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By P Vaikkattil, K Li, J Bullock

Unlocking maximum value is essential when designing a stope and the associated drill and blast packets. This is becoming increasingly important at Olympic Dam as the operation continues to expand south into the new mining areas away from existing infrastructure, increasing operating costs and required capital investment; into areas with less competent ground conditions, requiring smaller stopes and increased interactions. The introduction of Orica’s WebGenTM system is one way in which Olympic Dam can continue to unlock value into the future by decoupling traditional drill and blast limitations. The Lime 390 stope was the first stope at Olympic Dam to trial the new technology on the last blast packet. This paper reviews the drill and blast design of the Lime 390 stope, including the technical and operational challenges associated with the stope and the trial of the Orica’s WebGenTM system for the firing of the last blast packet.

Mar 15, 2021

By Ravi Sahu, Brad Gyngell, Oktai Radzhabov

Design machine learning approach to simulate the process of muckpile throw distribution before blasting.

Feb 1, 2020

By S. Rash Ahmadi

One of the most important elements in power plants is rotors and repairing the damaged rotors is very important in view point of economics. One of the most complicated problems in power plants is increasing of stiffness of the turbine rotors. This problem which occurs mainly due to thermal shock or rubbing makes to exit damaged rotor from service. These elements can be repaired effectively by heat treatment methods. Tempering heat treatment is the most common solution for straightening of damaged rotors but it requires having good knowledge about heat treatment parameters (temperature and time) and their affects on fundamental properties of rotors. In this article, a suitable method is introduced in order to modify the increased stiffness in journal part of rotors due to martensite transformation, using heat treatment tempering process.

Oct 1, 2011

By Keulla Venya Urbano e Silva, Marcelo Quintão e Silva Marchetti, Rafael Silva Marcelino, Rafaella Bicalho da Rocha

Comparative study between standard and BigFLUX matrices for high intensity magnetic separation pre-concentration (WHIMS) stage for iron ore. The evaluation was carried out on GAUSTEC’s pilot equipment for samples from Viga Mine’s operation. Samples in different feed iron content on rougher stage were evaluated in 46 experiments with matrix variation. The analisys compared chemistry, mass recovery and metallurgical recovery results to define the most efficient matrix to use in a pre-concentration stage.

Oct 3, 2019

By Ben Bradshaw

Context ? Community engagement has become an increasingly significant and challenging part of mineral exploration and mine development; indeed, opposition from communities proximate to a proposed mine site has been known to derail technologically- and financially-sound projects. ? These cases suggest that mining firms need to better understand how to engage constructively with local communities in the pursuit of their claims. ? While a range of publications exist promoting various community engagement strategies, these recommendations, when viewed as a whole, are disjointed and largely untested in real development contexts. Aims of Presentation 1. Synthesize industry, NGO, government and academic publications focused on community engagement best practice in order to highlight those practices that are most commonly recommended. 2. Review the (Canadian) mining industry?s experience with some of these strategies based on existing case material in order to identify the extent to which commonly prescribed strategies are used and validated in practice.

May 1, 2010

By K. E. Tame

The Bureau of Mines is studying possible modifications in conventional uranium ore-processing steps to confine and permit controlled disposal of radioactive wastes. Surveys of Ra226 contamination of liquid wastes from uranium mills indicated that the Vanadium Corporation of America plant at Durango, Colo., had one of the more urgent problems. A possible procedure for minimizing the waste disposal problem was to reuse the waste solution in the mill--in effect, erasing the need for disposal of liquid waste. In examining this possibility, interlocked bench-scale leaching and solvent extraction tests simulating the Durango flowsheet were made. The simulated reuse of barren raffinate for leaching and washing was carried through three separate campaigns of 9, 12, and 35 cycles each.

Jan 1, 1961

The following paper outlines the types of employment immediately available to graduates following their university degree, a discussion on mine manager requirements, mentions career advancement and time frames to achieve this as well as providing some key information regarding student vacation work. The author hopes to educate present graduates, as well as inform students of characteristics to develop the most opportunities in life.

Jan 1, 2006

By Richard E. Barrett

SOME YEARS AGO I was associated with a mining operation which, because of its isolated location, burned wood for heating purposes. Year after year the tractors and tucks hauled the cordwood in from the edge of the ever-growing clearing. Each year the cartage costs became greater. The degree to which transportation distances affect the economics of fuels obviously varies with many factors, but the main criterion is the amount of heat a unit weight of the fuel will produce. For in-stance, wood is limited in most cases to a haulage distance of a few miles. Coal can be shipped hundreds of miles, whereas petroleum and gas ?can be transported thousands of miles. The world is now on the brink of having a new fuel -uranium. It has the virtue of being so concentrated that transportation costs can, for all practical purposes, be disregarded.

Jan 1, 1958

By AIME AIME

THE petroleum engineers have the conference habit. They drop in, thresh things over, and drop out. No time is wasted. So it was at the Fort Worth meeting of the Petroleum Division, Thursday and Friday, Oct. 8 and 9; headquarters, Blackstone Hotel. Associate Chairman Albertson arrived the morning of the 7th, to tie in any loose ends of the technical program. S. M. Greenidge, chairman of the local committee, checked the arrangements with his committeemen at a luncheon that noon. By mid-afternoon the next day's attendance was anybody's guess-there were no noses to count. But when the gavel sounded Thursday morning 175 members and guests were present, also the official A.I.M.E. party consisting of President Lovejoy, Secretary Parsons, and George Otis Smith. Shortly after adjournment Friday afternoon all but a handful had vamoosed, lit out, disap¬peared. But, in the meantime, it was a grand conference, attendance maximum every session, and the discussion fast and furious. The discussion came from all over the floor, sometimes as good-natured sniping, sometimes in long volleys that were almost fatal to the reporter. Everyone knew his subject and few there were who had nothing to say.

Jan 1, 1936

By R. H. Derammelaere

With renewed interest in coal slurry pipelines in China, Indonesia, Australia and Canada for electric generation, it appears worthwhile to update the relative economics of transporting coal by slurry pipeline. Three slurry pipeline technologies are evaluated for the commercial transportation of 3.0, 6.0, and 9.0 million tonnes per year (MMT A) example cases, over distances of 250 km, 500 km and 1000 km.

Jan 1, 1998

I am honoured to be given the opportunity to share with you my thoughts on what will be the essential characteristics of æThe Mining Company for the 21st CenturyÆ. For me the 21st century is all about globalisation and the challenges and the opportunities that globalisation presents for the mining industry. To play on the global stage the successful mining companies must develop profiles that are global in: their operations diversity, their partnership relationships diversity, their customer relationships diversity, their workforce diversity, and their shareholder diversity. In my view æbigÆ will count in the 21st century, but big overlaid with quality: quality assets, quality people, quality partners, quality customer relationships, and quality image and reputation. Last year, Rio TintoÆs Leon Davis said when he addressed the Minerals Council of AustraliaÆs annual conference that Australian resource companies that wish to become global operators must develop an unequivocal international identity that will make that company a known and trusted quality wherever it seeks to do business. He went on to say that structuring and operating a business in a way that consistently manifests the qualities that inspire respect and evoke confidence is vital. I absolutely concur with what Leon said. Unfortunately, the fact is that, as we stand at the beginning of the 21st century, our industry and many of our companies are no better accepted by the world community than was the case five, ten, 15 or even 20 years ago. In fact, in some cases, the warmth of the acceptance may have subsided. To some extent the demonstrations that we saw recently in Seattle and Davos reflect a growing distrust, disquiet and cynicism in our communities. Here, however, I see an opportunity. While on the one hand the mood of disquiet presents many challenges, it also provides those of us who are willing to get out on the front foot in addressing the issues, and engaging in the dialogue, with a very significant opportunity to create a major competitive advantage. It provides the opportunity to earn respect and the opportunity to develop a reputation as a company that is sought as a joint venture partner and a company that is welcomed by governments and communities. Importantly, also, people will seek employment with such a company and will invest in such a company. The challenge is to change the way we behave and the way we are perceived by all the key stakeholders. Many of our industryÆs traditional skills are now commodities à many can be à and are out-sourced. The new critical skill for the 21st century à the real competitive advantage à will come from creating a real and genuine understanding of our role and what we stand for. Everything we do should demonstrate not only sound business principles, but also an understanding of the political, social, cultural and environmental impacts of our activities - at an international and a local level. This concept isnÆt new - but for large companies such as BHP, where we operate in more than 20 countries with diverse cultures, languages and religions - it requires enormous energy and dedication. It is complex. It is difficult. But I believe it is absolutely fundamental to our future.

Jan 1, 2000

By D. S. Jacobus

COMPRESSED-air motors are specially desirable, if economically practicable, for underground haulage, because they require no fuel, involve no danger of fire, and not only avoid heating and fouling the atmosphere with smoke and combastion-gases, but by the emission of expanding fresh air, cool and improve it and aid ventilation. The highest developments in the use of compressed-air motors for locomotion are to be found, in the opinion of the writer, in the principles of the Mekarski car-motor as applied to street tramways, and it is thought that notes taken regarding this system, during a recent trip to Europe, where two plants are in successful operation, at Nantes and Vincennes respectively, will be interesting to mining engineers. The plant at Nantes operates a street-line 5.2 miles long, requiring about twenty motors; the one at Vincennes about 7 miles of road. Each car at Nantes carries its own motor. At Vincennes, however, the motor-car is arranged to tow a second car containing no motor. The road at Nantes is the older, having been in successful operation for ten years, during which time neither the American consul, Mr. Shackelford, who has resided at Nantes for about five years, nor the vice-consul, Mr. Bennett, who has been at Nantes ever since the road started, has ever seen anything go wrong with the motors. DESCRIPTION OF THE RAILROA at Nantes. Motor-Car.—Two small engines are connected' so as to rotate the front axle of the car, a reversing lever being used to alter the cut-

Jan 1, 1891

By G. Reed Marchant

In 1967 the US Congress passed the "Clean Air Act." This act was amended in 1970. As a result it soon became obvious that American industries were going to have to make significant changes in their methods of operation to be able to comply with quickly developing federal regulations. One of the first regulations developed was on sulfur dioxide. For this reason, the nonferrous smelting industry was immediately affected by these new regulations. This is true because the smelting process produces sulfur dioxide as a natural product of combustion when the sulfur-bearing ore is oxidized to purify the metal. The federal government's approach for setting standards included public hearings at which government, industry, and private citizens were allowed to make comments. For this reason, it was apparent to Kennecott's Metal Mining Div. that it was desirable to make a maximum effort in working with the agency to see that correct input was provided at the hearings to assist the government in setting fair and realistic standards. It was also obvious that more complete monitoring would be required. It soon became apparent that the efforts required input from many levels of the corporation from the chief executive to the plant operators. In order to accomplish both the administrative and the technical needs, an organization was needed that could respond quickly to these needs, obtain information from diverse sources, and bring it to focus in an organized approach to the problem.

Jan 1, 1979

By H. Mulder, M. C. Bekker

The objective of this paper is to describe the research followed in creating a generalized, readiness assessment tool for mining projects. We start by highlighting the need for the assessment tool and then progress towards explaining the methodology followed during the study. The selection and finalization of the list of elements, sections, and categories that make up the unweighted values are described, followed by a summary of the weighting process applied. The outcome of this process is a weighted readiness assessment tool for mining project studies. The main benefits of the tool are that it will guide decision-makers and project managers through the definition phases of the project and improve the likelihood of project success.

Jul 2, 2022

By Felix Shay

THE Agua Fria mine is in eastern Honduras at Lat. 140° 06' N., Long. 86° 36' W. Danli, the seat of the local municipal government, is the nearest town. The property is approximately 44 miles east of Teguci-galpa, the terminus of a truck road from the Pacific coast. The mine lies at an altitude of 3300 ft. with surrounding elevations as high as 6000 feet. For 20 years the oxidized croppings of the Agua Fria vein had been worked intermittently when in 1927 an attempt was made to open the property. A shaft was sunk 300 ft. and considerable ore was blocked out, but before a mill could be installed financial difficulties arose and the mine reverted to the original owners. Erle P. Halliburton, of Los Angeles, purchased the property in 1934. At that time a careful consideration of all factors involved showed that air transport was the only practical method of moving the equipment and machinery necessary to commence production. The other alternative was by muleback, which required sectionalizing all equipment to a maximum load of 200 lb., and during the rainy season this type of freighting was subject to serious delays. It was decided to purchase a trimotor Ford powered by three Pratt and Whitney Wasp B motors developing 400 hp. each. There were several reasons for the choice: (1) this type of plane was available at a reasonable price, owing to its replacement by faster models on most of the airlines in the United States; (2) the ship was capable of carrying a pay load of 3000 lb. over the required distance; (3) since this airplane had been widely used there would be no difficulty in securing competent personnel or in purchasing spare parts. It was necessary to rebuild the plane for cargo service. The windows were removed and the fuselage was entirely covered. A hatch was cut in the top of the fuselage to receive heavy crane loads and pieces of freight that were too large or too long to go through the rear door. The seats were removed and the interior of the plane was lined with Duralumin sheets. A heavy-duty landing gear was installed and the floor was reinforced.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. Mothomogolo

Mining projects are capital-intensive and are also characterized by high technical and economic risks. These factors pose challenges to mining entrepreneurs when they seek to raise seed capital for mining start-ups. There are limited sources of mining investment funds in South Africa and each has shortcomings due to one reason or another. Another impediment is South Africa?s status as a developing economy, in which the standards of living ? which in turn influences the savings culture ? the limited GDPs and budget, the socio-political environment, and banking, mining, treasury and other regulations, determine the size of investments, particularly in mining ventures. The proposed funding mechanism was developed with the aim of filling the gaps identified in existing funding mechanisms that were developed by the government with the introduction of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), 2002. The shortcomings identified were presented to the study participants as questions to obtain views that were used to define innovative ways of raising mining start-up capital. Most participants in the study supported the derived hypotheses and proposals, and these were used to refine the proposed mechanism for mining investment in South Africa. The proposed funding framework is aimed at encouraging interaction between mining entrepreneurs, government, and the investors to align goals and expectations when undertaking a mining investment.

Jan 1, 2012

By F. S. Crawford

This study was made to find methods of preventing back strains, among workers in brick plants, however, the information should apply to other industries that employ hand labor too process materials. The report is based on information in letters from. Bureau of Mines engineers and other safety men in the United States who visited numerous brick plants. Back strains, as wall as hernias and other muscular strains, result when certain body structures are subjected to strains greater than, they can withstand. Such breakdowns may be prevented simply by not straining these body structures. This is simple in theory but complicated in practice. It requires primary education of new workers and reeducation of older workers in the best method of lifting, preemployment physical. examinations to select employees for the jobs that require constant lifting, all possible mechanization of material-handling operations, relocation of machinery, and elevation of working surfaces to reduce to a minimum the muscular effort the workers must exert to perform operations impossible to mechanize. Accidents of any kind are a total bee for the American economy and decrease productivity; whereas mechanization raises the level of productivity and constitutes progress toward total safety. Heavy lifting should be done mechanically whenever possible, saving the men to direct the machines. This is an essential step in preventing strain accidents.

Jan 1, 1953

By T. Hollenberg, N. Nolten

The mining industry is one of the major energy consumers in Namibia. Energy costs increase the operating costs of Namibian mines, in particular, the processing plants, and result in an overall increase of production costs. A substantial part of the energy used is directly imported from South Africa. The cost of energy has been increasing rapidly in the past few years and will most likely continue to do so in the future. In 2015, the average wholesale price for energy from national power utility NamPower was US$87/MWh after rising more than 12 percent annually in the two previous years. At peak times, which are early in the morning and late in the evening, imported-energy prices are extremely high and have to be factored into the electricity tariffs. This problem is expected to intensify due to a projected 4 percent annual increase in energy demand. A major target of the Namibian mines, therefore, is to consider possible ways to address energy-saving challenges and to investigate possibilities for the mines to generate electricity internally during peak times. This is in alignment with the mines’ strategic plans and objectives to reduce total energy consumption and costs from both national and foreign electricity suppliers. In this paper, we explore addressing some of the key energy consumption and optimization challenges through process energy reuse and solar energy production to decrease demand for imported energy through a case study carried out in cooperation with Skorpion Zinc Mine and Refinery.

Jan 1, 2018

By E. R. Hoskins

The Gulf Coast States ranging from South Texas to Alabama contain vast resources of lignite ranging in energy content from about 4000 to 7000 Btu/lb (as-received) with sulfur content ranging from about 0.5 to 2 percent. Currently, the strip mining rate is about 35 million tons per year in Texas and essentially zero in the other Gulf Coast states. Estimates of future mining rates are as high as 310 million tons per year by the year 2000 with 240 being in Texas. In this paper, we examine the life cycle of the surface mineable lignice based on the most recent estimates of surface mine recoverable resources with two scenarios. The first indicates that a 310 million tpy rate could be sustained for only 15 years while the second scenario suggests that the 310 million tpy could be sustained for 25 to 30 years. If lignite resources are required beyond those that are surface mineable, the deep basin lignite will be developed. Five strategies for developing deep basin lignite are discussed.

Jan 1, 1983

By AIME AIME

MESSRS. BURT and Shockley and others have been for three years urging upon the Institute the matter of simplified spelling. The Institute endeavors to be progressive in the matter of spelling and. is in cooperation with the national body which has this in hand and which has its principal office in New York. Our spellings are changed as fast as-good usage will permit (so it seems to the Board of Directors) and the national body, which is the real representative of the simplified spelling interests, deems that the Institute is making real progress, although not quite as fast as extremists would wish. In January, 1919, Mr. Shockley sent out letter ballots which created a misconception in the minds of many members, who received the impression that the communications came from the Institute instead of from a small group of members. As a result of this propaganda 163 proposal-ballots were sent in to the Institute divided as follows: Yes ?114 No ?20 Negative letters ?9 Split ballots ?20 Total ?163 The total membership at this time was about 7200. The disgusted members would not vote.

Jan 1, 1920