Delaying mining project will help Serbia’s president

Headline SERBIA: Delaying mining project will help president

Addressing the issue of undeclared work – Part I: Applying associative classification per the CRISP-DM methodology

Addressing undeclared work is a high priority in the labor field for government policymakers since it adversely affects all involved parties and results in significant losses in tax and social security contribution revenues. In the last years, the wide use of ICT in labor inspectorates and the considerable progress in data exchange have resulted in numerous databases dispersed in various units, yet these are not effectively used to increase their functions productivity. This study presents a detailed analysis of a data mining project per the CRISP-DM methodology aiming to assist the labor inspectorates in dealing with undeclared work and other labor law violations. It uses real past inspections data merged with companies characteristics and their employment details and examines the application of two Associative Classification algorithms, the CBA and CBA2, in combination with two types of datasets, a binary and a four-class. The produced models are assessed per the data mining goals and per the initial business objectives, and the research concludes proposing an innovative inspections recommendation tool proved to offer two major benefits: a mechanism for planning targeted inspections of improved efficiency and a knowledge repository for enhancing the inspectors understanding of those features linked with labor law violations.

The Economics of Coking Coal Mining: A Fossil Fuel Still Needed for Steel Production

Coking coal has been on the European list of critical raw materials since 2014 due to its high economic importance and high supply risk. In 2017, coking coal narrowly missed passing the threshold of economic importance. However, out of caution, it remained on the list of critical raw materials, as the steel industry still needs it. It is likely to be phased out of the list below when it does not fully meet the required criteria. As there are no significant alternatives for this energy intensive industry and neither electrification nor material or energy efficiency improvements are yet available at a sufficient level of technological readiness, the European Union remains dependent on coking coal imports. Therefore, any coking coal mining project in Europe is of great importance and an important alternative to solving the problems of providing this raw material. In this study, the Dębieńsko coking coal project in Poland is analyzed using a scientifically proven methodology based on world-class analysis of coking coal projects submitted for financing to financial institutions.

Parametric Analysis of Rib Pillar Stability in a Longitudinal Sublevel Open Stoping Operation in an Underground Copper Mine in Southern Africa

The pillar stability factor (PSF) is calculated in three different mining stages for a sublevel open stoping mining project located in northern Botswana. Several three-dimensional finite element models were developed by varying the stope span. Pillar strength was estimated using the Lunder and Pakalnis equation and pillar stress was obtained from the numerical models. As mining progresses, both the first and second mining stages meet the rib pillar stability factor requirement for safe extraction. Geometrical improvements are suggested in the mining layout for the third mining stage to achieve the required PSF, which is based on international practices.

Green mining techniques to curb environmental problems - A review

Many methods are used to extract the ores causing huge threat to environment. Mining practices lead to un sustainability and the problems created by it were not yet controlled. So adoption of Green mining technologies helps to attain sustainable development and control the problems to maximum extent. The main objective of green mining is to start mining process and end it to ensure that adopting green mining practices lead to sustainability. Green mining also reduces greenhouse gases prone to effect conserve minerals, using energy more efficiently etc. According to Mission 2016 plan many green mining techniques were adopted and increased focus on research and became more popular so every industry focusing on environmental friendly technologies. Some of the major mining nations like Canada, Australia, South Africa etc adopted sustainable development viewed on not only environment but also other dimensions like local stake holder engagement, socio economic development in mining project areas and transparency in communication with stake holders. Sustainable strategies of mining includes measurement, monitoring mainly to improve the performance of environment and ensure that the mining operations are perfect or not. This paper reviews impacts of mining in various countries and Green mining solutions adopted over the world. It also discussed about Green supply chain management and the barriers of it and given the suggestions to control these barriers.

How to Identify Potentials and Barriers of Raw Materials Recovery from Tailings? Part II: A Practical UNFC-Compliant Approach to Assess Project Sustainability with On-Site Exploration Data

A sustainable raw materials (RMs) recovery from waste requires a comprehensive generation and communication of knowledge on project potentials and barriers. However, a standardised procedure to capture sustainability aspects in early project development phases is currently missing. Thus, studies on different RM sources are not directly comparable. In this article, an approach is presented which guides its user through a practical interpretation of on-site exploration data on tailings compliant with the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC). The development status of the overall project and the recovery of individual RMs are differentiated. To make the assessment results quickly comparable across different studies, they are summarised in a heat-map-like categorisation matrix. In Part I of this study, it is demonstrated with the case study tailings storage facility Bollrich (Germany) how a tailings mining project can be assessed by means of remote screening. In Part II, it is shown how to develop a project from first on-site exploration to a decision whether to intensify costly on-site exploration. It is concluded that with a UNFC-compliant assessment and classification approach, local sustainability aspects can be identified, and a commonly acceptable solution for different stakeholder perspectives can be derived.

Use of Gas Emulsion in Blasting Project for Clearing in a Copper Mine in Southern Peru

The gasifiable emulsion is a technological and productive response to the need to reduce operating costs in the mining project, among the improvements with respect to ANFO are a higher detonation velocity (VOD), better fragmentation and reduction of nitrous fumes. In the test mining operation, a commercial explosive mixture called "Q "73 (70% emulsion and 30% ANFO) is used, where the ANFO is composed of 97% ammonium nitrate and 3% diesel, and the explosive mixture "Q "82 (80% emulsion and 20% ANFO) is also used, 7 blasting processes were carried out with a diameter of 12.25 in. in a waste area, the most characteristic rocks found in the blasting project in the copper mine in southern Peru are Toba Cristal (TC), Andesite Basaltic Propylitic (BA-PRO), Andesite Basaltic Argillic (BA-ARG). The results obtained show a reduction of the Power Factor by 1.32%, with respect to the commercial mixtures "Q "73 and "Q "82 an optimum increase in the detonation velocity of 9.92% and 0.59% was obtained, also the high-resolution images of the fumes after blasting indicate a low presence of orange fumes taking a great relevance in the mining sector on a large scale, achieving better results in the blasting phase.

Socioeconomic Impact of Mining in the Atiwa Forest Reserve of Ghana on Fringe Communities and the Achievement of SDGs: Analysis from the Residents’ Perspective

The Atiwa forest reserve of Ghana sits upon roughly 150 million tons of bauxite. The Government has decided to mine and use the proceeds for national infrastructure development programs. This article examines the impact of mining on the residents’ livelihoods and the achievement of the SDGs from the perspective of the residents. A questionnaire was administered to 197 respondents. Per the findings, the residents around the forest reserve do not consent to the proposed mining project. Although they give credit to its possible job creation opportunities, the irreplaceable nature of the forest reserve urges them not to consent to the initiative. They depend on the rivers and streams for their livelihoods, and the affected districts are also among Ghana’s major cocoa producers. These farmers depend on these water bodies for irrigation. It is necessary to preserve them in order to sustain the production of these cash crops that make a direct contribution to the country’s GDP.