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By D. L. Buchanan, M. J. Jones

In May, 1982, the University of Western Australia in Perth hosted a three-day international conference on nickel sulphides, followed by a ten-day field excursion to the Western Australian nickel sulphide deposits. The conference was arranged by Professor D. I. Groves, C. M. Lesher and Dr. R. E. T. Hill under the auspices of the International Geological Correlation Programme's Projects 161 ("Sulphide deposits in mafic and ultramafic rocks") and 91 ("Metallogeny of the Pre- cambrian"). This volume contains a selection of the papers that were presented at the Perth conference. Most of the papers are related to the nickel sulphide deposits of Western Australia, but contributions with settings in North America, Finland, Vietnam and Southern Africa have also been included.

Jan 1, 1984

By Le Thac Xinh, van Chu Nguyen

In northern Vietnam Ni-Cu sulphide deposits associated with ultramafic rocks are located in several continental rift zones of Permo-Triassic age. In recent years a number of ultramafic bodies have also been discovered in southern Vietnam, but detailed work on sulphide occurrences within these bodies has still to be undertaken. A brief description is given of some N i-C u sulphide deposits that are located in the northern part of the country. Of the depos­ its that have been examined in any detail, those in the Takhoa region are of the greatest economic interest. Ni and Ni-Cu sulphide bodies have, however, also been found in association with the ultramafic rocks.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. Chope

The Minister for Roads and Traffic's opening speech highlights some of the topics to be covered in the conference with particular reference to the Channel Tunnel, the recent breakthrough of whose service tunnel marked a historic moment three and a half years after passing of the Channel Tunnel Act and which was the first example in recent years of a major transport project entirely privately funded. The Minister also mentioned the building of UK road tunnels, research and development, and the role of UK consultants in the single European market

Jun 13, 1905

By H. B. Bell, L. C. Smith

Measurements have been made of the activity of 'FeO' in 'Fe0'-Mn0-Ti02 melts at 1475 degrees C. The results obtained are discussed in terms of ideal mixing of titanates and in terms of a regular solution model. On the basis of the regular solution model activities of Ti02 and MnO in the Fe0-Mn0-Ti02 and Mn0-Ti02 systems have been derived. The data have been shown to be consistent with the liquidus lines in the phase systems. Examples are given of the application of the data to slag-metal equilibria, being used to derive slag-metal data between liquid iron and Fe0-Mn0-Ti02 slags

Dec 1, 1971

By M. D. Pritzker

Shrinking-core models are used to describe the physico-chemical processes that are associated with many metallurgical gas-solid and liquid-solid reactions. The models can be used to evaluate rate constants and effective diffusion coefficients from experimental data. This work generalises the model for diffusion through a product layer to cases where the transport of more than one species is rate-controlling

Jul 1, 1991

By R. Scheepers, J. E. Misiewicz, A. C. Fitzgerald

Discussion by A.C. Fitzgerald of the paper, published in Trans. IMM A, vol.104, 1995, p.B121-B135, is presented together with the authors' response. Fitzgerald points out a number of problems with the idea of mineralising fluids leaving no trace in the large volumes of rock traversed before depositing all minerals of value in a particular horizon or rock type with which the required isobaric or isothermic surface also coincides. He suggested that in the case of the Rooiberg tin deposits, the Lebowa Granites may be batholiths that reached the surface and were capped by sheets of their own volcanics. The authors agree that they had considered a possible syngenetic origin for the stratabound deposits, explain that no conclusive evidence for this could be found, discuss the relative ages of the sediments and volcanics of the Rooiberg Fragment and explain the role of its low-intensity deformation and flat dip in the coincidence of an isobaric-isothermic surface with the lithological stratification

Jun 18, 1905

By R. R. Tatiya

The following procedure was used to determine cut-off grades: define the orebody profile; plan the stope layout and quantify the work involved; formulate equipment-performance norms; calculate unit costs; input process recoveries and metal prices; and calculate the cut-off grade. Use of the method is illustrated using data from a copper mining complex in India. Results from the study led to the following conclusions for underground mines in general. Cut-off dependent costs vary significantly with the stoping method employed, orebody thickness, the degree of mechanisation and the working efficiencies of the workforce and equipment. This applies even within the same deposit. Sub-level stoping and its variants can be operated at a lower cut-off grade than cut-and-fill and its variants. Thinner orebodies affect cut-off grades adversely, but with thinner orebodies very little further reduction in cut-off grade can be achieved once a certain minimum width has been exceeded. For the same stoping method and in the same mine the cut-off grade varies with the degree of mechanisation. Labour-intensive methods require higher cut-off grades. An allowance for working efficiency should be made when calculating cut-off grades. Higher process recoveries allow a significant lowering of cut-off grades

Jul 1, 1996

By Eric Forssberg, Vigen Zeng

During mechanical grinding high intensity vibration is emitted that contains information on the mill's operating state. Tests, using a laboratory ball mill, studied the influence of operating parameters on the vibration signature. The parameters studied were: mill speed; powder filling; pulp density; grinding period; and pulp temperature. Vibration signals were detected by an accelerometer, amplified by a vibrometer and recorded onto digital audio tape. A digital oscilloscope converted the signals into IBM-compatible data format. Digital signal processing and multivariate data analysis were carried out with specially developed software. The power spectral density was estimated from the time-domain vibration signal. Four new latent variables were used to describe changes in the vibration spectra. A relationship was established between operating parameters and latent variables which could form the basis of a quick and automatic method of monitoring operating parameters in ball mill grinding.

Jan 4, 1993

By G. Richards

Mines are facing fresh challenges over how they deal with the huge quantities of water consumed. industry analyst Frost and Sullivan, demand for treatment equipment and services alone is expected to be worth US$3.6bn by 2016, while a report by consultancy Bluefield Research estimates that the total mine water market - which includes water infrastructure such as reservoirs, pipelines and dewatering systems as well as the equipment and services - will be worth US$17bn by the end of 2019. Methods of water decontamination are described.

May 1, 2015

By W. J. Whiten, D. W. Grinsberg

Most cluster analysis techniques are not well suited to the analysis of engineering data as they have been designed for more qualitative data that tend to produce compact clusters. A clustering technique is described which develops and uses local cluster shapes to build clusters that are suitable for use in engineering applications. The technique is finding application in the analysis of many types of data, particularly where multiple trends and outlying points occur in multiple dimensions. Applications of particular interest are the calibration of on-stream analytical equipment and the analysis of data on plant performance. In both cases the multidimensional nature of the data renders manual analysis very difficult

Dec 1, 1991

By D. D. Lei, H. Sevim

Long-term production planning in open-pit mines requires the determination of cut-off grade, mining and milling production rates, a mining sequence, mine life and ultimate pit limits. Since these variables interact in a circular fashion, a genuine solution to the problem necessitates their simultaneous determination. A methodology with this capability is described. This comprises a group of heuristic algorithms and an unconventional dynamic programming algorithm. The method is demonstrated using data for a gold deposit in the western USA

Jul 1, 1996

By G. Richards

Following on from the article in Materials World February 2015 (Asset 997) this article is the second half of a special focus on graphite. It looks at graphite's market prospects over the next few years. Natural graphite is used in refractories, which accounts for ca. 20% of global demand and is forecast to grow by 2-4%/a to 2020, while the largest growth in demand (increases of 10-15%/a) is estimated to come from its application in anodes for lithium-ion batteries, especially those in hybrid electric vehicles. High-grade natural graphite deposits that are either coming back on stream or are in the pipeline are discussed including Woxna mine in Sweden, Bissett Creek project in Ontario, Canada, Balama mine in Mozambique and Lac Knife project in Quebec, Canada

Mar 1, 2015

By D. J. Esdale, D. F. Pridmore, F. W. Lindman, J. H. Coggon

Almost all the presently viable nickel reserves in the Yilgarn Block contain nickel in a sulphide phase. Both volcanic peridotite- associated (VPA) deposits and intrusive dunite-associated (IDA) deposits are characterized by massive, matrix and disseminated sulphides (typically, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite and other spinels), though in the IDA deposits the volume of disseminated sulphides is far greater than that in the VPA deposits. Potentially all geophysical techniques have application in the direct detection of these deposits'gravity for the detection of the dense massive and matrix ore; magnetics for the detection of magnetite and pyrrhotite in the ores; electromagnetics for the detection of the massive and matrix ore; and induced polarization for the detection of disseminated and to some extent matrix and massive ore. In practice the application of geophysical techniques is limited to a varying extent by (1) the relatively small size of an economic accumulation of sulphides, particularly the VPA deposits, (2) the extreme depth of weathering and lack of outcrop on the Yilgarn Block and (3) the abundance of geological noise or anomalous responses caused by sources other than economic mineralization.

Jan 1, 1984

By Winmill T. F.

Paper presented at the at the Institution of Mining Engineers' general meeting held in London on 8th June 1916: In a previous paper it has been shown that the rate of absorption of oxygen by coal is neither directly proportional to the surface area of the coal exposed nor to the percentage of oxygen in the air. Further experiments are now described supporting this conclusion

Dec 1, 1916

By Schwartz M.

Madagascar's democratic election has led to a return to its position as a preferred trade partner with the USA and a priority market with Canada. Michael Schwartz takes a look at two key mining projects in this recently reinvigorated country

Feb 1, 2015

By C Selcuk

This item considers the work of the CleanMine consortium on the removal of hard scale from valves via the combined use of controlled acoustic cavitation with guided wave propagation.

Jun 1, 2015

Jan 1, 1984

By A. G. Royle

Sampling formulae for in-situ material, hard rock sampling and alluvial sampling are briefly discussed

May 1, 1991

Jan 1, 1984

Summary of the morning's events with a Written Contribution to Paper No. 4 and author responses

Jan 1, 1947