Dewatering optimization using a groundwater flow model at the Whitewood open-pit coal mine, Alberta

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 684-693
Author(s):  
S. M. Sumer ◽  
J. J. Elton ◽  
J. A. Tapics
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Optimum Number ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Coal Quality ◽  
Coal Recovery ◽  
Pumping Wells ◽  
Cost Effective Method

By 1980, coal production and coal recovery at the Whitewood mine, Alberta, were unacceptably low as a result of poor groundwater and surface water control at the mine. A feasibility study conducted to determine the most cost-effective method to reduce groundwater inflows into the mine pit and reduce pore-water pressures in the mine walls concluded that a vertical well dewatering system, which would be located behind the highwall, was the most suitable. A finite difference computer model was constructed and successfully applied to design the dewatering system. The flexibility and ease of application of the model made it possible to determine the optimum number, production schedules, and locations of the dewatering wells, in conjunction with evolving mine plans. The implementation of the dewatering well program and improvements in surface water and in-pit drainage have resulted in increased coal recovery, a significant decrease in mine wall failures, and improved coal quality. Key words: dewatering, modelling, groundwater, open-pit mining, hydrogeology, pumping wells, optimization, monitoring, coal recovery.

scholarly journals Uranium Leaching from Contaminated Soil Utilizing Rhamnolipid, EDTA, and Citric Acid

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Asselin ◽  
Jani C. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Citric Acid ◽  
Contaminated Soil ◽  
Contaminated Soils ◽  
Metal Removal ◽  
Uranium Content ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Soil Matrix ◽  
Northern Arizona

Biosurfactants have recently gained attention as “green” agents that can be used to enhance the remediation of heavy metals and some organic matter in contaminated soils. The overall objective of this paper was to investigate rhamnolipid, a microbial produced biosurfactant, and its ability to leach uranium present in contaminated soil from an abandoned mine site. Soil samples were collected from two locations in northern Arizona: Cameron (site of open pit mining) and Leupp (control—no mining). The approach taken was to first determine the total uranium content in each soil using a hydrofluoric acid digestion, then comparing the amount of metal removed by rhamnolipid to other chelating agents EDTA and citric acid, and finally determining the amount of soluble metal in the soil matrix using a sequential extraction. Results suggested a complex system for metal removal from soil utilizing rhamnolipid. It was determined that rhamnolipid at a concentration of 150 μM was as effective as EDTA but not as effective as citric acid for the removal of soluble uranium. However, the rhamnolipid was only slightly better at removing uranium from the mining soil compared to a purified water control. Overall, this study demonstrated that rhamnolipid ability to remove uranium from contaminated soil is comparable to EDTA and to a lesser extent citric acid, but, for the soils investigated, it is not significantly better than a simple water wash.

Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design in Weak Rocks

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Mine Planning ◽  
Rock Slope Stability ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Weak Rock ◽  
Primary Control ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Open Pit Mines ◽  
Weak Rocks ◽  
Slope Design

Weak rocks encountered in open pit mines cover a wide variety of materials, with properties ranging between soil and rock. As such, they can provide a significant challenge for the slope designer. For these materials, the mass strength can be the primary control in the design of the pit slopes, although structures can also play an important role. Because of the typically weak nature of the materials, groundwater and surface water can also have a controlling influence on stability. Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design in Weak Rocks is a companion to Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design, which was published in 2009 and dealt primarily with strong rocks. Both books were commissioned under the Large Open Pit (LOP) project, which is sponsored by major mining companies. These books provide summaries of the current state of practice for the design, implementation and assessment of slopes in open pits, with a view to meeting the requirements of safety, as well as the recovery of anticipated ore reserves. This book, which follows the general cycle of the slope design process for open pits, contains 12 chapters. These chapters were compiled and written by industry experts and contain a large number of case histories. The initial chapters address field data collection, the critical aspects of determining the strength of weak rocks, the role of groundwater in weak rock slope stability and slope design considerations, which can differ somewhat from those applied to strong rock. The subsequent chapters address the principal weak rock types that are encountered in open pit mines, including cemented colluvial sediments, weak sedimentary mudstone rocks, soft coals and chalk, weak limestone, saprolite, soft iron ores and other leached rocks, and hydrothermally altered rocks. A final chapter deals with design implementation aspects, including mine planning, monitoring, surface water control and closure of weak rock slopes. As with the other books in this series, Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design in Weak Rocks provides guidance to practitioners involved in the design and implementation of open pit slopes, particularly geotechnical engineers, mining engineers, geologists and other personnel working at operating mines.

scholarly journals Technical Study Of Mine Dewatering System In Coal Mining

PROMINE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
A.A Inung Arie Adnyano ◽  
Muhammad Bagaskoro
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mining ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Mining Area ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Mining System ◽  
Control Effort ◽  
Mine Dewatering ◽  
Daily Discharge

Coal mining by PT. Tambang Bukit Tambi uses an open pit mining system where one of the factors that can affect mining is water that entering the mining area, so water control must be carried out, one of the ways is by using mine dewatering system. The purpose of this study is 1) To know the debit of water entering the mining area. 2) To design a pumping plan 3) To create an ideal sump design for handling water that entering the mining area. Based on the research, the daily discharge is 32,243.36 m3 / day where the water discharge that can be released by 2  Kenflo XA 125 / 40B pumps is 640 m3 / hour in 50.38 hours and the water control effort is made a sump that must accommodate water amounting to 19,427.26 m3 and after the calculation is obtained a trapezoid-shaped sump design with size length and surface width of 63.7 m, length and width of the base of the sum of 60.9 m and depth of 5 meters.

Groundwater control around a large basement

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 732-740 ◽  
Author(s):  
M C Ervin ◽  
J R Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Water Pressure ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Design Criterion ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Deep Aquifer ◽  
Cost Effective Method ◽  
Car Park ◽  
Wick Drains ◽  
Vertical Leakage ◽  
A Site

Melbourne's Crown Casino was constructed on a site bordering the Yarra River and underlain by problem soils of the Coode Island Silt Formation. The development needed to provide two levels of basement car park over the entire site. An innovative approach to groundwater control around the excavation was required to avoid depressurisation of adjoining soils, leading to settlements. Analysis showed a conventional bentonite cut-off wall would still allow depressurisation by lateral flow through the Coode Island Silt during the construction period. The high cost and construction difficulty of a very low permeability wall mitigated against it. An hydraulic wall was proposed in conjunction with a conventional cut-off wall. This comprised a curtain of wick drains surrounding the cut-off wall and charged with water. Control of seepage through an underlying aquifer by a cut-off wall was considered, but a more cost-effective method using recharge by wells was adopted when shown necessary. Monitoring of groundwater pressures around the site showed that the maximum change in water pressure was less than 1 m head, the design criterion. Part way through construction, recharge was initiated when monitoring of the deep aquifer showed pressure reduction attributed to vertical leakage through a basalt tongue.Key words: excavation, basements, groundwater, clays, settlement, monitoring.

scholarly journals Turning Filling Material into Proppant for Coalbed Methane in Poland—Crush Test Results

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Knez ◽  
Rafał Wiśniowski ◽  
Winnie Ampomaa Owusu
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Coalbed Methane ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Filling Material ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Allowable Stress ◽  
Mining Operations

The search for unconventional energy resources such as coalbed methane (CBM) is on the rise in Poland due to the demand for energy resources and protection of the environment. CBM production has a lower impact on the environment when compared with coal production. Its development is known to be cost effective due to its use of shallow depths with large gas quantities. Sand is one of the by-products (waste) from open-pit mining operations. Conventional disposal of this material is achieved by storage in heaps and its deployment as landfill as well as filling material for mine pits. This paper investigates the potential use of sand (filler) as a proppant for hydraulic fracturing in coalbed methane formations in Poland through crush test measurements in both single and cyclic loadings. The crush test helps to identify proppant strength under various load applications. Test results show that the sand qualifies for the 4 K (maximum allowable stress is 27.58 MPa) and 3 K (maximum allowable stress 20.68 MPa) crush classifications under single and cyclic conditions, respectively. This finding shows the viability and potential of the investigated sand as a proppant for hydraulic fracturing in shallow coalbed methane formations in Poland. Furthermore, its use could help filler-providing companies to maintain their production level and save jobs. Notably, it would contribute to the reduction of environmental problems associated with the management of waste, such as that from open-pit mining operations.

CAD Of Anticorrosive Protection Of Steel Structures

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-23
Keyword(s):  
Protective Coating ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Steel Structures ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Computational Tool ◽  
Protection Method ◽  
Cost Effective Method ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Aided Design

The choice of cost-effective method of anticorrosive protection of steel structures is an urgent and time consuming task, considering the significant number of protection ways, differing from each other in the complex of technological, physical, chemical and economic characteristics. To reduce the complexity of solving this problem, the author proposes a computational tool that can be considered as a subsystem of computer-aided design and used at the stage of variant and detailed design of steel structures. As a criterion of the effectiveness of the anti-corrosion protection method, the cost of the protective coating during the service life is accepted. The analysis of existing methods of steel protection against corrosion is performed, the possibility of their use for the protection of the most common steel structures is established, as well as the estimated period of effective operation of the coating. The developed computational tool makes it possible to choose the best method of protection of steel structures against corrosion, taking into account the operating conditions of the protected structure and the possibility of using a protective coating.

Coal mining-disturbed land reclamation laws

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
T. V. Galanina ◽  
M. I. Baumgarten ◽  
T. G. Koroleva
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Disturbed Land ◽  
Critical Problems ◽  
Production Output

Large-scale mining disturbs wide areas of land. The development program for the mining industry, with an expected considerable increase in production output, aggravates the problem with even vaster territories exposed to the adverse anthropogenic impact. Recovery of mining-induced ecosystems in the mineral-extracting regions becomes the top priority objective. There are many restoration mechanisms, and they should be used in integration and be highly technologically intensive as the environmental impact is many-sided. This involves pollution of water, generation of much waste and soil disturbance which is the most typical of open pit mining. Scale disturbance of land, withdrawal of farming land, land pollution and littering are critical problems to the solved in the first place. One of the way outs is highquality reclamation. This article reviews the effective rules and regulations on reclamation. The mechanism is proposed for the legal control of disturbed land reclamation on a regional and federal level. Highly technologically intensive recovery of mining-induced landscape will be backed up by the natural environment restoration strategy proposed in the Disturbed Land Reclamation Concept.

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