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By R. M. Hardgrove

Pulverized coal was first used for firing cement kilns about 45 years ago, with such success that it has continued in general use. Based on cost, pulverized coal is usually the most economical fuel. In some localities natural gas or oil is cheaper, but 85.5 per cent of all cement kilns at present are fired with pulverized coal. The pulverized-coal flame is well suited to kiln conditions. Its soft, luminous nature gives it a high radiating property and the length of the flame can be readily varied to suit conditions in a kiln of any length. Ash and slag cause most of the dificulties incident to the burning of coal. In a. cement kiln, however, the ash, being similar in composition to the raw mix and being deposited uniformly in the mix and clinker, occasions no difficulty as long as it remains constant in quality and quantity. Until 6 years ago almost all cement kilns using pulverized coal employed the bin system. The coal was dried and pulverizeti in a separate plant and delivered into a bin at the kiln. Thus the bin system requires driers, storage-type pulverizers, conveying systems, individual kiln bins, pulverized-coal feeders and primary air fans. The direct-fired system requires only a pulverizer and a blower. Fig. I shows typical plants. The first installations of direct-fired pulverizers were of the impact type but fineness of pulverization was both inadequate and variable. About 1927 a few direct-fired installations employing tube-type pulverizers were made, which were much more satisfactory. As more efficient pulverizers were developed from 1934 on, equipment for direct firing was installed at a large number of plants, until now 196 of about 900 kilns in use in the United States are direct-fired. Most of these replaced antiquated bin systems. Process of Burning Cement Clinkers The process of burning cement clinkers is fundamentally one of heat transfer. In boilers and other heat-exchange apparatus the area of the surface receiving heat from the gases is the best unit for comparing output, This seems to be equally true for kilns. The inside kiln surface is the heat-receiving surface and its area is used as the unit of kiln size in the following comparisons. Heat input is based on British thermal units in the fuel. E. G. Bailey,' in his work on boiler-furnace heat absorption, has used the unit "B.t.u. available." This is the practical calorific power of the fuel, plus the heat in the air used for combustion. In other words, it is the heat available for useful work in the furnace or kiln. The unit of kiln output is barrels per hour. The composition of the raw mix, the percentage of water in the slurry of wet plants and hardness of burning all affect the output. These conditions, however, are hard to evaluate and probably have less effect on the output than irregularities of raw feed and clinker discharge and inexpert control of combustion. Wet vs. Dry Plants The study presented here covers 88 plantsl of which 41 are wet and 47 dry. Of

Jan 1, 1942

By W. S. Fyfe, G. Southam, T. J. Beveridge

Sporosarcina ureae was able to grow in the presence of tip to 10-ppm L-asparagine complexed gold. However, 10 ppm Au3+ was found to be highly toxic to Sporosarcina ureae, killing 109 bacteria/mL within a few seconds. To compare the effects of these responses on gold mobility, an in vitro bacterial biofilm model was developed to examine the interaction be¬tween Sporosarcina ureae and ionic gold or L-asparagine gold complexes in gravity fed columns. The immobilization of ionic gold was between 80% and 90% over a period of one week. But, as the available cellular reactive sites became saturated, immobilization decreased to 14% within two weeks. In the L¬asparagine-gold system, gold immobilization in the cytoplasm occurred at a high rate (80% to 90%) throughout the experi¬ment, with limited toxicity towards Sporosarcina ureae. The bacterial immobilization and detoxification of L-asparagine¬complexed ionic gold was associated with a low molecular weight, i.e, <5,000 dalton (atomic mass unit), intracellular protein fraction. This peptide-complexed gold would allow for the continued biogeochemical cycling of gold under ambient (<100°C) surface or near-surface conditions.

Jan 1, 2000

By Z. D. Hora

Limestone of economic interest is widespread in British Columbia. Triassic deposits on Texada Island are a convenient 1idewa1er source of li111es1one for cemen1 and lime for 1he Pacific orthwes1. Permian limes/one near Pavilion Lake is used for quicklime, and a deposit near Kam/oops is used for cement. Quarries at Dahl Lake and Pwrmigan Creek serve local pulp and paper needs.

Jan 1, 1984

By B. Fagerberg

Crushing and grinding practice in Sweden follows largely the international pattern. Certain special circumstances, however, have had an influence on the development. Most mines are worked underground in either quite small or in very large units. To utilize small sulphide ores, custom milling is rather common. Apart from the cement industry, the rock species treated are hard and abrasive. Another important factor is the increasingly strict requirements placed on the mechanical condition of different products, especially lump ores and coarse iron ore concentrates. A significant feature in the design and development of Swedish crushing and grinding practice has also been close cooperation between machinery manufacturers and the users. An account of these conditions and an outline of the crushing and grinding techniques employed in Sweden are presented in this paper with emphasis on the mining industry. For background purposes it may be mentioned that crude ore production in Sweden last year included 45 mill. tonsx) of iron ore, of which some 20 mill. tons from Kiruna alone, and 4 mill. tons of sulphide ore from 22 other mines, fig. 1. In addition 8 mill. tons of limestone were quarried for cement production and several million tons of stone and sand for roads, aerated concrete, etc.

Jan 1, 1968

By J. A. Russell

MR. M. W. Boom: I would like to congratulate Mr. Russell on his fine paper. One very good point which has always appealed to me is the smooth working of a steam hoist as compared with electrical. He does not mention the steam hoist at Springhill which has been working there for a good many years. MR. S. R. NEWTON: I have read with a great deal of interest the paper presented by Mr. Russell on the development of haulage engines in the mines of the Dominion Steel & Coal Corporation. He is to be congratulated on having produced a comprehensive article showing, step by step, the various improvements that have been made over the years in the design of such engines. I am quite in accord with Mr. Russell&apos;s statement that the positive tooth clutch can have too many teeth, and also that the method of driving a sliding clutch hub of any design should be by means of a hexagon or octagon on the shaft. Where the clutch hub does not of necessity slide on the shaft it can be pressed on and keyed to the shaft in the normal manner. With regard to the &apos;Cramp&apos; internal-expanding jaw-type clutch, while it is true there are more moving parts than with the clutch consisting of a ring with internal cut teeth and a driver having a fewer number of teeth as .described by Mr. Russell; there are compensating advantages to the internal expanding jaw-type of clutch. The V shaped profile of the teeth permits of engagement of the clutch with very much less &apos;jockeying&apos; of the drum. This is particularly the case in vertical-lift mine hoists, where it may be necessary to engage and disengage the clutching mechanism at frequent intervals.

Jan 1, 1944

By V. O. Tenorio, K. W. B. Requist

As the mining industry begins efforts to examine the feasibility of extraterrestrial resource utilization, the extraction and processing of icy regolith containing water and other volatile materials will be the initial focus for future expansion of capabilities. Pure water is essential for human consumption, and a source of oxygen and hydrogen. The latter, along with the volatile materials, lend themselves to the creation of fuels that may be used for further space exploration at distances not currently feasible. For any extraterrestrial scoping project, the transport of materials to geoscientists remains virtually impossible. Therefore, analysis must be done in-situ, possibly millions of miles away from the nearest human. To address the need for geologic resource estimation in the absence of geoscientists, an infrared framework has been developed for the analysis of water ice content in simulants of permanently shaded lunar regolith. This framework relies on a convolutional neural network model for the rapid analysis of percent water ice content in samples, at which point standard geostatistical methods may be employed.

Feb 1, 2023

By J. Fox, C. Allen, A. Greth, K. Kocsis

"It is the duty of the mine operator to ensure the mine environment is healthy and safe for the mine workers. For deep and hot underground mines, this requires maintaining adequate working temperatures by means of mitigating the heat load generated by strata, auto-compression, mining equipment, explosives, ground water, and human metabolism. The heat load is best reduced by minimizing the amount of heat transferred to the mine air from these sources and through the use of efficient ventilation with effective cooling systems. The heat emitted by mining equipment and vehicles contribute a significant proportion to the combined heat load of an underground mine. This is especially a problem for diesel equipment due to the fact that besides heat, a large amount of water vapor is produced, which increases the humidity in the production workings. Diesel engines have proven advantageous in recent history due to their high power output and reliability. However, as mines continue to become more mechanized and deeper the climatic problems introduced by elevated heat generation will continue to rise. With that, the issue of heat generated by diesel equipment must be addressed. The economic alternative for diesel engine equipment fleets in underground mines is the electric engine. Technological advances in battery technology, increased mechanical output and improved reliability have made the electric engine significantly more competitive in comparison to diesel engines. Because electric engines do not utilize internal combustion, the heat produced by them is significantly less than of the diesel engines. Battery powered mining equipment likewise eliminate diesel particulate matter (DPM) produced by diesel engines. Utilizing battery electric equipment in underground mines provides many advantages, such as: (a) reduced heat load, (b) healthier and safer environment for the mine workers, and (c) reduced mine operating costs due to lower ventilation requirements. This paper will highlight the health and cost benefits of using battery/electric fleets versus diesel fleets in deep and hot underground mines. The study analyzes simulations produced from thermodynamic ventilation models. Early simulations show significant cost reductions in terms of net present value (NPV) when comparing the air volume requirements for battery/electric equipment versus diesel powered equipment for the same production rate. INTRODUCTION The competitiveness of the world mineral market demands that mine operators continue to increase production and decrease costs as commodity prices fluctuate in often unplanned directions. This has forced underground mines to operate at deeper depths and to become more mechanized to remain competitive. Because of these changes, ventilation challenges have continued to increase as the mines combat an enlarged influx of contaminants such as heat and diesel particulate matter (DPM)."

Jan 1, 2018

By L. T. Sanchez, W. T. Rogers

This paper presents the results of a production experiment evaluating the effect of the use of oxygen in the bessemer converter with respect to its relation to blowing time, amount of steel scrap or cold pig iron which can be melted and teeming temperatures of the molten steel. THE simplest and probably the most efficient and economical means for producing steel from molten pig iron is the bessemer converter. This process is essentially a mechanism for bringing oxygen into contact with the molten metal thereby oxidizing the elements silicon, manganese, and carbon. The source of oxygen is that contained in the air and is limited by that amount. In theory, there is an intermediate chemical reaction due to the mass action of iron and air which is represented by the equation: 2Fe + O2- = 2Fe0 The FeO then becomes the oxidizing agent and reacts with the silicon, manganese, and carbon to produce silicon dioxide (SiO,), manganese oxide (MnO), and carbon monoxide (CO), in the order mentioned. The balancing of the various chemical reactions shows that in the ordinary bessemer process more than sufficient oxygen is delivered to satisfy these reactions, which indicates that a further increase in the oxygen content of the air would serve no useful purpose. In spite of this reasoning, however, it will be demonstrated that when melting stelel scrap, commercially pure industrial oxygen introduced into the normal air blast will permit the melting of a larger proportion of steel scrap than is possible with air alone and also will increase the production rate by a substantial reduction in blowing time. It will also be shown that when melting cold pig iron, it is possible to melt up to twice as much pig iron with the use of oxygen as can be melted without added oxygen with a nominal increase in blowing time. At the plant where this study was made, oxygen is purchased from a nearby supplier and piped directly into the plant. It is supplied to the bessemer converter by being introduced directly into the blast line through an automatic control system which may be adjusted by the bessemer operator or "blower." Normally, iron is supplied by five blast furnaces to an open hearth shop containing twelve 165-ton capacity stationary furnaces and a bessemer converting shop having three 30-ton converters. The molten metal from the blast furnaces is allocated to one shop or the other in a manner to best provide for maximum production. At various times, it is desirable to direct the maximum amount of available blast furnace production to the open hearth shop. This has the effect of reducing the production of the bessemer shop. When this condition exists, it is desirable to supplement the reduced iron charge at the bessemer with steel scrap or cold pig iron to the maximum possible extent in order to maintain high total ingot production. This condition becomes aggravated when one of the blast furnaces is taken out of production for any repair job and particularly for extended periods such as when relining is necessary. The purpose of the investigation and experimentation with oxygen was to determine whether or not it would contribute to increased flexibility in the use of the raw materials, molten iron, steel scrap, and cold pig iron. In addition to the effect of oxygen on flexibility of operation, it was also necessary to determine the relation of its use to production rate or "blowing time," final finishing temperature of the steel or "teeming temperature," and steel quality.

Jan 1, 1953

By Joseph F. Davies

Along with the humanitarian need for preventing accidents the cost of injuries must be considered. As a means of bringing the facts concerning the prevalence of accidents in mining and their direct cost before the operating officials and others interested in accident prevention in the mining industry, the United. States Bureau of Mines ha as recently made studies and published reports dealing with these subjects in several States 4. This report gives available data on the causes and direct costs of accidents in Virginia coal mines for the 4-year period 1929 to 1932, inclusive. Mounting compensation costs and insurance rates resulting from mine injuries indicate the necessity of measures to decrease the number and severity of accidents. These direct costs, as well as additional losses of an indirect nature, can be eliminated from the cost of production to the extent that accidents are prevented or reduced in severity.

Jan 1, 1934

By R. J. Weege

Conventional underground mapping methods and diamond drilling are being applied in a study to determine the nature of the copper ore occurrences near the footwall of the Osceola lava flow top, commonly referred to as the Osceola Amygdaloid. Our work to date suggests that structures formed by relatively impermeable barriers, created by flowage and injection of still-molten lava from the interior of the flow into the solidified, brecciated crust, acted as the ore receptacles. Ascending hydrothermal fluids traveling near the footwall contact were trapped and confined in these barriers which retarded the direct upward movement of the ore fluids and caused deposition of copper. Oreshoots located near the footwall appear to have been formed spatially&apos; independently from the hanging-wall oreshoots by fluids traveling simultaneously, but along different channelways. The barrier concept as advanced by earlier writers to explain the concentration of the ore-bearing, fluids into broad shoots con¬stituting entire ore bodies is found to be equally as applicable for the localization of smaller oreshoots within the Osceola ore body.

Jan 1, 1962

By W. D. Cho

The slag chemistry in steel processing plays an important role in terms of the removal of impurities including alumina particles. In the present study, the dissolution of solid alumina particles in CaO-based fluxes at the temperatures between 1450 and 1550 °C has been investigated to determine dissolution kinetics and mechanism. Alumina particles were added directly in the slags and the size of alumina particles was measured as a function of time using optical and scaru;ling electron microscopes. The dissolution rate has also been obtained as a function of Si02, CaF2, MgO and MnO contents in the slags. The diffusion boundary layer between alumina and bulk slag phase has been observed and analyzed using SEM and EDX. In addition, some experiments have been performed for the dissolution of alumina in BaO-based fluxes.

Jan 1, 2003

By Norman A. Nadel

Those of us who have directed our efforts toward the construction of tunnels have long maintained that tunnel construction is more closely an art than it is a science. We have spent time underground with hard-bitten, tobacco chewing shift bosses and superintendents who have made seat-of-the-pants decisions at the face which have been based upon their long experience underground coupled with uncanny intuition. The courage and skill of these men in the performance of their art is legendary. Without question, they have constituted the backbone of the tunnel construction industry. But just as John Henry, the steel driving man, despite his stout heart and dedication to his task, was supplanted by the steam drill, I fear that our tunnel stiff, at least as we have known him, will become an endangered if not extinct species. The reason for this is clearly that tunnel construction is slowly but inexorably making the transition from being an art into being a science, and more and more its performance is requiring the services of scientists as opposed to artists. The tunneling art has been undergoing change for many years, and yet until recently the changes have not been basic. We have improved the way we do the same old things. For example, John Henry would be flabbergasted if he saw the rock drills we use today. He would not have engaged in the legendary drilling contest with one of our modern drills, He would have simply conceded defeat.

Jan 1, 1970

By Ajit Kumar Jaiswal

"Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) being a power-intensive equipment, EAF based industries are highly dependent on scarce electric energy. This is the reason Government of India is highly concerned about this and laid emphasis on the conservation of electric energy.This paper highlights factors contributing to reduction in specific electric energy consumption in EAF and suggests measures not only for power saving, but also for productivity improvement. To name a few, these are proper sealing of furnace, introduction of oxy-fuel burners, foamy slag practice, increased usage of hot metal/DRI, post-combustion of CO gas for preheating of scrap, improved selection & design criteria of electrics, power demand management, and process automation. Few cases also have been cited, where the above measures have helped in reaping significant benefits.IntroductionFor a long time, Government of India had focused on increase in energy supply, in particular, through electricity generation. Now the emphasis of Government of India has shifted from electricity generation to its conservation for following two reasons:??Power plants have become very cost-intensive??By saving energy, more of it can be delivered at lower cost to the consumersPower generating units, transmission & distribution agencies as well as consumers all have roles to play in the area of energy conservation. By energy conservation, we mean curtailing energy requirement by reducing energy wastages and taking up measures to improve energy efficiency of electric equipment/appliances. In almost all cases, this would be economically beneficial.India’s cost-effective energy conservation potential has been estimated by the Planning Commission at 23 per cent of total commercial energy generated ?1?. A national movement for energy conservation can significantly reduce the need for fresh investment in energy supply systems in coming years. It is imperative that we make all-out effort to realize this potential. Whether a household or a factory, a small shop or a large commercial building, a farmer or an office worker, every user can and must make this effort for his own benefit and for the nation’s benefit as well."

Jan 1, 2009

By P. O. Sandvik, George Erdosh

"AbstractThe Cargill phosphate deposit, located 32 kilometers southwest of Kapuskasing, Ontario, was discovered by the Resource Development Group of International Minerals & Chemical Corporation in 1975 and has been evaluated through an extensive program of 190 drill holes, numerous chemical analyses, metallurgical tests, and engineering and economic studies.The Cargill alkalic complex, comprising principally car-bonatite and pyroxenite-amphibolite rocks, was intruded in to the rift system of the Kapuskasing High during late Precambrian time about 1,800 million year s ago, near the intersection of northeast- and northwest- trending faults. The Cargill complex is one of at least ten known alkalic complexes in or close to the Kapuskasing magnetic-gravity-high system and is expressed by an elongated, northeast- oriented, three-part magnetic anomaly 7.2 kilometers long by 2.8 kilometers wide . Weathering and leaching under assumed temperate to cool, moist climatic conditions , and controlled by faulting, shearing and/or initial petrographic variations within the carbonatite , developed a small, locally confined karst system in the car bonatite rocks and resulted in a thick enriched leached carbonatite zone, capped by troughs and sinks, filled with a residuum of apatite, goethite, clay and other minerals stable in the near -surface, oxidizing environment. Overburden is 5 to 165 meters thick."

Jan 1, 1977

By F C. D Michelin

As mines get deeper, the critical underground temperature limits will be exceeded, and an increasing number of mines will need to implement, expand or modify cooling systems. Surface cooling plants have many advantages over underground cooling such as efficient heat rejection, and lower relative capital cost; however the delivery of cooling through long underground distances can result in lost refrigeration capacity before the chilled air reaches the areas it is needed most. Refrigeration plants are therefore often overdesigned in size and capacity to compensate for underground losses.More mines are now utilising real-time monitoring and automated control of ventilation airflow and fan systems to ensure the conditions underground are safe and productive, and power consumption is efficiently managed. There may be significant opportunities to extend ventilation monitoring and control into the refrigeration delivery and control system.Energy reduction is an effective way to reduce costs and CO2 emissions, which is an increasingly important part of corporate governance. More efficient refrigeration control is a further step toward reducing energy consumption. This paper looks at an added step in how real-time monitoring can assist in controlling the output and chilled air delivery of a cooling plant. The requirements, implementation, benefits and challenges will be discussed.

Oct 12, 2022

By R Riquelme

The El Salvador porphyry Cu deposit (26¦ 15Æ Lat S, ~2700 masl) and associated exotic mineralisation is situated at the back-scarp of the late middle Miocene Atacama pediplain in the western Precordillera. New, together with published 40Ar-39Ar data from El Salvador combined with morphologic analysis reveal that the palaeospring plumbing system related to exotic mineralisation at the Damiana exotic Cu deposit and the local geomorphology has not changed fundamentally between the late Eocene and late Miocene. Stable H/D isotope data on supergene alunite from El Salvador indicate an overall increase in dD values (VSMOW) from -74ë at 35.82 ¦ 0.95 Ma to -23ë at ~11 Ma. The transition from strongly to moderately negative deuterium values occurred between ~16 and ~13.5 Ma. Supergene alunite from the El Hueso (3950 masl) sedimentary rock-hosted epithermal deposit ca 35 km SE from El Salvador was dated at 8.19 ¦ 0.01 Ma and yielded a dD value of -25ë. We interpret the increasing deuterium excess as the result of strong evaporation and recycling of meteoric water after ~15 Ma and as indicative for a change in precipitation patterns and climate desiccation. In contrast, the strongly negative dD value for late Eocene supergene alunite points to a more humid climate and an elevation similar to the present. The late Miocene supergene activity at El Hueso is probably related to an uplift of the Precordillera to elevations sufficient for capture of orographically controlled precipitation. An&nbsp;EXTENDED ABSTRACT&nbsp;is available for download. A full-length paper was not&nbsp;prepared for this presentation.

Jan 1, 2008

By AIME AIME

IN ORDER to carry on its work most effectively, the Committee on Industrial Organization (now known as the Committee on Industrial Relations) consists, of .a number of sub-committees, each composed of a chairman and members who are especially fitted to carry out the work designated by its title. With only one or two exceptions, all of these committees made reports at the New York meeting of the Institute, in February of this year, abstracts of which follow.

Jan 1, 1920

By C. E. Augustine, P. Nicholls

"INTRODUCTION A layer of soot on the heating surface of a boiler decreases efficiency because it increases resistance to the flow of heat, with the result that the heat transfer to the water is lower and the temperature of the flue higher than they would be if the surface remained clean. The percentage of reduction in heat transfer depends on the position and area of the sooted. The percentage of reduction in heat transfer depends on the position and area of the sooted surfaces, the thickness of the most, until the percentage of the total heat absorbed by those surfaces when clean; thus it will vary with the type of boiler and in particular with the ratio of the area of the convection heating surface to the total area. Medium-size and large boilers usually are equipped with soot blowers, and tests have been published giving the increase in efficiency resulting from removal of the soot. Fuel savings up to,8 percent have been reported, but 4 to 5 percent is probably more conservatives. However, these savings may not be due wholly to a reduction the thermal resistance of the surfaces but may be due partly to improvement in the combustion because of better draft or more uniform flow of the gases. In addition, the deposits on the surface of boilers include as a clinker, and as the size of the boiler and the rate of burning increase very little or none will be soot.There are no corresponding test data on small boilers operated at low rates of burning. In stall boilers, deposits are much thicker, and it might be expected that the reduction in efficiency would be greater; in fact, statements have appeared suggesting that the decrease may be as high as 50 percent. This investigation was undertaken because the Bureau frequently receives requests for authoritative information on the effect of soot in small and other heating boilers."

Feb 1, 1935

This treatise presents the application of the vertical furnace in a carbon regeneration system. Comparison is made to a rotary kiln. The construction, operation and control of the vertical furnace and system components are discussed. Advantages include high efficiency, fuel economy, minimal mechanical apparatus and maintenance, atmospheric and temperature control, ease of operation and reliability.

Jan 1, 1985

By Wolfgang R. Wawersik, Charles M. Stone

INTRODUCTION Hydraulic fracturing was applied in horizontal drill- holes in the Salado salt formation near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Tests were performed approximately 650 m be- low surface to validate the design of a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for the disposal of radioactive waste from defense activities of the United States. Hydraulic fracturing was performed primarily to determine whether the virgin in situ stress state at the WIPP site is isotropic and whether the magnitude of the virgin in situ stresses corresponds to the weight of the overburden. Beyond these limited objectives, however, measurements are now being reviewed to evaluate the usefulness of hydraulic fracturing in salt formations in general. Such measurements are desirable to determine stresses induced by mining and to monitor time-dependent stress changes around underground excavations in salt masses. Hydraulic fracturing was chosen because it is the only technique that can be readily applied in virgin ground far from existing mine openings. The method also appeared to yield directly the magnitude of the least compressive principal stress, regardless of the mechanical properties of the rock mass. A knowledge of the least principal compression was deemed sufficient to establish the isotropic character of the virgin in situ stress field under two conditions: (1) the Salado formation was mechanically isotropic, i.e., the fracture toughness did not vary normal and parallel to bedding so as to permit preferred fracture paths, and (2) pressure measurements were combined with determinations of the orientations of hydraulic fractures and, more generally, with observations of the characteristic hydraulic fracture patterns. The latter was possible by locating the drillholes for hydraulic fracturing along the axes of drifts that were mined several months later. The success of general stress measurements by hy- draulic fracturing of salt subjected to anisotropic stress conditions was and remains less certain. While the smallest in situ compressive stresses should still be equal to instantaneous shut-in pressures, there may not exist any unique relationships between the greatest and intermediate in situ principal stresses on one hand and the primary breakdown and fracture reopening pressures on the other. This problem would be a consequence of stress relaxation due to salt creep around any drillhole in which hydraulic fracturing tests are conducted. Moreover, lab- oratory measurements suggest that creep and stress relaxation could be so rapid that it might not be possible to interpret the measurements for anisotropic stress conditions even if hydraulic fracturing were performed as soon after drilling as possible. The primary objectives of the stress measurements in the WIPP were met by combining hydraulic fracturing tests with finite element analyses of the effects of salt creep, observations of hydraulically induced fracture pat- terns, and laboratory hydraulic fracturing tests on oriented core. In situ hydraulic fracturing tests in long drillholes were preceded by several trial tests to establish the best test methods and to demonstrate that salt could be fractured. The resolution of anisotropic stresses and special problems, e.g., in the identification of instantaneous shut-in pressures, are currently being addressed in hydraulic fracturing tests in a mine pillar, in tests following different delays between drilling and fracturing, and in tests with different frac fluids. This paper will review the main results of the analyses above and of one group of hydraulic fracturing tests at different distances from existing excavations. The paper will conclude with a brief description of the geometry of the hydraulically induced fracture patterns. Because of space limitations, it will be assumed that the reader is familiar with hydraulic fracturing or will first consult other sources (e.g., Cleary, 1980; Gronseth and Detournay, 1979; Zoback and Haimson, 1983; Nemat-Nasser et al., 1983; Kim et al., 1984)

Jan 1, 1986