Search Documents

By Elham Kordzadeh

As the world’s reserves of coarse and high-grade iron ores continue to shrink, beneficiation is becoming increasingly important. The resulting concentrates cannot be used directly as feedstock for iron making, but require an additional agglomeration step. Pelletizing is preferred, because the uniform chemical, physical, and metallurgical characteristics of pellets make them a more desirable feed for the iron making processes. The heat hardening or induration of pellets is typically done in shaft furnaces, grate-kiln systems or on straight grates. Rotary kilns were originally developed in the late 19th century for Portland cement production [1]. The main development work for the successful adaptation of the process to the thermal treatment (induration) of green balls from iron ore was performed by Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA in the 1960’s [2].The straight grate process, which was first used in 1955 at Silver Bay, Minnesota, was a dedicated development with the aim to pelletize and indurate magnetite (taconite) concentrate [2]. There are various important technical and economical distinctions between the two pelletizing technologies. The most important differences include that a grate-kiln has three distinct pieces of equipment, a preheat grate, a rotary kiln and an annular cooler, whereas in the case of a straight grate, the entire indurating process is done on one piece of equipment only. In addition, both technological solutions have differences in their recuperation systems, direction of air flow in drying, number of burners, form of pellet movement, etc., which cause differences in raw material suitability, process control, economical aspects, plant operation and product pellet quality.

Oct 30, 2017

By B. P. von der Heyden, T. Blenkinsop, A. Mamuse

Zimbabwe hosts a varied array of coloured gemstones. With the exception of emerald deposits and several world-class pegmatites, few of the gemstone occurrences have received detailed attention from the scientific or mineral exploration communities. In the present contribution we summarize the status of knowledge of the gemstone deposits and occurrences in Zimbabwe, paying particular attention to the geological settings in which they were formed. Synthesis of this regional geological approach reveals that there may be significant exploration potential for further gemstone occurrences, particularly in the extensive pegmatite fields and in Al-enriched orogenic belts that have undergone greenschist to granulite facies metamorphism. Further socio-economic and developmental initiatives will aid in optimizing the value generation from this important sub-sector.

Feb 12, 2024

By Thomas B. Douglas

INSTRUMENTATION in the process industries can no longer be regarded as a convenience, but rather an absolute necessity. Although many chemical processes must already be conducted with instruments, every properly designed application of automatic process control will improve operation: 1) the product will be more uniform and of higher quality; 2) the manual labor saved will reduce cost; 3) uniformity of flow and uniform control of process will increase production; and 4) surges will be eliminated, making it possible to operate equipment near ultimate capacity at all times. Industrial instruments fall into two general classifications—those that measure and those that measure and control. The cement industry has been using instruments for a number of years, particularly in the burning process, primarily for indicatlng and recording. Automatic process control makes additional use of these instruments, and others, to control variables. Assisted by the instrument manufacturers, engineers at Ideal Cement Co. achieved considerable progress in determining how well the usual recording instruments could be made to control various phases of cement-making. The results of these experiments were used to make the new plant at Houston as wholly automatic as possible. The original Houston plant, built in 1937 by Gulf Portland Cement Co., consisted of only one 8 x 220-ft kiln and the necessary grinding mills and accessory equipment and had a capacity of 900 bbl per day (300,000 bbl annually). Ideal Cement Co. purchased this plant in 1940 and almost immediately started plans to increase its production. In 1941 a 9 x 220-ft kiln was installed and grinding and storage capacity were increased. The growing demand for cement in the Houston area necessitated a third kiln (9 ft 6 in. x 250 ft) in 1947. This brought the plant up to its present capacity of about 1.3 million bbl per year. Calcium silicates in cement are produced in a burning operation at high temperatures from raw mix of argillaceous and calcareous materials that have been crushed, mixed, and ground to a fine powder. The composition of this mixture must be kept consistent within narrow limits. Raw mixing and grinding may be done either wet or dry, but in both instances the materials must be correctly proportioned, finely ground, and thoroughly intermixed before entering the kiln. As the raw mix passes through a long horizontal rotary

Jan 1, 1959

By J. H. East, D. Harrington

Fires in metal mines have resulted in some of the worst disasters in American mining history insofar as loss of life is concerned. One fire caused the death of 163 miners and individual less spectacular fires have cost the lives of scores of workers. Metal mines are often very deep, and the men working on numerous levels far removed from direct communication with the surface. In many instances they cannot be warned quickly of an emergency or a mine fire by telephone or other usual method of communication, or by messenger, flashing lights, gongs, sirens, or whistles. Telephones are not paricularly effective as a means of warning unless placed at all strategic points and with attendants always on duty; though telephones well placed have a definite value in any well-pla.mied emergency procedure in mines of all kinds. Messengers are slow and men working in remote parts of a mine would not receive a warning quickly enough. Most metal mines are not electrically lighted, except at or adjacent to shaft stations and in principal haulageways, and this limits the effectiveness of flashing lights. Electric gongs and sirens or whistles have been tried as warning signals, but the sound is quickly deadened and does not travel upward into the stopes, especially those of an extensive volume. Shutting off the compressed air is by no means satisfactory as a warning, as not infrequently it is stopped accidently, so that it loses its value as an alarm. The introduction of water into compressed air lines is undesirable as a fire warning and necessitates considerable care, especially in deep mines; pressure-reducing valves must be provided to reduce pressure that otherwise would break connections or split the pipe. A quick, effective method of warning miners underground of the existence of an emergency requiring them to leave the mine immediately, such as a fire on the surface or underground, is provided by the introduction of stenches in the compressed-air lines. This method of warning is by no means experimental, inasmuch as it has been used successfully for many years in

Jul 1, 1943

By Karl Berger, Michael Steinkogler

The evolution in Metal Cutting: Inventors around the world have been successfully developing innovations for decades, but only some of these developments have had „GAME CHANGING“ potential. One of these innovations is the new developed saw blade LINCUT®, a patented changing system that paves the way for a fundamental reorientation of the entire saw blade industry worldwide through a simple and economical concept for rolling mills or heavy forging lines. Cost efficiency starts with the raw material: Circular saws equipped with a standard saw blade are expected to have a necessary 2 percent standstill per year due to required tool changing. The applied technology reduces this unnecessary loss of production by more than 50%. The ROI can therefore be reached faster which immediately lowers your production costs. No matter what material, conventional carbon steel or highly alloyed stainless steel, the coating and shape of carbide plates is perfected for extended tool life up to 25% with increased performance. Due to LINSINGERs own tool-technology-centre in Austria specialized in research and development of tools, constantly expanding R&D activities, best results are achieved in quality and cost efficiency: a (r)evolution in metal cutting.

Oct 1, 2019

By N. Shariatmadari

Two dry docks are currently under construction on the northern banks of the Persian Gulf by Iran Shipyard and Offshore Industries Co. (ISOICO). The construction of these dry docks forms a huge civil offshore project. The foundation system include more than 6500 large diameter (40-48 inch) spiral pipe piles with embedded depth varying from 18 to 25 meters. Extensive geotechnical subsurface investigations were carried out in the project site in order to provide enough information and proper perspective on the underlying soil layers. The results of geotechnical investigation indicated that a 20 m thick dense silty sand layer exist which can be considered as the main bearing stratum. Due to short clear distance between the piles (less than 3 m) refusal occurred for some piles, accordingly led to actual length less than their design length. To verify and in-situ evaluation of piles capacity, static and dynamic full scale loading tests programme were performed. The data from 40 static compression and tension and also 50 dynamic tests with PDA were interpreted and analyzed by current approaches and CAPWAP software. The results of analysis demonstrated that the safety factor of bearing capacity of piles must be increased to reach a safety factor of about 1.8. To achieve this purpose the interaction of combined piled-raft system has been realized.

Jan 1, 2007

By Robert H. Townsend

The following paper discusses the mining, transportation, and crushing methods, with costs, at the San Andreas plant of the Calaveras Cement Co. It is one of a series, prepared for and published by the U. S. Bureau of Mine describing methods used in cement-rock quarries throughout the country. These papers are designed to disseminate technical information regarding the methods used. The cost tabulations represent operating expenditures only and not total cost. It is recognized that publication of total costs mightin some instances cause embarrassment to individual producers as well as to the industry as a hole. On the other hand, operating costs are essential to the technical discussion and study of the methods employed. The attention of the reader is specifically called to this differentiation in order that no misunderstanding of the scope of the cost-tabulations shall ensue.

Jan 1, 1933

By H. Hamma, R. Fehrmann, M. Gaune-Escard, G. Hatem, S. B. Rasmussen, K. M. Eriksen

The molten salts M2S2O7and MHSO4, the binary molten salt systems M2S2O7-MHSO4and the molten salt-gas systems M2S2O7-V2O5and M2S2O7-M2SO4-V2O5(M = Na, K, Rb, Cs) in O2, SO2and Ar atmospheres have been investigated by thermal methods like calorimetry, Differential Enthalpic Analysis (DEA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Fundamental thermodynamic data like temperatures and molar heats of solid-solid transition and fusion, phase diagrams, heat capacities of solids and liquids, heat of mixing, and heats of complex formation have been obtained and are reviewed here. Also EPR spectroscopic evidence of V(IV) complexes and their structure are reported and the results are discussed in relation to the mechanism of SO2oxidation by V2O5based industrial catalysts. Keywords: Alkali pyrosulfates, alkali hydrogen sulfates, vanadium pentoxide, EPR spectroscopy, complex formation

Jan 1, 2004

By P. D. R. Maltby

"1. INTRODUCTIONMy talk today will discuss a new development in the thickening of slurries and clarification of waste water - the Enviro-Clear thickener. Several industrial installations of the thickener have been made in North America in the following applications:1.,water clarification in sugar beet processing plants.2.,separation of pregnant liquors from solid wastes following acid leaching in uranium mills3.,clarification of waste water from coal treatment plants as described in a paper in the June 1975 transactions of the SME entitled ""Application and Utilization of the Enviro Clear Thickener in a U.S. Steel Coal Preparation Plant"" by A.A. Terchnik, D.T. King and J.S. Anderson.2. HISTORYThe application of the Enviro-Clear thickener can be traced back to the filing of U.S. Patent 3523889 in 1970 by the inventor F. Eis. The claims of this patent are shown in Slide 1.The new concept was developed for sugar beet processing by the Spreckels Division of Amstar Corporation, and several such thickeners have subsequently been installed in various sugar beet plants. The Enviro-Clear Co. or New York took over the world-wide manufacturing and marketing of the thickener. Experience in the sugar beet industry indicated that the Enviro-Clear thickener volume requirements could be reduced to as low as one tenth that of a conventional type thickener. Various coal samples were supplied by U.S. Steel Research Laboratories for testing. The tests indicated that feed rate loadings of 3 gpm/ft.2 could be obtained by the Enviro-Clear thickener. Such results led to several industrial applications in the coal industry. Subsequently other branches of the mineral processing industry have come to learn of the possibilities of using this thickener. Slide 2 shows a list of commercial Enviro-Clear installations at the end of 1975."

Jan 1, 1976

By E. V. Bratygin, S. P. Elnikova

"In the article carrying out technique of experiments for estimation of power efficiency of process of crushing in cone crushers «in a layer». The conformity of the granulometric characteristics of the crushed products obtained as a result of the tests, the theoretical equations for the size characteristics, and the choice of the optimal equation for the prediction of the granulometric characteristics of the final products obtained by crushing ""in a layer"". Optimization of granulometric composition of power of crushers working ""in a layer"" is carried out with the purpose of reduction of the electric power consumption at reception of a product of required quality. As a result of the experiments, dependencies are obtained, the relevance and applicability of the crushing process ""in the layer"" for obtaining crushed stone of improved quality is proved. INTRODUCTION A number of equations have been proposed for calculating the breakage energy. These include equations by Kirpichev and Kick, Rittinger and Bond (Bogdanov, Olevsky, 1982). Another equation for calculating the specific breakage work in breakage by impact and in stratum was proposed by Devyatkin (Boiko, 2003). In these equations, the breakage energy is proportional to the particle size raised to some power. In the equation proposed by Devyatkin, the ore piece thickness or the feed average diameter is used. The relationship between energy and breakage can be expressed as an equation (Lynch, 1981; Tikhonov, no. 3, 2008) where k is a coefficient characterizing the energy parameter depending on the strength of the feed, l is size in microns. The Rittinger formula is obtained for n = 2, the Kirpichev-Kick formula for n = 1, the Bond formula for n = 1.5. For n = 3 or higher, the equation describes fine and ultrafine grinding. R. Hookey proposed a formula (Lynch, 1981, Tikhonov, no. 3, 2008), where the size exponent n is substituted by a size function In all of the above equations, a single value of the feed and product size is used; for example, in the Bond equation, size is defined as the particle size of the 20% oversize (P80 and F80). However, a single size value can represent multiple distributions, making that the Bond method inappropriate for determining the size (Lynch, 1981). Describing an equation for estimating the grinding energy will allow to design the electric drive and ore preparation circuit for the given breakage method."

Jan 1, 2018

By C. Bucknam, M. McComb

Mercury and silver polythiocarbonate sludge that was generated from the pilot testing of optimized mercury removal from cyanidation pregnant eluate solutions prior to Merrill-Crowe recovery of gold and silver were tested for long term stability at Newmont Metallurgical Services. Sludge samples were mixed with heap leach residue to simulate disposal of the sludge in spent or active areas of the heaps and leached for twenty weeks with water and cyanide leaching solution, respectively. Leach testing results are presented as well as analysis of the sludge using scanning electron microscope techniques down to the <1000 nanometer scale.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. Hu, F. Lin, R. Chen, F Peng, S. Yang, W. Yu

"Microseismic monitoring technology has become one of the most effective method of mine ground pressure monitoring after decades of development. But safety assessment of mine ground pressure by using microseismic monitoring is still in the development stage, it needs to be perfected continuously in practice, and choose the optimal assessment indexes and methods. The definitions and physical meanings of wave velocity, b value, and EI-VA value are introduced in this paper. Statistical calculation of the microseismic events in Luomu Mine is finished by using these indexes, then the functions and calculation results of V, b value, and EI-VA value with the variable of time are also given in the paper. The preliminary safety assessment method is established in Luomu Mine, and it has achieved good results in practical application.1.1 Engineering background The Luomu Mine is a super large molybdenum and tungsten production base in China, ore reserves is up to 2 billion tons, first in Asia and third in the world. It begins mining since the 1960. and bases on underground mining until 2002. In order to recover resources more effectively, it began to use opencast mining method and formed a production of 30000t/d in the early 1990. After about 30 years of underground mining, a large mined out spaces was formed under open pit mine, up to area of 1.2 million m2 and volume of 18 million m3, as shown in figure 1. The large number of mined out spaces seriously affects the normal production, mining and handling of mined out spaces are in the high risk. In the past years, several rock mass collapsions happened, and it caused a serious security threat to persons and equipments. According to the distribution characteristics of mined out spaces, Luomu Mine is divided into A, B, C, D and E mining area. The stability of D mining area is studied in this article. D mining area mainly includes 1376,1350,1340,1317 mined out spaces and 1280 deep large mined out area, as shown in figure 2. The mined out spaces of D mining area is extremely complex and high-risk. Therefore, a microseismic monitoring system was built to monitor the stability of D mining area, a large number of valuable datum has been obtained, and it has a striking effect (Cheng & Peng, 2013; Peng et al., 2013)."

Jan 1, 2015

By John S. Burton

Mineral policy in Canada has been in a state of transition and change over the past several years. 1976 has witnessed some settling of troubled waters and the pattern of the currents of change is becoming more clear. The provinces play a key role in this process and have provided much of the thrust for new initiatives. On the other hand, the federal government in Canada in recent years has taken a much more active interest in mineral affairs than previously and has asserted its powers on a number of key policy questions. Some of the initiatives from the two levels of government in Canada have come into conflict with each other and, thus, contributed materially to a state of affairs that includes change, uncertainty and conflict.

Jan 1, 1976

By M. Gyenge, O. F. Coates, K. Barron

"It is suggested that artificial supports might be used to increase, with safety, the angle of hardrock open-pit slopes. Guidelines for designing such a support system, based on a simplified analysis, are given. The installation, construction and instrumentation of a trial support system is described and a breakdown of the construction costs is given. On the basis of this cost analysis, the economic benefits derived from reduced waste-rock excavation are compared with the support costs for a typical mine. In an example, it is shown that the slope angle in an open-pit mine 500 ft deep, with benches 50 ft high by 30 ft wide, could be safely increased from 37Yz degrees without support to an optimum of 53 degrees with support. In this case, the support costs would be approximately $900 per linear foot of pit wall and the savings due to decreased excavation of waste rock (at $0.34/ton) would be approximately $1,900 per linear foot, yielding an increased margin of profit of approximately $1,000 per linear foot of pit wall. This figure could be increased to $6,000 per linear foot if the steeper slope were used to extract more ore.More than 50 per cent of the support costs are accounted for by diamond-drilling the holes for the deep cable anchors. The use of percussion drills for this purpose would seem to offer a means of significantly reducing the support . costs and thus further increasing the profit margin available."

Jan 1, 1971

By Carl O. Nickle

"IntroductionIF I WERE ASKED what are the two most important single factors in shaping the growth of Canada to date, and in building its future, the answer would be: first, the treasure house of natural resources on and below the surface over the length and breadth of our country; and two, the pioneering spirit and 'get up and go' of many of our people. The two factors are inseparable. Without the pioneering spirit, the natural resources of land, forest, stream, and the subsurface would have continued •to be useless,. Idle assets. With the pioneering spirit, Canada's natural resources have been and are creating economic revolutions.Western Canada oil and natural gas rank high on the list of such revolutions. Calgary, your meeting place today, is the birthplace of this economic revolution, one that has already sharply altered the economy .of the middle half of Canada, particularly that of Alberta; is increasingly making its weight felt on the economy of all Canada; and is helping re-shape world thinking on sources of vital petroleum supply for both peace and war. Calgary is today the 'operation headquarters' for the great bulk of a huge exploration and development programme that now extends over a quarter of a million square miles of Canada's West. As a Calgarian, •therefore, I am particularly happy to have this privilege of talking about oil and natural gas to members of the C.I.M.M., who play a key role in the development of all Canada's varied natural resources."

Jan 1, 1952

By L. P. Lamprecht

Traditionally, South African shaft sinking operations have used electric detonators for the initiation of blastholes. Globally, the trend in shaft sinking is to use the shock tube and detonating cord (STDC) initiation system, with value adding benefits. In pursuing this global trend, Cementation Mining of South Africa in partnership with SMX have ventured the STDC route. This paper explores the work carried out to date, and identifies a number of benefits to be gained by using the system.

Jan 1, 1999

By John E. Pahlman

The Bureau of Mines investigated the feasibility of removing heavy metals from mineral-process waste streams by precipitation with lignochemicals and humic acids. Lignochemicals are by products from the paper industry, while humic acids are obtained by caustic treatment of peat, subbituminous coal, and lignite. These high-molecular-weight organic materials have many functional groups, which can coordinate and form innercomplex salts with heavy metals that are crystalline precipitates. Filtering of a humic-acid-or lignochemical-treated solution or waste stream containing these precipitates removes the heavy metal sequstrates. Tests were conducted with two lignochemical samples, three humic acid samples, lime (CaO), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in which increasing amounts of these additives were reacted with 50 mL of solution containing Fe3+ , Al3+, Cr3+, Pb2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Mn2+, and Hg1+. At the appropriate pH, greater than 90-and 99-pct removal was achieved for these 11 heavy metal ions from the 10-and lOO-ppm solutions, respectively, using lignochemicals and humic acids. Removal efficienC)&apos; with these organic materials is better than that with CaO, especially for the more toxic ions, Hg1+, Cd2+, and Pb2+. Unlike the precipitates formed with NaOH or CaO, those with lignochemicals and humic acids are compact and noncolloidal. The volume of their sludge is sharply lower than that of the finely dispersed lime or soda precipitates; thus, their removal in settling tanks or by simple filtration is enhanced.

Jan 1, 1988

By BARONJUPTNER VON JONSTORFF, Andrew A. Blair, GUNNAR DILLNER

IT is a well-known fact that the results of different analysts, when operating on the same identical sample of steel or iron, are far from concordant, and it not infrequently happens that great annoyance and trouble in the commercial community are occasioned by these discrepancies. Attempts have been made at various times to investigate the causes of such differences and to obtain more reliable methods of analysis. The most important of these was made by the British Association in 1889: The following gentlemen, with Sir W. Roberts-Austen as Chairman, and Professor T. Turner as Secretary, were constituted as a committee to investigate the question, viz.: Sir F. A. Abel, Mr. Edward Riley, Mr. G. J. Snelus, Mr. John Spiller, Professor J. W. Langley, and Professor Tilden. Average .samples of steel were prepared in America under the superintendence of Professor J. W. Langley. The steels, in the form of turnings, were divided and distributed to sub-committees in Great Britain, America, France, Germany, and Sweden. In Sweden Professor Åkerman acted as Secretary to the Swedish committee. The Government Department of Tests was appointed in Germany; Mr. Ferd. Gautier in France; the British Association Committee in England; Messrs. William

Mar 1, 1905

By W. McCombe, G. Remple, L. Nightingale-Mercer

The McClean Lake Mill is located approximately 850 kilometres north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is operated by Orano Canada Inc. (Orano). The mill was designed to process high grade uranium ores, and a multi-year expansion was completed in 2014 to increase its production capacity to 24 Mlbs U3O8 per annum. The mill also underwent various upgrades to allow it to safely transition from processing low grade ores to high grade ores from the nearby Cigar Lake Mine. During the metallurgical test work on the Cigar Lake ores, it was identified that some ore zones of the deposit have a propensity to generate hydrogen gas during acid leaching. Hydrogen is a volatile and explosive gas, which poses obvious safety concerns in the leaching circuit. Uranium processing is further complicated by the fact that an oxidant in the form of oxygen gas or hydrogen peroxide is required to regenerate iron in the leach, which further increases the risk posed by hydrogen gas. During 2013 Orano and its consultant Hatch designed and engineered several novel upgrades to the leaching circuit to mitigate the risk of hydrogen gas evolution in the process. Best in class technology was utilized in addition to control and operating strategy changes to ensure the leaching circuit could be safely operated with ores that evolve hydrogen gas. This paper reviews the design concepts and modifications implemented on this unique and challenging project, and also provides an update on the operational reality of hydrogen in the circuit gained through five years of operational experience with hydrogen evolving ores.

Jan 1, 2020

By J W. Muir, N Bedford

Hong Kong is one of the most rapidly developing cities in the world. With constant population growth and limited opportunities for space, the development of a fast and effective underground public transportation network is essential. Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation is currently undertaking several large underground expansions to its existing network. Much of the excavation will be carried out using the drill and blast excavation method.Drill and blast excavation is common in Hong Kong and with the continued development of underground infrastructure the use of the drill and blast excavation method will increase. Although an effective method of excavation, the blasting vibrations caused during construction can have an adverse impact on surrounding structures and impose disruption on the local community.In order to minimise the risks associated with blasting vibrations, and to demonstrate that the impact on local stakeholders will remain within acceptable limits, it is generally necessary for a contractor to submit a blasting assessment report for approval by government authorities before blasting may commence.Continued increases in population density will force more infrastructure to be constructed underground. Tunnels and caverns are increasingly excavated in closer proximity to critical sensitive receivers. This leads to greater potential impacts on the community, tightening constraints on contractors and a higher level of confidence required for approval authorities. Finding a balance between the needs of the community and rising construction costs becomes more challenging.This paper presents a case study on how the blasting assessment report process has been successfully implemented for a major MTR project situated in a densely developed area of Hong Kong. It describes several methods of assessing blasting vibration impacts, innovative uses of blasting for excavation and the mitigation measures employed to provide the best outcome for all project stakeholders.CITATION:Bedford, N and Muir, J W, 2014. Blasting vibration assessment and innovative blasting methods in high-density urban environments, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 9–20 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014