Machine-Learning-Aided Determination of Post-blast Ore Boundary for Controlling Ore Loss and Dilution

Natural Resources Research - In the process of open-pit bench blasting for many mines, rock fragments move in the direction of loose space after fragmentation under explosive energy, leading to ore...     

Economic-Geological Estimation of Gold and Ore Deposits Using Information-Analytical System for the Selection of Analogues

The computer system is developed for evaluation of gold deposits over the world using data collected by experts in the field of gold deposit geology. With the system in use, gold object of interest can be described on the basis of selected groups of tags. The similarity of the considered object to an object from the database is estimated by designed algorithms on the basis of available information characterizing the considered object. These algorithms allow to apply mathematical methods for analysis of the problem what improves quality and reliability of the results. By the method of analogue determination, user can always evaluate unknown properties of the considered object, as for example, ore formation type, economic geological estimate of the deposit on the basis of known properties of the determined analogue.The software equipped by an intuitive graphical interface is developed with use of GIS technologies and modern methods of object-oriented programming.     

Neural Network-Based Estimation of Principal Metal Contents in the Hokuroku District,Northern Japan,for Exploring Kuroko-Type Deposits

The Hokuroku district, extending over 40 × 40 km² in northern Japan, is known to be dominated by kuroko-type massive sulfide deposits that have a genetic relation to submarine volcanic activity. The deposits are hosted in a specific stratigraphic zone of Miocene volcanic rocks. Because kuroko-type deposits are under exploration in several countries, it is important to integrate the geologic and geochemical data that have been accumulated in the Hokuroku district to characterize the distribution of deposits and produce a map of mineral potential. Thus, we collected data on multiple chemical components from 1917 rock cores at 143 drillhole sites and concentrated on components with relatively large amounts of data, which are SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and Fe₂O₃ as major elements and Cu, Pb, and Zn as trace elements. Although frequencies of these data can be approximated by normal or lognormal distributions, spatial correlation structures cannot be extracted from the semivariograms of each component nor from the cross-semivariograms between two components of the major or minor elements. To handle such complexity, a spatial method of modeling content distribution, SLANS, is developed by applying a feedforward neural network. The principle of SLANS is to train a network repeatedly to recognize the relation between the data value and the location and lithology of a sample point. One-hundred outputs for each element are obtained by changing the numbers of neurons in a middle layer from 1 to 10 and sample data used for training from 3 to 12, and finally one output is selected based on the estimation precision of the network which is restricted near the target point. After constructing a geologic distribution model from the geological column classified into 25 rock codes, three-dimensional distributions of Cu, Pb, and Zn contents are estimated over the study area. The content models are considered to be valid because high-content zones are located on the known mine sites and the margins of ancient volcanoes or calderas. Some zones are distributed along strikes of major deep-seated fractures in the district.     

An Objective Approach to the Definition of Some Mining Terms: Application to the Hasançelebi Iron Ore Deposit

In the mining industry, definitions of terms such as geologic resource, geologic reserve, mineral resource, mineral, mineral reserve, ore, ore reserve, mineable reserve, and industrial minerals always have been debated, and have caused much confusion. The process of arriving at these definitions requires complicated exploration, calculation, and evaluation. Based on such work, the definitions about the mineral property will be distinctly different. The aims of this paper is to discuss and compare these definitions, and then contrast the differences among them in the example of the Hasançelebi iron are deposit, which is an important source of iron ore in Turkey.     

马海盐湖钾矿区北部矿段低品位地表固体钾矿开发利用主要方法

主要叙述了采用"低品位固体钾矿筛分脱泥"和"水溶开采"两种技术对马海盐湖钾矿区北部矿段低品位固体钾矿的开发情况及取得的实效,并对这两种技术的工艺过程进行了简明阐述.     

太行山自然状态土壤的氮、磷流失比较

该文通过太行山几种土壤类型模拟降雨实验,研究其自然状态的土壤总氮、可溶态氮、总磷、可溶态磷的流失量及流失浓度。研究表明,自然状态土壤氮、磷流失初始浓度最高,随后呈缓慢降低趋势;总氮、总磷及可溶态磷浓度与土壤中氮磷含量有一定相关性,但受其它因素影响也较大;可溶态氮浓度与土壤中氮含量关系不大;各土壤累积产流量大小与土壤渗水性、表层结构及地表植被覆盖有很大关系,总氮、总磷累积流失量大小依次是棕壤土>石灰性褐土>褐土>淋溶褐土>酸性粗骨土。     

Block and Debris Deposits in the High Drakensberg, Lesotho, Southern Africa: Implications for High Altitude Slope Processes

Past evaluation of high altitude slope development in Lesotho, southern Africa, is largely based on hypothetical or macro-scale geomorphic approaches. Consequently, the information pertaining to high altitude southern African Quaternary slope environments has remained rather rudimentary. The present study describes the morphology and discusses the likely palaeogeomorphic processes of blockstreams and debris deposits on the Popple Peak and Njesuthi-Mafadi south-facing-slopes in the Drakensberg. The geomorphic evidence provides much needed information to help improve the understanding of south-facing slope processes during past colder periods. A model for high altitude Drakensberg south facing slopes is presented and used to challenge and expand on recent models and ideas on southern African valley asymmetry. It is found that solifluction and debris flows/avalanches were operative on south-facing slopes during past cold periods and thereby contributed to past slope development at some high altitude sites in Lesotho. However, the geomorphological observations do not support the valley asymmetry hypothesis and it is suggested that greater caution be exercised in valley-form interpretations, particularly where geomorphological ground-truthing has been absent.     

2005~2015年耕地多功能时空演变及其协同与权衡研究——以重庆市沙坪坝区为例

基于2005~2015年近10 a面板数据,在测算重庆市沙坪坝区耕地多功能基础上,探究其时空演变规律、多功能间协同与权衡关系,据此构建耕地空间组织经营模式。结果表明：耕地生产功能、景观游憩功能、社会保障功能及建设空间储备功能时空演变特征差异显著。耕地“生产-景观游憩-社会保障”功能间存在两两协同关系,且协同度均值 “生产-景观游憩”>“社会保障-景观游憩”>“生产-社会保障”;耕地建设空间储备功能与其他3项功能间存在此消彼长的权衡关系。据此构建了“一带两区”即山地休闲农业带、郊野农业游憩区、传统农业提升区的耕地空间组织经营模式。     

基于高速公路流的东北大都市区边界识别与结构特征研究

利用高速公路收费站数据分析东北大都市区的空间边界与中心-外围结构特征。研究发现,① 中心城市高速公路流随距离的分布符合距离衰减规律,随规模位序的累积分布符合“二八定律”,但在具体的指标阈值上却表现出显著差异。② 四大都市区在空间上相连,以较小的国土面积承载了区域主要的社会经济活动。沈阳都市区和大连都市区在城镇关联体系中已实现融合;沈阳都市区、长春都市区、哈尔滨都市区间的空间联系则相对松散。③ 高速公路流空间下,各大都市区中心-外围空间结构表现出空间圈层、功能廊道和边界切割的典型特征。     

Geochemistry of Famennian to Visean Metapelites from the Iberian Pyrite Belt: Implications for Provenance,Paleo-Redox Conditions and Vectoring to Massive Sulfide Deposits

Natural Resources Research - Massive sulfide deposits of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) document the progression of ore-forming processes in the SW Iberian Variscides, throughout uppermost Devonian...     

Gas Flow Characteristics and Optimization of Gas Drainage Borehole Layout in Protective Coal Seam Mining: A Case Study from the Shaqu Coal Mine,Shanxi Province,China

With increasing demands for coal resources, coal has been gradually mined in deep coal seams. Due to high gas content, pressure and in situ stress, deep coal seams show great risks of coal and gas outburst. Protective coal seam mining, as a safe and effective method for gas control, has been widely used in major coal-producing countries in the world. However, at present, the relevant problems, such as gas seepage characteristics and optimization of gas drainage borehole layout in protective coal seam mining have been rarely studied. Firstly, by combining with formulas for measuring and testing permeability of coal and rock mass in different stress regimes and failure modes in the laboratory, this study investigated stress–seepage coupling laws by using built-in language Fish of numerical simulation software FLAC^3D. In addition, this research analyzed distribution characteristics of permeability in a protected coal seam in the process of protective coal seam mining. Secondly, the protected coal seam was divided into a zone with initial permeability, a zone with decreasing permeability, and permeability increasing zones 1 and 2 according to the changes of permeability. In these zones, permeability rises the most in the permeability increasing zone 2. Moreover, by taking Shaqu Coal Mine, Shanxi Province, China as an example, layout of gas drainage boreholes in the protected coal seam was optimized based on the above permeability-based zoning. Finally, numerical simulation and field application showed that gas drainage volume and concentration rise significantly after optimizing borehole layout. Therefore, when gas is drained through boreholes crossing coal seams during the protective coal seam mining in other coal mines, optimization of borehole layout in Shaqu Coal Mine has certain reference values.

     

Finding common ground: relational concepts of land tenure and economy in the oil palm frontier of Papua New Guinea

In the oil palm frontier regions of West New Britain and Oro provinces, Papua New Guinea, customary land tenure arrangements are changing in response to the growing demand for land for agricultural development. This paper examines one aspect of these changes, namely the gifting and selling of customary land for oil palm development to people who have no customary birthrights to the land. By analysing how access rights are maintained over the relatively long cultivation cycle of oil palm (approximately 25 years), and in the context of the rapidly changing socio-economic and demographic environments of the oil palm frontiers, the paper demonstrates that while land transactions seemingly entail the commodification of land, land rights and security of land tenure remain embedded in social relationships. For customary landowners, the moral basis of land rights is contingent on 'outsiders' maintaining particular kinds of social and economic relationships with their customary landowning 'hosts'. In exploring how these social relationships are constituted through the performance of particular kinds of exchange relationships, the paper provides insights into relational concepts of land rights and how these are able to persist in Papua New Guinea's oil palm frontier regions where resource struggles are often intense and where large migrant populations are seeking land for agricultural development.     

Comparison of the Data-Driven Random Forests Model and a Knowledge-Driven Method for Mineral Prospectivity Mapping: A Case Study for Gold Deposits Around the Huritz Group and Nueltin Suite,Nunavut, Canada

This paper outlines the process taken to create two separate gold prospectivity maps. The first was created using a combination of several knowledge-driven (KD) techniques. The second was created using a relatively new classification method called random forests (RF). The purpose of this study was to examine the results of the RF technique and to compare the results to that of the KD model. The datasets used for the creation of evidence maps for the gold prospectivity mapping include a comprehensive lake sediment geochemical dataset, interpreted geological structures (form lines), mapped and interpreted faults, lithology, topographic features (lakes), and known Au occurrences. The RF method performed well in that the gold prospectivity map created was a better predictor of the known Au occurrences than the KD gold prospectivity map. This was further validated by a fivefold repetition using a subset of the input training areas. Several advantages to the use of RF include (1) the ability to take both continuous and/or categorical data as variable inputs, (2) an internal, unbiased estimation of the mapping error (out-of-bag error) removing the need for a cross-validation of the final outputs to determine accuracy, and (3) the estimation of importance of each input variable. Efficiency of prediction curves illustrates that the RF method performs better than the KD method. The success rate is significantly higher for the RF method than for the KD method.     

老挝固体钾盐矿选矿设计的优化与创新——以开元500 kt/a氯化钾项目为例

选矿厂设计是矿山建设中极其重要的关键环节。做好选矿厂设计工作,对于节省项目建设投资,确保工厂如期达产达标,取得良好的经济效益,具有决定性的作用。结合老挝开元500 kt/a氯化钾项目选矿厂生产过程中的技术改造与创新,对该类型选矿厂设计进行经验总结,并指明设计中仍需优化与创新的环节。选矿厂设计中工艺流程的选择应具有较强的生产兼容性,且工艺流程主要环节之间有灵活的可切换性,以适应井下开采过程中性质多变的原矿。工艺配置,设备选型和厂房设计既要兼顾原矿和产品性质,也要充分考虑当地的气候条件和自然环境。厂房和工艺设备的防腐,自动化技术的开发应用和工艺流程样品的自动采集与分析是未来仍需优化和创新的重要环节。该项研究可为今后同类选矿厂的设计提供有益的参考。     

Women, Disempowerment and Resistance: An Analysis of Logging and Mining Activities in the Pacific

There are many arguments supporting the need for a reduction of large scale logging and mining activities in Pacific Island countries. In addition to ecological and economic concerns, logging and mining have had significant social impacts, including gendered impacts. Women tend to be excluded from decision-making processes, and they have limited access to royalty payments and business and employment opportunities which emerge. Women also bear a disproportionate share of the responsibility for dealing with the social and environmental mess which accumulates. However, women are not simply passive victims of logging and mining activities, as this discussion of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea will argue. They are often the first to feel dissatisfaction with logging and mining and it is such dissatisfaction which has fuelled civil unrest, from family break-ups to sabotage of machinery to civil war, in some communities. It may thus be useful for companies to more carefully monitor the effects of their activities on women and involve women more actively in decision-making bodies if they wish to avoid such unrest in the future.     

论索道建设与旅游景观开发的协调发展

该文论述我国客运索道建设状况及相关的研究现状 ,从争论的焦点、实质和背景三方面分析泰山索道建设引发的争论 ,运用景观生态学廊道等相关理论 ,论述索道建设与旅游景观开发协调发展的前提 ,提出两者协调发展的三个途径。     

Intimate Distance: The Unconscious Dimensions of the Rapport Between Researcher and Researched

To explore how psychoanalysis might contribute to the methodology of human geography, this article returns to Freud's experiences of psycho-logical analysis before he develops psychoanalysis as a distinct understanding of the mind, identity formation, and subjectivity. Going back over the early history of psychoanalysis, Freud's psychoanalysis can be seen as an attempt to solve a set of problems inherent in late nineteenth-century psycho-logical analysis. Thus, it is possible to cast his methodological solutions in a new light. In particular, this article explores the problems associated with the unconscious rapport that developed in the therapeutic use of hypnotism in the cure of hysterical symptoms, for both doctor and patient. Freud's techniques can be seen as a way to produce an appropriate detachment—or intimate distance—between himself and his clients. This intimate distance is instructive. As a corrective to certain trajectories within human geography, this article identifies five methodological propositions that might inform future research.     

Relevance of Pentane- and Hexane-Utilizing Bacterial Indicators for Finding Hydrocarbon Microseepage: A Study from Jamnagar Sub-basin, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India

Mesozoic sediments are source rocks for nearly half the world’s hydrocarbon reserves. Hence, there is great interest in the oil industry to know the trap and sub-trappean sediment thickness and their extent in the trap covered regions of Jamnagar study area. The microbial prospecting method is applied in the Jamnagar sub-basin, Gujarat for evaluating the prospects for hydrocarbon exploration by investigating the anomalous abundance of n-pentane- and n-hexane-oxidizing bacteria of this area. A total of 150 near-surface soil samples were collected in Jamnagar sub-basin, Gujarat for the evaluation of hydrocarbon resource potential of the basin. In this study, bacterial counts for n-pentane-utilizing bacteria range between 1.09 × 10² and 9.89 × 10⁵ cfu/g and n-hexane-utilizing bacteria range between 1.09 × 10² and 9.29 × 10⁵ cfu/g. The adsorbed hydrocarbon gases consisting of ethane plus hydrocarbons (ΣC₂₊) of 1–977 ppb and n-pentane (nC₅) of 1–23 ppb. The integrated geomicrobial and adsorbed soil gas studies showed the anomalous hydrocarbon zones nearby Khandera, Haripur, and Laloi areas which could probably aid to assess the true potential of the basin. Integrated geophysical studies have shown that Jamnagar sub-basin of Saurashtra has significant sediment thickness below the Deccan Traps and can be considered for future hydrocarbon exploration.     

Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results

Five test runs were performed to assess possible bias when performing the loss on ignition (LOI) method to estimate organic matter and carbonate content of lake sediments. An accurate and stable weight loss was achieved after 2 h of burning pure CaCO₃ at 950 °C, whereas LOI of pure graphite at 530 °C showed a direct relation to sample size and exposure time, with only 40-70% of the possible weight loss reached after 2 h of exposure and smaller samples losing weight faster than larger ones. Experiments with a standardised lake sediment revealed a strong initial weight loss at 550 °C, but samples continued to lose weight at a slow rate at exposure of up to 64 h, which was likely the effect of loss of volatile salts, structural water of clay minerals or metal oxides, or of inorganic carbon after the initial burning of organic matter. A further test-run revealed that at 550 °C samples in the centre of the furnace lost more weight than marginal samples. At 950 °C this pattern was still apparent but the differences became negligible. Again, LOI was dependent on sample size.An analytical LOI quality control experiment including ten different laboratories was carried out using each laboratory's own LOI procedure as well as a standardised LOI procedure to analyse three different sediments. The range of LOI values between laboratories measured at 550 °C was generally larger when each laboratory used its own method than when using the standard method. This was similar for 950 °C, although the range of values tended to be smaller. The within-laboratory range of LOI measurements for a given sediment was generally small. Comparisons of the results of the individual and the standardised method suggest that there is a laboratory-specific pattern in the results, probably due to differences in laboratory equipment and/or handling that could not be eliminated by standardising the LOI procedure.Factors such as sample size, exposure time, position of samples in the furnace and the laboratory measuring affected LOI results, with LOI at 550 °C being more susceptible to these factors than LOI at 950 °C. We, therefore, recommend analysts to be consistent in the LOI method used in relation to the ignition temperatures, exposure times, and the sample size and to include information on these three parameters when referring to the method.