Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Engineering – General’ Category

InfoMine’s section on mining technology & engineering recently added a new feature: Continuous Conferences.  (I disclose that I sometimes work with them and want them to succeed.)  Here are two pieces that I posted today.  I post them here to make it easier for you to access them.

Read Full Post »

This must be every miners nightmare: contradicting opinions on the safety of your tailings facility.  At this link is a report that is not all that specific about the technical issues, but pretty clear about the debate.  One the negative side we read:

Read Full Post »

Rummaging through old papers this weekend, I came across a short hand-written piece that I penned in 1982.  I repeat it here with no edits.  This piece is interesting in light of the muddle made by the Alberta ERCB in demanding an oil sand tailings strength of 10 kPa so that the deposit can be [...]

Read Full Post »

With the new year growing old, our thoughts turn to the conferences of 2012.  And the technical papers we may write and present.  I am reminded of this by today’s email on the soon to be first meeting to set about organizing Tailings and Mine Waste 2012.  So soon, so soon after the last conference?

Read Full Post »

Today I was criticized for failing to clearly set out the project objectives.  Damn me, I know what we are setting out to do.  “But the rest of us do not,” was the reply. And so I wrote out the project objectives in deliberate detail.  And that set me writing the rest of this posting.  [...]

Read Full Post »

This is a magesterial pronouncement.  This is a bit of what I wrote today while working on a mining assignment.   I post it here in the hope that it informs and elucidates one of the many isssues that affect mining.  I would appreciate your comments and insight on this topic.

Read Full Post »

The sun is shining bright and the day is warm here is Huntington Beach, California, where I am spending time with kids and grandkids.  Somehow or other, the pressures of taking the kids to McDonald’s and other diverse hamburger places for lunch, riding the bike down to the beach, being nice at parties to old & [...]

Read Full Post »

 A brief note from the Conference Secretariat of the recent conference on Tailings and Mine Waste 2011: We are pleased to notify you that many of the presentations from the Tailings and Mine Waste ’11 conference are available online through the InfoMine Library. Please note: only those presentations with permission from the authors have been [...]

Read Full Post »

Fraser Alexander was a foreman on a mine in South Africa in the early 1900s.  He was in charge of building the sand and rock dumps.  He did this mostly by experience and native skill.  One of the problems was the collapse of the advancing face that carried the coco-pans and their rail lines to [...]

Read Full Post »

The classic texts on mine tailings generally start with division of tailings facilities into three types:  Upstream, centerline, and downstream.  I have not been able to track down with certainty who first formulated this classification.  Today this division, based on the direction of movement of the crest of the outer embankment, is interesting, but not [...]

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 72 other followers