Search Documents

By Chenhui Liu, Ka-ma Huang, Hong-ying Xia, Bingguo Liu, Hua Chen, Jinhui Peng, Libo Zhang

"The rising popularity of microwave heating in mineral processing has fuelled the need for knowledge concerning dielectric properties of minerals. Dielectric property and microwave absorption property of anthracite were measured over a temperature range of 20-100°C at 2.45GHz by using an open-ended coaxial sensor measurement system. The results show that the dielectric constant, loss factor and loss tangent increase with temperature rising at 2.45GHz. Microwave absorption properties of anthracite are highly dependent on temperature and frequency. At frequency of 2.45GHz frequency used in microwave metallurgy, anthracite is suitable for reducing agent to achieve fast elevation of temperature then returning to original state. The research will be helpful in explaining the thermal running of microwave dielectric heating the anthracite.IntroductionThe application of microwave heating in minerals processing and treatment has recently attracted great interest from the metallurgical industry. Compared with conventional heating methods, the advantages of microwave heating include rapid and selective heating, uniform distribution, high efficiency, fast on and off switching as well as flexible and modular design[l-3]. As a result of these advantages, microwave heating has been applied in a variety of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy, such as microwave-assisted ore grinding, microwave heating for carbothermic reduction and acid leaching of ilmenite ore, microwave drying, microwave-assisted roasting and smelting of sulfide concentrate, microwave-assisted spent carbon regeneration and microwave-assisted waste management [ 4-6]. Though the application of microwave heating in the metallurgical industry is promising, further studies on the interaction between microwave radiation and minerals and its effects are highly desired to develop innovative techniques for minerals processing and ore treatment using microwave heating [7]."

Jan 1, 2013

By J. Kelleher, R. Saulters, K. H. McDaniel, L. Griswold

To improve underground safety and visibility during mining applications, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant designed and built a dry-dust filtration unit. The unit works in conjunction with a Spendrup 1120-70 fan with ventilation tubing to filter the face exhaust air during mining operations. The closed- loop system is designed to filter 17 m3/s (36,000 cfm) and is intended to screen 10- µm (1,250 mesh) and larger particles at 90% efficiency. To accomplish this, the unit uses a combination of Dollinger Staynew Inertial Spin filters, cyclones and traditional mesh filter media.

Jan 1, 2002

By L. W. Casteel

St. Joseph Lead Company's Southeast Missouri mines have been successfully converted to the use of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil as a blasting agent. This is significant to the company because it means a savings of a quarter of a million dollars per year. It is significant to the mining industry because of the unusual conditions involved and the methods and materials used to overcome them. St. Joe has been mining the low grade lead deposits of southeast Missouri since 1864. This ore occurs as disseminated galena in widely scattered pockets within the Bonneterre dolomite. The daily production of 20,000 tons is obtained from several hundred small, room and pillar stopes covering an area 10 miles long and five miles wide. Distribution of explosives and other materials is a real problem. Drilling in the stopes is done with air legs, column- mounted machines or jumbos, depending on the size and location of the stope. Drill hole sizes vary from 1 3/8-in. diam down to 1 1/8-in. Each driller charges his own holes and shoots them at the end of the shift. Numerous shafts provide natural ventilation which is supplemented in isolated areas by churn drill holes equipped with blowers. Water, in most stopes, is not a serious problem, although the mines do produce about 20,000 gpm.

Jan 5, 1962

By E. S. Peterson

The selective separations of trace metals- and organics from water are processes of importance to industry. The application of a new metals capture technology coupled with polymer membrane technology has proven to be one avenue to accomplish such selective separations. The polymers used in these studies are polyphosphazenes. Polyphosphazene polymers consist of an alternating backbone of nitrogen and phosphorus atoms. The polymers have high thermal and chemical stabilities. Experiments at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory demonstrate that polyphosphazene membranes coupled with Chromato Chem,"Chelation Chromatography" process are capable of removing both chlorinated hydrocarbons and metal ions from process streams. These results point to a wide range of potential industrial and environmental applications for such systems. Data will be presented which show the efficiency and selectivity of separations, postulated separation mechanisms, and the initial designs of industrial demonstration units which are currently under construction. Parts of this work have been performed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between ChromatoChem, Inc. and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The work at INEL was been sponsored by the United States Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies

Jan 1, 1995

By S. Kahraman

P-wave velocity measurements were carried out on 22 large limestone blocks in a stone processing plant. In the laboratory, P-wave velocity of core samples was measured to obtain intact rock velocity. The square root of the ratio of the velocity of the large stone block to the velocity of the core specimen was called the velocity ratio index (VRI) and a quality classification for large building stones was suggested. In addition, the applicability of the established classification to stone cutting with gang saws was checked. It was concluded that the quality classification and estimation of slab production efficiency of the building stones can easily be made by ultrasonic measurements. However, the study was carried out only in limestone. Further study must be conducted to check the validity of the obtained results for the other rock types.

Jan 1, 2007

By Samuel M. Shallcross

The principal function of the Bell limestone mine, of the American Lime & Stone Co., at Bellefonte, Pa., is to supply raw material to the company's modern rotary kiln plant at Bellefonte. Because mining costs are naturally higher than many open quarries with more favorably lying strata, it cannot compete, except to a limited extent, in the markets for road material and fluxing stone. In the broad sense, mining does have an advantage over the average open quarry when the end products are designed for and controlled by process and final inspection for the exacting demands of the industrial and chemical markets. Approximately 80 per cent of the output of the Bell mine is sold in the industrial and chemical markets. And as higher standards are set each year for construction and agricultural work, the remainder of the mine output goes to these two classes. Mining produces more fines than open quarries, and these fines are difficult to market; on the other hand, owing to absence of contaminating clay and impure rock, a greater percentage of the output of a mine is marketable. Because of the great production of fines, rotary kilns for lime burning are necessary when the stone must be mined. In 1921 the American Lime & Stone Co. operated 19 quarries and 72 lime shaft kilns spread over an area of 40 miles between Bellefonte and Altoona, Pa. At that time the lime-production capacity of the 72 kilns amounted to approximately 700 tons per day. After 15 years the company operates three rotary kilns and six shaft kilns, with a combined output of approximately 500 tons of lime per day, concentrated in its single Bellefonte plant (Fig. 1). Its only stone-producing plants are now the limestone mine at Bellefonte and a construction-stone open quarry at Union Furnace, near Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Since the middle of 1922, the management of the American Lime R. Stone Co. has been under the direction and ownership of the Warner Company, of Philadelphia. To the Warner Company's experience, gained through successful operation of lime plants in eastern Pennsylvania for many years, and the successful solution of material-handling problems

Jan 1, 1937

By J. R. Thoenen

THE consensus of opinion in the published literature on. Grecian magnesite is that it has been formed by alteration of the serpentine, which in turn was itself a product, of metamorphism from the original olivine intrusion. The general opinion seems to be that the magnesite was formed by descending waters heavily charged with CO2. Inasmuch as this opinion is held by engineers far better qualified than I to speak authoritatively on this subject, I hesitate to dispute that theory. However, certain occurrences coming under my observation do not, to me at least, seem to-entirely substantiate this theory. LOCATION Most of the Grecian magnesite comes from the Island of Euboea, although more recently some deposits have been opened on the mainland near the City of Saloniki, which prior to the war was Turkish. The island, comprising a state or province in the Greek political structure, is roughly 110 miles long and varies from 10 to 30 miles in width. It lies off the east coast of the Greek peninsula in the AEgean Sea with its long axis extending in a northwest-southeast direction. It is separated from the mainland by a long narrow arm of the sea known as the Atalanti Canal. Chalkis (Halkis), the capital on the west coast of the island, is the northern terminus of a branch of the state-owned railway and is connected with the mainland by a single-span, movable, highway bridge, roughly 150 ft. long.

Jan 1, 1928

By Mike Preston

Attrition scrubbers may not be glamorous, but they are an important and sometimes neglected step in mineral processing. Optimal attritioning will significantly improve the results and efficiencies of subsequent processing steps and can lead to reduced costs and improved product yields. Why is attrition scrubbing used? Attrition means to wear away a surface, typically by friction or abrasion. An attrition scrubber does exactly this, using impellers to force particles against each other, causing intense scrubbing, grinding, abrasion and polishing. This process is not a new concept. It has long been used in the glass industry to remove surface contaminants from silica. But it is also widely used in many areas of mineral processing and other applications including soil remediation and plastics recycling. In mineral separation, for example, the scrubbers help improve yield and efficiencies by preparing feed materials for downstream processes such as flotation, magnetic or electrostatic separation. Inefficient scrubbing can lead to coatings remaining on valuable minerals and decreased yields, as the covered minerals cannot be processed efficiently or are mistaken as waste contaminates and removed. In the example of flotation separation, pre-flotation conditioning uses attrition scrubbers to provide better recovery of minerals while using fewer chemicals. If surface contaminants remain on the mineral, yield is reduced, as the unwanted coating acts as a barrier to the reactants, which make it unfloatable and, therefore, unrecoverable.

Oct 1, 2013

By S. Kado, G. Derge, L. Yang

Self-diffusion coefficients of silver in molten silver have been measured by means of the capillary-reservoir method in the temperature range 1002" to 1105°C. The results can be .represented by the equation D = (7.10 i 0.06) X 10-4 exp [(—8150 ± 1130)/RT]. The heat of activation agrees within the limit of experimental uncertainty with that for the viscous flow. The validity of the Eyring and the Stokes-Einstein equations are examined on the basis of the self-diffusion coefficients obtained and the known viscosity data of molten silver. MEASUREMENT of the self-diffusion coefficient of silver in molten silver was made in the temperature range 1275° to 1378°K, using the capillary-reservoir method and &"' as the radioactive tracer. The experimental arrangement is shown in Fig. 1. Silver of 99.99 pct purity (fine silver), was melted and degassed in vacuum in a graphite crucible situated inside a McDanel vacuum jacket. The crucible (4 in. tall and 1 in. ID) was protected both at the top and at the bottom with graphite shields and contained about 220 g of silver. The sample holder was a piece of graphite rod (1 in. long and 1/2 in. diam) with 4 capillaries drilled longitudinally into it. The holder was screwed onto a long graphite rod (12 in. long and 74 in. diam) which was connected to a steel disk hanging on a nylon string through a glass pulley. The steel disk kept the sample holder at the center of the McDanel tube and was heavy enough to overcome the buoyancy when the holder was lowered into the molten silver. By turning a handle connected to the pulley through a tapered glass joint, it was possible to raise or lower the sample holder without breaking the vacuum. Two such arrangements were constructed, sitting side by side in 2 Kanthal furnaces. One with non-radioactive silver in its crucible was used for the diffusion run and the other with radioactive silver in its crucible was used for filling the capillaries. To fill the capillaries with radioactive silver, the sample holder was degassed first and then lowered into the radioactive molten silver in vacuum. Purified argon gas was then admitted into the system to push the liquid silver into the capillaries. After cooling in argon, the filled capillaries were polished on emery paper to expose the top of the rod and used immediately as samples for the diffusion run which was carried out at the same temperature as that used for filling the capillaries. During the diffusion run, the samples were degassed in vacuum and lowered slowly into the nonradioactive molten silver before purified argon was admitted into the system. After a predetermined period of time, the samples were raised out of the melt and cooled in argon. The temperature of the melt was measured before and after the run with a chromel-alumel thermocouple inside a McDanel protection tube. Another chromel-alumel thermocouple attached to the outside wall of the McDanel vacuum jacket was used to indicate any fluctuation in the temperature of the furnace during the run, which was found to be less than ± 2°C for the longest run made (93 min). The temperature gradient inside the molten silver was found to be negligible. No significant difference was observed in the results obtained whether the melt was stagnant during the run or was stirred by raising and lowering the sample holder slowly a few times a minute for a distance of about 1/4 in. inside the melt.

Jan 1, 1959

By M. I. Brittan

Discussion Dr R. E. Robinson (Fellow): The author must be congratulated on a very meticulous and self-contained piece of work. It is indeed a pleasure to read a paper that is so clearly and systematically laid out, and where the conclusions and the testwork conducted have been so clearly described. The paper is complete in itself, which makes it very difficult for someone who is not intimately involved in the whole Torco project to make any comments on its content. However, two points that, strictly speaking, fall outside the scope of the paper are of considerable interest. The first relates to the particle size of the material treated. In the paper, the testwork is confined to one standard particle size (minus 60 plus 100 mesh). The essential feature of the paper is to indicate that the rate-controlling reaction in the whole segregation process is the rate of reaction of the ore particles with the reducing agent and the hydrogen chloride. One wonders, therefore, to what extent this relatively slow rate of reaction is affected by the particle size of the ore itself. One imagines that the reaction must take place by contact of the hydrogen chloride with the surface of the mineral particles, and it is reasonable to suspect that the rate of diffusion of the copper ions to the surface is a relatively slow process and is thus the limiting factor in this particular rate of reaction. It is possible, for example, that the improvement obtained, when the ore is subjected to reducing conditions before the chlorination, is due to a breakdown in the crystal structure of the original particle. This breakdown is brought about by the reduction and by the consequent increase in surface area available for reaction with hydrogen chloride. Can the author indicate whether any work has been done along these lines, and whether it has been established that the reaction depends on the surface area available? The second point relates to the application of this kinetic study to the actual operation of a Torco reactor. It was once planned to feed the sodium chloride, together with the reducing agent, into the top of the segregation chamber. In the paper, the author mentions that it has now been established that the segregation chamber behaves, to all intents and purposes, as a fluidized bed, and that there is, therefore, a rapid evolution of gas in the lower regions of the chamber, which, it is imagined, displaces the gas phase rapidly. Since the reaction between sodium chloride, water vapour, and the aluminium silicates in the ore is extremely rapid, one wonders how much of the hydrogen chloride produced is removed from the reaction zone before it has had time to react with the copper minerals. The extremely low consumption of sodium chloride (which is a vital feature of the Torco process) must depend on an extremely rapid circulation of the hydrogen chloride gas to all the ore particles in the segregation chamber. One wonders, therefore, if a system for the introduction of the sodium chloride into the bottom regions of the chamber might not result in even greater efficiency in the utilization of sodium chloride. ProC D. D. Howat (Fellow): All of us who have been concerned with the study of chemical reactions at high temperatures are keenly interested in kinetics and are well aware that this is not an easy study experimentally. Dr. Brittan is to be congratulated on the development of neat experimental methods and for his full discussion of the results obtained. Although the segregation process for the extraction of copper from oxide and silicate ores has been known for almost fifty years, the fundamental chemical and physical changes involved have been little understood and the fundamental data are very scanty. The work now in progress at A.A.R.L., together with that sponsored by the Anglo American Corporation in other research institutions throughout the world, is bound to produce new fundamental data and a much more complete understanding of this rather fascinating process. It is already apparent that some of the old and well-worn chemical reactions that were postulated to occur, just cannot take place in the way which was formerly accepted. Dr Brittan's work, carefully conducted and thoroughly analyzed as it has been, still leaves us with one great outstanding problem. The thermodynamic data and the possible reactions set out in Table I (page 281) of his paper leave us asking, in complete despair, how can copper be converted into a volatile chloride in the presence of HCl, CO and carbon at temperatures about 800°C? The thermodynamics all combine to show that copper should be reduced to metal as the first step in the process. This brings us right up against the second problem. If copper were reduced to the metal how would HCI convert it to the volatile chloride? On top of these problems is the unknown reason for the very high speed of reaction between CO, HCI and the ground copper ore. Still further into the region of the unknown is the reaction by which gaseous hydrochloric acid is produced in the actual process. Perhaps Dr Brittan is feeling grateful that he doesn't have to try to explain this reaction-at this stage of the research programme at least. The results very clearly show that both CO and HCl gas are essential for rapid production of the volatile copper chloride. Dr Brittan states that 18 minutes were required to attain 83 per cent extraction with HCl gas alone and this was reduced to 4 minutes when CO was

Jan 2, 1970

By W. E. Wallace

Volume-rate-of-flow measurements were made of the flow of mercury through porous samples under conditions of no field, magnetic field transverse to the direction of flow, and transverse magnetic field and electric current to determine if a magnetic method might be potentially useful in the study of pore-size distribution. No change was observed in the flow rate from the application of a magnetic field alone. The application of both field and current produced an electromagnetic pumping action with or against the direction of flow, depending upon the direction of the electric current. This pumping effect was observed to be greater in a rectangular porcelain sample than the calculated value for an equal-Sized open channel.

Jan 1, 1969

By L. Bryson, J. H. W. M. Brits, K. Voogt

"The Anglo American Platinum’s Rustenburg Base Metals Refinery (RBMR) has the world’s first full deposit nickel plating tankhouse. Impurities in the nickel electrolyte can induce stresses in the electrowon nickel deposits that could lead to delamination of the deposit. Identifying the impurities that contribute to increasing internal stresses in the nickel deposit is key to successful operation and automation of the tankhouse. Impurities were introduced in the plant electrolyte and the effects on the full-scale nickel deposits evaluated. The impurity-adjusted electrolyte solutions were also analyzed using commercially available bench-scale methods to determine the induced stress. A correlation between impurity-induced deposit stress and full-scale delamination was developed. A direct correlation can now be made between feed quality, i.e. impurity concentrations, and degree of delamination in the plant. This methodology has the potential to rapidly predict the effect of new reagents, upstream process upset conditions and synergistic interactions between impurities on deposit stress and delamination of nickel deposits.INTRODUCTION Nickel electrowinning in sulphate media was first pioneered by Outokumpu in its Harjavalta refinery in 1960 (Saarinen and Seilo, 1985). The original process was very manual with starter sheets plated onto “acid resistant” steel for 36 hours and then manually stripped and cut into sheets which could be inserted into the main production cells for a further 4–5 days. The starter sheet stripping and manufacture process was later automated. The same technology was subsequently implemented on a number of plants around the world. Anglo American Platinum’s Base Metal Refinery (BMR) began nickel electrowinning in the early 1980’s. The recent expansion of Anglo American Platinum’s Base Metals Refinery necessitated the construction of a new nickel tankhouse to achieve two primary objectives. The first to increase the capacity to 32 400 tpa nickel and the second to reduce employee occupational exposure to nickel aerosols. The new tankhouse has been commissioned and is in the process of ramp-up; more details are given by Hagemann et al. (2016). Fundamental to lowering employee exposure to aerosols was automating both harvesting and final handling of cathode. In order to accomplish this a bold move was taken to plate up to 10 days on permanent titanium blanks which are harvested by automatic crane and automatically stripped. The original development work for the plating nickel on titanium blanks over a ten day cycle is given by Bryson et al. (2006)."

Jan 1, 2017

By E. O. Wagner, V. F. Parry, J. B. Goodman

The low-rank coals containing 10 to 50 pct natural bed moisture represent over half of the tonnage reserve of the available solid fuels of the United States, but only about 2 pct of United States coal production is derived from these fuels. Increased utilization of these large reserves will result if the bed moisture can be removed at the mine in high-speed low-cost processes. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental study of the factors affecting high-speed drying of coal dusts. The time required to heat particles of coal is proportional to the square of their diameter, and it is calculated that the probable time in minutes is equal to 6D2. In other words, a 1/16 in. coal particle should be heated to drying temperature in 1.5 to 2.0 sec. Likewise, 1/8 in. particles should be heated in about 6 sec. The net heat required to dry subbituminous coal and lignite varies from 240 to 375 Btu per pound, depending upon the moisture removed, and this heat can be obtained from 42 to 61 cu ft of hot gases at 600°F. The necessary heat also can be obtained from 7.5 to 11 cu ft of gas at 2000°F. A description of the design and operation of a pilot plant for flash drying coal dusts is presented. This plant dries 1/16 in. by 0 coal dust in suspension in 1.5 to 2 sec with 600°F gas at a rate of 1300 lb per hour per square foot of column area and operates continuously at an efficiency of about 85 pct. The design and operation of another pilot plant for drying 1/8 in. by 0 coal dusts Is also described. This unit dries coal in the fluidized state using the sensible heat of gases introduced at 2000°F and processes coal at a rate of about 1500 Ib per hour per square foot of grate area at 85 to 90 pct efficiency. Over 90 pct of the bed moisture of low-rank coal dusts can be removed by the methods described. The heating value of lignite can be increased 45 pet and that if subbituminous coal 25 pct in a few seconds. The physical and chemical properties of coal dusts before and after drying are presented in the report, and it is shown that the bulk density of the dried coal is equal to that of the raw coal. This phenomenon makes it possible to ship 25 to 45 pct more heat in a railroad car with consequent savings in freight costs. Introduction For several years the Subbituminous Coal and Lignite Section of the Coal Branch of the Bureau of Mines at Golden, Colo., has been concerned with upgrading low-rank coals by removal of natural bed moisture. These fuels contain 10 to 50 pct total moisture, which reduces their industrial value considerably. In 1938, investigations were initiated in cooperation with the University of North Dakota to study drying of lignite by the Fleissner process with heat derived from high-pressure saturated steam. Two pilot plants were built, and two reports were published giving the results of this work.l,2 It was demonstrated that lump lignite and subbituminous coal

Jan 1, 1950

By R. D. Leitch

From time to time the Bureau of Mines has received requests from persons who wish to destroy unwanted explosives, and although the information that follows has been accumulated from sources considered reliable,4/ the. Bureau of Mines assumes no responsibility for accidents that may result from following the suggestions offered. Explosives to be destroyed may be fresh material from damaged packages, usable material for which there is no further need, or material that has deteriorated either from natural aging or from improper storage to the point where it is unfit for use.

Jan 1, 1945

By L. I. Gyrskia, Y. V. Andreev, T. N. Greiver, G. V. Petrov

Traditionally, chromite ores are regarded exclusively as a monomineral raw material for extraction of chromium. The results of the investigations indicate a wide range of PGM in the Ray-Iz chromites, amounting to 1-3 ppm PGM. The study of products of primary gravity concentration from heavily and lightly disseminated ores (Tsentralnoe deposit, Ray-Iz block), showed that the platinum-group minerals are concentrated in the tails and slimes of the processed products, containing 10-30 ppm total PGM. Preliminary data make it possible to conclude that an in-depth study of the platinum mineralogy of the Ray-Iz block chromite ores is necessary to develop a process that will produce both chromium and the PGM.

Jan 1, 2000

By T Christie

Tertiary volcanic rocks make up a significant proportion of the surficial cover rocks of New Zealand, especially in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Industrial minerals that are associated with or derived from the volcanic rocks include: amorphous silica, allophane, bentonite, diatomite, ignimbrite building stone, illite clays, halloysite clay, obsidian, perlite, pumice, sulphur, titanomagnetite ironsand and zeolite. Of these: bentonite, ignimbrite building stone, perlite, pumice and titanomagnetite ironsand have been mined and processed for 20 to 30 years, but many of the others require further characterisation of the resource and/or development of markets.   We have compiled interim mineral deposit models for halloysite clays in rhyolite and for zeolites in altered vitric tuffs. These models include geological and mineralogical attributes, which are linked to the underlying volcanic and geothermal processes that have produced the minerals and their source volcanic rocks. Halloysite clay deposits at Matauri Bay (Northland) have formed from hydrothermal alteration and weathering of rhyolite. Clinoptilolite + mordenite zeolite deposits in the Ngakuru area (Rotorua district) have formed from hydrothermal alteration of volcanic glass in lacustrine sediments and ignimbrite. Further refinement and application of these models will result in a better understanding of the mineralogy, localisation and origin of the deposits, with consequent applications in exploration and resource assessments.

Jan 1, 2001

By C. A. C. Sequeira, G. N. Anastassakis

Electrochemical processes occur on nano-, micro- and macro- scale in numerous applications such as fuel cells, batteries, hydrogen production, mineral extraction, water treatment, electrotherapy, sensors and many others. In most of these applications, gases evolve either at one or both electrodes due to electrolysis. These gases form bubbles play a crucial role in electrochemical systems. For example, in electrowinning (EW) that is used to extract and refine metals such as Cu, Zn, Ni, Mn, and Cd from their solutions, in most cases the solution is acidic and oxidation of water molecules at the anode is the common counter reaction, which results in the liberation of oxygen bubbles. This generally requires a high overpotential and accounts for a considerable percentage of the energy consumed in metal EW electrolytic cells, apart from producing acid mist that is very corrosive for other cell equipment and building structures. The behaviour of bubbles in electrochemical systems is still a complex challenging topic which requires a better understanding of gas bubbles hydrodynamics and their interactions with electrode surface and bulk liquid, as well as between the bubbles themselves. The objective of the current paper is to briefly review the fundamental hydrodynamics of both gas bubbles on the electrode surface and gas bubbles interaction with the liquid bulk solution. The current work also investigates the impact of gas bubbling and some operating parameters in copper EW, such as current density (100-500 A/m2), temperature (25-75ºC), acidity (50-300 g/L) and a typical chemical mist suppressant (<50 ppm). The results clearly show that both suppressant and temperature reduced the overall surface tension of the solution. Also, chloride concentration and applied current improved electrolyte flow and copper quality at higher current densities. The current paper contributes to the development of mineral processing (specifically to copper hydrometallurgy), as it deals with fundamental hydrodynamics and interactions of gas bubbles that formed during copper EW and play a crucial role in copper electrochemical systems.

Jan 1, 2018

By Shuji Owada, Shinya Suzuki, Chiharu Tokoro, Daisuke Haraguchi, Sayaka Izawa

"Coprecipitation with ferrihydrite has been one of the major treatment method for As(V) removal from wastewater such as acid mine drainage. We already confirmed coprecipitation of As(V) with ferrihydrite consists of two kinds of mechanism; one is two dimensional As(V) uptake to the surface of ferrihydrite by surface complexation and another is three dimensional As(V) uptake into ferrihydrite by surface precipitation. We also already confirmed As(V) adsorption process by ferrihydrite could be quantitatively evaluated by original surface complexation model with parameter values reported by Dzombak and Morel. However, As(V) coprecipitation process couldn’t quantitatively be represented by only the original model. In this study, construction and calculation using surface precipitation model were attempted for As(V) coprecipitation treatment with ferrihydrite. In the surface precipitation model, precipitation was described by the formation of solid compound between ferrihydrite and ferric arsenate. Activity of these precipitates was determined by surface precipitation ratio of FeAsO4(s) obtained experimentally from XANES analyses. Solubility products of surface precipitation of FeAsO4(s) (Ksp_FeAsO4(suf.)) were determined by fitting to sorption densities and surface precipitation ratio in each condition. The values of Ksp_FeAsO4(suf.) were determined 10-7.7 at pH5 and 10-10.2 at pH7, respectively. Based on the obtained Ksp_FeAsO4(suf.) value, As(V) removal and isotherm were calculated for As(V) co-precipitation treatment using surface precipitation model. Good agreement between experimental and calculated values was observed. These results were suggested that the quantitative prediction of As(V) co-precipitation treatment was possible if Ksp_FeAsO4(suf.) value was estimated experimentally."

Jan 1, 2014

By P Allen, E Gleeson, D Boakye, R Chesher, S Konopa

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. Not only do epithermal gold deposits provide many challenges in estimating mineral resources, the complexities of these deposits also provide technical challenges in assessing appropriate mining and processing strategies, as well as social and environmental planning and management. The characteristics of epithermal gold deposits include being highly variable with respect to geometry and gold grade distribution, the presence of other economic contributors, mineralogy, texture, rock strength, weathering and alteration overprint. These characteristics influence the economic value of mining projects in an interlinked manner. Consequently, successful exploitation of epithermal deposits requires a holistic approach, coupled with the effective integration of geological data to meet all aspects of mine development decision-making. This paper presents examples of the key technical challenges encountered in estimating and mining epithermal deposits. It also highlights why these issues need to be addressed from the viewpoint of geology, sampling, resource estimation, mine planning, mineral processing and social and environmental planning for the true value of the mining project to be realised.CITATION:Konopa, S, Chesher, R, Gleeson, E, Allen, P and Boakye, D, 2015. Challenges in maximising the value from epithermal gold deposits, in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 127–132 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

By Wilson Bardales

El presente trabajo describe la experiencia de la Gestión de la Calidad en la Cía. Minera Poderosa S.A., específicamente en el rol que desempeñan los Círculos de Mejoramiento Continuo (CMC´s) como un vehículo efectivo para alcanzar los objetivos de la empresa. Los CMC´s están integrados por trabajadores de un mismo proceso, a quienes se capacita en el manejo de herramientas, técnicas y metodologías de la calidad, con la finalidad de realizar mejoras en los procesos. En ese sentido, en la compañía minera La Poderosa, la administración es participativa y el directorio difunde las políticas, para lograr la rentabilidad de la empresa. Así también, los mandos medios definen los objetivos y estrategias, desplegándola en cascada a la supervisión y estos a su vez, al personal de línea. Este concatenamiento de responsabilidades y la participación de los CMC´s aseguran el alineamiento y control de la gestión.

Sep 12, 2005