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Extensive personal experience in the USA and Australia has shown that Australians working in suitable work environments are capable of world-class performance. To build such work environments, mining leaders need to ditch two common management approaches that have not succeeded. Firstly, stop relying on traditional methods of trying to change people's behaviour simply by using communication alone to change attitudes and then change behaviour. Analysis of human behaviour explains why this approach fails in all industries. Secondly, stop trying to improve productivity by just running harder and increasing capital investment. Understanding work processes explains why this approach has limited success.

Jan 1, 1995

By J. Scott McDougall, J. Herman P. Eng. Vanderlaag

An underground mine fire can seriously threaten the lives of all personnel in the mine. This fact makes fire emergency planning a high priority in the mining industry. The optimum warning alarm must be fast and able to reach all miners, regardless of their location or work activity. Current means of fire warning are varied, and include such methods as stench, telephones, and word-of-mouth (messengers). Unfortunately, none of these methods are entirely satisfactory. A novel fire warning alarm which enables instantaneous warning of all underground personnel, the Canary Nine Messenger System, has been developed by VLF Magnetic Systems Inc. in conjunction with Noranda Technology Centre and the U.S. Department of the Interior - Bureau of Nines. The warning is sent by an electromagnetic signal which penetrates through mine rock to receivers housed in the battery packs which also power each miner's cap lamp. A loud buzzer in the integrated battery/receiver unit and the flashing of the cap lamp alerts miners to incoming messages. Testing of prototype equipment has demonstrated that the transmitted signal is capable of penetrating through over a mile of mine rock and activating the receiver. This report describes the theoretical basis for through-the-rock ultra-low frequency electromagnetic transmission, and the design of recently available transmitter and receivers.

Jan 1, 1995

By Bill Reid

Coal companies mining the seams in the Appalachian region appear to be optimistic. Although some older mines are closing, newer mines are expanding. Money is being spent on new equipment and research to increase mining productivity, as well as improve safety. Coal has been produced from the rich Appalachian seams for about 200 years with no end in sight. Many equipment manufacturers have substantial backlogs of orders for new equipment. Some of the innovations being monitored by the Appalachian underground coal operators include au¬tomated longwall mining, continuous haulage systems and methane drainage. Appalachian coal was a major ingredient in the steel that culminated in the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontary Point, UT, where the final link in the transcontinental railroad was closed. This occurred on May 10, 1869, according to a history published by Union Pacific Coal Co. It stated that "rails and fastenings for track construction were purchased in Danville, Scranton, and Johnstown, PA and Troy, NY." Ever since, coal from the eight Appalachian states has contributed in no small measure to geographic expansion and economic growth of the United States.

Jan 1, 1995

By S. B. Leonov, K. I. Popov, S. B. Polonsky

The offered technological line includes a flotation pulp air conditioner operating on the impact-mechanical effect and two column apparatuses with a descending pulp-air flow mounted in series. The technology developed makes it possible to increase considerably the valuable component in the concentrate simultaneously with a reduction in energy consumption for the flotation process. The experience achieved with the technology showed the possibility for obtaining sulphide silver-bearing ore superconcentrates with the noble metal content 2-10 times higher than that in the concentrates obtained by the conventional technology. The same results were obtained in the process of calcium-bearing boron-silicate ore-dressing.

Jan 1, 1995

By Wolfgang Pietsch

Roller presses were first invented in the middle of the 19th century, for the economical size enlargement of coal fines as fuels. Coal briquettes became quickly accepted for industrial and domestic use giving rise to a large and sucessful industry, particularly in Europe, Japan, and North America. When, towards the middle of the 20th century, coal was more and more replaced by other energy sources, such as electricity, gas, and oil, roller press manufacturers searched for alternate applications of this equipment. In addition to contemporary coal briquetting, in fields such as smokeless fuel and form-coke, it was found that redesigned and modernized roller presses, which are now capable of exerting high forces, are versatile machines for many tasks in mineral processing. Today they are used for: - the "classic" pressure agglomeration and - the "new" high pressure comminution. In pressure agglomeration, the characteristics of fine minerals are improved by forming briquettes or granulated products from compacts. During size enlargement with roller presses briquettes are directly obtained while granular materials are produced by crushing and sizing of compacted sheets. The processes are carried-out essentially dry and often do not require binders other than those inherently contained in the feed and "activated" by the high forces and/or elevated feed temperatures (e.g. hot briquetting). Therefore, no foreign materials (impurities) are added. Another advantage of the technology is, that wide particle size distributions are acceptable or desirable as feed materials, including millimeter or even centimeter sized particles. Plastic particles deform and brittle materials are crushed during pressure agglomeration. A relatively new application of roller presses in mineral processing is the utilization of the crushing effect when brittle materials pass the nip area between the rollers. It was found that this crushing mechanism is very efficient thus saving energy, particularly in grinding circuits handling large capacities. The paper introduces the fundamentals of the process and describes the design as well as applications of modern roller presses in mineral processing.

Jan 1, 1995

By Harry R. Price, Jerome C. Neyer

INTRODUCTION Safety must be a primary consideration in the design and construction of tunnels. Tunnel construction has historically been considered a high-risk business. During the construction of the 14.8 kilometer (9.25) mile St. Gotthard Tunnel in the Swiss Alps in the 1870s, 310 lives were lost and another 877 workers permanently disabled. In more recent days, two tunnel construction accidents in 1971, one in Michigan and one in California, claimed the lives of 38 workers. Prior to 1971, most regulations governing safety in tunnel construction were developed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. These included a 1941 Bulletin 439, "Some Essential Safety Factors for Tunneling" and a 1968 Bulletin 644 which updated Bulletin 439. In 1970, the United States passed the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) which became effective in early 1971. That act covered all sorts of workplace activities including Tunnels and Shafts in 29 CFR 1926.800. In 1989, a revised and renamed 29 CFR 1926.800 was issued for Underground Construction. Some of the changes introduced in this rule were the outgrowth of improvements made in the California and Michigan codes after the 1971 accidents. These new regulations are the "Rules to Live By" for tunnel construction in the United States and are generally accepted as appropriate for tunnel construction throughout the world.

Jan 1, 1995

By R. F. Dawson, A. S. Bagnall, K. Barron

"At Smoky River Coal Limited (SRCL), economic occurrences of structurally thickened coal deposits form attractive surface mining targets. These steeply dipping, structurally complex deposits require that special attention be given to pit wall design and operational practices.Where anchor support is feasible, there is potential for reducing footwall waste requirements and/or increasing coal recovery. SRCL has used rock anchors to support footwall slopes since 1985. This paper outlines design considerations and performance of rock anchor support systems at SRCL.Three case histories are included that illustrate the design process for supporting steeply dipping footwall slopes using rock anchors.IntroductionWestern Canada contains vast reserves of high grade coking coal largely located in two belts within the Rocky Mountain Foothills straddling the Alberta/British Columbia border. There are about one billion tonnes of ""clean"" coking coal reserves (Romaniuk and Naidu, 1986) situated near existing mining infrastructure. Within the reserve areas shown in Figure I, a total of six producers operate 10 large mines linked with ports situated on Canada's west coast. Al! of the producers operate conventional shovel/truck surface pits.Surface mineable reserves within some of the mountain coal mines are located on dip slopes or where the geologic structure has thickened the coal near the surface, creating low strip ratio targets. Footwall slopes in these mines are developed parallel to bedding, thus minimizing waste extraction and preventing undercutting of potentially unstable strata. The base of the mineable coal measures in both north and south regions is marked by massive quartz sandstone units (Torrens Member and Moose Mountain Member) which often form the footwall. Footwalls developed within this basal sandstone unit can attain very high unbenched heights often with little risk of instability. In cases where the footwall is developed on weaker strata above this basal unit, stability considerations control slope height when bedding dips exceed about 30°. In these situations it is desirable to assess the benefits of artificial support to increase the unbenched footwall slope height."

Jan 1, 1995

Mining has long been an important activity for the people of Australia . The Aboriginals used rocks and minerals in their culture many thousand years before European settlement. It was not until 1840 that silver-lead ore was discovered in the Mount Lofty Ranges , and developed as Australia's first metalliferous mine. The mining industry contributes significantly to all aspects of the Australian economy, generating substantial employment opportunities, investment and income, export earnings and royalties for Governments. While the mining industry in South Australia is small by comparison with Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, it is nevertheless a very important industry in the State.   With the discovery of the world's third largest Cu-Au-U-Ag resource at Olympic Dam in 1975, the State saw a period of intense exploration activity through the early to mid-1980s. However, failure to locate additional world class deposits saw a dramatic reduction in exploration activity during the late 1980s. A perceived lack of prospectivity was compounded by the recognition that exploration for such deposits was neither easy nor inexpensive in South Australia because more than 80% of the State is masked by surficial sand and silt.

Jan 1, 1995

By I. Longson

Maintaining control over underground environmental conditions in the United Kingdom is increasingly dependent on the contribution of underground booster fans. Given the recent trends of higher rates of production from a fewer number of coal faces with higher levels of mechanization and higher power consumption, the effect has been to place a greater load on the mine ventilation system. This has increased the scale of potential problems that may arise should any of the main ventilation control devices not perform at the required full duty. This is particularly true for underground booster fans. Major changes occur in the main ventilation parameters on the stoppage or restart of a booster fan which results in a temporary loss of environmental control. This paper analyzes the impact of such events and details a mathematical model thar has been developed for a single-mesh circuit containing a main and a booster fan. Predictions based on this simple model are presented and discussed with particular reference to the energy changes occurring within the ventilation system immediately following a booster fan stop or restart

Jan 1, 1995

By Andrew Case

The Port Nickel facility in Braithwaite, Louisiana, is known for pioneering hydrometallurgical processes for the 'separation and recovery of nickel, cobalt and copper. Ten years ago, in 1985, a new CRI-MET process for the recovery of molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, cobalt and alumina from spent catalysts was developed and implemented. Spent- catalysts from the petroleum industry consietute the majority of feed. These are not only a valuable-source of metals, but due to EPA regulations are frequently classified as hazardous under RCRA. Molybdenum and vanadium are selectively leached in an oxidative hydrothermal step. Alumina is then extracted in a caustic digestive leach. The unique technology produces four primary commercial products l molybdenum trioxide, vanadium oxide, aluminum trihydrate and nickel-cobalt concentrate. This paper discusses the process, modifications. during ten years of operation, and the relationship of these modifications to the future of the catalyst recycling business.

Jan 1, 1995

By Baozhong Zhao

The direct smelting of copper concentrates to copper metal in a single furnace offers environmental and energy advantages over conventional two-stage copper smelting processes. However, the direct copper making results in unacceptably high level impurities (As, Sb and Bi) in the anode copper. Experimental studies have shown that it is possible to remove these impurities from molten copper by injection of sulfur-hexafluoride. This paper discusses the experimental findings on the influence of various factors on the rate of removal of impurities, such as the impurity inter-effects, initial oxygen content in the metal and injection rate of SF6.

Jan 1, 1995

By Arthur P. Chaves, Lauro S. Norbert Costa, Adão B. Da Luz

A series of bench-scale bleaching tests have been carried out on kaolin samples from the Rio Capim area( northern Brazil) at CETEM/CNPq. The whole sample has been homogenized and submitted to particle size separation, when the + 44 µm fraction has been discarded, prior to being bleached. The main objective of this series of tests has been to evaluate the possible effects of interactions among variables which are believed to play important roles in the bleaching operation on the efficiency of the process itself in terms of the brightness achieved in the final product The tests have been planned according to a classical four-variable, two-level factorial technique. The chosen variables have been the pH, sodium dithionite addition, aluminium sulphate addition and bleaching time. The study has shown that, apart of time, all other three variables are significant. None of the interactions among them have shown to be of significance. Brightness numbers close to 88 have been obtained in the products, which represents an improvement, since brightness for the non-bleached - 44 µm Rio Capim kaolin sample averages 83.

Jan 1, 1995

By D. S. McAllister, P. M. Rice, M. E. Fowler

The Westside Light Rail Project, a major 19.3-km (12-mile) extension of Portland, Oregon's light rail system, includes 4.6 km (2.8 miles) of twin 5.8-m (19-ft) diameter running tunnels, a binocular type station which, at 80 m (260 ft) below the ground surface, will be the deepest mass transit station in North America, two 9.4-m (31-ft) diameter station access shafts, and a 5.2-m (17¬ft) diameter ventilation shaft. The tunnels are being excavated by TBM and conventional rock, soft ground, and mixed-face methods. Geologic conditions, alignment, underground opening design, excavation method selection, and payment provisions for excavation and initial ground support are discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

The generation of acid mine water is? due to the oxidation and weathering of sulfide bearing tailings and overburdens. Ferrite precipitation prooess has been applied to treat acid mine water. The conventional ferrite preC1pitatlon requires air oxidation at high temperature, or long aging time or addition of magnetite powder ,as promoter. In this investigation, a modified ferrite, precipitation process is developed by which magnetic ferrite can be produced at an ambient temperature. Acid mine waters from Berkeley Pit (Montana, U. S. A.) and from Noranda Tailings (Quebec, Canada) were used. The co precipitation of heavy metals from these two acid mine waters is studied as a function of FeIM molar ratio, oxidation time and settling rate under applied magnetic field. The investigation indicates that the modified ferrite co precipitation can remove substantially all of the, dissolved metal ions from acid mine water. The ferrite product obtained after precipitation' is characterized by XRD, SEM, BET and saturation magnetization. The results show that spinel ferrite, precipitation can be achieved at room temperature and the saturation magnetization of ferrite product from,acid mine water is comparable to that of pure ferrites.

Jan 1, 1995

By Y. Wang, E. Forssberg, R. J. Pugh

The coagulation of dispersed ultrafine weakly-magnetic oxide mineral particles (e.g., natural hematite and chromite) in an external magnetic field can be described by interparticle forces. Essentially, coagulation occurs when the short-range London-van der Waals interactions and the long-range magnetic forces outweigh the stabilizing electrical double-layer repulsion. Using the classical colloid chemistry theory, the various components of the potential energy for different-sized particles at a series of ionic strengths and magnetic field intensities were calculated. The results of this theoretical analysis were then related to the results obtained from experimental studies in which the magnetic field-induced coagulation of the ultrafines of natural hematite and chromite in aqueous suspensions were investigated using a laboratory-scale electromagnetic solenoid. The experimental results relate the coagulation process (as determined by magneto-sedimentation analysis) to the particle size, the slurry pH and the external magnetic field. In the magnetic fields, the maximum coagulation occurred near the pH of zero-point-of-charge (pHzpc) of the minerals (where the electrostatic double layer repulsion was reduced to a minimum) enabling the particles to enter the "primary minimum" energy sink. On the other hand, in cases where the electrostatic repulsion was not suppressed, the long-range magnetic forces enabled coagulation to occur in the "secondary minimum." This caused the formation of chains that appeared to be relatively stable during sedimentation.

Jan 1, 1995

By Bearman R. A, Parkin R. M

Traditional quality control procedures for aggregates production within the quarry industry rely on off-line laboratory analysis, resulting in poor performance and inconsistent product quality. A high speed on-line aggregate classification system is described here. A product sampling system directs aggregate through an inspection chamber where a novel imaging system digitises the particle geometry. Data processing algorithms extract dimensional data and image features, while a neural network classifier assigns a qualitative shape descriptor to each rock particle. This system provides each sampled batch with a complete analysis of size and shape distributions, complementing a new generation of cone crusher technology to maximise product quality and plant efficiency.

Jan 1, 1995

By G. P. Dvoichenkova, E. A. Trofimova, M. V. Zaskevich, V. A. Chanturiya

The paper presents theoretical and practical aspects of directed adjustment of physicochemical properties (pH,Eh) and ion composition of recycle and mine water by electrochemical treatment. Treatment is run in the conditioners of diaphragm-type with production of alkaline catholyte of pH value up to 12 and acidic anolyte of pH up to 2. In process of water electrolysis the directed motion of Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions is observed from anode volume to cathode one, were they precipitate as hydroxides and carbonates; it leads to decrease of salt content in anolyte and catholyte. The anolyte has been concentrating anions, it is being saturated with oxygen, which reaches 20-35 mg/L. The results of experimental and industrial testing of electrochemical technique for mine and recycle water in flotation of diamond-containing and sulphide-scheelite, hematite, phosporite, apatite-nephelite, bauxite ores indicated the increase of recovery up to 2-1 5% and grade up to 0,5-2%, concurrent with decrease of reagent consumption from 15 to 50 %. Modules of industrial conditioners of different type capacity have been developed.

Jan 1, 1995

By Brathwaite RL

The gold-scheelite-quartz lodes of the Wakamarina valley were the most productive of the mesothermal gold-bear in the Marlborough Schist. Most of the production came from the Empire City and Golden Bar mines which worked tug, Golden Bar lode. Only 134 m of its 1800 m strike length are accessible, in the No. 2 level of the Golden Bar Mine. A fau I has downthrown the Golden Bar Mine section by 2 47 m and displaced it left-laterally by 18 m. The lode is a typical ribbon-banded mesothermal vein, averaging c. 1.75 m wide, and enclosing narrow horses of schist country rock. It i composed of bands of milky "buck" quartz with thin laminae of schist. Scheelite occurs in short strings of grains withi quartz on the footwall side of the lode and also in small quartz-carbonate veinlets in the foot wall and hanging wall schist The lode quartz contains only localised traces of pyrite and arsenopyrite. They are more abundant in the wall-rock schist.

Jan 1, 1995

By Gregg PEH, Stewart RB

Reclamation field trials commenced in 1985, two years before the granting of the Mining Licence. The level of pasture production on varying soil depths (0 cm, 5 cm, 15 cm and 25 cm) overlying both tailings and oxidised waste overburden was assessed. After seven years, the rate of increase of N, C, P and S, losses of S and P and pH changes were investigated on the plots where grass seed was sown into bare tailings. It was determined that on these plots it would take approximately 24 years to reach the original carbon and nitrogen levels at the mine site.

Jan 1, 1995

By Jelenich L, Murray J. Rantanen J

The experience gained in the development of an Operator Guidance System (OGS) for on-line process control and fault diagnosis in a commercial scale sintering process will be discussed in this paper. The OGS development started with the specification of feasible control and support tasks, eg ratio control scheme, mass balance calculations. Next, minimum requirements for fault diagnosis and process control were defined and the adequacy of existing instrumentation was assessed. The OGS knowledge base consists of both quantitative and qualitative diagnosis methods. Quantitative models based on fundamental engineering principle are used first and any gaps in such quantitative knowledge are then filled with heuristic rules. The diagnostic rules for the knowledge base was developed based on the knowledge acquired from experienced operators and operations engineers and validated with plant data. A real time reasoning program was written using C language and data base software. The OGS has a human-computer interface which is the primary means of interaction between the OGS and process operator. The OGS development has been successful in assisting operators in decision-making in their routine tasks. Further enhancement to the existing system is currently underway.

Jan 1, 1995