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By J. A. Brusset

Introduction The West Canadian Collieries, Limited, operate three bituminous coal mines in the Crowsnest Pass district of Alberta. Two seams are worked; their thickness varies from 10 to 20 feet and their pitch from 10 to 45 degrees. The Bellevue mine was opened in 1903, the Greenhill in 1914; both are gassy and dusty, and at both the haulage is a problem, as the workings are spread over distances of several miles. Compressed-air locomotives are used at Bellevue, rope-haulage at Greenhill, both of which solutions of the haulage problem are costly in installation an operation, and lack flexibility. In 1943, the Adanac mine was opened; and the question soon arose as to which system of haulage should be selected. Compressed-air locomotives and ropes were rejected on the ground of high cost. Since, under the Alberta Mines Act, the use of trolley locomotives underground in coal-seams is not permitted, the choice lay between storage battery locomotives and Diesel locomotives. The preference of the author, who had had experience with both in French gassy coal mines prior to 1930, was for Diesel locomotives, due to lower cost of installation and greater flexibility and reliability. However, Regulation No. 13 of the Mines Act of Alberta reads: 'No gasoline-driven engines shall be used underground in any mine, and no internal combustion engine shall be used underground in any coal mine, except only when authorized by the Chief Inspector in writing, and on such terms as he may prescribe"

Jan 1, 1948

By Angelo dos Reis Magalhães

Brazilian companies have adopted in recent years new management practices to remain competitive. Specialized consulting in asset management progressively creates or adapts new techniques in order to increase availability and reduce manufacturing costs, maximizing profits. New engineering concepts were acquired and implemented by executives in all business segments. Techniques, such as FMEA, RCM, LCC, Pas 55, Reliability studies by Monte Carlo simulations, among others, have become increasingly recognized as important tools to enhance managerial performance. Besides these techniques, this study suggests the importance of adequate structuring of a lubrication program, as a critical success factor for the reliability of any asset. Through a case study developed with a company in the mining sector, this work proposes the development of a master plan for lubrication based on three pillars: People, Equipment and Management system. Practices and care with lubricants, hydraulic fluids and coolant, until its point of application, shall be evaluated to ensure a correct contamination control and a high level of assets availability. This discussion sheds light onto other benefits of this process, including occupational health and safety; ergonomics; environment and sustainability.

Jul 31, 2018

ABB Industrial Systems is one of the largest electrical engineering companies in the world. ABB develops, manufactures and markets electric drives. The company has more than 100 years experience in the application of medium- and high-voltage AC machines. And ABB's continuous research and development program ensures that its machines use the latest technologies and materials. Each motor is custom designed to meet specific applications. The HXR high-efficiency motors (100 to 1,900 kW or 134 to 2,250 hp at 50 Hz) are efficient and have low noise levels. Typical applications are pumps, fans, blowers, compressors and pulverizers. The enclosed units are constructed with external cooling ribs and fans. And the motors are equipped with solid, longlife stators and rigid rotor construction. The patented rotor construction provides for low vibration levels. ABB's large synchronous motors (1 to 50 MW or 1,340 to 70,000 hp up to 900 rpm) are used in the mining industry for crushing, grinding hoisting and conveying systems. These motors are designed to customer's specifications, including existing foundations. They can be equipped with fixed or adjustable speed control.

Jan 1, 1998

New Mexico?s active coal mines have reclamation challenges that are being successfully resolved through the application of geomorphic grading methods. Soils and overburden material are often of poor quality, and annual precipitation is low. Revegetation on south and west aspect slopes often failed to persist. The New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division had therefore been encouraging topographic diversity on reclamation to improve water harvesting and reduce the percentage of south aspect slopes. Steeply dipping, multiple coal seams may be mined by open pit methods. Structurally-controlled trellis drainage patterns that exist premine have to be replaced with dendritic drainage patterns on reclamation where the overburden had been pulverized. Sodic spoil material is prone to differential settling and the creation of piping features in areas where runoff ponds, which may lead to downslope instability. In each of these scenarios, the approximation of natural drainage patterns on the reclamation has reduced erosion and sedimentation by creating shorter slopes with correct profiles, and by improving conditions for revegetation establishment.

Jan 1, 2010

By Thomas C. Denton

The Old Reliable copper mine was first examined by Harlow D. Phelps , an engineer of the Bureau of Mines , in October and November 1942 , in compliance with a request from the War Production Board , which furnished copies of assay maps of the 100- and 200-foot levels and requested that they be check-sampled . The author and R. li. Grantham and W. D. Hughes , engineers of the Bureau , made a second and more detailed examination later , after a number of manways had been opened that were inaccessible when the first examination was made .

Feb 1, 1947

By James A. Finch

"Developed countries are in the midst of re-structuring education in minerals-related disciplines as raw materials, once vital to wealth generation, contribute progressively less to the economy. The changing circumstances mean institutions must justify mineral processing by new criteria. After considering what a mineral processor needs to know the ways to deliver are considered. Taking twenty graduates per year to illustrate, one institute could justify this number as a program in a department or school (of whatever grouping of disciplines). A strong research component would make the package additionally attractive. Divide among four institutions and mineral processing is best served in a research centre with delivery taking advantage of multi-centre and distance learning opportunities.INTRODUCTIONThis is one of five plenary lectures at the Congress. I may have preferred a technical subject, as that is what occupies most of my thinking hours, but it is reasonable as an academic that this topic should come to one of us. The fact the topic has not been high on my agenda may provide one advantage: that I can suggest directions free of pre-conceived notions, just as when reviewing the background to a technical article the temptation to select in support of one?s interpretations is resisted. The trick will be to add something new.One reading of the title seems to query whether mineral processing education has a future. (I will refrain at this juncture from defining mineral processing and assume for now we share an understanding of the term.) The proximity of natural and human resources led to the Industrial Revolution and the interaction continues to stimulate and sustain industrial and economic development in many parts of the world. The search for raw materials has historically played a key role in opening frontier areas, with undersea and outer space next. The reason is obvious: raw materials along with food and energy underpin society. Thus mining will remain part of human activity along with the need to pass on the knowledge and skills.What happens over time is resource relocation. Raw materials become exhausted in one area to be replaced by sources elsewhere; the demand for some materials lessens while growing for others. Educational institutions can find themselves with the wrong geography or with staff focussing on the wrong subjects. When this happens the restructuring produces much discussion. This is where we are in parts of the world. Japan, Western Europe and the United States are the prominent examples (Dowd, 1998; Flemings and Suresh, 2001; McDivitt, 2002). Mineral processing is becoming a series of courses in related disciplines: resource engineering, environment engineering or materials engineering. The start of the transition is evident in Canada and Australia, perhaps earlier than expected given the contribution of raw materials to their economies. A common backdrop in the developed countries is social pressure to reduce the impact of the ?untidy? aspects of life, and that includes mining. (This is not new: in classical times the mine face was the preserve of slaves and convicts.) These values are exportable, potentially affecting recruitment into mining schools everywhere."

Jan 1, 2003

By Aditya Rana, A. K. Mishra, M. M. Singh, N. K. Bhagat

Many cases of derailments, train accidents and traffic interruptions due to the slope failure and rockfall have been reported in the past on Konkan Railway trackline because of unstable rock slopes. The authorities installed stability enhancement measures such as wire netting, rock bolting and shotcreting which were found insufficient. The failed geotechnical measures prompted authorities to excavate the unstable slopes. Rock blasting is generally not preferred for the excavation of slopes along the transportation route. Stabilisation and widening of slopes by blasting need closure of the route for a considerable time. Discontinuing traffic on Konkan Railway route was undesirable as it connects two important port cities Mumbai and Mangalore. The paper presents an innovative directional controlled blasting (DCB) technique for excavating three unstable slopes (i.e. cuttings) in hilly terrain without disturbing the traffic. New empirical formulae for small geometry blasting to estimate burden and throw have been developed. A unique sequence of firing and excavation with powder factor varying between 0.04 and 0.39 kg/m3 irrespective of the actual free face was used for rock blasting. The process controlled the throw of blasted material over the track and resulted in a smooth and stable wall. The slope angle has been changed from 80 to 82° to 45–47° and probability of wedge, planar and toppling failures was eliminated. About 100 such accident-prone slopes (52 km cumulative length, 7% of total route) situated at discrete locations along Konkan Railway route were stabilised using the technique. No incident of rockfall and slope failures along these slopes has been observed after the stabilisation.

By H. M. Chance

STRETCHING from New York southwestwardly to Georgia is a great range of hills and mountains consisting of pre-Palaeozic schists, slates, and gneissic and granitoid rocks, known locally by many different names; in Pennsylvaniaa as the South mountains, the Berkshire or Durham and Reading hills, and in Virginia and farther south as the Blue ridge. To the northwest of this range lies the " Great Valley," underlain by Lower Silurian limestones, and known as the Lehigh valley, Cumberland valley, Shenandoah valley, valley of Eastern Tennessee and Georgia and by other local names, but all these are parts of one valley, geologically and geographically continuous from New Jersey to Georgia. Lying upon and along the northern flank of this range of mountains, and dipping northwestwardly under the limestone of the valley, is the Potsdam formation (Primal or No. 1 of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey), which consists of sandstone or conglomerate overlain by slates. The latter are sometimes arenaceous and occasionally are replaced in part by sandstone. This formation varies from a few feet to several hundred feet in thickness. At the outcrop the slates are completely decomposed, oxidized or disintegrated, forming a belt of clay several hundred feet wide occupying the interval between the outcroppings of the sandstone and limestone. This clay-belt includes a more or less continuous series of iron-ore (brown hematite) deposits, which have been, and still are, extensively worked. The belt is more or less continuously mineralized with iron throughout its length, and hundreds of large deposits of ore have been developed and worked, producing many millions of tons of ore.

Sep 1, 1908

By Jr. Hill

Laboratory metallurgical treatments of three high-iron bauxite ores from Arkansas were conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of experimental methods for recovering alumina and a commercially acceptable iron concentrate. The standard for evaluating recoveries from experimental processes was the Al2O3 recovery from Bayer digests of the crude ores; recoveries from digestion of the three ores were 74.1, 87.4, and 88.7 percent. Flotation, magnetic separation, or various combinations of digestion, calcination, and reduction-sintering, leaching, and magnetic separation of leach residues failed to produce Al2O3 recoveries as high as the standard. A high-iron-bearing fraction, containing between 68 and 78 percent of the total iron, was produced in a three-phase treatment involving a caustic, lime reduction-sinter of the crude ore, water extraction of Al2O3 from the sinter, and magnetic separation of the leach residue.

Jan 1, 1967

By Sub-Committee of the Committee on Research

"THE FOLLOWING REPORT was compiled by a sub-committee of The Metallurgical Society of CIM, Committee for Research, and represents a viewpoint of the steel industry in Canada. The objective was to define those areas in which the industry considers that external sources of Research and Development are a necessary function in supporting the in-house R & D conducted by the industry.On future occasions, the viewpoints of other metallurgical industries, such as those of nickel, copper and aluminum, will be presented. The report is divided into several sections: 1.-R & D Spending by the Steel Industry (a) Memberships in Recognized Steel Research Centres (b) Memberships in Recognized Industry Associations (c) Sponsored Research at Recognized Centres (d) Sponsored Research at Universities(e) Sporadic Research 2.-Areas for Research and Development(a) Instrumentation (b) Environment Control (c) Refractories (d) Sponsored Research at Universities(e) Electric Furnaces (f) Continuous Casting"

Jan 1, 1970

By Jean-François Stumper, Mario Moser, Mark Kruessmann, Volker Langer, Daniel Bastos Martins Cruz, Claude Meisch

The latest generation of probes and casthouse machines provide a wealth of data that has not been available a few years ago. The evaluation of this data gives direct feedback to improve the blast furnace efficiency, the equipment maintenance and design and it allows the early detection of critical or deviating process situations. A stable operation with lower operation and maintenance costs are the final customer benefits.

Oct 1, 2019

By M. H. ElMaghraby

This paper describes the development and validation of a strategy for vibration-based online detection of faults in a particular class of machinery commonly found in industry. This machinery is defined by two basic characteristics that preclude it from the application of standard online condition monitoring approaches. The first characteristic is that the machine is in a constant state of transient operation, thus making it difficult to differentiate between changes in transducer measurements that are due to variable duty and those that are due to machine malfunction or fault. The second characteristic is the fact that the machinery involves multiple sub systems that are subject to identical and simultaneous loading, operating environments and duty cycles. An example of such machinery is a system of multiple hydraulic pumps driving a common load. The monitoring strategy presented here employs an anomaly detection scheme together with methods of signal processing and feature extraction that exploit the parallel duty arrangements of this equipment. Preliminary data is collected from a pair or motor-gearbox assemblies used in a material haulage system in the mining industry. Testing and validation was performed on a mechatronic test bench with both healthy and faulted components. Experiments were carried out to investigate how various configurations of the system were able to detect different types of faults. The results indicate that this approach is effective and merits further investigation.

May 1, 2013

Hidden under picturesque Bemic Lake, in Canada's eastern Manitoba, lies a highly fractionated pegmatite orebody, hosting a unique assemblage of minerals. Accidentally discovered in 1929, the orebody had a brief history as a tin producer, but it is now mined by Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada, Ltd. (TANCO), for its cesium, lithium, rubidium and tantalum bearing minerals. The mine also has potential for mbidium-feldspar, amblygonite, gallium rich mica, and quartz production. This paper describes the geology of the orebody, and its mining and processing. Selective, concurrent, mining and milling of the various products necessitates a high degree of planning and control, and these aspects are also discussed. The introduction of Quality Control and SPC are discussed, for such are the keys to excellence.

Jan 1, 1989

By J. V. W. REYNDERS

FIRST of all let me express my affectionate gratitude for the cordiality and good will of your reception. On the part of the men I venture to interpret the character of your greeting, not only as a recognition of the position to which you have been good enough to elect me, but also as an expression of your friendly attitude. However, I cannot pass over the tribute of the ladies so casually: Nor does it seem possible to do justice to my sentiments in addressing them collectively. I would feel more equal to the task if I could have the opportunity to talk to them singly, in doing which I know I may count upon their good sportsmanship not to compare notes. There has been some discussion between Mr. Kelly and myself as to our respective duties on this occasion: The precedents are not clear as to whether the retiring or the incoming president is expected to speak at length. Mr. Kelly's argument was that as the incoming president confines himself to promises for the future his field is a broad one and his opportunities for extending his remarks correspondingly unlimited.

Jan 1, 1925

By LUDWIG VOGELSTEIN

WE are indebted to Mr. Barbour for his valuable contribution to the literature on copper statistics; it is to my knowledge the only intelligent attempt to throw light on a much misunderstood subject. If I should appear to criticize some of his findings and arguments, I do not want to leave the impression that I do not appreciate the article; I think Mr. Barbour has been painstaking, and even where one might not agree with his conclusions, he has opened our eyes and stimulated us in our search for the truth.' It might be well to define the term "secondary copper" and to make a few remarks about the origin and the reasons for the variation of the supply. Mr. Barbour has touched on these points, but not sufficiently to make them clear to those not in the business.

Jan 1, 1931

By F. R. Archibald

Introduction It is the purpose of this paper to review the subject of roasting as preparation of refractory gold ores and concentrates for cyanidation, with particular reference to operations at the mill of Beattie Gold Mines (Que.), Ltd., Duparquet, Quebec. Two earlier papers relating to the Beattie roasting operations are cited as background to the ? present discussion, and more general reference is made to other publications relating? to geology and metallurgy at Beattie. The Beattie roasting plant was built in 1937 as an addition to the existing flotation and cyanidation plant to permit complete processing of the ore at the mine property. Previously, the flotation concentrate had been cyanided, yielding 70 per cent of the gold values, followed by re-flotation of a concentrate from the cyanide residue. This re-floated residue was shipped to a smelter for recovery of gold values unavailable from direct cyanidation. The roasting plant itself is of interest through application in its design of multiple-hearth roasters and a Cottrell plant for separate recovery of dust and arsenic. In the laboratory and plant studies that accompanied development of the plant into a dependable and efficient working unit have been found principles and ideas applicable to other roasting 'problems. Before enlarging on these aspects relating particularly to the Beattie problems and plant, brief consideration is given to roasting in general.

Jan 1, 1949

By A. E. Isaacson

Bureau of Mines researchers developed and tested equipment to measure corrosion rates on a commercial-scale mill as an aid in predicting the effect of corrosion on minerals and how this effect relates to downstream processing. Bench-scale experiments were designed for duplicating ore grinding conditions closely enough that realistic rate determinations can be made in laboratory tests. Rates measured in a laboratory system compared favorably with those measured in the field. Cast steel was found to have corrosion rates in a copper mill and laboratory test cell of 22 and 21 mpy, respectively. Corrosion was found to account for less than 5% of the total grinding media wear in the operations studied.

Jan 1, 1987

By Christoph Mueller

?Globalization and the impact on mine operations? is one of the themes of the 2003 annual CIM meeting. Global mining business in practice always means to act with local base material resources in order to reach the mining company?s global business goals. On the other hand these operations are characterized by cost pressure and cycling product prices. Driven by actual prices, local product markets and local production cost, one time one mine can be most efficient while under different circumstances another mine will be the most efficient producer for the same customer [PENSWICK, 2001]. Therefor in the future the most profitable mining companies will be those who have permanent ?real-time? control on their actual production cost level. Certain approaches are under way to provide reliable modeling tools for aiding mining companies in highly complex decision finding procedures. A high potential for enhancing efficiency is the integration of all single steps of the mining working chain into a production process structure to make advantage of an optimized flow of material and information through the ?moving ore factory? [WIGDÉN, 2001]. Crucial to all these activities is the ability of getting reliable, just-in-time information from the entire mining production chain. As modern mining machinery today is controlled electronically and even already operated autonomously, the theoretical preconditions for the data acquisition is already fulfilled. But up to now, there was no way of cost effectively exchanging the process information with databases, simulation tools and other enterprise level software. Any data exchange problem had to be solved by individual and expensive software development projects. To solve these problems, the International Rock Excavation Data Exchange Standard (IREDES) was launched in 2000 by major players in the industry. The task of this initiative is to define a ?common electronic language? for easy and standardized data exchange between mining machines and central computer systems. As in other industries, this standard is expected to have significant impact on the use of automated equipment. It shall provide easy ways of using multi vendor machine installations in data controlled mining processes. At the same time it reduces cost for individual development of interfaces for all parties involved. The standard?s technical architecture is flexible and open - also for future applications. It uses modern technology enabling easy data exchange with commercial databases as well as open on line networking.

May 1, 2003

By Christian Wögerer

For material or process development as well as for quality checking of materials, thermal diffusivity measurement may be the tool of choice in many applications. Especially if diffusivity is measured locally resolved, a lot of information can be read out of such a ?diffusivity image?. This paper explains the method to measure coplanar specimen like plates and lists some interpretations of diffusivity images, like inhomogeneity of sintered materials, structural voids or inclusions. Diffusivity is a material property, describing transportation of heat in solids in spatial and temporal terms. With thermo cameras it is possible, to measure diffusivity of larger areas simultaneously. The result is an area of diffusivity values that may be plotted or displayed like an image. Locations with lower diffusivity values could be caused by the presents of structural differences in the material, by decomposition of the material components or by inclusions of other material like air.

Jan 1, 2009

By H. C. Miller

The removal of the mud sheaths that are deposited against the faces of productive oil sands during rotary drilling is one of the important problems confronting operators, especially in semidepleted fields where formation pressures are low. Unless the mud sheaths behind the perforated oil strings and, liners are removed and the sands exposed, oil cannot enter the wells. Consequently much oil that otherwise eight be produced from low-pressure sands is trapped and never recovered. Various types of perforation washers, down swabs, and agitators are used at present for breaking down the mud sheaths and. removing the disintegrated clay particles from wells after the perforated pipes have been inserted. Mechanical methods for removing mud sheaths are quite satisfactory, but prompted by tie request of certain operators in the California oil fields Bureau of Mines engineers have conducted a series of laboratory tests with the view of developing a chemical method for removing mud sheaths in oil wells that will be applicable to field conditions.

Jan 1, 1934