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By Dennis D. Fischer

The second underground coal gasification experiment conducted by ERDA's Laramie Energy Research Center at a site near Hanna, Wyoming, was completed on July 30, 1976. During the experiment production reached 0.32 Mm 3/d (12 Mft3/d) of 6.9 MJ/m3 gas (175 Btu/ft 3 ). Approximately 6100 tonne (6700 ton) of coal were gasified during the experiment. Energy return ratios of 4.5 to 5.3, cold gas - thermal efficiencies of 76 to 89 percent, and overall process efficiencies of 65 to 74 percent were achieved during the second Hanna experiment. This paper describes the experiment and the results obtained with emphasis given to the determination of the energy recovered relative to energy consumed in conducting the test. Data from this determination are compared with previously published data from the first test conducted at Hanna during 1973-1974.

Jan 1, 1977

By D. W. Dean, J. A. Ryder

"A computer system designed to assist in maintenance scheduling and costing, and in monitoring the performance of equipment, is described. The emphasis is on the information retrieval and implementation aspects of the system.INTRODUCTIONThe cost of the maintenance of equipment can account for a substantial proportion of the total costs of any large industry. These costs are made up of the following elements:(i) capital expenditure,(ii) maintenance labour,(iii) maintenance spares,(iv) maintenance overheads,(v) production losses.Control of these cost elements cannot be achieved without a system which maintains and retrieves the necessary infor¬mation efficiently.The system should provide engineering management with the information necessary to:(i) establish the cost of maintaining items of equipment,(ii)establish the economic life of equipment,(iii) determine breakdown patterns for the establishment of optimum inspection, service and overhaul frequencies,(iv) establish work schedules for those responsible for the maintenance of equipment,(v) establish the optimum maintenance labour complement,(vi) establish the optimum stockholding of maintenance stores items,(vii) improve the performance of equipment,(viii) justify the selection of a particular type and make of equipment,(ix) establish the reasons for any abnormal usage of materials and labour, and to(x)reduce the dependence on the human element for the control of equipment maintenance activities.Many industries have comprehensive and numerous equipment maintenance records but they experience great difficulty in retrieving the required information in the time available and with the labour available. Many industries do not bother to maintain meaningful records, because of this difficulty."

Jan 1, 2014

By Dr. Anthony J. Konya

The modern era has seen a boom in virtual training platforms. This study details the effectiveness & applicability of online training in comparison to in-person training for the drill & blast industry.

Feb 1, 2020

By Robert B. Parsons

"With several hoots of the whistle, Canada's fiscal engineers are once again cranking up the income tax locomotive, in an effort to inject new stimulus into a stubborn economy. And once again, additional gears, wheels, levers, and other mysterious part s are being added to the already complex machinery in order to accommodate the new push.This time, a significant new mechanism involves a major overhaul and expansion of the investment tax credit system.Although the shiny new devices have considerable appeal to a certain group of potential passengers, one wonders if all of the renewed chugging and huffing is on the right track.IntroductionAs indicated in Tax Notes in the July 1983 issue of CIM Bulletin , the April 19, 1983 federal bud get introduced a number of new measures which would permit investment tax credits and research and development deductions to "" flow through "" from a corporation to another taxpayer."

Jan 1, 1984

By W. M. Williams

The Canadian steel industry is now in many ways a mature one, having achieved many technical successes during its hundred-year history. It is interesting to look back over this period, to learn something of the histories of the different producers and of the people and forces that shaped their development. The following article provides a thumbnail sketch of the Canadian steel industry as it exists today. It is intended for the general reader, not for the specialist who will want to consult the several books and theses written on the development of the industry during the last hundred years. The famous Les Forges du Saint-Maurice, an important iron producer for a century and a half, provides a natural historical starting point for a look at the four major players - Dosco, Algoma, Stelco and Dofasco - who have provided most of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of steel, in every form from horseshoes to tinplate, needed in the twentieth century. The smaller companies which have sprung up in the last 20 or 30 years are dealt with briefly - but only because their history is so recent. Not so long ago the mini-mill, based on scrap rather than on the blast furnace, was thought to be specially suited to the economies of the smaller developing countries of the Third World. However, recent history has made it evident that the small plant, specializing in a few basic products (e.g. reinforcing bar) or taking advantage of special circumstances, can successfully compete with the large blast furnace/primary steel producers.

Jan 1, 1999

By Leping Liu, Li‑Ting Chen, Sachin Urade, Pengbo Chu

Mining industry requires constant adaptation to its practices in response to the dynamic change of the societal demand. Little information exists regarding how the US metal mining engineering education is prepared to meet with its industry needs due to the increase in critical minerals driven by the green energy transitions. This study aims to provide industrial perspectives on the current US metal mining engineering education and areas for improvement. An online survey with both closed- and open-ended questions were designed to seek opinions from the US mining industry. Findings indicated a shortage of qualified graduates from the current US metal mining engineering education system. The qualifications need to be improved include engineering sciences underlying mining methods, mining design experience, mining feasibility study, the connection between theory and practice, and understanding of the overall mining operation. The survey also identified future desired qualifications. The most desired ones in the next 5 years include an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed and sufficient experience in the field. Respondents, regardless of the nature of their affiliated mining companies, unanimously recommended that collaborations between the industry and academia should be enhanced. The analysis of the results concluded four recommendations: (1) involve more multiple stakeholders in reforming mining education programs, (2) reinforce field experiences as a key part of mining engineering education programs, (3) enhance a closer collaboration between academia and industry, and (4) integrate emerging technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence/virtual reality) guided by pedagogical theories into new mining engineering curriculums.

Jun 26, 2023

By David P. Kimball, Dalva L. Moellenberg

On May 21, 1990, EPA released its Strawman II draft program for mining wastes. It proposes to expand RCRA regulation of mining operations to include materials other than wastes. Strawman I1 would establish strict standards for the states to follow, rather than technical guidance. It proposes to establish performance standards; design criteria; monitoring requirements; and corrective action, closure, post-closure, and financial assurance requirements. It suggests "pollution prevention" concepts for mining operations. This paper explores the Strawman II proposals, particularly the technical criteria, and addresses several of the important concerns raised by industry.

Jan 1, 1991

By Li Zhang, Jing Zhao, Chuanwei Zang, Shuanlin Wang

The application of gob-side entry retaining (GER) in steeply pitching seam longwall mining with a hard roof has always been a difficult problem. Based on the simplified roof beam mechanical model, the traditional gob-side entry retaining by packing (GERP) roof structure evolution process and its problems with use in steeply pitching seams are analyzed. Therefore, based on the unique characteristics of the gangue rolling and accumulating in the steeply pitching seam, this contribution proposes an innovative method of gob-side entry retaining by roof cutting (GERRC) in steeply pitching seam and details its technical process. The roof structures of the GERRC and the GERP are compared. Taking the Chang Gouyu Coal Mine as a case study, field experiments were carried out. This research finds that the GERRC can both overcome the impact of rolling gangue on roadside support and make the rolling and stacking gangue become a roadside support. The roof structure of the GERRC is in a one-time statically indeterminate state, which is conducive to the stability of the roadway. In the field test, the total displacement of the roadway roof and floor is 97 mm, the supporting pressure of the serried single props is less than 28 MPa, and the props have no obvious bending phenomenon.

May 6, 2020

By K. Ghyselbrecht, R. Swennen, Y. W. Chiang, V. Cappuyns, R. M. Santos, T. Van Gerven, B. Meesschaert

Heavy metal contamination from mining and metallurgical activities of aquatic systems poses significant risk to the environment and human populations. The investigation of the distribution and immobilization mechanisms of heavy metals in sediments and soils has recently attained high priority. Different remediation methods can be employed to suppress or eliminate these contaminants. A tailored approach using both commercially available and in-house made adsorbents to rem ediate a heavy metal contamination site due to historical metallurgical activities in north Belgium is studied in this paper.

Jan 1, 2011

By M. Canty

An innovative biological treatment system designed to detoxify cyanide and nitrate and immobilize metals from cyanide leach operations is described. A pilot-plant demonstration was conducted to detoxify cyanide and immobilize several metals from a process stream at the McCoy/Cove Mine. Testing was performed under the EPA's Mine Waste Technology and Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Demonstration Programs. This technology was successful in detoxifying cyanide and effective in removing metals. The pH was consistently neutralized and nitrates were successfully removed. Results show that biological treatment can offer an innovative, cost-effective alternative for the treatment of mining wastewaters.

Jan 1, 1999

By S. Upadhyay, A. M. Afrapoli

"Fluctuation in market price of mineral products has enforced mining companies to cut down their operating costs. One useful way of reducing operating costs in mining operations is to make optimal operational decisions, incorporating efficient mining fleet management systems (FMS). Over the last 50 years, several types of FMS have been developed and introduced in the mining systems around the world. However, there are two major shortcomings in existing systems. Firstly, none of the existing systems consider effects of the short-term plan on dynamic truck assignment. Secondly, most of the existing FMSs make decisions in a way that optimize a specific objective while ignoring others. Herein, we propose a multi stage and multi objective FMS that deals with aforementioned shortcomings of the currently available systems. The developed FMS, in its upper stage, links semi-dynamic operational decision making process to the short-term production plan by simultaneously assigning shovels to mining faces and allocating trucks to the shovels by implementing its first multi objective decision making model. Then in its second stage, in a real time dynamic decision making process, it assigns trucks to shovels and corresponding destinations by optimizing its second multi objective decision making model. The developed fleet management system has been verified using an Iron ore case study and the results are presented in this paper. INTRODUCTION Open pit mining method is the most common method to mine mineral from the earth. Based on Wetherelt and van der Wielen (2011) there exist 2500 open pit metal mines that are categorized as industrial scale mines. Over all of those, the amount of material handled using truck and shovel material handling system is more than the amount handled by all other systems together (Humphrey & Wagner, 2011).It has been proven by several studies that more than 50 percent of operating cost in a truck and shovel based open pit mining operation is accounted for material handling (Moradi Afrapoli & Askari-Nasab, 2017, Alarie & Gamache, 2002, Ahangaran et al., 2012). Thus, introducing even 1 to 2 percent cut in its material handling cost saves huge amount of money for the stakeholders. Over the last 50 years, two major areas have been identified to cut this cost. On one hand mining industries have been implementing equipment with higher production capacities, and on the other hand, researchers have been developing operations research techniques to make dynamic decisions as close to optimal as possible to deduct operational costs in truck and shovel based mining operations."

Jan 1, 2018

John Malcolm Fraser became Prime Minister in December 1975 when Australian voters gave him the biggest landslide victory in the history of the Federation. From the previous administration, Mr. Fraser has inherited an atrocious economic mess: a staggering budget deficit, an unrealistically overvalued currency, a 14% annual rate of inflation, mounting unemployment, and a demoralized business community. He has already tackled some of these problems with some measure of success; but he has been in power for barely a year, and it's too soon to see a turn-around.

Jan 1, 1977

By G. Davis

Mineral properties and mineral firms often trade at a market value that is significantly greater than the value indicated by discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques. A possible explanation is that DCF analysis does not consider the value derived from managerial flexibility. Presumably, then, at least some of the difference between DCF value and market value is due to managerial flexibility. This paper surveys the recent attempts to empirically quantify the value of managerial flexibility using option pricing theory. The results indicate that managerial flexibility, at least as measured by the option pricing methodology, falls well short of explaining the gap between DCF value and market value.

Jan 1, 1995

JOHN W. BELL (communication to the Secretary*).-I have to thank Mr. Merrill not only for his very kind remarks, but for the weight of his implied opinion that the work accomplished probably has an important practical aspect. I think there is a distinct although unuttered impression among engineers, that it will be time enough for them to begin to take an interest in the law of crushing when it emerges from the cloud of violent and even vituperative controversy that has hovered over it during the last 6 or 7 years. I have a very confident feeling that as the result of the work done by Mr. Gates, by me and by Messrs. Mitchell, Baily and Cockfield, who so loyally helped me to obtain the necessary data, at least the practical law of crushing has emerged; that it is ready and available for use by our fellow engineers, and that it will help them to unravel a number of the many practical problems they are con¬stantly confronted with. In regard to Mr. Gates' discussion, I would indeed like to believe that McGill could claim, as a minor achievement, the credit which Mr. Gates so generously bestows of having established the "law" of crushing. I think that more work would be required to establish this claim in the, strict sense of the word, as there is a fairly large gap between the coarse and fine crushing results. I am not worried about that gap, because the reason for it is quite clear to me; at the same time I-think it will be well to bridge it by a series of tests, and I am bound to admit that the testing machine is the most promising machine right at hand to work with, although whether the minute amounts of power required to crush small quantities of rock can be so accurately integrated as to insure high accuracy in the final result is still a question in my mind. If we had an Amsler-Laffon machine I would certainly try it. Mr. Gates' remarks about choke crushing are extremely interesting. He compels me to wonder, too. It is a new and probably a very important factor to be considered in this connection. I am in perfect accord with Mr. Gates about the desirability of the determination of crushing constants, because when this is accomplished the efficiencies (not relative mechanical, but real efficiencies) of different types of rock-crushing plants in any part of the world will then be comparable. For this reason it would, seem desirable that the American Institute Committee should not only consider ways and means for accom-

Jan 6, 1917

By Vladislav Kecojevic

Both Canada and the United States are endowed with significant reserves of mineral resources. Mining industries in these two countries have a strong safety and health culture; skilled, dedicated and well-paid workforce; applications of state-of-the art technologies and high productivity, strict environmental requirements and social responsibility. Both countries are global leaders in safe, economic, productive, environmentally responsible and sustainable mining practices. Mining schools/ departments in Canada and the United States provide a strong and comprehensive education and training, hands-on learning experience, with support for internships and co-op opportunities to prepare graduates for careers not only nationally but also in the global mining industry. While there are many similarities in their industries and mining schools, there are also some differences. This article examines the contribution of mining to the economy, the political climate, the regulatory framework, the investment climate, environmental regulations, the language, the perception of mining, news and press coverage, and the academic landscape in both countries. Opinions, observations and perspectives shared in this article are of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies or positions of any organization, employer or affiliated group.

Nov 1, 2025

By J. L. Huisman, G. Schouten

After pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, bio(hydro)metallurgy is the latest development in the ongoing search for efficient and economic metal winning processes. In addition to bioleaching, other biotechnology-based applications are getting more and more accepted. In this paper a number of proven and commercial processes will be presented that can be applied for nickel and cobalt recovery and refining. These processes are based on the ability of biomass to convert the redox state of sulphur compounds under ambient conditions. They can be applied to recover sulphate from effluents or SOx from off gases and convert it to H2S or dissolved sulphide that can be reused in production or effluent treatment. Not only does this minimize the costs on resources but it also reduces waste production and improves the quality of discharges even to the point where reuse becomes feasible.

Jan 1, 2005

By Luke Clarkson, David Williams

The intent of this paper is to provide overview context to allow broader understanding of conventional tailings dam failure mechanisms. The research leverages global knowledge, experience, and data collection and interpretation for the safe and controlled management of the geotechnical stability of a tailings storage facility. The motivation for this review is to facilitate transparent access to tailings dam background and understanding. This paper addresses the core understanding of geotechnical failure mechanisms, and how these eventuate to instability and failure of tailings dam structures. This research focuses on foundation failure, internal erosion and piping, overtopping, seepage, seismicity, and slope instability and provides insight into what factors contribute to failure, how failure progresses due to such failure, anticipating and monitoring for the aforementioned failure modes, and designing to mitigate their risk.

Feb 15, 2021

By D. D. Rodier

Most zinc concentrates contain some silver and varying amounts of such valuable trace elements as gold, indium, germanium and gallium. With increasing similarities in plant installations, the predominance of electrolyte process and the increasing environmental constraints on iron disposal, it is essential that zinc smelters optimize the recovery of any valuable elements in their feed stocks. The process options, to date, of smelting, flotation or leaching of silver-rich leach residues cannot be applied economically to all installations. It is therefore necessary that new innovative processes, to recover silver and other valuable metals from relatively low grade feeds, be developed. This paper attempts to place this strategy in the context of today's constraints and will also provide a simple evaluation tool for any process alternatives.

Jan 1, 1990

By A. D. Rovig

Metallurgical evaluation of autogenous grinding of Anaconda's Berkeley Pit ores indicated that tonnage throughput increases, at a finer flotation feed size, were possible by converting autogenaus mills to steel ball mills. In addition, initial test work showed that the improved grind resulted in slight recovery gains in subsequent flotation processing.

Jan 1, 1974

By Charles C. Goddard

Since discovery of silver-gold lode deposits in 1864, the Butte district has produced more than $2.25 billion worth of copper, zinc, manganese, silver, and gold, an unprecedented value in the mining world. Exhaustion of the gold placer deposits along Silver Bow Creek, southwest of Butte, forced the early-day placer miners to turn their attention to the bold out- crops of the many veins exposed on the hillsides above the placer diggings. These outcrops bore silver and gold, and enough so that many lode claims were located. Such famous silver mines as the Alice, Moulton, Magna Carta, Nettie, and Blue Bird were developed. These and many smaller operations contributed to making Montana the leading silver-producing state in the 1880's. As depth was gained in the silver mines in certain parts of the district, occurrence of zinc minerals became troublesome. Zinc was not recoverable at the time, and in the chloridizing, roasting, and amalgamation of the ores, silver and gold recovery was greatly reduced. A period of active silver mining continued until 1892, when a decline in the price of silver brought the silver mining period to a close. Elsewhere in the district it was discovered that while some of the veins contained silver ores in the oxidized portions, the predominant minerals that were deeper were copper-bearing. Marcus Daly exposed rich copper ore on the 300 level of the Anaconda mine in 1891, and mining in the district disclosed that copper was destined to be developed in abundance. Early copper ore shipments were made to Swansea, Wales.

Jan 3, 1959