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By Bernt Ellingsaeter, Terkel Rosenqvist

IN the silicothermic reduction of magnesia, burned dolomite is treated with high grade ferrosilicon in an evacuated steel retort at temperatures between 1150° and 1200°C. The following reaction is assumed to occur MgO + CaO + 1/2 Si (Fe) - Mg(g) +- & Ca,SiO, + Fe with the equilibrium constant on the basis of thermodynamic data for the substances involved and assuming unit activity for all solid constituents, Kubaschewski and Evans' calculated the magnesium pressure as a function of temperature logp,, (mmHg) = 15.06-1.61 T- log T- 13,16O/T. Pidgeon and King," who measured the magnesium pressure by means of a flow method, found values about three times the calculated ones. This may be caused by uncertainties in the thermodynamic data, but may also be caused by the formation of other reaction products, such as Ca,SiO,, which is known to be the stable silicate in equilibrium with lime. Whatever the exact reaction may be, it is evident that as long as all other factors are maintained constant the magnesium pressure will vary with the silicon activity, viz: p,, = &,. (p,,) ", where (p,,)" is the magnesium pressure by the reduction with silicon of unit activity. In the present investigation, p,,, was therefore measured for various grades of ferrosilicon and their silicon activities were calculated. The experimental method was similar to that used by Pidgeon and King. Briquettes of burned dolomite and Fe-Si alloys were placed in a 1 in. heat resistant steel tube and were heated to 1200°C. By means of a flow of purified hydrogen, the magnesium vapor was swept into a condenser filled with steel wool. From the amounts of hydrogen used and magnesium condensed the magnesium partial pressure was calculated. First a tube of 28 pct Cr steel, and later a tube of Kanthal D (a ferrous alloy with 22.6 pct Cr, 2 pct Co, and 4.5 pct Al), was used as a heat resistant tube. The latter tube showed the best heat resistance. The dolomite used had the following composition: 43.6 pct MgO, 55.5 pct CaO, 0.2 pct K,O + NalO, 0.2 pct Fe,O,, and 0.3 pct insoluble. The ferrosilicons were prepared from 98 pct Si of technical grade (0.7 pct Al, 0.3 pct Ca, and 1 pct Fe) by melting with various amounts of electrolytic iron of high purity. The alloys thus obtained were analyzed on their iron and silicon contents, which added up to between 99 and 100 pct. The amounts of reactants were chosen so that there would always be an excess of the oxides, and the average decrease in silicon content during the experiments would be about 1 pct. Most of the reaction occurred in the part of the reaction mixture facing the gas flow. The change in the silicon concentration in the part facing the condenser was, therefore, negligible. To facilitate the reaction, about 1 pct fluorspar was added to the briquette mixture. Fluorspar does not enter the reaction, but is known to act as a

Jan 1, 1957

By Karl J. Ellefsen

A geophysical investigation can provide valuable geologic information needed to characterize sand-and- gravel deposits and can be an attractive complement to more common characterization methods such as drilling. Although such investigations have been conducted already, a comparison of the different geophysical methods used in these investigations apparently has never been done. For this reason, a study was initiated by the Mineral Resources Program of the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the advantages and the limitations of different geophysical methods when used to evaluate alluvial sand-and-gravel deposits. The study is focused on those geophysical methods that are commonly available, because these are most likely to be used by industry. Furthermore, the study is focused on surface geophysical methods. Heretofore, four different methods have been evaluated. Three of the four methods-time-domain electro-magnetic (TEM) soundings, frequency-domain electro-magnetic profiling, DC-resistivity soundings-are similar in that they all measure the electrical resistivity of the ground with depth. Ground-penetrating radar, however, maps changes in the dielectric permittivity and for the electrical resistivity with depth. For all, four methods, the objective is to relate the measured physical quantity to the stratigraphy of the alluvial sediments.

Jan 1, 1999

"A numerical procedure based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) is developed for rock blasting phenomena involving multiple intersecting joints. In this procedure, an elasto-plastic damage constitutive model has been applied in the framework of SPH to simulate yielding response of the surrounding rock medium. In this paper, a square shape rock medium with centrally located emulsion explosive in a borehole is numerically blasted with and without the presence of two diagonal rock joints. The model is simulated by assuming all four sides of the rock medium as free surfaces. The paper elaborates the propagation of stress wave, expansion dynamics of gaseous products, and development of fracture, fragmentation of the medium and dissipation of energy due to damage.INTRODUCTIONDamage prediction of rock mass and its mean fragmentation size are of important to design blast parameters for a given explosive. Current blasting practice solely depends on empirical relationships between fragmentation sizes to those blast design parameters while mathematical descriptions of the physical laws governing the process of rock blasting are limited. A constitutive relationship based on properties of explosives and rock mass is of special interest because of its capabilities in describing the key features of rock fracture and fragmentation, resulting in understanding of the physical process involved in rock blasting. It is well known that blast-induced damage and fragmentation of rock mass occur due to detonation induced stress wave and product gas driven fracture propagation. Nevertheless, the fundamental mechanism of the failure process and the behavior of rock characteristics under these two different loading are not well understood in many cases, which are closely related to growth of fractures and interaction of cracks under different loading conditions.Continuum damage mechanics is considered to be appropriate to describe the failure process under such high-amplitude stress wave. Based on this approach, several theoretical models have been developed to analyze the dynamic damage of brittle material such as rock and concrete with microstructure (Chen, 1999; Taylor et al., 1986; Wu et al., 2004; Yazdchi et al., 1996). These models are mostly based on the theory of damage mechanics or fracture mechanics with some statistical treatment to incorporate random distribution of microcracks. In the application of fracture mechanics theory, sometimes it is difficult to estimate the micromechanical parameters such as crack density and fracture toughness in different modes. In this study, damage in rock material is evaluated according to the earlier model developed by Grady and Kipp (1980), which is a fracture model coupled with a material description for stress wave propagation to predict quantitatively fracture and fragmentation under explosive loading conditions."

Jan 1, 2015

By Joseph L. Condon

Fifteen shots of three explosives with charge weights of 0.52, 1.1, 3.1, and 5.1 kilograms were fired in a pond to study the seismic effects of detonating explosives in water. Shock pressures and bubble periods were measured with pressure transducers in the water. Vibrations were measured on land in three orthogonal directions with particle velocity gages. Statistical tests indicated that a charge weight exponent of 0.43 best scaled the data. While shock pressures and bubble periods showed considerable differences in explosive performances, the amplitudes of ground vibrations showed less difference, and one prediction equation was therefore derived to estimate vibration amplitudes from all the explosives.

Jan 1, 1970

By Z. Y. Ding

This paper emphasize two points in piled wharf design which are important than structure calculation. First, during design of piled wharf on soft stratum, the bank slope stability is the first important item. Second, the live load, the backfill and the original ground's settlement will influence the wharf structure causes cracks. Two practical examples were illustrated.

Jan 1, 1991

By G. R. Denham

Innovative designs, mining, construction and reclamation practices are used at PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara's Batu Hijau mine on Sumbawa Indonesia to develop a cost-effective, environmentally sound, stockpile and dumping system. The mine production rate is over 200 million tonnes per year (50 million tonnes processed with 150 million tonnes being stockpiled for processing later or placed in waste dumps). Dump development for over 150 million tonnes per year in a mountainous, tropical environment, while meeting environmental and permitting requirements is not an easy task. The effective implementation requires innovative techniques and practices from every department of the mine.

Jan 1, 2002

Mirador - Overview ? Located in Andean foothills of SE Ecuador ? Copper-gold porphyry hosted by calc-alkaline Late Jurassic granitic and porphyritic rocks ? 438 MT of 0.61% Cu and 0.19 g/t Au measured and indicated resources (at 0.4% Cu cut-off) ? Additional inferred resources of 235 MT of 0.52% Cu and 0.17 g/t Au ? Initial 25,000 tonnes/day production, expanding to 50,000 in year 6 320 MT of 0.62% Cu, 0.2 g/t Au ore mined at an average 1.4:1 strip ratio over a 21 year mine-life

May 1, 2006

By M. G. Irish, E. E. Vidal, M. J. Jahraus, P. R. Taylor

An experimental system has been designed to monitor on-line variations of leaching parameters in a closed circuit of cyanide leaching solutions and gold bearing ores. Experiments performed to deter-mine variations in some important leaching parameters of the solution: pH, dissolved oxygen, free cyanide, oxidation/reduction potential, gold content, temperature, pressure and solution chemistry. By comparing results obtained when the leaching solution is allowed to become acid or kept basic, it was possible to infer the chemical reactions that occurred between the solution and the ores.

Jan 1, 2004

By Dennis S. Kostick

Soda ash is produced in over 39 countries by the Solvay ammonia-soda process or by mining natural sodium carbonate deposits. The total production of soda ash in 1980 is estimated at slightly over 29 million metric tons. Synthetic production accounted for over 75% of this amount with the balance of production originating from natural sources (either trona or sodium carbonate-rich brines) found primarily in the United States, Mexico, Kenya, and Chad.

Jan 1, 1981

By D. M. Stephens

Feeder-Breakers were an unknown but much needed piece of machinery when U. S. underground coal mines started converting to more efficient belt haulage of the R.O.M. coal as compared to conventional methods that the 1950's offered. These simple electromechanical machines offered efficiencies in three areas: (1) they contained a surge hopper that allowed a "load' of coal to be dumped without delay; (2) this material was fed horizontally by a drag chain conveyor into a rotating carbide pick breaker that broke all oversize material into a beltable size, and (3) it fed this broken material onto the belt conveyor at a rate conducive to its design. Since its introduction, the Feeder-Breaker has evolved from that first low capacity, low breaking force machine to today's model capable of breaking materials up to 5 MOHS in hardness and having throughput capabilities exceeding 3,000 TPH with availability in the 90 percentiles.

Jan 1, 1985

By B. Grinbaum

The solvent extraction of Cu from acidic leach solutions is carried out using oxime extractants. The mechanism can be described as liquid ion exchange, where a labile H+ in the oxime replaces Cu++ ion from the pregnant leach solution. The process is reversible and, at high acidity, the copper is stripped back to the aqueous phase. As the extraction proceeds, the acidity of the aqueous phase increases and the equilibrium may shift against the extraction reaction. This phenomenon may become significant in leach solutions with high copper concentration, where large amounts of acid are transferred from the solvent into the aqueous phase. An efficient way to increase the recovery of copper consists of splitting the extraction into two circuits, and either neutralizing with lime or extracting the excess acid of the intermediate raffinate. In the second case, the acid can extracted using a solvent, which can be stripped with a base, e.g., NaOH or ammonia. A third option is direct neutralization with soluble basic salt, e.g., Na2CO3, within a single extraction battery. The choice of the preferred process depends on the specific process demands and on the relative availability and price of the raw materials and by-products price.

Jan 1, 2007

By Robert H. Richards

OF the several professions-the chemist, the civil engineer, the mining engineer, the mechanical engineer-the courses of instruction, as arranged at the scientific schools, differ considerably as to the amount of practical information which the student is able to gain. The analytical chemist has facility for a very thorough review of the processes which he will be called upon to perform. The student in civil engineering by his field practical learns the use of his tools and the art of taking field-notes. The mechanical engineering student is in the vicinity of machine-shops, which he can visit, and at which . he can work. The student in mining engineering has no such advantages. The mines are at a distance, and the railroad fare to get to them is oftentimes an insuperable difficulty. The aim of these laboratories is essentially to give to the student in mining and metallurgy a chance to study on a small scale the practical parts of his profession. We cannot, in a small laboratory, build a mine to timber, to work, and to survey; we cannot make artificial quicksands and other impediments to mining. In short, we cannot study exploration; but we can study the mechanical preparation and the subsequent smelting of ores. Before presenting the plan of these laboratories it may be interesting to indicate the progress of the idea from its beginning. During the summer of 1870 President Runkle visited the mines of Colorado, and while there, conceived the idea of making an expedition with the mining students to some of the Western mining regions. He talked over the scheme with many railroad and mining men, and everywhere received encouragement. In the summer of 1871 the Institute party visited the mines of Colorado, and spent six weeks in taking notes of them. President Runkle here conceived the idea of building up a mining and metallurgical laboratory ; and by the aid of Booth & Co. of San Francisco, a stamp-mill was obtained, with the Washoe silver-working apparatus. During the year

By Robert H. Richards

OF the several professions-the chemist, the civil engineer, the mining engineer, the mechanical engineer-the courses of instruction, as arranged at the scientific schools, differ considerably as to the amount of practical information which the student is able to gain. The analytical chemist has facility for a very thorough review of the processes which he will be called upon to perform. The student in civil engineering by his field practice learns the use of his tools and the art of taking field-notes. The mechanical engineering student is in the vicinity of machine-shops, which he can visit, and at which he can work. The student in mining engineering has no such advantages. The mines are at a distance, and the railroad fare to get to them is oftentimes an insuperable difficulty. The aim of these laboratories is essentially to give to the student in mining and metallurgy a chance to study on a small scale the practical parts of his profession. We cannot, in a small laboratory, build a mine to timber, to work, and to survey; we cannot make artificial quicksands and other impediments to mining. In short, we cannot study exploration; but we can study the mechanical preparation and the subsequent smelting of ores. Before presenting the plan of these laboratories it may be interesting to indicate the progress of the idea from its beginning. During the summer of 1870 President Runkle visited the mines of Colorado, and while there, conceived the idea of making an expedition with the mining students to some of the Western mining regions. He talked over the scheme with many railroad and mining men, and everywhere received encouragement. In the summer of 1871 the Institute party visited the mines of Colorado, and spent six weeks in taking notes of them. President Runkle here conceived the idea of building up a mining and metallurgical laboratory ; and by the aid of Booth & Co. of San Francisco, a stamp-mill was obtained, with the Washoe silver-working apparatus. During the year

Jan 1, 1873

By Vito J. Colangelo

The primary object of this study was to determine the effect of ferrite and its orientation upon the mechanical properties of a precipitation -hardening stainless steel with particular attention to the short-transverse properties. The investigation consisted of Jour major parts : the preliminary investigation of billet properties, the effect of forging reduction and ferrite content upon mechanical properties, the effect of notch orientation upon impact strength, and the relationship of heat composition to ferrite content. Low ductility and impact strength in the short transverse direction were found to he associated with the orientation and shape of- the ferrite plates. It was also determined that impact strength varied with notch orientation. The test values obtained with the notch perpendicular to the plane of the ferrite plate were lower than those obtained in the notch-parallel condition. The over-all investigation showed that high ferrite contents in general had a deleterious effect upon mechanical properties and that the ferrite content could he minimized by exercising rigorous control of the heat composition. A careful balance of elements, nitrogen in particular, must he maintained in order to reduce the formation of ferrite. THE precipitation-hardening stainless steels were developed to fulfill a need for high-strength corrosion-resistant alloys. In the annealed condition they are soft and ductile and possess many of the desirable characteristics of the austenitic stainless steels. In the hardened condition, the alloys exhibit the high strength and hardness of the martensitic stainless steels. The alloy under consideration in this investigation has a nominal composition as follows: C Mn Si Cr Ni Mo N 0.13 0.95 0.25 15.50 4.30 2.75 0.10 The hardening mechanism is identical to that of other hardenable steels in that it depends upon the transformation of austenite to martensite. This alloy because of its annealed structure and its ability to be hardened combines the desirable forming and corrosion properties of the austenitic grades with the high hardness and strength levels attainable with the hardenable grades. The reason for this apparent duplicity of proper- ties can be explained by considering a basic metallurgical difference between the hardenable stainless steels and those of the austenitic group. Both types are austenitic at 1800°F but, while the martensitic grades transform to martensite upon rapid cooling to room temperature, the austenitic grades remain austenitic even when cooled to temperatures below room temperature. The major difference then is in the degree of austenite stability. This stability can quantitatively be described by the Ms temperature. The Ms is defined as that temperature at which austenite begins to transform to martensite. The austenitic grades for example may be cooled to -300°F without producing significant quantities of martensite. The hardenable stainless steels on the other hand have an Ms temperature in the vicinity of 400" to 700°F. In cooling to room temperature, these alloys traverse the entire Ms-Mf range and show almost complete transformation to martensite. The semiaustenitic stainless steel, however, occupies an intermediate position with respect to its austenite stability. The analysis is so balanced that the Ills temperature lies at or slightly above room temperature. The resulting alloy retains much of its austenite at room temperature and yet responds to hardening heat treatments. Achieving this delicate balance of elements is therefore of great importance. Slight imbalances of the equivalent Cr-Ni ratios frequently result in the presence of 6 ferrite. It is the effects of this ferrit with which we are concerned, more specifically the effect of the quantity and ferrite orientation upon mechanical properties, particularly ductility. PROCEDURE A) Preliminary Investigation of Billet and Forging Properties. In order to determine the effect of ferrite on billet properties, billet stock from three heats with various ferrite contents was utilized. Tensile specimens were obtained in the transverse and longitudinal directions from this material and heat-treated as shown in Tables I and 11. Forgings were made from these same heats, the purpose being to determine what effect, if any, the ferrite might have upon the mechanical properties. These forgings were made in such a manner as to elongate the ferrite in the longitudinal and transverse directions. The method of forging was as follows. A section was cut from a 6-in.-sq billet of Heat A and flat-forged to 1-1/2 in. thick. Working was done from one direction only with no edging passes as shown

Jan 1, 1965

By A. R. Denison

To those who are unfamiliar with the nomenclature in common use among operators in the Mid-Continent, the Permian Basin is a term to cover several widely separated productive areas. It includes what is designated in trade journals as the Panhandle fields, the West Texas fields and Southeastern New Mexico fields. It is bounded roughly on the east by the 100th parallel, on the west by the 104th parallel, 011 thr south by the Rio Grande River and various mountain ranges and on the north by the north line of the Texas Panhandle. The name is derived from the location of these three widely scattered areas which are all in a broad geosyncline which is chiefly filled with sediments of Perrliian age. The oil fields as now known and the approximate limits of the Permian Basin are shown in Fig. 1. The major part of the production in these areas comes from liniestonc or dolomite of Permian age. Some granite wash and sandstone production has been developed but ordinarily does not yield as large initial production as the limestone or dolorliite. Introduction During 1926, Texas, exclusive of the Gulf Coast, produced 12G1SS-1,-952 bbl. of oil,' of which 40,727,877 bbl., or 32 per cent., was produccd in the West Texas Permian Basin. During 1927 the same area in Texas produced 167,176,000 bbl. %f oil, of which 89,779,000 bbL13 or 52 per cent., was produced in the West Texas Permian Basin. The increase in the total production of Texas is about equivalent to the increase in production in the Permian Basin. Since production in the Panliandle District declined during the entire year, the increase of production in the West Texas Permian Basin, and also the increase in Texas, is due to the enormous increase from the West Texas fields. Daily average pl-oduction in the West Texas fields increased from 68,211 bbl. on ,Jan. 8 to

Jan 1, 1928

By A. Chattopadhyay, J. Res

High-level electrical energy can be suitably converted to shock waves of stress that, in turn, may be used for disintegrating hard rocks. This development, known as the electrohydrodynamic method, is very safe and highly economical compared to other methods of rock breaking. This paper deals mainly with development of the equipment and some details of the experimental work carried out with different rocks and concrete block.

Jan 1, 1988

By G. K. Derby

Paper presents project results investigating current techniques for dragline wire rope removal and the development of less hazardous means of performing the task. The cannon is the most prevalent method used in American surface mines. A cannon test program was conducted that used 40-and 50-grain primer cord to establish force produced using a 56-pound projectile. Socketlwedges were separated to establish separation force data. Two alternative removal methods, pendulum ram and portable hydraulic pusher, were developed and tested. Both provide sufficient force to effect separations under normal conditions on draglines with up to 78- cubic yard buckets.

Jan 1, 1984

By E. Lefeuvre

Precambien in age, the phospate deposit under study which outcrops to the south forms a synclinal consisting of only one mineralized horizon. The synclinal strikes SSW/NNE, dips from 30 to 60 NNE and is about 5 km wide. The deposit has been explored by : - trenches and pits about 50 m apart in the outcropping area ; - core drill holes forming lines perpendicular to the outcrop. These lines are about 100 m apart. On each line, the drill holes are about 50 m apart The phosphate layer is clearly visible and has then been defined from the geologicia1 description of drill hole logs. The layer has been divided into two parts : a very rich, altered part at the hanging wall and a poor part displaying opposite physical characteristics, i.e. a fresh and hard rock. With open pit mining in view, the deposit has been divided into a 3-dimension network of blocks, each block measuring 50 X 50 X 100 m. The tonnages of rich and poor ore, PO25, MgO, Si02, CaO and R2O3 grades and the tonnages of barren waste at the hanging wall and the footwall have been calculated for each block. Given the dip of the phosphate layer ranging from 30 to 60° and its relative thickness (between 10 and 15 m), it was impossible or inappropriate to carry out direct calculation by 3-dimension kriging : too many neighboring blocks to obtain sufficient date and impossibility to draw up the morphology of the layer.

Jan 1, 1986

By Roy A. Grancher

Construction materials indeed face a dilemma...as does the building industry as a whole. A stop & go economy; a severe drop; in housing starts; lingering indecision over just what corrective steps are to be taken or to their degree of commitment; no less basic disagreement in regard to which of the, Nation's problems is really the most pressing -- inflation or recession? Optimism has become a rare quality these days. At moat the cautious view is that this new year will see a long, hard struggle back, with hopes that 1976 at least can truly mark a dual anniversary celebration for the United States and its economic health. Yet the paradox is that once recovery does return, those very construction minerals and materials --which in recent years have experienced the ups and downs of overcapacity, shortage, and now declining demand again-- will once more face the spectre of mass inability to service revived and growing needs for its product. Mounting costs, present marginal expansion investment, and substantial lead times required for new facilities to come into production, could well form a bottleneck to economic upswing. The result again can be another cycle of shortage-induced inflation, and with it continued gyrations within the demand supply relationships of the country's building industries.

Jan 1, 1975

By Wieslaw Blaschke

The transformation of Polish economy, has contributed to the significant ownership changes and the way of management. Most of non-ferrous metals producers are now joint stock companies or stock companies, which shares are owned mostly by Polish shareholders, the State Treasury, banks or trading companies. However, as compared to the international tendencies, the cost of production of base metals in Poland are still relatively high, and the utilization of secondary sources is still very low. In this sense, the paper point out that some positive results of the current pro-ecological mineral policy in Poland have been already clearly visible in the case of non-ferrous metals smelters, where the emission of dusts and gases was significantly reduced. Therefore, if the current increasing tendency of world production of non-ferrous metals continues, Poland’s role as their primary producer will be reduced.

Sep 13, 2001