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By AIME AIME

ALTHOUGH the present economic depression is felt in the petroleum industry, probably as much as in any other branch of American industry, the Petroleum Section of the Institute was well represented at the general sessions on Monday and at all of the seven division sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The seven sessions of the Division were so arranged as not to conflict and thus permitted members to hear the programs of all sessions.* The first meeting of the Petroleum Division was held on Tuesday afternoon; a joint session on engineering research and production engineering. The following papers were presented:

Jan 1, 1931

By Pascual Perazzo Vaschetti Gabriella

The increasing emphasis on environmental issues has crucial importance in mining projects, hence in tailings dams. Their water barrier needs a two-fold environmental assessment: the environmental impact caused by construction activities, and the environmental impact over time. Unfortunately, tailings dams’ failures have great and long-lasting environmental consequences, and as mining sites become bigger and tailings dams higher, the risk of failures may increase. Furthermore, since these dams are mostly constructed over many years, design parameters/materials may change, the engineers may change, and since cost is a driving parameter, less attention may be given to quality control and monitoring. Geomembrane water barriers mitigate such impacts.

Sep 30, 2022

By Walter Miller

DURING the second year of America's active participation in the war the main objectives of the petroleum refining industry were again to provide the four most important product needs for war: 100-octane aviation gasoline, toluene for TNT production, high-quality lubricating oils for the needs of aviation and the armed forces, and petroleum chemicals for synthetic rubber manufacture. All other materials supplied by the petroleum industry took an inferior priority ranking, depending on the degree of essentiality. To accomplish the above objectives the industry initiated and carried on a building program during 1942 and 1943 which will put those two years down in petroleum refining history as the greatest construction years of all time, a record which will hold for decades to come. Led by an estimated total of $900,000,000 going into 100octane and contributory plant investment, it is easy to picture a total of two billion dollars and more going into additional refining-industry plant investment during 1942 and 1943, most of it privately paid for, but a substantial part covered by R.F.C. Government money financing.

Jan 1, 1944

By Rebecca Hope, Derick Moolman, Frikkie Malan

"Despite the lip service that has been paid to pro-active plant maintenance processes over recent years, a significant portion of maintenance in industry is still reactive. The business driving force to prevent expensive production opportunity costs arising from “break-down maintenance” is obvious. Various benefits can be derived from successfully deploying remote equipment diagnosis technology and associated business processes.From an end-client’s viewpoint these include the ability to predict and take actions to prevent equipment breakdowns, increasing the lifetime of equipment by responding to appropriate operating instructions and therefore improving the return on capital expenditure. Better planning and scheduling of maintenance priorities and resources with performance measures like an Equipment Health Index are also possible. The knowledge that a qualified supplier engineer is constantly in touch with the operating conditions of their equipment, albeit remotely, is more than a comfort, and can be translated into quantifiable cost savings and improved supplier service levels.This paper analyses the reasons for the inadequate level of pro-active plant maintenance practice in industry today, and presents a number of important criteria in selecting appropriate solutions to this problem. A case study of a specific real-time, remote equipment management application is presented."

Jan 1, 2003

By Chappell B

Backfill in the form of mine waste tailings has inherent problems associated with attaining adequate strengths upon placement. Fines are usually removed to ensure adequate drainage, which lowers the cohesive strength of the fill, leaving the fines to he placed in a tailings darn. Electro-drainage and electro-chemical grouting is examined to investigate its effects on densification and shear strength within a silty clay tailing having low permeability and shear strength. Two separate grouting mechanisms are observed for the iron and silica grouts used. Electro- osmosis is associated with iron grout that deposits within the tailing matrix under a converging pH gradient, and increases the permeability of the tailing. This process initiates cation exchange and causes cementing of the granular contact points between the clays. Electro-phoresis causes sodium silicate solution to deposit silica grout in the voids of the tailings. The resultant effect of these mechanisms results in an increase in cohesion, leaving the void ratio of the iron grouted tailings as it was but significantly reducing the void ratio of the silica grouted tailings.

Jan 1, 1998

By T. W. Beck

Roof bolter occupations in underground coal mines continue to experience overexposure to respirable dust. One potential source of dust in roof bolting operations is the exhaust from the roof bolter dust collection system. A wet exhaust conditioner (water box) has been developed to reduce dust emissions from the exhaust of the vacuum dust collection system on roof bolting machines. The exhaust conditioner consists of a muffler chamber and a water chamber with four internal partitions to direct airflow over the surface of the water. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health conducted a series of laboratory tests to assess the respirable dust capture ability of this device as compared to the standard exhaust muffler. To determine the dust collection efficiency, both devices were placed in the exhaust stream of a simulated roof bolter dust collection system. Gravimetric samplers were operated upstream and downstream of the exhaust conditioner and muffler to evaluate the ability to capture both respirable coal and limestone dust. Researchers observed a 41 % reduction in dust concentrations for the water exhaust conditioner in the laboratory configuration. Significant levels of dust deposition in the sampling chambers may have contributed to this effective capture rate.

Jan 1, 2012

By P. Saha, D. M. Chakrabarti, J. P. Srivastavam, P. Bhattacharyya, B. R. Sarkhel, Banerjeem B.

The phosphatic soil deposit at the Sukulu hills region of Uganda contains 10-12% P2O5. The ore occurs as a naturally degraded soil deposit containing a very sticky slime composed of earthy lateritic minerals. Desliming of the ore, which is imperative for its further beneficiation, is an extremely difficult hurdle to overcome for its commercial utilisation. Earlier studies on samples of the same ore at the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML) and abroad established that it was necessary to pass the ore through a series of three stages of desliming, each consisting of a step of vigorous attrition scrubbing followed by hydrocycloning, for effective elimination of the sticky slime. In the present paper an innovative use of the very strong shear-fields created inside a hydrocyclone has been discussed, that could effectively eliminate the stubborn slime from the ore. The standard design of the hydrocyclone was suitably modified to increase the shearing effect on the slurry. It was possible, through the application of this modified hydrocyclone, to not only totally eliminate all the stages of attrition scrubbing, but also to reduce the subsequent stages of hydrocycloning. The modified technique yielded a concentrate of grade comparable to that obtained by employing the earlier more complex flow sheet, with about 25% higher P2O5 recovery.

Jan 1, 2003

By CHARLES W. BENTON

THE following paragraphs comprise such information as the Secretary has been able to obtain concerning the members and associates whose deaths have been reported. Further particulars or corrections of errors, and biographical data concerning deceased members or associates not already noticed in this way, are solicited. Charles IV. Benton was born at Kezar Falls, Maine, Nov. 12, 1843. We have no accurate knowledge concerning the early part of his career. In 1871 he engaged with the N. Y. Honduras Rosario Mining Co., at San Juancinto, Honduras, C. A., and later was employed at the Monserrat mine at Yuscaran, and at Santa Lucia, Honduras, with the Tenero Mining Milling Co. of Pennsylvania. In 1897 he became a member of the Institute. At the time he was stricken with his last sickness he was employed at the Paymaster mine at Tucson, Ariz. He died at Fairmount, Denver, Colo., Sept. 9, 1907. William R. Boggs, Jr.-The notice in the Bulletin for January was incorrect in saying that the murder of Mr. Boggs occurred while he was employed as metallurgical. manager by Mr. W. B. A. Dingwall, at La Maroma, San Luis Potosi, Mex. Mr. Dingwall writes that in March, 1907, Mr. Boggs left him, to return to his home at Winston, N. C., whence he. subsequently went to Durango, Mex., to take, with the Topia Mining Co., a position which he occupied at the tine of his death, Nov. 17, 1907. Mr. Dingwall says that, while in his service, Mr. Boggs never had any trouble with the workmen, but was esteemed and liked by them, as by all who knew him ; and adds, injustice to the State of San Luis Potosi, that the population, even in the mining-camps of that State, is orderly and law-abiding, and that the authorities are vigilant and just. Our

Mar 1, 1908

By F. B. WEEKS

I HAVE chosen for my subject a mining district which in an article published four years ago I referred to in the following words: "One of the un- usual anomalies of mining development and history is that a district having added thirty or more millions of wealth to a principal mining state, situated within four to six miles of two transcontinental railways and two auto highways, and within 150 miles of the most widely advertised part of the United States, should have been so completely lost sight of that probably not one mining man in ten can tell offhand where it is situated." But this district never was a dead one: it was only slumbering. During the past four months, day by day, it has been emerging from that state of slumber.

Jan 1, 1929

By R. L. Minckler

PETROLEUM industry forecasts are constantly made and revised but are not in the nature of predictions. Particularly in the field of demand, many of the factors are far beyond control by the producing industry. Supply reacts on demand and demand reacts on supply. Competent economists in the oil business forecasted a year ago, on the basis of experience, that demand would now be at a much lower level than it is. This increased demand increased the price of crude oil and products, and in turn those increased prices have brought forth increased supply. A reduction in demand would lead to a reduction in supply. Shortages are now world-wide, and costs of secondary importance, so if there were extra supplies in California they would be moved into what are termed "unnatural markets." For example, Argentina is in the market today for California gasoline; that is an unnatural market because of the greater transportation distances from California to Argentina than from normal sources.

Jan 1, 1947

By Ronaldo Santos Sampaio

This paper call attention to increasing ratio of oxygen depletion from atmosphere besides the global worries about CO2 concentration increase in the atmosphere. It highlights the big mistake in considering Carbon Capture and Storage, CCS, as a way to reduce the increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. As a hypothetical example it presents an existing pseudo-ecosystem of manufacturing that has real windows of opportunity to increase its share in the global materials production industry, even in highly industrialized countries. As a suggestion and example the author point out possibilities to almost fulfill the proposed simple rules to be considered inside an ecosystem of manufacturing utilizing the production of steel via biomass versus fossil coal. A relevant and difficult rule to be attained in a quasi-ecosystem of manufacture is to be a near zero atmosphere oxygen depletion integrated process. The industrial alternatives that utilizes the actual photosynthesis are the ones that can reach a higher ecosystem of manufacture’s index. It is presented an ideal integrated steelmaking process where the gaseous, liquids and solid residues generated in one part of the system are or can be utilized in the other parts of the same system. A potential ecosystem of manufacture to produce primary iron is illustrated in the paper.

Aug 17, 2017

By Fernando Hernández Polanco

Transportation and handling metals and alloys from mills to consumption factories as well as dosing in conventional processes with ingots and scrap has always been considered a complicated activity with high operating costs. Several manufacturers of ferroalloys willing to solve these problems have chosen an alternative for their products that can be used to secure, during transport and dosage in the processes to making special steels, with more efficient consumption of ferroalloys. The trend for the production and sale of ferroalloys is to provide the product in the form of granules packed in bags or in bulk. In this paper we will show you how the granulation process was developed and rapidly adopted the ferroalloys industry as an effective solution to reduce operating costs, create cleaner and safer working environments.

Oct 30, 2017

By C. H. Herty Jr, C. H.

FEW subjects have attracted the attention of metallurgists more than oxygen in steel. From the days of Mushet and Ledebui interest in this subject has been increasing, and as additional knowledge has become available, the problem has naturally grown more complex. Instead of using the simple term "oxygen" we now distinguish between iron oxide, silicates of various kinds, oxysulfides, oxygen as gas and oxygen in solid solution in steel. There are five general methods for determining oxides in steel: hydrogen reduction; vacuum fusion; various wet-extraction methods, including electrolytic methods; methods depending on volatilization of the iron away from the oxides; and metallographic methods. For oxygen in solid steel each of these methods has both advantages and disadvantages. The hydrogen-reduction method is of no use on steels above about 0.20 per cent. carbon; 1 furthermore, it gives only FeO and possibly some MnO. The vacuum-fusion method2 is expensive and gives total oxygen, with the exception of some A1203, and does not differentiate between the various oxides in which the oxygen exists. Most of the wet-extraction methods3 give only the more insoluble oxides SiO2 and A1203, though the iodine method gives MnO to an uncertain degree (information that may be more misleading then no information

Jan 1, 1957

By B Taylor

Although the underground mining environment is arguably safer now than at any time in history, as underground mining operations across the globe increase in-depth, magnitude, and complexity, protecting workers from harm becomes increasingly challenging. In deep, stressed, seismic mines the development face is one of the most hazardous work areas. The active face is usually the furthest extent of the underground workings, so ventilation can be difficult to maintain, exposing workers to high temperature and humidity while working on foot and doing manual labour. While mechanisation has made many tasks easier in modern times, the reality of underground mining is that development charge-up workers still spend long periods directly exposed hazards at the face. In 2019, Orica and Epiroc partnered to co-develop the world’s first fully mechanised development charging unit using fully wireless initiation, called Avatel™. Built on Epiroc’s M2 Boomer carrier platform, the system is designed to allow one person to charge a development face from the safety of a fully enclosed cabin, thereby reducing exposure to hazards at the face. The system was prototyped in Europe before entering commercial introduction in 2022. This paper reviews earlier attempts to mechanise underground charge-up and describes the development journey and engineering challenges of building a mechanised development charging machine.

Mar 29, 2023

By M Hopkins, A Mutale, A E. Vidal da Silva

The Cliffs Nickel Mine extracts a narrow near vertical nickel vein using a mining method of underhand bench stoping with paste backfill. In 2014, at a depth of 400 m below surface, the Northern block of the mine began to experience squeezing within ore development. At first the deformation was localised, within 30 m of the stoping front, but later became pervasive extending across the Northern block and resulting in a hiatus in mine production. The global mechanism is a progressive pillar failure, where the inter-level pillars in advance of the production front could no longer withstand the induced load and progressively yielded. The local mechanism of failure was observed as crushing of the massive sulphide ore and ‘punching’ of the pillars into the ultramafic hangingwall exhibited as floor and sidewall dilation and unravelling of the mafic footwall. The cause of the global mechanism was attributed to a combination of factors, including: high overall extraction ratio, small vertical pillar heights between ore development, high stress in relation to the low rock mass strength, shallow stope front angle, and insufficient ground support capacity. Following the progressive failure, the remnant rock mass conditions across the northern block were severely degraded, with numerous falls of ground that led to a reassessment of the mine plan. Recovery of the Northern block started in 2016 as a staged process. Development of the safe recovery work methodology involved a number of considerations, such as: production sequencing, development access design, ground support, and development of specific procedural controls. The Northern block was then broken into smaller mining precincts based on tactical factors such as location, ease of access, scale of rock mass damage and nickel content. A specific ground support standard and work methodology are employed, while cycle sheets are used to ensure quality and completeness of work. Large intersections showing signs of deformation have either been bypassed or treated using Rocprops to maintain stability during stope production. This approach has been successful in safely regaining access and restarting production in areas that had previously been removed from the mining reserve.

Mar 15, 2021

By J Folwell, G Phillips, F Gassner

Geomembranes selected for various applications often start with considering target properties developed by industry organisations such as Geosynthetic Research Institute (GRI), and test methods developed by ASTM and other Standards organisations The geomembrane types are typically, initially selected based on manufacturers recommendations and chemical resistance data from the manufacturer or industry knowledge. Geomembranes considered for this project included materials with material properties that exceeded the minimum target values of various test methods. The difficulty is in selecting which parameters are most important for a particular application and also what service life can be expected for the geomembrane under various chemical and environmental exposure conditions. Accelerated aging testing of candidate geomembranes in simulated exposure conditions can be useful to select the preferred geomembrane and predict the service life of the geomembrane under different exposure conditions. The exposure conditions of immersion in acidic tailings liquor, splash zone and freeboard zone were considered for evaporation ponds on a site with significant heat and UV radiation. Candidate geomembranes considered a range of different types of polyethylene liners. The results of the accelerated aging testing have allowed the selection of the geomembrane for the range of exposure conditions and evaluation of the expected service life of the geomembrane.

Jul 1, 2021

By C Fong

Compliance Planning is an active approach to ensure mining operations align more closely to their longer-term plans. Through Compliance Planning, operations can not only measure their performance on intervals as short as intra-shift, but they can then apply corrective measures to ensure they remain as close as possible to the plans. Compliance Planning targets short-term and execution level teams, as these are the shortest duration planning divisions commonly found in mining operations. Compliance Planning combines live information with intelligent planning capabilities to provide a framework that enables mining operations to realise a significant improvement in reconciliation of plan to actual movements.

Jun 22, 2022

By Ryan P. Sullivan, Ben D. DiFiore, Robert J. Auber, Michael A. Piepenburg, Lisa M. Smiley

Pollution to Lake Erie will be significantly reduced by the Westerly Storage Tunnel (WST) system, which is mainly comprised of a 10,000-ft long tunnel and a dewatering pump station in the downstream tunnel shaft. Separate construction contracts for the tunnel and pump station required careful management of the interface risks. A key decision was to decouple the projects by relocating the mining shaft away from the pump station. The need to receive the tunnel boring machine (TBM) in the pump station shaft was eliminated by dismantling the 28-ft diameter TBM in the tunnel then carrying it back through the tunnel and up the mining shaft. This paper discusses how interface risks were successfully managed during design and construction to limit overall schedule impacts.

Dec 1, 2022

By G Fergus, M Hart, S W. Weeks

Rio Tinto Alcan has undertaken feasibility level assessments into the expansion of its bauxite mining operation in an area south of the Embley River in far north Queensland. The project has the potential to extend their Weipa operations by approximately 40 years.The construction and operation of two additional mineral ore processing plants are proposed for the South of Embley project. Golder Associates was engaged to develop and conduct modelling assessments of potential sources of water supply required by mineral ore processing.Two models were developed using GoldSim: a dam yield model and a water balance model. GoldSim is a graphical object-oriented modelling environment with a capacity to carry out dynamic probabilistic simulations. Originally developed by Golder, GoldSim has been applied successfully in a decision support role to a range of mine water management operations.The dam yield model was used to provide estimates of reliability and volume of annual water supply of several potential surface water dams. This information was then used to determine a hierarchy of water supply options for processing plant operations. The water balance model dynamically simulated the water demands of the two production plants and the consequential response in water supply, with respect to the timing and discharges provided by the various source options.Use of the model provided a preliminary operational tool to assist with water supply management decisions. Water quality issues required a blending of water from separate sources and attention paid to scheduling to ensure water supply through the dry season. The model also helped identify risks to water supply in the event of underperformance of one or more water supply sources. This allowed the operational rules to be refined to minimise those risks.The dynamic and stochastic modelling approach provided a method for identification of water supply issues susceptible to seasonal climate variability.CITATION:Weeks, S W, Hart, M and Fergus, G, 2013. A dynamic evaluation of water supply security susceptible to climate seasonality, in Proceedings Water in Mining 2013, pp 197-208 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 26, 2013

By Vijaya Bhushan Rao, Jason Redgers

A mixed-use development comprising of multistoried residential towers, retail and associated infrastructure covering an area of 500,000 m2 is under construction in Dubai. The subsoil conditions consist of calcareous sands with high carbonate and shell content with hard and competent strata encountered at varying depths. To achieve the design requirements of soil stiffness, friction angle, limit differential and total settlements and mitigate the liquefaction due to a seismic event then ground improvement were deemed necessary. In order to provide the most time and cost efficient solution numerous techniques were applied to meet the requirements for all depths such as Vibrocompaction, VC (depth >8m), Dynamic Compaction, DC (depth < 8m)] and Rapid Impact Compaction, RIC (depth <4m). The specified ground improvement requirements were translated into a target Cone Penetration Test, CPT line that served as the defacto performance requirements for the project. Suitable correction factors were applied to the CPT results to account for the high carbonate content following the works of Al-Homoud and Wehr 2006, Belotti and Jamiolkowski , 1991 and Vesic, 1965. Furthermore, the alpha factor, α, used to obtain stiffness from CPT results was applied following A.C. Meigh 1987 and Massarsch & Fellenius, 2005 where high over consolidation ratios (OCR) could be demonstrated.

Sep 8, 2021