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By R. J. T. Charles

Introduction An apparatus that will measure the surface area of a few of the simple minerals with a high degree of accuracy has been described by J. W. Bell (1). His apparatus consisted essentially of a photometric device that would measure the turbidity of fine particle suspensions. Turbidity, in this case, was considered as a function of surface area. Bell's method of surface area determination seemed to offer possibilities of extension and improvement to the point where it might approach a general method of particle size measurement. Theoretical and Practical Considerations of the Photometric Method In order to illustrate how turbidity may be considered as a function of average particle size, and to indicate the type of results expected from a photometric method of particle size measurement involving turbidity, the following theory may be hypothecated. If a number of particles, considered as spheres of uniform diameter, are placed at random in the path of a beam of light, the following expression, which will give the change in light intensity as a function of the diameter of the particles, the specific gravity of the material, and the weight involved, can be formulated from the Beer-Lambert Law:

Jan 1, 1951

By David G. Kidd

The principles of Ore Sorting in general and photometric sorting in particular are discussed with detailed reference to the Model 16 machine. The operating principles and design of the Model 16 are discussed and a case study presented to demonstrate the use of sorters to process an industrial mineral. In addition, an economic study is presented, to highlight the benefits of ore sorting, by evaluating the increased revenue that can be achieved using an ore sorter to process a particular ore body.

Jan 1, 1983

By N. J. Keys

This paper concerns the development and application of a high throughput multi-stream photometric sorting machine developed for the South African gold mines. It is now believed that this sorter and its progeny may be found suitable for a large proportion of all possible sorting applications. A laser light source and sensitive photomultiplier are employed in a scanning system to detect light reflected from the surfaces of rocks passing through the sorting zone. Electronic circuitry then analyzes the photomultiplier signal, which represents the varying intensity of the reflected light, and produces control signals to actuate the appropriate valves of an array of air blast rejection devices to remove from the feed certain particles selected by the analyzing process. Typical throughput per machine ranges from 50 tons/hour for a-2 ½? + 1 ¼? feed to 200 tons/hour for -6" +2 ¾ " material.

Jan 1, 1974

Coal cleat and faulting influence failure, gas release, and choice of preferred mining directions, locations, and sequences. Unfortunately soil and younger rock cover restrict direct mapping of these structures ahead of mining operations. Aerial photographs of cover contain indirect indications of concealed structures in arrays of linear photostructures. These arrays are commonly too complex for interpretation by simple visual inspection.Analytical techniques applicable to complex arrays are illustrated for a covered part of the Galilee Coal Basin, Queensland. These techniques are: optical determination of sets in arrays of photostructures; correlation of these sets with sub-surface structures; filtering of m-rays for particular sets; detection of anomalies associated with concealed structures in the density distributions of particular sets; fitting filtered arrays to trajectories; correlation of trajectories with the regional directional variations of concealed structures; contouring of ratios of sets to discriminate anomalies associated with concealed fractures and variations in the total and bed thicknesses of cover; kinematic and dynamic inference on the basis of fracture-trace angular and spatial relationships.

Jan 1, 1979

By Nord L. Gale

The discovery of important new ore deposits of lead, zinc, copper and silver in 1955 in Southeastern Missouri has resulted in the development of a thriving mineral industry known as the "New Lead Belt" or "Viburnum Trend", to distinguish it from the older lead producing areas to the East. This region has recently become the world's largest lead producing district with production in 1970 reaching 432,576 tons or 74.4% of the entire United States lead mine production. The area is heavily forested with rolling hills dotted with numerous clear running streams in the Clark National Forest of the Missouri Ozarks. The location is within 70 miles of St. Louis, Missouri and has a natural abundance of water resources which provide an important recreational area for fishing, hunting, camping and other outdoor activities. Until this recent development, the area was sparsely populated and industrialization was almost unknown. The infusion of $150 million in mining capital has brought about a dramatic change in the economic structure of the area and will almost surely be accompanied by changes in its environmental picture. In an effort to maintain this bountiful national resource and to evaluate the changes occurring in surface water quality and aquatic life forms present, an inter- disciplinary research program at the University of Missouri has been undertaken with the support of the National Science Foundation. Research has been carried out to determine background values, establish natural baselines, and to evaluate the extent and causes of changes in streams effected by mine water discharges and wastewater from ore milling operations. The unique topography of the "New Lead Belt" area allows the channelization of milling and smelter wastes to separate stream systems (Figure No. 1) thus allowing measurements of the pollutional effects on an individual basis.

Jan 1, 1973

By E. M. Wise, T. E. Kihlgren, N. B. Pilling

SYSTEMATIC data are presented on the relation of composition of nickel silvers to color, tarnish resistance, hardness and liquidus temperatures, for alloys containing up to 30 per cent nickel and 50 per cent zinc, further modified at certain nickel and zinc contents by 0 to 8 per cent of tin and 0 to 10 per cent of lead. Attention has also been directed, using a still more limited range of alloys, toward a study of tensile properties and such casting properties and characteristics as fluidity, shrinkage and pressure tightness. In some of these, rather broad ranges of composition are dealt with; in others, it has been expedient to focus attention on the Federal Specification 20 per cent nickel silver casting alloy, WWP-541.

Jan 1, 1935

By Craw D

Quaternary warping and uplift of antiformal schist ranges in Central Otago, New Zealand, has resulted in recycling of alluvial gold from widespread, generally weakly auriferous, Miocene fluvial gravels that unconformably overlie the schist, into aprons of fan sediments along the range margins. Basement erosion during uplift has been limited and so gold input from sparse gold-bearing quartz veins in the schist has been relatively minor. In an eluvial cycle on the slopes of the ranges, chemical remobilization of gold occurs during oxidation and erosion of the Miocene sediments. The typically fine-grained (300-400¦m) gold undergoes chemical modification and grain size enhancement of up to two orders of magnitude, and much of it is redeposited in a large number of relatively small alluvial fans along the range margins. Groundwater mobility within the fans results in minor additional gold mobility and grain size Enhancement.

Jan 1, 1995

By Yoon T. Auck, Milton E. Wadsworth

Column leach studies of two low grade prophyry copper ores were made with variables of size, flow rate, pH, drainage rate and tempature. Evidence is presented to show that, in some types of ores, sulfide minerals block leaching channels and regulate the rate of dissolution of gangue constituents. Basic iron sulfates, dissolved by introducing acid, provide oxidizing agent in the form of ferric ion in the absence of oxygen. Ferric ion then acts to release copper from the ore. Oxygen up-take was found to increase with the lowering of the pH and to follow parabolic kinetics attributable to the precipitation of basic iron salts within the pore channels. Slow drainage of residual gravitational water can seriously retard oxygen up-take during oxidation for particles in the coarse sand range. A model is presented for dump leaching in which a reaction zone connected by channels to the surface of the ore particle moves topo-chemically during the course of the reaction.

Jan 1, 1973

By G. E. Christidis, P. W. Scott

The deposits were formed from low-temperature alteration of pyroclastic rocks. Properties investigated include their cation exchange capacity, swelling capacity, pH, rheological properties, the green and dry compressive strengths, shatter index, wet tensile strength, compactability and permeability. It was found that deposits with abundant opal-CT have poor physical properties. The rheological and swelling properties were found to be influenced by the bentonite grade (smectite content) and the degree of disaggregation of the smectite quasi-crystals. The only deposits of high grade which had good foundry properties were those with no opal-CT. Hydrothermal alteration was detrimental to the physical and chemical properties of bentonites in that it decreased the smectite content and the pH and changed the smectite layer charge and the lattice dimensions

Jun 18, 1905

By John W. Tieman

Coal is a term applied to vegetable matter (trees, grasses, etc.) which was subjected to heat and pressure through geologic ages. This resulted in a change in both the physical and chemical properties. Because its chemical composition is variable, geologists classify coal as a heterogeneous mineral rather than a homogeneous mineral. Peat represents the initial, unconsolidated stage in the development of coal. This coalification continues with time and the application of temperature and pressure to lignite, subbituminous, bituminous, and anthracite toward the theoretical graphite end member.

Jan 1, 1981

By D Craw

Uplift of the antiformal ranges in Central Otago, New Zealand , has resulted in the progressive evolution of eluvial placer deposits in tectonic sediments on the range flanks and along their margins. The placers are derived from the reworking of fine-grained gold from the auriferous Manuherikia Group fluvial sediments which covered the basement prior to uplift of the ranges. Gold in the tectonic sediments at Matakanui shows a progressive increase in grainsize in successively younger sediments and nuggets in the youngest gravel sequence are up to two orders of magnitude larger than gold grains in the parent alluvial source. Most of the gold in the tectonic sediments is highly irregular in shape, commonly with delicate surface textures which could not have survived fluvial transport and are indicative of authigenic precipitation. Some coarse grains have been rounded by recycling, and further addition of authigenic gold has occurred. Placer gold values result from both physical and chemical enrichment during sedimentary recycling. Continued range uplift and back-thrusting of sediments on to the ranges results in recycling of earlier formed placer sediments. They also result in further enrichment of gold values through the incorporation of additional supplies of the parent alluvial source sediment The host sediments are widespread along the ranges and are not confined to sites of historic mining activity.

Jan 1, 1992

By S. G. Ozkan

Boron minerals of economic importance are primarily colemanite, tincal, and ulexite. Turkey and the United States are the leading producers of boron minerals and compounds. Other production includes datolite in Russia and synthetic colemanite in Chile. This paper will discuss various types of chemical and physical treatments of boron ores to produce the marketable minerals and compounds that are consumed in commercial products.

Jan 1, 1995

By Bidwell TJ, Servant S

Paste back-fill technology is gaining rapid acceptance in the Canadian mining industry. The authors were able to work on four different mining sites employing paste technology in their operation. In each site the paste hackfll is prepared with very fine tailings containing significant amounts of sulphur minerals. The research program involved laboratory testing on samples prepared in the laboratory, on control samples obtained at the hackfilll plant during pouring into the stopes and on core samples obtained from drilling in backfilled stopes. The laboratory testing provided detailed knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the paste backfill. The need for a means of measuring the in-situ mechanical properties of the backfill became clear. A review of various trials published in literature and an evaluation of available technology suggested the Cambridge Self-boring Pressuremeter. A first field campaign confirmed the efficiency and dependability of this instrument leading to the conclusion that it offers a very good method for the in-situ measurement of paste backfill properties.

Jan 1, 1998

By Tatiana ?. Sedysheva, Vladimir V. Ivanov, Michail E. Melnikov, Irina A. Pulyaeva

"INTRODUCTIONHydrogenetic Fe-Mn crusts are ubiquitous in the ocean basins and play an important role in marine mineral-deposit research because of their widespread occurrence and high concentrations of valuable and rare metals. Directed research, which started in the last quarter of the 20th century, has provided significant results, with substantial amounts of data produced on Fe-Mn crusts structure, composition, and distribution in the global ocean [3, 4 - 8]. Now, commercial interests gain more and more attention. Mining systems are being developed which involve fragmentation of the crusts and their separation from the substrate. The effectiveness of such activities greatly depends on physico-mechanical characteristics of the crusts and rocks on which they form. This determines the importance of the engineering geological study of the objects.This article comprises the results of the engineering geological studies of the crusts samples (72 samples) and their underlying rock substrates (75 samples), which were carried out during the research cruises 6-06, 6-07, 6-08, 6-13 (2006-2013) on the Magellan Seamounts guyots in the Western part of the Pacific Ocean by the specialists of the State Scientific Centre Yuzhmorgeologia [10 - 13, 19, 20]. The authors of the article directly participated in the studies mentioned above.MethodsEngineering geological studies were carried out on board of the research vessel Gelendzhik and in the laboratories of NPA «Sevmorgeologiya». The studies involved the determination of the following parameters:"

Jan 1, 2017

By J. H. Cloete, S. M. Bradshaw, D. K. Chibwe

"Modern tundishes have evolved as vessels to serve as the final step in refining of molten steel by removing inclusions and promoting thermochemical homogeneity.In this study the flow behaviour in a four-strand tundish was investigated by means of a ½-scale water model as well as numerical modelling. The numerical and physical models were used to characterize residence time distribution and calculate properties pertaining to tundish flow regime. Three different tundish configurations were investigated: a bare tundish with no flow control devices, a tundish with a turbulence inhibitor, and a tundish with both a turbulence inhibitor and a dam.The physical and numerical models showed that a tundish without flow control devices is prone to significant short-circuiting. A tundish with a turbulence inhibitor was shown to be successful in preventing shortcircuiting and provided surface-directed flow that might assist the removal of inclusions from the melt. However, it was also observed that the upward-directed flow caused the maximum turbulence kinetic energy near the surface to increase dramatically. The potential for slag entrainment should therefore be considered during the design and operation of tundishes with turbulence inhibitors."

Jan 1, 2015

By R. Hogg, S. Chander

"An overview of various physical and interfacial characterization methods for use in mineral processing is presented in this paper. The availability of a large number of characterization techniques and commercial instruments requires that the reliability and limitation of each be carefully examined. The choice of a method may depend upon the manner in which the information is to be used, for example in development of new processes, plant and process design, plant control, problem solving, etc. IntroductionThe behavior of particulate systems, in mineral processing and other applications, is primarily affected by the physical characteristics (size, shape, surface area, pore structure) of the particles and the nature of the different solid-fluid interfaces present. Mineral processing operations in general are either designed to modify and/or control physical and interfacial properties (grinding, classification, agglomeration, etc.) or are strongly influenced by them (flotation, flocculation, solid/liquid separation, etc.). Characterization of physical and interfacial properties should be an integral part of the development of new processes, plant and process design, and routine plant operation.Our purpose in preparing this article has been to present an overview of the current status of characterization, to point out areas of weakness, and to discuss the reliability and limitations of the various techniques, procedures, and instrumentation available. For more detailed discussion of methods, etc., the reader is referred to standard references.Sampling particulate solids.Sampling is a critical factor in any procedure for characterizing particulate materials — the reliability of characterization data is ultimately limited by the extent to which the sample used was truly represen¬tative of the population from which it was taken.Sampling from particulate solids involves two basic problems: (1) the selection of a random', unbiased sample and (2) choice of the appropriate sample size.The problem of sample selection involves the design of a sample collection procedure that ensures that every kind of particle in the population has the proper chance of being included in the sample without bias. Specific procedures such as the well-known cone-and-quarter technique have been developed and are discussed at length in the literature on particle characterization (Allen, 1981: Herdan, 1960: Gy, 1982)."

Jan 1, 1989

By R. Hogg, S. Chander

An overview of various physical and interfacial characterization methods for use in mineral processing is presented in this paper. The availability of a large number of characterization techniques and commercial instruments requires that the reliability and limitation of each be carefully examined. The choice of a method may depend upon the manner in which the information is to be used, for example, in development of new processes, plant and process design, plant control, problem solving, etc.

Jan 1, 1987

In the flotation of fine particles, problems arise which do not occur with coarse-ground pulps. For example, the presence of colloidal or near-colloid- al gangue particles gives rise to ex- cessive entrainment in the froth, with reduced grade as a consequence. If the values themselves are finely dissemi- nated, the recovery usually decreases as the particles diminish in size, so a low recovery is combined with poor grade. Sutherland and Wark (1955) referred to the complications arising from the presence of fines, indicating (p.382) that fine grinding "introduces diffi- culties that have not yet been satis- factorily overcome". At the time of writing, very little work has been done on fines flotation specifically, yet the groundwork has been well laid. The availability of better scientific instruments, together with the general advance of understanding in a wide variety of relevant research fields, has taken us a long way toward finding the reasons behind the problems as- sociated with fines, and also toward finding practical solutions. It would be useful to define what is meant by "fine" particles before going further. To some extent, the definition is somewhat elastic as far as flotation is concerned, because the density of the particles has a bearing on whether or not they act as fines. But in general we are dealing with particles less than about 20 pm in Diameter.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. J. Fleisch, C. P. Clingerman

THE recent installation of a combination dust catcher, gas washer and precipitator at Carrie blast furnaces of the Homestead Steel Works has given very satisfactory results. The following description of the gas-cleaning installation is based on actual operating experience. When Carrie blast furnace No. 3 was rebuilt the decision was made to fine-clean all the gas produced by the furnace, because the management wanted fine-cleaned gas for fuel in the stoves and boilers. In order to keep the installation cost as low as possible, the gas-cleaning system was streamlined. All by-pass lines and goggle valves for bypass lines were eliminated from the system. A radical departure from the use of 8-in. tubes in the Cottrell-type precipitators was made by using 12-in. diameter tubes in a single compartment, the single compartment being divided into two units by a single partition wall in the top header. THE FURNACE PROPER A few of the characteristic points and dimensions of the furnace proper are: [Hearth diameter 26 ft. o in. Bosh diameter 29 ft. 1 3/4 in. Stock-line diameter 20 ft. o in. Large-bell diameter 114 ft. 8 in. Small-bell diameter 6 ft. 6 in. Height of furnace from center of iron notch to bottom of large bell, closed 94 ft. 4 in. Height of furnace from center of iron notch to main platform 105 ft. o in.] The furnace top is equipped with a McKee revolving distributor, the operation of which is electrically interlocked with the skips, bell hoists, and coke-weighing and charging apparatus through a Freyn automatic charging control. The gas leaves the furnace first through four offtakes, 5 ft. g in. in diameter, then through uptakes that are approximately 85 ft. high, which feed into a single down-comer that is 9 ft. in diameter. DUST CATCHER The primary dust catcher installed (Fig. I) may be described as a single-cone type. The inlet pipe at the top of the dust catcher is g ft. in diameter; it is flared to a conical shape as it extends down inside the dust-catcher shell, which is 35 ft. in diameter, 37 ft. high on the straight side, and has a conical top and bottom. The slope of the bottom is 50° with the horizontal. The cone-shaped pipe inside the dust-catcher shell is 42 ft. high and is 19 ft. 7 in. in diameter at its bottom lip where it releases the gas in-

Jan 1, 1943

By Zay Jeffries

IT HAS been known for centuries that iron and steel could be hardened by cold hammering and that the metal could be restored to the normal condition by heating to a red heat and cooling either rapidly or slowly with nearly pure iron and slowly with steels containing considerable carbon. The art of tempering steels is also very old. When a medium- or high-carbon steel is quenched from a cherry-red heat, the hardness is increased; this hardness can be reduced by heating to various temperatures below the lower thermal critical point, which is near 700° C. The present paper will not consider these old and well-known changes in iron and steel below the thermal critical range but will confine itself to the more unusual changes, some of which have been studied recently. Stromeyer,1 for example, in 1886, reports that both working steel and heat treatment of steel in the blue-heat range are highly injurious. Recently, however, some metallurgists believe that the straightening of warped steel forgings at a blue heat produces a beneficial effect on the metal.2 The Engineering Division of the National Research Council has constituted a committee on Physical Changes -in Iron and Steel Below the Thermal Critical Range, which has the following personnel: R. R. Abbott, H. C. Boynton, William Campbell, J. V. Emmons, F. B. Foley, H. J. French, H. M. Howe, Zay Jeffries (chairman), F.C. Langenberg, J. A. Mathews, P. D. Merica, A. H. Miller, J. H. Nelson, G. A. Reinhardt, W. E. Ruder, H. F. Wood: This committee is studying several aspects of the physical changes in iron and steel. The results, reported in the literature and obtained by recent experimentation, will be given; this will be followed by a general theoretical discussion of the more important

Jan 2, 1920