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By Edward B. Walker, Michel Grosmangin

The geological and economic conditions peculiar to the Greater Oficina area are presented to demonstrate the necessity of a low-cost, well-site method of distinguishing gas-bearing formations. The method of gas detection with the neutron log is briefly discussed and its limitations are explained. A new method is described which consists in running a second neutron log with a larger source-to-detector spacing. Field data indicate that under favorable conditions the larger spacing response is proportionately more influenced by the virgin gas zone than is the shorter spacing response. One important condition is that the gas sands be invaded, with a diameter of invasion equal to about two to three times the hole diameter. The calibration of the longer spacing log is made so that the two logs read the same deflection in shale and in a known water or oil sand. Under such conditions, gas is indicated by a positive separation, i.e., the curve for the longer device is displaced to the right of the curve for the shorter device. Because of the non-linearity of the long spacing response, low porosity formations also show positive separations. In sands with large porosity variations, the gas sands can no longer he located visually. They can be detected on a plot of shorter spacing vs longer spac-ing deflections. INTRODUCTION In the Greater Oficina area of Eastern Venezuela, the rapid and accurate detection of gas from well logs is of primary importance because of a combination of economic, geologic, and operational conditions. Briefly, these conditions are: economic—there is no market for gas at the present time; geologic—a single well may contain as many as 30 or more oil or gas sands for which intervals -to be tested must be selected; opera-tional—first, once opened to the casing through perforations, gas sands are extremely difficult and expensive to squeeze off, and second, gas detection must be rapid because the geologist must decide immediately, at the well, which sand to perforate. During the early period of exploitation in Greater Ofi-cina, when clay base muds were used, sidewall samples, together with electric logs, gave fairly good distinction between oil and gas sands. When exploitation became concentrated on deep fields of poorer sidewall sample recovery, and after the advent of oil emulsion muds, now the standard drilling fluid in Greater Oficina, the regular neutron log became the most reliable indicator of gas. In 1953, R. Norelius devised the dual-spacing neutron technique for gas detection. The dual-spacing neutron log has proved to be highly successful in detecting gas and has been adopted as a regular survey by all of the oil companies of the area. Several hundred dual-spacing neutron logs have been run in Eastern Venezuela and several tests per well are available for positive evaluation of the logs. The findings outlined below are based upon this extensive field experience. GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE GREATER OFICINA AREA The Greater Oficina area lies on the south flank of the Eastern Venezuela Basin (Fig. 1). Nearly all accumulations of oil and gas in the area are trapped, in whole or in part, against normal faults. All known oil and gas reservoirs in Greater Oficina occur in the Ofi-cina formation (Miocene-Oligocene) or in the "U" sands. The U sands are the lithologic equivalent of the Merecure group (Otigocene-Eocene), which contains oil in many fields north of Greater Oficina. Most of the petroleum produced in Eastern Venezuela is from the Oficina formation.

Jan 1, 1958

By S. N. Groudev

Acid mine drainage waters generated in the uranium deposit Curilo, Bulgaria, were treated by means of a pilot-scale passive system consisting of an alkalizing limestone drain, a permeable multibarrier for microbial dissimilatory sulphate reduction, biosorption and chemical neutralization, and a natural wetland, connected in a series. The waters had pH in the range of about 2.5 ? 4.1 and contained radionuclides (uranium, radium), heavy metals (copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese), arsenic and sulphates in concentrations usually much higher than the relevant permissible levels for waters intended for use in the agriculture and/or industry. The water flow rate through the passive system varied in the range of about 5 ? 15 m3/24 h, reflecting water residence times of about 60 to 20 hours. An efficient removal of pollutants was achieved by this system during the different climatic seasons, even during the cold winter days at external air and water temperatures close to 0°C. The removal was connected with different mechanisms but the microbial sulphate reduction played the main role during the warmer months of the year. However, during the cold winter days the removal of pollutants was due mainly to their sorption by the solid dead plant biomass (cow manure, plant compost, straw) present in the multibarrier as well as to their precipitation as a result of chemical neutralization caused by crushed limestone.

Jan 1, 2006

By P. H. Lu, M. J. DeMarco, J. R. Koehler

Beginning in late 1985 and continuing through 1987, US Bureau of Mines personnel investigated longwall chain pillar and entry design in two and three-entry gateroad systems at a deep underground coal mine in central Utah. To evaluate their respective stability characteristics, four chain pillars and two longwall panels within the two separate entry systems were instrumented with Bureau hydraulic borehole pressure cells to continuously monitor vertical and horizontal pillar and panel stresses through adjacent panel retreat. In addition, supplemental entry closure information was obtained from sites located in the vicinity of the instrumented pillars. The findings presented in this report demonstrate the practicality of evaluating mine pillar stability using in situ methods and support three significant conclusions regarding ground control aspects of the investigated two-entry system: (1) Total areal entry loading was considerably less for the two-entry system, as opposed to the three-entry system, (2) a smaller percentage of opened ground in the two-entry system contributed to a marked reduction in rooffalls, and (3) lower areal loading in the two-entry system suggests improved ground conditions when mining the underlying seam.

Jan 1, 1987

By P. Minkkinen, R. C. A. Minnitt

Particle size distribution analysis is important to many industries for assessing product quality, process efficiency, and compliance with contractual standards, while ensuring sample accuracy, and representativeness. Inaccurate particle size distribution results, arising from fines due to excessive handling can lead to penalties and buyer-seller disputes. A non-representative particle size distribution means samples will not accurately represent the chemical components either. Sampling blasthole cuttings poses challenges due to large material volumes, segregation, and uneven settling of particles in dense gold bearing ores. Commonly used sampling methods, such as spear or sectoral sampling, may lack representativeness. Particle size distribution analysis is crucial for evaluating sampling methods by comparing test sample representativeness against a reference standard derived from multiple particle size distribution analyses. Acceptable samples must fall within the 97.5% confidence intervals of the standard; deviations analyses lying outside these boundaries indicate a strong likelihood of segregation errors. A case study demonstrates this approach by using a 6.005 kg benchmark sample to assess two additional samples (1 kg and 5 kg), highlighting particle size distribution’s role in detecting sampling errors and refining protocols. An example of three test samples collected from reverse circulation drill cuttings compared to a standard reference sample is presented to illustrate a quality assurance/quality control procedure for reverse circulation drilling.

Oct 2, 2025

By Nguyen V. V

The development of structural defects in the overburden material immediately behind a production blast was studied using surface and subsurface techniques. A significant increase in vertical and horizontal fracture intensity was recorded. The extent of fracturing into the highwall appeared to be dependent on the structural and petrologic characteristics of the various lithological units and the relative position of the explosive charges. A shallow zone of disruption to a depth of 10 m and extending to around 30 m from the newly formed highwall crest was recorded. Horizontal fractures in lower units of the overburden sequence were recorded at distances up to 50 m from the new highwall Face.

Jan 1, 1981

By F K. Altuntov

The study presented in this paper is based on the Kiirunavaara underground mine located in the northern part of Sweden. The deposit is mined using the sublevel caving (SLC) mining method. This paper briefly reviews the alternative SLC layouts, as well as presents challenges for the application. In Kiirunavaara currently, the traditional SLC design is employed, however, continuous improvement of material transportation systems used in mines generates a need for investigation of the current and future production area layouts in sublevel caving mines. When identifying the potential benefits of the alternative production area layouts, the production targets and effects must be further investigated to understand the benefits and potential effects. In this study, several different layouts have been investigated and evaluated. The designs include different development configurations and orepass infrastructure moved further away from the orebody and still require further investigation.

Mar 29, 2023

A Modelling Approach Using a Back-Calculated Induction Time to Predict Recoveries in Flotation

Sep 13, 2010

By J. Jorge, J. Mariño-Salguero, B. Álvarez-Rodriguez, J. M. Menéndez-Aguado, J. J. de Felipe

"This work focuses on the characterization of heat generation during dry fracture by direct impact of a tantalum ore. Moreover, an attempt was made to quantify the heat energy loss to the environment during the grinding process of a ball mill. The study was carried out using mineral samples from a Spanish mine that were characterized by measuring their density and specific heat. During the experiments, increases of temperature ranging from 5.9 to 7.3 °C after the fracturing process were observed. A numerical model was then applied to calculate temperature distributions through the mill wall. Three possible combinations of heat transfer coefficients were analyzed, from (1) Kapakyulu and Moys, (2) Duda and (3) the heat transfer laboratory of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. The models with the coefficients from Kapakyulu and Moys and the heat transfer laboratory of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya were found to provide results that were in best agreement with the experimental data. IntroductionEvery year, several billion tons of metallic ores, minerals, cement and other solids used in the ceramic and chemical industries are subjected to size reduction in ball mills around the world. The U.S. Department of Energy (2005) reported that in the United States about 29 percent of the total energy used by the mining industry, or 0.4 percent of total U.S. energy consumption, is used in comminution. In Canada and Australia, comminution is responsible for about 2 percent and 1.5 percent of total energy use, respectively. In nonindustrialized countries where mining constitutes higher fractions of their industrial sectors, comminution costs represent a significant contribution to mine operating costs. The specific energy consumption values for the grinding of these materials typically range from 5 to 50 kWh/t. Thus, a significant amount of electrical energy is consumed in the ball mill grinding operation (Aguado et al., 2006; Gupta and Sharma, 2014). Grinding can represent up to 50 percent of the direct operating cost in a mineral processing plant, especially as comminution devices operate in highly inefficient ranges of 4 to 8 percent (Wang, Yang and Yu, 2012)."

Jan 1, 2017

By M. Gangal, B. Paul

It may be seen from Maurer's survey (Maurer,l 1966) that most of the common methods used in rock drilling today depend upon mechanical loading of the rock. In order to predict the behavior of rock under an imposed system of stresses, it is necessary to have a valid criterion which delineates those combinations of stress which cause macroscopic rock failure from those which do not. Admittedly, the conditions under which brittle materials fracture depend very much upon statistically variable local effects such as inclusions, grain boundaries, minute imperfections, etc. However, it is extremely desirable to be able to predict fracture under complex states of stress by means of a stress-criterion of failure, where, for a given material, the effects of the other variables mentioned are incorporated into a small number of experimentally observable parameters. One of the most successful of these "macroscopic stress criteria" has been the Coulomb-Mohr theory 2,3 (also see Jaeger 4 and Terzaghi 5), modified by the addition of tension cutoffs (Paul 6). At first thought it might seem rather odd that a macroscopic theory is capable of predicting fractures which originate at highly localized random imperfections at an atomic level (or more likely at the level of individual mineral grains in rocks). However, Griffith7 showed that fractures originating near the tips of randomly oriented elliptical cracks lead to the macroscopic stress criterion of failure indicated in Fig. 1 (a). Fig. I (a) is to be interpreted in the following way: P and Q represent the maxi mum and minimum principal stresses (compression is considered positive) in a macroscopically isotropic body; fracture will not occur for any combination of principal stresses lying within the 'fracture curve' shown, but

Jan 1, 1967

By M. J. Lempel

A theoretical study of the heat-transfer characteristics of a dilute gas-solids mixture in an externally heated tube is reported. Detailed equations are developed describing the system, and a numerical method is presented to solve the equations using a digital computer. The methods are applied to a system containing fine coal particles entrained in hydrogen, flowing through a hot tube. Heat-transfer coefficients and several other physical constants are evaluated in detail.

Jan 1, 1967

By Weijie Wei, Jinwang Zhang, Shengli Yang

In longwall top-coal caving (LTCC) mining with an inclined seam, the recovery rate is low and equipment stability is poor due to the unbalanced top-coal drawing process. To address these problems, this paper proposes the dynamic group caving method (DGCM), whose basic premise is that when the drawn volume of top coal from a support reaches about half, the next support begins drawing top coal, and the drawing process between the two supports is half done. Using particle flow code (PFC), the caving mechanism of top coal under DGCM was investigated. The results are of significance to realize high efficiency and precise caving in LTCC mining with an inclined seam.

By Lucien Eaton

INCREASED mining activity during the past year has brought to light changes in mining practice and advances in technique, born and incubated in the period of depression from which the mining industry is now emerging. Although the tendency toward large output from individual mines has continued, a salutary trend is evident toward greater efficiency at small mines, in which the gold mines of Canada have led the way. Improvement in excavating machinery and washing plants for small placers has continued, and knowledge of the possibilities and limitations of this kind of equipment has increased. Greater portability through sectionalization has been the keynote. Power, shovels and draglines mounted on caterpillar treads move from one deposit to another under their own power, and floating washing plants mounted on pontoons can be taken down, moved, and set up again by a small crew of men in only a few days.

Jan 1, 1937

By Nathaniel Arbiter, Chas. H. Behre

Two outstanding factors characterize most undertakings in the mineral industries: (1) mineral deposits are not equally distributed over the earth but are localized by natural processes, and (2) the mineral industries are largely based upon wasting assets. Neither of these factors is invariably true, for a few mineral materials, such as water, are essentially world-wide and others are replaced periodically by processes not unlike crop production. Indeed, with some, such as the salts in the sea, the supply is cyclic in short or long periods, whereas others, like water, though locally or periodically in short supply, are essentially inexhaustible. But to the extent that most minerals are limited to certain areas and are "permanently" consumed, any industry founded upon them, by implication, demands great care in planning for the most effective extraction-the essence of wise and conservative expenditure. Several less unusual yet also truly fundamental factors in the economics of the mineral industry are those involving (1) the various kinds and properties of mineral materials, which influence their use; (2) their geologic and geographic availability; and (3) the 'techniques unique to their discovery, exploration, and utilization. This chapter is designed primarily as a brief background for later ones and as a summary of the several unusual or at least special factors and of their effect upon the economics of the mineral industry. The social and political and especially the economic aspects of the industry are the main subjects of this volume and are dealt with in extended fashion in subsequent chapters. Fundamental Characteristics of Mineral Deposits DEFINITIONS Minerals are naturally occurring compounds of nonliving matter, each technically defined as having ( 1 ) a chemical composition that may vary

Jan 1, 1964

By M. R. Henzinger, G. Lenz, A. Gaich, Pötsch, W. Schubert, P. Wagner

"The better the information on the rock mass and its fracture system, the better is the basis for any rock mechanical decision that is required during the excavation process. While in conventional tunnelling free view to the tunnel face is available, possibilities are limited for mechanised tunnelling using a tunnel boring machine (TBM). An approach, already formulated in 2005, is used that produces digital photographs through openings in the cutting wheel of a TBM and merges them into a circular three-dimensional image. The 3D image is then used for geometric rock mass characterisation purposes including geological mapping, for example to measure spatial orientations or determine joint spacing. In the paper the basic concept is described together with first results from a pilot test.INTRODUCTIONA three-dimensional image unites digital photographs with spatial information on the objects/surfaces it shows. Since they combine geometric and visual information they are a straightforward source for geometric rock mass analysis and geological mapping. Their obvious benefits among others are: (i) they allow spatial measurements even in inaccessible regions, (ii) they provide objective and reproducible records of the rock mass conditions, and (iii) they increase working safety (Gaich et al. 2004).Pre-requisite for the generation of 3D images is the acquisition of at least two photographs from the region of interest. From the photographs the imaged object surfaces are reconstructed by means of image analysis using methods from photogrammetry (Slama, 1980) and computer vision (Hartley & Zisserman, 2001). See also Figure 1."

Jan 1, 2015

By Joseph A. Holmes

Although Venezuelan production attained a new peak in 1938, passing the 190 million barrel mark for the first time, there was a distinct flattening of the steep upward trend that marked 1937 and preceding years. The annual total of 190,231,780 bbl. was only 31/3 million barrels above the 1937 figure, an increase of slightly less than 2 per cent, which contrasts sharply with the 20 per cent increase of 1937 over 1936. As in the previous year, the Lake Maracaibo fields supplied approximately 73 per cent of the oil produced, Lagunillas remaining the largest single contributor in spite of a 17 million barrel decrease in its annual output. Tia Juana increased its percentage of the Venezuelan total from 14.1 per cent in 1937 to 23.4 per cent in 1938; La Rosa showed little change with 13.7 per cent; Quiriquire in eastern Venezuela was also little changed with 13.2 per cent; Mene Grande, the only other field of real importance, declined from 7.7 per cent of the total in 1937 to 6.6 per cent for 1938. Two new fields, Temblador and Bachaquero, began actively to ship oil during the year, and by November were averaging 7600 and 10,000 bbl. per day, respectively. The former is in eastern Venezuela, and the latter is the most southern of the proven Lake Maracaibo fields. (A map of Venezuela was published in Volume 127 of the Transactions.) Table 1 gives a complete résumé of Venezuelan production by fields for 1937 and 1938, and shows that 1,685,575,663 bbl. had been produced to Dec. 31, 1938. The percentage contributed by each of the principal fields to this total is shown in Table 3, as well as their trends over the past several years. From these data it is apparent that the Maracaibo Basin is the principal source of Venezuelan production, and will probably continue to hold this position for some years. At the year's end 2657 oil wells were producing, of which 2425 were in western and 232 in eastern Venezuela; 36 per cent were on natural flow, 57 ppr cent were pumping, and 7 per cent were on air or gas lift. Out of 523 wells drilled, 507 producers were completed in 1938, five less than in the previous year and nearly 100 less than in 1929. These

Jan 1, 1939

By Joseph A. Holmes

Although Venezuelan production attained a new peak in 1938, passing the 190 million barrel mark for the first time, there was a distinct flattening of the steep upward trend that marked 1937 and preceding years. The annual total of 190,231,780 bbl. was only 31/3 million barrels above the 1937 figure, an increase of slightly less than 2 per cent, which contrasts sharply with the 20 per cent increase of 1937 over 1936. As in the previous year, the Lake Maracaibo fields supplied approximately 73 per cent of the oil produced, Lagunillas remaining the largest single contributor in spite of a 17 million barrel decrease in its annual output. Tia Juana increased its percentage of the Venezuelan total from 14.1 per cent in 1937 to 23.4 per cent in 1938; La Rosa showed little change with 13.7 per cent; Quiriquire in eastern Venezuela was also little changed with 13.2 per cent; Mene Grande, the only other field of real importance, declined from 7.7 per cent of the total in 1937 to 6.6 per cent for 1938. Two new fields, Temblador and Bachaquero, began actively to ship oil during the year, and by November were averaging 7600 and 10,000 bbl. per day, respectively. The former is in eastern Venezuela, and the latter is the most southern of the proven Lake Maracaibo fields. (A map of Venezuela was published in Volume 127 of the Transactions.) Table 1 gives a complete résumé of Venezuelan production by fields for 1937 and 1938, and shows that 1,685,575,663 bbl. had been produced to Dec. 31, 1938. The percentage contributed by each of the principal fields to this total is shown in Table 3, as well as their trends over the past several years. From these data it is apparent that the Maracaibo Basin is the principal source of Venezuelan production, and will probably continue to hold this position for some years. At the year's end 2657 oil wells were producing, of which 2425 were in western and 232 in eastern Venezuela; 36 per cent were on natural flow, 57 ppr cent were pumping, and 7 per cent were on air or gas lift. Out of 523 wells drilled, 507 producers were completed in 1938, five less than in the previous year and nearly 100 less than in 1929. These

Jan 1, 1939

By N. A. Gokcen, R. A. Dodd

Solubility of nitrogen in liquid iron-manganese system at 1550°C and one atmosphere pressure has been determined by a simple method. Results show that the solubility increases from 0.040 pct for pure iron to 1.41 pct for pure manganese. DETERMINATION of the solubility of gases in volatile metals. and alloys by the well-known Sievertsl method is unreliable. This is particularly true for the Fe-Mn system since Mn vaporizes readily from the alloys containing as little as 2 pct Mn, and, upon condensing on the cooler parts of the apparatus, it absorbs large amounts of nitrogen. Further, the condensing Mn vapor interferes with the usual method of temperature measurements with an optical pyrometer.

Jan 1, 1962

By A. Boehm

"For recycling LD slag into the steel making process, the phosphorous containing calcium silcate phases have to be removed from iron oxide phases. One possible technical solution could be magnetic separation in a wide range of susceptibilities from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic. To check the feasibility of magnetic separation the distribution of the magnetic susceptibility in size classes as well as the liberation of the phosphorous containing phase were evaluated by a new method combining two dimensional physical property analysis with QEMSCAN analysis. The particle size classes of energy controlled comminution products were subdivided into fractions of defined magnetic susceptibility using a hand magnet of well known field properties (pick up method). On the one hand the susceptibility classes were wet assayed on the other hand analyzed by QEMSCAN followed by data evaluation using iDiscover 5.3.1(FEI), which was adapted to the data structure of two physical properties (size and magnetic mass susceptibility). The results allow the comparison of mass based (3D) cumulative distribution of grades from the wet assays with the area based (2D) distribution from QEMSCAN analysis, in order to control a systematic (size dependent) stereological error for this special type of material. As the physical separation property forms a crucial parameter the results from the liberation analysis by QEMSCAN can be interpreted more profound with respect to an expectable separation result. Once the various mineral compositions of the particles are assigned to the physical properties the Henry Reinhardt chart serves to predict the best possible separation result and thus the feasibility of a separation technique.INTRODUCTIONThe two Austrian steel plants operated by voestalpine AG produce about 650,000 t (voestalpine 2014) of LD slag in the course of steel production from pig iron according to the basic oxygen process blowing oxygen in the converter by an oxygen lance. The process is also known as the Linz Donawitz (LD) steelmaking process. By the addition of lime (CaO), carbon, phosphorus, silica, manganese and sulfur, which are present in the molten pig iron, shall be oxidized and bound in the slag either as oxide or silicate phases, or leave the slag in the gaseous phase (CO). The average chemical composition of the investigated LD slag is given in table 1."

Jan 1, 2016

By P. K. Sims

Extensive mineralization in the basal part of the Duluth Complex of Middle Proterozoic (Keweenawan) age in northeast Minnesota has been explored during the past 30 years as a potential source of copper and nickel from sulfide-bearing assemblages. Very large resources of low grade and marginal material have been delineated by drilling and by test shafts sunk by at least five private mining companies, but none of the properties has yet been mined. With few exceptions, grade and tonnage figures for specific properties have not been released, but the magnitude of the resources has been estimated by the Minnesota Geological Survey and the Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources as constituting several billion tons of low grade and marginal copper- and nickel-bearing material - a major combined copper-nickel resource of international importance.

Jan 1, 1991

By George M. Hamilton

The gas producer actually dates back far beyond the period from which we first find recorded data. A partial production of producer gas can take place in any type of solid fuel grate equipment, such as a boiler, or even a fireplace if a sufficiently deep fuel bed is provided. Those of us who have watched a coal fire burning in the hearth, have no doubt noticed at times, the gases liberated by the heat burning on or near the surface of the fuel bed. So far as we know, the first gas producer was built by Bischof in Germany in 1839, followed by Ebelman in France in 1840, and Ekman of Sweden in 1845. The first large industrial development in the use of gas producers was When the two Siemens brothers of Germany patented their first combined gas producer and regenerative furnace in 1861, thus opening up the field for the use of raw, crude producer gas in heavy furnace work. In the years 1879-1881 J, E, Dowson, of England developed a producer gas cooling and cleaning plant, which extended the scope of application of producer gas to make possible its use in small furnaces and gas engines.

Jan 1, 1961