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By J. B. Stott

The performance of an adiabatic calorimeter for measuring heats of oxidation of coal is assessed and suggestions made for its improvement and calibration. The use of magnetic analysers for measuring small oxygen deficiencies in air is described and three different methods of measuring the output for such a meter are characterised. The occurrence of spontaneous heating in an 800 tonne heap of Wyoming coal is briefly described. The major part of the report deals with the oxidation of Pittsburgh seam and Wyoming subbituminous coal and describes an experiment in which 1 tonne of Wyoming coal is stored in a 5 metre long insulated container whilst air was passed through. Temperature rises, rates of oxygen absorption and gas compositions of the air stream were measured. The report relates the results of these-experiments to a theory of spontaneous heating developed by Stott and Quan which stresses the importance of the moisture content of the coal and the relationship between the heat necessary to evaporate this water to the heat available from coal oxidation. The work was carried out over a five month period and the emphasis is on demonstrating the effects of moisture transfer and confirming the theory of Stott and Quan.

Jan 1, 1980

By Raja V. Ramani

Productive and beneficial use of reclaimed surface-mined land is a concern of industry, government, and the general public. An investigation was conducted of current mined-land planning practices to aid in the development of a procedure for evaluating postmining land use potentials. This investigation considered both the industry and public planning approach to mined-land planning. It included a detailed review of the impact of regulation, factors that determine land use, and current site planning methods employed by the mining industry. The methods of this investigation included three in-depth case studies of surface mines in the eastern, central, and western United States. A site planning pro-cess has been developed and applied to the surface mine case studies to evaluate the economic, environmental and social impacts of postmining land use alternatives. In add it ion, guidelines are proposed to enhance the cooperation between local land use planners and surface mine planners, as well as to improve comprehensive planning with regard to mineral resources at the local and regional level.

Jan 1, 1983

By David Tisdale, Phillip Mackey, Nagendra Tripathi, Matthew Kreuh, Pascal Coursol

Xstrata Nickel’s Sudbury smelter operation is based on fluid bed roasting of Ni-Cu sulphide concentrate, followed by electric furnace reductive smelting and Peirce-Smith converting to produce a Bessemer matte for electro refining, along with sulphuric acid produced from smelter gas. While the site dates back to the 1930s, the present smelter configuration has been operational since 1978, and currently has a nominal capacity of about 67,000 tpy of contained nickel and is investigating options to expand in future up to 85,000 tpy. As part of a review of plant capacity options, a new metallurgical model of the plant was developed in order to examine a number of processing alternatives. Based on the METSIM™ platform, the present model includes the ability to examine the impact of a number of plant parameters on potential plant performance including; for example, the following: percent of sulphur elimination in roasting, matte grade, degree of matte metallization, temperature, coke requirements, sulphuric acid production, CO2 emissions and overall energy requirements. The process model also includes a number of special features adopted; for example, approaches to effectively model the complex Ni-Cu-Co-Fe-S-O matte system. This paper provides a description of the model and gives an overview of the results. As well as presenting the results of the present study, the applicability of this modeling approach to pyrometallurgical systems in general is also briefly discussed in the paper.

Jan 1, 2009

By Mosquera. J.

Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) are vast structures that respond to site-specific characteristics, rate of production, placement techniques, and the physical and mechanical properties of tailings. As a common denominator, TSFs are in some degree vulnerable to failure due to liquefaction, poor management, slope instability and/or unusual climatic events. In practice, stability of TSFS is determined by calculating a minimum Factor of Safety (FOS) using the Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM). However, it has been proven that relying exclusively on the limit equilibrium approach is not accurate because it is basically a static method that does not take into account the stress-strain distribution and displacement experienced by the constitutive materials of a TSF. In order to overcome these limitations of the LEM, the finite element method - Shear Reduction Technique (SRT) has been used as a more reliable tool for TSFs stability assessment. This paper presents a comparative stability analysis between an upstream tailings storage facility (UTSF), and a water retention tailings dam (WRTD) under static and pseudo-static states using simplified and rigorous LEMs and the SRT. Additionally, and taking into consideration the intrinsic uncertainty of tailings properties, sensitivity and probabilistic analyses in the form of Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) and the Point Estimate Method (PEM) are applied to determine the Probability of Failure (Pf) and Reliability Index (ß) of each TSF. It is shown that the friction angle of UTSF?s foundation and the core?s cohesion of the WRTD are the main variables that govern stability. Further analysis shows that the WRTD has a higher reliability index and a lower probability of failure than the UTSF.

Aug 1, 2013

By Duanyou Li, Qing Xiao, Zhiwang Wang, Xiaoqing Gan

"Seepage is a major cause of earth-rockfill dam failure. Numerical simulation of infiltration process, distribution of drift, flow velocity and direction after the impoundment can guide seepage control and evaluate its effects. A double field coupling model is established based on soil consolidation theory and the interaction between the seepage field and the temperature field. The simulation is implemented under the situation of core wall setted, core wall not setted, and core wall setted with concentrated leakage. The results indicated that the saturation line height was significantly reduced due to impervious core wall, and the temperature distribution is uniform above the saturation line. If concentrated leakage occurs, temperature distribution of dam was significantly changed, which is consistent with theoretical inference.INTRODUCTIONEngineering seepage field distribution must be calculated in seepage control design, optimization, and correction of new engineering construction of earth dams, as well as in seepage monitoring and evaluation of existing earth-rockfill dams. The aim of calculation is to identify the important parameters in seepage field, such as the coefficient of permeability, seepage flow, pressure, head, and allowable seepage slope, for effectively implementing seepage control design, correction, safety assessment, and anti-seepage reinforcement. These seepage parameters usually can be obtained by in-situ test and back-analysis based on reliable monitoring data.In order to obtain reliable monitoring data and reflect the earth-rockfill dam seepage state and change process, appropriate monitoring technology and monitoring method is necessary. The traditional seepage monitoring method is through site inspection and sensors (e.g., osmometer, piezometric tube and measuring weir) that buried in the structure and its foundation. However, there are still some disadvantages:"

Jan 1, 2015

By Jari Larkiola, Aarne Pohjonen, Juha Jokisaari, Oskari Seppälä, Joonas Ilmola

Finite element method (FEM) is widely used to model the hot strip rolling process. Flatness defects e.g. front-end bending in multipass hot strip rolling is studied by authors using a finite element (FE) model with interactively operating automated controlling logic (ACL) [1]. However, industrial corresponding grade of accuracy in strip thickness subsequent to the rolling pass is not easily accessible in FE-model without separate calculation of significant rolling parameters and integrated roll gap control. In order to study flatness defects and optimize pass schedules the controlling and physics of the FE-model must correspond to the industrial process. For this need the automated controlling logic is upgraded by setup calculations to predicting roll force and work roll flattening. These predictions are utilized in setup positioning of a work rolls. Reliable setup calculation enables smooth multi stand rolling process without significant additional adjustment of roll gap clearance. State of art rolling technology requires above-mentioned setup controlling for the FE simulations to simulate different pass schedules without time consuming preparations. Operational setup calculations together with automated controlling logic of hot strip rolling enable simulation of new pass schedules and efficient problem solving.

Oct 1, 2019

By C. C. Templeton, J. C. Rodgers

A key step in feed water treatment for generating wet steam for thermal oil recovery is the removal of calcium and magnesiunt hardness by cation-exchange series softening. Knowing the solubility of any scale forming salts in brines at elevated temperatures is necessary for fixing the level to which the feed water must be softened. Such calcium sulfate solubility data, previously not available above 392F, were determined by the authors in a flow equilibrium apparatus mud will be reported elsewhere. These data were used to develop a method for predicting the solubility of anhydrite in hot water or steam droplets for saturated steam pressures as high as 2,000 psig (637F). (The calcium sulfate solubility product is represented by a combination of two factors, one reflecting the effects of ionic strength and the other accounting for the effects of complex ion formation in either calcium-magnesium-rich or sulfate-rich brines.) The method is applied to a calcium-magnesium-rich brine If moderately high salinity from a pilot hot-water flood, I nd to several sulfate-rich, low-salinity feed waters and l lowdown (cooled steam droplets) samples from steam s ak operations. The predicted calcium hardness levels corresponding to the calcium sulfate solubilities agreed reasonably well with the results of laboratory solubility determinations run on the field samples. Further testing of the method is needed for brines of other composition classes. Existing field cation exchange softeners in the cases tested are performing adequately since all the samples were found to be undersaturated with respect to calcium sulfate at their operating temperatures. Introduction Prevention of scaling caused by precipitation of calcium sulfate (anhydrite) is of considerable concern in connection with thermal recovery processes using wet steam or hot water. To avoid anhydrite precipitation in a heated system, an engineer must keep the product of the calcium and sulfate concentrations in the water or steam droplets below the value of the solubility product of anhydrite for the temperature and brine composition in question. Usually it is most practical to keep the concentration product lower than the solubility product by keeping calcium low in the presence of high sulfate, or by keeping sulfate low in the presence of high calcium. This can be done by a choice of combinations of natural waters and water treatment processes (such as series cation exchange softening to remove calcium). Until recently, few anhydrite solubility data, particularly for solutions containing other salts, were available for temperatures above 392F (211 psig steam); Marshall, Slusher and Jones' studied the CaS0,-NaCI-H,O system up to 392F and surveyed the work of previous investigators. To model natural brines, one needs to study the solubility of anhydrite in aqueous solutions of sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and their mixtures. Since steam pressures as high as 2,000 psig (637F) may be involved in thermal oil recovery projects, a solubility study was conducted between 482 and 617F.' Discussed in this paper is the application of these data to the prediction of anhydrite precipitation in some practical steam soak and hot-water injection projects. Any simple method for predicting the solubility of an inorganic compound over a wide range of temperatures and solution compositions must be based on some assumptions, and therefore must yield approximate results. On the one hand, natural brines contain too many ionic species for all to be included in a simple scheme; on the other hand, there is no adequate theoretical basis for the exact prediction of solubility in even simple solutions of mixed electrolytes. However, it is possible at a given temperature to base a reasonable prediction scheme on two phenomena:'-' the increase in solubility with increasing total concentrations of all ions (as measured by the ionic strength; see the Appendix), and an increase due to formation of cornplexes between calcium ions and sulfate ions and between sulfate and magnesium ions. Stiff and Davis' developed such a scheme for predicting the solubility of gypsum (CaSO, ¦ 2H,O) in brines at temperatures u~ to 212F. However, for the higher temperaturei of present interest, the stable solid phase is anhydrite (CaSO,). This study involves a two-part method for predicting anhydrite solubility products. First, one predicts a value K, for a given ionic strength I and a given temperature T corresponding to mo./msr, = 1 from data of the CaS0,-NaCI-H,O system. Second, one determines a group of factors F .= F(Ca) • F(Mg) • F(SO,), where the individual factors account for increases in the solubility product due to complex formation by high concentrations, respectively, of calcium, magnesium and sulfate. Combining the two parts, one obtains the solubility product in molalities as

Jan 1, 1969

By Dr. Paul Worsey, Dr. Calvin Konya, Dr. Anthony Konya

Development of methods to calculate presplit blasthole pressures through simplified models, namely the Empirical Model and the Detonation Pressure Model. These models can be used with variations in explosive type and diameter, along with borehole diameter. All models have been validated with test data and shown to have minimal error.

Feb 1, 2020

By Iley J. D, Siviour N. g, Moffatt R. J

The process of desilverising by fractional crystallisation with reflux was investigated through laboratory batch tests and continuous laboratory bench scale tests at CSIRO Clayton, to a 300 kg/hr pilot plant at Port Pine. The pilot plant built at BHAS comprised a vertical cylindrical refining column with internal diameter 250 mm and height 3.2 m, attached at the top to an off-set cylindrical stirred crystalliser tank. Crystals were made in the crystalliser by intermittent immersion of steel cold fingers, which were water cooled between immersions. Gas heat was used for melting the crystals at the base of the column and for side compensation heating. A computerised in strumentation system was employed for data logging and for controlling some critical plant operations. A mechanical device was first employed to promote counter-current plug flow of crystals down the column against the rising stream of reflux liquid, but this was found to be unsatisfactory owing to excess noise, frequent mechanical failure, and excessive accumulation of dross. Plug flow was finally promoted by pulsing the column. Low silver levels, less than 1 gitonne, were achieved with both methods of crystal transport under total reflux conditions. The pulsed column gave results for silver and bismuth which agreed with the theoretical predictions of a computer model, but there was some selective drossing of antimony. In the mechanically agitated column, excessive drossing promoted selective removal of most of the antimony and some of the bismuth, and the results after extended operation were well removed from the theoretical predictions. Plant failures and operating problems prevented the achievement of satisfactory product quality with the necessary reliability under production conditions. Other priorities necessitated the termination of the project before the process could be optimised.

Jan 1, 1989

By F. Calizaya, M. G. Nelson

This paper presents a summary of basic requirements for the design, installation and operation of booster fans in coal mines, especially in deep and/or extensive mines. It includes a brief description of the major steps that should be followed to ensure that these units are used in coal mines safely and efficiently. The guidelines were prepared based on the standards and regulations adopted by two prominent coal mining countries, the best practices developed by the mining industry, and the applicable standards used in the United States for the fail-safe operation of main fans.

Jan 1, 2015

By J deVries, A Broodryk, P Kyselica, K McLean

Gwalia gold mine is located close to the town of Leonora in the Goldfields region of Western Australia, some 830 km from Perth. The mine is wholly owned by St Barbara Ltd, an Australian Securities Exchange listed gold producer and explorer. The Gwalia mine is a deep, all-trucking mine and is serviced by a 10 km long decline from surface. Mining is currently 1540 m below surface. Reserves extend to 1820 m below surface and are open at depth. The mine produces in excess of 200 koz of gold per annum.The Leonora area is hot and arid, with a mean annual rainfall of 230 mm and a 95 per cent mean daily maximum temperature of 20.3°C wet-bulb and 35.6°C dry-bulb.The primary ventilation system comprises a 490 kg/s surface exhaust fan, which draws air down a parallel intake system consisting of the decline, and a dedicated fresh-air intake system extending to the bottom of the production zone. Cooling is provided via a surface bulk air cooler serviced by an ammonia refrigeration plant that delivers 150 kg/s of chilled water to the bulk air cooler.The refrigeration plant and bulk air cooler were installed in 2008. The design allows cooling to be increased over time by installing an additional refrigeration plant in a lead lag configuration with the current refrigeration plant when required.Since 2008, expansion and increased depth reached a point where the underground heat load exceeded the installed capacity of the existing 4.0 megawatt rated (MWR) refrigeration plant. In order to maintain the mine design conditions underground, upgrading of the existing refrigeration system was required to bring the cooling capacity to 7.5 MWR.Two expansion options were considered: the addition of an ammonia vapour-compression refrigeration machine similar to the existing one or a lithium bromide absorption refrigeration system using waste heat from the site power station. The original design and layout of equipment on-site meant that either could be used, allowing an assessment of the merits of both when additional cooling was required.The decision was made to install a lithium bromide absorption system on the lead side of the existing ammonia refrigeration plant. This arrangement provides considerable economic benefits, including reductions in site-generated electrical power, generator fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.This paper details the planning, design, installation and commissioning of the absorption chillers.CITATION:Broodryk, A, deVries, J, Kyselica, P and McLean, K, 2015. The design, installation and commissioning of an absorption refrigeration system at Gwalia gold mine in Western Australia, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 193–200 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

By L. D. Jaffe

IT is now well established that quenched and tempered titanium alloys have much better ductility when the quenching is from a two phase a-B structure, rather than from an all B structure. The corresponding microstructural differences, however, have not been shown in previous publications. Accordingly, specimens were cut from a % in. rod of commercial RC-130A, containing 7.9 pct Mn and 0.12 pct C, which had been previously hot rolled, heated 1 hr at 1100°F, and air cooled. (The same heat has been studied by others." 7 Samples about 1/4 in. cube were heated in helium 1/2 hr at 1450' or 1700°F, quenched in brine, tempered in helium 1 hr at various temperatures up to 1250°F, and quenched in brine. They were then sectioned and metallo-graphically examined, using an etchant of HF-HNO, in glycerine. As quenched from 1700°F, the microstructure observed was clear /3. (Probably also present was U, as the hardness was 400 Vhn, but w is not yet reliably revealed by any metallographic technique.) When the /3 quenched alloy was tempered at a high temperature, a precipitated as a grain boundary film

Jan 1, 1957

By Russ Darr

New methods and techniques in the field of hydrogeology are being developed constantly. One of these advances has been brought about through the use of inexpensive microcomputers. The formulas used in this paper and developed by Theis, Jacob, Glover, Keck, and Dupuit are not new. The methods by which these formulas can be solved are now available to all who wish to get faster, less expensive, and more reliable answers. These methods involve the solution of standard groundwater formulas using microcomputers. Examples and case histories of these methods are presented

Jan 1, 1980

By Liming Yuan

[ ]

Jan 1, 2009

By J K. Claflin, S R. La Brooy, A M. Claflin

Rotary kilns have been in service in the gold industry to regenerate carbon for 65 years. At the time oxide ores with gold head grades of 8 to 10 g/t were being treated. Carbon could be regenerated adequately at 650°C and solution losses were less than 1%. Forty years ago, research indicated that heavily fouled carbon from flotation circuits had to be held at 750 to 850°C for ten to twenty minutes for full reactivation (Avraamides and La Brooy, 1987), gold head grades were typically 5 g/t and solution losses typically 0.02 ppm – still less than 1%. In 2017 it was determined (Claflin et al., 2017) that a residence time of less than 1 minute at 750°C can be adequate to reactivate carbon fouled with organics sufficiently to achieve 0.005 ppm solution losses in a flotation tailings leach plant.With the potential for discovery head grades to drop below 0.6 g/t, solution losses of 0.02 ppm represent over 3% loss. Tight operation of the whole carbon circuit is required to keep gold solution losses below 1% going forward.There are alternatives to a rotary carbon kiln, e.g. vertical kilns of which the Minfurn, Rintoul and Combustion Air kilns are examples. The alternative kilns can be heated using electrical heating elements, induction, and microwave. These kilns can operate successfully under the right conditions, however, they are almost exclusively for small carbon throughputs and are not suitable for the large carbon advance rates that are required to process low head grade ore deposits. Large throughput carbon kilns are are almost exclusively fossil fuel fired rotary kilns and the subject of this paper. In the view of the principal author, a fossil fuel fired vertical carbon kiln is preferred to a rotary kiln, however, it is not currently used in the industry.Thermal regeneration of activated carbon has a major impact on gold recovery in the carbon circuit. The carbon kiln and associated equipment constitute 3 to 5% of the capital cost for an oxide processing plant and up to 10% of the capital cost if flotation tails are leached. Despite the capital cost and impact on recovery, the carbon kiln is often poorly selected, operated and maintained.Six years ago Ausenco embarked on the Carbon Kiln Initiative to reduce solution gold losses. This body of knowledge has been published in a series of papers culminating in this paper on how to:1. Select a kiln appropriate for the flowsheet;2. Maintain the kiln to achieve design operation; and3. Operate the kiln to minimise costs and maximise reactivation.CITATION:Claflin, J K, La Brooy, S R and Claflin, A M, 2018. Carbon kiln selection, operation and maintenance, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 251–274 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018

By R. Hurman Eric

The dew-point technique of activity measurements take advantage of the volatility of a component in solution. The pressure of the volatile component over a sample is determined from observations of the temperature at which condensation of the vapor occurs. The method is applicable best when the vapor pressure of the components would differ by about two to three orders of magnitude. Experimentally, this is a closed system involving the use of evacuated and sealed transparent quartz sample probes. Furthermore reliable vapor pressure data of the volatile component is essential along with a specialized high temperature furnace capable of giving reproducible results. In this context, the vertical Dew-Point Furnace (DPF) was designed and built after elaborate trails until enough proficiency was gained for reproducible results. Over the years the DPF was modified and improved. The DPF developed was versatile and could easily be used for activity measurements in the isopiestic mode (another method of measuring activities of a volatile component in a solution). The necessary ancillary systems; namely evacuation-flushing-evacuation followed by sealing of quartz sample probes under vacuum were also perfected over the years. As and when necessary the dew-point technique was supplemented by classical equilibration-quenching method employed on the sealed quartz sample probes to reveal necessary phase equilibrium information. The following were studied utilizing the above technique: (i) Activities in CU2S-PbS and FeS-PbS binaries and CU2S-FeS- PbS ternary at 1200°C; (ii) Activities in Cu2S-SnS and FeS-SnS binaries and Cu2S-FeS-SnS ternary at I200°C; (iii) Phase equilibria and thermodynamic in Cu-Pb-S, Fe-Pb-S, Fe-Sn-S, Cu-Sn-S and Ag-Sn-S systems. Most recently the following systems have been tackled: (i) Phase equilibria and thermodynamics in the Ag-Pb-S and Sn-Pb-S systems; and (ii) Activities in Ag2S-FeS-CuzS-PbS quaternary at 1200°C.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. Hurman Eric

The dew-point technique of activity measurements take advantage of the volatility of a component in solution. The pressure of the volatile component over a sample is determined from observations of the temperature at which condensation of the vapor occurs. The method is applicable best when the vapor pressure of the components would differ by about two to three orders of magnitude. Experimentally, this is a closed system involving the use of evacuated and sealed transparent quartz sample probes. Furthermore reliable vapor pressure data of the volatile component is essential along with a specialized high temperature furnace capable of giving reproducible results. In this context, the vertical Dew-Point Furnace (DPF) was designed and built after elaborate trails until enough proficiency was gained for reprodueible results. Over the years the DPF was modified and improved. The DPF developed was versatile and could easily be used for activity measurements in the isopiestic mode (another method of measuring activities of a volatile component in a solution). The necessary ancillary systems; namely evacuation-flushing-evacuation followed by sealing of quartz sample probes under vacuum were also perfected over the years. As and when necessary the dew-point technique was supplemented by classical equilibration-quenching method employed on the sealed quartz sample probes to reveal necessary phase equilibrium information. The following were studied utilizing the above technique: (i) Activities in CuzS-PbS and FeS-PbS binaries and CU2S-FeS- PbS ternary at 1200°C; (ii) Activities in CuzS-SnS and FeS-SnS binaries and Cu2S-FeS-SnS ternary at 1200°C; (iii) Phase equilibria and thennodynamic in Cu-Pb-S, Fe-Pb-S, Fe-Sn-S, Cu-Sn-S and Ag-Sn-S systems. Most recently the following systems have been tackled: (i) Phase equilibria and thennodynamics in the Ag-Pb-S and Sn-Pb-S systems; and (ii) Activities in Ag2S-FeS-CuzS-PbS quaternary at 1200°C.

Jan 1, 2003

By Patrick R. Taylor

A non-transferred arc thermal plasma assisted cyclone reactor has been designed, built and operated to evaluate its use in vitrification of wastes. Simulated waste (liquid, slurry or fine particulate) is injected near the plasma flame, where nearly instantaneous dehydration and calcination reactions happen. A non-transferred arc plasma torch was attached tangentially to the cyclone and is utilized as both an enthalpy source and to provide the gas velocities required to generate the cyclonic gas flow patterns. The closed top cyclone flow sends the solid particulates to the wall, where they are captured by a thin film of molten glass that is injected as a powder at a position lower in the reactor. The molten glass is then collected in a crucible. The feasibility of simulant injection directly into the flame zone and its effect on electrode lifetimes has been studied. Several candidate refractory systems have been evaluated for their suitability for extended use under the demanding conditions present in the cyclone reactor.

Jan 1, 2002

By Pedro Lilienfeld

This report describes a program whose objective was to develop, design, fabricate and laboratory-test two prototype instruments capable of real-time selective detection and measurement of airborne fibrous-shaped particles. The operation of this fibrous aerosol monitor (FAM) is based on the rotation imparted to the acicular particles by means of a rotating quadrupole electric field of the order of 3000 V/cm. This field induces a dipole charge separation on the fibers and aligns them with the applied field. The selective detection of the fibers is effected by synchronous detection of the resulting modulation of the light scattered from a continuous-wave helium-neon laser beam by the rotating particles. The theory of operation, design of the electric-optical detection configuration and the electronic signal processing method are discussed. By means of a scattering pulse sharpness discrimination technique, fibers whose length exceed a selectable value are detected and their number concentration digitally displayed. Counting times of 1 to 1000 minutes permit the measurement of fiber concentrations between 0.001 and about 30 cm-3. A concentration of the order of one fiber per cubic centimeter can be assessed within a relative standard deviation of 10 percent with a counting period of 10 minutes. The FAM is a portable, battery-powered instrument capable of operating continuously for about 4 hours between battery charges. Preliminary tests with crocidolite and crysotile asbestos as well as with glass fibers were performed in the laboratory and the results indicate good correlation with the standard NIOSH phase contrast microscopy filter counting method.

Jan 1, 1977

Keeping the sediment on the mine site and out of the water course is essential from the regulatory, environmental and sustainability perspectives. Regulation of this aspect of mining is embedded in environmental legislation and government receiving water quality standards, and government control has apparently been considered to be the most appropriate method to define mine site discharge standards and the environmental implications of sediment in downstream watercourses. A literature search for guidelines for the site specific design and operation of sediment ponds treating mine site runoff to remove total suspended solids, turbidity and flocculant-induced toxicity, revealed little information on the mining industry?s and government?s roles in defining the ?how to achieve? related to sediment pond design. Is there a need or reason for an industry-driven leadership to clearly define the ?how to? keep the sediment on the mine site and out of the water course? Currently, this issue is addressed in Canada by a federal mining regulation for metal mines which specifies discharge quality for sediment. This paper focuses on the method used in British Columbia, Canada, to regulate and provide a scientific methodology to control the discharge of sediment from mine sites. Management plans relative to this topic are discussed and are considered to have value from the exploration, construction, operation and the onset of closure phases. In addition, the balance and linkage between the erosion control management plan and the sediment pond management plan are discussed in terms of how they may be designed to complement each other to lower the risk of exceeding discharge and receiving water quality standards. If there were an industry-driven standard, or guidance document relative to addressing sediment release, it would benefit mining companies by eliminating the repetitive analysis of this topic for each new mine, mine expansion, and mine modification; also, government may often replace certain aspects of permitting with a regulation, if there is a government/industry established standard defining Best Achievable Technology (e.g. the Canadian Metal Mining Effluent Regulations).

Aug 1, 2013