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By Solomon S. Katz

As more and more computer software is written for geological mapping applications, the users of the software are discovering the problems of transferring data between the programs, maintaining correct data and integrating maps produced last week with those produced today. One way to deal with these situations is by using a geographic information system (GIs). Last September the USGS and National Academy of Science held a 5-day GIs symposium on integrating technology and geoscience applications (USGS, 1988). It was followed in October by GEOTECH '88 (Peters and Krajewski 1989) which had a session exclusively for GIs applications in the Geo-Sciences. Editorials in Geobyte (Leonard, 1986, 1988) suggested that geographic information systems will be the next major computer programs to be adopted by the mineral industries. As far- back is 1985, the Computer Oriented Geological Society (COGS) printed An Introduction to GIs in their newsletter (Katz, 1985). About 20 years ago, a revolutionary idea occurred in the world of business data processing. It was the idea that all related data be stored in a standard format, in a single place and that all related computer application programs would use the same data.

Jan 1, 1989

By Raimo Vuolio

"Over the past 30 years, the Nordic countries have developed similar practices for estimating damage caused by rock blasting vibrations. However, over the last few years the risk of damage has sometimes been estimated by using international values, which have created unnecessary costs, since they are too conservative. This paper gives a proposal for Finnish blast vibration standards and a calculation model for the extent of the zones for building inspection, risk analysis, and vibration measurements. The international conclusion is that particle velocity is the best descriptor for limiting damage potential for structures. Over 900 000 vibration data recordings from 52971 blasts were collected for this paper during 1970-1989. They show that the most practical description is the vertical component of the peak particle velocity. As rock is a nonhomogeneous medium, it is hard to predict the need and scope of risk analyses, building inspection, and vibration measurements. As a large number of blasts were monitored for the recording of the peak particle velocity in several locations in Finland, and the data combined, it is possible to establish safe scaled distances for the calculation of the need and scope of risk analyses, building inspections, and vibration measurements."

Jan 1, 1991

By J. D. Stinnette

Traditionally, airflow requirements for diesel equipment operating in underground environments such as mines and tunnels were determined by multiplying the vehicle power by a ventilation rate that was either mandated by regulations(s) or determined empirically from known quantities. In some cases, utilization factors were further used to adjust (reduce) the total airflow calculations for a diesel equipment fleet. However, in light of the drastic reductions to diesel equipment emissions mandated by the US EPA Tier IV and EURO Stage 4 regulations, there is currently a great deal of uncertainty in the underground mining industry among those responsible for the ventilation of planned new mines or the expansion of current mines. Tier IV engine standards mandate a reduction of DPM and NOx of approximately 95%, but can ventilation rates at mines with Tier IV equipment (or equivalent) really be reduced by a factor of twenty? This paper outlines some of the factors that affect the airflow required for the ventilation of modern diesel-powered equipment and examines how they can be applied in determining a reasonable ventilation rate for Tier IV compliant equipment operating in subterranean environments.

Aug 1, 2013

By N. R. Billette

In 1982 and 1983, a study was undertaken to analyse the applicability of Elbrond?s analytical model to suit the needs of Lake Asbestos of Quebec in their computerized open pit planning and scheduling strategy. The immediate goal was the assessment of the optimal allocation of trucks and the determination of the extra cost of in-pit blending. Data from 45 tonne trucks was used to estimate the mine capacity based on a fixed assignment policy. The tonnage yielded by the analytical model was compared with the results of a simulation program. Another point that the study high- lighted was the definition of efficiency parameters for the haulage system: shovels-trucks-crusher. The efficiency, both of the utilization of financial resources and of the operations, for the overall system reaches optimal values in very precise conditions for the number of pieces of equipment in operation. Such a parameter is proposed as a standard for the definition of an optimal number of trucks and shovels in operation. Deviations from this optimum do occur in a well-planned system for qualitative goals. These can then be quantified in terms of costs to the mining company.

Jan 1, 1986

By F. A. Emmerton

I have used for about two years, in the laboratory of the Joliet Steel Company, a rapid method for the determination of phosphorus in iron, steel, and ores, which possesses one or two features sufficiently novel to warrant description. In general, it is the method described by Mr. Benjamin B. Wright (Transactions, vol. x., p. 197), involving the precipitation of the phosphorus by means of molybdate solution, and its estimation in the yellow precipitate by reduction of the molybdic acid, and titration of the resulting oxide with a standardized permanganate solution, according to the principles laid down by Werncke (Fres, Zeit., vol. xiv., p. 1). In the use of this method, I had difficulty at first in obtaining a yellow precipitate of reasonably uniform composition. It is a well-known fact that, to secure this result, the conditions of precipitation must not vary. The principal condition is temperature; and acidity, concentration, proportion of nitrates and chlorides, and time, are important elements. I am aware that uniformity in these conditions has been obtained to a reasonable extent by many chemists,. so that they are enabled to use with success, methods based on the

Jan 1, 1887

By M. R. Peterson, C. R. Ferguson, T. H. Jeffers

The ability of microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria, and various aquatic flora to sorb metals from dilute aqueous solutions is well documented. Although microorganisms have significant potential in decontaminating waste waters, techniques and equipment suitable for bioassisted decontamination are limited. The Bureau of Mines has investigated the use of microorganisms immobilized in porous polysulfone beads for extracting toxic and heavy metals from dilute waste streams. The minus 8- plus 12-mesh beads were fabricated from high-density poly- sulfone dissolved in dimethylformamide (DMF). Dried, thermally killed yeast, algae, duckweed, xanthan gum, and alginates were blended into the polysulfone-DMF, and spherical beads were formed by injecting the mixture into water. Microscopic analysis revealed microorganisms immobilized within the bead pores. The beads had excellent handling characteristics and were tested in stirred reactors, fixed bed columns, and fluidized bed columns for their ability to remove metal contaminants from several waste waters. The effluents resulting from these waste waters met or exceeded the National Drinking Water Standards for cadmium, copper, manganese, and zinc. Other heavy metal contaminants readily sorbed by the beads included arsenic and mercury. Elution of metal values from the beads was accomplished using dilute nitric acid or sodium carbonate.

Jan 1, 1989

The visible portion of accounting-record keeping and preparation of financial statements-suggests a lack of sophistication and imagination. In reality, accounting is based on a large body of theory. Accountants philosophize, theorize, judge, create, and deliberate as a significant part of their professional practice. The subjective aspects that are so critical to current accounting practice, such as searching for truth and fact, judging what is fair presentation, and considering the behavior induced by presentations, are often overshadowed by the appearance of exactitude, precision, and objectivity that accompanies the use of numbers to express the financial results of the enterprise. * Fundamental accounting principles are hypothesized in the same manner as mathematical principles. These principles are justified by acceptability and intuition. Accounting theory is built upon these hypotheses, resulting in a coherent set of standards and rules. Although it does not specifically address every situation that may be encountered, this conceptual frame- work enables the manager or analyst to resolve specific situations. This framework also aids in the understanding and confidence in financial statements and ensures comparability between statements from different companies. This framework is referred to as "generally accepted accounting principles," or GAAP.

Jan 1, 1999

By J. A. Cordier

USINOR has conducted four blast furnace tests with formcoke made from marginal coals in the pilot plant of HBNPC ("H. B. N." process) in four different blast furnaces of various sizes and with medium and high grade burdens. The tests in which up to 30% of the blast furnace fuel burden was replaced by HBN formcoke yielded good results on furnaces ranging in hearth diameters from 5.6 to 9.5 m. The tests demonstrated that: - the slight increase of pressure drop in the stack did not prevent smooth operation at record production rates with the same blowers - the total coke rate was not significantly affected, but there was a slight increase of the calorific value of the top gas - the hot properties of the formcoke are satisfactory as seen from the samples withdrawn at the tuyeres and tapholes. At the end of the two months test on BE nº 2 of Dunkerque, the hearth was as permeable and clean as with good standard coke. Our conclusion is that HBNPC formcoke made from lean coals is an adequate substitute for conventional coke in the range of 20 to 40% replacement, which is of interest to USINOR.

Jan 1, 1977

By Jon Kogut

This paper describes three programs, currently in use within MSHA, for graphic analysis of accident frequency data. The first program, TREND, plots confidence bands for curved trends in data compiled over a period of time. In addition to detecting statistically significant upward or downward trends, the program can be used to determine whether an observation at a particular time deviates significantly from the historical pattern. The second program, POIPORP, plots interval estimates for the risk of accident in each of several environments, given an observed number of incidents and exposure time at each environment. POIPORP is designed to quantify the uncertainty implicit in incidence rates based on limited information and to facilitate statistically valid comparisons among the rates. The third program, CINDY, plots dynamically adaptive control charts for accident or injury experience at a given location. These charts are used to detect statistically significant departures from a changing standard or a previously established trend. All three programs are written in FORTRAN IV, utilizing DISSPLA and IMSL. They exemplify forms of statistical analysis that would not be practical without a computer. Use of the programs is illustrated with applications to coal mine fatality and injury experience.

Jan 1, 1983

By Walter Morley

This paper is a record of the first of a series of tests on sulfide minerals to be made by the metallurgical department f the University of California. The purpose of the tests here recorded is to determine the action of standard oils, oil mixtures, and addition agents on the flotation of pyrites. The question of the commercial value of pyrite was not considered. Of the many factors affecting flotation, only two-the oil and the other agent used-were made variable. The flotation agents used are given in the accompanying table. PENSACOLA TAR AND TURPENTINE CO. (PENTARCO) NON-POL., SP. Dis. REF. PER No. KIND GR. POINTS INDEX ?VISC. CENT. 200 Refined wood creosote oil 0.965 105-275 1.5096 1.7 7-8 350 Crude pine wood oil 1.019 70-345 1.525 2.9 4 75 Crude wood turpentine 0.887 65-217 1.456 0.9 10-12 80 Crude pine oil 0.911 70-232 1.4894 1.1 8 750 Heavy pine tar oil 1.063 165-350 1.557 41.0 400 Wood creosote oil 1.025 190-360 1.4977 2.9

Jan 7, 1921

By Charles W. Daugherty, Robert Nyren

The replacement of Boston’s elevated Highway I-93 running north to south through the heart of the city with 8-lane tunneled roadways, coupled with the underground extension of Highway I-90 eastward to Logan Airport, has earned the Central Artery/Tunnel (CA/T) Project the position of the largest infrastructure project in the U.S. today. The gigantic interchange featuring numerous ramps where these two main branches of the Artery intersect required the construction of three huge jacked tunnel boxes that were pushed beneath eight active Amtrak and commuter rail tracks that had to remain undisturbed in spite of poor geology and a minimum of cover between the track beds and the tunnel crowns. Ground freezing was chosen as the method of stabilizing the soil over the tunnels, and it was extended in one area to stabilize the ground at the intersection between the tunnels and an abutting deep cut-and-cover excavation. Because many standard geotechnical instruments consist basically of open standpipes filled with water, it was a major challenge to keep them de-iced and in a condition to provide data on vertical and lateral ground movements. The efforts to do so are herein described.

Jan 1, 2003

Earth Sciences: The standard of living of the world's people depends upon human initiative, investigation, and know-how in exploiting the earth's resources. The Earth Sciences-geology, mineralogy, geophysics and geochemistry, meteorology, geography-are basic sciences dealing with those problems concerning the origin, constitution, and utilization of the earth's materials. The development of these fields in one department provides the greatest opportunity for direct contact and stimulus for scientists and teachers working in related fields. In the Earth Sciences, geology and mineralogy are obviously closely related. As rocks are the materials of which the earth is made, so in turn minerals are the constituents of the rocks. Conversely, a study of earth structures and the interplay of physical and chemical forces in the earth is necessary in order to understand the origin and source of minerals. Building on the basic core of knowledge of earth processes, earth structures, and earth history, the geologist will continue to push out the frontiers of stratigraphy, structural geology, pale-biology and petrology with growing insight into principles that control surface and subsurface rock conditions. As the field of geology has advanced, several lines of specialization have developed. The economic geologist

Jan 1, 1950

By G. T. Lineberry, B. R. Yama

Artificial intelligence research has produced several tools for commercial application. Some of the techniques that are widely used today include neural networks, fuzzy logic and expert systems. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are excellent predictive, pattern recognition and data analysis tools. In the mining industry, ANN techniques are being used commercially for real-time process-control applications. Modeling of spatial data, ore-reserve estimation, tunnel design, long wall-stability prediction and geologic roof classification are additional applications in which neural networks have been applied successfully. In this study, a standard back propagation algorithm was used to train a series of neural networks for a real-world predictive task. After training and optimizing the neural network architecture, the performance of the network is measured on an independent validation set. Results indicate a mean error of less than 1 % between the actual and predicted values. A neural network model was developed for learning the spatial continuity of a mineral field and, consequently, for predicting sulfur values for given coordinates. The neural network not only performed satisfactorily, but in some cases performed even better than the kriging model.

Jan 1, 2000

By J. E. Gebhardt, P. E. Richardson

External control of the electrochemical potential of a bed of mineral particles was investigated by the US Bureau of Mines as a method for controlling particle interaction with organic collectors and, thus, flotation response. A cylindrically shaped, 200- to 300-g bed of sulfide mineral particles was used as the working electrode in an electrochemical-flotation cell. In a pH 9.2 sodium tetraborate buffer, chalcocite floated with ethylxanthate at applied potentials [=] - 0.25 V (versus the standard hydrogen electrode) ; pyrite floated at potentials [=] 0.15 V. Differential separation of a chalcocite-pyrite mineral mixture was obtained by controlling the potential, but the flotation response of the mixture did not follow the behavior predicted from measurements on the individual mineral beds. Chalcocite dissolution products had a deleterious effect on chalcocite-pyrite separation by activating pyrite so that it floated below the potential (~ 0.13 V) at which xanthate is oxidized to dixanthogen. A pyrite bed activated with a copper(II) sulfate solution exhibited a flotation response with a potential dependence between that of chalcocite and pyrite. Pyrite dissolution products had no effect on chalcocite flotation.

Jan 1, 1988

Resident Instruction: The character of an institution, the varying demands made upon it, its geographical location, its own internal organization, all are factors that predispose against rigid standards, curriculum-making, research programs, and extension services. Mineral industries educators must keep in mind that the under- graduate is the core of the college, a philosophy that implies a set of inviolable principles.1 They will want to turn out graduates with overwhelming talent in their field, together with incorruptible ethics, prepared to deal with people, as well as with theories and things. Curriculum-making is a popular educational pastime. No course makes or breaks a curriculum. The particular qualifications and interests of individual students must find expression. However, selection must be made under guidance so that the student's individual needs are realized. In this way, specialization can be introduced into curricula previously conceived to be of general science or engineering nature only. In its essence, formal education is society's endeavor to put old heads on young shoulders, to implant the experience of centuries in the youthful generation. Seen in this light, it is evident that isolated facts have little

Jan 1, 1950

By C. R. Schumacher, W. H. Moyer

Cornwall, Pa. magnetite ore, containing recoverable sulfides in the form of chalcopyrite and pyrite, has been mined continuously since 1742 1 Beneficiation of the ore was begun in 1905, at the Lebanon concentrator located six miles from the mine. At first, only magnetite was recovered, using Grondal magnetic separators. In 1907, copper minerals were recovered by means of Wilfley tables. Copper flotation, attempted as early as 1912, was finally successful in 1919. In 1940, flotation of the cobalt- bearing pyrite was begun, and Cornwall ore became the major domestic source of cobait for many years. In 1916, the Bethlehem Steel Corp. began to purchase interests in the Cornwall mine and Lebanon concentrator properties, and by 1926 had acquired complete ownership. Metallurgical practice at the old Lebanon concentrator was good, but by today's standards the plant was outdated. The flowsheet was complex, due both to the mineral content of the ore and to the low capacities of much of the equipment. As the flowsheet developed, buildings were added and the plant was spread over a relatively large area, with resulting high manpower requirements. Another disadvantage was the six-mile rail haul from the mine to the Lebanon concentrator.

Jan 3, 1966

By A. J. Weinig

THE Liberty Bell cyanide precipitate is unique in that it is apt to vary widely in composition in the course of very short, periods of time, and a method of refining and melting that would prove highly satisfactory at one cleanup would yield almost an hopeless "mess" it a second. Table I gives a general conception of the wide range in grade and composition of those raw precipitates. It is evident that no one standard flux could be expected to produce a high-grade bullion with such a widely variable precipitate, and that any method of treatment with acid requires most careful consideration. Refining by Acids Naturally, our first efforts to improve our precipitates were directed along the lines of acid treatment. Table II embodies the results of careful sampling and analysis of one cleanup at the time when wet refining reached its maximum development at this mill. We have now discarded all methods of wet refining, successfully replacing them by amore scientific method of flux calculation described herein, but it is believed that a general description of this wet refining is warranted as it throws some interesting side lights on acid refining in general.

Jan 3, 1916

By John G. Hall

The unstable metal market during 1949, with resulting lower metal prices, has focused every mine operator's attention on the problem of reducing operating costs. Improvement in mining methods, use of modern mechanical mining equipment, and increasing the efficiency of the labor force are the tools with which we will have to work. Careful planning is necessary to coordinate all phases so that no one phase is overdone. A mine may become over-mechanized if, for instance, capital charges against new equipment exceed the savings in labor costs, or where a large enough tonnage is not produced. The cooperation of labor is essential to any mechanization program. There have been too many instances where mechanization and improvements have done nothing more than make up for a decrease in labor efficiency, thus bringing the production of labor back to its old standard. The operator has gained little and labor has gained only a "softer job." In any mechanization program there are gains to be had by both the operator and labor. By the efficient application of modern equipment and improved mining methods the operator should gain by decreased costs, and labor may profit by receiving a share of these decreased costs.

Jan 8, 1950

By Yu. P. Astafyev

The, control of drilling and blasting is a complicated dynamic system whose aim is to ensure safety and prepare rock of required grade and the standard level of broken material reserves Unlike other processes drilling and blasting, as an object have the following features: -a large variety of drilling and blasting methods due to specific conditions of blasting, various types of drilling equipment, schemes-of blasting, types of explosives and others; -relative continuity of drilling, the character of mammoth blasts being discrete; -increased requirements to the safety of blasting;; -a great. number of control parameters, some of them having a qualitative characteristic but not a quantitative one; -availability of feedforward and feedback with other mining processes in terms of time and space. These features predetermine the hierarchical structure of an automated system of planning and control of drilling and blasting (fig.1). The system is implemented on the basis of unity of the data base and in interre lation with other problems of controlling mining operations. An automated system of this kind makes it possible to take optimal decisions actually on all the levels and stages of operations, with rock having been blasted before extraction.

Jan 1, 1986

By Franklin J. A, Tam C. Palangio, N H. Maerz

WipFrag systems I, II and III have become the world standard in photoanalysis systems to measure particle sizes. Mines, quarries and excavating contractors can now easily measure blast results and track the progress of optimization efforts. This technology was developed and evolved ~to allow automatic measurements of the size distribution of particles on moving conveyors, in truck boxesand on crusher feeds. Production machinery can now be controlled by photoanalysis results and multiple cameras allow various locations to be monitored by a single system. Blast designs can, be monitored on a shot by shot basis. Changes in delay times, explosives, patterns and hole sizes can be quickly evaluated. Along with this measurement capability has come a heightened awareness of the importance of “optimum size” and uniformity of particles for lowest cost production and material handling efficiency. In the past, savings in the “drill / blast” cycle of the operation were sometimes overshadowed by downstream production costs related to fragmentation. Now total production costs can be compared with fragmentation sizes, which will immediately show the trend towards optimum size for economical production. No cost reduction program can be complete without this critical information.

Jan 1, 1998