This paper describes the back analysis of the Pavoncelli tunnel, an hydraulic tunnel which was excavated between 1904 and 1915 in South of Italy and experienced severe damages during the 1980 Irpino-Lucano earthquake. A numerical simulation which is intended to study the behaviour of the tunnel during this seismic event is presented, also accounting for the swelling phenomenon that took place during and after construction.

May 1, 2009

By A. Azad

SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) is an in-situ oil recovery technique for heavy oil reservoirs. The technique has been successfully applied to many projects in the past 25 years and the process has been, now, well understood. It is now believed that geomechanics plays an important role in SAGD and should be considered in numerical or analytical modeling. Currently, geomechanics is numerically modeled through combining a multi-phase flow and a geomechanical simulator. Numerical modeling is, however, time consuming, need lots of input data, and could not be used for quick decision-making purposes. To decrease the modeling time, this study based on a new version of the Reis drainage model, proposes coupled mathematical model and reserves the effect of geomechanics in the process. Results showed a perfect match with the past experimental and numerical data.

May 1, 2009

By B. H. Kim

It is hypothesized that the standard approach adopted to characterize the ground and to determine the rock strength properties at depth are flawed and generally tend to underestimate the rock strength and possibly the stiffness, particularly when the rock mass is characterized as massive to moderately jointed or blocky to very blocky. It is therefore necessary to conclusively established that the hypothesis, that the rock strength in highly confined rocks is greater than generally anticipated, is actually valid and generally applicable, and then to develop new procedures to establish rock parameters that can be reliably used for the design of deep excavation.

May 1, 2009

By Tom Demorest

SMART is an association of mining companies that meet regularly to coordinate the technology development needed by the mining industry. Since 1995, the member companies and institutions have directed research and influenced the manufacturers and suppliers to improve surface mining technology and services. SMART actively supports learning seminars, collaborative research projects, and user groups. Members of SMART include some of the major surface mining companies in North America and Australia. These companies have recognized the value that collaboration can bring to the needs of individual organizations as well as the global mining industry.

May 1, 2009

By P. Mattar

The geotechnical importance of studying fluid flow through porous media and soils in particular, becomes evident when dealing with groundwater movement in surficial geomaterials that can be initiated by hydraulic gradients that develop during construction activity, groundwater extraction, impounding of reservoirs and groundwater recharge during adverse climatic events. In a geotechnical context, rocks are regarded as virtually impermeable materials, with comparatively greater resistance to flow of water through their pore structure. The importance of the permeability of rocks comes to the forefront when deep geologic formations are used in geoenvironmental activities for disposal of hazardous and toxic materials. The permeability of the rocks encountered is of critical importance to these geoenvironmental activities since the movement or transport of the hazardous materials during their eventual release will be largely governed by the permeability characteristics of the geologic formation. The estimation of the permeability characteristic of geologic formations is a non-trivial exercise since the measure of permeability can be influenced by the scale at which the measurement is made. Regional-scale and borehole-scale estimates of the permeability can be greatly influenced by the inhomogeneities, including fractures, fissures, solution channels and other anomalies that are present in naturally occurring geologic media. These anomalies are considered to be site specific and can only be determined in a reliable fashion by either conducting tests at the appropriate scale or in the regional-scale through inverse analysis of tracer movement patterns in rock masses. The estimation of the permeability of intact units of a geologic medium has important geoenvironmental applications in connection with storage of wastes since the units in which repositories will be located should be sparsely fractured and the sealing of the fractures and fissures are a prerequisite to developing an efficient solution for storage. The intact permeability of geomaterials is therefore regarded as an important property that influences efficiency and reliability of geoenvironmental solutions for deep geologic disposal. The permeability of geomaterials such as concrete and cementitious grouts are also important to many geoenvironmental and infrastructure applications where durability of structural materials in general and cements used for sealing deep boreholes and other access shafts employed in waste management endeavours is influenced by the permeability characteristics of these materials

May 1, 2009

By Michael J. Brnich

On November 20, 1968, a massive explosion rocked the underground workings of Mountaineer Coal Co.?s Farmington No. 9 Mine in West Virginia. Of the 99 miners who were working in the mine at the time of the explosion, only 21 survived and escaped the mine. This group included eight who were rescued from the Mahan?s Run air shaft. Nearly 40 years after the event, researchers from the NIOSH Pittsburgh Research Laboratory conducted oral history interviews with two of the eight survivors rescued from the shaft. The Farmington No. 9 Mine disaster ultimately led to passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (amended in 1977).

May 1, 2009

By Y. X. Zhao

This paper briefly describes the characteristics and induced factors of coal mining bumps based on the investigation of recent bumps accidents occurred in China. According to the theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamic and dissipate structure, the process of strain energy accumulation and dissipation in the ?Coal-Surrounding Rock? system (CSRS) is discussed during the preparation of coal bumps. In addition, a series of experiments are conducted to analyze the relationship between bump-prone property and micro-structural characteristics of coal. The process of coal bumps induced by propagation of fractures and deterioration of coal mass properties are also analyzed systematically.

May 1, 2009

Session 1 ? Intro to MiHR ? Business Case for Aboriginal Inclusion ? Overview of the Mining HR Guide for Aboriginal Communities ? Two presentations of Programs featured in the Guide ?? The RAP Program from NWCC ?? First Nations Youth Employment Program PDAC-MM Session 2 ? Presentation from MAC ? Taking up the AFN Corporate Challenge ? Presentation on Mastering Aboriginal Inclusion in Mining About MiHR Who we are: ? National Sector Council for the Minerals and Metals Sector ? 18-person Board of Directors ? 100+ Industry Leaders volunteer on our project committees ? PPP - Funded by HRSDC and industry What we do: ? Identify national HR challenges and opportunities for the minerals and metals industry ? Create national solutions through collaboration, partnerships and Synergy

May 1, 2009

By J. G. Henning

Following completion of planned mining operations at the Goldcorp Dome Open Pit Mine, a high-grade Shaft Pillar located in the pit highwall was recovered. Mining of this Shaft pillar faced numerous rock engineering design and implementation challenges due to its remote position on the highwall and the presence of mine workings within the wall. The case example presented in this paper discusses the geotechnical investigation performed at the site, novel measures undertaken for installation of ground support required for rockmass reinforcement and for worker protection, as well as operational challenges to successful mining of the Shaft Pillar.

May 1, 2009

A series of fault slip seismic events have occurred at Garson mine. The events have occurred during development advancement exposing faults, after the extraction of single stopes due to mining induced stress change, and due to time effects after delays of many days during which no mining had been conducted. This paper discusses the study completed consisting of a global or holistic approach aimed at mitigating some of the risks associated with the structurally controlled rockbursts at Garson. Background Garson mine is located in the south east area of the Sudbury Basin (Ontario, Canada). Mining occurs in two main ore bodies (the #1 Shear and the #4 Shear) which are copper-nickel-sulphide and occur within shear zones that (as well as the ore bodies) strike approximately east-west and dip steeply south. From the north (footwall), lithologies progress (Figure 1a) from norite (NR), to greenstone (GS), and finally to meta-sediment (MTSD). A generally WNW-ESE striking, bifurcated sub-vertical dyke of olivine diabase (OLDI) cuts the series. The current active mining block at Garson is between 4700L and 5100L (levels denote depth in feet below surface).

May 1, 2009