Annual Meeting Preliminary Program - Full Brochure (PDF) - SME

TECHNICAL PROGRAM
10:05 AM
Heat and Contaminant Study at a Wyoming Trona Mine
A. Habibi 1 , R. Kramer 2 and S. Gillies 1 ; 1 Mining and Nuclear, Missoyri
S&T, Rolla, MO and 2 Engineering Department, FMC Corporation,
Rock Springs, WY
The underground Trona mine is located near Green River, WY with the annual
production of 4.5 million tons. The mine has three active development panels
and a longwall. The mining horizon is roughly about 500 meters below surface.
Three surface axial fans provide the air for the mine. The ventilation survey and
subsequent studies have been conducted to prepare a ventilation model.
Currently, the intake air at all three intake shafts is heated by heat exchangers
which use natural gas. Air heating during the winter is essential for miner comfort
as well as to prevent potential freezing of pipelines in the shaft and the mine.
The geothermal heating study has been conducted in one of the active panels to
determine the rock attributes. Methane sensors have been installed in an active
development panel return drift to continuously monitor the methane spread. This
paper presents the heat and contaminant simulation results using Ventsim Visual
software to determine the adequate amount of surface heating rate and the possibility
of minimizing the natural gas consumption at the mine.
10:25 AM
A Case Study for Mine Wide Ventilation Monitoring System with
HMI-SCADA Including Fire Suppression Annunciation
A. Rai; Barrick Turquoise Ridge Inc, Winnemucca, NV
Barrick Turquoise Ridge mine is an extremely competitive underground operation.
With current market pressure, increased production rates with safety are desirable
for a gold mine. Thus the importance of accurate design and efficient ventilation
monitoring system becomes essential for continuous operation. In dealing
with these variable parameters, its important to avoid any major accidents like fire
etc. Apart from providing adequate ventilation, the real question is how to validate
in realtime and place major real estate infrastructure on a single network.
Additionally, to help enhance the safety of personnel as well as property for fire
monitoring and annunciation is paramount. The paper discussed design, engineering,
installation and commissioning of the mine wide monitoring system with
HMI-SCADA including ventilation and fire suppression annunciation system.
10:45 AM
Modeling of Strata Gas Liberation into the Mine Drifts with
Time-dependent Ventilation
G. Danko and D. Bahrami; Mining Engineering, University of
Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV
It is important to predict the amount of gas contaminant liberated from the surrounding
rockmass into the ventilating airway in an underground mine to better
assess the health and safety of the underground environment. A reliable and accurate
modeling tool for gas liberation from strata to the mine drifts is essential
for predicting the performance of various ventilation design scenarios as well as
for controlling a VOD system. Darcy-type flow of gas in fractured and porous
strata can be modeled using TOUGH2 or NUFT which are both commercial,
multi-component, multi-phase porous-media codes. However, they are not coupled
to any ventilation network solution. MULTIFLUX, a coupled ventilation
and thermal-hydrologic-contaminant model couples the strata model to the ventilation
network solution. The method of coupling uses the Numerical Transport
Code Functionalization (NTCF) method which can be applied to import either
TOUGH2 or NUFT without merging codes. The NTCF technique enables a
large ventilation network to solve together with the strata model for every airway
branch in a computationally efficient way.The paper presents the theory of the
coupled model and a numerical example.
Mining & exploration:
technology: Widgets, Wands and
Whatchamacallits: new technology for the
Mining Industry and What it does
9:00 AM • Wednesday, February 27
chair: L. Sierra, Newmont Mining Corporation, Elko, NV
9:00 AM
Introductions
9:05 AM
Rapid Mineralogical Analysis for Mineral Exploration
B. Curtiss; ASD, Inc., Boulder, CO
Many deposit types have associated diagnostic mineral signatures defined by underlying
deposit models. Since alteration often extends well beyond a deposit,
mapping of alteration zones provides a useful exploration vector. Reflectance
spectroscopy enables the geologist to characterize many alteration minerals associated
with economic deposits. While field portable spectrometer systems enable
identification of these minerals in the field, the expertise required to perform
identifications using currently available systems is quite high. We have adapted
several automated spectral analysis approaches to run in real-time with a field
portable spectrometer system. These approaches perform automatic identification
of the top three to four spectrally active minerals and present results to the
user in a clear, easy to interpret display.
9:25 AM
A Primer on Shouldered Pipe-joining Systems for Large-diameter
Abrasive Services
M. Carriere; Victaulic, Easton, PA
Joining large-diameter pipe for abrasive services such as tailings and slurry lines
can be a challenge. Traditional joining methods have limitations that force engineers
and owners to compromise in one or more areas. Shouldered pipe-joining
systems, also known as ring systems, solve these challenges and offer advantages
such as accommodation of thermal expansion and contraction, quick and simple
installation, ease of maintenance and cost savings. By maintaining the full pipewall
thickness, shouldered systems reduce internal wear and allow for rotation to
even out wear patterns and extend the service life of the piping. In addition, most
systems offer a flexible coupling option that permits limited linear and angular
movement to accommodate expansion, contraction and deflection without requiring
expansion joints. With as few as two bolts on each coupling, shouldered
systems can cut installation time in half compared to a flanged system. Material
and total-installed costs of shouldered systems are generally lower than heavyduty
flanges, reducing costs. In addition to the advantages, the paper will review
how such systems work and how they compare to alternative joining methods.
9:45 AM
Development of Multivariate Models for the Quantitative
Prediction of Mineral Properties Using Near-infrared Reflectance
Spectroscopy
D. Shiley; SummitCAL Solutions Team, ASD, Inc., Boulder, CO
Near-infrared (NIR) reflectance spectroscopy can be used in combination with
NIR-based multivariate models that simultaneously consider large numbers of
spectral points to predict sample composition. Although NIR-based multivariate
models have been widely accepted for quantitative and qualitative analysis within
agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial markets they are not widely known in
mining applications or for quantitative modeling of minerals. Multivariate calibration
models can be developed using NIR spectra to predict mineral composition
or metallurgic response. The use of such predictive models with NIR spectra
can provide valuable information on mineralogy that can be used to supplement
traditional measurement of these important parameters on a real-time basis.
Considerations for creation of NIR-based multivariate models will be discussed
in this presentation.
This is the Technical Program as of September 1, 2012. IT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
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Please see the Onsite Program for final details.