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By G. E. McElroy

The Coeur d'Alene minim, district of Shoshone County, Idaho, has been one of the largest and most active lead-silver producing districts in the United States for the last 40 years. The mines of the district enjoy exceptional natural advantages with respect to ventilation in that the veins apex high on mountain sides and are most often developed to considerable depths, up to 2,000 feet, by adit and crosscut tunnels under conditions that develop large natural draft pressures; the increase of temperature of the rock with increase of depth from surface in at a low rate; and the average surface temperatures are low. These natural conditions have, in the main, resulted in well-ventilated mines with low temperature conditions throughout. However, where the development has been carried to considerable depths below the lowest level of surface entry, natural-draft ventilation has proved inadequate, and mechanical ventilation systems have been installed on the three largest mines of the district. Local conditions, more particularly those in dead-ended working places, have also required auxiliary ventilation by will fan-pipe units in these and other mines. A particular feature of the district is the number of exceptionally long crosscut tunnels that have been driven to provide entry to vein systems from low points adjacent to milling and transporta¬tion facilities. Three of these tunnels are approximately 2 miles long, and lengths of 3,000 to 8,000 feet are quite common.

Jan 1, 1931

By Roy J. Greenfield

The overall purpose of this research was to improve the understanding of how the post disaster seismic location system works, what determines the signal size, what is the character of the seismic noise, how well the system can detect blows from a trapped miner, and how well the source of the blows can be located. Based on an improved understanding of the system, improvements were suggested in the seismic subarray configuration, and in the system deployment procedures. An important part of this research was to become familiar with the seismic system operation and to work with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and MSHA personnel to modify and improve the system. To accomplish this we participated in the planning, execution, and data analysis for a number of seismic field tests. Several in-mine field tests were conducted. From these tests the capabilities of an in-mine seismic system were analyzed and specifications were made for designing an operational in-mine system. Several portions of the work done on this grant were covered in previous reports. In particular the capabilities or the presently operational surface based seismic location system has been thoroughly documented by Durkin and Greenfield (1981). Portions of the location procedures and effects of mine openings on seismic signals have also previously been published. These portions or the work will only be summarized in this final report.

Jan 1, 1982

By John A. Breslin

This report summarizes the principal activities and significant results of the Bureau of Mines respirable dust research program since passage of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977. This program has investigated new and improved techniques and equipment to reduce or prevent the formation of dust during the cutting cycle; to dilute, suppress, or collect airborne dust generated during mining, handling, and processing; and to improve the measurement of dust levels for evaluation of engineering controls and for enforcement of Federal dust standards. The report is intended for mining industry dust control specialists and other interested parties. It includes a brief summary of the program to date, a section on future research plans and goals, and a list of publications resulting from the Bureau's respirable dust program.

Jan 1, 1982

By S. F. Emmons

Jan 1, 1899

By C. H. Kats, E. G. Meiter, J. J. Bloomfield

"INTRODUCTION.Street manholes for underground power and signal circuits, and for sewers vary in size from small openings that a workman can enter, to large central vaults. As the gas hazards in manholes are similar to those in mines, the mine safety committee of the Bureau of Mines was asked whether the miners' flame safety lamp is a practicable device for indicating inflammable gases in manholes.The coal miner detects firedamp (methane or CH4) with his flame safety lamp by observing the luminous can or the increased length of flame that appears when 1.5 per cent or more of the combustible gas is present. The lamp flame also warns him of lack of oxygen by going out when the oxygen becomes less than 16 to L7 per cent. A tentative rule regarding the proposed use of safety lamps at manholes has been suggested previously as follows: ""Testing for gas: Do not enter manholes until you have .assured yourself that the manholes are free from dangerous gases, by testing with an approved safety lamp, by ventilation, or by other adequate methods."" The Bureau's committee recommended that miners' flame safety lamps are not suitable,testing in manholes because hydrogen gas may be formed therein. The flame safety lamps approved by the Bureau of Mines for use in aseous mines are safe in presence of methane and while not tested against the members of the paraffin hydrocarbon series (CnH2n+2) higher than methane they been have been used therein; the lamps should not be used in hydrogen or acetylene they can initiate explosions in presence of these gases."

Oct 1, 1925

By D. Tahija

"Hecla's Greens Creek silver-gold-lead-zinc mill began using carbon dioxide rather than sulphuric acid to control pH in April, 2015. High pH levels in the grinding and lead flotation circuits are caused by the presence of re-mined cemented paste backfill in mill feed and need to be lowered to achieve good flotation response. Carbon dioxide has proven to be quite effective at controlling pH in the lead circuit with greatly improved pH target attainment. The allowable amount of carbon dioxide used is not limited by effects on lead-zinc selectivity and by poor froth characteristics, as was the case with sulphuric acid. Startup and implementation went smoothly, with few operational issues needing to be resolved. Early results from implementation of the system and its effects on mill performance will be presented. INTRODUCTION Hecla Greens Creek is a silver-gold-lead-zinc mine producing flotation lead and zinc concentrates, as well as a gravity gold concentrate. Besides their base metal contents, both the lead and zinc concentrates carry precious metals. The circuit is largely conventional, with SAG and ball mill grinding being followed by graphite removal preflotation, then conventional lead flotation and conventional zinc flotation. Both rougher concentrates are treated in regrind steps, followed by cleaner flotation. The cleaners tails are treated in an unorthodox bulk circuit to produce a low-grade zinc-lead concentrate marketed to Imperial Process smelters (1). BACKGROUND Backfill and Flotation pH The Greens Creek mine is an underground operation in which mined areas, after ore extraction, are backfilled, using rammed paste or pumped slurry. The backfill consists of mill tailings to which approximately five percent Portland or similar cement is added to enhance its compressive strength. Later mining near backfilled areas inevitably results in a considerable amount of old backfill being mixed with new ore before being shipped to the mill. Depending on orebody geometry, mining methods etc., the amount of backfill in mill feed is often 20% to 25% and sometimes even higher. Commercial cement, and consequently backfill prepared using it, contains excess lime. Because of this, backfill in mill feed is indistinguishable from the addition of a large amount of lime, so mill natural pHs often range above 10 or even 11. Similar situations have been recognized for many years at mines throughout the world (2)."

Jan 1, 2016

By W. R. Ingalls

DUPING the last two years, and especially during the last six months, a number of important articles upon the new methods for the desulphurization of galena have been published in the technical periodicals, particularly in the Engineering and Mining Journal and in Metallurgie. I proposed for these methods the type-name of "lime-roasting" of galena as a convenient metallurgical classification,' and this term has found some acceptance. The articles referred to have shown the great practical importance of these new processes, and the general recognition of their metallurgical and commercial value which has already been accorded to them. It is my present purpose to review broadly the changes developed by them in the metallurgy of lead, in which connection it is necessary to refer briefly to the previous state of the art. The elimination of the sulphur-content of galena has been always the most troublesome part of the smelting-process, being both costly in the operation and wasteful of silver and lead. Previous to the introduction of the Huntington-Heberlein process at Pertusola, Italy, it was effected by a variety of methods. In the treatment of non-argentiferous galena concentrate, the smelting was done by the roast-reduction method (roasting in reverberatory furnace and smelting in blast-furnace); the roast-reaction method, applied in reverberatory furnaces; and the roast-reaction method, applied in Scotch hearths 2 Precipitation-smelting, simple, had practically gone out of use, although its reactions enter into the modern blast-furnace practice, as do also those of the roast-reaction method.

Sep 1, 1906

By Horace C. Porter

Much has been written of the changes undergone by coal in storage and the deterioration of coal through exposure to the weather. In order to obtain definite information for the benefit of the Government departments and of all who store coal in large quantities, a series of tests was begun in the fall of 1909 under the supervision of J. A. Holmes, then chief technologist of the United States Geological Survey, and was continued by the Bureau of Mines after its establishment in 1910. The tests were confined to determinations of the loss in heating value of the coals and did not include a study of other deterioration; for example, in coking quality or the yield of by-products in coking. The Bureau of Yards and Docks of the Navy Department cooperated in tests of New River (W. Va.) coal, a variety largely used by the Navy. A preliminary report presenting a brief account of the early results of these tests has been published by the Bureau of Mines as Technical Paper 16.a The detailed report is presented in this bulletin, which gives a full account of the tests and the analytical data covering a period of five years' storage. Data of somewhat similar experiments for shorter periods with gas coal from the Pittsburgh bed, with Pocahontas coal on the Isthmus of Panama, and with Sheridan, Wyo., subbituminous coal, which is used for railroad and other purposes in the West, are included.

Jan 1, 1917

By Hao Zhang

Site inspection is an important component of safety management system. In current practices, the inspectors evaluate the safety condition on a construction site with the assistance of a standardised checklist. However, the checklist emphasizes on evaluating the implementation of safety management system, but provides limited task-specific check items for assessing whether the individual construction tasks are conducted under safe condition and in a safe manner. To address this issue, the research presented in this paper aims to provide safety practitioners with comprehensive and taskspecific safety information to promote effective risk identification and facilitate strategic risk control during site inspection. Specifically, this research first builds a project-specific safety information database, which stores potential risks and control measures for each construction task. The research team then develops a mobile decision support tool to retrieve information from the database and support safer decision-making on site. The tool supports users in two ways: one is to provide daily risk checklists and risk control strategies to guide step-by-step inspection alongside the project schedule; the other is to let users input any safety-related keywords during the safety inspection process and the tool returns relevant safety information by applying text mining algorithms. It is ongoing research. This paper presents an overall research framework and discusses the progress in developing safety database and data retrieval concepts. The outcome of the project will help enhance safety management practices and reduce possible risky working conditions on a construction site.

Aug 1, 2013

By Daniel Carvalho, Marcos Viana, Leonardo Demuner, Herbert Castro

Intensive process and technology improvements related to the BOF converter — the key process to increase steel plant productivity and stability — have been performed at Ternium Brazil. This paper details the road map for process developments and investments in equipment technology, as well as the results achieved. The main topics of this development are the process control and optimization systems, slag forming model, oxygen blowing pattern, end-of-blow point control and slag carryover control. The outcomes of this development are improvements in the reblow rate, end-of-blow oxidation, direct tapping, slag carryover, slopping ratio, metallic yield and lining life.

Oct 1, 2019

By B. E. Field

Cobalt is a silvery white metal with a slight bluish cast. It strongly resembles nickel in its appearance and properties, notably its resistance to corrosion, although its alloys with other metals differ decidedly in their properties from those of nickel. The name "cobalt" was derived from the German Kobold, meaning goblin, and this came to be applied to the cobalt minerals which, although they resembled ores, did not readily yield metal when smelted by the primitive processes available in the Middle Ages. Cobalt minerals were used as pigments by potters and glass workers before the Christian era. Cobalt blue glass was found in the tombs of the Egyptians and in the ruins of Troy, and many colors used by the ancient Greeks and Romans contained cobalt. The ancients were entirely unaware that the colors they used were caused by cobalt and the metal itself was not isolated until about the middle of the eighteenth century, by Brandt, although the preparation of cobalt compounds had been carried on in a small way ever since the opening of the silver-cobalt deposits at Schneeberg, Germany, in 1470.

Jan 1, 1935

The Telfer Underground sublevel cave (SLC) Operation is located approximately 850 m below surface. The cave was designed to propagate through an old decline which was initially used to monitor the cave. There was a requirement to install air blast plugs at two locations in the old decline in order to isolate any potential air-blasts from the active workings in the event of the rock mass collapsing into the cavity. There was a further requirement for an air-blast plug in another section of the mine where there was a risk of the cave intersecting an old workshop and providing an air-blast pathway through an abandoned incline. The design criteria for the plugs was that they should withstand the design air blast loading, be free draining, cost effective and easily constructed with the mining expertise available on site. A plug consisting of grouted mullock was considered robust and least challenging to construct. For the purpose of estimation of maximum air pressure on plugs, it is supposed as a worst case that the rock above a cave falls as an airtight piston onto the top of a muck pile, forcing air into it and also mine workings intersected by the cave. Airflow through the muck pile is governed by Ergun's equation for turbulent flow. In a time-stepping integration scheme, transient air pressures and velocities are calculated according to equations of thermodynamics, in the cave and at intervals along intersected drives by means of a finite difference spatial discretisation. The ability of plugs to withstand computed pressures is assessed by finite element elastoplastic analysis. This paper outlines the rationale for potential air blast loading, calculation of transient air pressures, plug design and analysis of plug behaviour. The plug construction method is also discussed.

Nov 25, 2010

By Douglas B. Silver

"Editor’s note: Douglas B. Silver, Portfolio Manager, Orion Resource Partners, was the keynote speaker at the 2017 SME Annual Conference & Expo in Denver, CO on Feb. 19, 2017. He also gave the keynote address to the SME Annual Conference in 2008. The following is his 2017 keynote address with a few of the slides that were presented. The full speech is available on YouTube https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=uF0qwGJIX3UIn 2008, I had the privilege of giving SME’s keynote address. At that time the financial markets were on the verge of collapse and my presentation described the issues. Unfortunately I was correct, and global markets went into a steep nosedive, creating the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression.In hindsight, there were plenty of signs that this was coming. The Supercycle had created massive new wealth. This wealth was largely invested in the United States due to the country’s political stability and credit worthiness. In 2004, the large investment banks convinced the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow them to triple their borrowing leverage ratios. This made the banks more vulnerable to market volatility. The banks then lent money to NINJAS - people with no income, no job and no assets. Even worse was the fact that these unqualified home owners used adjusted-rate mortgages (ARMs) which they, of course, intended to refinance prior to interest rates rising. These mortgages were then bundled up by the banks and sold to investors as “safe” investment products. The money flowed into these products because the rating agencies gave these instruments high marks. These same agencies earned their fees from the very same banks seeking high ratings. (No conflict there). Private debt exploded and peaked out in 2008.These mortgage products were sold in an unregulated shadow banking system and the ARMs came due. Toxic mortgage default rates skyrocketed and the mortgage-backed securities collapsed in value. This house of cards had a negative feedback loop that accelerated the market crash and resulted in more than $1.5 trillion being lost in the securitization sector, a 47 percent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, foreclosure rates skyrocketing and housing prices collapsing. The financial markets were in a nosedive."

Jan 8, 2017

The principal dirnensions of the chimney were fixed as follows: Height from formation to coping, 328 ft. 8 in.; inside diameter concrete shell, 13 ft. Gin.; inside diameter of the 4~-in. brick lining. 11 ft. (j in. ; shell thickness above flue inlet at a point 39 ft. above formation, 1 ft. 8in.; shell thickness at coping, 6 in. That is, the inside of chimney is cylindrical, wldst the outside is gradually stepped inwards with of 1 in. and less until the shell is 6 in. thick only at the top. With these dimensions in mind, it will be seen that some close thought was necessary to ensure a satisfactory of fonn which could be kept rigid and plumb to a height and at the same time provide safe working conditions for the labourers employed.FOUNDATIONSThe spread base of the chimney is 45 ft. in diameter, and foundations were carried down to a depth of 8 ft. 6 in. below natural surface into good hard clay which was known to be the best foundation obtainable in the vicinity being capable of withstanding, when dry, a load of 3 tons to 4 tons per square foot, whereas dead load is 1A tons per square foot and the maximum load expeeted under the most severe wind condition is 2 tons per square foot to ensure the foundation being kept dry and unaffected by ground water, the site was surrounded by a ring drain at a distance of six feet from edge of concrete foundation and at a minimum depth of one foot below bottom of concrete. Open-jointed pipes were laid in the bottom ofthe drain and graded to a pipe drain with outfall clear of the site.

Jan 1, 1924

By G. H. Cutter

SAFETY in mining depends on wire rope to as great, if not greater, extent than in any other industry. Sudden failure of a shaft-hoist rope might easily result in death or serious injury to the operators and workmen, extensive damage to expensive equipment, and a loss in production while repairs are being made. A wire rope is only as good as its component parts. It must be made from wire properly drawn and treated. It must be fabricated on machines large enough and capable of imparting the necessary qualities to meet the stringent service conditions. However, unless the fundamental requirement of good ropemaking is recognized, all other operations, no matter how carefully performed, will not impart reliability and quality to the product. This fundamental requirement is steel that is homogeneous, of high resistance to fatigue, and of a type suitable for rope wire. Most wire-rope manufacturers agree that rope wire should be made from acid-open-hearth steel. It is comparatively easy to meet the same physical properties with basic steel, but such properties are only part of the requirements for good wire. It is absolutely necessary, particularly for rope service such as mining, where reliability is essential, that the wire be uniform throughout its entire length. Most manufacturers feel that this highly important requirement is better met by acid-open-hearth steel.

Jan 1, 1936

By A. D. McMahon

Changes in world mine and smelter supply sources of zinc have led to changes in zinc supply patterns in the United States during the past 3 years, 1970-72. The result has been a growing reliance on foreign sources of zinc metal to furnish an ever-increasing portion of expending domestic requirements. This review of fundamentals and historical developments is intended to provide background in order to place the future of the U.S. zinc industry fn perspective. The properties and uses of zinc are described. A new study on U.S. reserves is presented with description by geographical region and comparisons with older reserve data. The technology of the zinc industry from prospecting through refining is described with emphasis on the metallurgy involved in the various methods of smelting. Production, consumption, and imports are discussed and illustrated with graphs and tables to review the past and present patterns. Government actions affecting the industry are shown.

Jan 1, 1974

By J B. McConnell

The Thompson smelter has three unique features which form the basis ~f its design: fluid bed roasters which treat nickel concentrate filter cake from the mill, as well as the flux, in order to achieve partial desulphurization; the use of electric furnaces for the smelting of the partially desulphurized, preheated roaster product; and the disposal of slag by water granulation and slag slurry pumping. The installation consists of three fluid bed roasters, each feeding an electric furnace. Nickel concentrate is received at the smelter via pipe line. It is thickened and filtered, and the filter cake, together with siliceous flux, is fed through rotary bin feeders and reciprocating double-gate seals into the fluid bed roasters. Air injected into the roasters through club-head tuyeres oxidizes part of the sulphur and associated iron in the concentrate. The heat of reaction dries and heats the charge. Roaster product is recovered from the gas stream in cyclones and from the roaster bed through automatic valves.

Jan 1, 1963

By G. Hamel

The LCL&L process (Low Caustic Leaching & Liming) is a patented hydrometallurgical route developed by Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) to economically process spent pot lining (SPL) generated by aluminum cells. The three resulting end-products (carbonaceous, fluorinated and caustic liquor) are inert and have valorization possibilities. An industrial size pilot plant located in Saguenay (Quebec) was inaugurated in mid-2008 to demonstrate and optimize the technology. This paper describes characteristics of the LCL&L process and the experience acquired by RTA since the plant's start-up, including ramp-up capacity and technology challenges that were overcome. Possible end-products valorization methods are also presented. The carbonaceous end-product can be separated into carbon and brick rich fractions and used as either alternative fuel, reducing agents, or as raw material for third party processes. The development of a conversion process for the fluorinated end-product would allow its reuse as a substitute to fluorspar mineral for aluminum fluoride production. Finally concentrated caustic liquor is already valorized at the nearby RTA Vaudreuil alumina refinery.

Jan 1, 2011

By T. S. Fuller

THE work of D. J. McAdam1,2 at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Md., on what has been called by him "corrosion fatigue" has focussed the attention of the engineering profession in general, and of those interested especially in the study of corrosion in particular, on the importance of making tests which will indicate as nearly as possible what can be expected from a given material in service. Pitting is unquestionably the chief agent operating so tremendously to reduce fatigue limits, but in the light of previous work3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 it is fair to assume that absorbed hydrogen resulting from the action of the corroding medium upon steel may, under certain conditions, have a perceptible influence. The experiments described in this paper deal more precisely with stressless corrosion, or "prior-corrosion fatigue, "9 and have been carried out to test such an assumption, to segregate, if possible, the effect of pitting from that of absorbed hydrogen, and although very preliminary in nature they indicate results which are striking.

Jan 1, 1929

By T. S. Fuller

The work of D. J. McAdam, Jr.1,2 at the U. S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station, Annapolis, Md., on what has been called by him "corrosion-fatigue" has focussed the attention of the engineering profession in general, and of those interested especially in the study of corrosion in particular, on the importance of making tests which will indicate as nearly as possible what can be expected from a given material in service. Pitting is unquestionably the chief agent operating so tremendously to reduce fatigue limits, but in the light of previous work3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 it is fair to assume that absorbed hydrogen resulting from the action of the corroding medium upon steel may, under certain conditions, have a perceptible influence. The experiments described in this paper deal more precisely with stressless corrosion, or "prior-corrosion fatigue,"9 and have been carried out to test such an assumption, to segregate, if possible, the effect of pitting from that of absorbed hydrogen, and although very preliminary in nature they indicate results which are striking.

Jan 1, 1929