US3041053A - Hydraulic mining process - Google Patents
Hydraulic mining process Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US3041053A US3041053A US808040A US80804059A US3041053A US 3041053 A US3041053 A US 3041053A US 808040 A US808040 A US 808040A US 80804059 A US80804059 A US 80804059A US 3041053 A US3041053 A US 3041053A
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- water
- sump
- hydraulic
- mining
- hydraulic giant
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 26
- 238000005065 mining Methods 0.000 title claims description 16
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 45
- 229910052500 inorganic mineral Inorganic materials 0.000 claims description 15
- 239000011707 mineral Substances 0.000 claims description 15
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 claims description 12
- 230000015572 biosynthetic process Effects 0.000 claims description 6
- 239000000203 mixture Substances 0.000 claims description 3
- 230000005484 gravity Effects 0.000 description 6
- 238000005755 formation reaction Methods 0.000 description 5
- 239000013505 freshwater Substances 0.000 description 5
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 5
- 239000002689 soil Substances 0.000 description 5
- 239000002699 waste material Substances 0.000 description 5
- 238000005188 flotation Methods 0.000 description 4
- 239000004576 sand Substances 0.000 description 4
- 239000003153 chemical reaction reagent Substances 0.000 description 3
- PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N gold Chemical compound [Au] PCHJSUWPFVWCPO-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 3
- 239000010931 gold Substances 0.000 description 3
- 229910052737 gold Inorganic materials 0.000 description 3
- 239000011435 rock Substances 0.000 description 3
- 238000000926 separation method Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000011282 treatment Methods 0.000 description 3
- 239000012141 concentrate Substances 0.000 description 2
- 238000011084 recovery Methods 0.000 description 2
- 150000004763 sulfides Chemical class 0.000 description 2
- XOLBLPGZBRYERU-UHFFFAOYSA-N tin dioxide Chemical compound O=[Sn]=O XOLBLPGZBRYERU-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 2
- 235000008733 Citrus aurantifolia Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 235000011941 Tilia x europaea Nutrition 0.000 description 1
- 238000005056 compaction Methods 0.000 description 1
- ZXOKVTWPEIAYAB-UHFFFAOYSA-N dioxido(oxo)tungsten Chemical compound [O-][W]([O-])=O ZXOKVTWPEIAYAB-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- VJYFKVYYMZPMAB-UHFFFAOYSA-N ethoprophos Chemical compound CCCSP(=O)(OCC)SCCC VJYFKVYYMZPMAB-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- ZOOODBUHSVUZEM-UHFFFAOYSA-N ethoxymethanedithioic acid Chemical compound CCOC(S)=S ZOOODBUHSVUZEM-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 206010016256 fatigue Diseases 0.000 description 1
- 238000009291 froth flotation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000004571 lime Substances 0.000 description 1
- QSHDDOUJBYECFT-UHFFFAOYSA-N mercury Chemical compound [Hg] QSHDDOUJBYECFT-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 229910052753 mercury Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 229910052751 metal Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000002184 metal Substances 0.000 description 1
- 150000002739 metals Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 239000010665 pine oil Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000000126 substance Substances 0.000 description 1
- ZNOKGRXACCSDPY-UHFFFAOYSA-N tungsten trioxide Chemical compound O=[W](=O)=O ZNOKGRXACCSDPY-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 238000005406 washing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000002351 wastewater Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000012991 xanthate Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052845 zircon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- GFQYVLUOOAAOGM-UHFFFAOYSA-N zirconium(iv) silicate Chemical compound [Zr+4].[O-][Si]([O-])([O-])[O-] GFQYVLUOOAAOGM-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21C—MINING OR QUARRYING
- E21C47/00—Machines for obtaining or the removal of materials in open-pit mines
- E21C47/10—Machines for obtaining or the removal of materials in open-pit mines for quarrying stone, sand, gravel, or clay
Definitions
- This invention relates to the mining and concentrating of alluvial material, such as surface soil, sand, gravel or soil that is so loosely consolidated that it can be broken up and moved by a stream of high pressure water such as is being used in hydraulic mining with apparatus known as an hydraulic giant, and provides an improved process for hydraulic mining in which the water is used cyclically.
- alluvial material such as surface soil, sand, gravel or soil that is so loosely consolidated that it can be broken up and moved by a stream of high pressure water such as is being used in hydraulic mining with apparatus known as an hydraulic giant, and provides an improved process for hydraulic mining in which the water is used cyclically.
- My invention provides a process for directing the water and its contained earth removed by the hydraulic stream or jet into a sump for the separation of the water from gravel and rocks, and the return of the water to the hydraulic giant for re-use cyclically in removing additional earth.
- the sand and gravel which settle in the sump are concentrated by any suitable means and then subjected to treatment for the recovery of the contained minerals, and the water from these concentration and recovery treatments is also returned to the hydraulic giant for re-use.
- Hydraulic mining is one of the cheapest methods of mining surface materials, but its use has been restricted on account of several disadvantages. It requires large amounts of water available, preferably from a source permitting high heads, and such Water is frequently not available in sufficient quantity to satisfy present mining techniques. Also, the large amount of resulting waste Water has contaminated streams because of the lack of the run-away of the once-used water.
- My process permits cheap mining by the hydraulic method without consuming large quantities of fresh water and without contaminating streams with debris.
- My process produces a concentrate of valuable minerals from loose surface formations containing these at the time and place Where the hydraulic washing is conducted.
- hydraulic mining requires 2 to 5 times as much fresh water as the earth to be washed
- my process uses only a fraction of a ton of water for each ton of earth washed so that the resulting washed-out earth after the separation and beneficiation treatments is discharged in a moist condition that does not contain enough water to carry debris into streams and contaminate them.
- the hydraulic giant such as is commonly used in hydraulic mining, is mounted on a tractor, endless tracks or other mobile unit and is usually placed to remove the loose formation from a hillside, gulch or flat area.
- a mobile sump preferably mounted on the same tractor as the hydraulic giant, is provided for the purpose of catching the stream of mixed water and solids resulting from the operation of the hydraulic giant.
- the gravel and rocks are separated and the overflow water is passed to the pump which supplies the stream or jet issuing from the hydraulic giant.
- the sand, gravel and other fine material which settle in the sump may be beneficiated by the use of gravity and momentum concentration, and, if gold be present in the formation, mercury may be added in the bottom of the sump to collect the gold in these operations.
- the overflow water from the sump may be treated by flotation or other minatcnt eral separation methods as the overflow water will, in many cases, contain mineral-bearing slimes or mud which will not readily settle in the small mobile sump.
- Suitable chemicals or reagents may be added to the water or the gravity apparatus to enhance the beneficiation process employed. For example, lime, pine oil and xanthate may be introduced into the water to aid the flotation process used on the Water stream or pulp stream of water and sand so that sulfides may be separated from the bulk of gangue and from the water.
- the sump not only has an overflow means such as a weir or gate but an underflow means.
- the underflow from the sump containing water and entrained materials of various kinds and sizes is passed to a classifier. It is the object of my invention to discharge the solids from the process in as dry a state possible to reduce to a minimum fresh water used in the process.
- I may use a filter to separate the water or water-solids mixture.
- I usually prefer merely to remove all possible water by compacting the solids with vibration as permitted, for example, by conveying the waste solids slightly uphill or up an inclined vibrating conveyor which may be actuated by a vibrating mechanism.
- the water is extracted from the solids by compaction and flows countercurrent backward into the bowl of the feeder while the solids are propelled forward up the inclined of the feeder and discharged as waste.
- a feeder solids may be classified according to size by grizzly bars or screens so that the finer material in the bottom of the vibrating conveyor may be subjected better to gravity concentrating methods.
- the bottom of the vibrating conveyor may communicate with or be a part of a jig which settles into a hutch, heavy minerals such as gold, tungstic oxide such as wolframite, cassiterite, zircon, sulfides of metals or heavy oxides not mentioned above.
- the bottom of the vibrating feeder may communicate with a flotation machine which subjects the classified solids to beneficiation by mineral flotation.
- a flotation machine which subjects the classified solids to beneficiation by mineral flotation.
- Water which recirculates in the process may be partially clarified by centrifugal devices and unless filtered will contain some slime.
- This slime content is not a disadvantage, but may be an advantage since it gives the jet greater specific gravity than clear water and hence greater striking power in disintegrating the soil bank being mined, and greater carrying power for delivering solids to the sump since rocks do not settle in a pulp of slime as quickly as they do in clear water.
- a jig constitutes the gravity concentrating device
- the process for recovering minerals by hydraulic mining which comprises providing a movable hydraulic giant and attached sump, removing loose earth with a water jet from the hydraulic giant, directing the Water with its contained earth into the sump, separating from the water a major portion of the earth as oversize Waste material, removing from the sump water and an undersize portion with its contained minerals, beneficiating the 4 undersize portion with its contained minerals and recovering the minerals therefrom, and returning the water to the hydraulic giant for a repetition of the operation, and from time-to-time moving the sump and hydraulic giant to a closer position to the formation being mined.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
- Geology (AREA)
- Separation Of Solids By Using Liquids Or Pneumatic Power (AREA)
Description
June 26, 1962 A. F. JOHNSON 3,041,053
' HYDRAULIC MINING PROCESS Filed April 22, 1959 SURFACE HYDRAULIC SOIL GIANT k MUD STREAM OVERFLOW MOBILE PUMP REMOVAL SUMP OF CONTAINED VALUABLE MINERAL \UNDERFLOW w T R A E OVERSIZE SIZE WASTE CLASSIFIER /UNDERSIZE REAGENTS GANGUE WASTE) QANGUE DEWATERING MINERAL m fi QI L w sTE v cE CONCENTRATOR CONCENTRATE FRESH WATER INVENTOR ARTHUR E JOHNSON BYfi Q EMMA 77101.17! 7 4mm T 9 ATTORNEYS Uite Sttes This invention relates to the mining and concentrating of alluvial material, such as surface soil, sand, gravel or soil that is so loosely consolidated that it can be broken up and moved by a stream of high pressure water such as is being used in hydraulic mining with apparatus known as an hydraulic giant, and provides an improved process for hydraulic mining in which the water is used cyclically.
My invention provides a process for directing the water and its contained earth removed by the hydraulic stream or jet into a sump for the separation of the water from gravel and rocks, and the return of the water to the hydraulic giant for re-use cyclically in removing additional earth. The sand and gravel which settle in the sump are concentrated by any suitable means and then subjected to treatment for the recovery of the contained minerals, and the water from these concentration and recovery treatments is also returned to the hydraulic giant for re-use.
Hydraulic mining is one of the cheapest methods of mining surface materials, but its use has been restricted on account of several disadvantages. It requires large amounts of water available, preferably from a source permitting high heads, and such Water is frequently not available in sufficient quantity to satisfy present mining techniques. Also, the large amount of resulting waste Water has contaminated streams because of the lack of the run-away of the once-used water.
My process permits cheap mining by the hydraulic method without consuming large quantities of fresh water and without contaminating streams with debris. My process produces a concentrate of valuable minerals from loose surface formations containing these at the time and place Where the hydraulic washing is conducted. Whereas hydraulic mining requires 2 to 5 times as much fresh water as the earth to be washed, my process uses only a fraction of a ton of water for each ton of earth washed so that the resulting washed-out earth after the separation and beneficiation treatments is discharged in a moist condition that does not contain enough water to carry debris into streams and contaminate them.
There are further advantages to my process which will be better understood after considering the accompanying drawing which illustrates diagrammatically in a flow sheet and arranged of apparatus for carrying out a process of my invention. A typical process of the invention will be described with reference to the drawing.
The hydraulic giant, such as is commonly used in hydraulic mining, is mounted on a tractor, endless tracks or other mobile unit and is usually placed to remove the loose formation from a hillside, gulch or flat area. A mobile sump, preferably mounted on the same tractor as the hydraulic giant, is provided for the purpose of catching the stream of mixed water and solids resulting from the operation of the hydraulic giant.
In the sump the gravel and rocks are separated and the overflow water is passed to the pump which supplies the stream or jet issuing from the hydraulic giant. The sand, gravel and other fine material which settle in the sump may be beneficiated by the use of gravity and momentum concentration, and, if gold be present in the formation, mercury may be added in the bottom of the sump to collect the gold in these operations. The overflow water from the sump may be treated by flotation or other minatcnt eral separation methods as the overflow water will, in many cases, contain mineral-bearing slimes or mud which will not readily settle in the small mobile sump. Suitable chemicals or reagents may be added to the water or the gravity apparatus to enhance the beneficiation process employed. For example, lime, pine oil and xanthate may be introduced into the water to aid the flotation process used on the Water stream or pulp stream of water and sand so that sulfides may be separated from the bulk of gangue and from the water.
The sump not only has an overflow means such as a weir or gate but an underflow means. The underflow from the sump containing water and entrained materials of various kinds and sizes is passed to a classifier. It is the object of my invention to discharge the solids from the process in as dry a state possible to reduce to a minimum fresh water used in the process. To this end, I may use a filter to separate the water or water-solids mixture. However, I usually prefer merely to remove all possible water by compacting the solids with vibration as permitted, for example, by conveying the waste solids slightly uphill or up an inclined vibrating conveyor which may be actuated by a vibrating mechanism. In such an inclined vibrating pan feeder the water is extracted from the solids by compaction and flows countercurrent backward into the bowl of the feeder while the solids are propelled forward up the inclined of the feeder and discharged as waste. Within such a feeder solids 'may be classified according to size by grizzly bars or screens so that the finer material in the bottom of the vibrating conveyor may be subjected better to gravity concentrating methods. For example, the bottom of the vibrating conveyor may communicate with or be a part of a jig which settles into a hutch, heavy minerals such as gold, tungstic oxide such as wolframite, cassiterite, zircon, sulfides of metals or heavy oxides not mentioned above. Likewise, the bottom of the vibrating feeder may communicate with a flotation machine which subjects the classified solids to beneficiation by mineral flotation. In any case I endeavor to keep the beneficiation apparatus compact so that it can be carried in the mobile unit or units along with or near the hydraulic giant that mines the soil and re-uses the water.
Water which recirculates in the process may be partially clarified by centrifugal devices and unless filtered will contain some slime. This slime content is not a disadvantage, but may be an advantage since it gives the jet greater specific gravity than clear water and hence greater striking power in disintegrating the soil bank being mined, and greater carrying power for delivering solids to the sump since rocks do not settle in a pulp of slime as quickly as they do in clear water. In my process I prefer to add the fresh Water required for make-up in the gravity concentrating device. When a jig constitutes the gravity concentrating device, I add the water in the hutch of the jig so that the concentrated mineral is washed as clean as possible.
'I claim:
1. The process of mining loose earth formations with a stream of high pressure water from an hydraulic giant which comprises collecting the resulting mixture of water and suspended solids in a sump, removing from the sump an underfiow and an overflow, beneficiating the underflow to remove valuable minerals and recover Water which water is combined with the sump overflow and pumped to the hydraulic giant for re-use in said mining.
2. The process of claim 1 in which the beneficiation includes froth flotation and the water therefrom with its contained dissolved reagents is used over and over again as the Water is used over and over again.
3. The process of claim 1 in which the re-used water 3 is subjected to a process for the removal of contained valuable mineral continuously.
4. The process for recovering minerals by hydraulic mining which comprises providing a movable hydraulic giant and attached sump, removing loose earth with a water jet from the hydraulic giant, directing the Water with its contained earth into the sump, separating from the water a major portion of the earth as oversize Waste material, removing from the sump water and an undersize portion with its contained minerals, beneficiating the 4 undersize portion with its contained minerals and recovering the minerals therefrom, and returning the water to the hydraulic giant for a repetition of the operation, and from time-to-time moving the sump and hydraulic giant to a closer position to the formation being mined.
References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 932,037 Low Aug. 24, 1909
Claims (1)
1. THE PROCESS OF MINING LOOSE EARTH FORMATION WITH A STREAM OF HIGH PRESSURE WATER FROM AN HYDRAULIC GIANT WHICH COMPRISES COLLECTING THE RESULTING MIXTURE OF WATER AND SUSPENDED SOLIDS IN A SUMP, REMOVING FROM THE SUMP AN UNDERFLOW AND AN OVERFLOW, BENEFICIATING THE UNDERFLOW TO REMOVE VALUABLE MINERALS AND RECOVER WATER WHICH WATER IS COMBINED WITH THE SUMP OVERFLOW AND PUMPED TO THE HYDRAULIC GIANT FOR RE-USE IN SAID MINING.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US808040A US3041053A (en) | 1959-04-22 | 1959-04-22 | Hydraulic mining process |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US808040A US3041053A (en) | 1959-04-22 | 1959-04-22 | Hydraulic mining process |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US3041053A true US3041053A (en) | 1962-06-26 |
Family
ID=25197717
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US808040A Expired - Lifetime US3041053A (en) | 1959-04-22 | 1959-04-22 | Hydraulic mining process |
Country Status (1)
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US (1) | US3041053A (en) |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE3110198A1 (en) * | 1980-03-26 | 1982-01-28 | Santa Fe International Corp., 92668 Orange, Calif. | "DRILL HOLE FOR MINING OR MINING" |
US5879057A (en) * | 1996-11-12 | 1999-03-09 | Amvest Corporation | Horizontal remote mining system, and method |
US20040141509A1 (en) * | 2002-04-30 | 2004-07-22 | Sahni Sartaj Kumar | Partitioning methods for dynamic router tables |
Citations (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US932037A (en) * | 1908-08-10 | 1909-08-24 | James M Low | Portable placer-mining apparatus. |
-
1959
- 1959-04-22 US US808040A patent/US3041053A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US932037A (en) * | 1908-08-10 | 1909-08-24 | James M Low | Portable placer-mining apparatus. |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE3110198A1 (en) * | 1980-03-26 | 1982-01-28 | Santa Fe International Corp., 92668 Orange, Calif. | "DRILL HOLE FOR MINING OR MINING" |
US5879057A (en) * | 1996-11-12 | 1999-03-09 | Amvest Corporation | Horizontal remote mining system, and method |
US20040141509A1 (en) * | 2002-04-30 | 2004-07-22 | Sahni Sartaj Kumar | Partitioning methods for dynamic router tables |
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