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By G. Fuentes, J. Viñals

"The nature and basic kinetics of the hydrothermal reactions of bornite, covellite pyrite and enargite with copper sulfate solutions were investigated, as a previous study on the behavior of the bulk Chilean copper concentrates. The reaction of bornite produced digenite at 160 °C and djurleite above this temperature. Covellite was transformed to digenite at < 200 °C and to chalcocite (Q and M) at > 200 °C. The pyrite reaction was significant at > 200 °C and extensive at 240 °C, enargite reacts only above 240°C and produces digenite. The hydrothermal treatment of Chilean Codelco-type copper concentrates with hydrothermal reactions was similar to those obtained from pure mineral samples.INTRODUCTIONStudies on the hydrothermal enrichment of chalcopyrite concentrates were begun by MacGauley and Roberts (1951), Roberts et al. (1953) and MacGauley and Schaufelberger (1956). In the 1970's these processes were reexamined by McKay et al. (1972), and Johnson and Coltrinari (1976), but it not was until the 1990s when the kinetics, mechanisms and full engineering aspects were studied by Barlett, (1992), Jang and Wadsworth, (1994) and Peterson and Wadsworth (1994). The main objectives were to solve some important problems in the copper pyrometallurgy: The increase of the smelting capacity, the reduction of the iron slag – and associated copper losses – as well as the reduction of sulfur emissions. The present rise in copper demand and price implies the production and subsequent treatment of very impure concentrates. Thus, a significant increase of environmental problems can be expected in the copper pyrometallurgy. The previous purification of concentrates can reduce the processing of wastes containing hazardous heavy metals in the copper refineries and the hydrothermal treatment can be an alternative which combines both enrichment and purification. On the other hand, Chuquicamatatype concentrates (Viñals et al., 2004a) contains digenite (Cu1.8S), pyrite (FeS2), chalcopyrite(CuFeS2), b ornite (Cu5FeS4), covellite (CuS) and sphalerite (ZnS) as the main mineral components, with minor amounts of enargite (Cu3AsS4), galena (PbS) and molybdenite (MoS2)."

Jan 1, 2012

By M. Boucraut

The authors investigate the influence of the basicity index CaO / Si02 on the sintering properties of hematite ore mixtures. The experimentation was performed with three different mixtures of ores from Tazadit, Nimba, Mano-River, Itabira, Marcona, Goa, Mapawa and Cassinga. Increasing the basicity index CaO / Si02 between 0.1 and 3, chiefly through limestone admixture makes possible to reduce the thermal consumption of sintering and to improve the physical and chemical properties of the sinter. In the case of a plant using hematite ores, it seems interesting to produce an hyperbasic sinter and to complete the blast furnace burden with calibrated ore or acid pellets.

Jan 1, 1968

The Mining Foundation of the Southwest will host its 24th Annual American Mining Hall of Fame Awards Banquet at the Tucson El Conquistador Golf & Tennis Resort in Tucson, AZ on Saturday, Dec. 9. The Mining Foundation of the Southwest is a non-profit organization whose objectives are public education about the mineral industries. It also recognizes outstanding accomplishments in and contributions to the fields of fuel and mineral resources.

Jan 1, 2006

By Ben Fahrman

The classical approach to engineering design involves the purely deterministic calculation of the factor of safety, the ratio of strength to stress. The factor of safety is an easy calculation to perform in many circumstances, and it is very easy to interpret the results. The simplicity of the method is both a strength and a weakness. The results of the deterministic factor of safety calculation are simple to determine and interpret, but they have no ability to account for the uncertainty present in the inputs or outputs. Uncertainty is prevalent in geotechnical engineering applications. This uncertainty can stem from spatial variability, poor sampling, a dynamically changing environment, etc. Probability analyses allow input parameters to take the form of a distribution rather than a single value, making them uniquely equipped to handle the uncertainty inherent in geotechnical engineering design considerations. A stochastic approach also has the benefit of providing results as a probability of failure, which is more meaningful than a factor of safety. Though stochastic modeling is becoming more common in many geotechnical applications, it is still not widely used for coal pillar design. The objectives of this study are to justify the concept of using a stochastic approach to coal pillar design and to compare the results of a simple stochastic analysis to those of standard industry practice. A simple synthetic study was performed to compare the results of a probabilistic analysis of coal pillar design to the results obtained from running ARMPS, which is published by NIOSH. Normal distributions were assigned to each input parameter that is required to determine the factor of safety of a single coal pillar. The probability of failure resulting from the synthetic study was found to be more conservative than the ARMPS stability factor. A probabilistic approach to coal pillar design is discussed in comparison to the traditional deterministic approach. The greatest strengths of the probabilistic approach were determined to be the effective handling of uncertainty and the increased meaning of the inputs and outputs inherent to a probabilistic approach.

Jan 1, 2013

By William J. Miles, Raymond E. Blair

Introduction There has been much publicity of the boom and bust in oil and gas well drilling in the US, and many comments on oil and gas gluts. Despite this, the drilling industry remains the largest consumer of functional industrial minerals. The boom years of 1981 and 1982, compared with the bust year of 1983, show a sharp reduction in the consumption of industrial minerals-1981, 7.4Mt (8.2 million st); 1982, 6.3 Mt (7 million st); and 1983, 4.4 Mt (4.9 million st). Industrial mineral use rebounded in 1984 to 4.7 Mt (5.2 million st). This was the second highest year in history in terms of wells drilled and third highest in footage drilled. Table 1 shows the history of drilling activity and mineral consumption from 1971 to 1984. The uses of functional industrial minerals in oil and gas well drilling were detailed by Miles and Blair (ME, 1983, October, pp. 1397-1400). As an update, this article addresses only the changes that have occurred in the industry in the past two-and-a-half years. It will be directed to mineral use and new products introduced to the industry. Drilling practices A partial explanation of where wells are being drilled with lower quantities of minerals consumed is: • In the boom year of 1981, there was a proliferation of number of suppliers chasing the same business. This resulted in multiple sourcing, multiple warehousing, and a huge increase in inventory that became surplus in the following years. The bust year, 1983, caused a severe shakeout in the number of suppliers of minerals and associated drilling fluids. • In 1981 and 1982, the wild speculation in the oil and gas industry led to drilling of speculative deep gas wells. Oil wells were drilled on a wildcat basis - in areas of unproven productivity. • Presently, the oil and gas well drilling industry is very active. But drilling is directed toward proven areas of production and working over old wells for increased production. This means a large number of wells are being drilled with lower average foot-

Jan 11, 1985

By Robert A. Brown

"The O'Brien mine is in the west-central part of Cadillac township along the Cadillac 'break', which extends for 7,500 feet from west to east across the property.The ground was staked in 1924 by A. Dumont and W. Hermeston, prospecting for M. J. O'Brien, Limited. The first vein discovered is that now known as No. 1. The No. 4 vein was later exposed on the surface; the other veins known to be present were revealed by underground work and diamond drilling carried out both from the surface and underground.The mine is developed from three vertical shafts: No .. 2 extending from the surface to 2,000 feet; No. 3 from the surface to 1,500 feet; and No. 4 from 2,000 to 3,000 feet. There is on the property a mill of about 200 tons a day capacity, the usual shops, and a townsite housing about forty-five families. Gold production to the end of September, 1944, amounted to 295,824 fine oz. from ore having an average grade of 0.505 oz. a ton. In addition, the mill recovered 3,237 tons of arsenic trioxide having a purity of 83 per cent As2O3.GENERAL GEOLOGYThe four main groups of rocks of the Cadillac area- the Cadillac, Blake River, Kewagama or Pontiac, and Malartic- are found within the boundaries of the property. However, as these rocks have been fully described in · various government reports (1,2,3,4,5,6) and all the known orebodies occur within one group- the Blake River-a detailed description of the geology will be dispensed with here. The known ore deposits lie south of the Cadillac 'break' in a group of rocks that includes 'greenstones', greywackes, conglomerate, porphyries, and a rock of gabbroic composition that may be intrusive. Both flows and tuffs can be recognized in the 'greenstones'. The two bands of porphyry that trend easterly across most of the property have been considered by some observers to be dyke rocks and by others to be flows. Certain evidence points to their being dykes that were intruded as sills considerably prior to the emplacement of the gold-bearing veins, but the possibility of flow origin cannot be fully rejected. North of the talc-chlorite-carbonate schist zone forming the 'break' the rocks are conglomerate and greywacke with iron formation, in which there are no known veins of ore grade. Within the schist zone are minor acid and basic intrusives. The general trend of both bedding and schistosity is a few degrees south of east. The dip is generally vertica1 or steep to the south."

Jan 1, 1954

By Pakalnis Rimas, Lyndon Clark, Tom Brady

A major focus of ground control research presently being conducted by the Spokane Research Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is to incorporate data on weak rock masses into existing design relationships, with an emphasis on updating the span design curve for manned entries and the overbreak curve for longhole entries. Both curves were originally developed at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. The original database has been augmented by information from mines throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. The common factor in all these mines is the presence of a weak back and/or walls. In most cases, the ore zone is the weakest rock unit and must be stabilized so that the mineral-bearing rock can be extracted safety. The current NIOSH research attempts to provide rock mechanics tools to assist a mine operator in making economic decisions that will also ensure a safe working environment. This paper documents the Nevada database with a special emphasis on Nevada underground gold mines.

By Y. Long

The deep-hole surface blasting technique is a prime method of iron ore mining. Blasting fragmentation is one of the important economic indicators that measures the blast method to obtain the iron ore. To improve the efficiency of the blasting method and further reduce the cost of the subsequent processing of iron ore, this paper summarizes measured data gained from a certain amount of blasting test conducted in an iron ore mine in Guangdong province, China. According to the data analysis, there are differences on iron ore blasting fragmentation by different indicators of deep-hole blasting, such as decoupling coefficient of charge, contact state between charge and borehole wall, and change of detonation position in charge. These factors were compared in terms of relevance and impact. Research shows: under certain rock conditions, the decoupling coefficient of the charge has a best range related to blasting fragmentation. Since the detonation position in charge determines the direction of propagation of the explosion stress wave through ore and rock, bottom initiation and mid initiation will help to improve the iron ore blasting fragmentation in joints fractured rock and ore. The research conclusions have important application value for program design of iron ore surface blasting and to guide other types of rock surface blasting.

Aug 1, 2013

By K. A. Hughes

Under the oxidizing conditions of the McClean Lake Tailings Management Facility (TMF) hydrocarbons entrained on the surface of tailings material from mill processes are gradually converted to soluble bicarbonate ion. This has been observed to be a process occurring over approximately three years likely encouraged by the presence of a microbiological community within the tailings mass and in the water column. A recent tailings sampling campaign has provided evidence that bicarbonate ion is participating in the conversion of gypsum to calcite. In older tailings, equilibrium with calcite appears to be controlling the terminal bicarbonate ion concentration.

Aug 1, 2010

By Y. Jiao, V. S. Thompson, D. W. Reed, Y. Fujita, J. E. Aston

Rare earth elements (REE) are vital components in modern electronics and green technology products. Supply is tight and global demand is expected to increase, leading to high risk for the economic and national security of countries largely dependent upon foreign supplies. Recycling of REE from consumer and industrial waste materials is a possible way to help meet demand. We have shown previously that biohydrometallurgy can play an economically and environmentally sustainable role in REE recycling, particularly if agriculture or food wastes are used to produce organic acid bioleaching agents. A challenge for organic acid-based bioleaching is the incomplete conversion of the carbon substrate to an optimal organic acid biolixiviant with high REE extraction capability from a variety of REE-containing feedstocks (e.g., mining wastes, magnets from end of life products, spent batteries, etc.). To help meet this challenge a metabolic model was developed for Gluconobacter oxydans to identify options for improving sugar conversion to organic acids. Model predictions were consistent with laboratory data for the microbial consumption of glucose and production of gluconic acid, and suggested that providing growth conditions with relatively high C:N molar ratios could result in lower pH biolixiviant production and thus improve bioleaching. Keywords: Gluconobacter oxydans, bioleaching, metabolic modelling, rare earth elements summaries 2019: U.S. Geological Survey, 200 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/70202434.

Jan 1, 2020

By S. L. Huang

The location and shape of potential failure surfaces in soil slopes were directly determined based on the stresses induced in the soil mass and the strength of the soil itself. Stress calculations were carried out by the finite element method with the Drucker-Prager nonlinear material model. The Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and Mohr&apos;s circle stress analysis were then applied to the calculated stresses to determine the characteristics of the failure surface.

Jan 1, 1989

By Claes G. Björk

Over the past decade mined unlined rock cavern storage for crude oil and refined products has become economically more attractive. This trend is likely to continue, primarily due to advances in excavation methods, rising steel costs for above ground tanks and larger capacity requirements. The construction experience related in this paper comprises the excavation of more than 80 storage facilities (total capacity 90 million bbl) for crude and refined products ranging from propane to heavy fuel oil. This paper also deals with the experience gained as well as the problems derived from the utilization of these oil storage facilities.

Jan 1, 1981

By Sib N. Mukherjee

Main ventilation fans are used in all the mines and they run continuously 24 hours a day and 365 days in a year. Any improvement in their performance can lead to considerable power saving. The basic principle for selection, operations, and related measures are discussed in brief in the paper. The contributions of different elements of mine fan on its performance are discussed in brief. The means to improve efficiency of a running fan is also discussed and the importance of saving even 1 Kwh is elaborated. It is found that the cost of the energy saved may even permit a replacement fan to be procured in a few years time.

May 1, 2007

By G. A. Kordosky

The control of pH in solvent extraction circuits is an old technique (1,2) but one which has a large potential for future use. The equilibrium position of any reaction which has hydrogen or hydroxide ions, either as products or as reactants, can be controlled by pH adjustment. Several examples of reaction types which are important in solvent extraction systems and which also show a pH dependence are shown in Figure 1. The examples were chosen to show the wide variety of reactions which fit the above criteria, but it is not meant to be a complete listing of all the possible reaction types, Some of the reactions are presented in a simplified form. It is the intent of this paper to discuss pH controlled solvent extraction reactions for some relatively simple systems through more complex ones.

Jan 1, 1979

By R. A. Stauffer

The chief ore of lithium is spodumene, a lithium-aluminum silicate containing up to 3 pct lithium. The preparation of lithium salts from spodumene is costly because of the low concentration of the metal and the difficulty of separating it from the other alkali metals present. Dr. Kroll&apos;s and Dr. Schlecten&apos;s recent paper1 has reviewed various methods proposed for preparation of lithium. It will be seen from this paper that the methods proposed to date have required one or another of the lithium salts as a raw material. The high cost of these salts has been the chief item of expense in the lithium metal produced. This situation has made it interesting to investigate the possibility of producing the metal directly from spodumene. When spodumene is calcined at 1000ºC in the presence of lime, lithium oxide is replaced in the ore as is evidenced by the fact that it may be leached from the reaction mixture with water.2 Free energy calculations suggested that lithium oxide might be reduced with aluminum or silicon and the lithium produced distilled from the reaction mixture by heating-to about 1000ºC in a vacuum. These facts taken together suggested that it might be possible to prepare lithium metal directly from spodumene by heating a mixture of the ore, lime, and a suitable reducing agent in vacuum and distilling off the lithium metal as formed. The Replacement of Li2O in Spodumene A series of experiments were undertaken to determine the ratio of lime to spodumene necessary to free substantially all the lithium oxide Present in the Ore. The spodumene used in these experiments was supplied by Foote Mineral Co. in the form of powder of about 200 mesh&apos; Analysis of the spodumene was as follows: PCT SiO2......................... 62.7 Al2O3........................ 29.9 Li2o......................... 4.9 Na2O........................ 0.89 CaO......................... 0.75 MgO........................ 0.49 K2O......................... 0.44 Lime (cp —200 mesh) was added in various ratios to spodumene and thoroughly mixed in a ball mill. Two hundred gram samples of spodumene-lime mixtures were charged loosely in fireclay crucibles and held at 1000ºC in a gas-fired furnace for 5 hrs. The product in each case was ground to pass 140 mesh and then placed in a thimble in a soxhlet extractor. Extraction with water was carried on for 6 hrs. After this period the extract was reduced in volume by evaporation in order to precipitate dissolved lime and was then filtered and titrated with 1/4 normal hydrochloric acid. After correcting for residual calcium oxide in solution, the alkali present was calculated as lithium oxide. The results of these experiments are shown in Table I and Fig I. At lime-spodumene ratios less than 1.5, the products were invariably fused. At the ratio of 1.5 and above, the product was loosely sintered with little evidence of fusion. When the ratio of lime to spodumene was three, replacement of alkali oxides in the

Jan 1, 1949

By Niklas Willemsen

Introduction to SVCs ? SVC = Static var Compensator ? Dynamic step-less control of reactive power without switching of passive components: ? Voltage control/stabilization ? Harmonics- and flicker mitigation ? Dip mitigation ? Main components: ? TCR (Thyristor Controlled Reactor) ? Tuned harmonic filters ? Control- and cooling systems ? Typical applications: ? Mine hoists ? Large mining complexes ? EAF, SAF, rolling mills, wind/solar farms etc..

Aug 1, 2013

By George Fowler

THE history of the production of sulfur from salt domes in Louisiana and Texas originated with the operations of the Union Sulphur Co. at Sulphur, La., followed by the Freeport Sulphur Co. at Bryanmound, Tex. Including the present development of Grande Ecaille by the Free-port Sulphur Co., which constitutes the tenth dome to be equipped for the production of sulfur in the Gulf Coast, less than 10 per cent of all the known domes have proved to contain sulfur in commercial quantities. The Grande Ecaille salt dome is in the tidal marsh of the Mississippi River delta in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. It is 10 miles southwest of the right descending bank of the river approximately 45 miles below the city of New Orleans and is within 4 miles of the shore line of the Gulf of Mexico.

Jan 1, 1934

By V. Sobitsky

In open cast mining of coal, the cost per ton of output is four to five times less and labor productivity five to six times higher than in under- ground mining. This is why the coal industry of the USSR is oriented toward giving priority to the development of open cast coal mining. Deposits of coal which lend themselves to open cast mining in the USSR are enormous, with 90% of them located in the eastern part of the country. The technique is by no means limited to the eastern part, however-despite wide variations in climate, other parts of the Soviet Union also use open cast mining. The occurrence and type of coal deposits in the USSR vary greatly. Some of them are flat coal seams 2 to 40 m thick, and a few are even thicker. There are also deposits having a complex mode of occurrence, such as a series of seams of different thicknesses with angles of dip varying from slightly inclined to steep, often with dislocations. Overburden materials are quite diverse with regard to physical and mechanical properties. There are three kinds encountered-loose or unconsolidated overburden, medium-hard material, and hard rock. The stripping ratio, i.e., the amount of cover per ton of mined coal, varies from 1 to 12 cu m per ton. SYSTEMS OF MINING The great diversity of natural conditions has brought forth a variety of technologies and techniques in the open cast mining of coal. In open cast practice, the following systems of mining are used : (1) a transportation system in which the overburden is transported to spoil banks by rail or by truck; (2) a system with direct disposal of overburden, the rocks being dumped on spoil banks with a stripping excavator; and

Jan 1, 1969

By Victor Rudenno

"Previous methods have employed statistical analysis to model future mineral resources. The method presented in this paper uses Zipj&apos;s Law to determine the size and grade of tin deposits still to be discovered. The law is applied independently to both known deposit tonnage and grades. A probability distribution for both &apos;tonnage and grade is computed/or those deposits still to be located and then, by applying a correlation between tonnage and grade, a distribution of the probability of metal content discovery is obtained.By considering an economic cut-off in metal contained in a deposit, the probability of economic success for the next tin discovery is computed, both for a world discovery and for the special case of Tasmania, Australia. The results indicate a probability of 11-37% on a world-wide basis and 18% chance of economic success in Tasmania.IntroductionIn the past , most attempts to determine the probability of success in finding an economic mineral deposit have relied on the accumulation of statistical data. These data are then used to predict a suitable frequency distribution to assess the probability of finding a deposit of a given size and grade (Singer,1975).The method not only relies on one having sufficient data, but also on the assumption that the data are not biased and that the distribution (usually log-normal) is a correct one. The method presented in this paper, to analyze tin deposits, uses Zipf&apos;s Law, which has been recently applied to oil, uranium, lead-zinc and gold deposits by Folinsbee (1977) and to Western Australian gold deposits by Rowlands and Sampey (1977). Tapp and Koniuszko (1978) have applied Zipf&apos;s Law to mineral distribution patterns in the Northern Australian orogenic provinces, which has enabled them to make predictions with a relatively small data source."

Jan 1, 1981

By Wallace W. Wilson

It scarcely 1s possible to read a new issue of any of the principal mining trade journals without noting some mention of a major new overseas mining venture with which one or more domestic companies are involved. These projects seem to follow a fairly consistant pattern; most are large open pit mines, with relatively low grade ore bodies but huge reserves; the total price tag will be in nine significant figures and around half or more of the total cost will be for infrastructure. West1 noted that nearly $7 billion is being invested annually for new mining projects and the expansion of existing mining ventures, in the free world. He anticipates that by the year 1975 such investments would reach the $10-11 billion annual figure, and that in the five year period 1972-76 total capital requirements can be expected to aggregate around $45 billion. The proportion of this total investment which will be financed in some manner is difficult to estimate because of the variety of available financing arrangements. West estimated that around 75% of the total capital would come from internally generated funds, with the balance from external sources. Conceivably a substantially higher percentage could be attributable to external financing, especially it the trend of recent mineral development in Canada and Australia is any criterion, and of course, including local sales of equity as a part of the package.

Jan 1, 1973