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By Tim Watson

Andacollo Hypogene Project ?Overview Project description: Sulphide copper concentrator Throughput:55,000 tpd Location: Approximately 50 km from La Serena Elevation: Approximately 1,000 m ASL Start feasibility study: July 2005 Start of construction: May 2007 Construction completion: December 2009 Final cost(1,2,3):435 Million US $ (1) Excludes third party costs, 220 kV power line (2) Cost is based on a Chilean Peso to US Dollar foreign exchange rate of 535 to 1 (3) Does not include US$40.3 million for the Elqui River Pipeline Project or US$8.0 million for the stock pile cover

May 1, 2010

By G. W. Poling, G. W. Hawthorn

"""Unassayable gold and platinum group metals"" have come into vogue in the 70sand 80s in certain jurisdictions as a means of perpetrating fraud. Usual arguments are that a particular ore is not amenable to ""conventional fire assaying"". Explanations for unassayable gold usually revolve around: evaporation of micron-size gold; vaporization of organic gold complexes; volatization of gold halides; alloying of gold with PGM's which prevents fusion or alloying which prevents collection .This paper reviews several of the myths and truths of gold and PGM assaying with the knowledge that not a single mine operatesin thefree world producing gold from unassayable ore.INTRODUCTIONAccurate analyses of exploration data and estimation of ore reserves are two of the most important functions of professional geologists and engineers in mine development. The problems encountered become particularly acute when dealing with precious metal values where very low grade deposits (in the range of 0.0 I Troy oz per ton or - 0.2 ppm (g/t) by weight) sometimes are economic or constitute ""ore"". To emphasize this ""scarcity effect"", a gold assay of 0.4 g/t (0.01 T oz/st) would result from the presence of a single 420 J.tm (35 mesh) gold flake (which weighs I milligram) in a 5 kilogram siliceous sample.The current high gold price and the prospects of high profit margins awaiting exploitation of even very low grade gold deposits, has spawned a sizeable group of incompetent or fraudulent gold assayers. These ""assayers"" will often report significant precious metal values where no such values occur. Failures of legitimate assay labs to confirm these ""significant"" assays are often attributed, by the charlatan, to their capability of detecting ""unassayable gold"" while the check assayer cannot. Geologists and engineers lacking detailed knowledge of sampling and assaying techniques are often hard-pressed to convince a gold-fever aroused company executive or investor-client to abandon a property on which attention-grabbling values have been reported, often by more than one laboratory. Professionals engaged in such evaluations must acquire an understanding of contemporary precious metal sampling and assaying techniques . Only then can they determine whether misrepresentation of values have been perpetrated"

Jan 1, 1989

By M. Lytle

"The Corbin area of southeastern British Columbia has been a coal mining area since 1908. Byron Creek Collieries Ltd. Has operated its Coal Mountain Mine in this area from 1974 until the present. In February 1981, this company was purchased by Esso Resources Canada Ltd.Coal Mountain is structurally complex and standard computer algorithms are not applicable to model the overturned synclinal structures and faulted bedding surfaces. This paper discusses two approaches used by Esso Resources staff to model the geology of Coal Mountain.The first approach projects digitized cross-section data along trend to develop a large data base which correctly approximates the shape of the structure. The spatial orientation of the structure is corrected by merging the generated data set with drill-hole data. The second approach uses digitized cross-section and bench-plan geology to generate a block model of the coal reserve.HistoryThe Coal Mountain Mine, also known as the Corbin Mine of Byron Creek Collieries Ltd. is located 24 kilometres south of Highway 3 in southeastern B.C.In 1905, two American businessmen recognized the coal potential of the area during a horseback tour. The two businessmen, D.C. Corbin and E.J. Roberts, formed the Corbin Coal and Coke Co. to mine and market coal from their newly acquired 6075 hectares of coal licenses. By 1908, the town of Corbin was under construction, a 22.4-km rail spur was constructed from the mine to the main CPR line and the first underground mine began to produce coal. An open-pit operation was also developed at the 1828-metre elevation using a steam shovel loading into rail cars. The company operated continuously until 1935, when a lengthy strike forced suspension of operations.In 1943, the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company Ltd. (now known as Cominco Ltd.) operated two surface mines to produce coal for its smelters at Kimberley and Trail, B.C. This operation ceased in 1948."

Jan 1, 1982

By C. Zangerl, T. Strauhal, S. Perzlmeier, M. Holzmann

"In high mountainous regions, deep-seated rock slides are often observed in foliated metamorphic rocks such as paragneisses, micaschists and phyllites. Given that comprehensive investigations of deepseated rock slides are extraordinary costly and therefore are rare, most studies are related to investigations in the surroundings of infrastructures and human settlements. In the framework of this study there is an excellent opportunity to gain new insights in the fundamental processes and mechanisms of slowly moving deep-seated rock slides from a case study in the surrounding of a large dam reservoir in Austria. New fundamentals for comprehensive slope stability analyses and hazard assessments and sound prognoses focussing on the long-term stability and deformation behaviour of slopes under changing boundary conditions (e.g. impounding of a reservoir) and/or concepts for mitigation measures can be obtained. Within this contribution, geological field surveys, deformation monitoring, geophysical and drilling data were analysed and presented. Based on the compiled and analysed data, some key-properties of the rock slide will be presented, whereby special attention will be given on the geometry and internal structure, the slope kinematics, as well as hydrogeological and geomechanical aspects.INTRODUCTIONIn high mountainous regions, deep-seated rock slides are often encountered in highly foliated metamorphic rocks such as paragneisses, micaschists and phyllites (Agliardi et al. 2012). Critical situations may occur when deep-seated rock slides fail in a rapid manner characterised by very high sliding velocities, and/or when they develop into long run-out rock avalanches. However, many rock slides in foliated crystalline rock masses either do not move at high velocities nor do they accelerate seriously and form extremely rapid slides. Displacement rates in the range of a few millimetres or centimetres per year are common for this type of rock slide (Bonzanigo et al. 2007, Tentschert 1998, Watson et al. 2007). Nevertheless, some case studies show an activity behaviour characterised by acceleration phases reaching velocities of even metres per day. However a slope collapse is not expected and these slopes decelerate to much lower base activities. The trigger for these phases can be manifold and include heavy rainfall and snow melt, initial reservoir impounding and water level fluctuations, changes in the slope’s equilibrium state due to antecedent slow deformation processes, ongoing erosion processes along the toe of the slope, and others (Zangerl et al. 2010)."

Jan 1, 2015

By P. Espinoza, I. Yutronic, J. Olivares

"Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi's (CMDIC) Concentrator Plant is located at 4300 meters above sea level, approximately 2000 kms north from Santiago, Chile. The concentrator has three grinding lines. Each one, Lines 1 and 2, have one SAG mill at the primary grinding stage followed by a secondary grinding and classification stage consisting of one ball mill, two hydrocyclone batteries and a sump with two pumps. Line 3 has one SAG mill (Gearless Mill Drive), followed by a secondary grinding and classification consisting two ball mills, four hydrocyclone batteries and a sump with four pumps. Average throughput for these three lines is 150 Ktons per day. Peak values of 180 ktons per day have been achieved.Since late 2008 and throughout 2009 and 2010, Operations and Automation areas developed an optimization program for the grinding process, considering the implementation of Model Predictive Controllers (MPC) for the three SAG mills, and later, extending MPC to the secondary grinding and classification stages. The implementation of a MPC solution was based on stability considerations (high variability of the SAG process, high interaction between sump level control and classification efficiency, etc), requirements for an automated and consistent operation, the need to maximize throughput under timevarying scenarios and, in the long term, optimization of grinding process considering Specific Energy Consumption, among other parameters. MPC solutions had proven control robustness and strong optimizing capabilities in terms of helping in discovering new operational points and so achieving all of the aforementioned goals.On the first stage of the program, MPC implementation considered identification of dynamical process control models based mainly on historical data, in order to know the impact of a group of Manipulated Variables over Controlled Variables. Also, the impact of measured Disturbance Variables was modeled in order to take into account the high impact and interaction of these variables over the processes. At the end of this stage, 4 controllers were successfully operating for the 3 SAG mills and the secondary grinding and classification process. In response to challenges made by the working group, the second stage of the development of control applications in the grinding process required to achieve a design and implementation of a solution capable of governing the milling process, in addition to stabilization and optimization of both processes (SAG milling and secondary grinding), to integrate from a point of view of process control and automation. Therefore, in the second stage, MPC performance was continuously monitored and optimized through advanced tuning, inclusion of more process models (with proper step tests), redefinition of specific optimization criteria and adjustment to new process needs.Finally, successful MPC implementation at Collahuasi has proved that fast development and deployment of process control solutions is possible and allows immediate process stability, higher throughput, specific energy consumption reduction, and successful product size control, among many others."

Jan 1, 2012

By Osamu Inoue, Takashi Yamashita, Takashi Ikemoto

The expansion project in Naoshima smelter and refinery to meet enhancing recycling business of E-scrap was successfully completed in 2016 to have a capacity of 110,000 tpa of E-scrap treatment. Increasing treatment of E-scrap has raised the Ni content of copper anode to 4000 ppm on average, which is double the level of 10 years ago, and to 6000 ppm or more occasionally. The tank house has refined such copper anode to copper cathode with starter sheets. Since most Ni in Copper anode dissolves in copper electrolyte, the Ni content of the electrolyte has increased to 27 g/L and more. Ni accumulated in the electrolyte has increased power consumption during the electrolytic refining of copper, although cathode quality has been controlled satisfactory so far. In order to ensure sustainable operation while growing E- scrap business, the NiSO4 process has been expanded recently so as to recover Ni in the electrolyte more and the pressurized-leaching technology will be introduced to the slime leaching process so as to enhance the capacity of slime treatment and to improve Ni recovery in the near future. INTRODUCTION In recent years, the treatment amount of E-scrap at Naoshima smelter and refinery has increased according to the growth of its recycling business as shown in Figure 1, while impurities from E-scrap have concentrated in copper anode as well. Especially, Ni content in anode has been increasing remarkably since 2012, causing to raise Ni content in the electrolyte as shown in Figure 2. The increment of Ni content in copper anode and electrolyte has adversely affected the electrorefining process, slime leaching process, and NiSO4 crystallization process at the tank house. Such severe conditions provided opportunities to redesign the tank house to establish a robust process to which more Ni is acceptable.

Jan 1, 2019

By F. Crundwell, N. Steenekamp

"The leaching of sulphide minerals generates a significant amount of energy. There are three systems that might be used to remove this energy. These are: cooling coils, quench water, and flash recycle. Flash recycle is the recycling of slurry from the autoclave to the feed tank. Heat is removed in this arrangement when the slurry at elevated temperature and pressure is flashed to atmosphere, releasing steam. The slurry is returned to the autoclave at lower temperature, resulting in cooling. The cooling is directly proportional to the steam released from the recycled slurry. Design equations and results for the flash recycle system are presented. A fourth proposal for removing heat is to recycle slurry from the back of the autoclave. These four alternatives not only remove the heat, but also have an effect on the leaching efficiency. Amongst the four alternatives, design calculations indicate that the flash recycle option is the optimal solution in terms of leaching efficiency and heat removal, and recycling product from the back of the autoclave is the worst. In spite of its efficiency in terms of heat removal and leaching, the implementation of the flash recycle system is limited to a few operations in the platinum industry.INTRODUCTIONIn considering ways to improve leaching operations, focus is placed on the chemistry, on the kinetics, the agitation and perhaps even on the gas mass transfer conditions. Attention is less frequently placed on the removal of energy from these reactors and how this might limit performance.The pressure leaching of sulphides releases a significant amount of heat. For example, the reaction for the leaching of chalcocite, Cu2S, given by"

Jan 1, 2012

By G. R. Sadowski

"Large subhorizontal joints have been found in the foundation excavations in basalt and granite of Brazilian Dams. Some spread for hundreds of square meters showed slickensides—polished surfaces plus striations—and laminations interpreted as related to shear displacement, what substantially reduced their shear strength and imposed special reinforcement measures against the potential sliding of overlying concrete structures. The geological characteristics of these discontinuities have raised speculations related to their origin, be it related to mechanisms of bulging, cambering or to some tectonic or primary geological event.Several geologists and engineers from the northern hemisphere including Terzaghi already showed to be concerned with their role in granite foundations while in the southern regions Brazilian authors have found similar occurrences but also affecting individual lava flows of continental flood basalts in the foundations of major dams of the Parana Basin, which they designated under the particular name of “fault-joints”. This double-standard designation is self-explanatory of the difficulties involving their origin and related geomechanical properties: faults or just shear joints?Recently, similar features were encountered in the foundations of large dam constructions in anorogenic granites inserted in the realm of the Brazilian Amazon, where some of these discontinuities exhibit features common to tectonic thrusting combined with deep tropical weathering.The evidence of preshearing along the surfaces of such fractures, also associated to products of deep weathering, reduces their geomechanical strength substantially, suggesting values of ultimate phi spanning 12 to 28°. The detection of these descontinuities during initial investigation phases continues to be a major complex task in geological risk evaluations surveys. Trenching associated to some geophysical exploration techniques, although considered to be very basic exploration techniques are still the suggested methods for their forecast and previous determination."

Jan 1, 2015

By Li. L.

Backfilling has become a popular solution in underground mines around the world. It reduces environmental impact of mining industry and improves ground stability. In most cases, backfill has a high water content so that it can be delivered by pipes from a backfill plant on ground surface to underground stopes. Upon deposition in the stope, the backfill tends to consolidate under its own weight, leading to a generation of excess pore-water pressure. To avoid excessive pressure and protect the backfill barricade installed at the base of the stope, the backfilling of the stopes is usually divided into two stages: plug pour and backfill body pour. The interruption of backfilling operation is undesirable as it slowdowns the mining productivity, and sometimes causes pipe clogging, leading to unexpected increase in manpower cost and further reduction in mining productivity. The backfilling interruption time may be reduced, even eliminated if the drainage of backfilled stopes is sufficiently improved. This paper presents an application of wick drains, a material commonly used in civil engineering, to mine backfilled stopes to help accelerating the drainage. A protocol is proposed for installing the wick drains in a mine stope to be backfilled. Numerical simulations were made, showing that the drainage of the backfill can significantly be improved by the introduction of wick drains. The application of wick drains in mine backfill can thus be considered as a promising technique and merits deeper and more detailed investigation.

Aug 1, 2013

By M. Yao, D. Thibodeau

"Selective mining, such as post pillar cut and fill, is used in large, flat, irregularly shaped ore bodies where ground stability is to be maintained. This selective mining is used to open the stope to the full lateral extent of the ore body in order to minimize the dilution and maximise the recovery. For increased mining depth, design of the post pillar becomes more challenging since those pillars will eventually fail as mining progresses upwards. The post pillar should be designed such that failure does not occur at the early mining stage, such as at the first cut. After mining progresses upwards, the post pillars are expected to fail but be confined by backfill. In order to maximise ore recovery, both drift width and post pillar size must be designed adequately with a consideration of all geomechanic parameters. This paper will describe the process used to design post-pillar cut and fill for one of the ore bodies in Vale’s Copper Cliff Mine using a combination of both empirical deterministic and numerical modelling techniques. By utilizing both empirical deterministic and numerical modelling techniques drift width and post pillar size can be effectively designed. Current post pillar cut and fill design in the existing Vale operations are used to validate the design for Copper Cliff Mine. INTRODUCTIONCopper Cliff Mine is located within the Copper Cliff Offset in the limits of City of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, as shown in Figure 1. The Copper Cliff Offset extends about eight kilometres south from the Sudbury Igneous Complex into the footwall rocks. Until 2008, the current Copper Cliff Mine was operated as two separate mines i.e. North Mine and South Mine. However, as part of restructuring of Vale Ontario Operations, the North and South Mines were merged in 2009 to form the “Copper Cliff Mine”."

Jan 1, 2015

By \/eena Sahajwalla, Jonathan Dicker, Paul O'Kane, Cath Skidmore, James Dankwah, Magdalena Zaharia, Rita Khanna, David Knights, N Saha-Chaudhury, Somyote Kongkarat

Due to the inherent limitations of current methods of disposal of end of life polymeric materials, avenues are researched towards developing alternative, environmentally friendly and economic recycling processes. Different polymeric materials (i.e. rubber, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene therephtalate (PET)), quite distinct in terms of chemical structure and composition, were considered in the present study as carbon resources in EAF steelmaking. Investigations were conducted in both laboratory and industrial scale steelmaking to assess the effectiveness of using these materials as carbon sources for slag foaming in EAF steelmaking. Slag foaming is important because it enhances furnace efficiency.

Jan 1, 2011

By David A. Fawcett

"This paper presents a summary compilation of current Canadian coal research projects in the areas of exploration, mining and preparation. The compilation forms the basis for a review of present operations and technology, and of current research efforts. General research areas, requirements and priorities are suggested along with a discussion on achieving the research goals in terms of funds, facilities and staff. The current level of research funding in these areas is assessed. IntroductionCanada's coal production is expected to undergo major expansion over the next two decades in response to domestic demands on coal for electrical power generation, industrial uses and conversion to synthetic .fuels, and in response to export demands for both thermal and metallurgical coal s. Surface mining will continue to dominate, but underground mining will contribute an increasing proportion to total production.In Canada, coal research, particularly in the areas of exploration, mining and preparation (E, M & P), has been limited. Increased impetus has recently been given to this research with expansion of CANMET's activities and with the establishment of the Coal Mining Research Centre (CMRC). University researchers are branching into coal research; strata mechanics and preparation are popular in mining-related fields.With the increase in number of organizations and individuals involved in coal research, a means of keeping abreast of the ongoing work is necessary. An annual summary of the status of and developments in current research assists in providing this information. The CMRC prepared such a summary for Canadian coal E, M & P research in 1979 and it received favourable response, justifying the effort. A 1980compilation has been prepared and pro vides the basis for this paper; it is presented with a brief discussion on background, format and content.The compilation forms a basis for an examination of the current status of Canadian technology in E, M & P and of the ongoing research in each area. General research requirements are reviewed and programs and tasks are suggested, followed by a discussion of research goals in term s of priorities and achievement. An assessment is made of the level of research funding in Canada, with comparisons drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia."

Jan 1, 1980

By Vern Evans

Saskatchewan has historically been recognized for farming, but in 1943 while drilling for oil, potash was discovered. The initial attempt to gain access to the potash beds was unsuccessful, however, subsequent attempts were successful and today there are ten operating potash mines in Saskatchewan. In this paper we will provide a brief overview of the historical and current Potash industry in Saskatchewan.

May 1, 2011

By Jennifer Pakula

Productivity improvements in underground mining are becoming harder to find. Most mines quickly identify deficiencies in their processes and then struggle to make productivity gains beyond that plateau. One way to increase productivity in this situation is to modify existing methods of operation. Vale?s Stobie Mine has been in operation since the late 1800?s employing a variety of mining methods. Many mining advances have been incorporated over time. With the advent of mechanized rubber tired equipment, sublevel cave mining was introduced to allow economic extraction of a large low grade area. Additional productivity gains were seen in the sublevel cave area with the introduction of preloading production drill holes. In preloading, the holes are loaded with bulk emulsion ahead of the production cycle and then primed for blasting as needed. The introduction of preloading, although giving the Stobie sublevel cave process an overall productivity gain, saw an increase in oversize due to the collar priming technique employed. Handling oversize material prohibited the operators from handling additional units of optimally sized material. Prepriming, adding detonators at the toe and midcolumn of the production holes during the preloading process, was identified as a change that could reduce the formation of oversize. This paper describes the introduction of prepriming to the sublevel cave mining method and focuses on the process Stobie employees followed to ensure a safe transition to this productivity improvement.

Nov 1, 2011

By J. T. Kalala

Particles for heap leaching in conventional circuits are prepared using Cone crushers. Cone crushers are used to crush the ore to the size range between 12-25 mm for heap leaching operations. Leaching from these relatively coarse particles occurs only at the surface and in subsurface regions, which are accessible from the surface by cracks and pores. Since leaching is active in accessible areas, the method of comminution that forms multiple cracks and pores would offer an advantage for heap leach. An investigation was performed in this study to assess if the HPGR forms more cracks and pores than a Cone crusher. X-ray computed tomography (CT) was used to characterize the degree of cracks and pores formed by these two comminution devices that can be used for heap leaching feed preparation. In order to compare the effect of the comminution method on crack network generation, a bulk sample of the zinc ore was crushed by the HPGR at three different pressure settings (45, 95 and 120 bar), the sample ore was also crushed with a Cone crusher for comparison purposes. Products from the Cone crusher and HPGR experiment were then screened into five size fractions ((-25 +19), (-19+16), (-16+9.5), (-9.5+5), (-5+4.75) mm), Subsamples from the ((-25 +19), (-16+9.5), (-5+4.75) mm) size fractions were analysed. The spatial distribution of the crack network of sphalerite particles was characterized using a highresolution industrial X-ray CT system. This paper describes the use of image analysis techniques including image segmentation, which uses a combination of thresholding and other methods to characterize and quantify crack and mineral dissemination in the sphalerite particles after comminution with the HPGR and Cone crusher. The results are validated with those obtained using traditional techniques such as physical gas (with N2) adsorption, mercury intrusion porosimetry, SEM and QEMSCAN.

Jan 1, 2012

By B. Kruger

The Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb Smelter has evolved over the last decade to meet the challenges and opportunities brought about by a changing copper concentrate market, technological advances, environmental legislation as well as social and political changes. The paper discusses some of the challenges, successes and lessons learnt through the expansion and modernization of its smelter complex. It considers the details and impact of the transition from slag granulation to that of slag slow cooling as well as the improvement program that was implemented to more than double the refractory campaign life of the Ausmelt furnace from around 6–9 months to 15–18 months. In addition, given the evolving world we live in, it considers the challenges that the smelter faces today, not the least of it being how to remain relevant in an age of digital and other 4th Industrial Revolution disruptions. INTRODUCTION Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb (DPMT) Smelter is located just outside the town of Tsumeb, in the Oshikoto region of Namibia. It is the largest town in the region with a population of approximately 45,000. The smelter was built in the early 1960s to treat concentrate from the nearby Tsumeb copper mines. Construction of the site was completed in 1962 and the smelter was officially commissioned in 1963 by Tsumeb Corporation Limited (TCL). At the time the smelter consisted of a lead section (including a refinery), a copper section and plants that produced cadmium, sodium antimonite and arsenic trioxide. Production commenced in early 1964, with 3,500 tonnes of copper and 6,000 tonnes of lead being produced per month. TCL was acquired by Gold Fields South Africa in 1988, and a few years later the lead section was shut down due to reduced lead content of the mined ore. In mid-1996, all mining and smelting operations were halted due to labour strikes. Ongopolo Mining and Processing Limited (OMPL) re-opened the mines and the smelter in 2000, only operating the copper section of the smelter. At the end of 2008, all mining operations were halted by the new owner of OMPL, Weatherly Mining International, while the smelter continued to operate. The closure of the Weatherly owned mines in Namibia, the primary feed source to the Tsumeb Smelter, meant that the smelter had to transition its business model from operating as a ‘captive smelter’ to that of a ‘toll smelter’. Its Ausmelt Top Submerged Lance (TSL) smelting technology and various ancillary plants made it especially suitable for accepting and treating complex concentrates that were available on the global market.

Jan 1, 2019

By Bian Xue, Wu Wenyuan

In order to recycle the iron and rare earth from the Baotou tailings, a roasting method was developed involving the addition of C, Ca(OH)2, and NaOH, designed to both decompose the rare earth minerals and convert haematite into magnetite and allow its recovery. The effect of various parameters such as roasting temperature, roasting time, C addition, Ca(OH)2 addition, and NaOH addition on the reduction ratio of haematite (iron sesquioxide) and decomposition ratio of rare earth were investigated. The results showed that the reduction ratio of haematite and the decomposition ratio of rare earth could be as high as 85% and 95% respectively when the roasting temperature was 650°C, roasting time was 60 min, Ca(OH)2 addition was 4%, NaOH addition was 3%, and C addition was 1.5%.

Jan 1, 2014

By K. A. Hildebrant, J. R. Norgate

"Synthetic lubricants have for many years documented extended service life and provided superior performance in temperature extremes. Increasing interest in synthetics' ability to reduce energy costs has resulted in laboratory and industry application evaluations. These tests have documented savings in functions such as worm gear drives, spur gears and in compressors. Energy savings data are presented as well as payback calculations as low as thirty days.The National Research Council of Canada has estimated that the Canadian economy loses over five billion dollars per year in friction and wear. Figures quoted were for 1986 during which it was estimated that nine hundred and forty million dollars were lost in the mining industry alone"" It has been further estimated that about 115 million dollars can be immediately recovered through improved tribology practices (Table I).The purpose of this paper is to present results and savings opportunities through the use of synthetic lubricants in various but common applications. Many other areas exist with the opportunity for energy savings such as in the use of more efficient drive equipment, reduced contact seals, spray mist lubrication systems and reduced friction coatings on rotating equipment such as pump impellers"

Jan 1, 1994

By Hong Zhong, Shuai Wang, Gang Zhao, Lanqing Deng, Guangyi Liu

In this paper, three novel surfactants containing double reactive centers(-CONHOH and –CONH-), double hydrophobic groups were designed and synthesized as collector for separation of diaspore and aluminosilicate minerals, such as N-(4-(hydroxyamino)-4-oxobutyl)octanamide (HA-8), N-(4-(hydroxyamino)-4-oxobutyl)decanamide (HA-10) and N-(4-(hydroxyamino)- 4-oxobutyl) -dodecanamide (HA-12). The adsorption mechanism of N-(4-(hydroxyamino) -4-oxobutyl)alkylamides (HA) onto diaspore was also investigated by FTIR spectra, zeta potential measurement and DFT. The flotation results demonstrated that three collectors all exhibited superior collecting power to diaspore and selectivity against kaolinite and illite, and could effectively realize flotation recovery of diaspore from bauxite ores contained aluminosilicate minerals under neutral conditions. Moreover, HA-12 was a superior collector than other two collectors for bauxite separation. The results of XPS, FTIR spectra and zeta potential illustrated that at around pH 6.0, HA might chemisorb on diaspore surfaces through Al-O coordination bonds formed by binding its –C(=O)NHOH or –C(=O)NH– chelate groups with aluminum atoms on diaspore surfaces. HA’s unique properties, such as characteristic bond patterns onto diaspore surfaces, double hydrophobic groups, and intermolecular hydrogen bonds between neighboring HA molecules coated on diaspore surfaces, rendered it to be a superior flotation collector for diaspore.

Jan 1, 2016

By M. Gimpel, R. Galler, T. Antretter, H. Kargl, R. Tichy, W. Ecker, M. J. Mikl-Resch, G. Pittino

"A computational method based on a continuum-mechanical approach to simulate rock cutting is developed and evaluated. The aim is to obtain the local loading acting at the cutting pick during operation. The explicit FEM is chosen to model the pick-rock interaction. The presented method takes advantage of (i) an advanced material model (ii) a robust contact algorithm and (iii) fast calculations due to parallelization. A damage-plasticity law is chosen and modified with user-subroutines. A user integrated element deletion routine evades critical mesh distortions. Infinite elements at the model boundaries avoid unrealistic deformation wave reflection.INTRODUCTIONExcavation in mining and tunneling is a costly and complex process. Special equipment such as the roadheader (Figure 1) is employed to cut the rock in the excavation process but high material strengths limit their usability (Tockner 1999). Nowadays a challenge is to extend their field of application to harder and more abrasive rock materials. The forces on the pick (Figure 2) are of great importance and determine wear and especially the efficiency of the machine. Figure 2 shows the principle of cutting and the predominant forces. The variation of pick geometry, cutting depth or attack angle will result in an alteration of these forces and determine the efficiency of the process (Tockner 1999). The mechanisms of rock cutting follow the principle of indentation (Kou et al. 1999). Directly under the indenter a hydrostatic stress state evolves causing the material to fail only due to crushing and fragmentation mechanisms. In the close surroundings large strains emerge and tensile cracks are formed but in a further distance the material behaves elastically."

Jan 1, 2015