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By Philip R. Strand, O. F. Stewart

Vermiculite is the name generally applied to the group of hydrated ferromagnesian aluminum silicates that are characterized by the ability to expand when heated. This process, called exfoliation, results in a lightweight product of commercial value. Most uses of vermiculite are for the expanded material. The chief markets are in construction, agriculture, and horticulture, with lesser uses in general industry. Composition and Properties Vermiculite, in its natural state, has the characteristic micaceous habit, a perfect basal cleavage which causes splitting into thin laminae that are soft, pliable, and inelastic. The structure of vermiculite is basically that of a talc. The prominent monoclinic crystal faces are often marked by lines at 60° and 120°. Hardness varies from 1.5 to 2 or more; specific gravities are between 2.1 and 2.8; color varies from almost clear to amber, bronze, brown, green, or black. Vermiculite feels like talc, especially when wet. Although much research has been performed on the chemical and structural composition, there is not yet complete agreement on the exact formula. This is to be expected when different workers have examined the many different varieties. Vermiculite is not considered to be a single mineral species but a family of related minerals. The structural formula for a trioctahedral vermiculite may be written: (H20)-(Mg,Ca,K)-(A12,Fe,Mg)-(Si,A1,Fe)4O10 (OH) 2 Hydrobiotite also occurs with vermiculite and is usually considered a vermiculite for commercial uses. When heated quickly to elevated temperatures, vermiculite expands by exfoliating at right angles to the cleavage into wormlike particles. The name vermiculite is derived from the Latin vermiculare, to breed worms. This characteristic of expansion is the result of the mechanical separation of the layers by the rapid conversion of contained water to steam. The decrease in bulk density of commercial grades is usually approximately 10 times, from 50 to 5 lb/ft3, but varies depending on the quality, size, and furnace efficiency. Individual flakes may expand up to 30 times. Vermiculite may also be expanded by soaking in chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide, weak acids, and other electrolytes. Color change during expansion is dependent upon the type of vermiculite and furnace conditions. Heating in an oxidizing atmosphere produces a dull gray or tan color, whereas a reducing atmosphere can produce a bronze or gold color. The expansion of the vermiculite crystal results in large pores being formed between the platelets. Thus, exfoliation makes available a large increase in void volume which is important in the application of vermiculite as a chemical carrier. Mathieson and Walker (1954) state vermiculite must be regarded as a true clay mineral. The characteristic properties of the mineral, such as high cation exchange capacity, organic complexing ability, and variable interlamellar distance are very similar to those of montmorillonite. The cation exchange capacity of vermiculite is one of the highest of all the clay minerals. The interplatelet space is accessible to penetration by some electrostatically neutral molecules. Water and glycerine are two common substances whose molecules may be so imbibed. In the natural state and under normal atmospheric conditions, water occupies the spaces between the silicate layers. The crystal d-spacing is near 14.2A. By differential thermal analysis, it has been determined that the water

Jan 1, 1983

By J. F. Crouch

INTRODUCTION Roll front uranium has unique geologic characteristics (L,) which require specialized mining procedures. Roll front uranium occurs in arkosic sandstones with the ore zone typically less than 100 feet in thickness with up to 400 feet of overburden. The areal extent of ore is often a few thousand acres. Within the ore zone, ore grade material occurs in C and S shaped rolls, which are a few feet in width and height but may run laterally for several hundred feet. Since the total mine plan may include mining all ore, a roll front uranium mine may cover a few thousand acres. For both economic and environmental reasons, a roll front deposit is mined as a series of phases or sub-pits (3, 4) as illustrated in Figure 1. A typical sub-pit is 400 to 500 feet across. Sub-pit 1 is stripped initially and the overburden is spoiled on the surface. Depending on haul distance and overburden characteristics, stripping is done with trucks and shovels (or front-end loaders) or scrapers. When ore is encountered in sub-pit 1, mining begins, and the stripping equipment is moved to sub-pit 2, with sub-pit 2 overburden also being spoiled on the surface. When ore is encountered in sub- pit 2, sub-pit 1 mining should ideally be complete so the mining equipment can move to sub-pit 2 and sub-pit 3 overburden can be spoiled in the mined out sub-pit 1 area. Ore is mined selectively in a series of 12 to 24 inch cuts by a 2-1/2 yard backhoe on the basis of radiometric probing. For effective drainage, ditches must be maintained on the boundary of sub-pits, and mining lifts are kept as level as possible, with the orebody slightly elevated as part of general good mining practice. Waste removal in the ore zone is done by self- loading scrapers near the orebodies and by push-pull or push loaded scrapers away from the orebodies. Each self-loading scraper cut is

Jan 1, 1983

By Smith I. K

A Data Acquisition System with a capacity to monitor 2000 analog instruments has been installed at the mines operated by the Zinc Lorporation, Limited and New broken hill Consolidated Limited (ZC/LVbHC), New South Wales, Australia. Since commissioning in March, 1982, the system has proved its value in providing up-to-date information to both Rock Mechanics and Mining personnel. The paper describes the function of the major software and hardware components of the system, and identifies the advantages that an on-line monitoring system provides in the day-to-day operation of a large underground mine.

Jan 1, 1983

By Fennell B

A process for the recovery of cobalt from a speiss produced at Sulphide Corporation is presented. The speiss is leached in oxygenated sulphuric acid to dissolve the metallic iron at a pH of around 4. The resultant iron (11) is subsequently oxidized in the leaching vessel and precipitates as goethite. Acid is regenerated in the precipitation allowing dissolution of further speiss. Subsequent to the conversion of most of the iron in the speiss to goethite, conditions become sufficiently oxidizing to dissolve cobalt. Cobalt is not co-precipitated under the leaching conditions, yielding a pregnant solution containing the cobalt and some iron (11). The principal advantage of such a process is the significantly lower acid consumption over that obtained by complete dissolution followed by selective precipitation. An impure product of cobalt hydroxide can be obtained from the pregnant solution by neutralization.

Jan 1, 1983

By Harold L. Hinds

The Homestake Ledge or Lead was discovered by Fred and Moses Manuel on April 9, 1876. They recovered a small amount of gold from the quartz outcrop, but, unfortunately, they were prospectors not hardrock miners. Their claim was sold to a group of experienced California mining men in 1877. These mining men incorporated their holdings as the Homestake Mining Company. This was the beginning of one of the greater gold mining enterprises of the Western World. Metallurgical operations progressed over the years from an eighty- stamp grinding circuit using amalgamation for recovery to the more complex circuit of today. The Homestake Mine, today, is an underground mine with the deepest winze reaching the 8,000-foot level. The ore is hoisted to the surface by two primary shafts, the Ross Shaft and the Yates Shaft. See Figures 1 and 2. It is crushed in three-stage crushing plants located in the headframes. From here, it is trammed to the mill fine- ore bins by electric locomotives. The Lead grinding plant milling circuit, known as the South Mill, receives ore from the crushing plant at minus 112 inch (Figure 3). This material is dumped into overhead fine-ore bins from five- ton rail cars. The fine-ore bins have a live capacity of about 3,700 tons. The South Mill bins can also be fed by a conveyor system which reclaims ore from an 80,000-ton capacity stockpile. This stockpile is built up from peak mining production periods and available surface low grade material. It is then reclaimed during low mine production periods. The grinding circuit at the South Mill consists of four rod mills in open circuit followed by four ball mills in closed circuit. Three of the rod mills are 6-foot by 12-foot Marcy's. The other is

Jan 1, 1983

By Michael K. O’Leary, William D. Coplin

"Risks from political instability and government policies restricting equity ownership, local operations and transfers of payments affect the profitability of foreign mining ventures. More than seat-of-the-pants judgments and old-boy networks are required to anticipate these risks and to take actions appropriate to offsetting them. A system for making political forecasts, called the Prince System, and a series of charts relaying risk s to a production of key minerals will be presented.IntroductionFirm s with extractive operations outside their home country do not have to be told that political stability and government decisions play a big role in the success o f their operations. The takeover of copper firm s in Chile during the Allende administration in 1971 and the recent decision by Venezuela to reduce Reynolds Metals equity share in a smelting operation from 50% to 28% are two examples of hundreds of events that have determined the profitability of extractive operations over the past decade. Both risks and opportunities for international firms seeking to produce and market raw materials are heavily affected by political conditions. While news of political events travel much faster than in the past and host governments are more clever in shaping the risks as well as the opportunities, politics has always been part of the mining business.What has changed is the need to be more systematic in approaching the assessment of political conditions and how it affects business. The increasing costs of extractive operations, the need for long-range planning, the importance of financial arrangements and the world-wide scope of man y firm s' activities require that the assessment be updated continuously and be comparable across different countries and different types of investments. Political risk analysis, the assessment o f macro-political changes and specific governmental decision s on the operations of extractive industries needs to become as systematic and integrated into corporate decision -making as economic analysis has become over the past two decade s."

Jan 1, 1983

By Y. H. Chia, P. Somasundaran

Carrier flotation of anatase from clay using coarse calcite is investigated, together with relevant basic properties of the system including aggregation and zeta potential, under different chemical and hydrodynamic conditions The roles of carrier sue and amount also are considered Mechanisms responsible for selective aggregation and flotation are reviewed

Jan 1, 1983

By M. Dale Slade, Gordon S. Bird, Robert S. Kelly

Gallium scrap is obtained from many different sources, therefore each lot received has to be evaluated and then processed accordingly. Some of the problem areas are separating small amounts of gallium from large concentrations of iron, eliminating trace amounts of gold, silver, copper, germanium, tin, and zinc from gallium, and having the flexibility to process each lot of scrap individually Following gallium from the raw scrap material to the final seven nines pure product requires stringent quality control and excellent analytical capabilities.

Jan 1, 1983

By James H. TaVoularis, William J. Wiehagen

This paper discusses the application of commercially available microcomputers for assisting trainers in the delivery and evaluation of new hire, refresher, and occupational training. A brief overview of mine training highlights major issues facing the mine training community. The use of computer-based training has a potential for reducing costs and improving the transfer of conventional training to the job.

Jan 1, 1983

By B. W. Madsen

A modified transpiration apparatus was devised by the Bureau of Mines to permit rapid and accurate measure of the vapor transport and vapor diffusion coefficients of antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) and other compounds at temperatures to 1,045 K. The apparatus was equipped with dual condensers and valves to switch the flow of vapor in a fraction of a second from one condenser to the other, thus allowing short-interval sampling under equilibrium conditions. Reliability of the technique was established by measuring the vapor pressure of ZnC12 as a function of temperature and comparing the results with published data. As part of an investigation of the vapor concentrations and species of accessory element sulfides associated with copper and zinc smelting, the apparatus was used to measure the rate of vapor transport and diffusion coefficients of vapor over liquid Sb2S3 as a function of temperature between 870 and 1,045 K. The calculated vapor density was combined with published direct measurements of vapor pressure to calculate the average molecular weight of the gaseous species. Average molecular weight of the vapor in equilibrium with Sb2S3 ranged from 286 to 112 g/mol over the temperature range studied.

Jan 1, 1983

By Raja V. Ramani

The recognition that surface mining need not be viewed as a permanent dedication of the land but rather as a temporary non-renewable use in a series of land uses has caused greater emphasis on the re-use of surface-mined lands. In an effort to develop a procedure for evaluating postmining land use potentials, specific mines in various regions of the U.S. have been studied to determine the extent of current mined-land planning and to discover characteristics that are regional in nature. As part of this investigation, the Indian Head Mine, which is located in Mercer County, North Dakota, has been studied. The Indian Head Mine is presently operated by The North American Coal Corporation -Western Division and has been in operation since 1917 under various ownership. The status of current reclamation and postmining land use planning was reviewed. In addition, the relationship between mine planning and public planning in an area impacted by energy development was investigated. Finally, key factors affecting site potential realization for western surface mines have been identified.

Jan 1, 1983

By D. S. G. Hanson

The Flin Flon Mine has been in production for over fifty years, and current mining is dependent on pillar and remnant recovery. One of the last major blocks of ore, and an important economic entity to the Mine, is the North Main Shaft Pillar. A rock mechanics program was initiated through under' ground instrumentation and other subsequent analyses, to establish the degree of instability as min¬ing progressed. Several studies have been and will be undertaken to evaluate the general stability, and possibly improve the chances of stability during pillar recovery. The North Main Shaft Pillar is immediately bounded by cemented cut and fill supporting rib stopes which inturn are bounded by slag and waste filled stopes. The min¬ing method involves a modified longhole open stoping and slag fil¬ling sequence for each mining block in a general mining upwards scheme.

Jan 1, 1983

By Edgar W. Sawyer

Attapulgite and sepiolite are the clay minerals used to thicken ionically contaminated watzrs in the preparation of drilling fluids. They are nonsweliing clays that can be dispersed and reflocculated by mechanical means to increase the viscosity of fresh water and salt and gypsum contaminated waters. Those gelled in fresh water do not become excessively thick when contaminated with high salt concentrations or polyvalent cations encountered during drilling. Gels formed exhibit thixotropy and yield pseudoplastic rheological behavior due to the particle interactions and mechanical interferences of the flocculated gel structure.

Jan 1, 1983

By Francis Martino

There are numerous techniques and predictive models used by geologists and mining engineers to define coal reserves and plan mines. The traditional reserve estimation methods commonly used include the isopach, triangular, polygonal, inverse-distance weighting, weighted-moving-average, and trend-surface methods. Geostatistically-based estimation techniques are now being examined by many geologists and mine planners as a superior alternative to these traditional methods. With today's coal mine development costs often exceeding $100 million, and power generation $1 billion, it is logical that a technique that can indicate the degree of confidence associated with a reserve estimate (fuel supply), and thus also the degree of risk, is highly desirable to the coal producer, the financiers, and those desiring to commit to coal utilization under short or long-term supply arrangements.

Jan 1, 1983

By S. J. Schatzel, J. Cervik, A. A. Campoli

The cross-measure borehole technique is being studied by the Bureau of Mines as an alternative to the use of surface gob boreholes as a means of controlling methane in gobs during longwall mining. Small-diameter holes are drilled from underground locations into strata overlying the mined coalbed. When the roof strata are fractured by the mining opera- tion, a partial vacuum applied to the boreholes draws the methane out of the fractured strata and prevents it from entering the mine ventilation system. Tests in the Upper Kittanning Coalbed showed that 50 pct of the methane produced by the longwall mining operation was captured by the cross-measure boreholes. Borehole inclination and penetration into the gob are two important borehole parameters that affect the performance of the cross-measure borehole system.

Jan 1, 1983

By James L. Eirls

Tracor MBA under a contract to U.S. DOI Bureau of Mines designed, developed, fabricated and demonstrated a conveyor belt service machine. It is self-contained, battery powered, rubber tired and capable of handling, storing and transporting conveyor belting, wire rope and associated structures for sectional conveyor belts. While moving the tail section to its next position the machine discharges the belting, wire rope and belt structures. The belting is elevated and separated to provide for the insertion of the structures with minimum expended effort. A hydraulic system provides the power for steering, braking, winding or unwinding under controlled tension the belting and wire rope, operating a load-bed slat conveyor, raising, lowering and locking connection hitches and powering external hydraulic tools. Also, a pneumatic system is available to operate air impact tools. The service machine, with its present components can function in coal seams as thin as 48 inches, double wind conveyor belting 42 inches wide, 400 feet long, load or unload 3/4" wire rope on two separate reels and is controlled by two operators. A complete belt move using this machine requires only four workers. Successful underground demonstrations were conducted in coal mines located in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Jan 1, 1983

By David L. Martin

This paper discusses the development of a SLAM II* simulation model with imbedded optimization modules designed M evaluate mineral exploration and exploitation strategies. The model traces through a sequential exploration program, evaluating each deposit site based upon geologic information and potential profitability of the site. At a specified time during the simulation, a new production plan is developed for currently producing deposits which takes into account the planning horizon and deposits which are currently being explored. Potential uses of the model by geologists, engineers, and management decision makers include setting corporate objectives and policies on exploration and production. The model is also useful for testing past decisions to evaluate decision making criteria and evaluating mineral deposit profit potential.

Jan 1, 1983

By R. L. Shaw, D. W. Alexander

Consolidation Coal Company's Loveridge Mine operates the only coarse coal hoisting and overland slurry transport system in North America. The system has been in operation since April 1980 and according to current haulage levels will have handled over two million tons by this conference date. Original performance goals have been exceeded. The systems will be described and their application to rapid excavation and tunneling haulage needs will be discussed. Manuscript not received in time for publication.

Jan 1, 1983

By T. Skodack

This presentation will compare actual work site results for the loading and transport of shot rock for two major tunneling projects in North America. "SCARMAR" (the Canadian subsidiary of S & M Construction) is operating a rail bound Hagglund continuous gathering arm loader in combination with a Hagglund nine car shuttletrain system at the West End of Table Mountain on the B.C. Railway project near Tumbler Ridge, Canada. Al Johnson Construction is operating a Hagglund rubber tired continuous gathering arm loader in combination with haul trucks at the Rocky Mountain Pump Storage Project near Rome, GA. This paper will compare: 1) tunnel and ground conditions, 2) the total work cycle as it relates to mucking and haulage 3) efficiencies and related problems with the two systems 4) mucking and haulage rates 5) operating costs, and 6) recommendations for future large tunnel excavations. Manuscript not received in time for publication.

Jan 1, 1983

By Lung Cheng

Based on earlier tests that showed steel to be much more likely to cause frictional ignition than tungsten carbide, the Bureau of Mines redesigned coal-cutting bits to reduce the hazard of face ignitions. Two bit designs--a mushroom-shaped bit with a conical shank and a dove-tail bit with a rectangular shank--are described, as well as bit wear tests conducted in the laboratory and in an operating coal mine. In laboratory tests, for 1/8-, 1/4-, and 1/2-in-deep cuts and cutting speeds of 280, 500, and 660 ft/min, the mushroom bit had significantly longer tip wear life than the conventional bit; the dovetail bit was also superior to the conventional bit. Results of in-mine tests on the mushroom bit agree well with laboratory results. In-mine tests of the dovetail bit are underway.

Jan 1, 1983