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By D Morton, G Wallace

"Evolution Mining is the sole owner of the Mt Rawdon open cut operation, located 75 km south-west of Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia (Figure 1). It is a massive, volcanically hosted, low-grade gold deposit that exhibits excellent characteristics conducive to low cost mining and treatment.In 2014, Mt Rawdon began investigating initiatives to deliver higher mill throughputs without any significant capital expenditure or modifications to the existing processing plant. Various studies have shown throughput increases are possible by applying more blast energy, essentially by reducing feed size through blasting and leaving less work for the comminution circuits (Brent et al, 2013; Ziemski, 2011; Workman and Eloranta, 2003).Given that 53 per cent of energy used on a mine site is consumed by the comminution circuit, with only two per cent being consumed by drill and blast (Smith, 2013), it makes logical sense for a mining operation to align their drill and blast with their processing plant. The term commonly used when exploring this relationship is a ‘Mine to Mill’ program.Over nearly 12 months, various blasting options and Mine to Mill methodologies were tested at Mt Rawdon. Throughout the journey, it was abundantly clear that the Mine to Mill initiative is not as simple as making one technical or physical change and expecting an improvement. Rather, true sustainable improvements demand a paradigm shift across both the mining and processing cultures, where all departments are aligned and working towards the one outcome. This true overarching Mine to Mill mentality, enabled by Vistis™ 250 high energy bulk explosive, ultimately led to a sustained increase in throughput and profitability of the Mt Rawdon operation.Citation:Wallace, G and Morton, D, 2016. High Energy Bulk Explosives and Mine to Mill Focus – the Mt Rawdon Story, in Proceedings Ninth AusIMM Open Pit Operators' Conference 2016, pp 60–69 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Nov 15, 2016

By A. Rajoria

A dynamic process model for predicting the fluidized bed roasting of copper concentrates with high arsenic content is presented in this work. Mass and energy balances were performed based on roasting mechanism derived from thermodynamic data of species. The reaction rate data, obtained from pilot plant studies on major reactions, were used in tuning the kinetic parameters of the model. DEAS, a dynamic simulation package, is used in setting up the fluidized bed roaster plant model. The effect of process parameters such as concentrate feed rate, concentrate composition, airflow and cooling water rate on the temperature and conversion of roasting reactions are analyzed. The plant model captures the highly transient conditions occurring during the plant start-up, shutdown and other process perturbations. The application of this model in constructing a virtual plant environment for validating the operating procedures and operator training is presented.

Feb 23, 2014

By T. T. Lin, N. H. Madsen, K. Groom, B. A. Chin

"The objective of this research is to investigate the feasibility of using infrared sensors to monitor the welding process. Data were gathered using an infrared camera which was trained on the molten metal pool during the welding operation. Several types of process perturbations which result in weld defects were then intentionally induced and the resulting thermal images monitored. Gas tungsten arc using AC and DC currents and gas metal arc welding processes were investigated using steel, aluminum and stainless steel plate materials. The thermal images obtained in the three materials and different welding processes revealed nearly identical patterns for the same induced process perturbation. Based upon these results, infrared thermography is a method which may be very applicable to automation of the welding process.IntroductionAutomatic welding is commonplace in industry today. However, most, if not all, involves preprogramming for performance of a repetitive task. These systems are incapable of correcting for perturbations which arise during the welding process. Control of the welding process requires the identification and monitoring of perturbations in a wide variety of parameters. The varied nature of these parameters and the large number of variables involved have thwarted previous attempts at closed loop control of the welding process. The sensor(s) employed by a control system need to meet rather strenuous requirements. First and foremost of these is that such a sensor must be able to identify and discriminate between perturbations that might affect the quality of the weld, including such geometrical perturbations as a change of direction in the seam between the parts being welded, gaps in the seam or a misalignment of the parts being welded. The sensor should also be able to locate and identify contaminants and impurities in the weld puddle and ahead of it while monitoring the extent of the heat-affected zone and the cooling rate of the metal. The sensor(s) should, additionally, be able to perform these tasks in a time frame that is consistent with automatic control of the welding process. This paper presents results that could aid in the assembly of such a controlled welding system."

Jan 1, 1986

By Johan Finsteen Gjødvad, Mathias Jern

The paper is part of the ongoing work of the Environmental committee of EFEE. To assist the European experts working with explosives one of the aims is to improve the common knowledge of similarities and differences between national legislation, standards or guidelines on vibration monitoring and other environmental monitoring during blasting in Europe and abroad. This has been done by use of an online survey through the most of 2018. Questions have been raised on vibration monitoring during blasting. The existence of norms, guidelines or standards and how they are used. Even though the questions have been kept at a high level they are formed to try to map the different national standards use of such things as frequency, guidance on monitoring position, distinction between different types of structures, requirement to the equipment and more. Furthermore a few initial questions have been raised on other environmental monitoring relevant for blasting. The respondents are national, cooperate or individual members of EFEE. The answers are experts in the use of explosives and vibration-monitoring in their respective countries. More than 60 have answered the questionnaire from 29 different countries. Mainly European as well as other nations including India, Israel, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, Greenland and Hong Kong. By analysing the incoming answers, the differences and similarities in vibration monitoring of the respondents has been clarified and mapped. Where possible other environmental monitoring has also been analysed. Where needed the different guidelines, standards and regulations have been visited to verify the answers and further elaborate on the comparison.

By D. M. Davidson

The economics of geologic exploration have changed materially in the past decade primarily due to the change in three basic factors, namely, increased wages and salaries, increased cost of materials, and a greater complexity in methods of exploration. Following the general economic pattern over the past ten years, exploration costs, have, in general, increased, although there is one heartening exception. A comparative picture is complicated because of advances in techniques which ensue from the introduction of new methods and devices largely for aerial exploratory work, Some of these methods were either in their infancy or unknown before World War II. Geological exploration may well be considered as a form of applied research. True, it has peculiarities from this standpoint some advantageous, others disadvantageous, Some of the advantages lie in the fact that exploration success does not involve the production of a new product which necessitates advertising expense and marketing problems. In normal times there is a well established market for the fruits of a successful mineral find. The outstanding disadvantage of exploration lies in the enigma of deciding when to quit if the sought fop prize is elusive. In the search for buried treasure, man?s curiosity is apt to color his judgment. Even the so-called detached scientist may fall 'all too readily into the wishful thinking of the old- time prospector who is lured on by the thought that the next pull from the drill hole, or the next round from the face will reveal a bonanza. It involves mature judgment and experience to ascertain the stage in exploration when further work is not justified.

Jan 1, 1958

By Dalene Joalet Steenkamp

Excavation of industrial-scale furnaces allows for the systematic study of reaction sequences by identifying the different reaction zones within the furnace. In 2013, Transalloys excavated a 48 MVA submerged arc furnace that was used for silicomanganese production using the ore-based route. The excavation method was reported elsewhere as was observations made in terms of refractory wear and modes of electrical energy dissipation prior to excavation. The paper presented here, reports on the process reaction zones observed during the excavation and subsequent phase chemical analyses of a number of process samples obtained during the excavation. The zones identified were a loose burden zone, a dry coke-bed zone, a wet coke-bed zone, a hard build-up zone, and an alloy zone. The results are compared to observations made in the excavation of an industrial-scale SAF and a pilot-scale SAF in Norway. The presence of the hard build-up zone below one of the electrodes and absence of a slag zone below all three electrodes are unique features of the SAF excavated at Transalloys.

By R. J. Matetic, J. Noll, C. Zhou, J. DuCarme, M. Reyes, J. Srednicki

"In April 2016, MSHA began requiring the use of continuous personal dust monitors (cPDMs) to monitor and measure respirable mine dust exposures to underground coal miners. After the cPDM’s implementation, mine operators discovered that it interfered with proximity detection systems (PDSs), thus exposing miners to potential striking and pinning hazards from continuous mining machines. NIOSH was sought out by MSHA and mining industry stakeholders to determine how the cPDM and PDS interact with each other. Accordingly, NIOSH investigated existing standards, developed test protocols, designed experiments, and conducted lab evaluations. Some interferences were observed to be caused by electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the cPDM. Results showed that there was no significant interference when the cPDM and the miner-wearable component of the PDS were separated by distances of 6 inches or greater. In this study, the cPDM and PAD needed to be at least 6 inches apart in order for them to be used simultaneously and reduce interference potential. INTRODUCTION Underground coal miners are exposed to a variety of hazards on a daily basis such as coal dust exposure, high noise levels, roof and rib falls, the potential for fires and explosions, and operating and working with heavy machinery. One of the hazardous jobs is operating or working nearby a continuous mining machine (CMM). According to Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) statistics, 40 miners have been fatally struck or pinned by a CMM since 1984. In an effort to prevent future striking and pinning fatalities from occurring, proximity detection systems have been developed and are required on all operating CMMs in underground coal mines, with the exception of full-face CMMs, by 2018 (1,2). Proximity detection systems (PDSs) are designed to alarm miners and stop machine motion in order to protect miners from being struck, pinned or crushed by CMMs(3). Currently, MSHA-approved PDSs, installed on CMMs, are based on the principle of magnetic flux density (B-field) (4,5). The system generates a magnetic field around a CMM and determines the relative distance a miner is from the CMM based on a detected magnetic flux density. A PDS typically consists of multiple magnetic field generators mounted at different places around the CMM, and personal alarm devices (PADs), which are worn by the miners to detect the magnetic flux density. When a miner, wearing a PAD, gets closer to the machine, the PAD detects a stronger magnetic field from the generators and detects a weaker magnetic field when a miner moves away from the machine. The magnetic field generators installed on CMMs typically produce modulated magnetic wave signals at frequencies between 10 kHz and 120 kHz. The magnetic fields are measured by three small magnetic coil antennas mounted on orthogonal axes inside of the PAD worn by the miner. According to Faraday’s Law, the changing magnetic field induces a voltage in each coil antenna, and the voltage values are transmitted from the PAD back to a controller on the CMM wirelessly, typically at a frequency between 400 MHz and 2.5 GHz. These values are then used to determine the distance between the miner and the generators of the machine. Typically this information is used to determine when a miner wearing a PAD is in a warning zone or stop zone which would trigger different alarms and actions such as slowing the machine down or stopping it."

Jan 1, 2017

By B. R. Arvidson

Rare-earth elements have some unique properties that are used in many common applications, such as TV screens and lighters. In the 1970's, rare-earths began to be used in a new generation of magnetic materials that have very unique characteristics. Not only were these stronger in the sense of attraction force between a magnet and mild steel (high induction, B), the coercivity (He) is extremely high. This property makes the magnetization of the magnet body composed of a rare-earth element alloy very stable, i.e., it cannot easily be demagnetized.

Jan 1, 1998

By Eric Rehwoldt, Walt Rabe, Jesús Gómez, Tim Myers

"An expansion plan for Washington Dulles International Airport is currently underway to prepare for growth at this northern Virginia facility in the future. While Dulles currently serves more than 20 million passengers a year, when the Master Plan for the Airport is fulfilled, it will be capable of handling approximately 55 million passengers a year. The current Capital Construction Program underway at Dulles will take the Airport one step closer to its full potential.As planned, work includes a new Airport Traffic Control Tower, expansion to existing concourses, a fourth runway, additional parking, and other improvements. One of the most interesting features of this project is the construction of a two-track passenger train system (Automated People Mover, or APM) linking the main terminal and concourses, which will largely replace the Mobile Lounge transportation system, thus greatly reducing surface traffic. Construction of the APM system involves deep excavations along the tunnels and at the transfer stations. This poses special challenges because the settlement-sensitive terminal, original Airport Traffic Control Tower, and concourse buildings, as well as other facilities, exist near the proposed below-ground stations. The site is also underlain by a tight grid of underground utilities that include jet fuel, gas and central communication lines, in addition to more mundane electric, sewer and water mains.One of the most interesting features of this project was the extensive and skillful utilization of micropiles for support of existing structures adjacent to the excavations. Without the use of micropiles, the cost and difficulty of the excavations would likely have been much more. Several important lessons were learned about the use of micropiles, which advance that technology.Throughout the project site, bedrock was generally encountered at 25-ft depths or more. The rock consists of micaceous and highly calcareous siltstone rock. This rock is typical of the sedimentary component of the Culpeper Basin, a Triassic Age geologic feature extending from south central Virginia to western Maryland. The siltstone beds dip gently to the west at about 10 to 20 degrees. Joint planes typically dip 60 degrees to vertical. The rock underlies a sequence of fill materials and residual soils of varying thickness."

Jan 1, 2009

By E. P. Youngman

This paper is one of a series of digests of foreign mining legislation and court decisions that is being prepared in advance of a general report relative to the right of American citizens to explore for minerals and to can and ore rate mines in various foreign countries. This interpretation of the mining laws of the Irish Free State has been prepared from the best available material in Washington and is released subject to amplification and correction, if necessary, by American foreign-service officials. INTRODUCTION This paper is based upon the mines and minerals act, 1931, enacted by the Legislature (Oireachtas) of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann), December 22, 1931, the lull title of which is "An act to establish a board to perform functions in relation to mines and minerals, to authorize the making of lenses of mines and minerals belonging to or vested in Saorstát Eireann, to name provider for facilitating the working of other mines and minerals and, for imposing restrictions on the working of minerals required for the support of buildings and works, to amend the law with respect to mines, and for other purposes incidental to the matters aforesaid.'

Jan 1, 1933

By Frank D. Shepherd

THE Gunnar Gold Mines property is on the west shore of Beresford lake, in the Rice Lake mining division, southeastern Manitoba. Gold was first discovered in place in the Rice-Beresford Lakes area in 1911 on the Gabrielle claim, now included in the San Antonio Mines property at Rice lake. Following an eastward trend of favourable prospecting ground, promising showings were next staked in the vicinity of Long lake during the years 1915 and 1916. At that time, William Walton and associates, among them Gilbert LaBine, staked the Eldorado vein, north of Long lake, and Eldorado Gold Mines, Limited, was formed to develop the property a Company that, later, was to become widely known through successful operation of its radium-silver mine at Great Bear lake, Northwest Territories. Continuing eastward from Long lake, Walton and his partners, Gunnar Berg, Leo Seaberg, and Wm. Quesnel, staked claims during the years 1920-24 in the vicinity of Beresford lake which, later, were to become incorporated into the Gunnar Gold Mines property. The presence of gold-bearing quartz on these claims had been known from the time they were staked, but an opportunity to consolidate them into a group was not forth-coming until early in the year 1933. Although promising gold showings had been disclosed during the performance of assessment work on individual claims, no continuous mineralization having mine-making possibilities was discovered until after the consolidation of the entire group. From this stage onward, progress was rapid. Active exploration was begun on August 1st, 1933, and late in October James Houston reported favourably on the property. On October 27th, Gunnar Gold Mines, Limited, was incorporated in the Province of Ontario to develop and operate the property. The Company is also registered in Manitoba. The authorized capitalization is 3,000,000 shares of $1.00 par value. Gilbert LaBine was appointed president of the Company, with James Houston as mine manager. Following completion of a diamond-drilling programme, planned in 1933, it was decided to install a mine plant capable of carrying development to a depth of 1,000 feet. A transmission line, 5 miles in length, was built to the Great Falls-Central Manitoba line of the Manitoba Power Company, Limited.

Jan 1, 1939

By Peter Broad

"Extracting any metal, especially specialty metals and rare earth elements, requires an in-depth analysis of the costs and potential revenue as well as a due diligence study of other stakeholder interests. Rare earth projects are generally in the billion dollar US range or above, and thus failure to accurately predict any loss of revenue caused by impurities within the product or additional effluent treatment costs can destroy an otherwise viable study. Two prime sources of input impurity are considered: impurities in the material feed and from reagents. The effect of these impurities factor on both the product (in reduced revenue) and on residual “tailings” that may incur additional unforeseen costs.INTRODUCTION“Truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident” – Arthur SchopenhauerThe era of unscoped, unbudgeted construction ended about 150 years ago. Today’s engineer must design with confidence; but do so amidst proprietary secrets and unfamiliar pollutants, which present a myriad of interesting challenges. Is it possible to build a viable rare earth plant to a realistic budget, without destroying that which we cherish? Some see this as contradictory but in reality it is the only viable option.WHEN GOOD PROJECTS FAILWithout rare earths the Copenhagen agreement might be null and void. Running a wind turbine with a 30 tonne conventional magnet requires some hefty engineering and prohibitive investment. Despite their ‘Green metal’ applications, production of rare earths have created environmental nightmares, as Folger stated in 2011 when visiting Baotou, or has Jaing Mainheng who has been quoted by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 6 Jan 2013. This comment is not a criticism of China; the details are from a 2012 white paper published by the Chinese Government that initiated a $6 billion environmental clean-up. Nor is China unique; other plants have had problems as well. There were toxic leaks in the 1990s from Mountain Pass, and the Mitsubishi Bukit Merah Plant (built in Malaysia in 1958) required a $100 million clean-up."

Jan 1, 2016

By Alan Bauer

New developments in drilling, blasting and explosives in both open-pit and underground mining operations are discussed, as well as novel surface blasting techniques such as are used in tar sand mining.

Jan 1, 1978

By P. V. Golde, R. A. Poole, G. R. Baiden

"The results being presented in this paper are those obtained during 1996 on a drilling automation project at Stobie mine. This project has successfully demonstrated that the remote operation of multiple drills (by a single driller) from surface using Tamrock Data Solo 1000 Sixty drillrigs is technically feasible and can potentially bring significant rewards in terms of productivity and work environment improvements, as well as labour and maintenance savings. BackgroundThe ObjectiveThis paper is an update of a previous report on remote drilling research at Stobie mine. Enabled by the communications system installed at the mine, the ability to remotely control underground equipment from surface has been demonstrated (Poole et al., 1996). This paper discusses the needs and process required to carry this concept to consolidate the operation of multiple machines under a single operator.The TeamThe team assembled to develop and implement the automation and the communi-cations extensions needed to allow the multiple machines’ operation from the surface by one operator included the following:INCO Mines Research supplied the project management and original project initiative. The primary purpose was to prove the advantages of savings associated with the driller not being required to travel to the underground drill location coupled with the savings associated with one-man, multiple-machine techniques.Tamrock EJC supplied the Data Solo 1000 Sixty drills and the Tamrock specific machine-based custom software. The drills were produced in Finland with no provision for remote operation of the drill from other than the umbilical attached local console.Automated Mining Systems supplied the modifications to the drill communications equipment to allow the machine communications to become broadband compatible. As well, Automated Mining Systems also supplied the hardware necessary to be able to remotely control the portable video camera, as well as the data logging equipment.Stobie Mine personnel were made available to test the function and then integrate the concept of remote control drilling into the Stobie operations."

Jan 1, 1997

By C. Dirscherl

"Declining ore grade, leading to increased material transport and plant throughput requirements, is one of the major challenges in the current mining environment. This is accompanied by rising energy and labor costs, decreasing plant productivity and the requirement for highest plant availability. Siemens’ answer is the latest gearless drive technology for grinding and conveying. Gearless drive solutions are surpassing the mechanical limits of conventional drive systems serving to utilize the principle of economies of scale. By elimination of various components of the drive train the maintenance activities and spare parts inventories are reduced. The advantages are culminating in the incomparable availability of the Siemens’ gearless drive technology of 99.46 to 99.71% - as confirmed by real operational data from the Antapaccay mine in Peru. It was the first plant worldwide to use gearless drives for both applications. KEYWORDS: Gearless Mill Drives, Gearless Conveyor Drives, Availability, SAG Mill, Ball Mill, Overland Conveyor, Antapaccay INTRODUCTION – THE GEARLESS PRINCIPLE The principle idea behind a gearless drive system is to reduce the number of components and diversity of parts. Especially those components that are at the edge of current manufacturing or power limits are eliminated. The used equipment provides the possibility to scale up and increase the power transmitted to the driven machine. This finally results in a possible increase of throughput respectively transported or processed material. In order to apply this principle of simplification we will take a look at the components of a conventional drive system consisting of: - Driven equipment (mill, conveyor, slurry pump…) - Components altering the rated speed (gearboxes, girth gear / pinion) - The electric motor - Starting devices for the motor (VSD, CCV, LRS, clutch…), which are necessary because a direct across-the-line start of high power motors with load would result in a significant drop in the line supply voltage - Alternatively a variable speed drive (VSD) or cycloconverter (CCV) to utilize the possibility of speed variation during operation - The electrical supply system (cables, switchgear, transformers, protection equipment) Intermediate gearboxes are not required when a motor is used with a rated speed that directly matches the speed requirement of the driven equipment. Furthermore the VSD can be used to smoothly start the motor and to vary speed during operation, which means that it satisfies both requirements."

Jan 1, 2015

By ?. Kostadinov

Theoretical study of the behavior of grinding medium presented by TBP (tetraballpebs) was conducted by computer modeling of the position of grinding medium at different speeds and different drum fill factor. For the modeling were used known equations of motion derived for the ball load. Algorithm was created by SolidWorks software, allowing determination of center of gravity of the load in the mill and energy for grinding. These results were compared with similar results obtained by ball grinding medium. The capabilities of both grinding media are demonstrated by graphics under the following conditions: 1.Equal dimensions of the experimental model of the mill; 2.Equal mass of the grinding loads; 3.Comparison of grinding bodies with the same number, mass and density. Keywords: simulation, behavior, grinding medium, balls, tetraballpebs

Sep 1, 2012

The Sydvaranger magnetite mine was shut down in 1996 due to low iron ore prices. It was reopened in 2009. The flowsheet has remained more or less as in the old plant, based upon two grinding steps followed by magnetic separation. The Sydvaranger magnetite is free of harmful elements and should therefore be sold on the high quality market. This requires a concentrate containing less than 2 % SiO2. In the old plant, this grade was achieved by amine flotation. Amine was preferred as collector because it could be used in process water from the sea. The use of amine has been restricted by the Norwegian pollution authorities during the time the mine was shut down. Test work to replace cationic with anionic flotation is therefore done. Research on activation of quartz with Ca or Mg ions prior to anionic flotation was shown by basic research in the period from 1960 to 1980 to be effective under simplified laboratory conditions. This old research has now been followed up from a practical/empirical point of view. The basic work was mainly done on quartz and iron minerals only. In this case, an actual feed containing a number of minerals common in iron ores is used, in order to demonstrate that a commercial process is possible. Calcium activation is shown to work excellently but requires too high pH to be environmentally and economically attractive. Magnesium activation is a more difficult process, because the maximum concentration of MgOH+, which was shown to be the activator, is about 100 times lower than the alternative CaOH+. Flotation success depends partly upon the ore, some amphibole minerals are more difficult to float than pure quartz. Ordinary batch flotation test work is time consuming. A South African microflotation test cell has shown promise, because work can be focused upon flotation of the more critical coarser fractions of the Sydvaranger ore. Keywords: iron ore concentration, anionic flotation, mineral activation, microflotation, Sydvaranger

Sep 1, 2012

By G. Bonifazi

Certain deposits of incoherent materials which are near the surface and exploitable by open-pit mining may be characterized in real time before they are mined through an analysis of ground-surface imagery. If the slice to be stripped is not overly thick, in fact, surface texture and color properties may be extrapolated to its entire thickness. Image analysis techniques to process ground surface images acquired in situ (or in the laboratory shortly after their acquisition) which yield pattern vectors representative of RGB color component distributions and HSB texture parameters have been developed. The techniques were applied to a mineral sandy ore deposit containing three different lithotypes. Geostatistical analyses showed that the data used to characterize the lithotypes were reliable. The correct recognition of the lithotypes was carried out using a multi-barycenter classification algorithm. Such in situ image-analysis procedures open the way to the proper selection of the ore to be mined, or the proper way for run of mine (r.o.m). processing, or the appropriate blend to be processed before or at the same time as the mining process itself is enacted.

Jan 1, 1999

By Nathaniel Arbiter

The question of automation of concentrator operations with computer control is under increasing consideration. Some of the problems involved will be discussed from the viewpoint of the availability of the requisite, detailed knowledge of the unit operations. The justification for full-scale automation of a mill must ultimately be economic--an increase in profitability over and above the cost of instrumentation and development, Potential savings would be in three probable directions: decrease in operating labor costs by substitution of machine control; improved metallurgy through continuous effective control; and decreased operating costs by achieving higher unit capacities and process efficiencies.

Jan 1, 1962

1. Theory of Wet Dust Suppression Techniques Wet dust suppression is the utilization of a liquid for the control, reduction or elimination of airborne dust, or the suppression of such dust at its source. Effective control involves: a. The confinement of the dust within the dust producing area by a curtain of moisture. b. The wetting of the dust by direct contact between the particles and droplets of moisture. c. The formation of agglomerates too heavy to remain airborne, by combining small dust particles with each other and with the droplets of liquid. From the standpoint of economy, availability and safety, water is the ideal fluid. From the standpoint of effectiveness, however, it leaves much to be desired. As a result, a tech¬nique has been devised in which very small percentages of specially formulated dust control compounds are blended with water to greatly enhance its dust suppression qualities. The terms "dust control compounds, wetting agents and surface active agents" are frequently used interchangeably. Although dust control compounds represent a specific type of wetting agent, a great many wetting agents are far from satisfactory for dust control. "Wetting Agents" is a broad category which covers such items as emulsifiers, solubilizers, detergents, foamers, penetrants, thickeners, etc. Dust control compounds, on the other hand, are carefully formulated blends in which one or more special surface active agents have been incorporated.

Jan 1, 1972