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By E. J. Owen, A. Appah, I. C. Sanchez, K. T. Stafford, N. Hurtig, R. Otoo, N. A. Iverson, S. A. Moses, V. T. McLemore

New Mexico lies at the eastern edge of one of the world’s great metal-bearing provinces hosting numerous Laramide and Paleogene mineral deposits. Southwestern New Mexico contains Laramide porphyry Cu (±Mo, Au) and Paleogene Mo-W deposits. Porphyry deposits are generally large, low-grade deposits containing Cu, Fe, Mo, Au sulfides (and other metal sulfides) associated with porphyritic intrusions and exhibit characteristic alteration styles. Porphyry deposits can also be spatially and temporally associated with skarn deposits and polymetallic veins. All of these deposits have the potential to host various critical minerals, including Cu, Zn, Bi, Co, Ni, rare earth elements (REE), Te, and W. Critical minerals may be found as substitutions within ore minerals or as separate mineral phases. These deposits are constrained using 40Ar/39Ar dating into three ore-producing magmatic pulses: 1) ~78–71 Ma Laramide pulse, 2) ~59–50 Ma, Laramide pulse, and 3) ~40–30 Ma Paleogene pulse. New and historic whole-rock geochemical data have highlighted areas with critical minerals potential that require further study.

Feb 1, 2025

By Dallas W. Davis

Twin - Kennecott Deal Announced April 15, 2004 ! Kennecott earns 56% interest, if in 4 years, spends C$10 million and recovers at least 200 cts of +1 mm diamonds in all dimensions from any contiguous body ! Earn-in can take up to 6 years, but incurs stepped reduction of interest from 56% to 46% or 0% if $C10 and 200 carats not achieved ! By funding all costs through feasibility study, Kennecott earns 71% in 7 years, or, stepped reduction to 62% if completed after 8 years ! By achieving production within 10 years and funding Twin?s share of development and construction costs, Kennecott earns further 4% ! If no election to develop a mine within 2 years of feasibility study completion, Twin may present development proposal which Kennecott has 60 days to elect to follow or transfer management to Twin and dilute to 49% ! Each party has one time right to elect to market its diamond share ! On signing and annually, Kennecott will purchase $C250,000 of Twin shares at 130% of then prevailing market price until achieved earn-in

May 1, 2004

By Tony Moore, Peter Riccio

"MMG (Minerals and Metals Group) operates the LXML Sepon’s mineral processing facility located 40 kilometers north of the town of Sepon, in the Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR. The Sepon copper plant produces 70,000 tons/year of LME grade A copper cathode using leachautoclave- SX/EW-flotation technology (Baxter et al., 2003). Pyrite recovery in the flotation circuit is critical to the operation, as it is used to generate acid and soluble ferric ion for the leach circuit. Low pyrite recovery has been an on-going challenge in the flotation circuit. Final tailings characterization work done by Ian Wark Research Institute (Bassell et al., 2006) showed that the pyrite losses to the tailings are made up of a combination of coarse liberated particles and finer particles that have been coated by clay fines.In December of 2005, a joint Cytec-MMG technical program was initiated to address the pyrite recovery issue. A series of diagnostic tests were performed in the Cytec Stamford Research Facility using synthetic plant water showing that the collector was precipitating as a metal salt and was unavailable for mineral attachment. The tests also identified several collector chemistries that would likely be robust in the low pH (< 1), high dissolved metal ion environment and will not complex with metal ions in solution. With the support of the Sepon on-site engineers, an extensive, successful laboratory program was completed, which was subsequently followed by on-plant testing that showed a step wise improvement in pyrite recovery.INTRODUCTIONLow pyrite recovery has been an ongoing problem in the flotation circuit at Sepon. Sulfur recovery (indirect measure of pyrite) was improved from 40% to 65%-75% in mid-2005 when on site laboratory work confirmed that AERO® 8045 Promoter was a more effective collector then AERO® 407 Promoter. However, sulfur recoveries above 65% could never be achieved. Sepon requested the Ian Wark Research Institute to complete a surface analysis study using Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy to determine if clay coated pyrite played a role. It was concluded that the pyrite losses to the tailings are made up of a combination of coarse (+ 100µm) liberated particles and finer (-74µm) particles that have been coated by clay fines. The majority of the losses appear to be due to the former. In December of 2005, a series of diagnostic tests were performed in Stamford using synthetic plant water in order to identify what chemistries would likely be robust in the slimy low pH and high dissolved metal ion solution environment. Results showed that several chemistries would not complex with ferric, ferrous or copper in solution and therefore should perform well in the Sepon flotation. The incumbent collector, AERO® 8045 Promoter was complexing with metal ions in solution. This resulted in the collector not being available for adsorption onto pyrite."

Jan 1, 2011

By Edward Holloway

The basis for the selection of the ultimate pit for an open-pit mining operation is generally opaque. Some form of value-based analysis will generally guide the final decision; however, the value will often gradually plateau while the ultimate pit size continues to increase. There is no established framework to guide specialists in the selection of the ultimate pit, with such decisions regularly made on a somewhat arbitrary basis. The key component that is missing from the analyses typically used to select the size of the ultimate pit is risk. Once risk is quantified within the analysis framework, the decision-mak-ing range is significantly reduced and the process for select-ing the ultimate pit becomes more consistent, replicable and defensible. The technique outlined in this paper provides an approach to including risk in the process used to select the ultimate pit.

Jun 1, 2024

By Jaril B. Lavrencic

The unique and irregulator distribution of working places in a mine always poses the two questions: - which and how much production equipment is to be used, - what production can be expected. Since the development of analytical methods would be impractical for such cases, a lot of computer programs has emerged in recent years trying to simulate the productiom process and thus find the best answer. The usege of a simulator has its dark side well felt by the author(s) of such a program: the credibility and the confidence of the customer. Using the simulator means to respect and to incorporate all the restrictions imposed by the narow underground space, methods of production, safety regulations etc., which can turn out to become a major programming effort. If the program is not properly structured, it will be used for a single special&apos; case only, and never again. In this paper the structure and internal mechanism of the simulator is described for which the author believes that can easily be adapted to conditions of various underground and open pit mines. MINSIM tries to reach the following rather ambitious goals: 1) Estimation of the production before opening the mine, or a part of the mine. 2) Training the personnel to make decisions. 3) Making the daily time schedules for the entire fleet of the equipment units.

Jan 1, 1989

By AIME AIME

ON the headwaters of the Hudson Riser, in a sparsely populated area of the north woods at Tahawus, N. Y., thirty miles from the nearest railroad, is the Maclntyre property of National Lead Co. Operations involve the mining and processing of titaniferous iron ore to produce ilmenite concentrate, and magnetite concentrate containing vanadium, for use in the production of iron, titanium, and vanadium in the war program. Accordingly, Maclntyre at present is classed as a war plant. More than 3000 long tons of ore is ruined daily by opencut methods and treated in an ore concentrating plant.

Jan 1, 1943

By O. A. Orumwense

The liberation of intimately disseminated impurities from the coal matrix often demands that the material be ground to a high degree of fineness. Similarly, some technologies for coal utilization require superfine particles (i.e., sizes less than ten microns). This implies additional costs for coal preparation plants due to the high energy and media costs associated with fine grinding operations. Besides, there are problems such as sever product contaminations due to media wear and impairment of the quality of coal. Hence, proper choice of grinding media type is important from the viewpoints of cost reduction and product quality.

Jan 1, 1993

By F. C. Bond

Since the Third Theory of Comminution was presented eight years ago (I) it has found increasing use in crushing and grinding problems. The practical utility of its wok index equation is quite generally acknowledged (2). However, its theoretical basis has been questioned in at least three technical articles (3) (4) (&apos;). The purpose of this paper is to present experimental proof that it is scientifically correct. Particles under compressive stress are strained and deformed. They absorb strain energy, and when this locally exceeds the breaking strength, a crack tip forms. The surrounding strain energy flows to the crack tip, which rapidly extends and splits the rock, releasing the strain energy as heat. The initial energy flow causes additional crack tips in highly strained areas. If the compression is rapidly applied by impact, crack tips may form before the strain energy has reached equilibrium in the particle, thus decreasing the total work input required for breakage. The energy necessary to break is essentially the energy necessary to produce crack tips, since the energy necessary to extend the cracks to breakage is already present as strain energy in the deformed particles. After breakage nearly all of this energy appears as heat. The crack length cannot be measured directly. However, in particles of regular and similar shape the crack tip length is considered as equal to the crack depth, or crack extension necessary to break, so that the crack length equals the square root of one-half of the surface area. The Third Theory states that the useful work done in crushing and grinding is directly proportional to the total length of the new cracks formed. It can be confirmed by showing that a constant work input produces a constant length of new cracks when reducing the same material to different product sizes. This is done in the present paper on a wide variety of material. The constant work input was supplied by one revolution of the 12" x 12" laboratory ball mill used in making grindability tests by the Allis-Chalmers method (12) (13) The new crack lengths produced per mill revolution were measured from all available grindability test results at 28, 35, 48, 65, and 100 mesh on fifteen different ores, and were found to remain substantially constant for each ore at all mesh sizes. A new technique is used for the measurement of crack lengths. Size distribution plots of the mill feed and product are made by the Third Theory method (9) and the crack lengths are obtained from these plots by the procedure described in the present paper. The energy input required to produce a unit length is of fundamental importance in the size reduction of brittle solids. The crack length Cr is expressed in centimeters per cubic centimeter of solid material. It bears a definite relationship to the external surface area of the crushed or ground solid. A uniform particle shape must be assumed before the surface area and crack length can be evaluated. In this paper it is assumed that the relationship between the surface area and the particle volume of a particle d microns in diameter is the same as that of cube d microns on a side. The external surface areas of particles with a cubical breakage probably agree approximately with this rule, and correction factors can be applied when physical measurements of the surface areas are available for comparison. However, the assumption of equivalent cubes has been found satisfactory for most calculation purposes. Assuming equivalent cubes, one cubic centimeter of particles d microns in diameter will have a crack length Cr of v30.000/d centimeters, and a surface area of 60,000/d square centimeters. The specific crack length is thus equal to the square root of one-half the specific surface area. Where Sa is the surface area in square centimeters per gram and Sg is the specific gravity of the ground solid, then Cr = vSg . Sa/2 = 173.2/ vd (1)

Jan 1, 1961

By Abigail Styer, Paul Holmgren, Josh Calnan

Detonating cord is a staple of the explosives industry, used widely in the civil and defense industries. Detonating cord is a thin, flexible plastic tube filled with pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). It has many applications in mining, construction and military disciplines. For civil applications, it is used to connect and initiate a series of blastholes in a desired pattern. In the defense sector, it can be used as a detonating agent, a priming agent or alone as an explosive charge. Research has been done to understand the initiation and detonation physics on the detonating cord. However, its sympathetic detonation characteristics needed to be further analyzed. The sympathetic detonation of the detonating cord can lead to the poor performance of production shots in mining or civil applications and unsafe conditions in defense applications. This paper focuses on the analysis of different factors involved in the sympathetic detonation of various sizes (grain weights) of detonating cord. The variables analyzed include the minimum distance between segments of detonating cord and grain weights. These variables were analyzed by securing segments of detonating cord at measured distances apart on a steel plate and detonating them. The physical examination of the aftermath of this detonation included a qualitative recording of data. Applications of detonating cord that could be affected by this research include mining and construction blast initiation, explosives disposal, and breaching.

By Emma Smith, R. W. Guard

INVESTIGATION of the nickel-rich end of the Ni-Zr system has been prompted by an interest in the effect of small amounts of zirconium in high temperature alloys. Hansenl presents a hypothetical diagram based on the work of Allibone and Sykes,2 who investigated the system up to 44 atomic pct (55 wt pct) Zr by metallographic means. Since the alloys they used were melted in Alundum crucibles they were probably contaminated with appreciable amounts of aluminum. They found two compounds which they called Ni3Zr and Ni4Zr. Hayes, Roberson, and Paasche3 identified a compound NiZr (50 atomic pct Zr) with a melting point of 1470°C. Such a high melting compound is not compatible with the observation of Allibone and Sykes2 hat a eutectic is formed near 50 atomic pct. The alloys containing up to 60 atomic pct Zr were melted in an inert atmosphere in a noncon-sumable electrode arc furnace. Analysis of most of the alloys indicated negligible loss of zirconium. The alloys were examined in the as-cast condition and also after annealing for 6 hr at 1175°C (or 1000°C for the alloys between 25 atomic pct and 45 atomic pct). Metallographic specimens were etched using mixtures of HF-HNO3-H2O or acetic acid- HN0,-H,O. The specimens for the solidus determinations were wrapped in molybdenum foil and sealed in evacuated quartz tubes. Specimens to be heated above 1300°C were enclosed in zirconia tubes inside the quartz to prevent reaction with molybdenum. The solidus determinations were carried out by heating the specimens at various temperatures for a few minutes and then examining the interior structure metallographically to determine at what temperature melting began. The 150 mesh powders for X-ray analysis were annealed in an evacuated quartz tube for 2 hr at 540 °C to remove cold work. Alloys with 22.5 atomic pct Zr and 44.4 atomic pct Zr required annealing at 700 °C for complete recovery. The grains of both of these alloys were soft and rather ductile. Both Debye-Scherrer film patterns and spectrometer traces were made for each alloy using filtered copper radiation. Results and Discussion The presence of a substantial amount of second phase in an alloy with 1.1 atomic pct Zr indicated that the solid solubility of zirconium in nickel is somewhat less than 1 atomic pct. The a0 value for the face-centered-cubic matrix in the same alloy was equal to that of pure nickel, so that the solubility must be very small. This observation is as expected from the large atom size difference. Annealed specimens of alloys with 15.0, 16.7, 22.5, 28.6, 44.4, and 59.4 atomic pct Zr showed. micro-structures that were essentially single phase. When

Jan 1, 1958

By W. J. D. Stone

"For several years, the existence of a deposit of barite (BaS04) near Brookfield, Nova Scotia, has been known. A very large deposit of strontium (SrS04) near Sydney, Cape Breton, is a more recent discovery. Cape Chemical Syndicate has been formed to work the deposits. A five-million-dollar integrated mineral processing and chemical plant is planned for Sydney to produce various compounds of barium and strontium. The mineral processing plant includes the Jones Wet Magnetic Separator and will produce high-purity barite and celestite. These products will be processed further in the fine grinding plant and the chemical plant. The general project is described, covering the deposits, processing and markets."

Jan 1, 1969

By Herbert D. Drechsler

"THE FOLLOWING are some comments on the article, ""International Trade in Minerals and Economic Development"", by M. Sengupta, published in the October 1976 issue of the CIM Bulletin.Sengupta says in the introduction that ""The mechanism through which this growth (economic development) has occurred is basic ally straight forward"". His statement is quite misleading and perhaps it is better to quote Gerald Meier:""Development economists must operate in an imperfect second-best world, away from the simplified premises of neoclassical economics. Their subject matter is therefore not yet a coherent or self-contained discipline. Denied recourse to a set of general principles, perhaps the student's most sensible introduction to economic development is through a study of 'leading issues' that are at the time a major preoccupation of the development economist and development practitioner"" .Sengupta quotes an authority who wrote 18 years ago. Academic and operating development economists today know full well that existing theory is quite deficient. Sociologists, political scientists and engineers in this field also know that economic, social, political and technical development involves all academic disciplines.Sengupta indicates that tariffs in developed countries prevent less developed countries from supplying refined metal, or manufactured and semi-manufactured products. He lists Zambia, Chile and Zaire as examples of copper concentrate exporters, as inadequately shown in Table 1. He is wrong."

Jan 1, 1977

By Frank C. Greene

The year 1941 was uneventful in oil and gas development in Missouri. No new pools were opened and several areas with promising structures, in the northwestern part of the state, were disappointing when drilled. In looking for an explanation of these failures, it is suggested that it will be necessary to find areas in which the lower beds of the Mississippian are upfolded, in order to obtain production in northwestern Missouri. To do this, geophysical exploration or test drilling far enough into the Mississippian beds to get cores or cuttings of definitely established age appear to be the best methods. Although not leading to new production, drilling in Missouri established two new state records, one for depth and another for the amount of rotary drilling. An important well† in sec. 24, T. 19 N., R. 11 E., Pemiscot County, in the southeastern corner of the state, was drilled with a rotary to 4740 ft., several hundred feet deeper than any previous hole. The total footage drilled by rotary rigs of various types was 31,135 ft. and that by cable tools, 29,166 feet. The total number of completions was 85, of which 18 were gas wells with an initial open-flow capacity of 12,528,000 cu. ft., and 67 were dry holes. Of the latter, 19 were drilled into Mississippian or older formations. Table I gives a summary of activities by counties.

Jan 1, 1942

By Frank C. Greene

The year 1941 was uneventful in oil and gas development in Missouri. No new pools were opened and several areas with promising structures, in the northwestern part of the state, were disappointing when drilled. In looking for an explanation of these failures, it is suggested that it will be necessary to find areas in which the lower beds of the Mississippian are upfolded, in order to obtain production in northwestern Missouri. To do this, geophysical exploration or test drilling far enough into the Mississippian beds to get cores or cuttings of definitely established age appear to be the best methods. Although not leading to new production, drilling in Missouri established two new state records, one for depth and another for the amount of rotary drilling. An important well† in sec. 24, T. 19 N., R. 11 E., Pemiscot County, in the southeastern corner of the state, was drilled with a rotary to 4740 ft., several hundred feet deeper than any previous hole. The total footage drilled by rotary rigs of various types was 31,135 ft. and that by cable tools, 29,166 feet. The total number of completions was 85, of which 18 were gas wells with an initial open-flow capacity of 12,528,000 cu. ft., and 67 were dry holes. Of the latter, 19 were drilled into Mississippian or older formations. Table I gives a summary of activities by counties.

Jan 1, 1942

By J Taylor, M Smith, A Tunnadine, D Nikolakopoulos

As Olympic Dam rapidly expands into the Southern Mine Area (SMA) the Mine Geology team has concurrently ramped up underground diamond drilling to sustain rates of above 175 km/a. With >10 underground rigs double-shifting, traditional paper sections used for the management of drill programs were no longer optimal due to scale of operations. An opportunity was identified to modernise monitoring of all underground diamond drill programs, through the integration of logged copper sulfide estimates with Olympic Dam’s first-fully integrated deposit-scale geological model in Leapfrog Geo. This paper describes the transition within the Mine Geology team from reliance on 2D paper sections, towards near-real time 3D geological modelling for optimising end-of-hole decisions in the field. This transition was enabled by innovative database solutions informing locally constrained implicit models, limited by a distance buffer around active underground fan drilling. Due to the high volume of historic drilling, there were significant computational challenges with the implementation of daily production style implicit models at Olympic Dam and initial testing of regular updates to implicit gradeshells and sulfide domains required in excess of 12 hrs to run. The enabling solution was to optimise the interfaces between the AcQuire database, Deswik MDM and Leapfrog Geo to create a dynamic, streamlined workflow that was easily completed by Mine Geologists in accordance with daily production duties. Geologists are now building rapid implicit models for a range of variables from an integrated data set of logged sulfide estimates and existing assays, spatially constrained by 150 m buffers around active drilling using a unique drill fan identifier flagged during the planning phase. Once the live-implicit models are updated, they are exported for visualisation on field tablets to be used during logging and core checks at the start and end of every shift. To manage the risk of ‘going digital’ interpretation remains at the forefront of the drill section close-out process, with Mine Geologists critically reviewing the finished sections on a standardised template with new learnings wireframed and communicated to stakeholders. The Live Field Model has enabled a step-change in the geological effectiveness of diamond drilling, reducing over – and under-drilling ore-waste at Olympic Dam continuing to push drilling effectiveness towards 20 per cent of intercepts >2 per cent Cu. In addition, upside or risk identified during the proactive management of drilling execution can be rapidly capitalised or mitigated.

Mar 22, 2022

By Harry Schnabel

A 6200 m² cement deep soil mixed (CDSM) wall was constructed for an addition to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. The addition was located along the east side of the existing museum within an existing courtyard and in the area of a recently demolished structure. The basement for the new addition extended up to 9.1 m below the floor slabs of the adjacent buildings. The adjacent buildings are supported on a variety of foundations including; shallow spread footings on alluvial sand deposits, low capacity piles bearing in the alluvial sands and Boston blue clay, and caissons bearing on the alluvial sands and clay. Groundwater was less than one meter below the top of the CDSM wall. The new addition was founded on shallow foundations in the desiccated crust of the Boston Blue Clay. The CDSM wall was selected as the most economical means to control deep seated ground movements, limit movements of adjacent structures, and inhibit groundwater flow into the excavation. Braces and a continuous wale were used to support the CDSM wall where it was located adjacent to structures. Tiebacks were used where there were no structures. Other geotechnical construction at the site included: ? Jet grouting (JG) to improve the ground and provide an impervious subgrade layer at the west end of the addition, ? Concrete pier underpinning was used to support an existing structure on the west end of the site, and ? A secant pile wall using alternating drilled shafts and jet grout columns was used for earth support and a barrier to groundwater flow to allow for the installation of a storage tank at the south end of the site. Inclinometers, total station surveying, vibrating wire strain gauges on the braces and wales and load cells on the tiebacks were used to monitor performance of the excavation support system. The excavation support system performed better than required limiting lateral movements of the adjacent structures to less than 13 mm and vertical settlement to less than 8 mm. No settlements or movement were detected during the construction of the wall. Lateral movement of the CDSM wall was typically below 15 mm with the maximum movement occurring near subgrade.

Jan 1, 2011

By Rogério Ruiz

Atualmente os fabricantes de equipamentos e empresas de engenharia utilizam, na sua maioria, experiência em projetos anteriores para o dimensionamento de silos, chutes, pilhas de estocagem e outros equipamentos de manuseio e estocagem para a indústria mineira. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma metodologia eficiente e mundialmente reconhecida para a solução e prevenção de problemas de fluxo de sólidos, utilizando método científico e comprovado. Os principais testes laboratoriais para obtenção de propriedades de escoamento dos materiais serão descritos. Os testes necessitam de pequenas quantidades de amostras representativas do material e os parâmetros levantados alimentam a metodologia de análise de escoamento de sólidos ou softwares de simulação numérica, e são essenciais para a correção de equipamentos defeituosos ou dimensionamento de novos equipamentos.

Aug 1, 2018

The following list comprises the names of those persons who became members during the period May 10, 1916, to June 10, 1916: ARCHIBALD, JOHN CHRISTIE, Min. Engr., Supt. of Cyanide Plant, Guanajuato Reduction Mines, Guanajuato, Mex. BRUNEL, FRANK P., Cons. Min. Engr Mitchell & Brunel, Ajo, Ariz. CALVERT, WILLIAM ROBERT, Cons. Geol. ...225 Kearns Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah. CHAMPION, J. R., Supt The Yak Mining, Milling & Tunnel Co., Leadville, Colo. CHARLES, LAVERN JOHN, Construction Engr., Elephant Butte Dam, Elephant Butte, N. M. CHASTEL, ANDRE, Min. Engr., Societe Miniere & Metallurgique de Penarroya, 12, Place Vendome, Paris, France. CHRISTIE, WALLACE H., Vice-Pres. and Mgr., Alt. Bert Gold Dredging Co., 604 Mission St., San Francisco, Cal. CLARK, RONALD ..Hardinge Conical Mill Co., 120 Broadway, New York, N. Y.

Jan 7, 1916

By Chandramohan P. V

A unique tension pile where the pull is at a point a certain distance below the top of the pile. The pull is transferred by a cable consisting of high tensile strands. The HDPE duct of the cable prevents bond between the strands and pile concrete in upper portion. While soil friction on the pile will act downwards on the whole length, there is tension in the bottom portion of pile, there will be compression at the top portion.

Nov 1, 2022

By Thomas J. Witzig

This Bureau of Mines report is a background study of the International Tin Agreement. Attempts at stabilizing the tin market prior to the agreement are detailed, as well as the conditions and negotiations that set up the agreement. Details of the five consecutive 5-year agreements beginning in 1956 are presented, with emphasis on membership and the agreements&apos; primary tools: the buffer stock and export controls, Attention is focused throughout on the United States activities during the period, especially with regard to its strategic stockpile, and its involvement with the agreement culminating in its membership, for the first time, in the fifth agreement beginning in 1976. Considerations leading to the U.S. decision to join are detailed, and U.S. activities in the negotiations for the sixth agreement are presented. The status and outlook for the agreement are discussed, and evaluations of the effectiveness of the agreement and its components are reviewed.

Jan 1, 1981