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By N. T. Beukes, W. Banda

Recovery of Co from slag is a recent advancement in the extractive metallurgy of nonferrous metals. In this study a DC arc technology at laboratory scale has been applied to investigate the selective recovery of Co from slag, under three different flux types with an emphasis on influencing the activity of FeOx, SiO2 and CoO in the slag. It is known that reduction of slag by carbon is only up to a certain level after which, the recovery will depend on the chemistry of the slag, hence the need to modify the slag chemistry. Two power settings were employed to induce higher temperatures and aggressive agitation. The results were interpreted by comparing how much Co and Fe was in the slag and alloy. TiO2 reduced the amount of Fe in the product alloy compared to when CaO and CaF2 were used. The change in power did not seem to have had a major effect on the recovery although the amount of material lost to flue dust was more at a higher power rate.

Jan 1, 2003

By R. V. Kumar, F. Tailoka

In order to use ZnO laden dust as a possible desulphurization reagent, it is important to evaluate thermodynamics of the Zn-O-S system. At temperatures greater than 1450 K, there is an uncertainty in the thermodynamic data for the reaction of zinc with sulfur to form Zinc sulfide. In this work, the standard free energy has been determined using an electrochemical cell: Pt, Mo, MoO2/YSZ/ZnO, ZnS, S02, Pt., between 1198 and 1602 K. AG° varies from -145,880 to -88,100 J (± 2500) , with a phase change to ZnS (g) by sublimation occurring between 1450 and 1460 K. This is supported by thermogravimetric analysis which shows about 80% weight loss in ZnS from 1273 to 1473 K. Feasibility reactions were also performed and confirmed that ZnS (g) is formed when ZnO reacts with FeS (1473 to 1653 K) or with Fe-Csat-S(1473-1673 K). There is therefore potential for the utilization of ZnO laden waste as an additional or alternative reagent for desulfurisation.

Jan 1, 2004

By M. W. Hildyard, J. A. L. Napier

The improved design of support systems and stoping strategies when changes in depth, stratigraphy, or mine layouts are considered must rely on the designer's fundamental understanding of the deformation mechanisms adjacent to underground openings so that he can extrapolate and predict expected mining conditions. This paper presents a numerical approach to the modeling of the growth and interaction of mining-induced fractures near the edges of deep tabular excavations in brittle rock. Fractures are represented by displacement-discontinuity elements that are allowed to propagate according to prescribed growth rules. This procedure is justified by the reproduction of several features observed in laboratory simulations of fracturing around openings in blocks of rock subjected to uniaxial and biaxial compression. An attempt is then made to explain some of the attributes of the fracture zone surrounding tabular stopes. Particular questions of interest are the sequence in which fractures form and are mobilized in front of the mining face, the effect of parting planes parallel to the plane of the excavation, and the distribution of stress parallel to the hangingwall and footwall.

Jan 1, 1992

I am honoured, deeply honoured, that so distinguished a group has assembled to acknowledge the signifi- cance of the work of my Melbourne flotation research laboratory, to review progress since Principles of Flotation (Wark, 1938) was published, to highlight the present state of knowledge, and to point the way for future research. The flotation research which began in 1929 was sponsored by a group of mining companies2 at the instigation of Harry Hey of the Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia Limited. There were never more than three of us work- ing in rather cramped conditions in a laboratory made available by the Department of Chemistry at the Uni- versity of Melbourne, but what we lacked in space was more than offset by a freedom unparalleled in indus- trial research in Australia at that time. I pay special tribute to my first colleague, Alwyn Cox; to my wife who worked with us for several years; and to Keith Sutherland who followed Cox in 1936. They were my sole colleagues up to 1938 when Principles of Flo- tation (Wark, 1938) was published.

Jan 1, 1984

HENRY M. Howe, Bedford Hills, N. Y (written discussion*).¬Mr. Foley's explanation of this interesting occurrence is perfectly reasonable. Possibly a word explaining the phenomenon more in detail may not be amiss. In the act of solidification each drop as it starts to solidify splits up into a half drop poorer in carbon and another half drop richer in carbon than the drop itself. The half drop poorer in carbon solidifies and attaches itself to-the already solid walls, whereas the half drop richer in carbon remains molten for the excellent reason that it is richer and hence is more fusible than the original drop, and hence in turn is wholly fusible at the existing temperature. Under usual conditions, as when the steel solidifies in a mold of any form, the successive molten half drops thus enriched in carbon remain present and by their enrichment progressively raise the carbon con-tent of the remaining molten mass, out of which successive half drops are continuously solidifying and attaching themselves to the already solid walls. Because the molten mass thus. becomes progressively richer

Jan 10, 1919

IN the extra-mural service being built up by the Engineer-ing Societies Library as its finances permit, an occasional large total charge is incurred for exceptionally protracted services. A western steel company, for example; was charged the unusual fee of $500. They wanted complete informa-tion on transverse tests of steel, and asked the library to compile copies of all accessible records. Weeks -of search-ing and photoprinting produced three volumes of data. Two years afterward the company's chief engineer told the director of the library that the cost seemed high when the bill was paid but that the volumes had been in constant use. The information had been worth thousands of dollars. A client who wishes to pay no more than a moderate fee for services can state to what limit he is willing to go. Thus he may specify that he would like searches made on a particular subject but that he does not wish to exceed $5 or $30- for the information. The library is as willing to perform a small service as a large one.

Jan 3, 1928

By E. G. Williams

Conveyors were first used underground at Miami Copper Co., in the latter part of 1947. At that time some of the stoping area was too heavy and too close to the haulage level to use conventional haulage. To get the haulage drifts out from under the stoping area belt conveyors were used for the additional lateral transfer. Since 1947 more than 8 million tons have been mined in this manner, with as many as four belt type stopes in production at one time. When the mining plan for the new low grade was worked out, it was decided to use belts on what otherwise would have been short train haulage transfers to move the ore laterally to centrally located concrete ore passes. One group of these stopes has grizzly levels on the 570, with a belt level on the 670; the other group has grizzly levels on the 720 and belt levels on the 820, with the concrete ore passes bottoming on the 1000, or the existing train haulage level.

Jul 1, 1956

Louis D. MILLS, San Francisco, Cal. (written discussion *).-The principle involved in the Crowe vacuum precipitation process is so elementary and the apparatus required is so simple, that the whole subject affords scant material for a technical discussion. As. one prominent Colorado metallurgist recently remarked when asked to contribute to this paper: "The Crowe process is the biggest step forward since the early clays of the cyanide process, but there is nothing to write about; just put it in your mill and try it." The writer confesses to a similar feeling, but having been closely identified with the process since its inception in 1916, he is perhaps in a position to at least comment on the theory involved and to record some of the results that have been achieved in actual practise. In practising the Crowe process, the solutions to be precipitated are first vacuumized in a suitable dispersion tower; that is, thin films of the liquid are subject to the action of a vacuum within a receiver. Sub-

Jan 1, 1919

The Argyle AK1 Pit has been operating and producing over 25 per cent of the worldÆs diamonds by volume for over 20 years. The mining boom in Western Australia is creating upward cost pressures to ArgyleÆs mining operation while the price received for its product remains flat in comparison to many other Western Australian commodities. This incongruity, which when combined with other circumstances such as the pit being close to the end of its mine life, a decline in head grades and a tightening in operational constraints caused by the pitÆs maturity, is causing the leadership team at the mine to utilise innovative strategies in order to ensure that the open pit continues to perform economically until its final closure in late 2010. The strategies that will be discussed in this paper are step change business improvement methods, localisation of the workforce, employment of Aboriginal people and the use of a clear and concise consultation process in order to provide certainty to a workforce working in a pit during boom times where pit closure is imminent.

Jan 1, 2007

By A. R. Sims

Are from the Greater Butte Project is hoisted through the new Kelley shaft. In 1946 when plans were formulated for the Kelley mine, two test cave blocks were mined by using the facilities of the old St. Lawrence mine. These blocks, known as the Adams No. 1 and Adams No. 2, produced more than half a million tons of ore. The experiment proved beyond all doubt that cave mining was possible- and economical-in Butte. Adams No. 1 was patterned after Inspiration cave blocks. Adams No. 2 was a slusher type, with the slusher lane on the first floor above the haulage crosscut and at right angles to it. Thirty-horsepower electric hoists slushed ore from 48-in. scraper buckets directly into cars for haulage to the shaft. These cars were the 57-cu ft Granby type hauled by 6-ton battery locomotives over 40-lb, 18-in. gage track. Prior to this time the largest slushing machines used at Butte were 15-hp electric hoists pulling 36-in. scrapers.

Dec 1, 1956

By Howard N. Hall

The compressibility of reservoir rock is a factor which is generally neglected in reservoir engineering calculations. This is due in part to the fact that there is little published information on rock compressibility values for limestones and sandstones. Omission of rock compressibility is undoubtedly justified in calculations for saturated reservoirs; however, in under-saturated reservoirs,* expansion of the rock accompanying decline in the reservoir pressure may be of such magnitude as to affect materially the prediction of reservoir performance. The effect of rock compressibility will be of most importance in: (1) calculation of oil in place by pressure decline data in undersaturated volumetric reservoirs when the limits of the field are unknown or indefinite, and (2) studies of natural water drive performance. To estimate its importance in such cases, a series of laboratory tests were made to obtain usable values for reservoir rock compressibility. The total, or effective, compressibility of any reservoir rock is a result of two separate factors, namely, expansion of the individual rock grains, as the surrounding fluid pressure de-

Jan 1, 1953

A wide range of models are available to computer process simulators that require a large number of parameters which often are physical measurements, coefficients, calibration factors and functional forms. This makes it intuitively difficult in the majority of cases, to tune the parameters in order to simulate a circuit in agreement with experimental results. Unit calibrators operating on the principle of least squares minimisation of the difference between predicted and observed plant data, are relatively successful when the parameters are unconstrained and independent of each other. In the case of constrained parameters, a set of carefully chosen transforms is presented which map the unconstrained variables being minimised into the constrained parameters required for the model. This technique has been used successfully with the Powell minimisation algorithm and it may also be applied to other unconstrained minimisation methods. Necessary model characteristics are discussed to enable these transforms to be applied to interdependent model parameters such as points of a graph. Examples of the calibration of several unit models using these transforms are presented. KEYWORDS: Calibration, optimisation, transforms, process simulation.

Jan 1, 1993

By Eugene Ayres

This study is concerned primarily with a backward look at the projections made in the Report to the President by the President's Materials Policy Commission issued in June 1952. Only a few years have elapsed since the date of this report, but definite statistics available then were often not later than 1947. Today we have figures for the intervening years through 1957-virtually a ten-year span. What, if anything, has happened during this decade that was unexpected or wrongly appraised? In the light of more recent data and trends, will we be justified in modifying the longer-term predictions made in 1952? This study will attempt to answer such questions. Major sources and forms of energy will be considered from the standpoints of ultimately available amounts and the rates of production and demand. Electricity: The PMPC projections were made on the basis of an unexpected growth of about 10 pct per year. This was at a time when some experts in the field were assuming growth rates of not more than 8 pct.

Jan 1, 1960

By L. B. Beneitone

Over the years, the rope changing procedure on the two double-drum San Manuel ore hoists has been streamlined and improved, so that a job that once required eight hours to complete is now finished in four. The ropes, constructed of improved plow steel, 6 x 25 filler wire, pre-formed, right lay, Lang lay with a fiber core and weighing 8 ½ lb per ft, have a 2 ¼ in. diam and are 3200 ft long. They have widely varying lives, but on the average a rope change on one of the two hoists is required every six months. When a rope change becomes necessary, the ropes on both drums of a hoist are replaced. Thorough planning and preparation are essential for efficient rope changes. A briefing session is held on the day prior to the change, during which the entire procedure is reviewed on a blackboard and discussed among the cable rigging crew. These discussions have led to many improvements that have been incorporated into the present rope changing procedure.

Jan 4, 1968

By Ward S. D

When using grinding time for a batch grinding operation as a measure of the energy usefully employed for comminution; the assumptions made are often not valid. A kinetic approach, based on a study of the rate constant, or k, value for the material is more acceptable. The Rosin-Rammler distribution equation has been theoretically derived from the general equation for first-order batch grinding. This relationship, incorporating a term for k, was used in a study of the rod milling of a binary mixture of quartz and limestone.The presence and degree of interaction between the components was considered by comparing the size distribution of the mill product with that predicted by assuming the overall distribution equal to the sum ofthe distributions given by the Rosin-Rammler equations for each component weighted according to its volume fraction in the mixture. The interaction was found to be complex and particularly sensitive to particle size.A simple graphical procedure was devised to predict the size distribution of the mill. Product components and this gave a fairly good approximation to experimental data.

Jan 1, 1976

Zinc is just now a very important metal. Its use in cartridges and shrapnel brass are in the public eye. But its uses after the war are no less important. Brass as an engineering material for electrical machin-ery, journal bearings, and plumbing fixtures takes fully 50 per cent. of the production, and its use in these lines would have been increased in the last few years but for the price. Its use for barbed wire is probably more in war time than in peace. In the composition of paints, it is becoming more and more necessary. One of the forms of pigment, litho- pone, is the base of nearly all interior wall paints; of all the sanitary enamels for bath-rooms and bath-tubs, and is now in great demand. Zinc oxide is also increasing in use for paint, and for manufacture of linoleum. When we realize that this district-Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas-produces now over one-third of the zinc ore of the world, it is at once seen that a meeting where the geology, mining, concentration

Jan 6, 1917

J. A. MATHEWS, * Syracuse, N. Y. (written discussion?).-The reagent described by Mr. Archer seems to be a selective reagent, useful in one particular field. Nevertheless, the field is one in which it is likely to prove of considerable value, because there is a great deal of alloy steel FIG. 1.-ETCHED 1 HR. IN ARCHER'S FIG. 2.-ETCHED 1 HR. IN ARCHER'S REAGENT. PLOD 60. X 188. REAGENT. IZOD 10. X 188. heat-treated to approximately the properties mentioned in the paper. If it is found, by further tests, to be applicable to a wider range of compositions than merely chrome-nickel steels, for the most part discussed by Mr. Archer, its value will be thereby increased to just the extent to which it can be applied. In view of the fact that certain of these chrome-nickel steels, very similar in physical properties and hardness, show very different results in the Izod or notch test, and in view of the fact that when such differences are noted in the fracture the brittle steels usually

Jan 5, 1919

Los Angeles may well be host to one of the most historic gatherings of AIME members Feb. 16 to 19, 1953, when the 175th General Meeting is scheduled to take place. Plans in the formulative stage indicate that the meeting will be one of the largest ever held by AIME. Headquarters will be the Hotel Statler, now nearing completion of construction. The hotel will be one of the most modern hostelries of the century. The first technical session, of which there will be more than 75, will take place Monday, February 16. Mineral Industries Education Div. and the Board of Directors meet Sunday, February 15. Sessions will end with a meeting of the Council of Section Delegates on Thursday. Deadline for papers that may be preprinted for presentation at the meeting is Sept. 15, 1952. However, division program committees may list papers for presentation after that date if they choose. Various committees are engaged in formulating final plans for the meeting. Developments will be announced as progress is made.

Jan 1, 1952

By A. F. Baker, E. R. Palowitch, A. W. Deurbrouck

As air-pollution regulations become increasingly more stringent, increased significance is being placed on the amount of sulfur present in coals used for steam generation. These regulations are aimed at minimizing the pollution of the atmosphere with noxious gases such as the sulfur oxides that are formed and emitted when coal is burned. Two meet these future requirements, a definite need exists to reduce the sulfur content of some of the coals used for steam generation. Reducing pyritic sulfur involves liberating the pyrite from the coal and then removing it. The specific gravity of pyrite is high (5.0) compared to that of coal (about 1.2, mineral-free), and standard coal-washing devices, such as wet concentrating tables, will efficiently remove pyrite particles larger than about 100 mesh. Particles below this size will be entrained in the table water and will be carried into the clean coal product. Techniques such as froth flotation are of little benefit for pyrite reduction because the flotation characteristics of pyrite are similar to those of coal.

Jan 6, 1966

FROM north to south activity is picking up through- out the Labrador Trough-already shown to be one of the world's great iron ore provinces. Center of current activity and interest lies in the mid-southern part of the trough as drills, equipment, and . . . money start to pour into the area near Mt. Wright and Wabush Lake. First major announcement in the area came early this spring when J&L and CCI outlined an estimated billion-ton deposit for "future" operations. Later impetus came from rumored railway for US Steel's Quebec Cartier projects in the Mt. Reed area slightly to the south. As this issue went to press US Steel's request for bids on railway and hydroelectric construction, plus IOCC's decision to step up the time- table on its program in the Wabush Lake area east of Mt. Wright, triggered a flurry of other announcements involving many of the top U. S. and Canadian iron ore firms. Do not look for most of these place names in the average atlas . . . they aren't there yet, but they soon will be.

Jan 6, 1958