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By John Ellenberger

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has collected pillar and span data at 34 stone mines in 10 states to develop pillar and roof span design guidelines for underground stone mines. Pillar, floor and roof conditions each contribute significantly to the overall mine stability. The roof may be stable for a century, or it may appear to be stable but fail with little warning. Clearly, an assessment of the mine roof is critical to the safety of these operations. However, up until now, the assessment of the mine roof came primarily from exposures in roof falls or portal areas. This provides only limited information, and a more proactive approach is needed to assess changing mine conditions. A separate effort was undertaken to examine the roof structure with the use of a borescope. Numerous physical and geologic roof structures were observed with a stratascope/borehole video camera. The objective of this work was to develop a technique of assigning numerical values to features seen within the mine roof and apply those values to formulate a roof stability evaluation. Such features as changes in color, grain size, and general lithologies are readily observed. Minor structures in the rock, fossils and fractures are also readily identified. Each feature may have a variable and site-specific impact on roof quality. A number of mines were visited and a series of holes were borescoped in each mine. The features identified in the roof were classified and potential for roof damage related to each feature was assessed. A process is presented that relates the structures and their locations to provide a numerical value, or roof quality index that can be used to assess roof stability.

Jan 1, 2009

By Drain P, Dibdin T. R

THE completion of the Linda incline man and supply haft at the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Oompany's mine led to an investigation of the various safety gears in general use in mining shafts. One of these gears completely fulfilled the necessaryconditions. This paper endeavours to give a description of the man car and safety gears now operating in the before mentioned shaft, together with the main considerations leading to their design and sub equent adoption. Fig 1 diagramatically shows a longitudinal section of this shaft.

Jan 1, 1911

By S. O?Connor

When one looks back and does assessments of what has been the key ingredient in achieving success in our safety efforts, there are many issues that spring to mind and cover a wide array of elements. One does not know which has the ultimate maximum effect. In his presentation yesterday, Alan Peers, our SHEQ leader, covered a lot of detail with the way we are managing safety at Modikwa. I have attempted to identify some of the key essentials in making the mine safe. Passion Safety is addressed with a passion that is unbelievable at times. When I get phoned because an incident has occurred and in reporting the incident, there are already action plans being put in place to prevent re-occurrences, you understand the commitment to put employees? safety first. You hear the disappointment in your subordinates? voices when they have to share the fact that an incident or accident has occurred.

Jan 1, 2011

By Magne L, Barria J, Castro O, Menacho J, Gonzalez GD

An extensive experimental campaign was developed in a continuous 6 x 2' (D x L) pilot scale SAG mill. The effect of the feed flow rate, feed solids concentration, ball filling fraction and feed size distribution, over the mill performance was investigated. The residence time distribution (RTD) for the fine material was measured in every test, in order to detect changes in the mixing characteristics of the mill under different operating conditions. Based on phenomenological considerations a state model of the SAG mill was developed, which independently incorporates mechanisms such as: grinding, mass transport and classification in the grate discharge. These can be parametrised using information and optimisation software. This comminution model extends the compensation condition, which is a conventional hypothesis for ball milling, to the semi-autogenous mill grinding. The mathematical analysis of this hypothesis, applied to SAG mills, allow the reduction of the number of parameters in the model, using the relationship Ki = (1-bii)Si, where b and S have the conventional meaning. Therefore, the distribution fracture matrix bij and the specific fracture rate SIE are grouped in just a single diagonal matrix Ki.

Jan 1, 1993

By MEHMET KIZIL, PETER KNIGHTS, ROYAL REA

A 1/20 scale experimental dozer push test rig was designed and constructed to quantify the expected production rates (loose cubic metres per hour) for dozers operating in hard rock bulk push applications. The particle size distribution of the material employed in the test rig was modelled on a fragmented muckpile representative of that for a typical surface copper/gold mine overburden. A commercially available road base material was found to be highly representative of site conditions. Buckingham Pi theory was applied to mathematically develop factors for scaling up dozer productivity parameters, including blade loads and push times. Dozer production rates were investigated for various dozing distances and slope angles. A series of instantaneous productivity curves were produced which are applicable for use in hard rock dozer push operations. Currently, it is difficult to estimate dozer push productivity in hard rock environments due to dozer productivity correction factors that are empirical in nature and provide only discrete, end-point values for a range of operating conditions. The productivity curves produced demonstrate that dozer productivity declines rapidly over the range of 10 m to 40 m. As such, it is recommended that efficient bulk dozing operations in hard rock mining blocks should not exceed 40 m dozing distance. Further testing of muckpile conditions with increased clay and moisture content would be beneficial in order to better understand and quantify the effects of cohesion on hard rock dozer push productivity.

Nov 23, 2021

By MEHMET KIZIL, PETER KNIGHTS, ROYAL REA

A 1/20 scale experimental dozer push test rig was designed and constructed to quantify the expected production rates (loose cubic meters per hour) for dozers operating in hard-rock bulk push applications. The particle size distribution of the material employed in the test rig was modeled on a fragmented muckpile representative of that for a typical surface copper/gold mine overburden. Buckingham Pi theory was applied to mathematically develop factors for scaling up dozer productivity parameters, including blade loads and push times. Dozer production rates were investigated for various dozing distances and slope angles. A series of instantaneous productivity curves were produced which are applicable for use in hard-rock dozer push operations. The productivity curves produced demonstrate that dozer productivity declines rapidly over the range of 10 to 40 m.

"A method is described for determining the viability of hard rock orebody extraction by block caving. Using a very limited amount of geotechnical data, the procedure enhances Laubscher’s empirical stability graph method by using the complex structural modelling system (ChaSM) to assess cavability and block cave tonnages.IntroductionIn considering the selection of suitable mining methods, block caving has gained popularity over other extraction systems in recent years (Butcher, 1999). This has been ascribed to the fact that block caving is the lowest cost per ton mining method, with orebodies that were in the past considered unsuitable for caving, now being successfully mined. However, even though all orebodies will cave, a problem exists in the evaluation of economic viability — it is necessary to be able to predict both when the orebody will cave and what will be the sizes of the initial ore fragments (and the associated tonnages) that report to the drawpoints. This problem is compounded by the fact that, during the scoping study phase of a project, only limited geotechnical data may exist on which to base an assessment of whether block caving is viable or not. Empirical and numerical methods of cavability assessment do not account for the full effects of geological discontinuity trace lengths, nor for the stress regime. Those require significant geotechnical data to be available. The result is that uncertainty may exist as to whether block caving is an economic option. This uncertainty is complicated by the fact that limited experience exists with the caving of more competent orebodies.This paper describes a method for assessing cavability, and for predicting the size of initial ore fragments and the tonnages reporting to block cave drawpoints, using only the level of data normally available during a scoping study. Fragment size and tonnages are assessed by identifying potentially unstable blocks and wedges in the undercut back using statistical joint data. The effects of lateral confining stresses are accounted for by comparing the in situ stress orientations with the joint orientations. To evaluate the accuracy of the method, a back analysis exercise was conducted to predict cavability and initial tonnage for a mine in which the actual behaviour is known. The method is then applied to cavability and tonnage predictions for a hard rock orebody."

Jan 1, 2002

By B Yang, S M. Aminossadati

Transporting coal by means of conveyor belts is very common in Australian underground coal mines. Major conveyor belt-related mining incidents are now relatively infrequent as a result of recent improvements in engineering standards and use of fire-resistance materials. However, conveyor belts have the potential for incidents capable of causing either personal or structural damage. In addition, any unexpected break down of rolling components or failure of belts creates a significant interruption to the production that is a major concern for operators whose responsibility is to achieve the optimum mining production.Currently, underground coal conveyor belts are examined for the presence of any overheating, smouldering or unsafe conditions likely to cause a fire. Periodic inspection of operating conveyor belts is carried out with the aim of detecting any local heat sources in an early stage. This includes temperature measurements of the driving head, idlers and rollers using hand-held temperature sensors such as infrared cameras or laser temperature sensors. The disadvantages of current conveyor belt temperature monitoring systems include high labour and equipment costs, safety risk to personnel who are in close proximity to moving conveyors, the ability to take line of site measurements only and potential for missed overheated idlers. Some of the conveyor idlers in underground coal operations cannot be accessed for traditional temperature measurements. This introduces a significant risk to the operation of critical infrastructure.A distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system can be used to develop an advanced conveyor belt temperature monitoring system that provides real-time, accurate and continuous temperature measurements along a conveyor belt particularly at the rolling components. The DTS system comprises of fibre optic detection cable, DTS controller and interfacing module. The advantages of the system include the accuracy, low-cost, easy installation, robustness, safety, immunity to radio frequency and electromagnetic interference, real-time data collection, and secure data transmission. This paper presents a scoping study on the development and utilisation of a fibre optic-based DTS system for underground coal conveyor belts. The mechanism of heat generation, the operation temperature range and the installation issues of fibre optic cable along the conveyor belt particularly in close proximity to each end of the spindle on every idler will be discussed.CITATION:Aminossadati, S M and Yang, B, 2013. A scoping study on fibre optic-based temperature monitoring of underground coal conveyor belts, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference , pp 35-42 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 1, 2013

By Henry G. Granger

NOTHING in this paper is to be understood as even suggesting a moment's suspension of the splendid work now going forward on the Isthmus of Panama, except so far as it is related to the proposed locks. All the work already done, and all material purchased or ordered, would be available for the plan herein proposed. The situation and the problem concerned may be summarized as. follows : The scheme of a lock-canal through the Isthmus of Panama was adopted, as is well known, on two principal grounds-namely, the greater expense of a sea-level canal, and the longer time required for its construction. Of these, the latter is believed to have been the more influential. But further developments have diminished the weight of both, so that a reconsideration of the question is warranted. It is the purpose of this paper to advocate such a reconsideration-emphasizing the importance of certain objections to the lock-canal not mentioned or not duly appreciated in the report of those members of the International Board of Consulting Engineers who favored this form; showing the nature and bearing of the new facts developed; and, finally, proposing a combination of well-known methods and apparatus, which would, in my judgment, effect the construction of a sea-level canal in less time, and perhaps at no greater cost, than will be required for the remaining work on the lock-canal. I. OBJECTIONS TO A LOCK-CANAL. 1. Earthquakes. Two centuries ago Panama is said to have been destroyed by an earthquake. In 1882 a rather violent earthquake was felt at the southern end of the Isthmus. In 1898 I felt a slight shock near the present border-line of Colombia. In 1900 I felt three shocks at Quibdo, the head of navigation of the

Jan 1, 1909

By Lewis M. Haupt

Discussion of the paper of Mr. Granger, presented at the New Haven meeting, February, 1909, and published in Bulletin No. 25, January, 1909, pp. 1 to 37. LEWIS M. HAUPT, Philadelphia, Pa. (communication to the 'Secretary*) :-This subject is of great interest to me, and I am noting progress and conditions as a test of my own judgment in advocating what I believed to be the nearer, cheaper and better route at Nicaraugua. I have as yet learned nothing to change my views, or modify the convictions which led me to retire from the Commission; but that is not the issue to-day. Our government is committed to the Panama route, and is bound to " make good." There are many points presented by Mr. Granger which seem to me worthy of very serious consideration. But when all is said there remains the risk of seismic convulsions, to which either form of canal is subject; and I fail to see that the risk would be reduced by making the cut deeper, with greater surcharge of lateral pressure upon the side walls. A severe earthquake in the rainy season would doubtless close either type of canal. One of the arguments in favor of the Panama route most insisted on, was that Nature had provided good natural harbors at its termini. Recalling this, it has interested me to note that the cost of creating the necessary harbors is estimated at $27,000,000. Mr. Granger refers to this, and quotes the Board's report to the effect that, on the Atlantic side, it will require 5 miles of jetties to " make an excellent harbor out of a wretched one." The vulnerable part of Mr. Granger's paper seems to me to lie in the admission that the plant required is still in the embryonic stage, and that at least one machine should be built and tested " to demonstrate that the theoretical strains and forces work out in practice exactly as expected." This, how-

Jul 1, 1909

The Indonesian province of Papua is a remote jungle-clad region covering the western half of the mountainous island of New Guinea. Despite being relatively under-explored to this day,Papua is home to the greatest mineral success story of the 20th century. The Grasberg/Ertsberg minerals district atop the central dividing range contains the worldÆs largest reserve of both copper and gold (Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, 2002). With large mines at Ok Tedi,Por gera and Lihir,and many well-delineated resources such as Frieda River,Wafi and Hidden Valley, neighbouring Papua New Guinea,the eastern half of New Guinea has enjoyed sustained exploration campaigns for gold and copper since the mid 1960s. The combined Grasberg and PNG exploration successes can be measured in terms of ounces of gold produced over the last decade versus available landmass,conf irming the island of New Guinea and surrounding islands as a world-class destination for gold explorers. Yet despite this obvious regional prospectivity and the profitability of the Grasberg operation, a sustained exploration effort in the Papua province in Indonesia has not been achieved. Periodic political constraints, poor infrastructure, high costs, operational challenges, social and environmental concerns and lack of immediate exploration success often impact exploration investment decisions. Accordingly a lesser number of mineral occurrences have been documented in Papua compared to those seen along tectonic strike in geologically similar Papua New Guinea.

Jan 1, 2004

By G. Roberts, S. S. Klima, W. R. Reed, J. Deluzio, G. Ross, A. Mazzella

The abstract discusses the problem of silicosis among roof bolter operators in coal mines due to respirable quartz dust (RCS) exposure. It presents a study comparing a new wet box collection system to the traditional dry box system. The wet box system uses water to saturate collected material, reducing RCS exposure during cleaning. The study found that the wet box system significantly reduced RCS exposures and quartz content in samples compared to the dry box system.

May 11, 2022

Proposals for engineering works in the River Dement in recent years have been made in the context of very little geological informat- ion. Breakage of the Tasman Bridge, forced a complete re-appraisal and collection of inform- ation in order to select a new site and predict problems. Seismic, magnetic and gravity methods foll- owed by drilling have allowed an assessment of the nature, thickness and distribution of mater- ials underlying the river bed. Key discoveries included recognition of low seismic velocity silts (1100 m/s) and a separate channel for the river since the Late Tertiary.

Jan 1, 1977

By W. G. Mine

In September, 1953, seismographs were installed in the Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta and British Columbia to study the 'bumps' which were occurring in the coal mines at Fernie and Coleman, and to investigate the possibility that they might be related to minor earthquakes in the area. During the initial phase of the work, three seismographs were operated at widely separated stations, two in the region of coal mines at Coal Creek and Coleman and one at Turner Valley, distant from any mining operations. Some earthquakes were recorded at all three stations and, in addition, many small disturbances were recorded by the seismographs located near the mines, especially -by the instrument at Goal Greek. A closer network of radio-linked seismographs was then in-stalled near Fernie, the records of which definitely established that the small disturbances were occurring in the mine workings, both active and inactive. No relationship was established between bumps and local earth-quakes in the area. This work was initiated as a -co-operative effort with the Fuels Di-vision of the Mines Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, which has undertaken a study into the phenomena of ground stress relief in underground mine workings.

Jan 1, 1958

The blasting process involves a complex interaction of a delayed sequence of moving sources of seismic energy which produce nonlinear behaviour near the blast holes. A deterministic description of this nonlinear behaviour represents a formidable problem. The modelling of blast vibrations remote from the blast source may use some of the primary features of the blast design such as charge type, charge weight and initiation sequence. Such modelling of blast vibrations usually assumes linear behaviour remote from the blast holes. Site specific charge weight scaling laws may be used to predict the blast vibration levels with relatively poor accuracy. An important ingredient which is missing from charge weight scaling laws is the seismic source wavelet emanating from each blast hole. The present paper considers some approaches which may be used to determine a suitable source wavelet. The wavelets are suitable for use in the region where linearity may be assumed. In that region, it is possible to model the attenuation and scattering of the seismic wave as it propagates from the blast source to the measurement location.

Jan 1, 1990

By Sivan Iswaran, Will McLean

This paper details a 2MLD ion exchange water treatment plant which selectively removes arsenic, antimony, iron, hardness, and sulphate from mining water; designed to meet environmental quality indicators such as sulphates. The client, Fosterville Gold Mine Pty Ltd, is owned by Kirkland Lake Gold and is one of the world’s highest grade gold mines. The site located near Melbourne, Australia had identified a risk of reduced mine water storage capacity due to surface run-off and increased sulphate rich dewatering of the underground mine at depth. Clean TeQ Water carried out the project management, process design, procurement, and commissioning for the plant, which was handed over in August 2020.

Sep 30, 2022

By Q. H. Bui

The elastoplastic self-consistent model is one of the effective models to study the initial microstructure effect on the mechanical behavior of bulk materials. However, the use of this micromechanics-based model which takes into account only the Hall-Petch relationship at grain level for predicting the grain sized effects on the strength of the deformed materials is not accurate yet because of the fact that the dislocation density contributes also to the strengthening of this kind of materials. In this study, a modification made to the Hill-Hutchinson elastoplastic self-consistent model was proposed for investigating the microstructure dependence of the mechanical behavior of cold-drawn 6063 aluminium tubes. Because of the novel modification, an estimation procedure with two steps was required to identify the parameters of this micromechanical model. An acceptable agreement between experimental and theoretical stress-strain curves was achieved.

Jan 1, 2011

By Julian Malnic

The emerging marine minerals exploration and mining industry is currently focused mainly on the technical elements for its success such as developing exploration and mining technologies. However, in one sense, the technical challenges are quite soluble whereas those arising in the fields of the environment and public opinion could present this new generation of miners with problems that are far more difficult to overcome. One need only look at the issues currently faced by mining projects on land to see how powerful the new forces of so-called ?civil society? are in stopping mineral developments in many countries. From the geographic viewpoint, there are many countries but there is just one ocean, so the impacts experienced by any one operation are likely to have pervasive repercussions throughout the industry. A well-oiled NGO development protest lobby will see leverage in resisting this new industry and will seize on the single-ocean angle. The Australian Minerals Industry has established a voluntary Code for Environmental Management that provides an active and valuable model for satisfying the ?court of public opinion? and in delivering economic results to industry that are in current jargon, sustainable. An explanation of the Code for Environmental Management, and the reasons behind 44 companies representing more than 300 operations and 85% of Australia?s sizeable mineral production being signatory to it will be given. Participants see it as a means to future shareholder wealth.

Jan 1, 2000

A semi-automatic device has been constructed that can be used to check the solution strength of cyanide solutions. It consists of a wheel on which a gold-foil-bearing glass slide is mounted. The wheel moves the gold foil through the solution under test and intercepts a light beam. As the gold foil is attacked by the cyanide solution its light absorption diminishes. The successive in-crease in transmitted light intensity is recorded and gives a measure of the gold dissolution rate. Curves have been obtained to show the effect of cyanide concentration and oxygen content on dissolution rates. Details are presented of the construction of the unit, and some practical operating procedures are outlined. 0 NE of the important, although often neglected, factors in the extraction of gold by cyanidation is the actual dissolving strength of the cyanide solution. This depends in a

Jan 1, 1964

By R. M. Goktan

Point-attack picks are one of the most widely used tools for the mechanical excavation of rock and coal. In the literature, some practical formulas have been developed to estimate their performances under varying cutting conditions such as the pick geometry, cutting depth and cutting geometry. In this study, it is shown that Evans?s theoretical model, the most cited in the literature, has serious limitations concerning the changes in the cutting geometry. Analysis of the two independent full-scale linear rock cutting experimental data reveals that both his theory and its recent modification can not fully explain the mechanism of rock breakage under asymmetrical attack. The cutting force predictions made by employing such models are shown to be too significantly weak to be of any service in practice. In this study, a semi-empirical approach was followed by means of which cutting forces under varying cutting geometries could be made. By analysing the full-scale rock cutting test data, prediction equations of the peak cutting force and mean cutting force have been developed. Comparisons of laboratory determined and predicted force values indicate that the suggested prediction equations are applicable to quite different rock materialsm which have uniaxial compressive strength in the range of about 30?170MPa, and valid for different cutting geometries. It is also shown by regression analysis that the established prediction equations are statistically significant.

Jan 1, 2005