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By T. Shibaraki

A new larger, more efficient and economical Mitsubishi furnace line at Naoshima was put into operation in May 1991. Naoshima Smelter had produced previously about 230,000 mtpy anode copper with two smelter lines, i.e., a conventional reverberatory furnace line and Mitsubishi furnace line, which had been shutdown at the same time of the start up of the new smelter. At the beginning of the operation, there were several initial problems at the area of off gas trains and feeding system. By overcoming them now the process has been continuing satisfactory operation at the design rate. The paper describes about the design concepts and the actual operation of the new smelter.

Jan 1, 1993

By J. A. Ressinger

"The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the differences between various methods of excavating and loading as they relate to mining operations. The intent is not to provide ""pat"" answers, but instead to raise some questions and set forth some reasonable guidelines.Specifically, the paper deals with the differences and relative merits of power shovels versus rubber-tired front-end loaders - or, carrying this further, comparing what could be called ""stationary"" loading or excavating devices to ""mobile"" types."

Jan 1, 1972

By Niels Verbaan, Ernesto Bourricaudy, Ronald Molnar, James Brown, Sunil Jayasekera

"SGS Minerals commissioned an internal R&D program to develop in-house expertise to design, set up and operate REE separation pilot campaigns at its Lakefield, Canada site. A team approach was used that included expert consultants in the field of REE separation as well as in-house expertise supported by the on-site Analytical Laboratories.A mini pilot scale SX circuit was designed and constructed consisting of several modular banks of 30 stages each. About 80 stages of mixer-settlers were used to separate Pr and Nd from La and Ce contained in a synthetic REE chloride stream simulating the raffinate from an initial La-Nd|Sm-Lu+Y separation.Two pilot campaigns were operated totalling 25 days of 24/7 operation with 99.4% plant availability in the final 20 day campaign. Purities of > 99.9% in the Pr-Nd strip liquor and > 99% in the La- Ce raffinate were achieved and simultaneously sustained in the second campaign for prolonged operating periods. Key to controlling and adjusting the circuit was the rapid assay turnaround (as low as 2 hours) provided by the on-site SGS analytical lab. This permitted the operating team to modify conditions and observe the effect of changes relatively quickly considering the large number of stages. A portable XRF analyser was also used to track evolving assay trends in the circuit. The small physical size of the circuit enabled longer operation with a limited amount of sample.This paper discusses the design of the circuit, operating conditions, some of the key operating factors and controls and results obtained.INTRODUCTIONSGS Minerals commissioned the design of and built a solvent extraction (SX) pilot plant for the separation of rare earth elements (REE). The plant consists of a battery of 120 mixer-settlers set up in a dedicated piloting facility.The purpose of the programme was to develop capabilities and in-house expertise in REE SX separation technology. The program aimed to establish operating procedures, sampling regimes, and analytical methodologies and protocols for this type of process/plant. A team comprised of SGS personnel and several external consultants with prior industrial and REE separation piloting experience was assembled to achieve these objectives."

Jan 1, 2016

By Eldon L. Brown

Location and History The Sherritt Gordon property is located in northwestern Manitoba, about 100 miles north of The Pas and 40 miles northeast of Flin Flon. It is connected with the Manitoba Northern railway, which runs from The Pas to Flin Flon by a branch line, 42 miles in length. The location of the property is shown on the sketch-map, Figure 2. The ore deposit was first discovered by Philip Sherlett, a Cree Indian, in 1922. In 1924 Sherlett's claims lapsed and the ground was re-staked by Carl Sherritt and Dick Madole, and was optioned by them to J. P. Gordon in the summer of 1925. Gordon re-optioned the property successively to three well-known mining groups, one of which did some surface trenching .and put down 28 shallow diamond-drill holes before dropping their option. In the latter part of 1927, a Company known as Sherritt Gordon Mines, Limited, was formed to take over the property, and preparations were made for systematic development work. Preliminary Development In order to fill-in gaps left by the original drilling, a light diamond-drill outfit was flown-in to the property from the Hudson Bay railway in the early fall of 1927. Ten shallow holes were put down before freeze-up .and a considerable amount of surface trenching was completed. Based on the results of the surface trenching and the shallow diamond-drilling, an extensive development campaign was outlined. A winter road, 90 miles in length, was cut from mileage 55 on the Hudson Bay railway, and during the winter of 1927-28 a total of 2,600 tons of freight was hauled-in to the property. This freight included four complete diamond-drill outfits, two complete mining plants, building material for two sets of camps, and supplies for one year's operations, including 105,000 gallons of fuel-oil for Diesel engines.

Jan 1, 1933

By H. Pew, J. H. Field

To alleviate pollution more restrictive legislation is being enacted, either limiting emission of pollutants or the type of fuel that can be utilized. The nature and magnitude of air pollution problems affecting the mining, preparation, coking and combustion of coal are described. Methods for combatting particulate emissions by use of mechanical separators and electrostatic pre-cipitors are discussed. Proposed methods to meet the problem of gaseous emissions currently receiving considerable attention are described, with special emphasis on methods to decrease pollution by sulfur oxides. Concern about air pollution goes back several centuries, but until very recently most effort has been aimed at coal smoke and other visible pollutants. The classic example of a 'successful' campaign for smoke abatement and control is the fruitful combined effort of the city of Pittsburgh and its surrounding Allegheny County, which eventually led to the reconstruction of downtown Pittsburgh at an estimated cost of one billion dollars. Historically, the city's downtown Golden Triangle district had been afflicted by pollutants evolving from steel mills, from a variety of other industries, and from railroad locomotives. Efforts to alleviate the situation prior to 1943 were virtually ineffective. In 1945, however, a comprehensive redevelopment plan was prepared and backed by state authority. Within a few years a clean, modern metropolis has evolved where once stood America's famous 'smoky city.' But the victory in Pittsburgh, as in various other American cities, has not solved the national problem. Current estimates indicate that 133 million tons annually of air pollutants from all sources still are emitted annually into the atmosphere above the United States. About 10% of this annual effluent is particulate matter so that most of the remaining pollution problems will be solved only when other effluents are reduced. Essentially, these are sulfur oxides, nitro- gen oxides, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide. Over the years, both states and local communities have tended to increase the restrictions on smoke and fly ash — problems mostly of concern in the combustion of coal. Prior to the middle 1950's, ordinances sometimes permitted emissions of smoke equivalent to as much as No. 3 on the Ringlemann scale. Since 1956, no ordinance has been passed which allows smoke of greater than No. 2. Under today's conditions of improved fuels, equipment and practice, a few communities have passed laws prohibiting emission of smoke of any density darker than Ringlemann No. 1. The majority of existing laws on fly ash emission in the U.S. limit emissions equivalent to 0.85 lb of fly ash per 1000 Ib of flue gas. In recent years, however, regulations which have been adopted give cognizance to the higher level of performance now obtainable with improved equipment. A comparison of the restrictions of five codes adopted since 1960 is given in Table I. The most stringent of these is the one for New York City which provides for a maximum emission of 0.6 lb fly ash per million Btu heat release (equivalent to roughly 0.51 lb/1000 lb of flue gas). The first comprehensive effort to restrict the emission of SO2 resulted from the passage of a 1937 law in St. Louis. This regulation stipulated that coal containing in excess of 23% volatile matter and 2% sulfur must be washed, thereby presumably producing some effective reduction in the input sulfur content. This was followed in 1949 by a Los Angeles County law which prohibited the emission of SO2 in concentrations greater than 0.2%. Most SO2-restrictive legislation passed since that date has been based on this limiting 0.2% SO2 by volume, although modifications are occasionally permitted under selected conditions, sometimes based on the fact that certain limiting ground concentrations are not exceeded — such as in the rules adopted by the San Francisco Bay area. To date, no legislation has been passed in the U.S. to limit the generation of nitrogen oxides from the combustion of fossil fuels. However, such oxides are considered to be of potential importance in air pollution control because of their possible detrimental effects on health and their reported role in the formation of photochemical smog. Interest in reducing oxides of nitrogen from powerplant and auto exhausts is increasing and regulations limiting their quantity can be expected in the future.

Jan 1, 1968

By Pablo Altoé Amorim, Bruno Sellitti Borges, Otávio Lube dos Santos, Arthur Pizetta David, Matheus Diogo Penido da Silva

Automation is in everywhere nowadays, including within companies and industries, and is therefore fundamental and essential for production, quality and process control of them. There are many ways to automate a production line or a machine can be through relay logic, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), and even more modern microcontrollers with native Internet of Things (IoT) support can be used. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach? A PCB was created using more modern microcontrollers programmed in C, C ++ and Whiting language to simulate a replacement of a PLC in an actual machine. Having a very positive result, being able to handle the machine manually via Wi fi besides being able to also perform a real-time monitoring of the machine's motors through the mobile phone, thus entering the IoT and fitting into the Industry 4.0.

Oct 1, 2019

By Harrison R. Cooper

Approximately 40 concentrators throughout the world have successfully adopted computer control for flotation circuit operation since 1969. Successful use of flotation control, gaining up to 2% efficiencies, has largely derived from effective employment of on-stream slurry analyzers and integration of key measurement data through digital processors. Requirements for reliable measurement have also led to improved functional reliability in magnetic flow meters, pH, reagent feed, and other key elements. Methods used in computer control of flotation will be reviewed and variations in operating philosophies will be described with reference to the approaches taken to flotation automation.

Jan 1, 1979

By T. Lu

Microwaves have considerable potential as an energy source in both mineral processing and metals extraction. In this research, the utilization of microwave radiation for the heating of a gibbsite type bauxite ore was investigated. Firstly, thermogravimetric studies were performed in order to characterize the dewatering processes of the ore. Secondly, both the real and the imaginary permittivities, which are the fundamental properties that determine the interaction of microwaves with any given material, were measured for the bauxite ore as a function of temperature. The changes in the permittivities were shown to be related to the dewatering processes. Subsequently, the effects of operating variables such as processing time, sample mass, particle size, microwave power, sample bulk density and carbon and magnetite additions on the sample temperature in a microwave field were studied. The results showed that under suitable conditions the bauxite ore could be readily heated. Therefore, there is considerable potential for the application of microwaves for the heating of bauxite ores.

Jan 1, 2007

By B Dold

"Mining has still today high potential for improvement in the exploitation efficiency. Especially low-grade ores have very low recoveries. In Cu bioleaching operations from porphyry copper deposits extraction of only five and 15 per cent with maximum of 40 per cent are reached. This means that 60–95 per cent of the resource is not exploited. Consequently, any metal not extracted will end up in the waste material, therefore increasing the risk of environmental pollution. This inefficiency is mainly due to the use of element concentrations for decision-making on the daily basis of a mining operation (eg cut-off ore grade, acid-base accounting – ABA). If, instead, quantitative mineralogical and geochemical data together with information on the bioleaching behaviour of the ore assemblage (the biogeometallurgical approach), is used for decision-making right from the beginning of the exploitation, higher recoveries and less environmental impact can be achieved, ie an increase in sustainability can be reached.CITATION:Dold, D, 2016. The Biogeometallurgical Approach – the Information We Need to Increase the Sustainability of Mining, in Proceedings The Third AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (GeoMet) 2016, pp 169–172 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jun 15, 2016

By M Edgar, G Pattemore, M Auad, K Job, A Job, S Gale

In recent decades, significant advances have improved the modelling techniques for predicting slope failure. Predicting failures is vital in open pit mining due to the significant risk posed to personnel and equipment from unstable pit walls. Failures not only cause harm and damage to people and equipment but also cause delays to production and subsequently increase operational costs. Coupled with improvements in modelling techniques, utilisation of advanced scanning systems, such as high-definition imagery from UAVs has enabled faster and more precise mapping and modelling. However, one key element required for accurate slope stability modelling and monitoring is the ability for mine geotechnical engineers to have an accurate understanding of the mineralogy and moisture content of slopes, in real-time. To address this challenge, research has been undertaken to utilise hyperspectral imaging across a broad spectrum, combined with high-definition imagery, and LiDAR to scan slopes for minerals and moisture content. In addition to accurately mapping mineralogy and moisture, the data must be collected autonomously and remotely to ensure ongoing safety. The results show that there are many direct and indirect benefits from this new technology, including the ability to monitor slopes at a safe distance and in real-time, improved accuracy of modelling, detection of risks, and improving the automation workflow for geotechnical engineers. The paper presents recommendations for the implementation of the technology in open cut mining environments.

Jun 22, 2022

By W E. vanSteenburgh

The Polar Continental Shelf Project was initiated in 1959 to provide an administrative and logistic vehicle for research in the physical sciences of the land, sea and channel area of the Arctic Archipelago. Most of the scientists are supplied on secondment from the professional branches of the Department. The yearly expeditions number some eighty scientists and sub-professional staff, and they are supported by a fleet of fixed-winged aircraft and helicopters. Accurate positioning is obtained by the use of a Decca Lambda navigational system which is moved as the area of interest is shifted. The Project is designed to accommodate not only physical scientists, but to provide facilities for other scientist who may have an interest in the area under study. The main research scope of the Project includes topographical surveys, hydrography, oceanography, geology, including marine sedimentary studies, gravity, magnetics, seismology, glaciology and geography. The Polar Continental Shelf Project was initiated and recommended by the Committee on Northern Development in 1958.

Jan 1, 1963

By J. H. Chesters

The main, though rarely mentioned advantage, is likely to be the standardisation of best practice and product. In a batch process conditions vary cyclically, but with a continuous process they would, at least ideally, remain the same for long periods of time. The other main advantages of continuous over batch processes are likely to be reduced operating and capital costs, the improved possibilities for automatic control, and more consistent product quality. Recent developments are surveyed for ironmaking and steelmaking with reference to blast furnaces; solid-product and molten-product direct reduction; the trough-type processes of Thring, Worner, the Japanese National Research Institute for Metals and Glinkov; basic-oxygen furnace (LD) variants; spray steelmaking; continuous casting and vacuum degassing; rolling; and coating. Encouragement in the devleopment of continuous processes may be drawn from the way unexpected difficulties, such as trouble with sulphur and refractories, were tackled and overcome to achieve the float glass process

Dec 1, 1971

By H. L. Ramandi, P. Moore

"The corrosion of support bolts in underground mines has become an increasingly prevalent issue over the past two decades. With an increase of premature failures due to Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC), it is evident that understanding the environmental factor influencing the cable bolt corrosion is critical for maintaining effective ground support hence the safety and productivity of underground spaces. Experimental testing of rock and cable bolts were accomplished in a variety of packings, including saturated clay, saturated coal, mine water and grout/cement to investigate their corrosion behaviours. Water samples were obtained and analysed for pH and electrical conductivity (EC) during the experiment. After a period of 76 days the bolts were retrieved and analysed visually. Primary factors were found to be the presence of geological materials and the aeration of the bolts, i.e. the vicinity to air and air flow, while secondary factors were observed to be pH levels and EC. It was also found that the coal/clay interfaces and the water/grout/cement interfaces are non-relevant to corrosion of rockbolts and cable bolts. The proposed framework can be applied to other reinforcement materials used in underground spaces for improved understanding of corrosion environment.INTRODUCTION Rock bolts and cable bolts are the major reinforcement elements used in mining industry to improve the rockmass properties for safe and productive mining. They are normally used to pin large beams or blocks of rock in underground mines to stabilise the rockmass in the roof (strata) against collapse. The rockbolts are typically low cost hot rolled rebar while cable bolts are composed of strands of wire, normally wound together around a central king wire (Hyett and Bawden, 1993; Vandermaat, 2014). The typical length of the bolts in underground mines is 2.4 m and 4–12 m for rockbolts and cable bolts, respectively (Vandermaat, 2014; Windsor and Thompson, 1997). Cable bolts are much more flexible and usually offer a much higher load capacity than rigid rockbolts. Their increased length and flexibility allows cable bolts longer than the height of a roadway to be used in underground mines."

Jan 1, 2017

By Jerry R. Riding

Metallurgical process methods have seen dramatic improvement over the past fifty years. As these improvements have come about, more and more emphasis has been placed on obtaining accurate and rapid analysis of the metallurgical processes. Well-defined conventional laboratory analysis procedures which have proven to be reliable were developed early in the mineral industry's history; however, these conventional procedures, which have not changed appreciably in fifty years, have the serious drawback that they are too slow to be of appreciable value in automatic control of the processes. For example, the assay results normally become available to a mill operator from eight to twenty-four hours after a sample is taken. Since the desired mineral separation can only be made while the minerals are in the flotation circuit, conventional assay results provide information similar to postmortem reports. Consequently, using conventional procedures, the mill is operated with information from an earlier period of time, which may not reflect current conditions. In recent years there has been a steady increase in the volume of required samples. At the same time, labor, material, and overhead costs have continued to rise causing the cost per assay to reach an alarming level. This rising cost per assay, plus the increasing demand for rapid analysis necessary for control, has caused the mining and metal processing industries to look toward other techniques to solve these problems As a result, X-ray fluorescence which can provide on-stream analysis necessary for control, as well as perform numerous laboratory assays at lower cost and at a much greater speed than conventional methods, has gained wide-spread attention. In addition, multichannel X-ray fluorescent instruments are now available which have been perfected to the point where the analysis of the most important chemical constituents is available within one minute after a sample is presented to the X-ray analyzer. Because of these obvious advantages, extensive use is being made today of X-ray analysis in the mining industry to analyze slags, ores, and mineral content of rocks. The results are used to make quick decisions for both mining and beneficiation of metals. For example, X-ray systems which provide rapid on-stream analysis of the slurries at desired points Fn metallurgical processes have recently been developed. The successful application of these systems has moved the milling process a step closer to fully automatic control.

Jan 1, 1969

By Gerke Gilian, Pretz Thomas, Pehlken Alexandra

"The evaluation of health hazards within the treatment of mineral and waste materials is gaining more and more importance in industrial countries. The need to control occupational health and safety has been recognised, and regulations which describe general protective measurements for personnel provide a tool to protect their health. It is the aim of the paper to give an outlook for practical approaches to risk assessment and to present measures for exposure reduction in accordance with the state of the art in Germany.Both the treatment of minerals and of waste materials are described in relation to the risk assessment. The method of evaluating health hazards in the two industries is similar and therefore both examples are presented next to each other.The example presented in the paper is the German “Biostoffverordnung” (the regulation for biological materials) which is important for the waste treatment industry. All kinds of waste treatment facilities (like composting facilities, waste dumps, sorting facilities for packaging materials) are obliged to carry out an assessment of health hazards for a variety of working areas and working places. The possible safety requirements deriving from this regulation are presented and discussed under the aspect of biological hazards."

Jan 1, 2003

By D. T. Pritchard

"Introduction""No accounting system is very good, and all of them are infinitely variable*.”The purpose of this chapter is to discuss those facets of a typical accounting system which are most commonly encountered by operating managers in mineral processing plants. However, before concentrating in any detail on these it is important to understand the broad purposes and basic techniques of any accounting system in any major business.The three broad purposes of an Accounting System are:- Administering, controlling, and recording the flow of cash in and out of the business. Cash is, of course, converted into other assets (or stores of value) such as inventory, plant and equipment, etc. These assets also have to be administered, controlled and recorded.- Internal reporting to Management for information, for control, and for use in making business plans and decisions. - External reporting to stockholders, government, lenders and other outside parties.In this chapter we shall organize our discussion of accounting practice in mineral processing plants around these three purposes of accounting and focus in some detail on specific practices and techniques with which operating personnel will be routinely involved. This chapter is divided into the following: Accounting Basics; Administration, Control and Recording of Cash Flows; Internal Reporting; Planning and Budgeting; Cost Control; and External Reporting."

Jan 1, 1989

By K. Eklund, T. Ahokainen

The Flash Smelting process is the most used production method for primary copper in the world. The basic idea of the Flash Smelting is to utilize the thermal value of sulfidic concentrates and melt the reaction product, in controlled conditions, without a need for external energy. This basic principle is utilized both in matte smelting and in Direct-to-Blister Flash Smelting Processes. In this paper, the behavior of normal (CuFeS2) concentrate of FSF-process is compared to the behavior of high grade feed material produced by Outokumpu Concentrate Upgrade Process with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CPD) simulation using add-in subroutines developed by Outokumpu Technology. Results consist of the information concerning the behavior of the suspension, reaction efficiency and other parameters concerning the reactions of the feed material. It will be shown that, using the Upgrade Process, the throughput of copper from the Flash Furnace can be almost tripled.

Jan 1, 2007

By Thomas Fraser

WHEN the Bureau of Mines initiated the program of large-scale research and development in the field of synthetic liquid fuels authorized in the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act of April 5, 1044, the Coal Preparation Section was assigned the task of obtaining data on the preparation characteristics of the coal in large reserves that might be adaptable to use in this new industry. It is natural that, as the rapidly developing general research program brought about new concepts of raw-material quality, preferred geographical location, and the like, the orientation of coal-preparation investigations should have undergone some change. The first major assignment was the sampling and testing of a series of typical American coals deemed to he suitable for hydrogenation based on early research work conducted by the Bureau of Mines. This first series of tests has been completed and is reported in this paper.

Jan 1, 1950

By C Tonkin, S D. Howell, P V. Johnson, J Moriarty, P W. Duck

This paper presents the scientific framework underpinning the resource valuation and optimisation model (RVOM). The RVOM is a partial differential equation based real options software package, which helps mine owners optimally plan their operations, understand their project risks, and make defensible valuations. This is achieved in the presence of both financial and physical uncertainty, as well as processing capacity constraints. The RVOM can be applied to any multi-ore mine, open pit or otherwise, where the block-order of extraction has already been planned using existing software tools such as the Gemcom WhittleÖ strategic mine planning package. The RVOM can also take account of multiple commodities within a single mine, and multiple forms of price behaviour. The three key outputs from the RVOM are: valuation, optimal decision and probability of decision. A decision takes account of upfront costs, and can include an unlimited number of transitions between: normal operation, expanded operation, care and maintenance and abandonment (and variants thereof). The RVOM then employs stochastic process theory to determine the probability of reaching these decisions. This gives the mine operators clear indications as to where their risks lie, aiding their mine planning. A clear example of the RVOMs usage to a case-study gold mine is presented, demonstrating its broad applicability, the added value it can create and how users can easily make use of the RVOMÆs state-of-the-art algorithmic engine.

Sep 26, 2011

By R. P. Vinson

The Bureau of Mines examined the effects of high humidity and water droplets on the GCA Corp. real-time aerosol monitor (RAM--l). which uses a lO4mm cyclone preseparator. Tests were conducted both in a laboratory and in a full-scale model mine entry. The laboratory tests were conducted in a test chamber saturated with moisture and water droplets. Under these extreme conditions. the RAM-I responded by indicating dust concentrations of 1-1/2 to 2 mg/m3? although the air was dust free. Within the first 2 h of each test. water accumulated in the cyclone and affected the cyclone particle separation characteristics. resulting in readings of 3 to 4 mg/m3. In addition. condensation formed inside the RAM-I case and affected the liquid crystal display (LCD). However. the full-scale mine entry tests revealed that the RAM-I can function ac-ceptably in an atmosphere of water vapor and water droplets similar to the most severe conditions found in an underground mine.

Jan 1, 1984