Search Documents

By Terry Keough

Contents for discussion ?Current liner technology ?Innovation of magnetic products ?Development of magnetic wear liners ?Installation and change out method ?Uses and capabilities ?Internal wear liners ?Summary Vulcanized rubber ?Many of you are familiar with using vulcanized rubber to provide wear protection on mining equipment. For years, this was the standard for most mining equipment, and mines spent a lot of money fabricating and lining steel equipment.

May 1, 2010

That electricity is an important and valuable agent, the limit of whose capacity for utilisation is as yet unknown, is a truism; although enormous advances have been made, the possible developments are yet greater. Mining, along with other industries, shares already to a large extent in the practical utilisation of this agent. Electrical engineers have been employed for several years past in developing and applying electricity to all classes of machinery, and for every purpose where power is required and in no instance, that the writer is aware of, has its use been curtailed in favour of any other agency now known, while extensions are continually made. The first modern electric motor was shown at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873, and it was used to work a pump through a mile length of cable but it was not before 1878, that an electric motor was put into daily commercial use by Messrs. Chretian and Felix to work a beet sugar hoist. This early plant effected a saving of 40 % as compared with hand work.In 1879, the first Electric Railway was constructed for the Berlin Exhibition, and in the same year, Mr. T. A. Edison was running an experimental line at Menlo Park. The first electric line opened for the public, was constructed by Siemens and Halske, in 1881, at Lichtenfelde, and was 11 miles in length.

By R. C. Earlougher

Jan 1, 1970

By Kenneth S. Johnson

Oklahoma is the only; state in the nation that is currently producing iodine. The iodine is extracted from iodine-rich natural brines being pumped from deep wells drilled into Pennsylvanian sandstones in the Anadarko basin of northwestern Oklahoma. Woodward Iodine Corp., started in 1977, was the first plant in the United States built for iodine recovery since the 1930s. At present, three companies are operating four iodine-producing facilities in northwestern Oklahoma. The combined production of these facilities, 1,321,000 kg in 1997, is about 26% of the U.S. annual consumption. Iodine is present in concentrations ranging from less than 100 ppm (parts per million) to as much as 1,560 ppm in brines in various Paleozoic strata in the subsurface of northwestern Oklahoma; these concentrations are exceptionally high, and are well above those of any other known brines in the world. Strata with the highest iodine content in the area (Mississippian limestones) have low permeabilities, and thus would yield only small amounts of brine. On the other hand, the lower Morrow sandstones (Lower Pennsylvanian) have a relatively high permeability and are capable of yielding large quantities of brine that average 300-350 ppm iodine. The Morrow brine reservoir was deposited in shallow-water-marine and intertidal-shelf environments and now is buried 6,000-10,000 ft below the land surface. Production is localized to Morrow channel deposits confined to an Early Pennsylvanian paleovalley that is 1-2 mi wide, is about 70 mi long, and is referred to informally as the "Woodward trench." All three companies are producing iodine-rich brines from Morrow sandstones in three different parts of the Woodward paleovalley, and one of the companies also is extracting iodine from oil-field brines coming from several petroleum reservoirs near Dover, about 80 mi east of Woodward. The basic extraction method employed by Woodward Iodine Corp. was used in Louisiana and California operations in the late 1920s. This method is commonly called the air-stripping process. Lower Morrow brine containing dissolved sodium iodide is pumped to the plant through a series of pipelines, where by-product natural gas is separated and processed. The brine is then acidified and subsequently oxidized with chlorine to convert the iodide to iodine. The iodine is air stripped and reabsorbed with sulfur dioxide and water, converting it to hydriodic acid, or process liquor. The process liquor is then processed, using chlorine once again, to crystallize the iodine as a solid. This is then melted and frozen to form a solid product, which is packaged in 110-lb (50-kg) drums and shipped to end users throughout the world.

Jan 1, 1999

By Dean McDonald

The Committee Bay Greenstone Belt extends over 300km and is one of the largest unexplored greenstone belts in North America with excellent gold and diamond potential. Committee Bay Resources Limited holds over 550,000 acres of land with prospective geology in the Committee Bay area southwest of Melville Peninsula, Nunavut. Committee Bay is a typical Archean greenstone belt comparable to the Yellowknife, Red Lake, Kirkland Lake and other prolific gold belts. Drilling during 2003 at Committee Bay resulted in: 1) the discovery of high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins with silicification and sulphidation at Three Bluffs, and 2) the continuation of high-grade gold mineralization in the hinge area of the iron formation at Inuk. Gold mineralization at Three Bluffs is identified in iron formation and adjacent sediments and has been traced by drilling for over 700m. The Three Bluffs iron formation is open to depth and along strike where is has been traced on surface for over 6km. In January 2004 Committee Bay and joint venture partner Gold Field?s announced a $7.1 million exploration program for the Committee Bay project in 2004. A total of 8,000m in exploration drilling has been approved for the expansion of the Three Bluffs to the resource stage and drilling of at least five new target areas. Additional mapping, sampling and geophysics will be used to identify new gold targets along the very prospective Committee Bay belt.

May 1, 2004

By Dale S. Preece

A Discrete element computer program named DMC @istinct Motion Code) has been developed for modeling rock blasting. This program employs explicit time integration and uses spherical or cylindrical elements which are represented as circles in 2-D. DMC calculations have been compared with measurements on bench blasts in the field with relatively good comparison. Structural rock mass characteristics have a significant impact on any blast and DMC has not, until now, included these effects. This paper discusses a recently added DMC capability for treating joints and bedding planes in bench blast simulations.

Jan 1, 1995

By Paul H. Lu

This Bureau of Mines report summarizes the analysis and eveluation of the field measurement results of a comprehensive ground control study conducted in a mechanized longwall coal mine in West Virginia. Emphasis is placed on the three basic ground control parameters: ground pressure, ground movement, and geomechanical properties. Specific topics include premining ground pressures, front-abutment pressure in the longwall panel, histories of pillar loading, differential roof-strata movement and bed separation, differential floor strata movement, entry roof-to-floor convergence, in situ moduli of rigidity of coal seam and roof and floor strata, and mechanical properties of coal and coal measures rocks.

Jan 1, 1985

By Áureo Del Vecchio, Lídia Dely Alves de Sousa, José Pereira

The potassium demand for agriculture purposes has increased in Brazil, which has great deficit of internal demands. Potassium-rich rocks have been used as fertilizers as technological alternatives for agriculture aimed to reduce the amount of chemicals and the sector dependence for such products. Vermiculite tailings from União Brasileira de Mineração - UBM, at Santa Luzia - PB, was studied aiming their application in agriculture by potassium release. The sample was analyzed by XRF and XRD; studies on release kinetic with particles smaller than 2 mm added of organic acids (citric and oxalic) at 10-2 mol/L concentration; samples were analyzed by XRD after kinetic assays. The work was conducted using a shaker incubator at 300-rpm agitation and time variation to better understand the potassium availability in the ground. Results show the presence of K2O at 3.46% concentration. Citric and oxalic acids increased the release speed to almost the same level with speed coefficients (k) of 2.61x10-2 h-1/2 and 2.55x10-2 h-1/2 respectively. In statistical terms for both acids, the linear equation represents more than 99.0% of the experimental assays. Stonemeal was applied to banana seedlings in experiment conducted in a greenhouse. The use of vermiculite tailings in banana seedlings promoted potassium absorption, which influenced its growth. The amount of potassium liberated from vermiculite tailings could be used as a long-term alternative to fertilizers in agriculture cultures.

Jan 1, 2014

By Timothy D. Gardner, Christopher Mark

Coal mines in the Illinois Basin have not engaged in pillar recovery for many decades. In large part, this is due to the exceptionally weak nature of much of the roof in the region. But, as room-and-pillar mining is conducted at greater depths, and larger pillars become necessary, recovering them becomes more attractive. Recently a western Kentucky coal mine became the first in recent times to successfully employ full pillar recovery. This paper describes the many challenges that were overcome during the process. From the beginning, the focus was on protecting the miners from roof instability, using cable bolts, mesh, mobile roof supports (MRS), and engineered final stumps. Two short test panels were extracted first, and the results were used to adjust the support pattern and mining sequence. Further adjustments were made based on subsequent experience. To date, seven panels have been recovered without a ground fall injury.

Jul 1, 2023

By Paul M. Wiltcher

This paper discusses how benefits in engineering design can be achieved from combining existing GRP concrete design guidelines with carbon steel design codes primarily made possible due to the increase in the constitutive properties of modern composite rebar or GRP. It also examines the technical and practical considerations necessary to both construct and ensure the integrity of composite rebar during transportation and handling on site and the measures taken by Franki-Cementation Joint Venture to ensure the safe deployment of the GRP in the workplace on the Noord/Zuidlijn Project in Amsterdam between 2003 and 2006.

Jan 1, 2006

By X. Ndlovu

Underground observations in a coal mine have indicated failure oft he immediate roof above the bords. Careful observations and photographic recording of occurrences of these roof failures, termed ?roof guttering?, have been made. The occurrence of guttering results directly in roof instability, and indirectly, due to the interaction of the guttering with natural planes of weaknesses in the immediate roof rock. In this paper, relevant observations of roof guttering, possible mechanisms of formation of roof gutters, laboratory testing for determination of material strength and deformation properties, and numerical analyses to explain underground observations are described. Mapping of roof failures showed that these took place mainly towards the centre of the roadways. Roof guttering was observed often to occur violently and with little warning. Occurrence of roof guttering has a negative impact on production?some panels are abandoned, production times are increased and safety of workers is compromised. The numerical stress analyses showed that, although none of the constitutive behaviour criteria used predicted the observed underground failures correctly, the extension strain criterion gave the best agreement.

Jan 1, 2007

By George A. Morrison

THE Columbia Chemical Division of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. is at Barberton, Ohio, 35 miles south of Cleveland. For many years large tonnages of limestone have been brought to the Barberton plant from distant points. The stone is here burnt in vertical kilns, the resultant product then hydrated and the hydrated lime used in chemical processing. To eliminate the expense of these shipments, the company decided to investigate a limestone bed known to exist on company property at Barberton, where the stone is used. The bed lay at a depth of more than 2000 ft. and was known locally as the "Deep Lime." Chemical analyses of sludge from churn-drill holes made some years ago proved that the limestone was of sufficient purity to warrant diamond-drill exploration. Four diamond-drill holes were put down at well-spaced intervals, to represent fairly an area of four miles by one mile. Cores logged as to chemical and physical conditions were found to compare closely, and to corroborate the earlier evidence that the limestone was of superior quality for chemical use. A plant of 300 tons per hour was subsequently decided upon. SITE The yard at the chemical plant was already so congested that location of the projected mine within its area could not be considered. Eventually a site was selected 2 miles northwest of the plant, near the main line of the Erie Railroad. Here 412 acres were owned outright by the company and stone rights were obtained on 250 additional acres. This location required a transportation line of nearly 2 miles (8800 ft.), crossing two major highways, and to avoid interruption of deliveries to the plant, overpasses were planned. GEOLOGY The limestone in the immediate vicinity lies about 2200 ft. below the surface. Geologists* identify this stone as Delaware of Devonian age. It is overlain by 18 ft. of unconsolidated (sand and gravel), 100 ft. of water-bearing sandstone, and finally 2080 ft. of shale into which sandstone in thin layers is interbedded. The contact of shale and limestone is abrupt, flat-lying and very pronounced. Berea sandstone, often found at 520 ft., is absent, but Euclid sandstone was encountered, together with a seepage of oil and a small amount of methane gas. The limestone bed itself is 345 ft. thick, and overlies 200 ft. of gypsum. The lower part becomes dolomitic as it approaches the gypsum. A detailed study of the drill cores indicates that the upper 50 ft, are highest in lime and reasonably low in silica. The physical make-up shows several separating cherty layers. These occur at definite horizons and cause distinct partings, which become horizontal planes of

Jan 1, 1943

By K. Bruce Hodgins

The North American mining industry faces challenging emissions regulations in coming years with the introduction of new standards for off-road diesel engines. In order to remain competitive, industry stakeholders must invest in new technologies that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Westport Innovations Inc., of Vancouver B.C. has developed high pressure direct injection (HPDI) technology that allows diesel engines to run primarily on natural gas with no intrusive engine modifications, reduced emissions of NOx, PM, and CO2, with no loss in performance. This is accomplished through late-cycle high-pressure injection of natural gas directly into a diesel engine combustion chamber. The natural gas is injected at the end of the compression stroke. A small amount of diesel fuel is injected first to initiate combustion, followed by the main natural gas fuel injection. The diesel cycle and its operating characteristics are fully retained including high combustion efficiency, low speed torque, high-power output, no engine knock and fast response to load changes. Natural gas has not been an attractive fuel alternative in mining operations due to reduced performance associated with spark ignition engines and the added weight and space required for compressed natural gas tanks. However, liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be stored in a similar manner and volume to diesel fuel by virtue of its increased energy density over compressed natural gas. Cummins, Inc. of Columbus, Indiana and Westport have formed a joint venture, Cummins Westport Inc. (CWI), under which agreement the HPDI technology is being applied to a Cummins QSK engine series for high horsepower applications such as mine haul trucking. CWI, along with Komatsu Mining Systems, ENRG Fuels, Placer Dome, and Cortez Joint Venture are performing a feasibility study for the development and demonstration of an LNGfueled HPDI QSK engine in a large mine haul truck. The goal would be to demonstrate low emissions consistent with EPA ?Blue Sky? standards, high efficiency based on HPDI technology and good economics resulting from the high fuel consumption of 2,000+ hp trucks.

May 1, 2002

By J. L. Konchesky

In gasifying pulverized coal with steam and oxygen, the particle size of the coal fed to a gasifier should be as small as economically possible. A potential way to achieve this advantage is to reduce the particle size of the coal by passing the coal-steam mixture at high velocity through a heated tube coil before the mixture enters the gasifier. To evaluate this method the Federal Bureau of Mines flashed coal-water slurries in externally heated metallic tube coils to determine the extent of size reduction. The first of two different laboratory-scale apparatus reduced the average particle diameter of subbituminous C coal from 190 to 110 microns at an outlet velocity of 330 feet per second (f.p.s.). At the same outlet velocity, a second apparatus reduced the average particle diameter from 250 to 140 microns. An increase in velocity produced more finely divided coal, but variation in temperature and pressure had no effect except as they affected velocity. Virtually the same size reduction was noted for five ranks of coal at equal velocities. The rate of increase in particle-size reduction with increase in velocity decreased with a decrease in particle size. The pulverizing mechanism was concluded to be abrasion of the particles with each other and with the tube wall.

Jan 1, 1961

By Jaroslav Horskoý, Miroslav Raudenský, Bogdan Filipic, Božidar Sader

This paper describes main elements and practical use of the computational system for automated setting of optimized casting conditions in the continuous casting of steel. The system consists of the heat transfer model of the process, empirical metallurgical criteria, and optimization algorithm. The physical model of the, strand temperature distribution relies on the classical Bennon-Incropera mixture continuum formulation for the convective-diffusive heat transport. Fluid flow effects are considered through enhanced thermal conductivity of the liquid phase. The model is solved by the operator-splitting Crank-Nicolson finite volume version of the Voller-Swaminathan scheme. The solution procedure is coupled with the IDS solidification analysis package. Boundary conditions for the strand cooling rely on combination of the generic and plant-specific mold, spray, and roll heat transfer coefficients ' by coping the effects of the casting speed, casting temperature, casting powder, mold oscillation mode, steel grade, water or air-mist spray type, running water, trapped water on the rolls, and radiation. The caster safety and productivity and the quality of the strand are related to nine empirical metallurgical criteria. The criteria ensure the caster safety and economy as well limit the internal, longitudinal, and transversal surface cracking possibility. The problem of finding optimum casting parameter values is stated as a minimization problem based on the analytical form of the cooling criteria evaluated from the steady-state temperature distribution of the strand. To solve the optimization problem, a genetic algorithm is employed. The algorithm explores process parameters settings heuristically by applying the principles of biological evolution. It starts with a random set of solutions and iteratively improves them through selection and variation. Solutions are evaluated by running the heat transfer model of the process and extracting the values of the empirical metallurgical criteria.

Jan 1, 2000

How Particles Stick to Bubbles - The Influence of pH and Hydrophobicity in Flotation

Sep 13, 2010

By Alfred H. Bell

IN 1945, Illinois produced 75,210,000 bid. of oil, or 4.4 percent of the total for the United States, and ranked sixth in the nation in oil production for the third consecutive year. Production decreased about 3 per cent from that of 1944, when the total Illinois production was 77,413,000 bbl. This is the smallest percentage of decrease in production in the state for any year since a peak was reached in 1940. Daily average production for 1945 was approximately 206,000 bbl. Daily averages by months were as follows:

Jan 1, 1946

By A. Noble

"Froth flotation circuits are widely used throughout the mineral processing industry for the concentration of fine particles. It had been estimated that nearly 2 Gt (2.2 billion st) of ores are treated globally each year using this versatile separation process (Fuerstenau, 1999). Due to the high feed tonnage, a large economic incentive exists for flotation plant operators to optimize the performance of this critical processing circuit. Prior to the 1950s, the optimization of flotation circuits primarily involved the manual adjustment of operating variables based on visual observation and sporadic sampling (Lynch, Harbort and Nelson, 2010). During the next several decades, however, the advent of improved on-line instrumentation coupled with the rapid development of high-speed microprocessors allowed the industry to develop more advanced control systems that could quickly adjust operational parameters in response to disturbances in ore characteristics and plant flows. These early online controls typically involved feedback loops designed to stabilize cell performance through the automatic manipulation of process variables such as pulp levels, gas rates and chemical dosages. The set-points for these controllers were often set by plant operators based on one or more operator objectives, such as maximizing throughput, recovery or grade. More recently, these regulatory controllers have been interfaced with high-level data display and management systems that provide operators with the ability to better optimize flotation plant performance based on mathematical models and rule-based algorithms (Greet, 2010).While tremendous strides have been made during the past several decades, even the most modern flotation plants are still faced with the long-standing question: “What are we trying to optimize?” From an operator perspective, some common responses include “Maximize tonnage of saleable concentrate” or “Maximize metals recovery at a customer-specified market grade.” These replies may or may not reflect those of management, who often focus on economic goals such as “Maximize profits for each operational unit” or “Maximize rate of return for all corporate assets.” Unfortunately, these high-level objective statements do not always translate well into practice due to the disconnect between plant operating protocols and product value. Attempts have been made by industry to overcome this issue using various types of optimization routines such as linear programming or other optimization engines. While this approach does have some merit, these blind routines require considerable input data and interpretational expertise and provide little or no fundamental insight that can be used to drive improvements in concentrator performance."

Feb 1, 2017

By D. G. Westlake

Levine has concluded that prismatic slip in titanium is controlled by two distinct thermally activated processes in the temperature ranges O° to 220°K and 220" to 300°K. We feel that his evidence is not convincing. He has drawn a curve through the plot of activation volume u* vs temperature T with a break at 22WK, Fig. 2. We believe that considering the possible experimental error apd the fact that there are only four points between 4° and 196°K, one could be justified to represent these points by the smooth curve we show as a solid line in Fig. 12. Levine believes that (8rf/aT)+ is discontinuous at 220°K, but he hints that he recognizes the possible doubt. We doubt seriously that the results shown in Fig. 1 indicate a discontinuity at 220°K. Certainly if he were justified in drawing a straight line through only four points on Fig. 2, we are even more justified in drawing straight lines through the seven points between 77" and 297°K on Figs. 1 and 3, because a straight line touches all seven of his circles. If his measurements of t were so precise that his decision to draw two curves in Fig. 3 is valid, then the experimental technique is deserving of further mention. We have drawn a smooth curve through the results in Fig. 3 and used this and the curve in Fig. 12 to obtain the values of shown in Fig. 13. Finding continuous is a contradiction of Fig. 4, which deserves comment itself. Levine obtained the solid circles in Fig. 4 using Fig. 2 and a smooth curve through the points shown in Fig. 3. We have replotted these solid circles in Fig. 14. We submit that there is no basis for his two straight lines (dashed in Fig. 14), and therefore have superimposed the curve that we believe is indicated. Certainly, there is reasonable doubt that a discontinuity in dH/dT exists at 220°K, even when one accepts Fig, 2. Furthermore, if one draws the straight lines indicated by least-squares treatments of the results presented as open circles in Fig. 4, their intersection is at about 196°K, not at 220°K as shown. Thus the alleged agreement between Figs. 3 and 4 with respect to "break" temperatures is not apparent. In Fig. 9, Levine has drawn a straight line very much different from the one indicated by a least-squares treatment. Obviously, he has done this because he recognized that H = 0 when T = 0. He is consistent in drawing the low-temperature curves in

Jan 1, 1968

By B. A. Osei

Research to evaluate possible metrics for predicting dredgeability of compact aggregates, by hydraulically actuated clamshell dredges, shows work done by the pistons as a viable metric. Analysis of field data shows that there is a low, positive, correlation between cycle time (CT) and work done. If this correlation exists, then CT has to be considered an independent variable affecting work done during dredgeability assessment. Further research is required to elucidate the relationship between CT and work done during dredging. The objective of this paper is to test the hypothesis that work done during dredging increases with increasing CT. Kinematics and dynamics of the hydraulic clamshell were modeled and implemented in Simulink® in MATLAB. The model was validated using field data. The model was then used to test the research hypothesis. The results show that work done increases with increasing CT. This work confirms that work done during dredging increases with increasing CT. This result indicates that though an operator can increase the CT to deal with difficult digging, inputting unduly high CTs results in higher energy consumption during dredging.

Jan 1, 2011