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By Michael T. G. Brown

Syncrude Canada Ltd. has recently completed construction of its ambitious tar-sand mining and processing facilities at Mildred Lake, Alberta. The Syncrude site is approximately 48 km (30 miles) north of Fort McMurray near the west shore of the Athabasca River. The Syncrude operation involves the open-pit mining of approximately 270,000 tonnes (300,000 tons) of tar sand daily using draglines and a conveyor system. Bitumen is extracted from the tar sand, upgraded to oil-gas and transported to refineries in Edmonton and other locations for final processing . The Beaver Creek Dam forms part of the mining facilities for the Syncrude tar-sand mining operation. Water from Beaver Creek is diverted from the open-pit mine site south to the Athabasca River via Ruth Lake and the Poplar Creek Dam. General site layout is shown on Figure I . Design of the dam was completed by R. M. Hardy and Associates Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta (now Hardy Associates (1978) Ltd) . Construction was undertaken during the summers of 1974 and 1975 under the direction of Canadian Bechtel Limited, managing contractors for Syncrude Canada Ltd. Total length of the dam is approximately 2.8 km (1.7 miles), with a maximum height in the order of 16 m (50 ft) The Beaver Creek Dam is located in a broad, flat, poorly drained valley. About 50 per cent of the site is covered with treeless peat deposits, which ranged in thickness from in excess of 5 m (15 ft) at the east end of the dam to less than 1 m (3 ft) at the central portion. The peat deposits overlie Pleistocene meltwater sediments on top of clay/clay shales of the Clearwater Formation and the tar sands of the McMurray Formation. The peat deposits and high groundwater levels at the site combine to make the excavation and construction of a conventional rolled clay cutoff impractical. For these reasons, the slurry cutoff trench technique was utilized to produce an efficient and effective seepage cutoff under various sections of the Beaver Creek Dam .

Jan 1, 1979

By AIME AIME

AMONG the recent mining and metallurgical developments in England great interest has been shown in the development of an iron-ore field covering 26,0.00 acres in Northamptonshire, containing 500,¬000,000 long tons of ore; and the erection at Corby, by Stewarts & Lloyds, of a modern basic bessemer steel plant and tube works. The entire project was planned to cost about £3,300,000. Many improvements have been made in the varied equipment that is being installed, some of which has set mew records for massiveness. There is, for instance, a new roll crusher, which has been manufactured by Hadfields, Limited, of Sheffield, the largest ever built in England, and weighing 130 tons. This machine, shown in Fig. 1, as erected at the Hadfields shops, is primarily designed to take blocks of iron ore as they come from the steam shovel. The maximum size is 54 by 48 by 36 in., hut occasional pieces slightly larger than this may be accommodated. The capacity is upwards of 500 tons per hour, the product passing to a secon-

Jan 1, 1934

By J. A. Cole

This paper discusses the modification of the cyanide tailings treatment method from ferrous sulfate to Caro's acid (peroxymonosulfuric acid). An examination of the operating parameters, costs, and chemistry describes how the decision was made to switch to this treatment method. Plant data collected from the last several months will be used, along with considerations from an operator's viewpoint.

Jan 1, 1996

The paper examines the difficulties encountered by objectors to mining privilege applications. It describes the various involvements of the environmental defence society in the mining controversy and makes some comment on the proposed amendments to the Mining Act 1971.

Jan 1, 1981

By Bimal Nathwani

This paper presents an overview of bearings failures with focus on steel mill applications such as continuous casting, rolling mills, multi-roll cluster mills and wire and rod mills. This paper will also provide countermeasures for prevention of these modes of failures.

Jul 30, 2018

By Alejandro Berrios, Matheus DaSilva, Erick Siqueira

Vazante mine is an underground polymetallic mine that produces zinc, lead, and silver, which belongs to Nexa Resources in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The mine, a sublevel stope underground mine, mainly applies two subvariants: VRM – Vertical Retreat Mining and Open Stope. In a specific place of the mine, the geology allowed the design of a production stope with larger dimensions than the standard stopes, commonly called Super Stope. At this place, the plan was to apply both sublevel variants simultaneously. This mining block comprises rings in two different levels, with access by two ore drives on each level; the dimensions would be approximately 50 meters high, 50 meters long, and 35 meters wide. Opening the Free Face to mine the whole Stope was a challenge due to operational issues, such as hazard risks from loading over void space, exposure to uncontained places, and the impossibility of implementing the optimal blast sequence. Wireless blasting initiators have gained popularity recently due to their convenience, safety, and efficiency. This initiation system was applied to preload all the rings required to open the Free Face, ensuring a safe and optimal blast sequence. Wireless initiation prevented hazard risks, enhanced the blast sequence to guarantee the required void space, and optimized the equipment's operational cycle. The blast crew carried out the activity without exposure to the risk of loading over void space. The wireless detonators also avoided after-blast activities, which were required to provide secure access to the blast crew, optimizing the operational cycle.

Jan 21, 2025

By T A. J Hopper, S Mukkisa, K-O Ott, D Palmer

RIG Technologies has developed new technology that can successfully acquire high quality natural gamma ray (GR) and hole deviations, downhole while drilling, on reverse circulation drills. This technology survives the hostile downhole environment with shocks of between 400–2500 g for 7– 10 days at a time. The Logging While Drilling (LWD) service eliminates the need to run in-rod surveys, either by the driller or by wireline trucks and crews. This time saving is in the middle of the drilling process, thus enabling drills to keep drilling and increase their productivity. Additional to the natural GR and directional survey, the downhole tool is equipped with sensors to measure the downhole dynamic response of the drilling system providing insights into rock hardness, density and potentially clay types. These parameters have never been acquired behind the hammer before and coupled with surface measurements from the drills themselves, form a rich data set for trainable machine learning algorithms shortening the time to receive advanced geophysical answer products from sometimes months, to live feeds directly from drills (Hopper, 2019). Alive, high speed, two-way data link between surface data acquisition systems and downhole geophysics tools has been established and incorporates calibrated surface measurements of dynamic forces directly on the drill string to match up with those measured downhole. Receiving live streams of natural GR and hole deviation surveys as the drill is drilling allows true remote decisionmaking with live data available anywhere in the world. The combined data from surface and downhole dynamics builds a data set that could begin to enable true optimisation of autonomous drilling processes.

Nov 8, 2021

By T Takayama, R Muroi, M Matsumura

The steel industry occupies 14 per cent of CO2 emissions in Japan, and the sintering process is one of the major emitters. Since most of CO2 released from the sintering process comes from coke fine combustion, replacement of coke fines with biomass char as bonding agent is a potential countermeasure. In order to explore the effective use of biomass char, we chose char made from Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) as a sample. First, the char’s combustion behaviour was examined with varying the char’s particle size by means of admixing the char in alumina ball packed bed placed in an electric furnace. As a result, the finer the PKS char the faster the burning rate and reaching a higher temperature compared to coke fine. In addition, it is also concluded that the optimum size of PKS char was larger than coke fines. Next, the effect of different heat profiles on sinter structure was examined by sintering tablet made of chemical reagents. In this experiment, the chemical composition is designed based on sinter composition. By this sintering test, even at high temperature, rapid cooling is effective to make fine sinter matrix and fine pores, which has possibility for high sinter reducibility. Based on these two experiments, using PKS char as a sinter fine source has the possibility to improve sinter reducibility.

Nov 8, 2021

By F. Ysla, M. Mendoza

This proposal, based on the CIEMAN Cajamarca - Hualgayoc initiative, focuses on “Transforming Abandoned Mine Lands’’ We aim to study and assess the feasibility of an innovative rehabilitation method. Contaminated soils will be moved from the upper to the lower site, encapsulated with geosynthetic barriers, and covered with topsoil. The decontaminated upper area will be used for planting trees and large-stemmed plants for hiking and tourism, while the lower encapsulated area will support livestock and short- stemmed crops. This study will evaluate the economic viability and multi-use potential of this technique, promoting sustainable land recovery in Cajamarca, Peru.

Feb 1, 2025

By D Goel

India, the second-largest steel manufacturer globally, achieved crude steel production of around 126 million tonnes (Mt) in the last financial year of April 2022 to March 2023 (FY23), against an installed capacity of 162 Mt. In its National Steel Policy, 2017, India has undertaken targets to take the crude steel production capacity to 300 Mt by 2030–2031 and production and demand to around 255 Mtpa, also by this deadline. The blast furnace-basic oxygen furnace (BF-BoF):electric arc furnace-induction furnace (EAF-IF) ratio in 2022 was at 44:56.

Sep 18, 2023

By HOWARD RICHARDS

THE dollar was, selected as the unit of currency by the Congress of the United States of America on Apr. 2, 1792. This "Dollar" currency is so much more convenient than the older British currency that the Canadian Government, among others, has adopted it with corresponding success. Just as the dollar is the unit of United States currency, so the meter is the international unit for measuring length. The various weights and measures used in - the United States have since Apr. 5,. 1893, been based on the metric standards. These fundamental standards are kept by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, which is supported by the United States, Great Britain and the, other leading countries. of the world. Copies are held-in Washington and other capitals. (2) As the dollar is divided into 100 cents, so the meter, which is 10 per cent. longer than the yard, is divided into 100 centimeters or cm. And as the cent is divided into 10 mills, so the centimeter is divided into 10 millimeters or mm. In measuring clothing and other articles which do not require great accuracy, the centimeter is most con¬venient, so that such work is done in terms of centi¬meters.. Instead of speaking of a 15;2-in. collar, a 40-centimeter or 40-cm. collar is referred to. Where accuracy is needed, as in mechanical drawing, machineshop work, etc., millimeters are employed. Thus 8 mm., is the convenient equivalent for 5/16 inch.

Jan 1, 1921

By George A. Packard

THE experiments here described were made under my supervision while temporarily acting as head of the Department of Metallurgy at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla. The work was done by Messrs. W. E. Brown, W. C. Richards, and F. L. L. Wilson, and the description of the results forms a portion of a thesis presented for the degree of Bachelor of Science. These results are submitted because I have seen no description of the application of pot roasting to the treatment of a copper-concentrate. This work followed that already described in the discussion of the ' Lime-Roasting of a Galena-Concentrate,"' and was similarly occasioned by the lack of a furnace of the reverberatory type in which the copper-concentrates could be smelted. The material for the tests was a mixture of three lots available. The first consisted of 8-mm. jig-concentrates and the second of 0.5 mm. table-concentrates, from the San Juan district, Colo. Both contained pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena. The third was a lot of copper-ore, found in the laboratory, which had been crushed through 8-mm. screen, and had at some previous time, before the laboratory roasting-furnace was torn down, received a partial roasting. The analyses of these ores are given in Table I. In order to determine the applicability of pot-roasting as to each lot of ore, and the effect of varying proportions of lime, six preliminary tests were made in a " size N " Battersea crucible, 9 in. high by 6 in. in diameter at top, with a 5/8 in. hole bored through the bottom. The crucible was set in the upturned elbow of a 2-in. pipe, the joint being luted with clay; and air was obtained from a receiver supplied by a compressor. The

Jan 1, 1908

By HENRT M. HOWE

IN my original paper, Piping and Segregation in Steel Ingots, I pointed out1 among other things that, in view of the slighter stretching (virtual expansion) of the crust, and greater opportunity for sagging, there should be less piping in broad than in narrow ingots, and less in slowly-cooled ingots, e.g., those cast in pre-heated sand molds, than in those which cool quickly, e.g., those cast in iron molds. A. A. Stevenson2 said that neither of these predictions agreed with his own experience. In particular, in a picture which he showed of a wide and of a narrow ingot cast from the same ladleful of steel,, the wide ingot had certainly piped much more deeply than the narrow one. At the time I did not see the explanation of these discrepancies, but further reflection makes it evident. One of the most important elements in determining the depth of the pipe is the degree of " top-lag," that is, the degree to which the solidification of the top of the ingot lags behind that of the bottom. 'Through this lagging the steel of the upper part of the ingot is able to run down and fill the pipe below as fast as it forms. To the importance of this lagging I called attention in my original paper.' Sand vs. Iron Molds.-If we compare two like ingots, one cast in an iron and the other in a sand mold, we see that the top-lag' is much greater in the former than in the latter, be¬cause in the former the lower part of the ingot is cooling off fast while the metal is running into the upper part. It is perhaps easier to look at this as a case of the solidification of the hot-

Dec 1, 1909

By Juan J. Monsalve, AMAN SONI, ALEX PFREUNDSCHUH, Nino Ripepi

Ground control failures are one of the main causes of accidents in the underground stone mining industry. Some of the fundamental tools for rockfall hazard identification are related to rock mass characterization and geotechnical discontinuity mapping. Recent technological advances in these methods are related to remote sensing techniques and pointcloud processing software for automated discontinuity mapping. Remote sensing techniques, such as LiDAR and photogrammetry, generate multimillion-point clouds with millimetric precision, capturing the structure of the rock mass. The automated point-cloud processing tools offer alternative algorithm-based methods to characterize and map these discontinuities. However, their applicability is constrained by multiple factors, such as site-specific conditions of the rock mass and the parameters used within the mapping algorithms. This paper evaluates the performance of automated discontinuity extraction software compared with manual virtual discontinuity mapping. Sampling windows from laser-scanned sections in an underground limestone mine are defined and mapped using the Discontinuity Set Extractor (DSE) opensource software. Results from the virtual discontinuity software are compared with manually extracted fractures from I-Site based on reviewing orientation, trace length, spacing, number of extracted discontinuities, and processing time.

By Thomas A. Morgan, Louis A. Panek

This report describes a method for determining the stress in rock based on a requirement for static equilibrium ; namely , that the total load on a sufficiently large area must remain constant even after a drift or stope is mined in the area . The method is based on mathematical relationships that are independent of the elastic properties of the rock and the stress distribution near the underground opening . In addition to determining the preexisting stress (before mining ) , the method described can be used to determine the change in stress due to mining .

Jan 1, 1963

By Raymond B. Ladoo

The Bureau of Mines frequently receives requests for information on the mining , preparation and marketing of epsomite or Epsom salt , and in order to answer such inquiries the following information has been compiled . While it is probable that few people have considered epsonate as a mineral product , it will be noted that it should be so regarded and its production forms an important industry .

Mar 1, 1922

By G. Voiloshnikov, P. Koblova, Ye. Musin

Preg-robbing activity of the carbonaceous matter negatively impacts the process of precious metals recovery from gold-bearing ores and concentrates. In this paper, ore heap leaching (HL) using a blinding agent which inhibits ‘preg-robbing’ is a promising method. A carbonaceous ‘preg-robbing’ gold ore with head gold grade of 1.92 g/t from a Russian deposit was studied. Corg was 1.12%. In accordance with the Irgiredmet technique, preg-robbing activity was 65.3%. Surfactant reagent DN was used as the blinding agent. Column tests on the ore HL were conducted using two options. They were: a conventional flow sheet (Column 1) and a flow sheet with the reagent addition (Column 2). Gold recovery in Column 1 was 55.39% while gold recovery in Column 2 was 68.48%. The test results confirmed the efficiency of reagent DN. Keywords: Carbonaceous ore, organic blanking, preg-robbing, recovery

Jan 1, 2020

By C. Massola, E. E. M. N. de Guzmán, M. G. Bergermana

The abrasiveness of a mineral or rock is an extremely important topic in the mining industry and is generally measured by the Bond abrasion index (AI). However, to determine such an index by the Bond test requires 1,600 g of sample with particle sizes ranging from ½” to ¾”, which are not available in certain situations, such as ore prospecting, drilling, and geometallurgical studies. In order to investigate the abrasiveness of smaller-sized sample materials, a modified LCPC test was developed, which allows testing fine materials (i.e., 1.0 mm or smaller) to predict wear in ore processing circuits and anticipate possible failures resulting from changes in abrasive characteristics of the ore being processed. The results for 16 different materials indicated a good correlation with the AI and the modified LCPC, resulting in a reliable alternative for the AI. Keywords: Bond Abrasion Index (AI), LCPC, abrasiveness

Jan 1, 2020

By Swades Kumar Chaulya, Vikash Kumar, Sushma Kumari, Naresh Kumar, Girendra Mohan Prasad, Monika Choudhary

Opencast mines are vulnerable to inclement weather conditions as it disrupts the day-to-day activities at these mines. To address the problem, a perceptive driving assistant system (PDAS) has been developed to increase the visibility of real-time video of the road in front of the vehicle for operators of heavy earth-moving machinery (HEMM) at opencast mines in harsh weather conditions.

Apr 1, 2023

By A. Kalogeropoulos, T. Michalakopoulos

The DEM has been used in several studies to numerically simulate the response of rocks to the cutting action with drag tools. In this research, the aim is to realistically simulate the rock material and the cutting process by controlling the grain interlocking of the numerical assembly and streamlining the calibration process while focusing on the cutting force and the failure mechanism.

Apr 1, 2023