Borehole mining (BHM) is a process that incorporates a high pressure waterjet cutting system and a down-hole slurry pumping system through a single borehole drilled from the surface into the mineralized rock. The waterjet cuts the material resulting the slurry flows into an eductor pump near the base of the tool and pumped out to the surface. A cavity will be created as a consequence of this excavation process [2]. Understanding the relationship between the cavity stability and the operational parameters is critical in designing any borehole mining system. There are a number of technical challenges that must be overcome to advance the concept of in-situ borehole extraction of non-soluble tabular resources to a commercially viable stage. One of the most important challenges is a technical understanding between cavity formation and stability for a given set of operating characteristics and geomechanical rock properties. The first step is to find a numerical code that is more user friendly and also can yield dependable results. Itasca Flac2D code was selected for this ongoing research. The main objective of this research was to verify if a widely employed 2-dimensional modeling software package (ItascaFlac2D) had sufficient accuracy to perform a stress analysis within a borehole mining system as part of a predictive design protocol. To achieve this objective, data derived from an empiric field study was modeled using Flac2D, and the results were compared to those obtained from a case study that used a three dimensional model (Flac3D). The case study data used in this chapter was obtained from a subsidence study prepared by Barr Engineering Company for Cooperative Mineral Resources (CMR) [1]. CMR sought to collect samples from two enriched manganese zones within an oxidized iron-formation at a site located near Emily, Minnesota. Through bulk sampling, CMR intended to evaluate the potential of using a small scale Borehole Mining (BHM) system that employed waterjet technology. CMR believed that the enriched manganese zones in the resource were suitable to BHM excavation methods and as part of the technical feasibility of the project, a subsidence study was performed by Barr Engineering. One of the primary goals of this study was to determine if subsidence would occur under specific operating conditions and, if so, to develop a range of potential depth and the radial extents of the surface damage at the Project Area. 2) Computer Modeling As discussed previously, there were inherent advantages in this application of using Flac2D over a more sophisticated modeling tool like Flac3D.
purpose we use this for is to drill wells into so that we may obtain the water that
There is an abundance of oil underneath earth’s crust on land and in the water but getting to that oil can be proven as a challenge and a negative impact on the earth. Many of these oil reservoirs lie in federally protected land or water to minimize the negative impact on the earth. But should those restrictions be removed? Removing the restrictions can allow the US to tap into domestic reserves rather than rely on imported oil from the Middle East and Asia but tapping these reservoirs can also leave behind an impact that is harmful to this planet. “Critics oppose this move for fear that it will cause irreparable harm environmental harm. They point to the April 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as evidence of the risks associated with offshore drilling” (SIRS).
use. I found the sound effects (FX) hard to write about but I tried my
Processual Archaeology, was a movement in the archaeological field that began in the 1960‘s and changed the course of archaeology forever. Anthropologists such as Julian Steward were absolutely influential on many archaeologists and anthropologists during the early 1960s with his theories of cultural ecology which established a scientific way of understanding cultures as human adaption to the surrounding environment (Steward, 1955: 36-38). It was approaches such as Stewards that led eventually led to a rejection of culture-historical approaches to the archaeological record and propelled the ideas of cultural evolution and its reaction with the environment. This approach to cultural systems was essentially a rejection of the culture-historical approach of determinism by suggesting that the environment influences culture but is not a deterministic feature and that both culture and the environment were two separate systems that are dependent on each other for change (Steward, 1955: 36).
There are many potential adverse health impacts caused by the chemicals used at the drilling site, which are later often unintentional released into the environment. These chemicals are hazardous and as Witter et. al. (2008) state “some of the chemicals used in this process are brought to the surface, potentially contaminating soil, air, and water, while some of the chemicals are left underground, potentially subsurface aquifers” (4). This makes it difficult to track which chemicals are causing effects and where they are coming from. Another piece to the puzzle is that the drilling companies do not disclose the full-list of chemicals so there is a great mystery in what chemicals and what concentrations are used in the process (Lauver 2012:383). However, recently there researchers have begun to breakdown the chemical identities and concentrations.
From this drive, information such as pressure, GOR and fluid production history can be known. The pressure can drop greatly if the reservoir is initially under saturated due to the fact that compressibilities of rock water and oil is lower compared to gas. F...
Riley, C.M. "Lahars." Geological and Mining Engineering Sciences. Michigan Tech. Web. 6 Feb. 2010. .
Question: Discuss the importance of Relief Valves in the unit operations in detail, and give the design criteria/ parameters/ models available equations in the literature. Support your work by giving a typical example from the literature.
The United States relies on imports for about forty percent of its crude oil, which is the lowest rate of dependency since 1991 according to the U.S Energy Information Administration. Today our country is trying to keep on track in becoming less and less dependent. When it comes to the topic of the future ways the United States will get its fuel, most of us readily agree that the United States should become more independent by using natural gas that is already here on our land. Where this argument usually ends, however, is on the question of the consequences drilling for natural gas brings. Whereas some are convinced drilling is safe, others maintain that it is actually in fact dangerous. Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking", the terms for drilling for natural gas, is dangerous to our public health and to the environment because of the water contamination it causes. Therefore, it is not something that should become a project for alternative fuel used by the United States.
One of the biggest natural resources used in fracking is water. On average, around one to eight million gallons of water are used on a fracture job. There are also around 500,000 active fracture sites around the world and each site can be fractured around 18 times. This means that roughly 72 trill...
Objectives • To evaluate the difficulty of mining and reclamation To calculate costs, expenses, income, and profit from a hands-on mining exercise. • To evaluate the effectiveness of reclamation and its added costs to mining. To describe the increasing rarity of some non-renewable mineral resources. Introduction Minerals play an important role in our day-to-day life, but we often do not contemplate how the minerals are obtained. Minerals are scattered all over the world, just like any other resource.
No Author Presented. "Deep Sea Mining." Deep Sea Mining. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. .
Acid mine drainage refers to water (leachate, drainage or seepage) that has come into contact with oxidised rocks or overburden that contains sulphide material (coal, zinc, copper, lead). Keller, 2000; U.S.G.S. ; U.S.E.P.A., 2002). A common sulphide is pyrite, or iron disulfide (FeS2). Throughout this essay, it will be pyrite that will be the primary sulphide considered. Acid mine drainage is not a new phenomenon, early mining techniques utilized gravity to avoid water pooling, resulting in the water becoming polluted by acid, iron, sulphur and aluminium (U.S.E.P.A., 2002).
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.
Coil, D., McKittrick, E., and Higman, B. (2010, December 16). Acid Mine Drainage. Ground Truth Trekking. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/MetalsMining/AcidMineDrainage.html