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By R. M. Honey

An attempt is made to summarise the mining law of England, Wales and Scotland. Attention is also drawn to the recent privatisation of the electric power and gas industries and the intention of the present Government to follow suit as regards coal mining. The subject of mining law is discussed under the headings: minerals or rights that have been nationalised or are vested in the Crown; ownership (of land and mineral rights); special customs; tracing of owners; right of support (arising from mining); ancillary rights and easements; obtaining prospecting and mining rights; planning permission; statutory aids to obtaining rights; notes on the history, law and practices of petroleum (onshore and offshore), gas, coal, prescribed substances, gold and silver; electricity; safety, health and welfare; and technical information and boreholes. A correction in the subsequent issue amends errors on p.A75 and A82 and regrets the publication of misinformation on the availability of grants

May 1, 1991

By R. V. Higgins, H. C. Miller

"INTRODUCTION The development of methods for determining the total quantity of crude oil that a given pool could be expected to produce in the future and the well-spacing and drilling programs most likely to result in the recovery of the maximum quantity of oil at the minimum cost became problems of acute concern to American oil producers and petroleum engineers during the second decade of the twentieth century, The United States faced what seemed at that time to be a serious shortage of petroleum, and it appeared that the constantly increasing demand for petroleum and its products could not be adequately supplied. Undrilled prospective acreage, which until then had been plentiful, seemed to be getting scarcer, competition was increasing, the margin of profit to the producer was shrinking, and the need for developing constructive policies of conservation appeared paramount. As a result of physical and economic changes then taking place within the petroleum industry prompted by the seemingly uncertain future, accurate knowledge pertaining to the probable future production of oil wells and of oil lands especially was needed and greatly desired. Furthermore, the need for obtaining the maximum quantity of oil from known fields caused technical information - which up to that time had not been deemed essential to the successful and profitable operation of oil lands - to be sought eagerly. The need for technical information, such as methods for determining future reserves of oil and the rate at which the oil could be obtained under a specific program of drilling, was emphasized further with the passage of the Revenue Act of 1918, and oil producers with enough income to place them in the taxable class were compelled, for the first time, to report their taxable income 4/ to the Treasury Department."

Nov 1, 1939

By Charles Kocsis, Pedro Nascimento, W. Patrick Arnott, Samuel J. Taylor

Respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is an inhalation health hazard for mining and industrial work environments and must be monitored. We provide theoretical analysis of real-time measurements for determining RCS mass concentration without the use of filters by using photoacoustic spectroscopy. The suspended dust in the mine air can be continuously sampled by the photoacoustic instrument. A tunable quantum cascade laser is the light source, allowing for determination of interferences such as kaolinite, coal dust, and water vapor. The most useful spectral region is found to be between 11 and 13 μm. Absorption by water vapor, and, to a lesser extent, carbon dioxide, in this spectral region has gaps that allow for quantification of the aforementioned dust species as well as a convenient check on the calibration of the instrument. This work brings photoacoustic measurement of aerosol to the mid infrared range where spectrally dependent light absorption can be used to quantify dust composition and mass concentration.

Jul 31, 2022

The Wattle Dam gold mine, located near Kambalda in the Goldfi elds region of Western Australia has recently progressed to an underground operation and is now believed to be Australia's highest grade operating gold mine. At end of March 2010, the deposit had reserves of 132 000 t @ 20.8 g/t for 88 000 oz and by the end of June 2010 had produced 110 000 oz from open-pit and underground mining. The Wattle Dam main lode is characterised by very coarse gold mineralisation. Gold occurs as cm to decimetre fracture fi ll veinlets, shear surface coatings and erratic fl akey clusters. The gold has no quartz or silica association and lacks adjacent low-grade mineralisation or alteration assemblage. Geologically it appears atypical of Archaean lode gold deposits and may represent an extreme end member of the type. Definition of the lode is largely dependent on effective geological identification of the host lode zone and an understanding of the erratic distribution and grade behaviour of a high-nugget, coarse gold deposit. Dependence on assay data to defi ne the lode zone would result in the deposit being mined incorrectly and much of the deposit being left unexploited. This paper discusses the geology, coarse gold characteristics and defi nition methods which are used to successfully defi ne and mine the deposit.

Aug 1, 2010

By P G. Hicks

The influence of feed size and pulp density on the specific rate ofbreakage of quartz was investigated. Plots of log fraction of feedremaining within the feed size interval against grinding time allowed the application of the first order grinding model to be examined. Substantial non-linearities were observed for all feed sizes due to environmental and material factors. For feed sizes above 1.3 mm, the specific rate of quartz breakage was higher with rod milling than ball milling, but below this size the reverse was true. Material that remained in the feed size interval after the initial grinding broke more slowly in subsequent grinding than the original feed material. Grinding media and time as well as feed size influenced the effects of pulp density on grinding. More dilute pulps (eg 50 per cent solids density by weight) were favoured for higher rates of breakage in rod milling but for ball milling, the optimum pulp density appeared to be 60 to 70 per cent solids by weight.

Jan 1, 1998

As land resources decrease, commodity prices increase, and technology evolves, deep sea mining is becoming a viable alternative to meet the increasing demand for minerals. Successful deep sea mining operations are built on sound identification of the resource, proper selection of equipment, a thoughtful production plan, and good project management. These four key activities can be further optimized by analyzing how the spatial variability and uncertainty of the ore body properties impact the final mining operation. To address this problem, IHC Merwede is in the process of developing a risk quantification framework in the context of deep sea mining, which makes use of state of the art geostatistical simulation methods and transfer functions to quantify geological uncertainty and translate it into decision or project risk. The paper introduces the Local Average Subdivision method (LAS) for generating simulated models of the deposit and presents a new extension to incorporate point measurements of geotechnical or ore grade properties. Due to its computational efficiency, the presented method is suitable for simulating largely extended sea floor deposits. The second part of the paper illustrates, through example case studies, the significant benefits of a risk based approach which translates geological uncertainty into financial or operational performance indicators. In particular, the focus is on assessing financial project risk and on the design optimization of the deep sea excavation equipment by analyzing cutting forces, specific energies, and power requirements.

Aug 1, 2013

By Charles F. Park

Mining in the Pacific Coastal Region has passed through three stages of development. First came the gold rush days, a period when gold and silver were the objects of intensive search. Second was the development of the high-grade base-metal deposits and of the smaller and more refractory precious metal deposits. And third was the modern period that covers the discovery and development of the rarer metals, of large low-grade deposits, and of the industrial and nonmetallic minerals. Brief discussions of the salient geologic features of the region and of a few of the better known mineral deposits are given. The regional geology is favorable for continued exploration and discovery of new deposits and districts.

Jan 1, 1968

By Thomas V. Falkie

The new international fact of life that has emerged in the 70's is that foreign energy sources can no longer be considered either reliable or low in price. As a result, the United States is turning its full attention to its domestic energy resources. The figures about proved domestic reserves are often used to reassure us about the Nation's energy future: assuming a 50 percent recovery factor, there are at least 219 billion tons of recoverable bituminous coal and lignite, of which 31 percent is available by surface methods; proved reserves of crude petroleum and natural gas liquids total 34.3 billion barrels and 6.4 billion barrels, respectively. There is also about 4 billion tons of recoverable anthracite coal, a premium low-sulfur fuel of high heating value, which is all but priced out of the market because of the high costs of producing it. Total fossil fuel resources are even larger, although there are no guarantees concerning how much might become usable, and when, and at what cost. The figures, however, are impressive. They include the equivalent of about 200 billion barrels of oil potentially recoverable from high grade oil shale; 100 billion barrels in "heavy oil" deposits; and the equivalent of 25 to 35 billion barrels of oil in domestic deposits of "tar sands," and substantial quantities of conventional oil and gas resources. There is also the prospect of a significant increase in electric power generation

Jan 1, 1975

The Snap Lake Phase I project initiated a subsampling campaign on the material (kimberlite/metavolcanic/granite) mined and treated for diamonds. The campaign was aimed at determining the optimum subsampling program to subsample the feed to the bulk sample plant (BSP) for the duration of a sampling campaign. This paper describes the application of GyÆs formula for determining the subsample size and other good sampling practices to determine this subsampling campaign. Three main issues are discussed: the use of a hammer sampler to sample off a moving conveyor and the practical experiment to determine the optimum subsampling program; bias introduced by laboratory equipment including two sizes rotary splitters; and variability of the feed material to the BSP over time.

Jan 1, 2005

The Bureau of Mines human factors research program is directed toward reducing accidents and improving the overall efficiency of the person-machine environment interface found in surface and underground mines. The focus of the hum factors program therefore, is to insure that sound knowledge is available concerning human capabilities and limitations, and that this knowledge is applied to the design, of mining equipment, work tasks, and management procedures. The papers presented in these proceedings summarize some of the recent Bureau research in hum factors. The papers focus on two broad areas, human resource issues and human engineering of equipment, tools, and work procedures found in mines.

Jan 1, 1987

By Charles Will Wright

THE HIGHLY SPECIALIZED heavy air transport services to mining regions, such as exist in the New Guinea gold fields and in northern Canada, have been even more essential in the development of mines in Peru. Few nations have been con- fronted with greater natural obstacles to transport than has Peru, and without the plane it would have been impossible to get the machinery and supplies for the construction of power plants and mills to many of these interior mines, situated as they are over high mountain ranges, with muleback the principal means of transportation. As the mines within a district become important producers and warrant the expenditure, the mule trail is being replaced by automobile roads to connect with the railway stations and with the airports.

Jan 1, 1940

By Paulo Cesar Pavan

T&T or Traceability, is a concept of generating, storing and on demand providing information about all traceable items in the supply chain

Jan 1, 2019

By K. J. Palmer, D. A. Silva

"Evaluating resources and reserves requires the reliable modelling of geological domains and their grades. “Multiple point statistics” simulation is a relatively new geostatistical method to generate complex, high-resolution geological models by extracting high-order spatial relations from training images. A method based on combining multiple training images is developed to obtain the correct amount of large-scale continuity and short-scale variability. A calibration process matches the geological spatial variability between the final realizations and the drillhole dataset. A case study with data from the Red Dog mine, Alaska, United States, shows an appropriate reproduction of short-scale variability along boundaries between geological units.RÉSUMÉ L’évaluation des ressources et des réserves exige une modélisation fiable des domaines géologiques et de leur teneur. La simulation par « statistique multipoint » est une méthode géostatistique relativement nouvelle pour générer des modèles géologiques complexes à haute résolution par l’extraction de relations spatiales d’ordre supérieur à partir d’images d’entraînement. Une méthode basée sur la combinaison de multiples images d’entraînement est développée afin d’obtenir la bonne quantité de continuité à grande échelle et de variabilité à petite échelle. Un processus d’étalonnage fait correspondre la variabilité géologique spatiale entre les réalisations finales et l’ensemble des données de forage. Une étude de cas avec des données de la mine Red Dog, Alaska, États-Unis, montre une reproduction adéquate de la variabilité à petite échelle le long des limites entre les unités géologiques."

Jan 1, 2015

By John A. Hansuld

Geochemical dispersion of metals under various environmental conditions is discussed within the frame-work of Eh (oxidation potential) and pH (acidity). In general, two aspects are considered -(1) the oxidation of certain primary sulphides in the outcrop or sub-outcrop environment, and (2) the movement of metals in different dispersion media. Practical applications of each are illustrated by means of exploration case histories representing environmental conditions in the Canadian Shield, the southwestern United States and the Caribbean.

Jan 1, 1966

By E. Wraith, W. W. Culver, B. Wesstrom, P. J. Mackey

Electrodeposited copper of the 1860s was of unprecedented purity, although the profound significance of this achievement was not fully realised until the dawn of the electrical age a decade or so later. By the 1870s there were three somewhat large (4 to 4.5 tonnes Cu/day) electrolytic copper refineries in Germany based on J. B. Elkington’s process, first patented in the United Kingdom in 1865. More such refineries were planned throughout Europe. At the same time, copper output in the U.S.A. was starting to expand and with the spread of European electrolytic copper refining technology across the Atlantic, the door opened to major increases in North American output. The technology was first taken up in 1879 by James Douglas at the Chemical Copper Company in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where he was Superintendent. Douglas was assisted in this pioneering work by Edward Weston. The copper refinery at the Chemical Copper Company was small, not unlike the first plants in Europe. The present authors contend that the electrolytic copper refinery at the Chemical Copper should be regarded as the first copper refinery in the United States. The Balbach Copper Refinery in New Jersey, which commenced operations in 1883 with an initial production of about 2 tonnes Cu/day, has been erroneously considered as the “first commercial refinery”; it rightly belongs in second place. The early developments at these plants are discussed in this paper. INTRODUCTION In the mid-1800s, the main uses for copper were as sheathing on the wooden sailing ships of the day to protect from marine growth, boiler components in locomotives and steam engines, along with some construction uses. Copper ores were generally smelted, and further fire-refined for market. The recovery of gold and silver, if present in payable amounts, was a slow and relatively expensive step. This situation regarding copper would change by the 1870s with advances in the generation and use of electricity. The introduction of the dynamo led to major developments in electrorefining. First demonstrated in principle by Faraday in 1831 (Faraday, 1832), the dynamo was subsequently adapted and further developed by J.S. Woolrich for electro-metallurgical applications in 1842 (Woolrich, 1842; Napier, 1845). It provided a new source of power with the unprecedented potential to significantly change the scale of metal production by electrometallurgy. Interestingly enough, copper would be needed for the electrical age just beginning. By 1869, advances in dynamo design offered relatively reliable large machines, which enabled J. B. Elkington in the United Kingdom to use the dynamo in the radically new Pembrey copper electrorefinery — the first copper electrorefinery in the world (Wraith, 2013). Initial production at Pembrey was small — in the range of 1 to 2 tonnes/day — while gold and silver were recovered more readily by the treatment of the slimes than with methods used hitherto.

Jan 1, 2019

By J. B. Mawdsley

Introduction The writer was instructed to visit the Chibougamau region during the field season of 1927 and report on the mineral discoveries that had been made there since 1911. lt was deemed advisable to obtain detailed information regarding the rocks underlying the area in the vicinity of these recent discoveries. Accordingly an area 60 square miles in extent was mapped. The outcrops were studied along the water courses and along bush traverses spaced at half-mile intervals between these water courses. The completion of the rest of the summer's programme allowed only three weeks for this work. lt is from this small, mapped area, and this necessarily cursory survey, that the material for this paper was obtained. Location And Means Of Access The name Chibougamau district is applied loosely to an ill-defined area of about 1,000 square miles lying mostly north and west of Chibougamau lake in the Province of Quebec. The lake is approximately half way between lake St. John and James bay. It lies 150 miles north of the Canadian National railway and 40 miles south of Mistassini?lake.

Jan 1, 1928

By James C. Foley, David K. Rehbein

"In-situ characterizations of green state part density and sintering state have long been desired in the powder metal community. Recent ·advances in non-contact electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) technology have enabled in-situ evaluations of the acoustic attenuation and velocity as sintering proceeds. Pure aluminum (99.999%) and aluminum alloy powders were prepared with high-pressure gas atomization (HPGA). The powders were pressed in a uniaxial die and examined with acoustic waves for changes in velocity and attenuation during sintering. The changes in acoustic properties were correlated with sample microstructures and mechanical properties. Evolution of the acoustic echo train during sintering is shown to provide information on the state of sintering as well as having the potential for detection of interior flaws.IntroductionThe versatility of powder metalallurgy (PIM) technology in the manufacture of complex shapes has enabled an increasing amount of wrought and casting production capacity to be converted to PIM technology. However, ultrasonic inspection of green components produced using PIM techniques remains a challenge and is not generally practiced [1]. Inspection of PIM components in the green state is highly desirable, because the green part can be reclaimed with only accepted components being subjected to further costly processing. Another potential benefit is characterization and greater understanding of the sintering process itself. An increased scientific understanding of the sintering process enables intelligent process control, greater reliability of the production process and a lower rate of rejection of the finished product. In order to realize these potential benefits, it is necessary therefore that accept/reject criterion be based on real time nondestructive evaluation of the green-state components and the sintering process.Most current nondestructive inspection techniques suffer from their inability to perform inspections below the near-surface region with the exception of X-ray and to some extent pulsed eddy current [2]. X-ray inspection requires extensive shielding of production personnel and expensive film and film processing. While development of pulsed eddy current techniques have lessened the impact of the well-known skin effect, the depth of penetration of the induced eddy currents remains somewhat of an issue [2]."

Jan 1, 2000

Increase the productivity of domestic mining operations by improving the performance of rock drilling systems. Approach Investigate the use of chemical solutions at zero surface charge concentrations as drilling fluid additives to enhance penetration rates and extend bit life. Background Bureau researchers have investigated the use of chemical additives to enhance drilling performance and have found that the most efficient drilling occurred when the drilling fluid was able to maintain a zero surface charge (ZSC) on the rock surface. Laboratory drilling studies using 5/8-inch diameter diamond-impregnated coring bits on rock types such as quartzite, granite, taconite, and marble. Cationic compounds were used as the surface charge neutralizing additives during these tests. The drilling studies demonstrated enhanced drilling performance, however, only at the singular additive concentration that produced the ZSC condition. Bureau researchers made a breakthrough when they found that polyethylene oxide, although a nonionic polymer, was able to maintain the ZSC condition over a wide range of concentrations. Success using polyethylene oxide as the drilling fluid additive during subsequent laboratory tests prompted testing under field conditions.

Jan 1, 1991

By R. C. Head

The investigation describe the history of copper in the seventties, as well as indicates the forecast the probable trend of the Copper Industry over the coming decade, and second, to stimulate some discussion on what is a somewhat controversial subject. At the same point, the period of surplus production from about 1972 to 1976-1977, during part of which some voluntary restriction on output maybe necessary. In consecuence, its a necessity for forward planning so that, by 1973-1974, new mines maybe developing to preserve the continuity of supply .

Nov 20, 1969

By Matthew N. Rubin

This report summarizes the work performed under USBM Contract No. H0155155, "Demonstrating the Noise Control of a Coal Preparation Plant." A Consolidation Coal Company coal preparation plant (the Georgetown Plant) was selected for demonstration of various noise control techniques and materials in a commercially operating plant. At the start of the project, the 1650 tons per hour (tph) plant was surveyed to document the existing sound levels and worker noise exposures. On the basis of the survey, individual noise sources were characterized and assigned priorities for treatment. Four categories of noise control treatments were installed in this plant: ? Resilient impact pads ? Curtains ? Chute liners ? Resilient screen decks. Currently (1977) available resilient impact pads and curtains were found to be suit-able for general use in coal preparation plants; in the Georgetown Plant, they provided significant noise reduction [6 to 10 dB(A)]. The overall performance of the chute liners which also provided useful noise reduction, was strongly dependent on the specific installation. Although the resilient screen decks have the potential for 7 to 9 dB(A) of coal/screen impact noise reduction, blinding and delamination (in composite decks) en-countered at the Georgetown Plant represented major design problems for these products. This program achieved noise reductions of up to 10 dB in various areas of the Georgetown Plant (within the restrictions imposed by the plant's operation) resulting in significant reduction in worker noise exposures.

Jan 1, 1977