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Featured at the 1977 SME-AIME Fall Meeting in St. Louis is a Lead-Zinc Update, organized to complement the 1970 AIME World Symposium on Mining and Metallurgy of Lead and Zinc, also held in St. Louis. The 21 papers comprising the Update are to be presented during four technical sessions at the Fall Meeting; in addition, the papers have been collected in a bound book available at meeting time.

Jan 9, 1977

A comprehensive, systematically structured mineral evaluation system is a prime requirement for objectively assessing mineral supply impacts on the economy. The Minerals Availability System developed by the US Bureau of Mines is a step in the right direction-a well-organized unraveling of the mineral supply network, structured in format to allow quick retrieval for rapid listing, supply analysis, and other uses.

Jan 9, 1977

By Raymond L. Jones

With the inauguration of open-pit copper mining in Bagdad, Ariz., plans were formulated for a large scale leaching operation. Dump stockpiling was started almost immediately, but actual production was not initiated until spring 1961.

Jan 9, 1977

By Edward R. Mueller

The application of a simple analog computer constructed in a home workshop has registered a 10% to 15% gain in truck productivity at the mammoth Pima mine, located 35 km (22 miles) south of Tucson, Ariz. The newly installed dispatching board enables the truck control foreman to make near-optimum dispatching decisions and to monitor each individual truck, identifying any that are off schedule.

Jan 8, 1977

By Frank W. Reinmiller, Edward S. Hsia

Earth bottom thickeners are generally considered to be the lowest cost solution for thickener bottom construction presently available to the mining industry. In addition to the capital cost advantage, these basins have proven to be watertight structures providing trouble-free operation for indefinite periods of time. During the past 15 years, some 18 of these thickeners have entered service with no particular problems encountered in porphyry copper operations, counter-current decantation in a gold cyanide plant, and other similar applications in mineral processing. In the course of this work, technological advances have been realized in the procedures for engineering and construction of these units to assure watertight basins and achieve all possible economies in construction.

Jan 8, 1977

By John D. Wiebmer

Lignite Development in North Dakota is a "shotgun wedding" according to former state senator Robert L. Stroup-the unwilling groom (North Dakota) is being led to the altar by the nation's demand for increased coal production. The state's attorney general, Allen I. Olson, reacts to the situation this way: "We have no specific coal policy. We plan to keep the whole matter down to a dull roar and drag our feet until we see how we fit into the national energy picture." But despite a state administration labeled as "cautiously negative" toward resource development, North Dakota has experienced a twofold increase in annual lignite production within the last two years. And within the next four years, three more mine additions will double the state's output again.

Jan 8, 1977

By Malcolm D. Flavel

This article synopsizes the major conclusions of Allis-Chalmers research into crushing and screening plant design. The full text of the research findings, together with the supporting mathematical details, is expected to be made available to the industry within the next several months.

Jan 7, 1977

By James J. Scott

A four-year program of research, development, and field testing has led to the refinement of a ground support system utilizing friction rock stabilizers, or "Split Sets," as they are known by their patented trade name. These rock anchors are a distinct departure from conventional anchors or fully grouted anchor systems, and allow control of ground movement internally in a manner that permits controlled deformation during the early phase of rock "relaxation" around a mine opening, increased anchorage per unit length during the secondary creep stage, and have the ability to strengthen and stabilize mine openings for extended periods of time.

Jan 7, 1977

By Will B. Jamison

It is a fact that the most serious safety problems encountered in US underground coal mines are related to roof-bolting operations. It is also true that roof bolting is usually the operation which limits coal production from a mine section. There has been a recent focus on activity involving roof bolting research, development, and new ideas as people concerned about mine worker safety and productivity realize that significant progress can be made in these areas, even with equipment presently available.

Jan 7, 1977

Who's Who in Mineral Engineering 1977 - SME Membership Directory of the Society of Mining Engineers of AIME

Jan 7, 1977

By Forbes K. Wilson

Dick Hunt is known for having said, "Ore bodies are found but mines are made." This was certainly true of the Ertsberg-it was stumbled upon, literally, by a group of mountain climbers, but to develop it into a mine took 12 years of concerted effort. For more than a century, explorers had attempted to penetrate the jungles of New Guinea and climb the snow-covered Mt. Carstensz, named for a Dutch navigator who first saw it in 1620. But the first to succeed was the Colijn expedition which reached the 5030-m (16,500-ft) pinnacle in December 1936 after starting out from the south coast57 days earlier. Members of that expedition were A. H. Colijn and Jean Jacques Dozy, employees of Shell Oil Co., and Lt. Wissel, a pilot in the Royal Dutch Navy.

Jan 6, 1977

By Allan T. Fisk, Carl R. Peterson, Richard E. Brooks, James J. Olson

Development of a continuous drill-and-blast excavation capability in mining and high-speed tunneling has been a long recognized goal. Ideally, a machine to meet the challenge should simultaneously perform drilling, explosive loading, initiation, mucking, ventilation, and other functions while remaining at the face, since the elimination or modification of the cyclic nature of the system would significantly improve the advance rate and economy of drill-and-blast tunneling. The Rapidex continuous spiral drill-and-blast concept, one of the continuous excavation schemes presently under evaluation in the US Bureau of Mines' Bedded Deposits subprogram, utilizes an unusual blasting pattern that provides effective fragmentation and involves a partially self-shielding geometry that permits a lightly shielded machine to remain at the face during blasting.

Jan 6, 1977

By Edgar A. Scholz, Attilio G. Spat

The rapid worldwide increase in labor costs, prices of goods and services, and the rising tide of economic nationalism do not bode well for the future of mineral exploration and the mining industry. The increasing complexity and difficulty involved in finding economic mineral deposits makes these trends particularly significant. A comparative cost analysis of domestic and foreign exploration projects which developed into mines during the period 1960-74 may be useful in indicating the general nature of exploration expenditures as these trends continue. This analysis is based on a survey of 18 US and Canadian mining companies. Due to the inexact nature of exploration expenditure data, plus the fact that no two mining companies follow the same system of cost allocation, the results of the survey must be considered quite general in character.

Jan 6, 1977

By Henry N. McCarl, John J. Dran

In recent years, market rates of interest have risen well above their historical long-term average. Also during this period, the short-term variability of interest rates has been greater than in prior years. Interest rates have a significant effect on the operation of our economy. They influence the extractive industries in a number of ways. Their major long-range impact is on in- vestment decisions-specifically the valuation of mineral deposits. An understanding of the factors that influence interest rates is important to the engineer or businessman who makes the investment decisions for the mining company. The effect of changes in the market rate of interest on the value of mineral reserves is critical to the future financial success of the mining enterprise.

Jan 6, 1977

By Gerald Schroeder

The flow of gases, particularly radon and methane, into the mine atmosphere is a problem traditionally controlled by ventilation-dilution techniques. More recently, a preventative approach has been to seal underground surfaces with a polymeric coating to act as a barrier against the influx of dangerous gases. H However, a study by the Israel Government Research Station indicates that unless the rock surface is perfectly sealed, much of the labor to reduce interstitial gas flow is lost to the effects of barometric "breathing" from the rock pores. Previous research has reported the increased frequency of coal mine explosions during periods of barometric pressure minima,1 and the phenomena has been explained through correlation of the observed increase in mine gas concentrations during periods of low barometric pressure with the connective flow of interstitial gases from rock pores into the arsine atmosphere when pressure was actually falling.234 While changes ill barometric pressure arc rapidly transmitted to the mine atmosphere, response in the rock interstices is sluggish, momentarily creating a pressure differential between the mine atmosphere and the interstitial gases. Responding to the pressure gradient, this interstitial gas flows until pressures are equalized.

Jan 6, 1977

By John D. Weibmer

A strong step towards acknowledgement of mining as a skilled trade has been taken by the Tintic Division of Kennecott Copper Corp. In May 2 ceremonies, a pilot program was signed into force which, possibly for the first time in US history, recognizes mining as an apprentice trade and grants journeyman status to those who complete the prescribed training sequence. The apprenticeship standards, hammered out after months of consultation between management, labor, and government, are presently limited only to underground hard-rock mining and only within Kennecott's Tintic Division, but the architects of the program are confident that the concept will spread-first to other underground operations where miners desire documented evidence of their special skills, then to open-pit and soft-rock operations.

Jan 6, 1977

By David Russell, Courtland Lee

FOREWOHD-Americans have been able to create wealth from the nation's natural resources to an extent unprecedented in recorded history, thanks largely to the existence of a free market and of a rational body of laws. The General Mining Law of 1872, for instance, by establishing the rules of the game, was quite effective in channeling the ability of Americans to discover and develop mineral deposits. Another example was the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 which made available the more easily discovered mineral deposits by spelling out the conditions and rules under which miners could obtain leases on federal lands.

Jan 5, 1977

By S. N. Sharma, William Davis

Because of diminishing energy resources and rising energy costs, every industry is forced to carefully examine its pattern of energy consumption. The copper industry is no exception; current smelting practice begs for technological innovations that would improve the efficiency of its energy utilization. The thermochemical simplicity of copper metal production, as shown in Fig. 1, is deceptive. Designed from the same basic principles, there are four major commercial processes either in use or under construction; and others, such as the Mitsubishi process, are being developed.

Jan 5, 1977

By Charles J. Speake, Dennis R. Haley, Thomas E. Finch

The tremendous interest in development of surface- mineable coal throughout the western US will bring with it a requirement for many manhours spent in mine planning and equipment selection. One problem in particular that engineers face during the planning stage is that of selecting a dragline with the proper reach capability. Reach, expressed in terms of operating radius and effective spoil radius, can be a major problem when mining deeper than originally planned, and aside from production requirements, the ability of a particular dragline to spoil across a strip is essential. Determination of dragline reach needed for a multiple-seam western coal operation can be simplified by use of an equation derived below that eliminates the need for tedious and repetitive calculations.

Jan 5, 1977

By Eli Sani

Investment in the mineral industries-particularly in the mining industry-differs from investment in nonminera1 industries in that the latter have an indeterminate life, assumed to be perpetual, and are not called upon to replace the firm's original investment. In mining ventures, on the other hand, once the ore bodies are depleted the mine has no economic value; the original capital investment must be returned to the investor by the time the ore is exhausted. A mining venture is also characterized by the significant cost and time associated with the exploration phase. A myriad of samples must be taken, geological features investigated, and ore grade assured. In addition, most mining ventures require substantial capital expenditures aggregating several hundred million dollars for a number of years before the project begins producing any revenue. Any theoretical model employed in evaluating a mining venture, as well as similar mineral ventures, must take all these factors into consideration.

Jan 5, 1977