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By John D. Morgan

Introduction The US Bureau of Mines' (USBM) world reserve/consumption ratios (Table 1) indicate that, if the world is relatively peaceful in the next two decades, there should be ample world supplies of minerals to permit rising standards of living for increasing world population. But it must be remembered that most mineral reserve estimates are conservative and that normal mining practice is to develop a ton of ore reserve for every ton mined. It should be noted that "reserve," as used in this paper follows the definition given in US Geological Survey (USGS) Circular 831, 1980; "that part of the reserve base which could be economically extracted or produced at the time of the determination." In addition to accurately determining the geologic parameters of mineral deposits, a judgment as to whether that deposit is a "reserve" per se involves consideration of many other factors. These factors were recognized nearly a century ago by a well-known mining engineer and later President, Herbert Hoover. In "Principles of Mining," 1909, Hoover wrote: "Unfortunately for the mining engineer, not only has he to weigh the amount of risk inherent in calculations involved in the mine itself, but also that due to fluctuations in the value of metals. If the ore is shipped to custom works, he has to contemplate also variations in freights and smelting charges ...In a free market, the law of supply and demand governs the values of metals as it does that of all other commodities. So far, except for tariff walls and smelting rings, there is a free market in the metals under discussion. The demand for metals varies with the unequal fluctuations of the industrial tides. The sea of commercial activity is subject to heavy storms, and the mine valuer is compelled to serve as weather prophet on this ocean of trouble. High prices, which are the result of industrial booms, bring about overproduction, and the collapse of these begets a shrinkage of demand, wherein consequently the tide of price turns back." Current supplies and use There have been ample supplies of most mineral materials to permit several-fold increases of world production of common major mineral based minerals (steel, aluminum, copper, and cement) over the past three decades. Motor vehicle production is a major consumer of mineral materials. However, in the last decade, down-sizing to facilitate improved fuel efficiency and reduce harmful emissions has reduced the weight of the average US-made automobile 15%, to 1.5 t (3200 lbs). Also in the US, there are 92 million dwelling units, or on average, fewer than three persons per dwelling unit. Construction is another major consumer of materials in the industrialized developed countries. It will also be a major consumer of materials worldwide as less developed nations seek to improve their infrastructures by adding roads, bridges, railroads, airfields, ports, and housing. Fortunately, a large number of traditional common materials, many of mineral origin and also many of agricultural origin, are readily available for construction. Traditional construction materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, and cement, are being replaced in many applications by engineered plastic and ceramic

Jan 4, 1986

By Wencheng Gao

An attractive way to beneficiate magnesium chloride and aluminum chloride is to prepare Mg-Al spinel, an excellent refractory material. Mg4Al2(OH)14?3H2O, the precursor of spinel, can be prepared using a co-precipitate method from aqueous MgCl2-AlCl3 solutions. The co-precipitation process of magnesium-aluminum from acidified chloride solutions by using NaOH or NH4OH as base neutralization agent was studied. Co-precipitation was conducted from different mixed solutions ? at initial CAl=0.0625M and Mg/Al molar ratio from 0.5 to 10, the temperature range from 30 to 90 °C. The effect of other parameters, including base type, method of base addition, base addition rate, aging time, background electrolyte and concentration were also investigated. The co-precipitation process was monitored by potentionmetric(pH) measurements. The experimental pH curves were characterized by two platforms separated by a steep jump in pH at Mg/Al molar ratio 0.5~6. The first platform was centered at about a pH of 3.8 and the pH of second platform was varied with different conditions. When the Mg/Al molar ratio was up to 6~10, the first platform in pH was almost disappeared. Furthermore, the shapes of pH curves were also affected by base type, base addition rate and method of base addition. Experimental results showed that the first platform in pH was connected with Al precipitation, and the second platform was involved with Mg. The final co-precipitates were characterized by XRD, TGA-DTA, particle size analysis, SEM and TEM. We found both Mg/Al molar ratio and temperature proved to be the key parameters controlling the formation of Mg4Al2(OH)14?3H2O phase. At solution Mg/Al ratio=0.5~4, the main precipitate phase was Bayerite (Al(OH)3) admixed with Mg4Al2(OH)14?3H2O; at Mg/Al ratio=4~6, the main phase was Mg4Al2(OH)14?3H2O admixed with some Mg(OH)2; while from Mg/Al ratio=6~10, the systems were mixtures of Mg(OH)2 and Mg4Al2(OH)14?3H2O.

Oct 1, 2011

By Terence Makanyire, Animesh Jha

The dissolution and chemical properties of vanadium, zirconium, and niobium in rutile lattice are analyzed by comparing the octahedral site preference energies, with respect to Ti4+ ion in the solvent phase. The oxides are often present in rutile lattice and interfere in achieving the quality of pigment grade TiO2 due to favourable Gibbs energy for dissolution in the solvent rutile matrix. Binary mixtures of V2O5 { TiO2; Nb2O5 { TiO2 and ZrO2 { TiO2 with compositions of 80, 85, 90, 95 and 97 wt% TiO2 were made, pelletized and sintered at 1100 °C for 24 hours. The solidsolution mixtures were then cooled and leached in 2M NaOH for 3 hours at 60 °C. Phase and lattice parameter characterizations, and microstructural and compositional analyses were then carried out using X-ray diraction and SEM/EDX, respectively. The leachates were analysed by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), using which the solute dissolution model for oxides were investigated.

Jan 1, 2014

By K. Fukushima, K. Baba, H. Kurokawa, M. Yamagiwa

"The Toyo smelter has expanded its anode production capacity from 126,500 to 239,000 t/year by introducing technical oxygen into blast air for flash and converter furnaces and improving smelting facilities. Significant efforts were made in the expansion not to increase the number of workers, which mean development of some automation systems for the copper converters and anode casting wheel. The efforts have resulted in the above-mentioned increase in productivity and a saving of production cost as well as a decrease in the number of workers for the anode casting operation.IntroductionThe Toyo smelter has been performing a highly stable and pollution free operation since its commencement in 1971 (1). Its distinctive features are the on-line control by process computer (2) and the high productivity without trouble. But owing to the so-called oil crisis in 1979, we were faced with a sharp increase in production cost. To decrease the production cost, some measures for saving of energy were planned and carried out, such as conversion from oil to coal in a flash furnace (3), the heat recovery from converter slag and the introduction of technical oxygen in blast air with the intention of energy saving as much as possible.The first increase in production capacity and some savings of production cost were attained in 1982 by the introduction of technical oxygen in blast air for the flash furnace without major modification of the furnace as shown in Table I. The capacity of an oxygen plant is 7,800 Nm3/H as 90% O2 . Part of oxygen from the plant is also supplied to tuyeres of copper converters through an oxygen holding tank with a volume of 830 m3 at 7 kg/cm2-G."

Jan 1, 1989

By Marcelo Mourao, Adolfo Pillihuaman, Alberto Nogueira, Cyro Takano

"The self-reduction is an alternative and promising process for production of pig iron because offers decisive benefits such as enhancing the reaction kinetic with decrease in fuel consumption and C02 emissions. The self-reduction mixture of iron ore fines, carbonaceous reducer and additives for slag forming components, without agglomeration, was tested in a laboratory rotary kiln. The additives for slag were defined for presenting two different estimated liquidus temperatures (1623 Kand 1773 K) to verify the effect of these temperatures on the iron-carbon nuggets coalescence process. These mixtures were tested at 1673 and 1773 Kin an experimental rotary kiln. After reduction-melting and coalescence processes the samples were disaggregated and the iron nuggets were classified by size. It was considered that nuggets larger than 7,93mm would be a good reference for coalescence index. Low liquidus temperature slag presented 37% of this larger fraction against only 13.5% for high liquidus temperature one. The low liquidus temperature slag would facilitate contact between the particles of iron-carbon in a rotary kiln, enhancing the coalescence.IntroductionThe slag composition usually depends on the reducer ash composition, the ore gangue, the binder composition and any fluxing material [l], and the mechanism of carbon transportation in slag that contains iron oxide reducible by carbon can be explained by the oxide reduction and the metal carburization. During carbon transportation, the carburized particle is transported to slag-metal interphases by the gravity effect, being assimilated by the metallic phase [2]. When the slag's iron oxide comes in contact with the solid carbon, it is immediately reduced, forming Fe particles and CO bubbles as it is shown in the figure l(a). The Fe particles are carburized by carbon particles; they are liquefied simultaneously in the carbon-slag interphase. The Fe-C liquid particles are transported from the slag-carbon interphase to iron-slag interphase as a result of slag flow, based on the surface tension difference (Marangoni effect), figure l(b). The Fe-C liquid particles coalesce on the iron surface and the carbon is immediately diffused in the iron as it is shown in figure l(c). The reduced iron is carburized continuously by repeated sequences [3]."

Jan 1, 2013

By S Ellis, J McMullen, M Habner

A new leaching regime was implemented at Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold MinesÆ (KCGM) Gidji plant on a cyanide leach of ultra-fine ground sulfide concentrate. High lime concentration and lead nitrate were used to overcome the refractoriness of the fine sulfides (high reactivity of fine sulfides with the presence of gold tellurides). The leach pretreatment stage was shown to be detrimental and was shut down. Lime titration was introduced as part of the process control. It was shown that the leach could be performed at low dissolved oxygen, (ie 3 - 5 ppm) to avoid sulfide oxidation and the associated high cyanide and lime consumption. Plant results showed reduced cyanide consumption (40 per cent) and an accelerated leaching rate, whereby most of the gold was dissolved in 24 hours compared to 72 hours used previously. Similar work was performed at KCGMÆs Fimiston plant, which leached a combined ultra-fine ground sulfide concentrate along with the slimes fraction from hydrocycloning the bulk flotation concentrate. The use of lead nitrate, high lime and carbon-in-leach generated a faster leaching rate and minimised adsorption of gold on fine pyrite particles. The grind, previously controlled with a P80, was replaced by a P98 to give a better operational indication of top size hydrocyclone performance. Before the implementation of the changes, average leach residues for slimes and UFG were respectively 4.0 g/t and 5.5 g/t. With the modifications to the leaching regime, average leach residues were lower by 1.5 - 2.0 g/t. Whilst significant improvements have been demonstrated, further work is progressing at KCGM to further reduce ultra-fine concentrate leach tail grades, and also to improve the understanding of concentrate refractoriness and the factors responsible for differences between laboratory and plant leach results. Estimated profits since the implementation of the new approach are in the range of $A3.5 million per year.

Jan 1, 2005

By Bruce Watzman

Can the United States mining industry achieve its long-stated goal of zero fatalities ? and what will it take to do so? Does it require new laws and regulations, as some propose, and a continuation of the commandand- control model that has been born out of more than 40 years of regulation and enforcement under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969? Or, is it time to consider a new model to manage safety and health and drive continuous, sustained improvement? These are questions that many are debating as mine safety performance, while improved, appears mired in a trough where improvement followed by declines seems to have become the rule rather than the exception. Without doubt, U.S. mines have made significant progress in safety performance during the last four decades, yet the stalled decline in fatality numbers, the industry?s report card of its success or failure, has led some to question whether the industry will achieve zero fatalities in U.S. mining by relying solely on the Mine Act?s framework and implementing its regulations. These are questions the CEO-led task force, set up by the National Mining Association (NMA), considered as it sought to identify impediments to zero fatalities posed by the current regulatory regime. Out of that effort came CORESafety, a common safety and health framework that relies on a management system approach to improve safety and health performance. The goal of CORESafety is to achieve zero fatalities and a 50-percent reduction in the rate of injuries in U.S. mining within five years ? 0:50:5. CORESafety is built on the plan-do-checkact model, which has been successfully deployed by industries, mining and nonmining alike, to drive continuous improvement in safety and health performance. The improvements in safety performance that can be achieved by shifting from a command-and-control regulatory approach to a risk-based systems approach built on the plando- check-act model have been documented in numerous industries. For example, the United Kingdom quarrying industry (Fig. 1), not satisfied with the number of reportable accidents being experienced 1995-2000, established a hard target of a 50-percent reduction in the number of reportable accidents during the period 2001- 2005. Having met this target, the industry then established a further target zero for the period 2006-2010. The mechanism to achieve these reductions? The plan-do-check-act model.

Jan 1, 2014

By David Fernando de Carvalho

Este estudo de caso foi solicitado por uma grande mineradora brasileira à Chemtech Engenharia, com o objetivo de avaliar um projeto de um Transportador de Correia de Longa Distância na fase conceitual, onde se buscava a otimização do consumo energético, mínimo investimento financeiro inicial e redução dos custos operacionais. O resultado deste estudo de caso foi usado como diretriz no projeto básico do equipamento, além de ser usado como referência para outros projetos similares.

Sep 25, 2017

By G. R. Hopkins, E. M. SEELEY

The number of natural-gasoline plants has shown a consistent decline in recent years, but the total capacity has increased steadily. The number of completed plants, as determined by a survey as of January 1, 1932, amounted to 959. Previous surveys of January 1, 1928 and 1930 showed 1,155 and 1,035 plants, respectively. Of the total plants on January 1, 1932, 859 were operating and 100 were shut down, compared with 999 operating and 36 shut down on January 1, 1930. The material gain in the number of inoperative plants in the last two years was probably due to the severe decline in prices of 1931. The low prices of 1931, which were approximately 40 per cent below 1930, made it virtually impossible for the majority of the independent plants, or plants not owned by a large integrated company, to operate at a profit. Accordingly, the majority of the plants removed from the list in 1930 and 1931 were owned by companies which were engaged solely in the manufacture of natural gasoline. The total daily capacity of the plants on January 1, 1932, amounted to 11,387,000 gallons, an increase of 871,000 gallons, or 8 per cent, in the two years 1930 and 1931. That the total capacity of the plants has increased while the number of plants has declined is due to the fact that nearly all the plants constructed in the last five years have been large plants. During 1931 the average total daily capacity of the operating plants was approximately 10,600,000 gallons, while the average daily production amounted to 4,944,000 gallons. This indicates that the plants operated during 1931 at 47 per cent of their capacity, compared with 58 per cent in 1930 and 61 per cent in 1929. Although more plants have been dismantled in Oklahoma in recent years than in any other State, it continues to rank first in number of plants. On January 1, 1932, there were 238 plants in Oklahoma, compared with 145 plants

Jun 1, 1932

By Ângelo José de Santana Tavares Cavalcanti

Este trabalho apresenta o desempenho após a implantação do processo de produção enxuta na operação unitária de filtragem do processo de pelotização das usinas Itabasco e Hispanobrás, com o propósito de aumentar a produtividade, reduzir custos, reduzir paradas de usina e perdas de produção, otimizando as rotinas operacionais e a utilização da mão de obra, bem como a melhoria do ambiente de trabalho. Esse processo é pioneiro em regime de produção contínua.

Aug 1, 2018

By Sharon Thomson

Since 1977, Amax Coal Co.'s Belle Ayr mine near Gillette, WY, has been the largest producing coal mine in the US. In its 10 years of operation more than 90 Mt (100 million st) of coal have been shipped from the mine's facilities to electric generating plants across the country. It is thought to be the largest amount ever produced in US history from a single coal mine. The railroad is Belle Ayr's lifeline for moving this massive volume from a relatively isolated corner of northeastern Wyoming. There are no waterways for barge traffic, and highway truck hauling would be impractical considering the quantity and distance of coal to be moved. Transportation in the Powder River Basin-at least for the present-is strictly unit trains. An average of four unit trains daily load at Belle Ayr. These trains average 108 cars long, with a capacity of 91 t (100 st) per car. Burlington Northern Railroad serves the Powder River Basin, but locomotives supplied by Union Pacific, Milwaukee Road, and Kansas City Southern are a common site as well, since coal will often travel these lines too on its way to utility plants in Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Oregon. When Belle Ayr opened transportation in the Powder River Basin was in an early development stage. As the first large-scale coal shipper in the area, Belle Ayr was the only user of a 27-km (17-mile) railroad spur south of Gillette. Other mines, however, were to open soon on the abundant, low-sulfur reserves. Today, less than a decade after Belle Ayr's debut, 13 large-capacity mines operate near Gillette. The 27-km (17-mile) spur that once served only Belle Ayr has been extended 177 km (110 miles) south to service other mines as well, and to tie into a major rail line in central Wyoming. The Powder River Basin is now served by a wishbone-shaped track configuration that allows train movement north into Montana, south into Colorado, and east into Nebraska for connections across the country. Operations at Belle Ayr are closely tied to train arrivals and departures, with coordination essential between mine operations and rail personnel. "Train movement in the Powder River Basin has evolved to the point where we are fine-tuning mining operations to coordinate them with a more dependable transportation system," according to Joe Jefferson, transportation supervisor with Amax Coal's western division. That, however, hasn't always

Jan 10, 1982

By N A. S Webster

The reaction sequences involved in the formation of iron ore sinter phases were determined using in situ synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction. Experiments were carried out using a synthetic sinter mixture containing 77.36 per cent Fe2O314.08 per cent CaO, 3.56 per cent Si.O2 and 5.00 per cent Al2O3 corresponding to a basicity of ~4. The alumina content represents the upper level of alumina concentrations measured in phases formed in industrially produced plant sinter. Data were collected during heating of the sample to 1350°C under an atmosphere of 0.5 per cent O2 in N2, equivalent to an oxygen partial pressure of 5 × 10-3 atm. This temperature was sufficientto ensure melting. Data were also collected on cooling of the sample back to room temperature to examine recrystallisation of phases from the melt.Results showed the sequence of reactions initially involved the formation of calcium ferrite phases C2F and CF. These subsequently reacted with the silica and haematite leading to the solid state formation of SFCA and SFCA-1. SFCA and SFCA-1 were the last phases to form in the system and were both stable up to ~1260°C. Above ~1260°C, melting of the SFCA phases and reduction of the remaining haematite occurred producing the assemblage magnetite + melt.During cooling, both SFCA phase types recrystallised from the melt initially coexisting with magnetite until secondary haematite formed. This is the fi rst study to demonstrate that both SFCA and SFCA-1 are precipitated from the melt during cooling of iron ore sinter. Future work will extend the range of compositions studied to examine the effect of basicity and alumina concentration on the phase assemblages as a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressure.

Jul 11, 2011

By B. Derin, T. Uzunoglu, O. Yücel

In this study, reduction behaviours of Turkish chromite concentrate (48 % Cr2O3, 13.30 % FeO, 18.33 % MgO, 12.37 % Al2O3, 5.76 % SiO2) and nickel oxide by Fe-C alloy in graphite crucible were investigated. In the first stage of experiments, steel scraps were melted in graphite crucibles and were saturated with carbon at 1600 °C and 30 min. In the second stage, mixtures of different amount of chromite concentrate, nickel oxide and flux additives (CaO,SiO2 and CaF2) were charged into the graphite crucible containing the Fe-C alloy and heated to 1600 °C for different reduction times (0-180 min) under argon gas. The highest Cr and Ni con-tents in alloys were found as 11.41 and 14.37 % and the highest Cr and Ni recoveries were found as 88 and94 %, respectively at 180 min.

Jan 1, 2007

By Robert A. Gault, T. Scott Ercit, Mehmet F. Taner

"Abstract -Vanadium mineralization occurs in oxide-rich horizons within the layered gabbro zones of the upper parts of the Bell River Complex, Matagami, Québec and the Lac Doré Complex, Chibougamau, Québec. The vanadium-rich horizons are well defined on the ground and in aeromagnetic surveys by their high magnetic susceptibility; consequently, magnetic susceptibility can be an indicator of vanadium mineralization. The main oxide minerals are ilmenite and titanian magnetite, containing 20% to 70% of volume and the ratio of titanian magnetite to ilmenite is relatively constant, ranging from about 1:1 to 2:1. Their sizes are less than 5 µm to greater than 1 mm to 2 mm, occurring as coarse- to medium-grained subhedral crystals intergrown with cumulate silicate minerals (plagioclase, pyroxene, etc.). Electron microprobe analyses indicate that the ilmenite grains are mineralogically and compositionally homogeneous and have low V contents (average 0.18% equivalent V2O5). In contrast, the titanian magnetite grains are inhomogeneous, consisting of trellisworks of ilmenite lamellae in Ti-poor, V-rich magnetite [less than 2 wt% TiO2, and 1.41% equiv. V2O5 (1.16% V2O3) for 20 analyses]. Thus, the magnetite is the principal ore mineral of vanadium; it hosts vanadium in the form of V3+, not V5+, as is commonly and erroneously reported. We have also devised a flowchart for the beneficiation of vanadium-titanium ores. Sommaire - La minéralisation de vanadium se trouve dans des horizons riches en minéraux oxydés de la partie supérieure des zones de gabbros lités des Complexes de la Rivière Bell, Matagami, Québec et du Lac Doré, Chibougamau, Québec. Des horizons riches en vanadium ont été bien définis sur le terrain et dans les levés aéromagnétiques par leur susceptibilité magnétique élevée; conséquemment, la susceptibilité magnétique est l’indicateur directe du contenu en vanadium. Les principaux minéraux oxydés sont l’ilménite et la magnétite titanifère, contenant 20% à 70% du volume et le rapport de magnétite titanifère à ilménite est relativement constant, allant d’environ 1:1 à 2:1. Leur dimension varie de 5 µm à plus grande que 1 mm à 2 mm, apparaissant sous forme de cristaux subidiomorphes, de grains grossiers à médiums, intercroissant avec la gangue silicatée (plagioclase, pyroxène, etc.) de la texture de cumulat. Les analyses à la microsonde électronique montrent que les grains d’ilménite sont minéralogiquement et chimiquement homogènes avec un faible contenu en V (moyenne 0.18% équiv. V2O5 ). Contrairement, les grains de magnétite titanifère sont hétérogènes, contenant des lamelles d’ilménite en "trellisworks"; ces grains sont pauvres en Ti et riches en V pour la portion magnétite de la magnétite titanifère [surtout contenant moins de 2 wt. % TiO2, et en moyenne 1.41% équiv. (1.16% V2O3) pour 20 analyses]. Ainsi, la magnétite est le principal minerai de vanadium; elle renferme du vanadium sous forme de V3+ et non de V5+, tel qu’il a été communément et à tort rapporté. Nous avons aussi défini un "flowchart" pour la bénéficiation des minerais de vanadium-titanium."

Jan 1, 1998

By H. Sevim

Mining engineering curriculum has been discussed and debated in meetings and conferences, and opinions and recommendations have been published in the literature since the inception of the official degree-granting mining engineering program at the Columbia School of Mines in 1864. The deliberations have usually been heightened during the periods of boom-and-bust cycles experienced by the mining industry since the 1920s. Currently, the global natural resource industry is undergoing another cycle, called ?super cycle,? characterized by elevated prices for metals and other natural resources. The super cycle is occurring as a result of the large deficit between the global supply and demand for natural resources, due, in large part, to economic expansion and development in countries such as China, India and Brazil. Because of this cycle, there is a shortage of mining engineers in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Jan 1, 2012

By J. W. Spretnak, J. N. Cordea

The gain boundary relaxation in high-purity aluminum, nickel, copper, and silver was studied by means of a low-frequency torsion pendulum. Both internal friction and creep at constant stress tests were conducted. A lognormal distribution in relaxation times was found to account for the relatively wide experimental internal friction peaks and the gradual relaxation behavior during the creep tests. This distribution was separated further into a lognormal distribution of relaxation time constants and a normal distribution in activation energies. A spread of up to ±6 kcal per mole in the activation energies accounted for the major part of the distribution. A "double-peak" internal friction phenomenon was observed in silver. The activation energies in kcal per mole derived from the grain boundary relaxation phenomena are 34.5 for aluminum, 73.5 for nickel, 31.5 for copper, and 41.5 for silver. It was found that the rain boundary relaxation strength in these metals increases with the reported stacking-fault energy. GRAIN boundary relaxation phenomena have been observed in a large number of polycrystalline metals and alloys. Numerous investigations have been conducted to study the structure of the grain boundary through this relaxation process. One of the first investigators was Ke1-4 who observed that the activation energy for grain boundary relaxation in aluminum, a brass, and a iron was about the same as that for volume diffusion. He concluded that the grain boundary behaved as if it were a thin liquid layer with neighboring grains sliding over one another. Leak5 conducted experiments on iron of a higher purity and observed that the grain boundary activation energy is comparable with that of grain boundary diffusion. He suggested that, in metals where this relationship holds, the damping may be caused by a reversible migration of grain boundaries into adjoining grains. Nowick6 has presented an interesting view of inter-facial relaxation with his "sphere of relaxation" model. A relaxed interface is represented as one where the shear stress is greater than the normal value along the edges and zero in the interior of the interface. The region of the stress relaxation is pictured as a sphere surrounding the interface. From his calculations Nowick concluded that the slip along an interface is directly proportional to its length. Therefore, the time of relaxation, T, depends on the size of the relaxation interface. This means that in the Arrhenius relationship, t = TO exp[H/RT], valid for atom movements, the relaxation time T is predicted to be proportional to the grain diameter through the pre-exponential term, TO. Since the internal friction can be given as Q-1 = ?j wt/(1 + w2r2), where ?J is the relaxation strength and w is the angular frequency, an increase in grain size at a constant frequency will shift the peak to a higher temperature. A great deal of work has been done to determine the exact relationship between the internal friction and grain size.1,5,7,8 In metals, the grain boundary peaks are found to be lower and broader than predicted theoretically.' The above model can explain this by a distribution in the size of the interface areas, represented by a distribution in the parameter tO, and an overlap of spheres of relaxation, represented by a distribution in activation energies. Both these phenomena result in an over-all distribution in the relaxation time, which could affect the internal friction peak height, breadth, and also position. This relationship between the experimental data and theoretical calculations appears very promising in the study of interfacial relaxation mechanisms. THEORY A lognormal distribution in t can sometimes be used to adequately describe the spectrum of relaxation times governing an anelastic relaxation. wiechert9 originally suggested such a distribution to explain the elastic after-effect in solids. This choice is particularly applicable to grain boundary relaxation when considering Saltykov's work.'' He found a lognormal distribution in the grain sizes within a metal. Recently Nowick and Berry11 have introduced a log-normal distribution in T into the theoretical internal friction equations. The form of the distribution function is where z = In(r/rm), and Tm is the mean value of t. The parameter ß is a measure of the distribution and is the half-width of the distribution when is l/e of its maximum, IC/(O). Nowick and Berry have described the methods to obtain the parameters Tm, ß, and ?,J from experimental internal friction and creep test data. In the idealized case, where only one relaxation event occurs with one relaxation time, only ?J and T are necessary to completely describe the event, and 0 = 0. For the broader internal friction curves 6 is some positive number greater than zero. The larger the 6, the greater is the half-width of the distribution in In t.

Jan 1, 1967

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 R Bradford, W Gift-Agbey, T Vorster, P Morgan, E Grobler

The Asanko Gold Mine in Ghana started processing ore from the Nkran pit in January 2016 at a production nameplate of 3 Mt/a. The flowsheet is a conventional SAG, ball mill and pebble crusher (SABC) with gravity-gold and carbon-in-leach (CIL) recovery. The nameplate production was comfortably achieved within 3 months, so much so, that it was clear the SABC circuit was capable of processing more than the downstream section of the plant. Consequently, a program of de-bottlenecking was initiated to rectify volumetric capacity constraints. This program was later referred to as ‘Project 5 Million’ (t/a) or P5M. Having completed the de-bottlenecking exercise, it became evident that the SABC circuit could not reach 5 Mt/a solely on hard rock from Nkran. The new challenge was therefore to increase the capacity of the milling circuit through a focused comminution initiative that would address the following: geometallurgical treatment plan; upfront fragmentation requirements; installation of feed and mill monitoring equipment; and integration of a knowledge-based control strategy. This paper takes the reader through the various measures implemented to increase the milling rates and to create a stable/ sustainable control philosophy. As a result of the implementation of advanced mill performance monitoring technology (MillSlicer) and the collaboration between a team of experts in comminution, control and operations, the Asanko Gold Mine process plant feed tonnage has successfully increased from 3 Mt/a to 5 Mt/a.CITATION:Bradford, R, Gift-Agbey, W, Grobler, E, Morgan, P and Vorster, T, 2018. Optimisation of Asanko’s Obotan SABC circuit to achieve ‘Project 5 Million’, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 477–484 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018

By Y. H. Wang

During the last two decades many research projects were conducted to study the load requirements for the powered supported longwall faces (1-6). Significant results had been achieved by these researches. Most of the previous studies were rarely designed to understand the mechanisms of interaction between the supports and the surrounding rock, or to correlate the stress conditions around longwall faces to the mining operations both in time and space. In case of the shield supported faces, the roof-to-floor convergence is very difficult to measure due to the high percentage of roof coverage. The external load on the supports can not be determined from the leg pressure data alone due to the existence of the lemniscate links. Therefore, there is a real need in that a simple engineering method be developed to monitor the variations of roof load on the shield supports, the roof-to-floor convergence and the roof stress restoration in the gob area as the mining proceeds. Only with the results of these measurements, a further understanding about the mechanisms of interaction between the supports and the surrounding rock can be achieved and a criterion of designing or selecting the optimum mechanical parameters of the shield supports can finally be developed.

Jan 1, 1986

By Mala Nath, Atjit Mallick, Asheesh Kumar

"The present research work is aimed to focus on the development of chemically stable light weight microporous carbonaceous material, such as activated charcoal incorporated either with titanium n-butoxide, titanium diisopropoxide bis(2,4-pentanedionate), vanadium 2,4-pentane-dionate or zinc 2,4-pentanedionate having varying wt% of the metal (2-8%) using ethanol as solvent at 40--50 oC followed by calcinations at 100, 150 and 200 cC, except the samples with titanium diisopropoxide bis(2,4-pentanedionate) which are calcinated at 80 oC. Atomic absorption studies along with FESEM revealed that the maximum incorporation of metals (Zn, V and Ti) in activated charcoal was observed with 4 wt% of zinc 2,4-pentanedionate calcinated at 150 oC , 4 wt% of vanadium 2,4-pentanedionate at 100 oC, 2 wt% of titanium n-butoxide at 100 oC and 2 wt% of titanium diisopropoxide bis(2,4-pentanedionate) at 80 oC, and equilibration time of 20-24 h was used in each case. Hydrogen sorption behavior in these carbonaceous materials has also been studied at 77.4 K and low pressure up to I bar. The highest hydrogen uptake obtained was 1.45 wt% (164.5 cm3 (STP)/g at P/Po = 1.0) for activated charcoal incorporated with 4 wt% of zinc 2,4-pentanedionate calcinated at 150 oC.IntroductionTwo of the major challenges for humanity in the next twenty years are the shrinking availability of fossil fuels, the global warming and potential climate changes that result from their ever-increasing use. So it is necessary to fmd an energy source that is convenient, flexible and controllable. One possible solution to these problems is to use an energy carrier such as hydrogen, and ways to produce and store hydrogen in electric power plants and vehicles. Hydrogen storage is the bottleneck for the breakthrough of hydrogen as energy carrier in automotive applications [1]."

Jan 1, 2012