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By John E. Lambert

Automatic control of drum head continuous mining machines was investigated as a means of reducing respirable dust generated and operator variabitity. Literature survey, manufacturer interviews and mine visits were the major information sources. Technically feasible automation concepts were Identified to control sump and shear rates, cutter head elevation limits and sumping distance. These are the elements of a programmed cutting cycle which maintains peak penetrating force on the cutter, to maximize depth of cut and therefore reduce dust generation. Based on the industry surveys, successful underground hardware demonstrations must be completed in order to stimulate the market demand for these advanced control features.

Jan 1, 1979

By Humphrey Dean

"Canadian mining companies now operate numerous Koepe-type friction hoists in a variety of different shafts, most of which have a depth in excess of 3,000 feet. Rope performance reliability is an absolutely essential ingredient of most installations and, for this to be provided, a more comprehensive understanding of rope reactions to applied stresses is required.It is the intent of this paper to illustrate for the operators the importance of the critical stresses encountered and to provide a maintenance program designed to circumvent potential difficulties."

Jan 1, 1970

By R. S. Dean

The function of the Metallurgical Division is to conduct investigations relating to the treatment of mineral products from the state in which they are mined to the refined metal or other unfabricated product. These investigations include scientific and practical studies of ore dressing, covering the crushing and grinding of ores, separation by gravity, flotation, and magnetic methods; the hydrometallurgical treatment of ores, including cyanidation and amalgamation of the precious metals; the smelting and refining of copper, lead, and zinc, as well as the rare metals; and steel-melting practices from the raw ore to the finished steel. The object of this work is to conserve natural resources and eliminate waste by furnishing information on current methods of metallurgical practice, making fundamental studies of metallurgical processes, and developing new processes to the point of demonstrating their practicability. The Division is made up of sections devoted to the several phases of this work, each section being beaded by an investigator capable of supervising his particular work. The work is carried on at the experiment stations and field offices or in the field, whichever seems test suited for the work in hand. The following projects should be mentioned as particularly outstanding among those consummated successfully during the year: 1. Application of the type of chemicals known in the textile industry as wetting-out agents to flotation and agglomeration of ores, particulary soluble salts such as sodium and potassium chloride which must be treated in saturated brine. 2. Demonstration of a linear relation between surface and coercive force in magnetic minerals and its application to magnetic separation and to the determination of grinding efficiencies and other metallurgical data which require surface determination at very fine sizes. 3. Pilot-plant demonstration of the practicability of the reduction of iron ore by natural gas and conversion of this direct iron into steel by direct melting and by forging and rolling before melting. The structure and properties of the iron so produced were studied in detail. This report covers the fiscal year July 1, 1934, to June 30, 193b.

Jan 1, 1936

By Juan L. Yarmuch, Hyam Rubinstein

Open-pit mine planning is a key process in the definition of mineral reserves and their efficient removal. Ore in open-pit mines is extracted bymining sequential pits called pushbacks. Pushbacks need to satisfy complex geometrical constraints to ensure the efficient usage of equipment. To date, no algorithms that both account for those constraints and maximizeNPV, are commercially available. Therefore, pushback design is done by engineers relying on their expertise to incorporate practical features intothe output of commercial tools. In this article, we present a new algorithm that produces close to optimal practical pushbacks and we illustrate its performance in real mines.

Jun 25, 2023

Jan 1, 1885

By J. S. Spivey

We in the coal industry, especially in the State of Illinois, put tremendous emphasis, including time, money and effort, into on-the-job training. The results of such training and safety have been tremendous. For example, in 1981 Illinois was the first major coal producing state in the history of coal mining to have zero mine-related fatalities. And in 1985, I am very proud to say, we had the second best record in the history of coal mining, with only two fatalities. Obviously, one fatality is one too many. Our goal is, has been and will continue to be to strive for excellence. It is sad, however, that in 1981 while were were celebrating zero fatalities in the workplace, there were 21 fatalities that occurred off the job. Thus, it has become a classic American story. Success with safety has been found in the workplace, but training and preparation to prevent accidents away from the job site have almost been ignored. Accidents are the leading causes of death in the United States for all persons age 1 thru 38, and are the fourth leading cause of death for people of all ages. Every single day, on the average, more than 290 Americans are killed in accidents - a rate of one every five minutes. The leading cause of fatal accidents in the U.S. is motor vehicles. And the number two cause is home accidents. A staggering statistic is that people are being killed off the job at a rate of about 9 to 1 over those on the job.

Jan 1, 1986

By V. R. Bovino

You have afforded me the challenge of saying something profound in 20 minutes that will stay with you for 20 years. My hope is that from this presentation you will extract ideas that will move you? out of your offices, into the mine to seize upon the concepts that we will discuss. Your challenge is to transform those concepts into action and give life to the ideas discussed here. The notion of achieving limitless productivity produces peak levels of enthusiasm in today's mining leaders. Highly-productive mines do not happen by chance --they are created by progressive leaders. The quest for productivity improvement, exclusively through capital investment and technological advances, is an incomplete process. Improvement, through capital and technology, is often not achieved because we fail to energize the true potential and commitment in our employees.

Jan 1, 1991

By P R. Botha

Mining has played a significant role in human development and without the mining sector, society would not enjoy a large number of the benefits that it does today. However, mining has also carried with it some important lessons, which remain the source of ongoing learning. One of these lessons is the poor closure or abandonment of mines, worldwide. This has in many cases resulted in large tracts of unproductive land, representing a source of environmental pollution and a safety hazard to the community. Frequently associated with this is a legacy of mining communities having fallen into economic and social decline, beyond mine closure.Due to this legacy, governments, society and the mining sector pay far greater attention to mine closure planning today, than was done in the past. Typically closure planning has focused on the engineering aspects of a mine, namely decommissioning of the workings and plant; dismantling of unusable infrastructure; and rehabilitation of disturbed land. These are important aspects of closure but a more holistic, long-term approach is required which encompasses environmental and social aspects and aims to leave a positive legacy behind.In planning for a mine closure scenario with a lasting positive legacy, it is critical that the broader receiving environments (social, economic, physical and biological) within which a mine is located, define and drive the closure plan and the mine planning as a whole. This ensures that the broader environment influences mine closure, as opposed to looking at how a closed mine will impact on the environment. The ultimate aim is to first understand the broader environment and then to fit the closure of a mine into it. The earlier this approach is followed in the life of a mine, the greater the operational time frame available, and hence a better chance is presented for planning and managing a mine towards the desired, tested and agreed post closure scenario. Within this broad context, there is tremendous scope to achieve successful mine closure. However, it is critical to note that mine closure is not the sole responsibility of the mining companies, and neither is it possible for said mining companies to achieve mining closure alone. This concerted effort requires a multi-stakeholder approach in which partnerships are created and risks, responsibilities and opportunities are shared and managed. To achieve sustainable closure, a multi-stakeholder approach based on an initial forward-looking closure vision is required. This approach provides an early basis for consideration of alternative land uses and economic options from which specific actions to achieve the preferred option can be defined. The Anglo American plc Mine Closure Toolbox has been formulated and developed around this concept. The Toolbox aims to expand mine closure planning - from financial provisioning for rehabilitation and physical closure, to planning for sustainability beyond mine closure and leaving behind a positive legacy.This paper focuses on the business case for mine closure planning and provides an overview of the Anglo American plc (AAplc) Mine Closure Toolbox.CITATION:Botha, P R, 2012. The business case for mine closure planning and an overview of Anglo AmericanÆs mine closure toolbox approach, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2012 , pp 7-10 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 10, 2012

By D. Parks, A. Miller, M. McNinch, R. Jacksha

Each year, hundreds of mine workers are involved in machinery-related accidents. Many of these accidents involve inadequate or improper use of lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures. To mitigate the occurrence of these accidents, new safety methods are needed to monitor access to hazardous areas around operating machinery, improve documentation/monitoring of maintenance that requires shutdown of the machinery, and prevent unexpected startup or movement during machine maintenance activities. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is currently researching the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to provide intelligent machine monitoring as part of a comprehensive LOTO program. This paper introduces NIOSH’s two phase implementation of an IoT-based intelligent machine monitoring system. Phase one is the installation of a proof-of-concept system at a concrete batch plant, while phase two involves scaling up the system to include additional sensors, more detailed safety/performance metrics, proximity detection, and predictive failure analysis.

By Marcus Weldon

We are at the beginning of an era of profound transformation and human progress — a new industrial revolution. This “Automation of Everything” era will be brought about by digital interfaces, data analysis and control of the physical world through networks employing the Nokia Bell Labs Future X1 architecture — networks to support the digitization and connection of everything and everyone with the goal of automating much of life. The interconnection of robots, machines, drones, sensors, processing platforms and people through Future X networks will provide transformative tools for the automation and optimization of factories and warehouses, ports, electric grids, transportation networks, food, healthcare, construction, logistics and supply chain, emergency response, mining, and other physical industries. To date, the level of automation has been modest at best. Automating these physical industries — industries that account for 70 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product, for example — has the potential to drive significant increases in the world’s economic productivity.2 Realizing the potential of this next industrial revolution will require billions of wirelessly connected endpoints for high fidelity physical-to-digital conversion, millisecond response times to tightly control and coordinate machines and robots, and intelligent analysis to optimize real-time decisions — tasks beyond the reach of current networks. Increased levels of automation are already being achieved through the use of 4G advanced wireless access technologies. The untethering of sensors and actuators in industrial environments through the low-latency, high-bandwidth, high-reliability, and massive scale provided by 5G wireless access will complete this evolution, providing an unprecedented ability to digitize, analyze, comprehend and manipulate the physical world at a scale never previously thought possible. These new capabilities will enable us to create digital models of the physical world with ever higher levels of fidelity, further enhancing our ability to improve operational efficiencies and increase productivity and worker safety. Doing this will require a dramatic evolution in network architecture toward massively distributed cloud control and baseband capacity to achieve the required ultra-low latency and ultra-high bandwidth for industrial and infrastructure automation services — the Future X architecture. In early 2019, Nokia Bell Labs will publish a sequel to “The Future X Network: A Bell Labs Perspective”. “Future X for Industries: A Nokia Bell Labs Perspective” will explore how the Future X architecture will automate many of the world’s physical industries, including chapters devoted to electric power, cities, rail, mining, public safety, manufacturing, ports, logistics and supply chain, and an overarching chapter devoted to securing this highly automated world. To give you a small taste of the feast that’s to come, we’re sharing with you an initial installment — “Future X for Industries: Mining” — the Nokia Bell Labs view of how mining will be transformed through a Future X architecture..

Oct 1, 2019

By C E. J de Ronde, J G. Scott

Economic gold mineralisation was discovered at Round Hill by Homestake NZ Limited in 1984 and was subsequently put into production by Macraes Mining Company Limited (MMCL) in 1990. The total mineral resource in 1990 was estimated at 41.4 Mt @ 1.42 glt at a 0.7g/t cut off, for 1.8 Moz of gold. Since project start up the mill has been upgraded twice to increase throughput and reached its current capacity of 3.2 Mtpa. At 31 December 1996, a total of 16.2 Mt of ore at average grade of 1.73 g/t has been excavated, yielding 655,000 oz of gold. MMCL began exploration along the Hyde Macraes Shear Zone in 1994. Since 1994, exploration has been successful with the discovery of over 3.5 Moz of gold. The resource now stands at 110 Mt @ 1.46 g/t gold for 5.1 Moz. This success has led to a planned expansion of the processing capacity to 9 Mtpa with the building of a new 6 Mtpa processing plant.

Jan 1, 1997

By James S. Redpath

"AbstractThis paper is an attempt. to outline the present status of underground mining contracting in Canada, and to present certain facts concerning the writing and administration of underground mining contracts which, hopefully, may be useful to those intending to engage a mining contractor . The paper is based on the author' s experience as a contractor and also as a consulting engineer advising others in the purchase of contractors' services.HistoryIN THE early days of mining contracting in Canada, the contractor was primarily a labour contractor. He was expected to bring a good crew of men that normally followed him, and to perform certain work under his own direct supervision. The owner usually looked after all other details including financing, payrolls, withholding taxes, etc , computing and paying the contractor his profit. In the pre-World-War II years, most work was done on this basis.Over the years, the contractor was called on to supply more in the way of services, and the present-day situation evolved.Labour contracts are still used, but now the contractor is expected to carry out his own administration. Most contracts now call for the supply of special tooling required to do the work. In most cases, some, if not all, supplies are the contractor 's responsibility and , in a growing number of cases, the contractor is responsible for such items as design and surveying. The ultimate in this direction is the execution of projects on a turnkey basis. Under this system , the contractor carries the project to a stage where it is turned over fully operational to the owner."

Jan 1, 1977

By J. G. Cullain

Inco Limited is an integrated mining, smelting, refining and manufacturing company with operations located worldwide. The Ontario Division operations consist of 13 mines and 10 processing facilities located in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Shebandowan. The scope of our utilization of energy in the Ontario Division in 1976 included in excess of 2.2 billion kilowatt hours of electric power, 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas, 60 million Imperial gallons of residual oil and smaller quantities of other fuels. In addition to the primary energy consumption, waste-heat energy is recovered in various operations throughout the Division, thereby reducing our primary energy requirements. Total expenditures for primary energy alone in 1976 exceeded 60 million dollars. Energy management studies were initiated by Inco's Utilities Department in late 1972, and resulted initially in a program of electric power cost reduction. This program produced significant results by improving the use of the water available for our hydraulic generation facilities and by a comprehensive peak reduction program. Our experience showed that a program of peak power control creates an awareness of both peak and energy costs, and thereby encourages a general reduction in the electric energy consumption as well as lowering the peak demand. Energy management is a continuing program at Inco and, recently, a formal energy management policy and program was instituted. Energy management committees were formed in each plant or mine area to identify the major areas for energy; consumption, thereby isolating areas with large potential energy losses, and determining immediate action which will improve the energy efficiency or reduce the energy waste within their respective areas. A decentralized program with good cross-communication between all committees was felt to be the best method of providing an on-going effective energy management program. In the future, the projections of dwindling fossil-fuel supplies in Canada and the resultant spiralling energy costs will further emphasize the need of sound energy management practices for all Canadian industry.

Jan 1, 1977

By FRANK RIEBERS

IN DISCUSSING the selection of a geophysical method, much of what the writer will say is applicable to any of the various methods and to their use in prospecting, whether for oil or for other minerals. Specifically, the writer's subject is the problem, particularly pressing on the Pacific Coast, of checking the rising cost of the discovery of new fields by the proper employment of geophysical methods. Table I was prepared from statistics published by the California State Milling Bureau. The writer selected five of the largest a:ld most active companies operating in California, segregated the number of wild-

Jan 1, 1930

By AIME AIME

Gentlemen, we have ten questions on our list and a number of us here probably have other questions to ask. Therefore, we arc going to allocate the time to these different questions so that we will try to be finished by 4:30; from then until 5 o'clock, if any of you have any questions on subjects not related, you will be free to ask them. Mr. Morton and I have changed the order of the questions. Instead of what is now first, we have put No. 3 first, progress on basic-roof construction, inasmuch as we feel that it is quite important. At this time, H. S. Robertson, of Harbison-Walker, is going to give you a short talk, with slides, on what has been done to date on this subject.

Jan 1, 1940

The 1999 edition of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (the æJORC CodeÆ) became effective in September 1999 and is the latest revision of a Code which was originally issued in 1989, but which has an ancestry dating back to the first JORC report released in 1972. The modifications introduced in 1999, which are briefly discussed in this paper, substantially improved the document, but did not materially alter the fundamentals of the Code, these being the Mineral Resource/Ore Reserve classification framework and terminology, and the requirements and guidelines for public reporting of Resources and Reserves. Codes or guides similar to the JORC Code exist or are under development in other countries, including the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa. It is pleasing to note that the 1999 JORC Code has been used as a model by these countries in developing their latest standards, and has been a major influence in the formulating of international reporting standards. The JORC Code is primarily a document covering the reporting of the results of mining companiesÆ activities to the public. However, mining geologists are interested in practical assistance and guidance in carrying out their duties. The JORC Code provides this in four ways. It establishes a framework within which those preparing and publicly reporting Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates must operate, by setting standards for the classification and reporting of Resources and Reserves and for qualifications of Competent Persons. It establishes the division of responsibility between the companyÆs Board of Directors and Competent Persons with respect to the preparation and reporting of Resources and Reserves, and empowers Competent Persons to materially influence how their Resource/Reserve estimates are reported to the public. It provides an extensive, detailed and practical check list of criteria to be taken into account in the preparation of Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates. Finally, it provides a strong measure of due diligence protection in the event of litigation if it is followed with diligence and honesty.

Jan 1, 2000

By Alton G. Woody

Like so many installations of its type approaching middle age, the ore processing and shipping facilities in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, have taken a lot of twists and turns in their lifetime. The object of this paper is to lead you through these twists and turns and some of the reasoning for them. The need for additional sources of iron are in the United States became evident during the time of the second world war. An exploration team from U. S. Steel located further high quality direct shipping iron are in commercial quantities near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela in 1947. Basic decisions were made to develop these reserves for export via the Orinoco River through a new shipping port to be built at the confluence of the Orinoco and Caroni Rivers. The basic concept was for the ore to be loaded directly to ocean going vessels. This was something of a gamble since the basic economics depended upon successfully opening up the main channel of the Orinoco River to deepwater vessels, and the Bethlehem Steel mine in the same area was already working with shallow draft river boats and a transfer station on the coast. Always, the basic philosophy has tended to be to plan with expansion in mind. The original conveyor systems were 1.52 m (60 inches) wide with 200 idlers, whereas 1.07 m (42 inches) or 1.22 m (48 inches) wide conveyors could have carried any production foreseen at the time of installation. Stockpiles have been located and designed with room for expansion. Basic designs have had dotted line future expansion blocked in.

Jan 1, 1978

By Donald M. Ulbrich

As all of us know, the "heat" is on for western coal. The need for western coal is critical if the nation is to reach the goals of Project Independence by 1985. Without the development of western coal, the goals will not be met. It's that simple! That's because 50 percent of our nation's coal reserves lie in the states of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. And surface mining is the key to unlocking these reserves. Of the nine states in the coal provinces, five-Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Arizona-are the best examples since surface mining accounts for 88 to 100 percent of the coal mined in each of these states. Collectively, their annual production more than doubled between 1969 and 1972, rising to 35 million tons per year. And, taken individually, each state's production has more than doubled, also. Total annual production from these five key states could very well exceed 180 million tons per year by 1980-four times the 1972 production level. The biggest producer among the five is Wyoming. Wyoming's production tripled since 1969 to nearly 14 million tons in 1973. So the heat is on for western coal, especially from Wyoming. Now we come to the question of how to mine this increasingly precious mineral. What are the available methods? First, let's take a brief look at several characteristics of western coal deposits.

Jan 1, 1975

By C. J. Kirkland

For two thousand years and more, we insular Britons have been grateful for the existence of the narrow strip of water that separates us from mainland Europe. It has given us a sense of security against invaders, though it has been breached many times. The first recorded serious consideration of a fixed crossing of the English Channel was in around 1802, when it was suggested to Napoleon I. The motive was not entirely peaceable and the British Navy, who saw themselves as defenders of our shores, were decidedly unenthusiastic A whole series of imaginative schemes were proposed in the course of the nineteenth century, embracing viaducts, immersed tubes, artificial islands as resting places for the horses which were to draw carriages, as well as mechanically bored tunnels. The first Channel Tunnel Company was formed in 1872, and an application for permission to construct a tunnel was made to the British parliament. A Colonel Beaumont, of the Corps of Royal Engineers designed and constructed a machine which, in around 1882, bored over a mile of tunnel out to sea from Britain which exists to this day.

Jan 1, 1991

By W. T. Martson

ABSTRACT Sooner or later, every producing mine faces the question of fill. This paper invites consideration of mill tailings as an economical, efficient, and quantitatively adequate source of such fill. Some of the advantages, disadvantages, methods of utilization, and methods of treating mill tailings for sand recovery are covered. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF SAND FILL DISREGARDING economic com-promise, that material which supports the greatest applied load with the least compression is the best choice for fill. Table I, reproduced from U. S. Bureau of Mines Bulletin 60, is offered as evidence of the adequacy of hydraulically placed sand. Table II gives the results of tests made in an effort to determine the reason for the difference between load hearing qualities of dry-placed and hydraulically-placed sand. From these, it would appear that hydraulic placing gives a denser initial packing, with corresponding higher, and faster development of, load bearing qualities. Assuming this to be true, then if sand from mill tailings can be placed underground economically, it is the superior fill material. Table III summarizes cost data available. The most cursory glance through the available references (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) will show .that the major benefit from the adoption of sand fill is a decrease in the non-productive fill ?cycle of a working place. This, it is estimated, increases the output of an individual stope by from 25 to 50 per cent. The advantage of reducing the number of required working places for a constant daily production is obvious.

Jan 1, 1951