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By C. G. Cunningham

The Marysvale volcanic field of west-central Utah contains large areas of argillically altered rocks (fig. 1) that, in turn, enclose smaller areas of fine-grained, medium-grade, replacement alunite deposits and coarsely crystalline, high-grade vein-type alunite deposits. The largest replacement alunite deposits are [ ] located peripheral to a 23-m.y.-old monzonite stock called the Central Intrusive (fig. 1). The deposits formed in near-surface, highly oxidizing environments at the tops of hydrothermal plumes that were spaced irregularly around the stock. The deposits are horizontally zoned from alunitic cores through kaolinitic to propylitic envelopes. Vertically, characteristic alteration minerals progress from a pyrite-propylitic alteration assemblage at the base, upward through alunitic, jarositic, and hematitic assemblages to a flooded silica cap as shown on figure 2. The silica caps are cut by hydrothermal explosion breccias. d34Sso4 values of + 11.5 to + 15.4 permil indicate that sulfur in the hydrothermal plume was derived from underlying Mesozoic evaporites. The sharp upward transition from pyrite- propylite to alunite probably marks the paleowater table, and the top of the flooded silica cap represents the paleoground surface. Basin-Range extensional tectonism began shortly after alteration, and buried the replacement alunite deposits in basins beneath sediments eroded from uplands. The deposits were only recently exhumed.

Jan 1, 2013

By G. C. Kachel

During the past two years, there has been an increasing acceptance of process automation among ferrous, non-ferrous and non-metallic rock processing operations in an attempt to keep total unit costs in line in a market situation where labor and material costs are rising almost daily. Previous technical papers (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) have described, in considerable detail, instrumentation and automatic control devices that have been successfully applied in a wide variety of crushing and grinding facilities. While many of the basic control philosophies that evolved almost ten years ago remain essentially unchanged, new components and devices have been developed during the past two years that permit these philosophies to be better implemented in operating plants. Some of these devices and their application will be discussed with particular emphasis placed in describing the basic control philosophy employed as well as some of the hardware or components comprising typical crushing and grinding circuit control systems. Before any instrumentation or automatic control system can be successfully devised for a specific facility, there must be a clear understanding and agreement by supplier and user as to the control system objective. In the case of a crusher feed rate control system, the objective is generally to maximize thru-put of a given finished product size. While this is often the case in a grinding circuit automatic control system, the reasons may be entirely different. Taconite processors whose end product is to be pelletized, generally attempt to control their grind within narrow limits to optimize balling action. Other milling operations are more concerned with obtaining metallurgical liberation and can, in many cases, tolerate wider swings in finished grind.

Jan 1, 1969

By Aarne Visnapuu

Experimental modifications have been made by the Bureau of Mines on standard pneumatic rock drills to reduce the noise of the air exhaust, drill steel resonance noise, and noise radiated by the drill body. A close-fitting case and muffler around the drill body, consisting of a metallic honeycomb skeleton filled with viscoelastic absorber on the inside and a durable outer shell, provide both exhaust and drill body noise muffling and absorption. Drill steel resonance noise is reduced by a constrained-layer treatment consisting of a tubular metal cover bonded to the ouside of the rod by a viscoelastic filler. Damping alloy components have been developed to reduce metallic resonance noise. Combined, these modifications have reduced the drilling noise level in granite from 115 dbA to 97 dbA. Data are presented on the individual and combined effects of these modifications on drilling noise and performance.

Jan 1, 1975

By Ruixuan Zhang, Yan Li, Shusen Cheng

The measurement of raceway temperature in the blast furnace is a critical issue, which is very significant for judgment of, prediction and diagnosis of the racewa yburning state. This paper deals with mathematical models by Monte Carlo method to approximately simulate the radiation heat transfer in the race-way and establish matrix equations using CCD cameras, which are solved to obtain the three-dimensional temperature field. Due to the existence of fluctuation error, CCD camera measurement error and others,this is analyzed and random error is added in the measurement data to demonstrate the effectiveness and stability of the reconstructed temperature field. The results show that the reconstructed three-dimensional temperature field of the raceway is very close to the exact temperature.

Mar 1, 2017

By Walter E. Heinrichs

This case history really started during the tail end of WWII when two Navy men, both Colorado School of Mines graduates, got together in Washington, DC, while they were assigned to the Office of Navy Petroleum Reserves doing some of the first aerial magnetometer work ever done on a practical oil exploration basis over the offshore area of the Gulf Coast. When separated from Naval Service active duty in 1946, the two men, Walter E. Heinrichs, Jr., and Robert E. Thurmond, tried, unsuccessfully, to form a commercial air magnetometer business. Later they got together again in Jerome, AZ, with Newmont Mining's early geophysical exploration endeavors from 1947 to 1949. Subsequent to the Newmont experience, they jointly proposed a specific mining geophysical exploration and development program to Herbert Hoover, Jr., then president of United Geophysical Co. of Pasadena, CA. Mr. Hoover, in consultation with his father Herbert Hoover and others of his staff at United, particularly Edwin G. Schempf, executive vice president, and Raymond A. Peterson, vice president of research, agreed to establish the proposed program under United's auspices, to be headquartered at Tucson, AZ. The primary objective would be to practically test and develop various mining geophysical methods and techniques while exploring particularly for base metals in the general area of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico.

Jan 1, 1991

By F. W. Bryan, D. H. Lynch

Introduction This paper is a general description of current central Florida phosphate mining, beneficiation, and product transportation. It is directed and believed to be of interest to engineers not familiar with this industry. Deposit: The phosphate deposits of central Florida are generally located in a five county area which includes Polk, Hillsborough, Hardee, Manatee, and DeSota counties. Geologically, the deposit is of marine origin and is identified as the Bone Valley formation. This formation is Pliocene to Recent in geological age and overlies a Miocene limestone formation known as the Hawthorn. The Bone Valley formation sediments are regionally characterized by equal proportions of apatite, quartz, and clay. The clay is predominantly of the mont-morillonite family. On a local scale, however, the proportions of these three major constituents vary considerably. The phosphate occurs as the apatite mineral (Ca 10F2(PO4)(6) and with the clay and sand, the minable ore is commonly referred to as matrix. This matrix is overlain by unconsolidated overburden of sand and sandy clays, ranging in depth from 10 to 45 ft. The matrix usually occurs in fairly horizontal continuous beds from 3 to 25 ft in thickness. The bedded limestone formation lies directly below the matrix and is generally well defined. The phosphate particles range from 3/4 in. to 200 mesh (Tyler) in size. The phosphate particles coarser than 14 mesh are called pebble phosphate and those less than 14 mesh are termed flotation feed which, when beneficiated, subsequently become concentrates. Through mining and beneficiation, phosphate quality is measured in BPL percent which stands for bone phosphate of lime units. In subsequent chemical manufacturing, the quality is indicated by P205 content. The deposit is economically characterized by various ratios such as tons of product per acre and cubic yards handled per ton of product. Magnesium, iron, and aluminum content are also considered in evaluating ore reserves. These elements are often critical to the chemical fertilizer processes. Presently, an ore body is considered economically minable if it meets the criteria shown in [Table 1]. These, of course, are general guidelines and specific costs and returns on investment must be considered in each case for acquiring reserves. On a new grass-root venture, a 20-30 year life is generally expected with a mineral recovery of 80%. History and Uses Phosphate mining in central Florida began around the turn of the century. However, in the early days, only pebble phosphate was produced until about 1930 when technology was available to beneficiate the -14 + 150 mesh particles. The -150 or -200 mesh material was discarded as it is today. The basic processes for beneficiation are washing, scrubbing, desliming, sizing, and flotation. These basic unit processes are essentially the same today although many improvements have been developed since the early days. Phosphate is used primarily in the production of high analysis fertilizer chemicals, typical of which are triple superphosphate, monoammonium phosphate (MAP), and diammonium phosphate (DAP). Phosphate is also used in the production of food preservatives, dyes for cloths, vitamin and mineral capsules, steel hardeners, gasoline and oil additives, toothpaste, shaving creams and soaps, bone china dishes, plastics, optical glass, photographic films, light filaments, water softeners, insecticides, soft drinks, road fill, and livestock feed supplements. Florida produces over 80% of the nation's marketable phosphate rock and one-third of the world production, according to the US Bureau of Mines. This amounted to approximately 35 million tons in 1975. Exports of Florida phosphate rock were to such countries as Canada, Japan, West Germany, Italy, and India, with Canada and Japan being the major users. Almost 95 o of all outbound cargo shipped through the port of Tampa is phosphate rock or related products. Beneficiation Following is a description of Agrico's new Fort Green beneficiation plant which is typical of the newer large capacity plants being built in the field. Agrico's Fort Green mine was completed in 1975 and is located in the southwest corner of Polk County and is directly adjacent to Manatee, Hillsborough, and Hardee Counties. With some minor differences, Fort Green is typical of a modern central Florida plant. The rated capacity is 3,000,000 plus tons of product per year and this varies according to the richness of the ore being handled. A simplified flowsheet is presented in [Figs.1 and 2]. This plant is served by three draglines of the 40-cu-yd class. The phosphate beneficiation is usually divided into three major functional steps: (1) washing and screening to produce a pebble product and flotation feed, (2) feed preparation and (3) flotation to produce concentrates. The typical plant is similarly divided into these three functional areas. Washer: Briefly, the slurried matrix is pumped from two draglines simultaneously at a combined rate of about 20,000 gpm at 2000 tph (solids) to rotary trommel screens sized to make a 7/8-in. separation. ([See Fig. 1]-) The trommel oversize is sent to hammermills where it is crushed and returned to the trommel screens, or pumped to tailings if minor impurities (Fe203, A1203, MgO) are too high. The trommel undersize is pumped to 14 mesh stationary (static) flat screens. The flat screen over¬size is subjected to three stages of 14 mesh vibrating screening and two stages of log washing in order to produce a final pebble product. The pebble product (+ 14 mesh material) is conveyed by belt conveyor to a large on-ground storage pile. Pebble product is reclaimed through a tunnel and loading system below

Jan 1, 1980

The Manufacturer's Viewpoint A prominent manufacturer of mining 'machinery not long ago expressed himself as being confident that he was securing the best kind of publicity for his product through the advertising pages of the monthly Bulletin of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. Such an expression coming from such a man is highly gratifying; yet it is justifiable when the high quality of reader and subscriber is taken into consideration. In fact, the majority of those using our advertising pages feel the same. It is to be regretted, of course, that others catering to our field do not realize the means at their disposal for presenting the points of interest of their product to the mining man. The question has been asked, " Do your members read their Bulletin?" They not only read the editorial pages, but they "admit being up-to-date enough to peruse the advertising section to "see what is new." The next question the prospective advertiser asks is, " Will the Bulletin bring inquiries?" The answer to this question holds good for any publication having as subscribers those who have purchasing or recommending power-yes, if the article advertised is not a stock one, that has been before the public for any length of time. To secure inquiries on, say, a standard centrifugal pump or any other standard product, the features of which are well known, is a most difficult proposition. Yet, of course, some inquiries are secured, but mostly from those having use for the catalogue or trade literature for reference purposes. It is safe to say that the traceable returns from advertising in trade publications hardly, if at all, pay for the advertising. The real returns are intangible, and result from the constant publicity, and keeping ?everlastingly at it." Who can say what subconscious effect is taking place when an advertisement is "glanced at," to say nothing of the effect produced when the copy is attractive and interests the reader. Time after time it has been proved that sales have been secured as a result of an advertisement, yet no inquiry had been made directly traceable to advertising.

Jan 8, 1915

By Nelson R. Shaffer

Implementation of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 is negatively affecting production of coal used for generating electric power in Indiana and elsewhere in the Midwest. Required reduction of sulfur compounds from gas streams, or flue gas desulfurization (FGD), as mandated by these laws has encouraged installation of wet limestone scrubbers at many generating plants. Increasingly stringent requirements that will begin in 2000 are expected to necessitate even more extensive use of such scrubbers. Indiana has large deposits of limestone-the major consumable alkaline raw material for scrubbers-that can meet an expected demand of several million tons per year. Limestones are not, however, all the same. Different limestone units behave quite differently when used as scrubbing agents under differing conditions in actual practice. Decisions about FGD scrubber details would be more meaningful if made with thorough knowledge of which rock units contain the most efficient FGD limestones and which sites of suitable stone are located nearest to power plants. Even though abundant carbonate rocks occur in Indiana, their suitability in scrubbing systems has received little attention, and few attempts have been made to match details of stone resources to the needs of various utility scrubbing systems. Optimization of the fit between geologic characteristics of the existing limestones and prospective scrubber systems should allow for greatly improved planning and operation of FGD systems with attendant lower overall costs. Electric utilities have developed computer models to predict FGD system operations (i.e., the FGD-PRISM model of the Electric Power Research Institute). These models require geologic data such as reactivity that are commonly unavailable. We generated data needed for the model during a cooperative effort among the Indiana Department of Commerce, the Indiana Geological Survey (IGS), The Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IP&L), and the Indiana Mineral Aggregates Association. Our goal was to provide missing geologic details of Indiana scrubber-stone raw materials and apply them to the FGD-PRISM model to provide general guidance to determine which geologic units can provide stone for most efficient sulfur removal. Results of the model for selected limestones and parameters specific to one IP&L generating plant were calculated. Geologic data generated may be applied to other generating operations, and our examples should help other utilities optimize their FGD strategies. Several hundred samples from more than 30 active quarries were collected and their physical properties determined. Grindability values ranged from 7.2 to 21.7 for 50 selected samples. Acid-insoluble residues of less than 1% to 13% were found. Dissolution rates as an index of reactivity varied over two orders of magnitude for the selected set of samples. These data plus chemical analyses and Ca/Mg ratios were entered into a generic scrubber model to determine rates of stone use and scrubber efficiency for various stone. Removal of SO2 was projected by this model to range from 89% to 98% with stone utilization rates from 91% to 93%. Excellent scrubber stone sources were found in Mississippian rocks in central and southern Indiana. Rocks of the Ste. Genevieve and Salem Limestones were especially efficient. Even small amounts of dolomite, clay minerals, and quartz diminished a stone's usefulness for FGD scrubbing.

Jan 1, 1999

By F. E. Cash

The Holmes Safety Association , organized and named in honor of the late Dr. Joseph A. Holmes , first director of the United States Bureau of Mines , has for its object the prevention cf accidents , the improvement of health conditions at work, in the home , and in public places , and the promotion of the general welfare of its members . As a means of preventing accidents and advancing health and safety , the Holmes Safety Association disseminates information , gives instructions on subjects related to safety , and promotes first -aid and other forms of protective and accident - prevention training . This organization is intended to work and cooperate in the closest possible way with existing mine or plant safety organizations in conducting educational , social , and recreational activities for the promotion of health , safety , and efficiency .

Jan 1, 1929

By David Butts

Solar ponding to crystdlize sodium chloride has been used for thousands of years.1 The systems used were inefficient and usually small compared to the large 25,000 acre pond areas seen today. It has only been in the last 25 years that any real effort has been applied to develop solar ponding technology. Many large solar pond systems have been constructed without much thought to efficient and optimum production rates. The recent high costs of labor, of equipment and of energy have forced producers to take a closer look at their solar pond systems in an attempt to squeeze out the highest possible yields. Other companies such as the Arab Potash Company, the Dead Sea Works, Texas Gulf (Moab, Utah) and San Francisco Salt Companies have no more land area in which to expand and therefore efficient ponds are essential. This paper is written to show how the subdivision of solar ponds can result in production increases of up to 20% and beyond.

Jan 1, 1984

By Jennifer B. Leinart

Sixty percent of the mines responding to the sixth annual Mining Cost Service labor survey reported increases in wages averaging 3.4% over the preceding 12 months. Only one mine reported a decrease in wages and this was accompanied by initiation of a substantial profit-sharing plan. Thirty-nine percent reported no change in wages. Thirty-seven percent reported using some form of incentive bonus plan. Mining Cost Service annually surveys coal, metal, and industrial mineral mines throughout the United States. Information about wages, benefits, and incentive bonus plans is part of an extensive data collection program to monitor cost areas of significance to the mining industry. This year, 131 mines responded to the survey. The data is collected by sending questionnaires to personnel managers at active mining operations. The information included in this article was taken from the returned forms, from labor contracts provided by some of the mines, and from followup telephone calls. This year's data was collected between November 1988 and February 1989.

Jan 1, 1990

By P. B. Marchant

"Based on laboratory and pilot scale continuous biooxidation of complex sulphide concentrates, commercial processing design and scaleup considerations are discussed. Capital and operating cost estimates for commercial biohydrometallurgical operations are summarized and potential applications of biotechnology are discussed. Biooxidation as an oxidative pretreatment alternative to enhance precious metals extraction from refractory sulphide concentrates in stirred tank reactors has received considerable attention recently due mainly to advances in the practical applicability of the process. Biooxidation of sulphides is certainly not a new process, however, application and control in large scale hydrometallurgical operations to treat refractory sulphides remains conceptual and the limited data available is restricted to relatively small laboratory and pilot scale operations. It is the intent of this paper to indicate scaleup and plant scale process design considerations for commercial bioleach circuits, based on recent operating experiences with laboratory and pilot scale continuous bioleach systems. An indication of the expected range of applications will be presented parameters for optimization will be discussed."

Jan 1, 1986

By J. W. Ristori, V. R. Garfias, R. V. Whetshel

During the past eight years, in trying to estimate world consumption of petroleum and related products, the authors have been unable to account for all the supplies available in any one year. There has remained at all times a balance, which at first was thought to represent almost entirely additions to stocks in foreign countries. But as this discrepancy continued year after year-over 148,000,000 bbl. in 1937—it became unreasonable to conclude that corresponding additional foreign storage capacity was continuously being made available. It became therefore clear that the balance in question was due to other causes than to additions to stocks. Last year Mr. A. G. White, Chief Economist of the Petroleum Economics Division of the United States Bureau of Mines, pointed out to one of the authors that an unknown and important factor in consumption of petroleum and related products is to be found in the requirements for military purposes in foreign countries. This paper is the result of Mr. White's timely suggestion. There are no reliable data available either on the storage capacity, and therefore oil stocks, or on the petroleum consumption for military purposes in foreign countries. This information is so closely related to national defense that its divulgation is forbidden. One can therefore but surmise as to these facilities and needs in line with the relative strength of the military land, air and sea forces of the various countries. The authors have assumed many of the component factors that go to make the tables herein presented, such as fuel consumption of fighting ships in relation to tonnage and horsepower, gasoline consumption of air fleets in relation to number of planes, and the consumption of petroleum products by mechanized armies; but in making these assumptions they have availed themselves of the advice and counsel of those whose wide experience in these questions make their views authoritative. The opportunities for error in an estimate of this nature are obvious and ever present; to illustrate: The air fleets in Spain no doubt consumed

Jan 1, 1938

By Bob Thomas, Syd Peng, Quanzhong Gu, Gene Wilson, Gerald L. Finfinger

Identifying the properties of overlying rocks in underground mining operations is important to ensure the appropriate roof support design is used to maintain stability of the mine entries. Recently J. H. Fletcher & Co. developed a monitoring and control system for roof bolters for the underground mining industry. The system records the drilling parameters used during roof bolt drilling and the information can provide insight into the physical properties of the roof strata. The parameters include thrust, rotational speed, torque and velocity and the measurements are collected every 0.1 second during the operation. The drilling parameters were analyzed to determine the application of identifying the strength of rocks being drilled from the measurements. The data was converted into the specific energy of drilling which is a measure of the amount of energy required for removing a given unit of rock during a drilling operation. The laboratory studies completed to date indicate a fairly high correlation between the specific energy of drilling and the unconfined compressive strength of :he rocks that were drilled. Additionally, the drilling parameters were shown to be effective for identifying the presence of fractures or bed separations between rock layers. The thrust, torque and specific energy of drilling were all good indicators for identifying the fractures or separations. Regardless of the drilling parameters used during the drilling experiments, the location of the fractures were identified. In order to determine the application of the drilling parameters for identifying roof rock properties, two series of experiments were conducted. The first series of experiments used three "manufactured" roof layers that had various rock samples embedded in concrete blocks. The rock samples included three types of sandstone, marble, and argillite. Another concrete block was poured with foam inserts to simulate large bedding separations (2 to 8-in). Two other manufactured blocks were constructed using high-strength concrete with cardboard layers embedded to simulate smaller fractures or bedding separations. The size of the cardboard layers varied from 1/8- to 1-in thick. One of the blocks had the cardboard layers embedded at an inclined angle to determine the effect of the orientation on the drilling parameters. A series of experiments was conducted with the rotational speed and the penetration rate held constant and the thrust and torque allowed to vary. The information collected from the experiments is used to determine the application of the drilling parameter measurements for identifying rock properties, fractures and bedding separations.

By Michael Markels

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 with establishing effluent limitations which must be achieved by point sources of discharge into the navigable water of the United States. Section 301 (b) of the Act requires the achievement by not later than July 1, 1977, of effluent limitations for point sources, other than publicly owned treatment works, which are based on the application of the best practicable control technology currently available as defined by the Administrator pursuant to Section 304(b) of the Act. Section 301(b) also requires the achievement by not later than July 1, 1983, of effluent limitations for point sources, other than publicly owned treatment works which are based on the application of the best available technology economically achievable which will result in reasonable further progress toward the national goal of eliminating the discharge of all pollutants, as determined in accordance with regulations issued by the Administrator pursuant to Section 304(b) to the Act. Section 306 of the Act requires the achievement by new sources of a Federal standard of performance providing for the control of the discharge of pollutants which reflects the greatest degree of effluent reduction which the Administrator determines to be achievable through the application of the best available demonstrated control technology, processes, operating methods, or other alternatives, including, where practicable, a standard permitting no discharge of pollutants.

Jan 1, 1975

By Zhou Shu-cai

"A method has been proposed for the pre-treatment of high phosphorus iron ore by carbothermic reduction assisted with microwave irradiation and magnetic separation on a laboratory scale. Chemical analysis of the reduced ore sample, the metal sample and the slag sample were conducted. Based on the above research, the influences of carbon addition, microwave power and microwave irradiation time on the recovery of Fe and dephosphorization were discussed. It indicated that the increase of microwave irradiation time and power had substantial effect on the recovery of Fe while the influence of carbon addition was not obvious and the highest iron recovery ratio reaches some 95.5% when the dephosphorization ratio was 37.68%. A high iron recovery ratio and a reasonable dephosphorization rate were incompatible under the conditions investigated in this study due to the reduced iron and because unreduced P-contained gangues were not efficiently separated. This method may provide a reference for the future utilisation of high-phosphorus iron ore.IntroductionWith the rapid growth of crude steel production in China, the source of iron ore tends to become increasingly strained and is facing the risks of raw material shortage for the iron and steel industry. In order to decrease the production cost, China has to focus on the utilization of its domestic low grade iron ores for the iron and steel plants [1-2]. China has a large deposit of high phosphorous iron ore with a reserve of 7.45 billion tons which is unused in any large scale [3]. Therefore, the development of a successful and economically viable technology for high phosphorus iron ore is of profound importance. To remove phosphorus from the high phosphorus iron ore, several mineral and metallurgical processes have been proposed, such as bio-leaching [4], roasting reduction plus melting separation [5], pre-reduction and screening methods combined with mechanical crushing or air jet milling[6] selective agglomeration plus reverse flotation [7]. However these processes are not cost effective or are time consuming. The traditional pyrometallurgical process( BF+ BOF) refuse this kind of ore mainly because that molten iron is saturated with carbon or high carbon content and thus all phosphor us in the burden goes to the molten iron[8]. Therefore, it is important to exploit the cheap and abundant high phosphorus iron ore as a resource in ironmaking. In recent years, the microwave was widely introduced as a heat resource for extractive metallurgy of iron ore or other minerals. For example, microwave assisted ore milling, microwave assisted carbothermic reduction of metal oxides and microwave assisted mineral leaching issues[9-10]"

Jan 1, 2014

By P. J. Petit

Financial evaluation is necessary to investigate the viability of implementing and/or utilising new technology in mining projects. It establishes a techno-economic base for decision-making and justifies capital expenditure. This paper aims to present a monetary appraisal of the electric rock drilling system in a typical feasibility project, whose purpose is to increase the production rate. The in situ environment is a platinum orebody, and the stoping operations occur in UG2 reef. The results are a function of production requirements, technical parameters and financial outlay of the drills. The costs involved in implementing and operating electric rock drills are assessed to the current method of drilling, namely the compressed air operation. A comparison of the electric and pneumatic rock drills in terms of financial outlays for drilling and service requirements, peripheral equipping and training is discussed. Other factors that affect the business case are technical advantages, safety and risk management and the environmental objective of the company.

Jan 1, 2006

By Mark A. Jirsa

The Biwabik Iron Formation is a ~1.9 billion year-old sequence of iron-rich sedimentary rocks that was metamorphosed at its eastern- most extent by ~1.1 billion year-old intrusions of the Duluth Complex. The metamorphic recrystallization of iron-formation locally produced iron-rich amphiboles and other fibrous iron-silicate minerals. The presence of these minerals in iron-formation along the eastern part of what is known as the Mesabi Iron Range, and their potential liberation by iron mining has raised environmental health concerns. We describe here the geologic setting and mineralogic composition of the Biwabik Iron Formation in and adjacent to the contact metamorphic aureole of the Duluth Complex. The effects of metamorphism are most pronounced within a few kilometers of the contact, and decrease progressively away from it. The contact aureole has been divided into four metamorphic zones?each characterized by the composition and crystal structure of the metamorphic minerals it contains. The recrystallization of iron-formation to iron-rich amphibole minerals (grunerite and cummingtonite) and iron-pyroxene minerals (hedenbergite and ferrohypersthene) is best developed in zones that are most proximal to the Duluth Complex contact. ©2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Iron-formation; Mining; Fibrous; Mineralogy; Metamorphism.

Jan 1, 2007

By Robert R. Turner, Arthur R. MacPherson

This chapter reviews the steps which should be taken from the time it is decided to consider autogenous grinding in the development of a new ore deposit or the expansion of an existing plant up until the purchase of the new autogenous mills. In this case the term autogenous includes semi -autogenous, secondary pebble mills, and lump milling as well as fully autogenous grinding systems. Also, both wet and dry grinding alternatives have been included. Before the test program it must be decided how many bulk samples are required to properly assess the autogenous grinding possibilities of the deposit. Also, a decision must be made on where and how the samples are to be ground i.e. pilot mill at site or in established location, wet and or dry grinding, etc. In the test program itself, certain fundamental data must be obtained. The testing should include enough work to determine whether fully autogenous or semi-autogenous grinding should be used and what type produces best power efficiency. Also, all the other pertinent data should be collected such as power; tonnages; feed, charge, and product sizing; circulating loads, etc. If a secondary mill is required to produce a final grind the decision on whether a pebble or ball mill should be used may require additional test work. Finally, the concentration of the mineral may play an important part in selection of the circuit and should become a part of the final testing once the grinding has been established.

Jan 1, 1978

By A. Koursaris, J. B. See

The influence of Iscor coke and Delmas coal on the reduction of Mamatwan manganese ore to ferromanganese was examined by use of a variation of the 'stationary charge in controlled environment' (SCICE) technique. The charges of Mamatwan ore and the appropriate reducing agent were heated to temperatures between 1300 and I600 °C and either allowed to cool immediately the required temperature had been reached or held at that particular temperature for periods of up to ... hours. The heating rate was 350°C per hour, the particle size of the ore was between 2,83 and 12,7 mm, and the particle size of the reducing agent was between 2,83 and 6,35 mm. After being allowed to cool in air, the reacted charges were examined by optical microscopy, X-ray-diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and electron-microprobe analysis. No significant difference was found between the changes observed during the reduction of Mamatwan manganese ore by Iscor coke and by Delmas coal. A hypothesis is advanced to explain the mechanism of formation of the Fe-Mn-C alloy.

Jan 1, 1979