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By K. H. McDaniel

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is adding a third fan to operate in parallel with, and supplement, its two existing main fans. An engineering analysis conducted in 1995 identified the need for improved system availability and efficiency. The WIPP, located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carlsbad Area Office facility designed to permanently dispose of U.S. defense-generated transuranic waste in a deep bedded salt deposit. Engineers at the WIPP performed a feasibility analysis for either modi tying, supplementing, or replacing its two main mine fans. Since the centrifugal fans were installed in 1988, multiple operational and performance concerns have been identified. A comprehensive engineering study was conducted (McDaniel, et al., 1997) to: identity and quantity operational concerns, evaluate possible alternatives, and recommend an optimum solution. The study indicated that adding a third single-duty centrifugal fan similar to the two existing fans, and equipping that fan with Inlet Van Controls (IVCs) was the best choice. This alternative provided the most desirable combination of operational readiness, and improving system performance. The fan installation project accommodates several operational and scheduling constraints. WIPP is scheduled to receive waste in May 1998. This milestone is proceeded by an operational readiness review. Fan installation could not be allowed to compromise the WIPP's ability to declare facility readiness and had to minimize operational disruptions during the system tie-in. All engineering for the project is completed and physical modifications started in July 1997. The project was completed in 1998.

Jan 1, 1999

By H Esterhuizen, W Hartman

Rockfalls or significant deterioration of mine openings can have significant safety and financial impacts for mining operations. The failure of drives in underground mines sometimes highlight deficiencies in the mine risk management systems in detecting geotechnical hazards and to prevent events that can have significant impact. Consequences from these failures includes fatalities, injuries, loss of revenue, additional cost, and potentially a loss in Ore Reserves. Where the impacts are severe, it also affects families and communities linked to the operation. The assessment of underground excavations requires consideration of the full range and spectrum of geotechnical hazards, design aspects, ground support, layouts and sequences. Where the assessment of these are insufficient or incorrect, it can result in drive failures. Care must be taken that meeting production targets and personnel pressures do not result in a situation where production take preference over a proper risk-based assessment of the drives to be mined. The risk management approach is now widely accepted in the mining industry for the control and management of risks in underground mines. Codes of Practices (COP’s), Ground Control Management Plans (GCMP), Principal Hazard Management Plans (PHMP’s) and technical guidance documents has become the norm for describing the mines main hazards, risk levels and intimating controls for safe passage of vehicles and mine personnel. However, where there is a disconnect between these documents and what is actually being done at the mine site, the COP’s and/or Management Plans become ineffective (or vice versa). This disconnect may occur due to the actual content of these documents, a lack of resources, or a lack of understanding about the implementation. There is therefore a need for sites to have a documented and implemented risk-based approach for assessing underground mine development. This approach or system needs to identify all hazards and other factors affecting mine development stability early on in the design process, and outline the risk classification and controls required. This paper presents an amalgamation and modification of previous processes for a Geotechnical Risk Management System for Underground Mine Development. CITATION:Hartman, W and Esterhuizen, H, 2018. A geotechnical risk assessment tool for underground mine drives, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 235–253 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By T. W. Wlodek

"AbstractIn this paper a new type of durable 'spiral-rolled' drill set is introduced and its performance discussed. Efficient and economical mine drilling-depends to a great extent on durability of the drill-set employed. Premature failure of this element damages the drill bit and is costly when tungsten carbide bits are used.Time of drilling of 'spiral-rolled' drill sets introduced at present in Canada is considerably larger than for the presently used drill steel, but laboratory simulated service tests and practical field tests show that the 'drilling life' of the spiral-rolled drill set is several times that of ordinary drill steel.Some features of differential plastic deformation and differential surface rolling, so called 'spiral-rolling', are given.Relations between the drilling machine drill set and characteristics of the ore are discussed. The effect of shims on conical drill rod attachments, the mechanism of failure of drill steel, .and stresses during mine drilling, are analysed.IntroductionIN MINE DRILLING operations, the main interests are: the drilling machines as a source of working energy, the drill set as the tool transferring the working energy to the cutting edges of the bit, and, finally, the drilling characteristic of the .ore or waste rock.This paper includes a review of the possibilities of metallurgical and mechanical improvements in the drill set, with particular attention to drill steel and the attachments.For economical and efficient mine drilling operations, a durable drill rod, attachment, and drill bit are essential. Premature failure of any of these parts interferes with mining operations and is costly."

Jan 1, 1955

By Gene Mattila, Ron Boyd

Introduction Rock bolting is a general term that encompasses pinning, roof bolting, rib bolting, and cable bolting. Rock bolting contributes the highest nonproductive cost and is the most significant safety risk in mining today. Total installed bolt costs are now more than $20 per bolt. Rebolting or repair work doubles this. And bolting accidents account for about 30% of all fatal and nonfatal lost time accidents. It is only logical, then, for the mine operator to install the highest quality anchors possible. Every bolt on the market - tensioned, untensioned, full contact, or point anchor - has designed capabilities in axial, shear, and fluctuating ground conditions. Bolts will provide a designed support if material specifications and installation procedures fall within the manufacturer's recommendations. This also assumes that there are no unexpected geological or operational changes. Proper material specifications and installation procedures should guarantee the mine operator a quality anchor. To help assure this, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the US Bureau of Mines (USBM), and the AMC Manufacturers group developed stringent ASTM materials standards. These govern mechanical point anchor bolts and bolts using threaded and nonthreaded rebar. There are also minimum standards that suppliers must comply with in the manufacture of frictional bolts. However, most frictional bolt standards are based on the manufacturer's own specifications. It would be impossible to set uniform regulations on frictional bolts. Each bolt provides support in a slightly different manner and thereby requires different material needs. Quality Control In any case, material quality can generally be assured through tight order specifications and periodic quality control checks. The problem with installing quality anchors does not solely lie with the material. It includes all the events that occur from the time a bolt leaves a manufacturer to the time it is installed. The anchoring ability of any major type bolt can be affected by transportation, storage, mechanical performance of installation equipment, installation demands of the operator, proper drilling accessories, and local geology. Table 1 and Fig. 1 document the negative events that can affect each bolt and the degree to which it can be affected. Drilling a hole of oversized diameter, for example, is an operator controlled factor. It will adversely affect most bolts. An over-sized diameter reduces, or even eliminates, the anchorage capability of a mechanical shell. It will reduce the support capacity of a split set to nearly nothing. And it will cause a partial or incomplete grouting around the resin bolt. Frequently, due to bit wear, holes are drilled undersized in diameter and may not be properly cleaned out. In this case, it will be difficult for the operator to push the mechanical shell into the hole, thereby causing him to drill another hole. In cases where the bolt is obviously not providing anchorage, operators will probably drill another hole and place another bolt. Rock Bolt Regulations It is the situations where a bolt is improperly installed in the hole, but gives the appearance of a good bolt, that are frightening. In fact, some safety officials and engineers believe that only 50% to 60% of installed bolts are working. These bolts cause irregular ground load transfers in other bolts and overload them. This causes hazardous situations and overstressing. It is these bolts that fail prematurely 200 to 255 mm (8 to 10 in.) behind the face and possibly contribute to the high accident rate. The government and several manufacturers recognized the need to check the integrity of rock bolts. These programs are in different stages today. Tight torque regulations have been established for mechanical

Jan 4, 1985

By Richard D. Hagni

Ore microscopy is a useful technique to detect and study the ore minerals that are associated with sediment-hosted and volcanic-hosted deposits of finely disseminated gold and silver. Ore microscopy can be used to determine the: 1) precious metal-bearing minerals in some ores, 2) associated ore minerals that may form geochemical exploration halos, 3) character of iron sulfide grains, 4) extent of sulfide oxidation, 5) character of oxidized iron minerals, 6) character of original sulfide grains from a study of the hypogene and supergene oxidized ores, 7) relative time of oxidation, 8) character of organic matter, 9) minerals that may consume excessive amounts of cyanide solution, 10) extent of silicification and silica encapsulation, and 11) possibility of salting.

Jan 1, 1987

By J. E. Moyle

Rio Algom Corporation of Wilmington, Delaware is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Alloys Inc., an Ohio Corporation, which in turn is 100% owned by Rio Algom Mines Limited of Toronto, Canada. Rio Algom is controlled by the Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation of London, England, which has subsidiaries and affiliated operations throughout the world. Rio Algom geologists first became interested in this Utah pro- perty in 1966, after preliminary drilling had indicated that a known orebody close to the surface appeared to continue on the dorm thrust side of a major local fault, known as the Lisbon fault. Accordingly, in 1968, arrangements were made to acquire what was known as the "Humeca Option", a total of 2,573 acres located in San Juan county in south-east Utah, 35 miles south-east of the town of Moab.

Jan 1, 1975

By Bernard M. Larsen, Clyde F. Williams, Edward P. Barrett

"Introduction.The Bureau of Mines at its Northwest Experiment station has been studying the production of sponge iron for the past four years, and during 1923 progress advanced to the point industrial applications can be safely considered. A furnace was operated commercially at silver City, Utah, producing about three tons of sponge iron daily.The Bureau was led to undertake this work by the interest in the use of sponge iron for copper precipitation and for conversion to iron and steel in the electric furnace.If a piece of iron oxide is completely reduced at such a low temperature (850 to 900° C) that no sintering or fusion takes place, then the piece of metallic iron formed has the same size and shape as the original piece of oxide on account of the removal of oxygen, the structure is finely porous, exposing a large surface of iron, and the apparent density is less than that of the original piece of iron oxide. This material is called ""sponge iron"". Chemically, it is a very reactive material."

Nov 1, 1924

By Daniela Mota Paschoal Veloso da Silva, Gabriel Filinkoski, Suelen Silva Rocha, Jorge Luiz Valença Mariz

A previsão da fragmentação da rocha é essencial para otimizar a operação de desmonte de rochas. A fragmentação depende de muitos parâmetros, como propriedades estruturais e geomecânicas do maciço rochoso, geometria do plano de fogo das detonações e propriedades dos explosivos. Neste contexto, este trabalho objetivou realizar a previsão da fragmentação por simulação do desmonte de rochas da Mineração Megaípe considerando as características estruturais e geomecânicas inerentes à formação do maciço rochoso através da metodologia de Kuz-Ram. A metodologia consistiu no levantamento das propriedades geométricas das descontinuidades visíveis na face da bancada existente, realização da classificação geomecânica através dos sistemas Rock Mass Rating (RMR) e Q e aplicação dos resultados para predição da distribuição granulométrica da fragmentação. Obteve-se como resultado da simulação que cerca de 90% do material fragmentado deve passar na abertura do britador primário disponível na pedreira, além de resultados favoráveis quanto às análises de condições de estabilidade do talude operacional.

Oct 3, 2019

By Lei Wang, Xiancong Zhao, Hongxu Li, Lifeng Zhang

Recovery of Fe from red mud has been studied using statistically designed experiments. The effects of three factors, namely: reduction temperature, reduction time and proportion of additive on recovery of Fe have been investigated. Experiments have been carried out using orthogonal central composite design and factorial design methods. A model has been obtained through variance analysis at 92.5% confidence level.

Jan 1, 2015

By Daniel A. Thome, Robert C. Janke

"Installation of permanent soil nails through distressed mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls is a cost effective and aesthetically pleasing solution when using the appropriate equipment and drilling methods for installation. A forensic investigation was performed on an existing mechanically stabilized earth retaining wall to determine the possible causes for the excessive horizontal displacements and visual structural flaws found along a portion of the wall. Reports concluded that the visual shifting was due to a number of factors including improper drainage in the vicinity of the wall and unsuitable compaction of the backfill material. Conceptual designs were proposed to the owner and the installation of permanent soil nails through the existing precast panels was determined to be the most practical solution. A total of ninety-three permanent soil nails were installed to lengths of up to 40 feet (12 m) through sand backfill and silty day fill using a hydraulic rotary percussion drill attached to a tract mounted excavator.IntroductionThe Illinois State Toll Highway Authority awarded Contract RR-03-5144 in the summer of 2004. Construction work for the project consisted of the rehabilitation of two existing concrete culverts and approximately 100 linear feet (31 m) of mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining wall. The retaining wall is located below the southbound lanes of the Tri-State Tollway near the intersection of Federal Highway 41 in Wadsworth, Illinois as shown in Figure 1.Reports were prepared by Applied Technologies in cooperation with Giles Engineering Associates to determine the condition of the MSE wall and recommended conceptual designs to extend the service life of the wall.Nicholson Construction Company (Nicholson) wasselected as the design-build geotechnical subcontractor to install the recommended permanent soil nails through the existing precast concrete panels of the MSE wall. Rehabilitation of the wall involved the installation of ninety-three permanent soil nails through the existing wall, along with soil nail verification tests and proof tests on production nails."

Jan 1, 2005

By E. G. Ozhogina, O. B. Kotova

"The ores of black, non-ferrous, rare, noble metals are mostly distinguished by a variety of mineral types and complexity of their material composition. This article is devoted to the promotion of the concept of mineral processing in modern realities of the deficit of high–grade ores and increase in their demand. Normative and methodical documentation for specific types analysis with the definition of the field of application are presented in this paper. . For example, the pyrochlore-monazite-goethite ores from one of the deposits from Eastern Siberia - Chuktukonskoe ore field were tested. The development of mineralogical methods and testing of specific raw materials are shown. The method of small-angle X-ray (and also synchrotron) scattering, which was developed for solving problems associated with structural high-resolution diagnostics, was tested for bauxites of Vezhay-Vorykvinskoye field.INTRODUCTION A highly intense production of many types of mineral deposits results in gradual depletion and of mining-geological and mining-technical conditions of various ore reserves ?. Relatively easily accessible and rich deposits are getting depleted in the first place, and it is necessary to involve low grade and refractory ores into production and processing. Traditional technologies can hardly be applied (Chanturia, 2017; Bazin et al., 2014; Ponaryadov, 2017). The urgency of development of the concept of technological mineralogy focuses on the confirmation of new methods and approaches to the development of mineral deposits, creation of scientific and methodological pre-requisites for solving the problem of rational development of mineral deposits, maximum extraction and integrated application of all minerals (both principal and associated), expansion and strengthening of mineral and ores.The article is aimed at updating tasks that should be addressed within the applied mineralogical research: – forecast of quality of ore at early stages of exploration and technological indicators for the redistribution of properties ore, – interactive monitoring of these indicators by mineralogical and analytical methods;"

Jan 1, 2018

By E. G. Ozhogina, O. B. Kotova

"The ores of black, non-ferrous, rare, noble metals are mostly distinguished by a variety of mineral types and complexity of their material composition.The article is devoted to the promotion of the concept of mineral processing in modern realitiesof the deficit of high-quality ores and increase their demand.Normative and methodical documentationsfor specific types of analysis with the definition of the field of application are shown. For example,the pyrochlore-monazite-goethite ores from one of the deposits from Eastern Siberia - Chuktukonskoe ore fieldare tested. The development of mineralogical methods, and testing of specific raw materials are shown.The method of small-angle X-ray (and also synchrotron) scattering, which was developed for solving problems associated with structural high-resolution diagnostics, was tested for bauxites of Vezhay-Vorykvinskoye field. KEYWORDS Technological mineralogy, rebellious ores, ore quality assessment, ?mineralogical-analytical methods INTRODUCTION A highly intense production of many types of mineral raw results in gradual depletion and deterioration of mining-geological and mining-technical conditions of development. Relatively easily accessible and rich deposits are getting exhausted in the first place, and it is necessary to involve poor and rebellious ores into production and processing. Traditional technologies can hardly be applied (Chanturia, 2017; Bazin et al., 2014; Ponaryadov, 2017). The urgency of development of the concept of technological mineralogy focuses on the confirmation of new methods and approaches to the development of mineral raw, creation of scientific and methodological prerequisites for solving the problem of rational development of mineral raw, maximal extraction and integrated application of all minerals (both principal and associated), expansion and strengthening of mineral and raw base. The article is aimed at updating tasks that should be addressed within the applied mineralogical researches: – the forecast of quality of ore at early stages of exploration and technological indicators for the redistribution of raw, – interactive monitoring of these indicators by mineralogical and analytical methods; – assessment of environmental consequences of mining and processing of minerals and measures that eliminate these consequences."

Jan 1, 2018

By Shuji Owada, Mayumi Ito, Takehiko Nishimura, Toru Yamashita, Sadayuki Shinozaki, Takashi Ando, Tomoe Ota

Electrical disintegration (ED) was applied to Nantun coal (China) in order to improve liberation of coal substance for the pretreatment of producing “Hyper Coal” of which the combustion gas was planning to inject directly to turbine for power generation. It has been found that many cracks generated in the ED were existent at phase boundaries with mineral matters and liberation of coal substance became much higher than that in mechanical comminution methods such as roll crusher. Since the ED occurred more easily (with lower voltage applied) for the coals of higher mineral content, it is considered that this method could make a better contribution especially to comminute middling coals. We also found that the ED technique could apply not only single particles but also to coal particles assemblage, keeping almost the same or higher disintegration efficiency. In the mineral matters, Si and Al components were preferentially well liberated by the ED.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. R. Rubly, H. J. Steele

The San Manuel property is in town&ips 8S and 9S, range 16E, Gila and salt River Base and Meridan, State of Arizona. This area is in the Old Hat mining district, southern pinal county, and is about 31/25 miles southwest of the town of Mammoth on the San Pedro River And one mile south of the Mammoth mine at Tiger, Arizona, The property consists of over 150 contiguous lode claims. The old Hat district was prospected prior to the civil war, but there was little or no production until 1881.1 The chief producers have been the Mammoth and Mohawk mines, now consolidated and operating as the st. Anthony Mining and Development Co., Ltd. Production to 1936 was $5,200,000, of which 83 pet was gold.2 Since 1940 the production has been chiefly lead and zinc, and some molybdenum and vanadium. There are a few small properties in the vicinity that have produced very minor tonnages of copper ore. In the San Manuel group there are claims which have been held continuously from 1906 to the present time, and at least two churn-drill holes were put down on or near the outcrop in 1917. No logs for these holes are available, but it is assumed that the grade of copper encountered was not sufficient to encourage further exploration. A small amount of ore has been shipped from open cuts on the San Manuel outcrop area, but there is no record of the tonnage Or grade. It is estimated that not more than 50 tons were mined. These cuts, plus a few shallow shafts and some short adits indicate limited and unenthusiastic prospecting at San Manuel. In 1942, through the efforts of James M. Douglas, R. B. Giffin, Victor Erickson, and Henry W. Nichols, owners of the Sari Manuel group, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and War Production Board authorized the United States Geological Survey to investigate the property, and by their recommendation, the United States Bureau of Mines was authorized to put down a limited number of churn-drill holes. The Bureau of Mines carried On drilling from November 1943 to February 1945 Seventeen holes were drilled, varying from 305 to 1990 ft in depth. The property was brought to the attention of Magma Copper Co. in June 1944, and an option agreement was made with the Owners. Subsequently, a group of claims lying north of the original group and held by the Apex Lead Vanadium Mining Corp, and a group to the east held by the Quarelli family, were optioned. A drilling program was laid out to conform to the Bureau of Mines pattern, and drilling started in December 1944 Sari Manue1 Copper Corp. was incorporated September 1945, and has carried on the exploration program to the present time. Geology General The mineralized outcrop, chief copper mineral of which is chrysocolla, is a tri-

Jan 1, 1949

By G. R. Rubly, H. J. Steele

The San Manuel property is in town&ips 8S and 9S, range 16E, Gila and salt River Base and Meridan, State of Arizona. This area is in the Old Hat mining district, southern pinal county, and is about 31/25 miles southwest of the town of Mammoth on the San Pedro River And one mile south of the Mammoth mine at Tiger, Arizona, The property consists of over 150 contiguous lode claims. The old Hat district was prospected prior to the civil war, but there was little or no production until 1881.1 The chief producers have been the Mammoth and Mohawk mines, now consolidated and operating as the st. Anthony Mining and Development Co., Ltd. Production to 1936 was $5,200,000, of which 83 pet was gold.2 Since 1940 the production has been chiefly lead and zinc, and some molybdenum and vanadium. There are a few small properties in the vicinity that have produced very minor tonnages of copper ore. In the San Manuel group there are claims which have been held continuously from 1906 to the present time, and at least two churn-drill holes were put down on or near the outcrop in 1917. No logs for these holes are available, but it is assumed that the grade of copper encountered was not sufficient to encourage further exploration. A small amount of ore has been shipped from open cuts on the San Manuel outcrop area, but there is no record of the tonnage Or grade. It is estimated that not more than 50 tons were mined. These cuts, plus a few shallow shafts and some short adits indicate limited and unenthusiastic prospecting at San Manuel. In 1942, through the efforts of James M. Douglas, R. B. Giffin, Victor Erickson, and Henry W. Nichols, owners of the Sari Manuel group, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and War Production Board authorized the United States Geological Survey to investigate the property, and by their recommendation, the United States Bureau of Mines was authorized to put down a limited number of churn-drill holes. The Bureau of Mines carried On drilling from November 1943 to February 1945 Seventeen holes were drilled, varying from 305 to 1990 ft in depth. The property was brought to the attention of Magma Copper Co. in June 1944, and an option agreement was made with the Owners. Subsequently, a group of claims lying north of the original group and held by the Apex Lead Vanadium Mining Corp, and a group to the east held by the Quarelli family, were optioned. A drilling program was laid out to conform to the Bureau of Mines pattern, and drilling started in December 1944 Sari Manue1 Copper Corp. was incorporated September 1945, and has carried on the exploration program to the present time. Geology General The mineralized outcrop, chief copper mineral of which is chrysocolla, is a tri-

Jan 1, 1949

By S. G., Lasky

IT seems to be in the nature of concepts that they have many meanings, and that the meaning best reflecting the primary interests of a person tends to be accepted by him as the normal meaning of the concept. The concept of ore reserves is no exception, for there is no unanimity of meaning among the several groups of us who are interested in ore reserves, nor even among the individuals of a single group. The groups most interested in ore reserves would seem to include at least the mining industry, perhaps State taxing agencies, and the Federal Government in all its diversified activities, and I would include also the citizenry at large or at least that part of it that consciously thinks about problems-of national welfare. To each of these, and to different individuals within them, the term reserves represents something different, and the farther away the individual or group gets from physical contact with the ore, the more abstract does his or its concept become. It is something different to the policy maker from what it is to the fact-finder or to the miner.

Jan 1, 1945

By I Ritchie, A Johnston, D Yataco

Marcobre SAC (Marcobre) is developing the Mina Justa copper mine project, located in the Ica region of Peru. The Mina Justa IOCG orebody comprises of a sulfide mass overlain by an oxide cap with a sharp transitional zone between the sulfide and oxide masses. The primary target metal is copper, but there are minor amounts of gold and silver. The oxide will be treated by HPGR, crushing and vat leaching, whereas the sulfide will be treated by HPGR, milling and froth flotation. The processing selections are due to some unusual ore characteristics which have required relatively unconventional solutions.Vat leaching was chosen over heap leaching and other processes after detailed trade-off studies found it to be the most attractive, primarily due to the high acid consumption of the ore. The sulfide flotation produces a wide range of concentrate grades due to the complex nature of the mineralogy. The selection of HPGR circuits for both the oxide and sulfide ore is due to the extremely hard and competent nature of the deposit. These factors and others have contributed to a unique process selection for this resource.The selection process for the oxide and sulfide ores, and an overview of the technology, equipment selection and geometallurgy, will be discussed.CITATION:Johnston, A, Ritchie, I and Yataco, D, 2017. Process development for the Mina Justa project, in Proceedings MetPlant 2017, pp 207–217 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 11, 2017

By R. Bissonette, C. Sunderman, R. Jacksha

The ability of wireless systems—e.g., voice communication, proximity detection, tele-remote operation, telemetry, etc.—to function satisfactorily (coexist) in the presence of other wireless systems is critical to the safety and health of mine workers. The failure of wireless systems to coexist could result in the delay, corruption, or outright loss, of critical data, voice, or video information. However, no mining-sector-specific regulations, standards, or guidelines exist to ensure the safe coexistence of wireless systems. This paper introduces the concept of wireless coexistence, implications in the mining industry, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH’s) research approach to develop guidelines and recommendations to ensure safe wireless coexistence.

Feb 1, 2023

By C. B. Alcock, R. G. Hudson

Sulfur pressure measurements above FeS in equilibrium with iron have been carried out by the Knudsen orifice method. A comparison is made of the weight loss of the cell per unit time obtained in the above experiments, that calculated from Richardson and Alcock's measurements of the S2 pressure above FeS in equilibrium with iron, and the dissociation constant for diatomic sulfur from spectroscopic and thermal data. EXTENSIVE equilibrium measurements have been made to determine the sulfur potentials of a great many systems of metallurgical interest.' In order to confirm their reliability, to supply data which may be of use in further thermodynamic calculations, and to establish the reliability of the Knudsen orifice in obtaining accurate thermodynamic values at high temperatures, the present investigation on the pressure of the gaseous species above FeS in equilibrium with iron has been carried out. The Knudsen orifice method has been used for these pressure measurements. Experimental The apparatus and general technique for this investigation are the same as that reported for the determination of the vapor pressure of silver.' To reduce the residual gas pressure in the evacuated chamber, a titanium getter, maintained at run temperature, was introducbed. Several types of Knudsen cells were used—platinum, zircon, and fused silica. The orifice in the zircon cell was fashioned with a small diamond wheel. The same precautions were used in this investigation as were employed in the work on Mo2S2.3 The FeS-Fe mixture was prepared by heating a sample of pure FeS,, supplied by K. K. Kelley of the Bureau of Mines, with excess iron powder, cp grade, obtained from the Fisher Scientific Co. These two substances were heated in a closed Armco iron crucible at 960°C, held in a vacuum of less than 10" mm Hg for 24 hr. The mass was then removed from the cell and ground in an agate mortar. In this form it was charged to the various Knudsen cells. Heating the Knudsen cell for an additional two days was sufficient to obtain constant rates of weight loss of the cell. The data obtained in this investigation are recorded in Table I. To establish whether or not a sulfide of iron is volatile at these temperatures, 0.7646 g of the FeS-Fe mixture, described above and containing 69.2 pet Fe, was placed in the zircon Knudsen cell. Run Nos. 103 to 109 were performed on it. After the completion of these runs, the total amount of iron left in the cell was obtained by chemical analysis. It contained 0.537 g Fe, compared to 0.529 g in the original charge. Thus, there was an apparent gain in iron of 1.5 pet. This is attributed to unknown experimental error, and the conclusion is that no sulfide of iron is volatile. The vapor pressure of pure iron4 is about one thousandth that of the sulfur pressure' at these temperatures. The vapor pressure of iron inside the Knudsen cell will be almost exactly that of pure iron, since in the iron-rich phase the percentage of sulfur is of the order of 0.025 pet.At this low percentage of sulfur Henry's law is probably obeyed by the sulfur. Thus, the iron will obey Raoult's law. In any event, the vapor pressure of iron will be lower than that of pure iron and, since the vapor pressure of pure iron is negligible compared to the pressure of sulfur, the weight loss of the cell due to the vaporization of iron should be negligible. Since neither iron nor FeS is volatile to an appreciable extent, the total weight loss of the cell must be due to the vaporization of sulfur. Discussion and Calculations On the assumption that S, is the only gaseous species present in appreciable quantity, its pressure

Jan 1, 1957

By A. Mei, F. Amadini, F. Cernera, D. Baliani, A. Flor, M. La Morgia, F. Sassi

The risk of TBM jamming because of squeezing rock mass or excessive caving (instability of the cavity) conditions is always a focal point while boring long and deep tunnels with shielded TBMs. Mechanized excavation provides a large amount of real-time data, for each machine’s parameters. Several analyses have been executed to assess the correlations between different sets of TBM parameters for the exploratory tunnel. Instead of analyzing the full dataset, a different approach is proposed, with data processed sequentially to simulate the real excavation situation. The probability distributions are recalculated together with their statistical parameters while advancing. This approach is extended also to the training of a Machine Learning model able to foresee the behavior at future rings based on past rings (using a Recurrent Neural Network). The predictions show a promising first step toward creating practical tools that can assist contractors and designers to correlate and predict TBM excavation data. These tools will assist to predict and quantify high risk situations that could arise during excavation.

Jun 13, 2023