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By Mark R. Svinkin

Regulations are needed to keep construction vibrations in tolerable limits. The existing regulations were developed for low-rise residential structures, but they are incorrectly used for different super and underground structures. The existing regulations cannot prevent most of harmful vibration effects on sensitive devices, people and structures from construction and industrial vibration sources. It is important to determine the areas of application of the existing regulations and bring attention to the necessity of measurement of the structural responses for assessment of vibration effects on structures. For multi-story residential, commercial and industrial buildings, the frequency-independent safe limit of 51 mm/s (2 in./s) can be chosen for the peak particle velocity of structural, not ground, vibrations. Specifications for construction operations with dynamic sources have to consider specifics of each construction site. Preventive measures can be used to mitigate harmful vibration effects on various structures and settlements in sand and clay soils.

Jan 1, 2006

By Herman W. Hill

This report summarizes research into the root causes of failures in mine power systems which impact safety and reliability. Abnormally low fault currents, due to arcing faults, self-excited systems, and fallen trolley wires are examined and quantified. The reliability of components which are critical for safety is studied, as well as reliability of components which are crucial to the mining pro cess. Failure rates are found through in-situ tests, accelerated life tests, studies of mine maintenance, and fault-tree analysis. Reliability data is used to predict fatalities and lost-time accidents through computer-aided fault-tree analysis. Analytical support tasks reported include the deriving of trailing-cable ampacities under cyclic loading, and the measurement of connected ground beds.

Jan 1, 1981

By Jeannine Wendy Salas Huamán

Dado que la empresa minera tiene como objetivo el fortalecimiento de la responsabilidad social y ambiental para la AID (Puno), se implementa un programa de actividades que responda a la responsabilidad social y ambiental. En ese sentido, el presente texto describe la capacitación como una herramienta de una logística -en tanto se entrene a los pobladores de la AID para que puedan brindar servicios a la minera, se concilie la explotación minera con la población mediante la logística y se establezca una alianza con los pobladores formándolos como proveedores, de forma que se obtenga una ganancia conjunta.

Nov 1, 2013

By Randolph C. Specht

A two year study was made of the waste disposal of the pebble rock phosphate industry. Solid slimes are impounded in large settling areas and the process water is re-used. Clear effluent was not found to be toxic to fish, or animal life in field tests or in controlled experiments.

Jan 1, 1950

By M. A. Cristovici

"In the last few years CANMET has taken the initiative by investigating the possibility of reactivating abandoned old tailings dumps (for gold production) which would be of potential economic interest across Canada.Nova Scotia was one location where numerous gold processing plants were in operation in the early days. A survey of the old tailing dumps was conducted and some areas of interest were selected. Among them were the sites identified as Lake Charlotte and Forest Hill.Ore samples collected from those tailing ponds were examined for their chemico-mineralogical composition and investigated for gold extraction. Three technological concepts were tested: flotation, direct cyanidation and flotation followed by cyanidation of the flotation concentrate. The combined flotation- cyanidation variant, yielding a gold recovery in the range of 90%, was recommended for processing the tailing ore.Pilot-plant runs carried out by a commercial testing firm (data not included in this paper) confirmed the conditions and results of CANMET's technology.As a result a consulting-engineering firm designed the processing plant which is expected to begin operation in the near future.IntroductionIn the last few years CANMET initiated a research program to locate in Canada, abandoned gold-silver tailing dumps of potential economic interest and to explore the possibility of recovering the precious metals from these old deposits by modern techniques.A literature search revealed that the first production of gold in Canada was recorded in British Columbia in 1858 and that, production prior to 1900 was essentially restricted to the Yukon, British Columbia Nova Scotia and Quebec. During the early 1900s, Ontario, Manitoba and the North West Territories joined the ranks of the gold producers.Early milling and recovery methods were mainly restricted to sluice boxes, gravity stamps and amalgamation. Froth flotation and cyanidation were introduced at about the turn of the century.Recovery of gold at plants using flotation and cyanidation was very good, therefore the tailing ponds resulting from those operations would, very likely be of little or no economic importance. However, the gold recovery at the amalgamation and gravity concentration plants appeared to be lower, indicating the possibility that significant amounts of recoverable gold would have been carried with the tailings to the dump sites."

Jan 1, 1986

By B Stewart

It has long been recognised that knowledge of the conditions existing in a mine after an incident is essential in deciding whether to deploy responders as part of the incident recovery process. Applying this knowledge in a structured manner to the assessment and the acceptability of the risks likely to be faced by those teams during response activities before authorising their deployment is an onerous task incumbent upon the person controlling the incident response. The Mine Event Management System (MEMS) provides structure and coordination in the management of mine events. It assists with the skills and knowledge for incident control teams to effectively manage any emergency or non-emergency event, be it large or small. In cases where multiple organisations are involved, the MEMS promotes effective joint operations through the use of common terminology and structure to provide seamless communication between agencies at all operational levels. The SQL-based software developed by Queensland Mines Rescue Service (QMRS) assists decision-makers to make considered options; it does not make decisions for you. When set-up, it allows the information that already exists within a mine’s Safety Health Management System that is relevant to the incident to be accessed and considered rapidly within the pressured environment of an emergency. Additionally, the incident specific questions contained within MEMS focuses the management team on gathering and assessing information relevant to the incident as it progresses. The software’s event log can be utilised as an auditable document for post incident investigation. The MEMS provides a process to properly consider the adequacy of the information available upon which decisions have to be made, to consider and acknowledge the hazards of the environments within or adjacent to which responders will need to work and to acknowledge and authorise the entry of responders into or to remain within a mine either during or post an incident occurring, once an acceptable level of risk is achieved.

Apr 16, 2024

By E. Saez, M. Bellet, T. Coupez, O. Jaouen

"The paper presents a 3D finite element solver for non-steady state fluid flow. The thermomechanical simulation package REM3D® has been initially developed to model Stokes' flow for polymer injection. The mechanical module is based on a Eulerian velocitypressure formulation. The spatial discretization uses P 1+IP1 tetrahedral elements. The front tracking module consists of the resolution of a transport equation, thanks to a space-time discontinuous Galerkin formulation. It includes mesh adaptation, which permits a dynamic refinement at the front, thus controling the numerical diffusion. The same approach is used to solve heat transfer. In this paper, we focus on the specific adaptations done to treat Navier Stokes flow. The treatment of inertia is detailed, as well as the implementation of sliding conditions at mould surface, using conservative normals. Industrial applications are presented.IntroductionThe study of the mould filling stage in casting processes requires the ability to simulate complex non steady-state three-dimensional flows. Most commercial software use the volume of fluid (VOF) method, associated with a Eulerian formulation, see for instance the series of conferences ""Modelling of Casting, Welding and Advanced Solidification Processes"" [1-3]. The VOF method [4] consists in solving the conservation equation dF / dt = 0 for a variable F - the volumic fraction of fluid - whose value is 1 in filled regions and 0 elsewhere. Two fluids are actually considered: the molten alloy and a gas in the empty regions. This method suffers generally from numerical diffusion in the resolution of the free surface tracking equation, which is of pure advective type. The precision of the computation is then strongly dependent on the mesh density. Since the mesh is fixed (Eulerian formulation) this implies that in case of complex flow the user must have a priori a fairly good idea of the flow characteristics in order to capture properly the critical features of the flow. In addition, the method can hardly handle the discontinuity of the material viscosity at the interface. To prevent this difficulty, the viscosity value is smoothed around the interfuce, adding once again some inaccuracy. Since the value F = ½ is supposed to represent the free surface, it results in a smeared fluid surface. An alternative to the fixed mesh methods are the methods in which the mesh covers the fluid domain only, as proposed by Navti and Lewis [5-6], or Gaston and Bellet [7]. Based on updated Lagrangian schemes, they must be associated with an ALE formulation (arbitrary LagrangianEulerian) in order to reduce the number of full remeshing operations."

Jan 1, 2004

By S. Bellec

A leaching model for gold ore that takes into account the impact of cyanide and oxygen concentrations as well as gold surface exposure on leaching performance is developed. Cyanide consumption is estimated by an empirical model that is a function of ore particles size distribution as well as cyanide, copper and sulphur concentrations. The proposed model has been validated by data from laboratory leaching tests on the Sleeping Giant gold mine ore. Keywords: gold leaching, modelling, exposure surface.

Jan 1, 2009

By J. Chelsey Dawson

In presenting a thesis on this subject it is advisable to explain a few of the reasons for its seeming incompleteness. World progress has brought us to a position where approximations are not only to be condoned, but regarded as absolute essentials. Production in anticipation of demand is always accompanied by mistakes on the part of the producers. Only through trial and sometimes erring hypotheses may there be evolved the true course and theory upon which the steady triumphant march of world-wide industry depends. The average person likes to have everything placed ?before him in a clear and convincing manner. It is the impossibility of doing this which, in many cases, arises to confound the writer on shales. All that one can do is to present, as lucidly as possible, the known hypotheses' and theories on the subject and leave the reader to study and work out the truth for himself. Many theories have been advanced on the origin of oil-shales ; some may be correct in certain instances and not in others; however, the writer will attempt no decision as to which are and which are not correct, but .will merely point out the relative merits of each. The figures given for reserves of oil and shale in different countries are only approximations and give but a rough idea of the true conditions.

Jan 1, 1925

By Paul Gottlieb

This paper reviews the status of automated applied mineralogy today and describes the history and fundamental theoretical and practical bases underpinning the development of automated systems. Details are given of the technical challenges that were faced in creating the new technology and in applying it to a range of applications. In recent years, automated mineralogy has become established as an essential enabling technology for the reliable acquisition of statistically sound comprehensive mineralogical and metallurgical data. This has had a revolutionary effect on the industrial use of such data in the study of geology, mining and mineral processing. Previously, using manual methods, it was not feasible to attempt this work because the large data sets required could not be assembled in a realistic timescale. There was a reliance on individual expert mineralogists and this was not scalable. The speed, reliability, detail and repeatability of the modern automated measurements has now made this type of analysis routine. Automated Applied Mineralogy has come of age! More than 100 systems have been installed around the World. Automated mineralogical analysers such as QEMSCAN® were originally developed as diagnostic metallurgical tools to improve mineral processing plants using samples drawn from plant surveys, bench and pilot-scale tests. They were used mainly for the assessment and auditing of size fractions of mill products, such as concentrates and tails. Subsequently, they began to be used for concentrator design and optimisation where ore characterisation was used to help understand the relationship between the feed ore and its subsequent behaviour in the plant. They are now widely used to measure exploration cores and drill chips from drilling programs to predict eventual metallurgical performance. Ore samples can be classified into metallurgical, as well as geological types, by combining mineralogical features in the ores with metallurgical properties related to grade control, separation, comminution, flotation and leaching behaviour. Three-dimensional block models of ore deposits are now being created based on processing response in addition to geological and mining properties. The development of automated systems began in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There were many technical challenges. Mathematical theories of randomness, sampling theory, image analysis and stereology were developed to ensure sample representivity so that meaningful information could be obtained. Sample preparation, presentation and measurement methods were developed to ensure that the random sampling was preserved during the measurements. Methods of automatic measurement and mineral identification evolved from the use of electron microscopes, fitted with backscattered electron brightness and energy dispersive X-ray detectors. Operational procedures were required to ensure that these instruments could accommodate a large number of samples and operate unattended for long periods of time. The new technology was progressively applied to a range of commodities and applications and new analysis methods, such as liberation measurement, were needed for metallurgical interpretation of mineralogical data.

Jan 1, 2014

By Wojciech Kasprzak, Guoxian Liang, Michel Gauthier, Mickael Dolle, Yulong Liu, Xueliang Sun, Hernando Villazon Amaris, Majid Talebi-Esfandarani, Pierre Sauriol, Thomas Bibienne, Gregory S. Patience, Delin Li, Steeve Rousselot

In the 1990s, LiFePO4 (LFP) was discovered as a cathode material for lithium ion batteries and was successfully used in the variety of devices such as power tools, E-bikes and grid accumulators. New challenges associated with use of lithium ion batteries for automotive applications demand higher performance and operating requirements, yet these requirements need to be achieved at affordable cost and without compromising vehicle safety. The advantages of LFP as a cathode material include thermal stability, limited environmental impact and potential of low cost as compared to the cathode chemistries containing cobalt. Currently, solid state and hydrothermal processes are used to synthesize LFP at the industrial scale. However, they require multiple, time-consuming steps and costly precursors. Recently, a melting-casting process to produce LFP cathode material was investigated. The motivation behind this new process is the great flexibility of raw materials including chemical makeup and particle size, and the use of lower cost, commodity chemicals, with the benefits of increased kinetics in the molten state and energy efficiencies leading to overall process cost savings. Also, if successful this process could represent a novel application of conventional casting. Melting lithium-, iron- and phosphorus-bearing precursors in near stoichiometric ratios and casting LFP material that forms around 1000 °C requires fewer processing steps.

Mar 1, 2018

By Bent Babel, Martin Rudolph

"The characterization of reagent-mineral interactions in flotation systems of finely intergrown ores holds difficult challenges for the applicability of standard techniques like Hallimond tube tests and contact angle experiments or renders them impossible due to a lack of sufficient samples in terms of quality and quantity. This disadvantage may not apply to more sophisticated techniques, but these often do not work in an aqueous environment. We present the utilization of an atomic force microscope with a hydrophobic colloidal probe to characterize the wettabilities of individual mineral domains of an ore sample, while additional spectral information is gathered by Raman spectroscopy. The exemplary ore sample investigated is mainly containing cassiterite and quartz, therefore the reference measurements like Hallimond tube tests and contact angle experiments were carried out with this binary system as a comparison. The focus of the study lies in the correlation of data gathered by the atomic force microscope and the Raman spectrometer with data from standard techniques. Finally, the applicability of the colloidal probe atomic force microcopy technique for reagent-mineral investigations is critically evaluated.INTRODUCTIONThe focus of this paper is the application of colloidal probe atomic force microscopy (CP-AFM) for theinvestigation of reagent-mineral interactions on a binary system of cassiterite and quartz. This and similar concepts using hydrophobic AFM probes have been applied by multiple authors (Rudolph and Peuker, 2014a; Rudolph and Peuker, 2014b; Wada et al., 2017; Xie et al., 2017). The hydrophobic interaction is the main interacting mechanism for the hydrophobic colloidal probe with hydrophobic sample surfaces and the long range attractive component has been accounted to nanobubbles on the interacting surfaces (Yakubov et al., 2000). More detailed information on nanobubbles are available in two reviews compiled by Attard and Hampton (Attard, 2003; Hampton and Nguyen, 2010). This paper is based on the work by Rudolph and Peuker comparing different AFM based measuring concepts, additionally gathering data with Raman spectroscopy and correlating results of microflotation and CPAFM measurements (Rudolph and Peuker, 2014a; Rudolph and Peuker, 2014b)."

Jan 1, 2018

By T. G. Joseph, E. Lampard

ABSTRACT: Surface mining operations must manage variability from within their operations as well as variability imposed upon them by external forces. A framework to manage both internal and external variability through the continuous review and adjustment of a mine plan during active mining lifetime operation is introduced, to minimize lost production and maintain operational safety. The observational approach of “observe, evaluate, interpret, predict, and adapt” is employed as the backbone of this approach. Although written with a surface mining operation in mind, the framework outlined in this paper would be equally applicable to any mining or processing operation.

Jan 1, 2011

By Narendra Gupta, Gaurav Srivastava, Abhinav Sharma

From the days when plain detonators and safety fuse were used for initiation of commercial explosives, the commercial blasting and mining industries have made rapid strides. With the advent of electronic detonators in the late ‘90s, the face of commercial blasting was changed forever. The Mining Industry in India initially took a while to embrace Electronic Blasting Systems (EBS), however, more recently the industry has taken to EBS in a big way.

Jan 1, 2015

By Erin Leyson, Daniel Henrique

Este artículo se centra en el desarrollo de un modelo innovador denominado "Plataforma de Desarrollo Regional" (PDR), el cual es aplicado en la región minera de Cerro de Pasco - Perú, y es impulsado por Nexa y Palladium como parte de la cartera de proyectos nombrada “Legado Positivo Pasco”. Este modelo busca fortalecer el ecosistema de desarrollo local, y disminuir su dependencia económica en la minería. Con este fin, diversas estrategias son implementadas, estas incluyen encadenamientos productivos, acceso a financiamiento, promoción de emprendimiento e innovación, y atracción de inversiones de otras empresas para invertir en la producción local.

Sep 29, 2023

By J. Leite

In a small-scale mining in Brazil?s northeast, scheelite were exploited since 1940?s using a traditional gravity concentration flowchart (composed by jigs and shacking tables) that operates with low efficient for fine particles. Tailing of this plant was submitted to chemical, mineralogical and size characterization. Results pointed 50% smaller than 74µm with a grade of 0.11% WO3. The particle?s size is an important operational variable to heighten recuperation by shacking tables. Tests using Falcon SB40 centrifuge concentrators and shacking table were realized, optimizing their operational variables. Based on the tests results a new flowchart was proposed for concentrating and tailings recovery.

Sep 1, 2012

By D K. Weatherley, G R. Ballantyne, S Ali, M Yahyaei, M S. Powell

This paper explores development of a novel ore characterisation method for the precise measurement of practical minimum comminution energy. A monolayer of particles with a narrow size distribution is broken using a precision rolls crusher (PRC); an ore characterisation device developed to overcome the shortcomings of conventional tests. For energy measurement, PRC uses two shaftmounted rotary torque transducers. These transducers acquire precise torque and angular speed data in response to the load applied to the rotating shafts during breakage events, which is converted into energy. The test progressively crushes feed particles down to final product size in many controlled breakage stages. The generation of fines in each breakage stage is then plotted as a function of input energy. The inverse of the gradient of this plot provides the size specific energy (SSE) in kWh/t of material generated below a predefined marker size; -75 μm in this case. The PRC has potential to evolve as a geometallurgical ore characterisation test—it is simple, fast, requires small sample mass (200–300 g), covers a wide feed particle size range (10 mm to 115 µm), and provides ideal SSE measurements that can be used for the calibration of on-site production equipment.

Aug 24, 2022

By R. H. Batey

"The process control and cost of monitoring mining slurries is normally accomplished using a continuous mass flow system, conventionally embodying a volumetric magnetic flow meter and nuclear density meter. DuPont’s Maxville Mine at Starke, Florida, USA was chosen to examine costs associated with performance of a nuclear density meter. Since it is typical of many mid-sized establishments and has a long history in their use. The published accuracy under ideal conditions of a nuclear density meter is ± 1.0%, but in practice considerable ambiguity of cost in annual production implies ± 2% at best. Using such accuracy in a 400mm (16”) pipe carrying zircon slurry at 75,000 tons/day, the cost of ambiguity, together with initial and running costs, amount to nominally $962,000 per year.Such cost leaves much to be desired. This paper describes an unique continuous, direct mass per unit volume Density Meter used for mining slurries in pipe sizes up to 1000mm (40”), which significantly reduces the cost of ambiguity of measurement and running costs. At the same time the disadvantages of nuclear devices are obviated.In an effort to reduce costs, a 400mm non-nuclear Density Meter was installed at the DuPont Maxville mine. A typical on-site accuracy can be shown to be ± 0.285%, whereby the cost of ambiguity, initial and running costs in the example above shows an annual improvement of $78,660, a reduction of over $880,000 per year.Even higher cost savings may be demonstrated with mass flow systems having gas entrainment compensation. Unlike nuclear and other inferential density meters, the signal quality of this non-nuclear Density Meter is totally unaffected by entrained gas found in mining slurries. This non-nuclear density meter is then ideally used with a vortex velocity domain sonic flow meter, and provides for the first time compensation in wet density or dry % solids, as well as wet or dry mass flow of mining slurries with entrained gas, resulting in enormous reductions in cost ambiguity."

Jan 1, 2013

By Filipe Beretta

This study investigates geophysical logging capacity to predict coal quality. It was analyzed for possible correlation, some parameters determined via laboratory analysis of coal against results for the same parameter derived from wireline logs recorded by a geophysical probe. These probes detect variations in some rock physical properties, such as their natural gamma ray emissions and electrical resistivity. Results showed a strong correlation between natural gamma and ash content, establishing a linear model to estimate ash content from geophysical logging data with a low estimation error (less than 5%). Besides, results showed that there is no correlation between sulphur content or volatile matter and resistivity, neither with natural gamma of the rocks. Ash content derived from gamma ray values can be used as secondary information to evaluate coal quality during resources estimation, using methods such as soft indicator kriging. The methodology is illustrated using a case study at a coal deposit in south of Brazil.

Oct 1, 2009

By Aidan Giblett

"It is important to make a clear distinction on the scope of work of the Global Mining Standards and Guidelines (GMSG) guideline for sampling grinding circuits. Many mineral processing practitioners are familiar with the sampling and surveying of comminution circuits, in particular grinding circuits, for performance diagnosis and the identification of optimization potential. These surveys often provide information for population balance modelling of individual comminution and classification unit processes, and consequently require a large amount of information to calibrate and validate the unit models. As a result, these surveys are labour intensive, somewhat expensive, depending on internal capabilities of the mine site or company and have a long time span from initial planning to final reporting. They also require a high level of expertise to process the survey data, simulate the circuit and make sensible recommendations on follow up actions.As a result of these factors, full grinding circuit surveys are not a common occurrence at a large number of processing facilities, and several years may pass before follow up surveys are conducted. In the ensuing gap between surveys, the efficiency of the grinding circuit must often be taken on faith, and this is considered an unacceptable lapse in an environment of strained natural resources and low commodity prices.To support the rapid and productive energy efficiency analysis being promoted by the ICE working group, a much simplified survey and analysis process is required. The process reflected in the GMSG guideline is indeed more conducive to frequent analysis, at a skill level that is well within the capabilities of the average plant metallurgist. As a result, it becomes feasible to conduct mini-surveys of plant performance, which can be used to quickly and precisely diagnose the high level impact of process changes. These methods can also be manipulated by an experienced practitioner to provide sufficient information for modelling of the circuit to estimate the impact of process changes, allowing an initial rate and rank exercise to focus plant optimization efforts."

Jan 1, 2015