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By A. A. Schweizer

This paper documents the growth and projects the future of Green Diamond Sand Products. Since1954, Green Diamond, located in Riddle, Oregon, has been producing sand from granulated nickel slag for use in various markets. Through the years, the company has seen several changes from its ownership to its product lines. In 1991, Green Diamond was producing abrasive sand at a rate of about 30,000 tons per year. It was at this time that Green Diamond became part of Glenbrook Nickel Company. Over the next eight years, Green Diamond would quadruple its production to over 140,000 tons while moving into three new markets, as well. Green Diamond is now producing sand for use in the abrasive, foundry, construction, and roofing industries. In 1998, Green Diamond again found itself under new, private ownership. With plans on developing agricultural sand and spent abrasives recycling, the future of Green Diamond appears to be one of further expansion coupled with diversification of its product lines.

Jan 1, 2000

By Gary A. Nowlan

The Casa Grande West-Santa Cruz porphyry-¬copper deposit is in the Basin and Range physiographic province west of Casa Grande, Arizona (Fig. 1). The Casa Grande West portion of the deposit is controlled by Casa Grande Copper Company and the Santa Cruz portion by ASARCO. The deposit contains at least 350,000,000 metric tons of rock with greater than 1 percent Cu. The deposit is covered by at least 300 m of sediment, with no visible expression of the deposit at the land surface. The deposit is in an area of prime agricultural land that depends heavily upon well irrigation because of a hot and arid climate. Because of the deep sedimentary cover, the chance is extremely remote that the geochemistry of soil or stream sediment would reflect the deposit even if the land surface were not disturbed by many years of farming. Irrigation wells of the area generally bottom in the sedimentary cover. The purpose of the study is to see if the Casa Grande West-Santa Cruz deposit is geochemically reflected in ground waters over and near the deposit.

Jan 1, 1981

By A. A. Goss

We investigate the relationship between corporate financial performance (CFP) and environmental and social performance (CSP) in a sample (n=165) of large, publicly traded U.S. mining and oil and gas firms. Using optimally scaled principal components analysis to generate aggregate measures of CSP strengths and concerns, we find higher concerns are related to higher volatility of unexpected earnings and discount rates. Furthermore, these earnings shocks are more likely to be negative as concerns increase. Decomposing this relationship shows that negative environmental performance dominates proactive environmental management as a driver of unexpected earnings, but proactive community efforts increase the magnitude of earnings shocks. We document some evidence of the strategic use of CSR, with those firms that have greater risk investing more proactively in CSR.

Aug 1, 2013

By T. W. Wlodek

"AbstractThe results of research into the fatigue properties of SAE 1080 carbon steel and nickel-chromium-molylbdenum steel for mining drill rods are analysed and described in detail.The effect of water corrosion on the fatigue strength of drill rods of these two steels in the as-rolled condition has ,been investigated and the beneficial influence of shot-peening on their dry and water-corrosion fatigue strengths determined by employing the method developed previously (1).Eight S-N curves for as-rolled and shot-peened mining drill rods under both dry and water corrosion conditions have been derived and their shape and relative position are discussed. The main features relating to field performance of the drill rods are analysed.Purpose of Research and Outline of ProgrammeDRILLING holes in rock and ore by means of drill rods attached to a pneumatic drill is a basic procedure required in mining operations. Detonation of explosives placed in these holes is at present the only practical method of breaking down the rock and ore.A drilling rod is supported by its bit end in the drilled rock. Its shank end, fixed in the drilling machine, transmits impact energy to the cutting edges of the bit. On the field performance of the drill rod depend a number of basic mining operations such as sinking, drifting, and stoping. The drill rod is there-fore regarded as one of the most important tools used in the mining industry."

Jan 1, 1952

By Donald C. Barton

Geophysical methods of prospecting taken as a whole do not seem to offer much promise to a young man planning to enter them in the future. They have come to stay, to be sure, and they will continue in at least moderate use for a long time. Domestic use of those methods presumably is at a maximum at the present time. Geophysical prospecting is expensive; the effects of the law of diminishing returns in efficiency in finding prospects can already be recognized. Small oil companies, independent oil operators, and royalty buyers have been doing much geophysical work. But in face of the increasing costs of discovery of prospects and in face of the probably decreasing favorability of the prospects discovered, I expect to see a sharp drop in their use of geophysics within the next 10 years. The major oil companies and the larger small oil companies will continue to use geophysics indefinitely, but it seems doubtful whether the very extensive domestic campaigns of a few companies will be maintained for many years, certainly not for 10 years. The use of the geophysical methods in foreign countries has not yet reached its peak, and probaby will continue to increase for several years. That peak level of activity will probably be held for 10 years, although the site of maximum activity will shift from country to country; by the end of 25 years from now, I should expect the foreign use of the methods to have leveled off to one-fourth to one-half the peak level. Foreign service in geophysics does not seem to offer an attractive career, except for men of exceptional disposition. Young men just out of college, who are willing and who can afford to spend three or four years having a fling at adventure before settling down, will find it attractive, but when their tour of foreign service is over, they probably will have harder work finding a job than when they were seniors, and their foreign experience will count for little, except for further foreign service. A few men, mainly the higher men, will have headquarters at civilized or semi-civilized cities and towns or at permanent oil-company towns, and can

Jan 1, 1940

By Donald C. Barton

Geophysical methods of prospecting taken as a whole do not seem to offer much promise to a young man planning to enter them in the future. They have come to stay, to be sure, and they will continue in at least moderate use for a long time. Domestic use of those methods presumably is at a maximum at the present time. Geophysical prospecting is expensive; the effects of the law of diminishing returns in efficiency in finding prospects can already be recognized. Small oil companies, independent oil operators, and royalty buyers have been doing much geophysical work. But in face of the increasing costs of discovery of prospects and in face of the probably decreasing favorability of the prospects discovered, I expect to see a sharp drop in their use of geophysics within the next 10 years. The major oil companies and the larger small oil companies will continue to use geophysics indefinitely, but it seems doubtful whether the very extensive domestic campaigns of a few companies will be maintained for many years, certainly not for 10 years. The use of the geophysical methods in foreign countries has not yet reached its peak, and probaby will continue to increase for several years. That peak level of activity will probably be held for 10 years, although the site of maximum activity will shift from country to country; by the end of 25 years from now, I should expect the foreign use of the methods to have leveled off to one-fourth to one-half the peak level. Foreign service in geophysics does not seem to offer an attractive career, except for men of exceptional disposition. Young men just out of college, who are willing and who can afford to spend three or four years having a fling at adventure before settling down, will find it attractive, but when their tour of foreign service is over, they probably will have harder work finding a job than when they were seniors, and their foreign experience will count for little, except for further foreign service. A few men, mainly the higher men, will have headquarters at civilized or semi-civilized cities and towns or at permanent oil-company towns, and can

Jan 1, 1940

By H. Foster Bain

I. INTRODUCTION. By H. FOSTER BAIN.+ THE recently aroused public interest in the conservation of our natural resources has peculiar importance to mining-men, since they deal with resources which are stored products. Within certain limits, the fertility of a worn-out soil may be restored, deforested areas can be replanted, one year's wasted water-supply is followed by another; but coal and ores, once taken out, cannot be mined again, and should therefore be conserved with especial care. This means, however, not that mining should be restricted, but that it should be done most economically and with the minimum of waste.

Nov 1, 1908

By M. R. Shahan, W. R. Reed, J. P. Rider

Roof bolter operators may be exposed to high respirable dust concentrations on continuous miner sections with blowing face ventilation when bolting is performed downwind of the continuous miner. One solution to reduce the high respirable dust concentrations is to use a canopy air curtain (CAC) to deliver clean air from a filtered blower fan directly to the bolter operators under the canopies. The influence of CAC installation in the airflow and dust dispersion around the location of the roof bolter operator can be evaluated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This study, performed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), considers two scenarios: (1) a roof bolting machine in the center of the entry for installation of the fifth row of bolts from the face, and (2) a roof bolting machine positioned close to the face for the installation of the last row of bolts. In both scenarios, the bolting machine is placed in an environment which contains 6.0 mg/m3 of respirable dust and is ventilated by a blowing curtain with 3000 cfm (1.42 m3 /s) of air. This environment is used to simulate the roof bolter machine operating downstream of a continuous mining machine. Two operation positions are simulated at the same bolting location: dual drill heads in the inward position for two inside bolts and dual drill heads in the outward position for two outside bolts. The influence of the CAC on airflows and dust dispersion is evaluated with the CAC operating at 250 cfm (0.12 m3 /s).

By James R. Evans

Forecasting demand is an art as well as a science, and much personal judgment is required. National forecasts made for sand and gravel, crushed stone, and/or aggregate may be misleading or unhelpful locally. This is because of significant variation in demand within different geographic and/or political areas in the United States, and/or the use of an inadequate data base and forecasting methodology. The best forecasts may be made for local or regional market areas, irrespective of geographic or political boundaries, provided a proper data base is available. The Bureau of Mines compiles detailed statistics on commodities sold or used in the construction industries and, therefore, is in an advantageous position to make national aggregate demand forecasts.

Jan 1, 1978

By B. R. Richards, B. G. W. Robinson

"This paper shows how metal values can be profitably won from a comparatively small and remotely located but high-grade orebody. To do so is not uractical for a large mining company, with its necessarily high overhead of services and organization essential to a large producer.To evaluate, develop and profitably exploit a limited but defined ore deposit becomes only a problem of determining the dollars required to win the dollars available. This paper will record how this was carried out during 1965 and at the same time describe the history, development and production plant of this property."

Jan 1, 1966

By Webster S. Anderson

Bureau of Mines planer mining tests on the phosphate bed of the Douglas mine, near Drummond, Mont., indicated that a competent bed with a Mohs' scale hardness of 3 to 4 cannot be mined economically with the planer. Although planer mining was feasible where the bed was fractured enough for a 4-inch depth of cut to be consistently maintained, the depth of cut in the competent beds at the Douglas mine did not exceed 0.5 inch. Average production rates were 0.15 ton per minute and 9 tons per man-shift.

Jan 1, 1966

By Margaret Armstrong, Chris Roth

One advantage of kriging is that it provides both an estimate of the block or point grade, and an indication of the local precision via the kriging variance. If one assumes that the estimation errors are normally distributed, then confidence intervals for the grades can be calculated. But in mining, grades are rarely normally distributed; in general, they are skew. This is particularly true for precious metals. In this paper we study confidence intervals for variables with non-normal distributions. Using a non linear geostatistical technique, the grades are transformed into their normally distributed equivalents. Confidence intervals are obtained for these normal variables, and back transformed to give the corresponding confidence intervals for the grades, for either points or blocks. This approach is applied to gold data from the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa.

Jan 1, 1996

By V. L. Ketellapper

This paper discusses the technical issues and stakeholder collaborative processes which resulted in achieving a balance between the reclamation of abandoned mine sites, providing affordable housing, and preservation of open space at the French Gulch Site. Through this process, it was discovered that mine site reclamation would need to be conducted in conjunction with two priorities for community sustainable development: providing affordable housing for locals who work in the resort town of Breckenridge, and open space preservation. It was found that conducting these activities concurrently would result in providing resources necessary to complete mine site reclamation. The first phase of the affordable housing development is almost completed. This development resulted in redevelopment of mining impacted lands and was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with a National Smart Growth Award in 2002.Negotiations are also underway to preserve the remaining 1,800 acres of land held by the mining company as open space. This transaction will in turn provide resources to address water quality issues associated with mine discharges.

Jan 1, 2004

By Elmer W. Pehrson

NINETEEN FORTY-SIX was an eventful year for the mineral industries. Perhaps the most significant development was the socialization of industry in Great Britain, initiated in 1945 but carried to fruition in the coal industry in 1946. On Jan. 1, 1947, management of the coal industry will be vested in a National Coal Board, responsible to the Ministry of Fuel and Power. A sum of £164,660,000 has been provided to compensate private owners for assets transferred to the Board. The British coal industry has been a problem for many years. Production has declined to a point where serious shortages of fuel for domestic needs have developed. Exports have dwindled to a small fraction of the previous trade. Costs have increased greatly, and quality has deteriorated. The industry's physical plant has not kept pace with the rapidly mounting wage scales in recent years. Some claim that the best and most accessible coal reserves of Britain are heavily depleted. The industry has been harassed by difficult labor problems, including bad morale among the workers and a shrinking labor force.

Jan 1, 1947

By Nobuaki Sato

For the recovery of uranium from spent nuclear fuel, sulfide reprocessing process, which consists of voloxidation, selective sulfurization, and magnetic separation or selective dissolution steps, are proposed. In this paper selective sulfurization of rare-earth oxides in the presence of uranium oxides was studied by thermogravimetry and X-ray diffractometry. In case of the mixture with UO2, the rare earth oxides R2O3 (R=Nd, Eu, etc.) were preferentially sulfurized by CS2 formingoxysulfides and sulfides, while UO2 remained at temperatures lower than 500 °C. When R2O3was mixed with U3O8, first, the reduction of U3O8 to UO2 occurred at low temperatures followed by the sulfurization of R2O3. The separation of rare earth elements from UO2 in suspensionsolution by the use of permanent magnet was examined. The advantage of the proposed process was also discussed by compared with current process.

Jan 1, 2006

By N Boughen

This paper synthesises the findings of five studies undertaken by the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship in 2009-10. This research explores the concerns, expectations, and information needs of a range of stakeholders, (ie government, seafloor exploration and mining industry, other marine industries, environmental non-government organisations (NGOs), community members) in relation to the possible exploration and mining of minerals and aggregates from the seafloor, as well as the conditions for meaningful engagement with communities regarding seafloor exploration and mining (SEM) activities. The SEM industry has been described as the ‘next minerals frontier’, as incentives to explore and mine seafloor resources increase because of diminishing reserves of easily accessible onshore mineral and aggregate deposits. However, the conditions (if any) under which SEM would be acceptable to stakeholders (notably the public and regulators) have not been established. This work seeks to address this gap and ascertain the levels at which potential environmental and social impacts become unacceptable to those stakeholders. The research follows an earlier phase of studies undertaken in 2006 - 2008 that: identified the opportunities and barriers to the development of SEM in Australia, took the first step towards understanding the public and political contexts surrounding the industry, and mapped the positions of key stakeholders and captured their major issues and concerns. Together, these two phases of research confirm that environmental concerns dominate stakeholders’ responses to the idea of an expanded industry. However, the most recent phase of research has also found that, similar to current onshore scenarios, reservations due to environmental concerns do not completely outweigh social and economic objectives. This is provided stakeholders feel confident that there are systems in place (regulatory frameworks, watchdogs, independent research, and stakeholder consultation) to ensure that all interests are protected. When making decisions about the social acceptability of potential seafloor mining, stakeholders favour a precautionary approach, supported by rigorous scientific analysis of the potential environmental impacts, transparent and socially responsive management processes, and meaningful stakeholder engagement. This paper outlines the details of these findings, which may also be relevant to understanding the social acceptability or ‘social licence to operate’ for other future mining scenarios featuring a new approach or technology.

Nov 22, 2011

By John Callahan

A stream sediment (minus 80-mesh and minus 60-mesh panned concentrates) and lithogeochdcal survey for gold did not locate any Triassic-age placer deposits in the northern Wadesboro and southern Sanford basins in North Carolina. A stream sediment geochemical program for uranium funded by the North Carolina Energy Institute did identify one and anomalous site (8.5 ppm U; 5 ppm Th) near Covenington, North Carolina and eighteen possibly anomalous sites (1-1.6 ppm U) . Five of the eighteen samples with uranium levels in the 1-1.6 ppm range have high thorium levels (112-853 ppm) and may indicate a monazite source for the uranium. Gold values as high as .83 ppm in the stream sediments and 9.3 ppm in the panned concentrates were obtained during the survey. Small (<.5mm) flattened grains of gold (1-4 grains) were observed along with coarse kyanite and/or monazite in some of the panned concentrates. A distinctive pattern of high gold values in the sediments was observed in the vicinity of Mangum, N. C. where Minard (13) reported values as high as 2.1 ppm £ram a Triassic lithology. Follow-up gold analyses on over 400 rock samples from twenty-eight exposures near Mangum failed to obtain any high values (<55 ppb). The presence of coarse kyanite, monazite and gold in panned concentrates may be from a source younger than the Triassic lithologies that the streams currently drain or adjacent Paleozoic rocks.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. S. Dawson

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to discuss, in a general way, the application of geological principles in the exploration for, and development of, deposits of industrial minerals. Mention of geological factors pertaining co specific minerals will be by way of illustration only. Since many prospectors are little acquainted with the geological setting and mode of occurrence of deposits of these minerals, some prospecting possibilities in the field will be pointed out. Geology is a tried and proven tool in the search for and exploitation of metalliferous deposits and of oil and gas fields, but, so far at least as Canada is concerned, only very rarely has a directed, intensive search been made for deposits of industrial minerals. Examples might be cited, however, where, in other countries, such investigations have yielded rich rewards. Thus, development of the vitally important potash deposits of New Mexico was the result of a deliberately planned programme of geological investigation, first by United States Government agencies, and later by private interests. War or the threat of war, or peace-time industrial expansion, can render concentrated exploration for specific minerals desirable or even essential. Such exploration is, primarily, a geological problem. Admittedly, there is in general less scope for the application of geology in the search for, and development of, deposits of industrial minerals than of metalliferous minerals, oil, etc. Where the latter are concerned; the objective of exploration is to find a material that is valuable, within broad limits, no matter where it is located or how it occurs. The unit value of the material is limited only by the amount of the valuable constituent in the formation- its possible upper limit is tremendously high. On the other hand, many industrial minerals constitute in themselves 90 per cent or more of the formation- their amount cannot increase and their unit value is commonly low. Moreover, for commercial exploitation, the deposit must, in general, be reasonably close to markets or to plant or other facilities for processing the raw material, since, owing to its low value, this cannot be transported any great distance. As a consequence, intensive geological search for and investigation of such deposits has been restricted to industrialized areas. Obviously, however, it is good insurance for any operator to understand the geological background of his deposit, particularly in the case of new developments.

Jan 1, 1949

By S. A. R. Keneti

Predicting the geomechanical response of the shale gas material during hydraulic fracturing operation in the field needs better understanding of their geomechanical behaviour under laboratory testing. Anisotropy is considered as a critical factor during investigation and analysis of deviated boreholes, borehole stability, stress-strain and strength behaviour, generation and propagation of fracture and fluid flow. In this study, compressive elastic modulus (Ec) of the Montney shale has been investigated in two perpendicular directions: unconfined compressive strengths test was conducted on the Montney sample to measure its Ec in the vertical direction. This value then was compared to the Ec value in the horizontal plane (i.e. foliation plane) which was previously measured throughout a Brazilian test by Keneti and Wong (2011). From the results, the representative values of Ec in the vertical and in the horizontal directions were found as 25 GPa and 40 GPa, respectively. Computer tomography technique was also employed for the experimental data interpretation.

Jun 1, 2012

By Y. M. Chen, H. L. Zhang, W. U. Bing, C. Q. Zhou

Multiphase flow in the widely used Vanyukov furnace was numerically studied. An unsteady three-dimensional and three-phase flow model was firstly built using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software ANSYS FLUENT®, and then solved with the volume of fluid (VOF) and k - ??model. The results showed that the proposed model could be used to predict the multiphase movement, the slag/air fluctuation, the vortex formation, and effects of structural and operational parameters. By fast Fourier transform (FFT), the dominant frequency of density with time signal was calculated as 0.29 Hz. The analysis of different injection flow rates of enriched air indicated that this variable has a major effect on the mean slag velocity. The peak mean velocity increased from 2.17 to 4.99 m/s while the flow rate of enriched air varied from 70 to 160 m/s. The proposed model provides a method to optimize the furnace structure and operating conditions for the best furnace performance and lowest energy consumption.

Jan 1, 2015