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By Toyohiko Hirota, Fukuo Itoh

Oil and natural gas aside, sea floor mineral resources currently being exploited in Japan are offshore sand and gravel and deep-sea manganese nodules. The mining of sand and gravel has already started. With regard to manganese nodules, the geophysical investigation and the study of the mining method are also underway. This report outlines the activity of a few Japanese firms, the Deep Ocean Minerals Association formed by some 30 private firms, Government agencies, a public corporation and two government research institutes. Researches on new exploration instruments, properties of deep-sea sediments and the mining method currently conducted by the National Research Institute for Pollution and Resources are described in detail.

Jan 1, 1976

By E. J. Maunders

This paper describes briefly a computerised model of the South African electricity system which has been developed jointly by the Atomic Energy Board and the Electricity Supply Commission. The results of an analysis of this system have been subjected to a fairly extensive sensitivity analysis which reveals that up to the year 1990 between 680 and 700 million tons of coal will be required for electric power generation, together with between 7 000 and 10 000 tons of uranium. This result is fairly insensitive to data variations, but the prediction of a cumulative requirement up to the year 2000, of between 1 300 and 1 800 million tons of coal and 25000 to 70000 tons of uranium, proves to be very data-sensitive.

By Peter Ay, Matthias Schmidt, Christian Stollberg

"The aim of the study is the development of a seamless reprocessing procedure for plastics from automotive parts which are to be recycled (figure 1). Before automatic sorting can be performed, the materials first have to be identified by a near and middle infrared (NIR/MIR) system.Materials reprocessing basically includes research on size reduction, decoating, and roughening of the materials. Variants of the necessary technologies such as different shredders and mills and physico-chemical or mechanical decoating and roughening procedures together with the fundamental approaches underlying these methods are investigated and benchmarked. This allows the theoretical determination of the impact of each method not only on the overall process but also on the result achieved within the identification and sorting procedures."

Jan 1, 2003

By George Laird

IF IT IS true that Sir Walter Raleigh lost his head for his failure to find gold in the Guianas, the trumped up charge of "treason" might better have been "con-tributory negligence." That systematic investigation and development of the gold-bearing areas of both Dutch and French Guiana have not been accomplished is not due so much to the lack of gold as to the geo-graphical, physical and climatic conditions of the two colonies. The Dutch, as a people, are not prospectors. The French look upon "Cayenne," or French Guiana, as DJOEKA BOATS USED IN RIVER TRANSPORTATION. just what it is: a penal colony, which produces a certain amount of balata, gold and essential oils, all of which can be purchased from the natives with far less physical exertion than they can be secured from the "bush" or jungle. The colonies have had their gold "booms," and dur-ing these periods the production has increased to a considerable amount, but the hardships to be endured in reaching the fields, the cost of transporting tools and supplies, the ever-present fevers, the bite of the "57 varieties" of insects and, lastly but not leastly, the abundance of rum in the seaport towns, dampen the ardor of even the strongest; the production of gold is left to the "pork knocker" or illegal gold digger and to the comparatively few producing "mines."

Jan 10, 1922

By S. K. Lahiri, K. C. Ghanta

Design of industrial slurry pipelines is usually performed by applying semi-empirical procedures, requiring a significant experimental study for each project. The mechanisms of suspension flow are not yet completely understood and existing predictive models cover only some aspects of uniform or closely graded particle slurry flows. This paper presents a computational technique for prediction of the velocity and concentration profile in slurry pipelines based on computational fluid dynamics. This model gives numerical solutions for the concentration and velocity distributions in the pipeline cross-section. The model prediction and experimental concentration and velocity profiles were found to be in good agreement. Keywords: pressure drop; concentration profile; particle diffusivity; slurry flow.

Jan 1, 2007

By S. M. Bulatovic, D. M. Wyslouzil

"This paper presents the results of a study of the effect of flowsheet configurations on metallurgical results and describes a general method for developing and optimizing flowsheets used in the treatment of massive sulphide ores. The flowsheet configuration can have a significant effect on recovery and selectivity between valuable minerals and gangue minerals. Placing of intermediate products within the flowsheet, positioning of various pretreatment units, such as conditioners or regrinding mills, and the ability of the flowsheet to cope with wide swings in the feed grade and composition are the major parameters that determine the optimum flowsheet configuration. The complexity of the flowsheet is largely a function of the ore itself and of the number of final, marketable products that have to be recovered from the ore. INTRODUCTIONTechnological ExpansionThe trend of past decades has been towards larger equipment and a better understanding of the chemistry of the flotation process. Despite appreciable progress in these areas little attention was given to the study of the actual configuration of the flowsheet, although the arrangement of the flotation equipment significantly affects the overall performance of the circuit."

Jan 1, 1989

By Vytas Svalbonas

Sophisticated computer analysis methods such as finite elements, finite differences, and numerical integration have become tools in the mineral processing industry for design of large mill shells. While use of such methods allows the analyst-designer to take new freedom with his designed structure, there are also pitfalls and dangers which must be recognized for the proper use of such sophisticated tools. One of the worst of these is treating any computer answers as "gospel truth." The present paper discusses the knowledge required by the analyst-designer for proper use of computer analysis, as well as explaining to the layman how to identify questionable areas in such structural analyses.

Jan 1, 1980

Past President Ralph Moore opended the meeting at 9:30 a.m. He thanked all the committees for their part in making the 1977 meeting the success is was. He then turned the meeting over to President-elect, Shirl McArthur. President McArthur called on the Auditing Committee to present its report. Gabe Ishley, Chairman, read the report and asked that it be approved. A motion was made, seconded and carried. Loren Linville gave his report on registration and new members which figures are in the Monday a.m. business meeting of the Proceedings. The Resolutions Committee was asked to give its report. William Bear, Chairman, submitted the following: (1) RESOLVED: WHEREAS, in the year since the last convention of The Rocky Mountain Coal Mining Institute, the Institute and the coal mining industry have suffered the loss through death of the services of: John A. Garcia John B. Huehes H. B. Lindeman Richard B. Miller Charles Pliley Wilford Ruff James Westfield

Jan 1, 1977

By D. E. Sherwood

Twelve toe grouted, and eleven ungrouted piles, founded in very dense sands have been analysed to establish how toe grouting enhances pile performance. It is shown that pile stiffness is greatly increased, and that pile bases work effectively. This is in contrast to ungrouted piles, where some milli­meters of base movement may be required before the base is mobilised. Grouting appears to recover most of the disturbance caused during construc­tion, but in general does not enhance the ultimate bearing capacity of undisturbed ground.

Jan 1, 1989

By Selby DW, Hamill J, Cauley ID, Thomas I, Thornton AJ

The main objective of sulphide flotation in a cassiterite concentrator is to remove sulphide minerals (pyrite, pyrrhotite and sometimes chalcopyrite) from the ore prior to gravity concentration. Tin losses in the sulphide flotation stage account for a significant proportion of the total tin loss. separate studies of the sulphide flotation circuits of Renison Ltd and Cleveland Tin Ltd were conducted to investigate reasons for the tin losses. Sampling surveys were conducted in the rougher-scavenger and also the regrind-cleaner sections of both plants. In both plants, the rougher circuits recover excessive quantities of liberated cassiterite, while recovery of the desired composite cassiterite-sulphide fraction is low. The regrind mills are successful in liberating the composite cassiterite in the rougher concentrate, but at the expense of increasing the proportion of very fine tin mineral. The cleaner circuits recover between 40 and 60% of the cassiterite received, and this is all lost.

Jan 1, 1978

By Satya Nandan

The International Seabed Authority is currently considering regulations for prospecting and exploration for polymetallic sulphides and cobalt rich crusts. The deposits of these two types of minerals are very different from polymetallic nodules for which the Authority has already adopted regulations in 2000. The presentation will discuss the nature of the deposits, the inadequacy of information and data concerning these deposits and their environment, as well as the problems of defining the method of allocation and the size of the areas to be licensed for exploration, and those to be retained for exploitation; the current status of the draft regulations being considered by the Council of the Authority.

Aug 24, 2006

By H. T. Matson, G. Allan Wallis

In the Northern Rhodesia copper fields the size of the orebodies and the exceptionally consistent values over great distances made it possible to outline the ore with drill holes spaced at 1000-ft. intervals; in some cases, 2000-ft. intervals. Owing to the fact that the size of the deposits made it very evident that much outside capital would have to be called in to develop them and, owing to the wide spacing of the holes, it was essential that the sampling of drill holes be as accurate as possible, so that outside examining engineers could adopt the results as trustworthy within the limits of accuracy of the drilling method. With this object in view, the field staffs of the Selection Trust group of companies have studied for the past three years, and are still studying, drill sampling in a very thorough manner, and for this reason it is felt that these notes may be of interest to engineers or students who are, or in the future may be, in charge of drilling operations. The orebodies in this field lie in shales and sandstones, more or less indurated, in the lower strata of the Roan series, and the copper mineralization is in the form of sulfides predominantly, with some oxidized copper minerals. These interested in the geology and history of the area can find full details in a recent paper by Anton Gray and Russell J. Parker.' In some formations core recovery was good—between 90 and 100 per cent.—and where any difficulty occurred in recovering sludge, as in fissured ground, this was not insisted upon; but the samplers' difficulties, both practical and theoretical, do not commence until core recovery drops and sludge recovery becomes important, for if core is being ground up it is recoverable only as sludge, and naturally the sludge sample, which theoretically should contain only the material cut from the annular ring around the core, is being salted, in a sense, by the ground-up core. In the perfect core, where 100 per cent. core is recovered as well as 100 per cent. sludge, the two samples can be treated separately, as in the case

Jan 1, 1931

By A. Chrzanowski

The integrated approach to monitoring surveys is based on a simultaneous utilization of geodetic, photogrammetric and geotechnical measurements of displacements, tilts, strains and any other geometrical parameters of deformation. New techniques for the integrated surveys are being developed at the University of New Brunswick in cooperation with the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology. A telemetry system for continuous monitoring of geotechnical measurements under difficult climatic and topographic conditions has been constructed and successfully tested in a coal mining area in western Canada. A generalized method for analysing the integrated deformation measurements has been developed and applied in the test area to yield three dimensional empirical modelling of surface movements from geodetic, photogrammetric and tilt surveys. The most appropriate model can be chosen from a statistical assessment of several modelling possibilities. The empirical model of the deformation can be employed in a "calibration" of the prediction (deterministic) model of the ground movements. A computer programme for two- and three-dimensional finite element modelling of elasto-plastic deformations has been developed at UNB as a part of the integrated approach. The :EM has been tested in predicting deformation in the test area in difficult geological conditions which were associated with an extraction of a steeply inclined coal seam. The results gave good agreement with the actual displacements obtained from geodetic measurements and confirmed the existence of a suspected fault.

Jan 1, 1984

By K. S. Benson

DEPLETION is a subject of vital importance to the mining industry. Yet, in spite of its importance, its significance is not generally understood. The purpose of this discussion is to clarify the main aspects of the subject from the viewpoint of a metal mine taxpayer.

Jan 7, 1951

By Theron Wasson

The Central Michigan area held first place in the state during the year. Midland and Isabella, the leading counties in 1932, produced most of the oil in 1933. The Porter field southeast of Mt. Pleasant and along the same structural trend saw the greatest drilling activity. In Porter during the year 117 new wells were drilled. Under proration these wells produced 3,583,617 bbl., or nearly one-half the total for the state, which has been estimated at 7,947,695 bbl. The Porter field is already outlined on all sides except the northwest. It probably reached its peak in 1933. Unless a new field of some magnitude is developed in 1934, Michigan will see a continuous decline. The Greendale extension to the old Mt. Pleasant field furnished the new flush for 1932. In 1933

Jan 1, 1934

By W. H. Hough, P. B. Leavenworth

Development during 1942 led to the discovery of 26 new fields in the Texas Gulf Coast, as compared with 27 during 1941. Of these, 19 are classed as oil fields, 4 distillate fields, and 3 gas fields. Production from the new fields amounted to 614,467 bbl. to October 1942. Producing Sections.—Discoveries in I942, compared with the previous two years, classified by producing formations, are shown in the following table: It is interesting to note the increase in Wilcox discoveries due to the extensive geophysical campaign that has been con. ducted since 1940. Drilling.—During the year 688 wells were drilled, of which 574 produced oil or gas and 114 were dry. This represents a considerable decline in activity over the previous year, when 1405 wells were drilled in the area, of which 1081 were producers and 324 failures. Jackson County continued to hold the lead, with 222 wells completed. Production.—-Despite curtailed drilling, production amounted to 118,009,451 bbl. for 1942, indicating a slight increase over the 113,726,893 bbl. produced during 1941. The statistics in Tables I and 2 include condensate and distillate as oil production, because many Gulf Coast fields produce oils with a wide variation of specific gravities, all of which are commingled in pipe lines. Table 3 shows by counties most of the activities referred to. The number of wells drilled includes only field wells; not wildcats. Outstanding Fields of 1942 The Texas Gulf Coast covered in this report has 270 more or less active oil and gas fields, including the new discoveries of 1942. Of these the most outstanding from the standpoint of production are listed in Table 4. Each of these fields produced one million barrels or more during 1942. Some of the fields where new extensions are occasionally referred to as separate fields, such as West Columbia and New West Columbia, or Thompson and South Thompson, are combined to give a more accurate outline. Two interesting facts may be noted from this list of some 26 oil fields: (I) that the Lolita field, Jackson County, is the only discovery since 1938 to produce more than one million barrels annually, although there have been 79 discoveries since Jan. I, 1940; (2) that 20 of these 26 fields produce from the Frio. New Fields ALief, Harris County.—Pure Oil Company's No. I Mike Albanese was drilled to 8637 ft. in Cook Mountain shale. After numerous tests the well was completed on Apr. 20, 1942, in a Yegua sand at 7919 to 7924 ft. for 54 bbl. of 52' gravity oil and 3,335,000 cu. ft. of gas through

Jan 1, 1943

By W. H. Hough, P. B. Leavenworth

Development during 1942 led to the discovery of 26 new fields in the Texas Gulf Coast, as compared with 27 during 1941. Of these, 19 are classed as oil fields, 4 distillate fields, and 3 gas fields. Production from the new fields amounted to 614,467 bbl. to October 1942. Producing Sections.—Discoveries in I942, compared with the previous two years, classified by producing formations, are shown in the following table: It is interesting to note the increase in Wilcox discoveries due to the extensive geophysical campaign that has been con. ducted since 1940. Drilling.—During the year 688 wells were drilled, of which 574 produced oil or gas and 114 were dry. This represents a considerable decline in activity over the previous year, when 1405 wells were drilled in the area, of which 1081 were producers and 324 failures. Jackson County continued to hold the lead, with 222 wells completed. Production.—-Despite curtailed drilling, production amounted to 118,009,451 bbl. for 1942, indicating a slight increase over the 113,726,893 bbl. produced during 1941. The statistics in Tables I and 2 include condensate and distillate as oil production, because many Gulf Coast fields produce oils with a wide variation of specific gravities, all of which are commingled in pipe lines. Table 3 shows by counties most of the activities referred to. The number of wells drilled includes only field wells; not wildcats. Outstanding Fields of 1942 The Texas Gulf Coast covered in this report has 270 more or less active oil and gas fields, including the new discoveries of 1942. Of these the most outstanding from the standpoint of production are listed in Table 4. Each of these fields produced one million barrels or more during 1942. Some of the fields where new extensions are occasionally referred to as separate fields, such as West Columbia and New West Columbia, or Thompson and South Thompson, are combined to give a more accurate outline. Two interesting facts may be noted from this list of some 26 oil fields: (I) that the Lolita field, Jackson County, is the only discovery since 1938 to produce more than one million barrels annually, although there have been 79 discoveries since Jan. I, 1940; (2) that 20 of these 26 fields produce from the Frio. New Fields ALief, Harris County.—Pure Oil Company's No. I Mike Albanese was drilled to 8637 ft. in Cook Mountain shale. After numerous tests the well was completed on Apr. 20, 1942, in a Yegua sand at 7919 to 7924 ft. for 54 bbl. of 52' gravity oil and 3,335,000 cu. ft. of gas through

Jan 1, 1943

By D. R. Semmes

The possible oil territory of Alabama can be readily divided into two regions, the Paleozoic area of the north, and the Coastal Plain province of Cretaceous and younger formations lying to the south. This latter area has received much attention in the last few years and has been described by a number of writers.' Although the possibilities of the Cretaceous series have been much emphasized by recent writers, the fact remains that the two, or possibly three, localities where oil or gas have been found in anything like paying quantities are confined to the area of Carboniferous rocks. Moreover, almost all of the oil seeps and a good percentage of the gas seeps are confined to this area.2 Topographically, as well as structurally, the Paleozoic area can be divided into three rather well defined provinces: (1) The broad, open Coosa Valley lying adjacent to the crystalline oldland, with comparatively little relief, except for occasional longitudinal ridges and rather intense folding; (2) the plateau region of horizontal or gently warped Pennsylvanian strata broken by occasional anticlinal valleys aligned northeast and southwest, outliers of the Coosa Valley proper, in which the older Paleozoic formations are exposed—a region of much relief (200

Jan 1, 1921

By James R. Hein, Jane Reid, Robert W. Embley, Se-Won Chang, Randolph A. Koski

"Abstract - This is the first reported occurrence of an active hydrothermal field in an oceanic fracture zone setting. The hydrothermal field occurs in a pull-apart basin within the Blanco Fracture Zone (BFZ), which has four distinct mineral deposit types: (1) barite mounds and chimneys, (2) barite stockwork breccia, (3) silica-barite beds, and (4) silica, barite, and Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide in sediments. All deposit types contain minor amounts of sulfides. In barite stockwork, silica-barite beds, and mineralized sediment, Ba, Pb, Ag, S, Au, Zn, Cu, Hg, Tl, As, Mo, Sb, U, Cd, and Cu are enriched relative to unmineralized rocks and sediments of the BFZ. Fe and Mn are not enriched in the barite stockwork or silica-barite beds, but along with P, Co, and Mg are enriched in the mineralized sediments. Silver contents in deposits of the hydrothermal field range up to 86 ppm, gold to 0.7 ppm, zinc to 3.2%, copper to 0.8%, and barium to 22%.Mineralization occurred by diffuse, low to intermediate temperature (mostly <250°C) discharge of hydrothermal fluids through pillow lavas and ponds of mixed volcaniclastic and biosiliceous sediments. Bacterial mats were mineralized by silica, barite, and minor Fe hydroxides, or less commonly, by Mn oxyhydroxides. Pervasive mineralization of bacterial mats resulted in formation of silica- barite beds. Silica precipitated from hydrothermal fluids by conductive cooling and mixing with seawater. Sulfate, U, and rare earth elements (REEs) in barite were derived from seawater, whereas the REE content of hydrothermal silica deposits and mineralized sediments is associated with the aluminosilicate detrital fraction. Fe-, Zn-, Cu-, Pb-, and Hg-sulfide minerals, Ba in barite, and Eu in all mineralized deposits were derived from hydrothermal fluids. Manganese oxides and associated elements (Co, Sb, Mo, W, Cl, and Cu) and Fe oxides and associated elements (Be, B, P, and Mo) precipitated as the result of mixing of hydrothermal fluids with seawater."

Jan 1, 1999

By Ralph E. Grim

THE technology of clay minerals is defined, for the purpose of this review, as- the application of fundamental data regarding clay minerals, and techniques of handling them, to the various industries, arts, and professions concerned with clay materials. The aim of the paper is to narrate recent developments in clay mineral technology. This review does not claim to be complete, and perhaps gives undue emphasis to matters that have been worked on in the author&apos;s laboratory or with which he has some other connection. In the United States in recent years, particularly since the end of World War 11, interest in clay mineralogy has increased greatly. Many laboratories in many different fields have embarked on studies of clay minerals but unfortunately much of this work has not been published. CERAMICS In the field of ceramics, in recent years, a great deal of interest has developed in clay mineralogy. Papers too numerous to be reviewed here have been published portraying the clay mineral composition of substantially all the important types of ceramic clays in all countries. There has been a growing tendency to attempt to solve processing problems on the basis of clay mineral data rather than chemical analytical data. Likewise, there is an in- creasing tendency to control the characteristics of raw materials on the basis of clay mineral composition rather than chemical composition. In the United States in the last few years something like 50 differential thermal analyzers have been set up, and many are for the sole purpose of controlling raw material and processing. The ceramic industry is currently increasing its attention to the influence of exchangeable ions and soluble salts on physical properties. Ion concentration in clay suspensions has long been a matter of interest, but now it is also of interest in clays in the plastic state because of its recognized importance in the plastic, shrinkage, and bonding properties of clays. Students of clay have long recognized that an understanding of the plastic properties of clays is based on an understanding of the character of the water in clay-water systems, the nature of the binding force between individual clay mineral particles, and the factors that control the character of the water and the nature of the bonding force. In the last few years, some extremely important contributions have greatly increased the understanding of the nature of water adsorbed on the clay mineral surfaces. In this connection the work

Jan 1, 1952