Search Documents

By Samuel M. Dunaway

INTRODUCTION ASARCO Incorporated purchased the East Tennessee Zinc Mines of the American Zinc Company and commenced operating on November 29, 1971. Presently, three mines are operating producing 6620 t/d (7300 stpd). The ore mined is sphalerite which occurs In lower Ordovician carbonates of the upper Knox Group and occurs in open space and fracture filling. Orebodies range from 3 to 46 m (10 to 150 ft) thick with dips from flat to 20º. The mining method is random room and pillar modified by shrinkage and bench stoping. Like other mining departments, the mining group at the Tennessee Mines Division is constantly looking for methods to improve productivity and safety and to reduce mining costs. This involves testing new equipment, trying new ore extraction ideas and making mining plant alterations to meet changes in operating conditions. The areas of change that will be described in this paper are longhole raising, jumbos and LHD loading, shaft sinking, conveyor transport of ore and sublevel haulage developments. LONGHOLED RAISES Raise driving has always been a hazardous occupation for miners and today it is becoming more difficult to get competent people for this kind of work. This problem has led us to seek an easier, safer way in which to excavate raises. The first longhole raises were excavated in the early 1970's using a Gardner-Denver air trac equipped with a PR-123 rock drill. The machine used 38 mm x 244 cm (1 ½ in x 8 ft) round rods with rope

Jan 1, 1977

The following description is based on the film's narrative script: The film opens with a description of the terrain--tens of thousands of yearly snows compressed into glacial ice, stretching further than the eye can see. A single massive frozen cap--1 812 992 km2 (700 thou- sand sq miles) covering most of the land mass of the world's largest island, christened strangely enough--Greenland. Greenlanders comprise more than two-thirds of the 40 thousand Danish subjects who brave the elements in the Arctic Circle. Along the coastal fringe where the Gulf Stream sheds its last vestige of tropical warmth to temper Greenland summers, tiny villages survive In virtual isolation. Jagged fjords and creeping glaciers are barriers to conventional communication. There are no roads through the year-round ice. Yet, when there is wealth in the land, there are people to tame it, harnessing those unrelenting forces of nature if they can building and surviving in spite of them if they must. Near the tiny site of Marmorilik in west Greenland a gathering of men from places more benign came to challenge a sheer, frozen rock named Black Angel Mountain to tap a deposit of lead and zinc ore. As far back as the 19301s, surface investigation showed zinc and lead sulfides in the vicinity. In the mid-60's mountaineering geological examinations were made and deep-hole drilling, directed by Cominco Ltd., of Canada, confirmed the presence of an ore body, 600 m (2000 ft) above the fjord. These findings led to the formation In 1965 of Greenex A/S, a'Danish company with principal offices in Copenhagen. A utilization con- cession, with rigorous safety standards and environmental controls to

Jan 1, 1977

In the Bowen Basin of central Queensland, coal production has gone from virtually nothing in 1961 to more than 24 million tons today4ut there's a cloud over this success.

Jan 1, 1977

By Peter K. Strangway

During 1973, a 20,000 net ton (18 100 metric ton) formcoke test was carried out at Inland's 26.5-foot (8.08-meter) hearth diameter on NO. 5 Blast Furnace. The formcoke briquettes were produced from Elko1 coal by FMC at their pilot plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The briquettes were shipped to Inland in open railroad cars and most of them were placed in an outside storage field until a sufficient amount was available for the actual blast furnace test. The test consisted of three phases: an initial four-week base period; the actual 33-day formcoke test period; and a final three-week post-test base period. During the formcoke test period, the regular coke skip loads were gradually replaced with skips of formcoke until, after a three-week period, the replacement ratio reached 80%. The furnace operated smoothly and quality hot metal was produced. The burden remained permeable and it was possible to maintain wind rates 9 of over 100,000 scfm (47 Nm3/s) without significant blast pressure increases. Dusting from the formcoke was not a problem either in the stockhouse or in the top gas. The formcoke briquettes maintained their original shape and density as they descended through the furnace. When the 80 percent replacement level had been reached, the inwall temperatures became higher than normal (about 2000 ºF (1090 ºC)) and followed an unusual steady pattern. In addition, the top gas temperature became higher than normal, and the hot metal analyses and temperatures began to fluctuate unacceptably. In general, it is felt that the high inwall temperatures were a result of channeling of the hot furnace gases along the stack walls. This channeling appears to have been promoted by a change in distribution of the burden in the top of the furnace which, undoubtedly, was caused by the increased increments of formcoke. Since it was felt to be unsafe to operate the furnace for an extended period of time with the inwall temperatures at the high level, a decision was made to remove the formcoke from the furnace. When this was done, the inwall temperatures returned to normal. Once the inwall temperatures had returned to normal, the remaining 3,800 net tons (3450 metric tons) of formcoke were used in the furnace at a nominal 40% replacement level for five continuous days. The furnace operated smoothly during this period, and the results were representative of satisfactory furnace operation with partial replacement of regular coke with formcoke. The test was successful in proving that formcoke can replace up to about 50% of the regular coke in a large furnace operating at high wind rates. However, additional work will be required to develop acceptable charging practices for using higher levels of formcoke replacement.

Jan 1, 1977

By L. H. E. Weyher

As a result of past developments, mainly at universities, the coal industry has had access for a decade or more to a number of computer programs for coal mine planning. Using some of these programs Bethlehem Steel's Research Department in 1969 launched jointly with Bethlehem Mines Corporation an extensive research and development program aimed at: (1) testing the capabilities of these programs through trial applications as the need and opportunity existed, (2) defining what additional capabilities were required to make mine planning computer systems fully useful in the hands of Bethlehem's mine-planning engineers in the field, and (3) developing and implementing in the field the mine-planning systems agreed on. This program is now nearing completion, and several of Bethlehem's operations routinely use the planning tools that were developed. The progress of this research program is discussed in terms of our initial trial applications of computer methods to mine planning and the incorporation of several innovative features into our new set of computer programs, in particular, the use of time sharing, data base management systems, and general-purpose simulation languages.

Jan 1, 1977

Miners and mineral explorers are concerned at the increasingly hostile environment being generated towards their industry and their profession. There is little official or public recognition that the mining industry is essential for the maintenance of the country's standard of living; a large part of this hostile feeling is caused by the assumption that mining destroys large tracts of our attractive countryside. This paper presents a historic review of the impact on the countryside of the major land using groups commencing with the Polynesian migration. European farming practices, subsequent expansion of the urban dweller and the land management practices of the two Government Departments, Lands and Survey and New Zealand Forest Service who between them control half of the total land area, are discussed. Estimates of total land area to date, directly and indirectly affected by mining have been calculated and a broad estimate of 18 000 ha or 1/1500 of total land area is indicated; current annual mineral production requires some 240 ha. These gross areas take no account of subsequent land rehabilitation, its improvement upon the original in some cases and the recreational, historic and aesthetic areas gained. Comparisons are then drawn with some current land practices in New Zealand.

Jan 1, 1977

By M. Didyk

In this report, the application of the PHU/MVS program is demonstrated through the use of a simple but realistic mine ventilation program. The report details, the problem description, the input data required and the various output features of the simulator. The PSU/MVS program is written in Fortran IV for use with IBM 370/168 computers. A version of the program that can be used in CDC computers is also available. A ventilation network consisting of 531 branches, 300 nodes and 5 fans took 48 seconds for solution on The Pennsylvania State University's IBM 370/168 computer. Appendix I of this report is the User?s Manual for the program. Appendices II and III contain the input data listing, and selected output listing for; the application. Appendix IV provides tables for leakage, friction factors and shape factors.

Jan 1, 1977

By Larry Gsellman

This report presents the results of a benefit/cost analysis of the Bureau of Mines' Coal Extraction RCD Program for the period FY 1977 through FY 1982. The analysis is an update of the analysis performed on the Coal Extraction R&D Program for EY 1975 - FY 1980 and presented in a MITRE report, MTR-7225, published in May 1975. Major changes included: new production scenarios and an update of R&D cost estimates.

Jan 1, 1977

By Farlow C. Davis

Magma Copper Company, San Manuel Division, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Newmont Mining Corporation and located at San Manuel, Arizona. The ore body is a dessiminated porphry copper deposit in quartz monzonite. The primary copper mineral is chalcopyrite with minor amounts of chalcocite, bornite, and covellite. The molybdenite occurs mainly on fracture faces or else associated with quartz veinlets. Pyrite is the major sulphide mineral in gangue. The feed to the concentrator from the underground mine is approximately 0.720 percent copper and 0.029 percent molybdenite. The concentrator has a design capacity of 62,000 tons of ore daily. After a standard ore treatment circuit consisting of grinding, rougher flotation, regrinding, and cleaning, a bulk concentrate is produced which contains 27 to 29 percent copper and 1.0 to 1.2 percent molybdenite. This concentrate is pumped to the molybdenite plant feed thickener.

Jan 1, 1977

By J. W. Francis

The paper about to be presented deals with the relatively straightforward problem of mining two seams of coal separated by an interval. This may seem to be a simple problem but within a twenty-mile radius of Consolidation Coal Company's Burning Star # 4 Mine at least seven (7) different techniques of two-seam mining have either been tried or are now in use. This great variety of techniques should point out that there is no single simple solution; a conclusion often reached when dealing with mining problems. As a background for the techniques presently in use at the Burning Star # 4 Mine, we will briefly outline the other five (5) stripping techniques used in the area: 1. Captain Hine 6360 Range Diagram (Figure 1) 2. Leahy Mine Range Diagram (Figure 2) 3. Burning Star # 3 Mine 5860 Range Diagram (Figure 3) 4. Burning Star # 3 and # 4 Mines Dragline in Pit Range Diagram (Figure 4) 5. Captain Hine 2570/5561 Range Diagram (Figure 5) Each of these techniques was chosen because it provided the best and least expensive alternative for mining the coal under the particular restraints encountered. The Mine Engineers at our Burning Star # 4 Mine, Mr. Dennis Mahan and Mr. William Weaver, will now detail two additional mining techniques, out-lining our experience to date.

Jan 1, 1977

By M. C. Manderson

Phosphate rock is a naturally occurring mineral which, in upgraded form, is important to both agriculture and industry. Phosphate rock normally must be upgraded before it can be assimilated and used. Most of this upgrading is now carried out by chemical means, largely through the reaction of a strong inorganic acid (primarily sulfuric acid) with the phosphate rock to remove major impurities and to produce soluble phosphate. A less important but yet still commercially significant conversion method involves the thermal reduction of phosphate rock at high temperature in an electric furnace to produce elemental phosphorus. The elemental phosphorus is then converted to usable end products. This conversion route is a more costly method than the chemical route, but it has the advantage of being able to produce chemically pure phosphorus derivatives. On the other hand, the use of phosphate rock for agricultural application-primarily for use as a plant nutrient ingredient for fertilizer -does not require the same level of purity. As a consequence, the chemical method of phosphate rock upgrading is the predominant technique for producing phosphatic fertilizers.

Jan 1, 1977

The industrial might of the Bowen Basin is primarily the result of Utah Development Co.'s work- which has opened up the Blackwater, Goonyella, Peak Downs, and Saraji mines; built the Hay Point port; and is now developing the Norwich Park mine.

Jan 1, 1977

ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE (MR. J. G. SYMONS) IN PRESENTING THE AWARD TO ELLIOTT SYLVESTER TIMOTHY O'DRISCOLLTim O'Driscoll comes from a mixture of Irish and Scottish stock. His family on the paternal side settled on land in Western Australia in the middle of the last century. His family on the maternal side were part of the W.A. goldfields scenc, including places such as Kanowna, and the Great Fingal mine, near Cue, where his grandfather lies buried.The combination of land and mining environments may perhaps have contributed to an innate interest in geology shared by Tim and his two brothers, all of whom became geologists.Tim showed an early liking for mathematical and geometric subjects, and in his B.Sc. studies at the University of Western Australia he took a major in mathematics along with geology in 1940.His first job was on the Kalgoorlie Golden Mile, and then at Norseman. After serving as a flying boat navigator in the north and south Pacific theatres in World War II he returned to Kalgoorlie and thence to Broken Hill.

Jan 1, 1977

By Robert B. Scott

The Dents Run Demonstration Project near Morgantown, West Virginia, was a cooperative venture involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Water Resources Division (WRD)(1) of the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and the Christopher Division of the Consolidation Coal Company (CONSOL). The object of this project was to demonstrate pollution control methods and to clean up a 37.8 sq km (14.6 sq mi) watershed severely polluted by coal mine drainage. A study entitled, "Water Infiltration Control to Achieve Mine Water Pollution Control" (EPA-R-2-73-142),(2) was conducted by the Cyrus Wm. Rico Division of NUS Corporation for the grantee to determine the feasibility of utilizing remedial techniques to improve the Dents Run water¬shed. This study showed that the Dents Run watershed was discharging as much as 6,870 kg/day (15,100 lb/day) of acid; 1620 kg/day (3,560 lb/day) of iron 17,250 kg/day (38,000 lb/day) of sulfates; and 29,500 kg/day (64,900 lb/day) of total dissolved solids into the Monongahela River near Morgantown, West Virginia. This pollution was caused by the combination of borehole pump discharges from active underground mines, runoff from abandoned strip mines, and runoff from refuse dumps.

Jan 1, 1977

By Yu A. Chernegov

Building up the USSR's economic strength was the result of all the achievements and successes of our economy. The Soviet Union was the first to begin planned guidance of the economy. The mining industry of the USSR, which holds the first place in the world output of mining production, has always been considered as the main raw materials basis of the country's economy. High and stable development rates are a feature of planned economic management, based on the social ownership of the means of production. During the past ten years from 1965 to 1875 the national income used for consumption and accumulation increased practically by 1.9 times. There has been no inflation, no unemployment in the Soviet Union for about forty years already. High and stable growth rates of the production of mining industries and that of the branches, which are their direct consumers are characterized by the data in table I. The achievements and successes of the economy's development are to a great extent determined by the three planning components, which are as follows:

Jan 1, 1977

Although Australia is the world's second biggest producer of iron ore, the last few years have not been easy for companies in Western Australia's Pilbara region (see map) where more than 90% of the nation's iron ore is produced. For at least two years, the industry has been plagued by dwindling markets abroad, production-crippling strikes at home, skyrocketing costs (well above the official 13% annual inflation rate), an acute shortage of investment capital, increasingly ferocious competition from foreign iron ore producers-and, as if all this weren't enough, by an over-valued currency that has caused incalculable damage not only to iron ore producers but to the entire mining industry of Australia. (This last problem was mitigated less than two months ago, on November 28, 1976, when the Australian dollar was devalued by a whopping 17 1/2%.)

Jan 1, 1977

It is indeed a privilege and honour to deliver the keynote address at this 15th APCOM symposium. APCOM has played a significant role in my own career and I am sure in the careers of many of the thousands of other participants over the years since its inception as a short course on "Computers and Computer Applications in the Mineral Industry" at the University of Arizona in 1961. The technical papers and addresses presented at the 14 past symposia provide an imposing record of sustained pro- gress and achievement in the field of computer applications. I will not attempt to analyse this technical side of APCOM but rather endeavour to provide you with a broad popular perspective of the road travelled to date and that lying ahead of us. The name of the series of symposia has changed from time to time, with titles such as Mathematical and Statistical Techniques, Mining and Exploration, and Decision Making being used at various times until in 1972 the name APCOM was coined and the present loga designed by the South African organising committee for the 10th symposium. It can conveniently be accepted as standing for:

Jan 1, 1977

The Southern 'B' lode orebody at the New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited (NBHC) mine, Broken Hill, is a continuation of the zinc-rich orebody that was first mined in NBHC in the 1940's. Preliminary diamond drilling in the early 1960's resulted in sufficient information to delineate the southern extension of the presently mined 'B' lode orebody, In 1966 the sinking of a 7.3 metre diameter circular shaft (No. 3 Airway) was commenced to improve the ventilation of the southern extremities of existing workings and to provide a base to further explore and develop the orebody extension. Development on four levels was started in the early 1970'.s to link the existing workings with the new shaft. Three possible mining methods - sublevel open stoping, loader cut and fill with ramp access and sublevel caving - were investigated and the decision was made to mine the orebody by transverse sublevel longhole stopes and pillars with trackless equipment and ramp access between the major working levels.

Jan 1, 1977

By Ralph H. Light

The recent surge in demand for uranium in the United States, accompanied by a significant increase in price, has resulted in exploration, mining, and milling of lower grade ores than have been exploited in the past. To sustain production levels of uranium with lower grades of feed requires larger tonnage mill operations. Also, because of recent environmental regulations, mill operations must be prepared to properly contain large tonnages of tailings, and recycle, treat and discharge, or evaporate mill effluents. Thus, the advent of lower grade ores, larger tonnage mills, and environmental considerations has made the cost of milling a critical factor in today's uranium production economics in the United States. Three basic milling methods are employed for extracting uranium from ores: 1. Acid leach, countercurrent decantation, and solvent extraction. 2. Acid leach, resin-in-pulp, and Eluex. 3. Alkaline leach, solid-liquor separation, and precipitation. Vanadium often occurs as a valuable by-product in ore deposits located in the Uravan mineral belt in Western Colorado. Also, lesser amounts of vanadium may occur in ores from South Dakota, New Mexico, and Utah. Vanadium is usually extracted in the acid leach solution with uranium and recovered by solvent extraction after recovery of the uranium. By-product recovery of uranium from phosphoric acid and porphyry copper dump leach solutions is now receiving considerable attention. Pilot plant studies are under way and construction of commercial plants is in progress.

Jan 1, 1977

By Gregory L. Gullord

In September, 1975, production was begun at the new milling facility of ASARCO Incorporated, the Young Mill. The mill is located adjacent to the Young Mine 35 km (22 miles) east of Knoxville, Tennessee. The Young Mill replaced the obsolete Mascot Mill which had been operating since 1913. The basic flow sheet of Mascot was retained for the construction of the Young Mill, with a 20% increase in capacity included in the design. The Young Mill is capable of processing 7710 - t/d (8500 stpd) of crude ore from three underground mines (Young, Immel and Coy) yielding 300 - t/d (330 stpd) of 63% zinc concentrate. The Young Mill is unique in that 92.5% of the ore milled is recovered as saleable products, including zinc concentrate, construction aggregate, sand and agricultural limestone. Processing at the Young Mill is divided into five basic stages: two-stage crushing, heavy media separation, grinding-flotation, concentrate filtering and drying, and limestone by-products recovery. The ore bodies are located in the Knox formation, which consists of primary dolomite, secondary dolomite and limestone with silicas in the form of chert and jasperoid. The zinc mineralization occurs as an exceptionally pure sphalerite. The ore contains an occasional abundance of pyrite and traces of fluorite and barite. TWO STAGE CRUSHING Ore enters the crushing section from two points. The Young Mine ore is hoisted into a 816 ton (900 st) bin which feeds a 1.52m (60 in) conveyor via a 1.52 m (60 in) vibrating feeder. The Immel ore is trucked 10 km (6 miles) by an independent contractor and weighed on automatic recording truck scales at the entrance to the property.

Jan 1, 1977