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By Granville S. Borden

TAXES in general are onerous and are not a pleas- ant subject for discourse. There are, however, some very cogent reasons why we should dedicate a part of our thoughts and services to the solution of our taxation problems: The happiness of every individual in the United States depends on the maintenance of a stable government. The collection of taxes is an indispensable function of a stable government, and the power to collect taxes depends in part on the question whether taxes are fair and equitable. As representatives of the mining industry it is our duty to .protect it from tax burdens that are discriminatory or- unjust, As citizens we find that taxation is incessantly endeavouring to unravel the knots in our purse-strings. Many members of the Institute may be consulted .by clients on taxation problems, especially the phases which re- late to depletion and valuation. It is the hope of the writer that the discussion of some of the current depletion and valuation problems will stimulate interest in the problems, and as a consequence of this new interest facts will be ventilated, opinions rendered and services performed, which will be a means of solving the problems to the satisfaction of all parties interested.

Jan 1, 1929

By Allegra Yeley, Ted Klemetti, Gamal Rashed, Tim Miller, Nicole Evanek

In 2015, the Subtropolis Mine in Petersburg, OH, experienced a massive ground collapse that continues to grow over time. Horizontal stress effects have affected the roof at this operation in the past and may have played a large role in this collapse. Horizontal stress can impact the roof and floor stability and endanger the health and safety of underground stone miners. Mines experiencing damaging effects from horizontal stress typically find that the principal stress direction is the same throughout the mine and the region. At the Subtropolis Mine the principal horizontal stress direction appears to change as conditions change and differs from the regional horizontal stress, particularly near the collapse or other roof fall areas. The growth over time of this collapse and other roof falls have been captured and analyzed using geologic mapping, 3D LiDAR scanning, numerical modeling and geographic information systems like ArcGIS. Utilizing these tools to better understand sitespecific conditions can be critical to reducing the potential of massive ground collapses in the underground limestone industry.

Feb 1, 2024

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted field tests to evaluate the effectiveness of a wet head continuous mining machine for reducing dust exposure for continuous miner operators. Wet head technology delivers water via sprays to the continuous miner's cutter head as opposed to traditional standard sprays located on the boom and body of the mining machine. The sprays, positioned directly behind each bit on the cutter head, deliver water at the point of attack, serving to cool the bits during mining to reduce the potential for frictional ignitions. The sprays also flood the coal with water to potentially suppress dust generation. Dust surveys were conducted at several mines to evaluate the wet head's effectiveness to control respirable dust exposure at the continuous miner operator location and in the immediate return. Results show that the wet head miner improved air quality at both locations to varying degrees in some cases and not in others when compared to a continuous miner with a standard spray system.

Jan 1, 2010

By C. Jay Hodgson, P. J. MacGeehan

"The gold ore zones of the Campbell and Dickenson mines occur within a km-wide, 2 km-long zone of highly altered and anomalously fissile and deformed volcanic and subvolcanic intrusive rocks, cut by a series of mainly post-deformation mafic and quartz-feldspar porphyry felsic dykes.Three main periods of gold ore-forming hydrothermal activity are recognized. In the first, the mine rocks were extensively altered and gold and arsenic enriched; syn-volcanic auriferous veinlet and low-grade chemical sedimentary ores were deposited in what was a major discharge zone of a submarine hydrothermal system. The chemical sedimentary ores are closely associated spatially and temporally with domal rhyolitic extrusions. Because of its mechanical and chemical properties, this synvolcanic alteration zone became the locus of later deformation, and the site of the generation of auriferous hydrothermal solutions, perhaps by pressure solution processes at depth. These solutions deposited, synchronously with deformation and metamorphism, the second and most economically important type of ore zones in the mine: large foliation-parallel and foliation-oblique banded carbonate- 'chert' Rssure-filling veins.In the third and final mineralizing event, high-grade, pipeshaped zones of siliceous replacement-type mineralization, and quartz-arsenopyrite-gold veins, were superimposed on the previous mineralization types after most of the deformation, but before the emplacement of the late dykes. The source of heat and also possibly the fluids for the third mineralizing period may have been the dyke-forming igneous activity. The textures and mineralogy of the banded carbonate- 'chert' veins suggest a near-surface (<3 km) environment of deposition, but their relationship to the fabric of their host rocks indicates they were emplaced in an environment, presumably at considerable depth (5-10 km?), in which the rocks were undergoing intense penetrative deformation. This anomaly is unresolved."

Jan 1, 1982

By H. G. Wang

The production process of a coal mine can often be interrupted by all kinds of events scheduled or unscheduled and thus often needs gas drainage for a temporary or long-term sealed area. Gas drainage has a relatively high risk, therefore attention must be paid to its design to keep the process safe. Based on the conservation laws of mass and constituents, and under the conditions of the allowable gas concentration limit in the return air route, the relationship between gas concentration and gas drainage flow rate as a function of time during the drainage process is discussed in detail to build a mathematical model of gas drainage from a sealed area. With respect to the gas drainage process, two different conditions need to be considered: one with a methane free fresh air supply, the other with a low gas concentration. This paper presents the derived mathematical models for these situations and then shows that they can be incorporated into one model with some modification. This combined model can be employed to determine the optimum gas drainage flow rate with the shortest drainage time. The application is coded using the C# programming language within the .NET framework. Finally, the application program developed by the author is used to validate the mathematical model through an example of gas drainage with varying rate.

Aug 1, 2013

By William G. Pariseau

A design procedure for the quantitative estimation of support load requirements in underground mines is presented. The central problem in the design of mine support is one of es¬timating a maximum load that the ground will exert on the support in the coarse of mining. The distribution of stress around mine openings changes as mining progresses. At the time of support installation, the support load is essentially zero. With the passage of time and advance of the face, ground motion loads the support. The finite element method of analysis provides a simple quantitative technique for simulating the effects of mining and face advance on support load requirements. In particular, the maximum support load can be estimated by the proposed design procedure.

Jan 1, 1978

By Y. S. Roditis

A new method for interpolating a block model is proposed, where both the diamond drill holes (DHs) and blast holes (BHs) data are used. Combining these data types poses a geostatistical "class size" problem due to the different statistical properties of the densely populated BHs and the sparsely populated DH data. This paper discusses how linear regression was used to adjust the DH values prior to the interpolation to account for the "class size" problem which is inherent to the procedure. The correlation between the BHs and the DHs is found. The DHs are then corrected based on the regression line. Each block that falls within a certain range of influence of a blast hole is assigned a different code and is interpolated with the combined BH and regressed DH data set. Blocks that fall outside the range of blast hole influence are interpolated using the original DH data set. A comparison against other methods, indicate a 12% improvement over using DHs only and a 2% improvement over using BHs only.

Jan 1, 1992

By D Bradshaw, R Dunne, S Farrokhpay

It is well known that clays affect the flotation performance, and many of the refractory gold ores around the world contain clay minerals. Therefore, an ore sample from the Carlin Trend was selected for this study as these ores contain large quantities of clays. The presence of clay minerals in an ore makes it susceptible to a range of variables, such as the solution chemistry determined by pH and the chemistry of the rheology modifiers. The viscosity of the ore slurry was measured as a function of solid concentration and particle size distribution, in addition to using different rheology modifiers and pH regulators. The results were correlated with the ore flotation performance. It was found that various reagents known commonly as dispersants or rheology modifiers have different effects on the ore slurry viscosity. This study revealed that the gold flotation recovery can be improved by changing the pulp rheology.CITATION:Farrokhpay, S, Bradshaw, D and Dunne, R, 2013. Rheological investigation of the flotation performance of a high clay containing gold ore from Carlin Trend, in Proceedings World Gold 2013, pp 333-340 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013

By G. E. Pellissier, P. H. Salmon Cox, B. G. Reisdorf

Banding that occurred in plates rolled from the early production heats of 18Ni(250) maraging steel is described and related to the segvegation of certain alloying elements (nickel, molybdenum, titanium), the extent of which was quantitatively evaluated by means of electron-microprobe analysis. The effect of banding on mechanical properties is discussed, with particular reference to observed directional differences in plane-strain fracture toughness of plates. It is shown that banding originates as interdendritic segvegation during ingot solidification and persists in some degree through normal soaking and hot reduction to plate. The results of the study showed that heating sections of small laboratory-cast ingots at 2200°F for 4 hr was sufficient to markedly reduce microsegregation and to considerably improve mechanical properties. Hot rolling of 7-in.-thick ingot sections to 1/2-in.-thick plate effected a similar reduction of microsegregation, but resulted in even greater increases in ductility and toughness than that obtained by homogenization treatment alone. DURING the past few years, considerable attention has been directed towards the low-carbon, high-alloy maraging steels and in particular towards the 18Ni-8Co-5Mo-0.4Ti alloy. The steels of this group, having an excellent combination of high strength and toughness, have a number of advantages over their more conventional medium-carbon low-alloy, quenched-and-tempered counterparts. In the annealed condition, the maraging steels are in the form of a ductile marten-site; aging at a relatively low temperature, typically 900°F for 3 hr, increases greatly the strength through the precipitation of intermetallic compounds. One problem in the early production heats of maraging steel was that the finished plate frequently displayed a banded structure. Previous work on other steels1-&apos; had established that banding in wrought products is either a direct or an indirect consequence of chemical segregation, which occurs during solidification and persists to some extent through normal thermal and mechanical treatments. For example, Smith and others: in a study of low-alloy steel, were able to correlate the severity of banding in the wrought product with the degree of interdendritic segregation of nickel and chromium in the as-cast ingot. The effect of banding on the mechanical properties of steels is usually considered to be detrimental, although there is only limited evidence to suggest that a marked improvement in properties can be obtained with less heterogeneous structures. Comparison of the longitudinal and transverse tensile properties of banded and of homogenized 4340 steel showed that only the transverse ductility was improved by homogenization, but even then the improvement was not commercially significant.&apos; Conversely, homogenization of through-the-thickness tension specimens of quenched-and-tempered steel plate, containing 1.47 pct Mn, increased the strength by as much as 10 pct and the tensile ductility by at least a factor of twos5 This improvement was related to the elimination of manganese-rich bands, which also are one of the factors responsible for cold cracking in the heat-affected zone of metal-arc welds.7 In the present study the nature and severity of banding in early commercial 18Ni(250) maraging steel plate and in laboratory-melted 18Ni(250) maraging steel plate was determined. The effects of banding on plane-strain fracture toughness and the effects of thermal homogenization treatments on the strength, tensile ductility, and toughness of 18Ni(250) maraging-steel as-cast ingots and rolled plate were evaluated. In addition, the effects of hot deformation by rolling on the mechanical properties of ingots were determined. 1) STUDIES OF BANDING IN EARLY PRODUCTION PLATE The chemical composition of the steel (A) used in this part of the investigation is shown in Table I. Banding was not clearly evident in either as-rolled or annealed* plate, but annealed and agedc** plate had a banded structure. The typical banded condition, Fig. 1, consists of layers of unetched austenite (white) and dark-etching martensite in a light-etching martensitic matrix. X-ray diffraction measurements showed that this steel contained more than 6 pct austenite. An electron-probe X-ray microanalyzer (using a focused beam of electrons) was used to determine the composition of the bands and of the material between the bands with respect to the main alloying elements— nickel, molybdenum, titanium, and cobalt. The recorded X-ray intensities were converted to concentration values with the use of a standard of similar composition. To facilitate probe positioning, all analyses were conducted on specimens that had been given a light etch. The influence of this etching on the analytical results was negligible; analyses made on the identical area before and after etching yielded essentially the same concentration values. The results of the electron-microprobe analyses at selected points revealed that the layers of austenite and adjacent dark-etching martensite contained greater amounts of nickel, molybdenum, and titanium than did the surrounding matrix, Table 11. The austenite layers

Jan 1, 1968

By R. J. Sweigard

Fine coal refuse is often pumped, as slurry, into surface impoundments as a means of permanent disposal. As the available volume is filled, the height of the embankments are frequently increased. Many times the additional embankment material is placed upon consolidated fine coal refuse. There has been some concern about the long-term effect of consolidation of this material at or above the liquid limit upon its shear strength. A laboratory investigation was performed using three different types of fine coal slurry taken from Central Appalachian coal preparation plants. The refuse was consolidated in 10-foot plexiglass columns under incremental amounts of surcharge loading. The incremental loads were designed to simulate the effect of increasing the height of a refuse embankment on top of the consolidating coal slurry. After the refuse in the columns had consolidated for several months, the columns were cut apart and triaxial tests were performed on both the consolidated material and unconsolidated material for comparison of their shear strength parameters.

Jan 1, 1997

By A. Marabini, G. Belardi, N. Sheau, F. Veglio

The present paper deals with the modelling of a Multi-gravity separator in the treatment of chromite fines. A first screening study was carried out by 2" full-factorial experiments in order to check the main effects and interactions among the investigated factors: shake frequency, shake amplitude, tilt angle and washwater flowrate were taken in consideration in the study. Two size fractions were employed in the experimental tests. Successively, considering the factor with larger influence on the Cr203 and SiO2 grade and Cr203 recovery in the concentrate, a further improvement of the experimental design was performed to determine empirical models to describe the behaviour of the MGS in the mineral treatment. The results show how intrinsic interaction among the factors take place, highlighting that an optimization study must be carried out considering all the MGS setting parameters.

Jan 1, 1995

By Pan Gu, Zhen Zhang, Jiang Diao, Bing Xie, Hongyi Li

Viscosities of FeO-SiO2-V2O3-CaO-P2O5 slags have been measured at the temperature range of 1673 K to 1773 K (1400°C to 1500°C). This investigated system represents the major components of basic vanadium slag that is an important intermediate product of a novel vanadium extracting process, in which removal of phosphorus and extraction of vanadium can be achieved from the vanadium-containing hot metal simultaneously. It was found that higher CaO/SiO2 ratio resulted in lower viscosity in the composition range of interest. Also, the viscosities increase with the increasing P2O5 concentration. The varying viscosities can be attributed to the modification in complexity and polymerization of the slag network. The variation of apparent activation energies are in tune with the viscosity measurements. The results of this work revealed the effect of CaO/SiO2 and P2O5 on the viscous properties of FeO-SiO2- V2O3-CaO-P2O5 slags and therefore provide the theoretical foundation for the control of the coupling de-P and V-extraction process.

Jan 1, 2016

By QUANWEN PU, Yonggang Wei, Bo Li

The spent catalyst is one of solid waste resources, which contains precious metals with considerable recovery value. However, due to the different compositions of catalyst, the recovery process is difficult. Most of the catalysts are supported by alumina which has good alkali-soluble properties, while platinum is insoluble in alkali. Platinum is enriched by pressurized alkaline solution which is a kind of hydrometallurgical process. The novelty of this study is the separation of alumina and platinum from the spent catalyst and the enrichment of platinum in the solid phase. In this study, a leaching process using NaOH as leaching agent under high temperature and pressure was employed. The effects of alkali concentration, leaching temperature, leaching time, and liquid–solid ratio on leaching efficiency were investigated. The optimum process conditions were determined as follows: alkali concentration of 240 g/L, temperature of 200℃, pressure of 1.20 MPa, time of 1 h, liquid–solid ratio of 5:1. It was concluded that the leaching rate of alumina can reach 99.69%. The content of platinum increased from 0.1749 to 21.12%, the loss of platinum was 3.39%, and the enrichment ratio of platinum increased by 120.82 times. The leaching kinetics of alumina was studied based on the shrinkage core model. The activation energy of alumina leaching is 19.53 kJ/mol, and the leaching process is controlled by chemical reaction. Pressurized alkali solution can not only efficiently leachate alumina from the spent catalyst and enrich platinum, but also reduce the reaction time and increase reaction rate.

Feb 11, 2022

My paper presents a discussion of the legislative and departmental requirements in connection with the acquisition of exploration rights for minerals (other than petroleum and coal) in the Independant State of Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Queensland and he practical problems associated with land entry and land ownership associated therewith. In general there are many similarities in the methodology and philosophy behind the legislation in each country and the contractual requirements established thereby between the exploration company (the explorer) and the government and the mines department or equivalent in each place. There are also a number of differences. I have prepared the paper on the basis that my audience will largely consist of -experienced explorers and the paper is intended to act as a brief refresher and a guide to the philosophy and the practicalities behind the legislation and practices in ground entry in each case. I will deal in turn with New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and then Queensland.

Jan 1, 1987

By Abani R. Samal

The Fe assay values from the diamond drill-holes within a magnetite deposit of magmatic origin are utilized in this study. Only assay data from the unoxidized magnetite mineralization was utilized. The data from the overlying hematite mineralization zone was not used. A threedimensional block model estimated using ordinary kriging (OK) is used for analysis purposes. To estimate the non-linear standard deviations (s) and the confidence intervals (CI) of block estimates a discrete Gaussian variogram model is used in this project. The change-of support coefficient (rv) and the block-support correction are used in the ?block-anamorphosis?. A new calculated value of rv is 0.7283, implies that its influence in the block-anamorphosis is not significant. The CIs are calculated from the block-gaussian variables; then back transformed to the raw values. At 95% probability, the CI for the kriged block estimates of Fe values are calculated using Gaussian kriged estimates of the Fe and the corresponding standard deviations (Gaussian). The results indicate that the block estimates with a high influence from relatively small amount of samples can be identified as high-risk estimates.

Oct 1, 2009

By Robert H. Merrill

During the period from 1960 through 1966, the U.S. Bureau of Mines and Kennecott Copper Corp. performed an experiment to determine the changes in stress, strain, and displacement created by changes in slope angles. The experiment was performed at Kennecott&apos;s Kimbley pit near Ely, Nev. The supporting laboratory studies were made in the Bureau&apos;s Denver Mining Research Center, where final reduction of the data and summary reports are now in progress. The experiment was divided into two phases. The first consisted of the laboratory and field investigations required to select a new slope angle and configuration; the second phase consisted of a full-scale instrumented study in the west wall of the pit. The west slope was changed from an average of 45º to a slope angle that started at 45º on the south wall and gradually in- creased to 57 ½ º at the center of the west wall, and to 61 º on the north wall. The pit was deepened from 500 to about 550 ft, and approximately 2.55 million tons of waste and ore were removed from the wall.

Jan 9, 1969

By P. Stefanek, N. Duda, B. Jachni, P. Stefaniak, B. Bursa

The Zelazny Most Tailings Storage Facility (TSF) is the largest reservoir of post–flotation tailings in Europe. The total amount of tailings from the mines in Lubin, Rudna, and Polkowice are stored each year at the disposal facility, which reaches approximately 30 million tons. It is crucial to accurately monitor and maintain such a huge storage facility, for the safety and economics of the entire region. In general, the monitoring network installed at the Zelazny Most TSF includes four groups of components: (a) geotechnical network (VW pore pressure transducers and inclinometers), (b) hydrological network (open piezometers, water level gauges, drainage discharge measurements, (c) geodetic survey network (e.g. surface and in-depth benchmarks, laser measurements, GPS measurements within GEOMOS network and (d) seismic network (e.g. accelerometer stations, cone penetration tests.) Apart from the above, chemical water analyses, tests of soil samples, monitoring of spigotting processes, and monitoring of relief wells’ discharge are also conducted. In total, approximately 2900 monitoring instruments are installed within the area of the Zelazny Most TSF. Such large amounts of data from the various information sources makes manual data analysis by the engineers almost impossible. In this paper we discuss a machine learning driven approach to improve the quality of the monitoring and maintenance of such facilities. We focus on the seismic cone penetration test (SCPT) data analysis. First, we carefully describe the collected data, its quality and availability. Then we discuss possible events that can occur in the TSF that need to be predicted using SCPT. Based on the information obtained in these two steps, the applicability of several machine learning methods is estimated. Some of them are then tested on available historical data. The algorithms described in this article will be further developed in the IlluMINEation project (H2020).

Sep 1, 2021

By Newell G. Alford

With the workable area of coal prospected and known as to workability and quantity and sampled and tested for desired quality comes the determination of the projection and method of working. The best method will be the one supplying the greatest degree of safety, the most merchantable product, the minimum average cost per ton with the largest yield of recoverable coal. Based on coal elevations, taken at the bottom of the seam on all known outcrop exposures, prospect openings or drill holes, coal contours are made on the map to be used in developing the mining plan. The contour interval should be as close as available information will permit. For general utility in layout of mining, haulage, drainage and ventilation, a map scale of 400 ft. per in. is preferable. In mountainous sections, location of the main out- crop opening or hoisting shaft is often limited by the available railroad route and amount of land level enough for a plant site. In level country, where a tipple and hoisting shaft may be placed at will, choice of the plant site should depend on the minimum average underground haul for the total coal to be worked to the new

Jan 1, 1932

By N Haque

Base metal ores contain low levels of toxic/hazardous elements such as arsenic, antimony, bismuth, cadmium, lead and mercury. Given the large tonnage of base metal ores mined and processed each year globally, the accumulated mass of minor elements introduced into the biosphere is large and could be expected to have a significant environmental impact. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a methodology that has been developed to assess the environmental impacts of material supply chains over their entire life cycle. Assessing the toxicity impacts of metallic wastes and incorporating these impacts into LCA methodology is not a simple task given the complexity of the issue. However, research and methodology development is in progress internationally to address this. Despite limitations concerning the lack of a coherent framework for characterising the toxicity impacts of metals, including issues such as bioavailability, a study was carried out to give first estimates of the relative toxicity impacts of various waste streams from metal production processes. The wastes considered were: red mud; sulfide tailings (copper, nickel, lead/zinc); lead/zinc slags; synthetic rutile residue; iron oxide residue; and copper slags and anode slimes. These toxicity estimates can be considered the æworst caseÆ scenario for these wastes, where all the metals present are bioavailable. Combining estimates of the amounts of the various waste streams produced in Australia each year with the toxicity results showed that despite their relatively low human toxicity impact per unit mass compared to some other waste streams, red mud and the various sulphide tailings had the highest annual human toxicity load on the environment, along with copper smelting slag and dust. Data from the pH dependent leaching test reported in the literature were assumed to represent first approximations of metal bioavailability and used to compare the two approaches to estimating the toxicity impacts of red mud.

Jan 1, 2009

By B Maybee, L Fava, D Millar

In the context of a case study for an underground gold mine, the value generated by a schedule optimisation tool (SOT) is assessed. SOT is a software tool for underground mine planning that maximises the net present value (NPV) of a development and production schedule. A baseline study measures the NPV of a schedule generated by SOT from a sequence prepared by the site mine planners. Operational resource constraints and precedence constraints are adhered to by the schedule and NPV is evaluated with a financial model including revenues, costs and discount rate, as specified by the mine planner.The case study has several facets in addition to the baselining component. Scenarios were conducted that examined the degree of constraint on operational resources, the projected gold price and unit costs. Life-of-mine schedules subject to optimisation using SOT allowed for equitable comparisons.Haulage was identified as a dominant constraint for the mine. It was one of six operational resources that were used to constrain the optimisation of the mine schedule, with alternative levels for some of these constraints being identified so that their effects on the NPV could be studied. Alternative price projections for gold and different cost projections were identified and their effects on the optimised schedule examined. Price and cost scenarios that brought additional economic material into the schedule at various times in the mine life were considered in comparison to a scenario that assumed no additional economic material would become available.This case study illustrated that the use of a schedule optimisation tool to optimise mine schedules provides mine planners with an ability to perform a wide variety of analyses in a relatively short period of time. Such tools thereby support strategic decision-making that can add significant value to an orebody.The case study demonstrates that by fixing the set of development and production activities to be carried out before optimising the life-of-mine schedule, the mine planners can inadvertently set up a situation where the NPV would be progressively eroded in the last several years of the mine life. This clearly illustrates the need for schedule optimisation to be integrated with life-of-mine planning.CITATION:Fava, L, Maybee, B and Millar, D, 2012. Decision support for an underground gold mining operation - A case study using the schedule optimisation tool, in Proceedings Project Evaluation 2012 , pp 41-48 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 24, 2012