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By Michael MacMillan

The mining industry has always operated under intense public scrutiny. Community expectations, investor pressures, regulatory obligations, and environmental oversight create a uniquely complex communications environment. In recent years, technological change, climate urgency, and geopolitics have reshaped how the industry communicates its role and value. The rise of artificial intelligence in the information ecosystem represents yet another fundamental shift. As AI evolves, an organization’s reputation will no longer be shaped solely through human interactions, media coverage, social activity, or corporate disclosure. Increasingly, public understanding depends on how AI systems interpret and represent company information. These systems influence search results, conversational tools, news aggregation, social discourse, and even investor intelligence platforms. As AI-generated summaries, answers, and narratives become the default interface for stakeholders, they also become authoritative in shaping trust. For mining companies, this creates both risk and opportunity. The organizations that recognize how AI reads, prioritizes, and amplifies information will be better positioned to build trust. Those that remain silent or rely on traditional communication methods may find their reputations being algorithmically defined without their participation. This paper explores how mining companies can proactively engineer their reputations in the age of AI.

Jan 1, 2026

By Brian Hays, Victor Mwaba

Optimization of water use has become a top priority for virtually every mining operation. The mineral extraction process typically requires vast quantities of water, which can be particularly challenging when a mine is located in an arid location. Most mining permits have very strict limits on water usage, so tight control of water utilization and extensive recycling are critical to regulatory compliance and profitability. Water management is not only dependent for selecting the right flowmeter for different applications.

Apr 1, 2026

By D. J. DeLazaro, W. Rostoker, R. E. Riley, M. Hansen

At very low concentrations, carbon dissolves interstitially in molybdenum resulting in a linear expansion of lattice parameter with increase of carbon in solid solution. Geometrical consideration of the relative size of carbon atom to size of interstice approximately predicts the observed volume expansion. THE element carbon, occurring in molybdenum, either as an unavoidable impurity, or purposely added, markedly affects the mechanical properties of molybdenum. Several investigators1-" have noted the occurrence of molybdenum carbide at the grain boundaries of cast molybdenum, and Fischer and Rengstorff' have shown that this intergranular constituent can induce intergranular brittleness. The appreciable change, with temperature, of the solid solubility of carbon in molybdenum, found by Few and Manning," suggests other important effects upon mechanical properties. Finally the relative atom diameters of carbon and molybdenum (the ratio of atom diameters is 0.59) are indicative, by analogy with iron (ratio of carbon atom diameter to iron atom diameter is 0.65), of a possible interstitial solid solution. If carbon dissolves intersti-tially in molybdenum, anelastic effects and age-hardening effects, similar to those observed in other body-centered cubic metals, could be expected. However, from the work of Sykes, Van Horn, and Tucker," it might be inferred that carbon forms only a substitutional solid solution with molybdenum. These considerations made it desirable to study the effect of carbon on the lattice parameter of molybdenum in greater detail than heretofore. All heat treating was done in a high temperature furnace7 built specifically for heat treatment of molybdenum. The temperatures and times of heat treatment were determined from the a solubility limit for the Mo-C system." These heat treatments were carried out in argon which was purified with respect to N, and H.!0." Purification of the argon was accomplished by passing the argon over hot (750°C) titanium and then through a magnesium perchlorate drying tower. As many as six samples were run concurrently and quenched at different times without interrupting the furnace cycle. Both the purity of the furnace atmosphere and ability to quench samples from any temperature up to 4000 °F were of prime importance in the successful heat treatment of samples for the lattice parameter investigation. Carbon Analysis The Leco Combustion apparatus was used for carbon analysis. This apparatus is capable of an accuracy of & 0.003 pct for a 1 g sample in the range below 0.10 pct. However, it is felt the degree of accuracy is somewhat better than this limit in view of the consistency evident by cross checking a number of determinations. The Battelle Analytical Laboratory consistently reported check results to within k 0.001 pct C. X-ray Measurements The molybdenum wire specimens (20 mils) were carefully filed down to about 12 mils and then etched with nitric acid to 8 mils. Carbon analyses were made on specimens before reduction in size; however, since there was no evidence of surface carburization, it is probable that the carbon was uniformly distributed throughout the sample. The resultant specimens were strain free and small enough to minimize the error in the lattice parameter determinations due to X-ray absorption. Diffraction patterns were obtained with a Debye-Scherrer powder camera 114.59 mm in diam utilizing the Straumanis type asymmetrical film mounting. Nickel-filtered copper. Ka radiation and zirconium-filtered molybdenum Ka radiation were used. Line positions on the film were measured with a traveling microscope equipped with a vernier scale permitting measurement to 0.001 cm. The average of five readings was used to determine the position of each line. The lattice parameter for each specimen was determined from the data by the extrapolation method of Bradley and Jay, Y.e., the intercept at 90" of the straight line obtained by plotting the apparent lat-

Jan 1, 1953

By A. Kenneth Schellinger

DURING the comminution of a brittle material in the presence of dry air, no known phase change or chemical reaction takes place. The energy changes associated with the comminution are those of the transformation of kinetic energy into heat energy and the energy absorption represented by the actual rupture of molecular and/or ionic bonds. The random nature of the actual grinding process in a tumbling-mill often precludes the effective application of a rupture force on each individual particle of brittle mineral present. The result must be a great deal of useless vibration on an atomic scale in both the brittle mineral and the grinding medium below the elastic limit, which vibration is eventually manifested as heat energy in the mill. The actual rupture of molecular, or ionic, bonds creates new surface on the brittle minerals; each square centimeter of this new surface then must possess a number of potential bonds, each of which could reform theoretically with the release of energy. The sum total of this potential energy of bonding per unit of new surface, minus bond satiation effects of the enclosing gas or liquid, must be the surface energy of the mineral. If the comminution of the brittle mineral were carried out within the chamber of a calorimeter, the energy released as heat could be determined rather accurately. Moreover, the total kinetic energy input to the comminuting mass (mineral and medium) conceivably could be derived by a suitable torquemeter and revolution counter if the whole calorimeter were revolved. The difference between these two energy figures should then represent the net energy (gross energy input—heat enerb output) used in creating new surface, gliding or slip on atomic planes, twinning, and possibly other lattice rearrangements within the mineral. If it be postulated further that with a hard, brittle crystalline material, such as quartz, the energy used to produce gliding, twinning, and other permanent lattice movements is a very small fraction of the total net energy absorbed, then this energy absorption within the grinding calorimeter can be ascribed to the creation of new surface energy alone. Such energy is, from the thermody-namic standpoint, the true effective work of the grinding device, in this case a tumbling-medium mill. The ratio of this effective work (in calories) to the total energy input (in calories) should express the thermodynamic efficiency of the comminution taking place under the conditions used in the grinding calorimeter. This approach to the measurement of the energetics of tumbling-mill grinding was suggested by some previous work by Fahrenwald and coworkers' with a laboratory ball mill and a thermometer. They measured the efficiency of grinding based on the formula: Pct Grinding Efficiency = Energy (calories) — Thermal Energy x 100 1npZ Output (calories) Energy input (calories) Efficiencies thus measured, while grinding quartz sand, ranged from 19.7 pct to 7.4 pct. Cook in 1915,' used this approach to the problem of grinding efficiencies in stamp batteries and obtained the energy input by stamp weights times drop distances and the energy output by means of thermometers and pulp flow rates. He calculated that 80 pct of the input energy to the stamp shoes was wasted as sensible heat in the ore pulp. No other studies of comminution by this method of energy differences came to the author's attention. Reasonable agreement as to the order-of-mag-nitude of comminution efficiencies in tumbling-media mills is lacking in the literature. There is a widespread impression among technical workers that the grinding efficiency of the industrial ball mill may be on the order of 1 pct, or even a fraction

Jan 1, 1952

By F. W. Jessen, R. W. Durie

The development in the laboratory of mall salt cavities illustrated that the rate at which salt dissolved was affected by the rate at which fresh water was injected into the cavity. Experiments carried out with small salt cores indicated, however, that the rate of salt removal with forced convection was not significantly different from that with natural convection, provided the flow was in the laminar range. The rate of salt removal was apparently controlled by the water salinity, which was indirectly determined by the rate at which fresh water was injected. With turbulent flow at the salt surface, the rate of salt removal could be increased several-fold with the same salinity in the cavity. A quantitative evaluation of the rate of salt removal under natural convection was attempted by using techniques developed for the analogous heat convection system. The values of the rate of salt removal obtained experimentally were considerably greater than the calculated values due to surface irregularities. To determine the effect of these irregularities, the rate of salt removal was found for a smooth surface by experimentally determining the rate of salt removal as an irregular surface developed and then extrapolating this trend back to initial time. Excellent agreement between the experimental and calculated values then were obtained. INTRODUCTION Underground cavities leached from massive salt formations have been used extensively for many years for storing LPG products. The development techniques for storing methane gases in the liquid state at a low temperature leads to speculation that underground salt cavities of controlled geometry may be quite important in this field. In any case, the increasing number of salt cavities used for storage indicates an impending need for a better knowledge of the washing process to efficiently develop maximum storage volumes within specified regions. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some aspects of -the mechanism of the dissolution of salt in the formation of cavities of controlled geometry. Although no attempt is made to resolve the problems that may be associated with the storage of methane in the liquid state in salt formations, the fact that salt cavities can be formed at reasonable cost would appear to justify investigation in this direction. Further, underground cavities have the advantage of allowing storage at higher pressures (and hence higher temperatures) than surface installations. Although the thermal conductivity of salt is somewhat higher than frozen earths, 0.017 cal/(sec) (cm)(c) for salt at 32F vs 0.005 cal/(sec) (cm) () for ice at this temperature, this disadvantage is offset by the higher storage temperature in underground cavities. For example, at atmospheric pressure, the temperature of liquid methane would be —258F. In a storage cavity at 2,000 ft, the pressure would be approximately 1,000 psia, which would allow a storage temperature of -9OF. The formation temperature would be roughly 110F at this depth, hence the total temperature differential would be 200F. Under surface storage conditions the corresponding temperature difference would be some 333 F (75 F + 258 F). The results of this difference can be compared more readily by substituting the appropriate values of thermal conductivity, temperature difference, heat capacity and density into the solution of the diffusion equation for the unsteady linear conduction of heat. For the underground salt storage, the heat flux is 15cal/(sec) (sq cm), where t is the time in seconds from the initiation of the cooling. For the surface system, and using the thermal properties of ice at the average temperature, the corresponding figure is 21cal/(sec) (sq cm). Hence, the heat losses through ice under surface conditions would be some 30 per cent higher than the underground salt storage. This ratio would vary, considerablv. Of course, for other conditions, but it indicates that an advantage over surface facilities may be obtained by storage in underground salt cavities.

Jan 1, 1965

By F. A. Crossley

The additions: o, Sn, Zr, Cb, Mo, and V were studied for their effects on the a/a + Ti3A1 boundary of Ti-A1 base ternary alloys. These additions were chosen because of their importance to commercial titanium alloy practice—oxygen as the major impurity (in terms of influence on mechanical properties) and the others as major alloying additions. The composition and temperature ranges of investigation varied according to the system as shown in Table I. The principal means of investigation was light-microscopy. The basis of the ternary studies was the recently determined titanium-rich end of the Ti-A1 system.' MATERIALS, METHODS, AND PROCEDURES Ingots were prepared in 15 g size for all alloys except those of the Ti-Al-Mo and Ti-A1-V systems which were prepared in 20 g size. These alloys were prepared from high-purity, electrolytically refined titanium obtained from the Bureau of Mines, Boulder City Metallurgical Laboratory, Boulder City, Col., and Chicago Development Corp., Riverdale, Md., for the 15 g and 20 g ingots, respectively. The alloying additions were obtained from commercial sources, and were at least of 99.9 pct purity, except the V-15 wt pct A1 master alloy for vanadium additions. This alloy was of 98.2 pct purity; the major impurities were 0.37 wt pct Fe and 0.38 wt pct Si. The ingots were prepared by multiple melting in a nonconsum-able-electrode arc furnace. The ingots were covered with Markal coating "CR-T22" (Markal Co., Chicago) to protect them from scaling. Markal coating is applied as a slurry of solids in a volatile carrier liquid. The coated article is air dried. Upon heating to the hot working temperature the coating fuses to form a glassy, protective film. The ingots were heated to 1000°C and rolled to 0.16 in. thickness, reheating after each pass. The glassy film was removed by sand blasting. Ten mils were removed from all surfaces by grinding and/or pickling (3 pct HF, 30 pct HN03, balance water). Grinding was always followed by pickling to remove traces of the grindmg medium. Hydrogen removal was accomplished by vacuum annealing at 1000°C for 2 hr to a final pressure of about 0.02 µ Hg. This was followed by annealing in evacuated Vycor bulbs (800°C, 2 hr, ice brine quenched (IBQ)) in order to maximize ductility. The materials were then lightly pickled and cold rolled to 0.12 in. thickness or cracking, whichever occurred first. After rolling, 1/2 by 1/4 in. specimens were cut for the equilibration anneals given in Table 11 and carried out as previously described.1 Final polishing of the specimens for metallographic examination was done by electrolytic means. Specimens were first examined without etching under bright field and polarized light illumination, for this is the only means of detecting the "two-phase" phenomenon.1,2 The term "two-phase syndrome" refers to Ti-A1 al-loys which appear on the bases of their chemical, phys-ical, and mechanical properties, to be two-phase, but are actually single phase and inhomogeneous in composition. Since processing and heat treatment of the alloys of the first group were completed before the two-phase syndrome was discovered, a number of the specimens were found to exhibit this phenomenon—80 pct of those of the Ti-Al-Zr system, 5 pct of those of the Ti-Al-Sn system, 30 pct of those of the Ti-Al-Zr system. The affected specimens were homogenized by heating above the ß transus temperature and quenching. The heat treatment and working schedules to accomplish this are given in Table 111. After rolling, specimens were pickled (3 pctHF, 30 pct HNO3 in water) to remove 1 to 2 mils from the

Jan 1, 1970

By Donald A. Corrigan, John Chipman

It is shown that the heat of solution of nitrogen in liquid-iron alloys is Proportional to the interaction coefficient. This proportionality forms the basis for a method of predicting nilrogen solubility at any temperature when the interaction coefficient is knoun at 1600°C ov when the solubility is known at some one temperature. A method for predicting the solubility of nitrogen in liquid steels, including alloy steels, was proposed some years ago by Langenberg.' Since the data available at that time were restricted to temperatures of about 1600°C, his predictions were similarly restricted. More recently, Nelssonz devised an approximate method for estimating nitrogen solubilities at higher temperatures. It is the purpose of the present paper to present a method by which the solubility of nitrogen at any temperature within the steelmaking range may be predicted from the known interaction coefficients at 1600°C. Nitrogen in iron and in all of the alloys to be considered here is known to obey Sieverts' Law; hence the activity of nitrogen in an alloy of fixed composition is proportional to its concentration, here expressed in weight percent. The activity of nitrogen is defined as equal to its weight percent in the binary Fe-N solution at any temperature. Its activity coefficient in any alloy is the comparison being made at equal values of T and PN2. In all alloys the activity coefficient changes with composition, log fN being a linear function of the percent of alloying element at low concentrations. In the following calculations the alloy compositions are restricted to those in which this linear relation is exhibited. For most systems this is a fairly wide range, for example up to 5 pct V and to 10 pct Cr or Ni. For this composition range. complex alloy is the same as that in the Fe-N-j ternary solution. Langenberg's method of prediction was based on Eq. [3], the values of log fN for various additions being taken from a graph. Instead of using the simple addition indicated in Eq. [3], he used a more complex method suggested for Fe-S-j alloys by Morris and Buehl.3 For the composition ranges in which Eq. [2] is valid the two methods are equivalent. Nelson extended the prediction to other temperatures on the assumption that logfN is inversely proportional to absolute temperature. It may be shown that inverse proportionality would result if the partial molal entropy of nitrogen were unaffected by addition of the alloy element, an assumption which Nelson designated as a "regular" solution. It has been shown recently by the authors4 that this assumption is not a good approximation. The heat of solution of nitrogen (N2) in an alloy may be obtained if the solubility is known as a function of temperature. Measurements of this nature have been reported recently by Beer5 for Fe-Mn alloys, by Nelsson2 for Fe-C, by El Tayeb and parlee6 for Fe-V, and by Pehlke and Elliott7 for many alloys embracing a wide range of compositions. In connection with the work of the last named authors it is noted that their Fig. 22 gives the heat effect per half mole rather than per mole of N2. In using their data we have shifted some of their values slightly by using the best straight line in preference to their curve. Their data, supplemented by others from the literature, are summarized in Table I. In Fig. 1 the heat of solution of nitrogen is shown as a function of composition for the several alloy systems. The difference between the heat effect in the alloy. AH; and that in pure

Jan 1, 1965

By M. D. Banus, M. B. Bever, A. K. Jena

Measurements of the heat effects on addition of various solid phases of InSb to a solution calorimeter have confirmed the existence of a new high-pressure plzase InSbQII), which was jormed at 37 kbar and 623°K. The heats of formation of InSbQ), InSbfl), and InSb(111) have been measured and the heats of transjormation of InSb(1) to InSb(1l) and InSb(Iii) and of 'InSb(ll) to InSb(iiI) at atmospheric pressure and 78°K have been determined independently. Other thermodynamic properties of these phases, the phase boundary InSb(i)/InSb(ll), and the relative positions of the triple points are calculated. The pressure-Dolume term is shown to be more critical than the internal energy difference in making the phase InSbQ) less stable than InSb(II) at high pressures. Observations on partially transformed specimens suggest that the transformation of' metastable InSb (III) takes place in the two steps InSb(lll) — InSbQI) and InSbQI) — InSb(l). The compound InSb can exist as several phases depending on the temperature and pressure. The phase InSb(I), which is a semiconductor having the zinc-blende structure, transforms into the phase InSb(11) at a pressure of about 23 kbar and room temperature.'-3 The phase InSb(II) has the 6 tin structure,4-6 is metallic, and becomes a superconductor below 2.lok7 An orthorhombic phase of InSb has been reported to occur above a pressure of approximately 30 kbar at room temperature.' This phase is also a superconductor below about 3.4k9 The phase InSb(I1) is retained at atmospheric pressure if it is quenched to 78°K under pressure,6,7 but tends to transform at higher temperatures and does so explosively above approximately 210ok,7 A value of the heat of transformation of InSb(1) to InSb(II) at 210°K and atmospheric pressure has been reported.' A concurrent publication'0 reports evidence for a new solid phase InSb(III), which was formed by annealing InSb above 58 1°K at 37 kbar, above 560°K at 52 kbar, and above 473°K at 65 kbar. Specimens of InSb(II1) had a superconducting transition temperature of 4.lo ± 0.1oK. X-ray diffraction patterns also indicated the presence of a new phase. In this communication, thermodynamic properties of the phases InSb(I), InSb(II), and InSb(II1) are reported and discussed. The phase boundary InSb(I)/InSb(II) and the relative positions of the triple points are calculated. 1) EXPERIMENTAL 1.1) Preparation of Specimens. Specimens of the high-pressure phases of InSb were prepared in a belt-type high-pressure chamber by a tichnique described in detail elsewhere.'' Charges of 0.6 to 0.8 g of Cominco semiconductor grade InSb were used. The temperatures were measured with a chromel-alumel thermocouple, the hot junction of which was within 0.5 mm of the specimen. The specimens were heated under a pressure of 37 kbar for 1 hr at 723°K (which is well above the liquidus) and quenched to room temperature. One set was annealed at 523°K and another set at 623°K for 20 to 24 hr. These annealing temperatures were chosen because 523°K was below and 623°K was above the temperature of the transformation of InSb(II) to InSb(1Tl) at 37 kbar.10 The specimens were then cooled to 125°K by passing liquid nitrogen through the jacket of the belt die before the

Jan 1, 1968

By R. O. Williams

Measurements have been made of the internal energy of deformation in a Cu-A1 alloy and a Cu-Zn alloy as the deference between the work and the released heat. The method required the rapid compression of samples to reduce thermal interactions. The rate of energy storage is low initially but then becomes almost linear with strain. Both alloys stored about 60 cal per mole at a strain of 0.4 in the recrystallized condition. The fractional rate of storage increases at low strains reaching about 0.25 at a strain of 0.15 and then decreases slowly with increasing strains. As do pure metals, these alloys release appreciable energy immediately following deformation; in contrast with pure metals, however, the release continued for extended periods of time. This energy release is somewhat sensitive to the amount of deformation, the deformation temperature, and prior thermal & eatment. It is believed that this release is a composite of that observed in pure metals which has been attributed to dislocations and that due to the motion of vacancies which produces increased short-range order. IT is expected that changes brought about by deformation of a pure metal can be understood in terms of the three defects—dislocations, vacancies, and interstitials—along with the interactions possible between these defects. Frequently stacking faults are created and must also be considered. 1t is not immediately clear whether or not the stress fields which are created should be regarded as independent of dislocations. For alloys there is the important additional effect of atomic configuration, for example short-range order, which must also be considered and will, in general, interact with each of the above defects. While it is true that a complete understanding of pure metals is not yet possible, it would seem very valuable to establish the similarities and differences between pure metals and alloys. Such knowledge could contribute to the understanding of both. A study of the changes in internal energy resulting from deformation of two alloys is reported here. Although some information has been available for alloys almost as long as for pure metals, the volume of work has been substantially less. Sato' and Quinney and Taylor' were responsible for the earlier work, both using brass and annealing calorimetry. tizhnova' studied stored energy in Cu-Ni alloys by a method somewhat similar to the one reported here. Bever and his co-workers have made extensive studies of Au-Ag alloys4'5 and more recently CU-AU'U' using solution calorimetry. Clarebrough et a1.' have recently studied brass using annealing calorimetry. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The present results were obtained by the rapid, adiabatic compression of a sample about 1/4 in, diam by 1/2 in. long between two tungsten carbide hammers. A vacuum provided thermal isolation and oil provided effective lubrication between the sample and hammers. The increase in internal energy is the difference between the mechanical energy and the heat liberated within the sample. The mechanical energy was determined from the velocity of the hammers (calculated from the height through which the hammers traveled) and was essentially constant for each deformation cycle. The heat was determined from the temperature increase of the sample which was measured by an embedded thermocouple. Specific heat data were calculated from Neumann's rule using tabulated data for pure metals.9 Since the fraction of the energy which is stored is large compared to that for pure metals, specific heat data of high accuracy are not required. Successive increments of deformation were carried out by repeating the procedure, the limit being determined mostly by the decreasing accuracy caused by the increasing corrections and the decreasing storage of energy. About five cycles were used to give a true strain of about 0.5 while the time interval between cycles was 1 to 2hr.

Jan 1, 1963

By W. L. Penberthy, H. J. Ramey

Experimental work on the combustion oil recovery process has consisted of both laboratory and field studies. Although field experiments are the ultimate test of any oil recovery process, they are costly, time consuming and difficult to analyze quantitatively. Laboratory combustion tube experiments can be opertzted far more rapidly and cheaply, but are subject to scaling and interpretation problems. This paper points out some important design problems, operational criteria and considerations in2portunt to interpretation of results. An analytical hcut model of movement of a burning front axiully along a cylinder with heat loss through an annular insulation was developed. The result was used to identify steady-state temperatrrre distributions both ahead of and behind the burning front, with and without heat loss. Results indicate potential operating limitations on the minimum burning front rielocity (or air flux) which may be used for any given combustion tube. Results also enable estimating the effective thermal diffusivity and over-all heat loss from experimental data and thickness of the brnning zone. Resu lts of operation of a combustion tube constructed recently verify this preliminary theory in the region immediately ahead of and behind the burning front surprisinRly well. INTRODUCTION Many field and laboratory studies of the forward combustion oil recovery process have been conducted since the early publications of Kuhn and Kochl and Grant and Szasz2 in 1953 and 1954. In view of the complex and costly nature of this type of investigation, it is not surprising that no complete theory of the nature of the forward combustion Drocess is yet available. However, gross effects are understood well enough that reasonable design procedures are available for planning field operations. Nelson and McNeil 3,4 have published two comprehensive papers concerning design procedures. One major consideration in planning field operations is the fuel concentration at the burning front. Fuel concentration controls air requirements — an important cost factor in forward combustion. Although fuel concentration can be estimated from field test results by various methods, results are subject to great uncertainty in view of natural limitations on experimental observations. Nelson and hlcNeil4 recommend that fuel concentration be determined from laboratory combustion tube studies. Fuel concentration is only one of many important factors which can be studied by combustion tube experimentation. An obvious goal of imporrance must be development of a comprehensive theory of the forward combustion process. If a theory of this process can be established which matches controlled laboratory experimentation, it should be possible to apply this theory to field operating conditions with some confidence. Laboratory combustion tube studies have already yielded important information concerning the combustion process. However, details concerning the design, construction and operation of combustion tubes are rare. Combustion tubes used by various investigators vary in size, length and mode of operation. Therefore, one purpose of this paper is to present considerations important to design, construction and operation of a combustion tube. In regard to previous combustion tube studies, attention is called to Refs. 1 through 9. These references describe a wide variety of equipment types and present a great deal of pertinent experimental data. In general, combustion tubes usually consist of thin-walled stainless steel tubes containing an oil sand pack mounted within a pressure jacket. Provisions have often been made to heat the tube ex tern a lly by separately controlled heaters to reduce heat losses. This step usually permits operation at low air fluxes (air rate per square foot burning front surface) similar to those encountered in field operations. Burning is usually conducted from the air inlet end of the tube to the outflow end. The tube orientation used has been vertical or horizontal. For vertical tubes, burning has been conducted vertically downwards. As a result of laboratory studies, many of the

Jan 1, 1967

By Bert C. Morrison

In 1961. American Smelting and Refining Company was conducting exploration for lead in southeastern Missouri using several geophysical methods. Electrical methods were used in almost every hole drilled during this period. These methods met with only limited success, with one exception. This paper deals with that exception: An Electrical Potential Method used at a single hole to indicate direction to better mineralization. This method was notably successful in the program.

Jan 1, 1970

By J. W. Leonard

Gravity based coal/mineral preparation plants must be operated to yield products of a quality satisfactory to existing markets; but, because of historic control problems, recovery is frequently sacrificed to achieve quality resulting in losses of valuable product. Plant control has ranged from intuitive in-plant spot quality judgments made by various operators to gross methods involving such devices as density gauges, floats, grab-sample on-the-spot sink-float tests, etc. Millions of tons of quality coal/minerals are lost to refuse each year, because of the historic lack of a continuous and dependable control system. The result is both serious economic as well as environmental losses. While the economic losses are obvious, less obvious environmental losses, in the case of coal, result from the misplacement of more ignitable quality fuel to refuse banks. A control system capable of supplying a market-grade coal/mineral product, while continuously minimizing product losses to refuse, has until recently escaped technology.

Jan 1, 1991

By J. A. Hillier

The staff of the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting concentrator have developed a new type of reagent feeder. Several factors encouraged the development of such a system: varying heads caused by the mixing of ores from several mines, the increasing number of flotation circuits operated and reagent feeding stations remote from the flotation operator's work area. The reagent feeders also had to be compatible with future plans for reagent control from an on-stream X-ray analyzer and computer system. The new feeder is a positive-displacement pump set to deliver a constant volume per stroke. At a remote panel, the feed rate is altered by changing the time between strokes. The feeders have been found to be reasonably trouble-free and accurate to less than 2 per cent error.

Jan 1, 1973

By Leong, William. Chong, Kam Weng

Deep Vibro Techniques namely Vibro Compaction (VC) and Vibro Replacement (VR) are widely used in ground improvement to densify sands and strengthen cohesive soils. This paper describes the application of these techniques for the construction of 20 Ha Iron Ore Stockpile Yard with the maximum stockpile height of 14 m in Quang Ngai, Vietnam. The challenges of this project are to limit the stockpile allowable settlement and the surrounding pile’s lateral movement. The soil condition can be summarized as 12m – 18m thick of loose to medium dense SAND with qc around 5-18MPa and followed by 2.0 – 6.0 m thick soft clay with qc around 0.4 – 0.8MPa. Localized very dense sand layer was found. VR using stone columns were installed in soft clay layer while VC was adopted to densify sand layer. Additional shallow stone columns were built in sand strata to minimize pile top lateral movement. The post construction performance was verified by a large 6 m by 12 m plate load test (PLT). The predicted PLT deformation using Priebe’s improved properties for the VR will be presented and compared with the measured plate load test results.

Nov 1, 2022

By B Banerjee, N Kumar, S Parihar

Rampura Agucha Pb-Zn Mine (RAM) is located about 200 km to the south-west of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan, India. Open pit mining operations commenced in 1988 and continued to 2018. RAM open pit footprint is the largest in India with length of 2000 m, width 1500 m and depth of 400 m. Development of an underground mine under the operating pit commenced in 2013, through trial mining longhole open stoping with cemented backfill was established as a preferred mining method. Nine years in operations underground mine has reached the production capacity of 4.5 MT, which represent more than 70 per cent of the ore volume mined by the pit. RAM is currently the world second largest underground Pb-Zn mine.

Nov 29, 2022

By Milan Yekich, Emanuele Cauda, Justin Patts, Cody Wolfe

This study presents the application of low-cost dust monitors (LCDMs) for real-time monitoring of respirable dust in a mining environment. LCDMs significantly enhance data collection by providing continuous, granular and cost-effective dust concentration readings. This case study demonstrates that by deploying LCDMs, mining operators can respond quickly to changes in dust levels, improving occupational safety and air quality management. The results show how such monitoring technologies can be integrated into routine operations to reduce dust exposure and prevent health hazards such as silicosis, especially when coupled with appropriate mitigation strategies.

Nov 1, 2024

By Karl-H. Daum

Over many decades, numerous feasibility studies have demonstrated, that the production of sulphuric acid remains the most viable option of sulphur recovery from smelter off gas and abatement of SO2 emissions to the atmosphere. This is particularly more pronounced as smaller but more concentrated off-gas flows are to be treated from smelters, and enhanced sulphuric acid processes be-come available. Off-gas handling systems represent a significant capital and operating cost burden to the metallurgical operation. Modern pyrometallurgical smelter processes for sulphide ores based on the use of oxygen-enriched air, produce relatively small off-gas flows with high SO2 concentrations in the smelter gas of 30?60 %-vol. of SO2. This is a prerequisite for substantial cost reductions in the smelter off-gas handling and treatment system. As an alternative to sulphuric acid production, numerous scrubbing concepts with alkali or dual-alkali combinations as well as organic absorbents have been proposed. Also the reduction of the SO2 to elemental sulphur has frequently been studied. Very few of those alternative processes have been built in industrial scale, but all were generally characterized by none sustainable operation due to cost reasons, problems with issues related to chemicals used and by-products or poor availability. Thus the traditional concept of converting the SO2 to sulphuric acid is most common, although regarded as un-economic, but is at least a proven, environmentally sustainable and reliable way of sulphur gas processing. With the high acid price levels these days, operating companies are even able to generate significant revenue with their otherwise ?fatal? acid. Even though smelter gas is available at high SO2 concentrations, in a conventional acid plant one would add large amounts of air to dilute the gas down to a suitable concentration of 12?13 (14) %-vol. SO2. Dealing with higher SO2 concentrations in smelter acid plants is not feasible, as the gas exit temperature of the catalytic oxidation step would exceed the allowable limit for the catalyst. Hence those conventional acid plants are characterised by the use of large equipment, i.e. high capital cost, high energy consumption and limited flexibility. The newly developed LUREC® process can handle off-gas with significantly higher gas concentrations, even in excess of 25 %-vol. SO2. It is entirely based on well-proven equipment and unit operations. The first industrial application, operating with 16?18 %-vol. SO2 will be presented in this paper, along with the fundamentals of the process. It will be demonstrated that the process requires inherently lower capital cost, fewer operating cost, offers better energy recovery and lower emissions as compared to conventional design. While most existing smelter acid plants would have some built-in spare capacity, any significant increase of smelter capacity, say of 30%, can basically not be accommodated without installing an additional parallel new acid plant unit. An add-on LUREC® module can remove any such restriction, while simultaneously de-bottlenecking the existing acid plant. The paper also discusses the present status of the add-on technology for smelter acid plant expansions with respect to technical boundary conditions of different process alternatives as well as economic and environmental aspects. Application of the LUREC® process to modern smelter acid plants operating with high SO2 gas concentration, will lead to a substantial reduction of the specific size of the gas processing equipment and equivalent savings in capital and operating cost. The LUREC® process is patented worldwide by OUTOTEC.

Jan 1, 2009

By Balasivanadha Prabhu, Prasad P. Shanmugasundaram, Narayani Narasimhan

"The grain refinement and mechanical properties of 6061 aluminium alloy produced by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) have been analyzed in this present study. A innovative triple shear ECAP die was developed for the processing.It was observed that the grain refinement takes place for greater number of passes. It was also found that reducing the process temperature gives fine grain and high microhardness and hence improved propertiesIntroductionTechnological changes in manufacturing industries have depended heavily on development in materials processing and process technologies. Modem industries need high performance materials for severe service conditions. Hence, it is necessary to improve required material properties to achieve better performance and greater service life. As mechanical properties of the materials strong! y depend on grain size ( d) - Hall-Petch relationship [ 1-4], the ultrafine grained (UFG) materials offer superior mechanical properties based on the above relation.Synthesising massive nanocrystalline materials presents a challenge to basic research as well as to application-related processing efforts. Production of ultrafine gram microstructures in metals and alloys having different crystal structures but always an initially coarse microstructure using severe plastic deformation can significantly enhance the physical and mechanical properties of materials. Severe Plastic Deformation (SPD) is an efficient method to induce ultra fine grained structure in materials by deforming it to large strains. Traditional techniques for introducing deformation of higher strains, such as forging, extrusion, drawing or rolling do have the inevitable limitation on required equipments of exerting enough load or pressure to cause uniform nanometer level grain refinement."

Jan 1, 2011

By Kenneth K. Humphreys

Over the past four years, the Coal Research Bureau of West Virginia University has presented a number of papers on operations research in the coal industry before various AIME meetings and meetings of other societies. These papers have been followed up by further presentations in the technical press. The emphasis of all of these papers has been to demonstrate applications of operations research to the solution of numerous types of coal industry problems. In each case, effort has been made to demonstrate that operations research does not require extensive knowledge of computer science or use of sophisticated higher mathematics. In fact, for most applications, satisfactory results can be obtained by a single individual in a minimum of time with no aids other than a pencil and paper and a knowledge of basic arithmetic. The most recent efforts by the Coal Research Bureau have been directed toward the continuing industry problem of optimizing the location of mining facilities. Preliminary work in this area was presented before the Central Appalachian Section of AIME and subsequently published in the May, 1972, issue of Coal Age. This initial presentation illustrated techniques for determining optimum locations of facilities based upon material transport effort under the assumption of constant cost per ton mile of haulage effort. The present paper will expand upon this earlier work and introduce economic factors. In the design of a mine or mining system, careful consideration must be given to the sites selected for each element of the system. Optimum placement of facilities is vital to minimize capital and operating cost. Thus, barring unfavorable geological conditions or other exceptional factors, facilities should be located at those points which represent the minimum cumulative cost over the life of the property. Most cost factors are independent, or essentially independent of the location of fixed facilities. Thus, for example, regardless of the location of the shaft, the direct cost to mine any given ton of coal is essentially constant. The major 1

Jan 1, 1972

By M. H. Ali

Codelco, a multi-process primary copper producer, is undertaking a full life cycle inventory (LCI) of all its commercial products based on copper and molybdenum. During this work, many questions have surfaced regarding the contribution of process unit design to specific aspects of a product's LCI and, more importantly, how such designs could be improved using a life cycle perspective. Management strategy efforts were undertaken to improve the LCI footprint, however it was found that the corrective actions were almost impossible to apply at the operation level in plant, given the ongoing timing pressures of extractive mining, and costs saving priorities. Additionally, it was found that most of the important comparative differences between operations had structural reasons. In this circumstance, the LCI practitioner group from 1M2, and the environmental managers from Codelco, decided to shift its efforts to place the critical LC1 aspects to the design process of future developments. Hatch Associates has developed unique tools in their Sustainable Plant Design (SPD) package that compliment and enhance LCA methods; these effectively drive sustainability into the heart of the design process. By using LCA and SPD in a project design phase, you cannot only address potential hotspots, but also decide on materials, location and size of certain facilities to optimize for energy efficiency. Moreover, you can avoid the shifting of environmental burdens upstream or downstream within the plant and finally it is extremely useful in identifying opportunities for greenhouse gas reduction.

Jan 1, 2007