Search Documents

By G. Davis

It is well known that anticipated mineral prices can have an overwhelming effect on a property's expected value. However, price movements throughout the life of a project also affect value. Thus, it is necessary to not only estimate the expected commodity price at the start of a project but also the manner in which that price is likely to fluctuate throughout the project's life. This paper provides a simple method of incorporating mineral price movements into mineral project valuations.

Jan 1, 1997

By W. A. Rickelton, A. J. Robertson

The ability of triisobutylphosphine sulfides to selectively recover silver from acidic sulfate solutions containing zinc and copper is described. Selectivity is explained in terms of the concept of hard and son Lewis acids and bases. Silver is stripped from the solvent using a novel strip feed (thiosulfate salt), and the recovery of metallic silver from the strip liquor by electrolysis or cementation is suggested. The high selectivity of extraction for silver and the utility of the stripping reagent are demonstrated in continuous, countercurrent, mini-plant tests. Important reagent properties, such as hydrolytic stability and low aqueous solubility, are discussed.

Jan 1, 1988

By G. D. Hood, B. E. Davis

A fundamental study of the mechanisms involved in the conditioning of coarse Florida phosphate has led to some interesting discoveries. Studies by the US Bureau of Mines have shown that conditioning time and mixing intensity greatly affect the grades and recoveries of the phosphate minerals and quartz in the rougher concentrate. In particular, as the conditioning time or mixing intensity increased, the phosphate recovery remained constant while the amount of quartz floated decreased. This phenomenon is contrary to conventional wisdom and could lead to a more efficient coarse flotation circuit.

Jan 1, 1995

By L. D. Gehi, A. W. Khair, M. Ahmad

This paper presents an analysis of the effect of the dynamics of bit wear on dust generation. Two surveys have been conducted in order to assess the mechanism and type of bit wear and to evaluate the impact of bit wear on the productivity of the continuous miners. Used bits were collected from the underground coal mines and these used bits were utilized in laboratory coal cutting. The effect of bit wear on dust generation has been quantified and its impacted on dust generation and ventilation system has been exemplified.

Jan 1, 1993

By A. K. Bakshi

In cold regions, rinsing of spent cyanide from leach heaps is stopped during winter and is resumed again after the snow melts. The effect of this idle time on the overall removal process was studied in this experiment. Samples were collected for rinsing tests from one heap at a gold mine near Fairbanks, Alaska. Continuous and interrupted rinsing of this sample were carried out in test columns. The rinse solution was analyzed at regular intervals to determine the rate of cyanide removal from the solids. It was found that total cyanide concentration per rinse cycle for interrupted rinsing test was higher than for the corresponding continuous rinsing test. As a result, interrupted rinsing required less rinsing cycles than continuous rinsing.

Jan 1, 1995

By V. Saltas

The present work investigates whether dielectric spectroscopy can be used to detect contamination, which may appear in a natural porous material, due to the spreading of pollution. For this purpose, dielectric and conductivity measurements, in the frequency range of 10mHz to 1MHz, were carried out in sandstone samples, partially filled or saturated with solutions of leachates, at different concentrations. The experimental results suggest that although the role of water is dominant to the measured electrical conductivity, variations of two orders of magnitude are observed due to the different concentrations of leachates, in partially filled sandstone samples. Experimental data are well fitted with a Havriliak?Negami dielectric relaxation function, superimposed with a conductivity term. The parameters of the fitting function have been correlated to the concentration of leachate in the sandstone samples and considerable changes have been observed at low leachate?s concentration.

Jan 1, 2005

By N. T. Rempe

The underground voids that result from mining provide opportunities for deep geologic waste disposal (DGWD). Such disposal could solve many environmental problems. DGWD takes careful planning, technology transfer and true partnership between waste generators and mine/repository operators. The US government is now planning on using specially mined excavations to dispose of radiotoxic and mixed waste. Using the experience gained from the domestic projects that are now in preparation and from foreign repositories that are now in operation, US mines can claim their rightful share of the growing market for DGWD.

Jan 1, 1997

By M. Kavvadas

Geotechnical design using Factors of Safety recommended by Codes of Practice is based on largely unknown ?margins of safety?, usually without consideration for the importance of the project (i.e., potential consequences of failure) directly or explicitly. On the contrary, probabilistic modelling can be a useful tool in risk management as it provides the means to measure the risk to be managed. This is achieved by calculating the probability of failure associated with a specific design, i.e., by relating the classical factors of safety with the corresponding probability of failure and by using a cost optimization procedure to achieve ?optimal? designs, accounting for the expected costs in case of catastrophic failure. This paper describes the methods used to calculate the probability of failure and its correlation with the classical Factor of Safety using sampling techniques and a simplified method based on the moments of the factor of safety considered as a random variable. These procedures are illustrated in an example which investigates the stability of a slope.

Jan 1, 2005

By R. J. Matetic, Peter G. Kovalchik, Jeffrey Shawn Peterson

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has initiated a study of a roof bolter to reduce noise exposure to mine roof bolter operators. An important segment of this research entails determining the affect of various drilling configurations on the performance (penetration rate) and sound power emissions when drilling into granite. Test conditions included various combinations of rotational speeds and thrusts; hex and round drill steels of one inch (1.) and one and three-eighths inch (1 3/8.) diameters; vacuum and wet conditions; and using drill media of differing compressive strengths. This paper will detail the affects of each of these on the performance and sound power level emission. When drilling into granite, it was found that wet drilling generated lower sound power levels and performed better than vacuum drilling.

Jan 1, 2005

By M. C. Manderson

While the United States has been the world's largest volume producer and marketer of phosphatic fertilizers for many years, it has recently suffered heavy losses for a variety of reasons. While improved economic performance is expected, it is still at least a year or two away. But when recovery does manifest itself, it will likely yield only mediocre profits, due in part to the fact that about 50 percent of output is export-dependent. Therefore, there appears to be limited likelihood that profits will be adequate to justify the further outlay of large amounts of capital for expansion.

Jan 1, 1986

By Pieter C. van Aswegen, J. A. Brierley, C. L. Brierley

The bacterial-oxidation (BIOX®) process for the pre-treatment of refractory ores for gold recovery is marketed by BlOMlN Technologies S.A. The process was originally developed by GENMIN who is still providing testwork, design and commissioning assistance to BIOMIN. Since 1986 three BIOX® plants have been commissioned by GENMIN. A further two plants will be commissioned during 1993 and 1994. The commissioning and operational experiences from these plants are described in the paper.

Jan 1, 1993

By Andrej Šubelj

The paper tries to determine all which are interested or involved in collecting, evaluating, processing and distributing data on mineral resources, either "economic" or "uneconomic" and for what purposes. It shortly describes some of the most known classification systems, CMMI and UNFC, and their features, and discusses their advantages and weaknesses. Author also tries to define all the properties, a system should have to be declared as "World Code". Perhaps the ,integration of both systems would best accomplish the task and leave the “interest groups" the freedom to use only those parts of the system, they are interested in.

Jan 1, 2002

By R. L. Grayson

As a followup to a USBM-sponsored research project, the authors utilized the knowledge-base structure and system concepts from a Sun Sparcstation-based worker-scheduling system of the mine-management support system to develop a PC-based application. The new software adopts the nested-window concept to facilitate data collection and modification on personnel, including their availability and work priorities during a shift. The system can optimally allocate manpower on a work shift and can delineate supervisory training responsibilities. The various components of the software, including enhancements made to the original system, are described in detail.

Jan 1, 1997

By J. M. Manka

American mining companies operate many drum hoists, hoisting from varying depths with varying payloads. This paper reviews the procedure for selecting optimum wire rope constructions for existing hoisting installations. Selection for proposed installations, along with recommended hoisting parameters, is also discussed. To achieve optimum rope performance, preventive and corrective maintenance procedures are required and are reviewed here, along with examples of rope problems and their causes.

Jan 1, 1993

By Edmond O’Donovan

Selection of conveyor drives is an area of great confusion that frequently leads to poor system performance or overcapitalization. Many papers have dealt with the performance characteristics of different drive types, but users have often found that this only leads to further confusion. This paper presents the drive requirements from the "conveyor's" point of view. The drive requirements of different classes of conveyors are examined to illustrate why some drive types work well in certain situations but poorly in others. The appropriateness and shortcomings of different drives are examined in this context, along with the recurrent issue of load sharing.

Jan 1, 2000

By Robert J. Guardia, James Rustvold, Robert A. Robinson, Christopher A. Robertson

In 1999, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) replaced approximately 730 m(2,400 ft) of damaged 42- and 36-inch concrete pipe by microtunneling Permalock pipe through sand and partly below groundwater. Microtunneling saved $3.5 to $5 million from the estimated cost of a shored excavation and avoided a railroad and contaminated valley fill. A slurry microtunnel boring machine (MTBM) was used for two segments where groundwater was present and a wheel excavator MTBM was used for one segment where groundwater was not present. This paper describes design and construction of this project that was completed within 2% of the bid and engineer’s estimate.

Jan 1, 2001

By Scott E. Broughton, Robert T. Tape

Heap leaching requires containment and storage of cyanide solutions, the volume of which may increase dramatically following an extreme storm event or extended wet periods. This paper describes a computer operated solution storage model developed to assist in the management of these requirements. It results from the accumulative efforts of various Klohn Leonoff engineers working on a number of heap leach projects throughout the western United States for the past several years.

Jan 1, 1988

By Colin C. Harris, Jie Zheng, P. Sornasundaran

Powder surface and polymer structural changes during stirred milling have been studied as a function of grinding time, solid concentration and polymer molecular weight. It was found that specific surface area of limestone particles can be increased over 100% by using polymer additives. Particle surface and polymer structure were also found to change during grinding. Powder surface and polymer properties have been determined using Surface Tension, Fluorescence, TOC and HPLC/GPC analysis, and surface and polymer properties are correlated with operating variables and the mechanisms involved are explored. Particularly, the fragmentation of the polymer molecules was found to occur during long term grinding and this was beneficial for ultrafine grinding.

Jan 1, 1998

By R. F. Korcak

There exists a wide array of industrial byproducts that produce beneficial responses in the soil/ plant environment. These materials range from clean-coal-technology residues produced during the generation of electric power (particularly those high in gypsum) to mineral fines produced by the aggregates industry (i.e., sand, gravel and crushed stone). A number of these materials are examined in relation to potential nutritional interactions in soils and crops with emphasis on trace elements. The significance of utilizing these materials in agriculture as a component of sustainable agricultural systems are discussed.

Jan 1, 1997

By W. A. Rickelton

The first commercial use of phosphine derivatives as solvent extraction reagents began in the mid 1970's with the construction of several plants to recover uranium from wet process phosphoric acid. The process eventually adopted by all of these plants used the well known trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) in synergic combination with D2EHPA to extract U(6+). This prompted the development of other phosphine - based reagents and led to the discovery of a variety of interesting commercial and potential applications which are summarized in this paper. The applications include cobalt-nickel and niobium-tantalum separation and the selective recovery of silver and zinc.

Jan 1, 1994