Theoretic and experimental research on the possibilities for moderning and reabilitating the extraction installation of the Slănic Prahova salt mine

The paper deals with the subject of rehabilitation and mechanical modernization of the extraction plant within the mining operation of the salt mine from Slanic Prahova region. The extraction plant serves the 23 August mine shaft of the Unirea mine, and also this mine has been converted into a tourist mine. The rehabilitation of the extraction installation consists in the change of the cutting wheels from the extraction tower due to excessive degradation, requiring the redesign under strict conditions, and also the rehabilitation and extension of the saline water extraction system from the tourist mine. The modernization of the extraction plant consists in the change of the DC hoist engine with an asynchronous engine of the same energy power and research on the possibilities of increasing the cable transport capacity with technical changes made to the extraction tower, mine shaft and the sump. Modernization and rehabilitation carried out on the extraction installation at the Slanic Prahova salt mine, will provide a safety in operation and efficiency to using the necessary electricity for hoist engine operations.

Perceived risk factors in the process of closure and greening of the Lupeni mining operation for the miner workplace

Determining the risk factors of a job is a process that requires many studies. Determining risk factors is necessary to prevent accidents at work. The process of closing and greening the Lupeni Mining Exploitation is a very complex one. The closure of the mining operation is done in stages for the underground and the surface based on a closure project. When implementing the closure and greening project, all occupational safety and health regulations must be observed. As part of the process of closing and greening a mining operation, it is necessary to redo the risk factor assessment sheets with additional measures for the closure and greening of the mining operation. In this paper we intend to establish the risk factors for the miner workplace within the Lupeni Mining in the process of closure and greening.

Geospatial Effect on the Mining Operation in Joda/Barbil Area of Odisha, India

The study aims to investigate the Geospatial effect on the extraction operation in Joda and Barbil mining areas of Keonjhar district, Odisha, India. Present work involves the topography, soil, climate, and stratigraphy investigation of the area. The acquisition of Landsat 8 TIRS (Thermal Infrared), Landsat 5 TM (Thematic Mapper), and CARTOSAT DEM data of temporal and spatial satellite images from various websites. ARC GIS and ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2 software used to find the land use and land cover images (accuracy average 90%). Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Surface air Temperature (SAT) of Barbil area for 2003, 2007, 2017 and 2018 have been estimated. Comparison of the results have shown that, there is increase in built up, and mining areas whereas the agricultural land and vegetation cover are down scaled. There is constant average SAT rise of 1-2°C in all the land cover classification between 2007 and 2018. The NDVI values show conversion of sparse from dense vegetation in the area. Poor operational strategies in mines operation, like corruption, illegal mining, lack of accountability, overburden wastes/ trailing disposal, ecologic degradation, waterlogging in mine pits, and human rights violations are the root causes of environmental deterioration of the study area. It is pertinent to implement strictly, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, India, 2021, regular GIS application to assess the mines volume of extraction, strict vigilance and fixation of accountability for losses of existing mines values, and afforestation/ reforestation of degraded/lost forests in Barbil area.

Rock Fragmentation Evaluation towards Blast-To-Mill Concept of Blast Optimization in Hard Rock Mines

Traditional blast optimisation studies ensure efficient mining operation but ignore potential impact of blasting on primary crushing. The performance of the primary crusher is key to the ore beneficiation process. Optimisation studies conducted through the mining operations to the comminution circuit is vital to the mine-to-mill concepts in the mining industry. In this approach, an innovative approach to the assessment of in-situ blasting is proposed and evaluated. This approach focuses on the acceptability of rock fragments on the Run-of-Mine (ROM) pad as opposed to the pits. Fragmentation analysis was conducted in the pit and on the ROM pad. A correlation efficiency of 0.92 was realized between the measured rock fragments in the pit and that on the ROM pad. About 10% of the rock fragments in the pit were classified as boulders while about 30% of the same rock fragments deposited on the ROM pad were classified as boulders. However, about 30% of the rockpile on the ROM pad was estimated to be lower than the Close Side Setting (CSS) of the primary crusher. It is recommended that future research evaluates the energy consumption and its related cost at the primary crusher in comparison to in-pit fragmentation and mucking cost performance.

The doctor, the lawyer and the journalist: Neoliberal career changes and professional resistance during a mining boom

Recent scholarship has charted the dramatic social impact of mining booms and busts on local communities. Yet scant research addresses how mining economies shape different professions. This article ethnographically traces the careers of a doctor, a lawyer and a journalist during Western Australia's mining boom in the early 2000s. For vocally opposing a politically popular mining operation due to public health concerns, they were subject to backlash, which led to disillusionment and career changes. Their narratives share a pivotal shift: each expert initially conceptualised their role through a welfarist, liberal-democratic lens, underpinned by a moral imperative to disrupt imbalances of power, fight injustice and ‘help people’. Yet the mining boom revealed and exacerbated the neoliberalisation of their respective disciplines, in which profits were maximised, businesses treated leniently and worker protections calculated dispassionately. These stories illuminate the lived experience of neoliberalisation, and the limits of individual professional resistance in a pro-mining political economy.

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.

Investigating The Effects of Rainy Season On Open Cast Mining Operation: The Case of Wescoal Khanyisa Colliery

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of rainy season in open cast mining and possible factors that could contribute to production loses during these rainy periods. The major issue at Wescoal’s Khanyisa Colliery is the impact that rainfall has on the coal extraction process during the rainy season. The opencast mine operation loses a significant amount of time that is supposed to be used to run the mining value chain by trying to deal with the effects of the rainfall. This study made use of acquired data from Khanyisa Colliery between the period of December 2019 and January 2020 rainy months in South Africa. This data includes, the amount of daily and weekly rainfall, the water pumping rate, frequency of breakdowns and success rate of load and haul. The average weekly rainfall was found to be 69 mm over the 8 weeks of the summer season. However, the adopted method of managing the mine water was not efficient enough as a result of a low capacity pump and their pumping rate in comparison to the volume of water in the pit. This has affected some sections in the mine as productivity dropped due to reduction in loading and hauling activities from the pit to the stockpiles. In order to improve the productivity, the authors made some suggestions than can enhance production during rainy seasons.

Truck dispatching in surface mines -Application of fuzzy linear programming

Material handling in surface mines accounts for around 50% of the operational cost. Optimum truck dispatching plays a critical role in the reduction of this operational cost in truck and shovel surface mines. Researchers in this field have presented several mathematical models to solve the truck dispatching problem optimally. However, a critical survey of the literature has shown that three significant drawbacks exist in the available truck dispatching models. The published models underestimate the importance of the interaction between truck fleet, shovel fleet, and the processing plants. They also disregard goals set by strategic-level plans. Moreover, none of the available models account for the uncertainty associated with the input parameters. In this paper we present a new truck dispatching model that covers all of these drawbacks, using a fuzzy linear programming method. The performance of the developed model was evaluated through implementatin in an active surface mining operation. The results show a significant improvement in production and fleet utilization.