Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi - Mineral Resources Management

Modern technologies have been revolutionizing industries for years, providing competitive advantages to companies. As a technology based on decentralization, Blockchain becomes a tool to support and secure processes and transactions in industries such as mining and power engineering. It also supports supply chain processes, which are particularly important in today's mining business. The use of advanced cryptography methods results in increased cyber security in entities that implement such solutions. The use of Blockchain technology carries a strong message, both to competitors and customers, about intensifying work on authentication and process traceability. This publication focuses on defining the trust gap problem in the mining industry and on examples of the use of technology in data traceability processes. The mining industry is beginning to use technologies which had been previously available only in the theoretical realm. The ongoing development towards a smart industry entails a number of studies and expert assessments, aimed to integrate knowledge from the mining and IT areas. The combination of these research areas leads to an increase in the value of both the companies implementing modern technologies and traditional companies that implement such applications in their value chain. Based on the analyzed articles, two main areas of consideration in the context of the extractive industry were distinguished: systems that track and secure the flow of data in specific mining processes and systems that monitor and secure information on processes which support the raw materials supply chain.

China has been building an ecological compensation system to eliminate the contradiction between economic development and ecological protection. Aiming at conflicts of interest in the implementation of an ecological compensation policy for China’s mineral resource development, this study established a tripartite evolutionary game model to simulate the ecological compensation scenario and determined the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) under different scenarios; it uses numerical simulation to analyse the strategy evolution process of stakeholders and the influence of parameter changes on each strategy. The results show that there is an optimal ESS for ecological compensation for mineral resource development, which condition is C1 < Ti + F1, P < F2, C2 < R1 + R2. The initial cooperation intentions of stakeholders directly affected the final stable state. Local governments are most affected by the input cost, and mining enterprises are most affected by the supervision of the central government. Punishment can effectively restrain the behavior of local governments and mining enterprises and promote the implementation of ecological compensation systems. In addition, the higher supervision cost of the central government, the longer time it will take for the stakeholders to reach the stable state. Finally, reducing the payment amount for ecological compensation will not affect the trend in environmental improvement; in contrast, it is conducive to the preservation of enterprises’ strength, economic development and ecological environment protection. The main findings of this study can help secure coordinate between the stakeholders in conflict and jointly formulate appropriate ecological compensation policy.

Native sulphur deposits mined using the underground melting method are characterized by a complex structure, which is the result of the many geologic processes which led to their formation.
The resource utilization rate and the consumption of hot water per ton of sulphur are the main criteria of mining effectiveness. They depend on the porosity and permeability of the rocks forming the deposit, the content and mode of occurrence of sulphur (ore texture), and the distribution of rocks with these varying features. Good recognition of geological and hydrogeological deposit features, exploitation results, is important for formulating the rules of controlling the course of exploitation in order to achieve the best recovery of sulphur with the lowest possible water consumption and to reduce operating costs.
Sulphur deposits are characterized by great local and directional variations in their structure and hydrogeological parameters. This makes the melting process irregular. The flow of hot water and melted sulphur is facilitated in certain directions. As a result, the shape, and distribution and form of exploited parts of the deposit are highly variable. Full information about the deposit is necessary for the proper understanding and prediction of processes that occur in the deposit during sulphur melting, for forecasting its effects, and for controlling the exploitation process. This information is obtained through the lithological description of core samples from exploratory and exploitation boreholes, geophysical borehole logging, and surface seismic surveys.

The purpose of the present study was to extract high added value titanium from Ti-doped Seaside Magnetite Concentrated (Ti-SMC), which has a high potential reserve for Ti-Fe with 4–6% Ti, 50–52% F e, 1–2% A l, and 1–2% Mg content by applying innovative, economical, environmentally friendly methods. A gitaion HCl leaching was applied to the Ti-SMC sample at different leaching temperatures (25–50–75–90°C), at acid concentrations (8–10–12 N ), and leaching times (30–60– –120–240 min) in atmospheric conditions. A fter the leaching experiments under the indicated conditions, the optimization of the leaching experiments was determined with Ti% recovery that dissoluted by elemental analysis, and the titanium recovery values reached the maximum value with increased leaching time at 50°C and 10 N HCl acid concentration; and 65% Ti was recovered in 30 minutes, 67% in 60 minutes, 74% in 120 minutes, and 82% Ti in 240 minutes. F or Ti-SMC, leaching was carried out at 50°C leaching temperature and at 10 N acid concentration for 480 minutes, and a 92% Ti extraction value was achieved. A ccording to the extraction results of all leaching experiments, the leaching temperature of 50°C, the acid concentration of 10 N , and the leaching time of 480 minutes were determined as the optimum conditions. In this study, it was emphasized that this resource is a potential reserve, which has not been used as a source before, with 92% Ti extraction with atmospheric acid leaching, which is an environmentally friendly method, consuming less energy than Ti-SMC, which is difficult and expensive to extract with traditional methods.

This paper presents results of mineralogical and chemical research connected with the polymorphic transformations of dicalcium silicates in aggregate based on open-hearth slag and also slags from the current production of EAF (electric arc furnaces), and LF (ladle furnaces). Particular attention was paid to the transformation of the polymorph β-Ca2[SiO4] into the variant γ-Ca2[SiO4], which is undesirable from the perspective of using steel slags in road construction. A full mineralogical characterization of the tested metallurgical slags enabled the verification of the effectiveness of detecting the decomposition of dicalcium silicate in observations in UV light in line with the PN-EN 1744- 1+A1:2013-05 standard. On the basis of the conducted research, it was found that in the aggregate based on open-hearth slags and in the EAF furnace slag, dicalcium silicates are mainly represented by the β-Ca2[SiO4] polymorph, accompanied by α’-Ca2[SiO4]. The slag from the LF furnace was characterized by a different composition, with a strong advantage (57%) of the α’-Ca2[SiO4] variety, with a 1% share of the β-Ca2[SiO4] and 15% of the γ-Ca2[SiO4].
It was found that the transformation of β-Ca2[SiO4] into γ-Ca2[SiO4] can take place only under certain conditions in the metallurgical process, but the process is not influenced by hyperergenic factors, as evidenced by the fact that after more than 100 years of storage of open-hearth slag, on the basis of which the aggregate was produced, it was primarily marked with all the variants of β-Ca2[SiO4], without the polymorph γ-Ca2[SiO4].
The comprehensive characterization of the slag phase composition requires use of an appropriately selected research methodology; this is of key importance prior to the secondary use of this material, especially in the presence of the γ-Ca2[SiO4] polymorph. It has been determined that the most accurate test results are obtained using the XRD technique. The method of determining the decomposition of dicalcium silicate according to the PN-EN 1744-1+A1:2013-05 standard proved to be unreliable. It seems that in the situation of using LF slag as an artificial aggregate, taking the test results according to the method described in the PN-EN 1744-1+A1:2013-05 standard as being decisive is very risky, especially on a large scale (e.g. in communication construction).

This paper discusses the agrotechnical use of foundry waste based on spent foundry sands (SFS). The advantage of foundry waste use is its high concentration of quartz sands and its similar physical properties to soils, including good permeability and filtration rate. An important component of foundry waste containing a mineral binders (green sands) is the presence of a clay fraction. In contrast, organic binders in some foundry wastes increase the percentage of organic matter. However, organic binders may contain toxic substances that are hazardous to the biota. Therefore, it is not recommended to use foundry waste with organic binders in agriculture or horticulture. Moreover, heavy metals may be problematic in the agrotechnical use of foundry waste mainly derived from cast metal. The disadvantage of using foundry waste as soil substrates is the low proportion of fertilizing components. Due to the low content of nutrients in foundry waste, it is recommended that it is used as a structural component mixed with other additives, such as sewage sludge or compost. The paper presents the results of research on the content of pollutants and the assessment of the biotoxicity of foundry waste. Based on the analyzed literature reports and own research, it was found that the use of foundry waste for non-industrial purposes, such as the production of artificial horticultural substrates, soilless substrates and artificial soils (Technosols), should be preceded by numerous studies to confirm the absence of negative impacts on the environment and human health.

In the execution of edge detection algorithms and clustering algorithms to segment image containing ore and soil, ore images with very similar textural features cannot be segmented effectively when the two algorithms are used alone. This paper proposes a novel image segmentation method based on the fusion of a confidence edge detection algorithm and a mean shift algorithm, which integrates image color, texture and spatial features. On the basis of the initial segmentation results obtained by the mean shift segmentation algorithm, the edge information of the image is extracted by using the edge detection algorithm based on the confidence degree, and the edge detection results are applied to the initial segmentation region results to optimize and merge the ore or pile belonging to the same region. The experimental results show that this method can successfully overcome the shortcomings of the respective algorithm and has a better segmentation results for the ore, which effectively solves the problem of over segmentation.

In the event of occupational accidents in mining, investors can calculate approximately how much loss will be incurred at the time of the accident. However, in halting mining as a result of occupational accidents or legislation, investors, will perhaps not care about how much of a loss to profits will arise due to the resulting downtime of mining operations. The reason for this is that there is no such halting in mining operation as yet and mining activity is continued. Avoiding halting mines due to occupational accidents and legislation would enable the prevention of unexpected costs resulting from these time losses. The aim of this study was to find out how much the loss of profits resulting from the downtime of mining enterprises due to the aforementioned reasons are in total, and how much the ratio of loss of profits to annual operating costs is on average on an annual basis. To determine the loss of profits and to minimize the accidents in enterprises, permanent supervisors, who are assigned in the enterprises where they are working, were given a survey through the SurveyMonkey program. Of the 235 permanent supervisors who filled out the survey on behalf of the mining enterprises, 58 answered all of the multiple-choice questions examined in the study. These questions were analyzed together according to different mineral groups and differences in mining operation methods. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the annual loss of profits of mining enterprises resulting from the aforementioned periods of downtime, and the ratio of these values to the annual operating costs constitute a rather significant share. The aim of the article was to raise awareness to have mining companies appropriate more funds for occupational health and safety.

Approximately 95% of international trade in steam coal is concentrated in two areas: Asia-Pacific and Atlantic. Prices on the international market depend on the largest exporters and users of coal. The aim of the article is to characterize the price trends that took place in the international trade of energy coal in the years 2000–2020 and to distinguish price indices which, in the opinion of the authors, currently play an important role in this trade. The analysis of steam coal prices in international markets in 2000–2020 made it possible to highlight five periods of rising prices, four periods of falling prices, and one period of the stabilisation of prices. A detailed analysis of the highlighted periods of steam coal price fluctuations in 2000–2020 made it possible to identify groups of factors that significantly affect the level of prices of the analyzed coal in the long term. International steam coal markets are interlinked despite periodic volatility. A very important factor influencing world steam coal prices is the situation in China as it is the largest producer, user and importer of steam coal. A small change in coal production in China significantly affects the volume of trade on the international market. Therefore, the level of freight prices is an important factor influencing the price level for the customer. FOB Australia prices are also correlated with coal suppliers to the European market and Asia-Pacific market in this paper. The very high correlation coefficients obtained confirm the close relationship between the prices of these coals. For many years, the European market has no longer been a trendsetter in international coal markets but has instead been affected by general trends.

The article presents three German-located case studies based on stochastic methods founded by the theory proposed by Knothe and the development of the ‘Ruhrkohle method’ according to Ehrhardt and Sauer. These solutions are successfully applied to predict mining-induced ground movements. The possibility of forecasting both vertical and horizontal ground movements has been presented in the manuscript, which allowed for optimization mining projects in terms of predicted ground movements.
The first example presents the extraction of the Mausegatt seam beneath the district of Moers-Kapellen in the Niederberg mine. Considering, among others, the adaption of the dynamic impact of the underground operations to the mining-induced sensitivity of surface objects, the maximum permissible rate of the face advance has been determined.
The second example presents the extraction of coal panel 479 in the Johann seam located directly in the fissure zone of Recklinghausen-North. Also, in this case, the protection of motorway bridge structure (BAB A43/L225) to mining influences has been presented. The Ruhrkohle method was used as a basis for the mathematical model that was developed to calculate the maximum horizontal opening of the fissure zone and the maximum gap development rate.
Part of the article is dedicated to ground uplift due to rising mine water levels. Although it is not the main factor causing mining-related damage, such movements in the rock masses should also be predicted. As the example of the Königsborn mine, liquidated by flooding, shows stochastic processes are well suited for predicting ground uplift. The only condition is the introduction of minor adjustments in the model and the use of appropriate parameters.

The effective implementation of new market strategies presents the mining enterprises with new challenges which require precise assessment instruments of the carried out business to be met at the level of mines, preparation plants, coking plants, and steelworks. These instruments include deposit, technological, and economic parameters, which together with a safety margin, determining the percentage reserve level of each parameter, shape the profitability of undertaken projects. The paper raises the issue of designing an IT architecture of the system for deposit modelling and mining production scheduling, implemented in the JSW SA. The development and application of the system was important with regard to the overriding objective of the Quality ProgramProgram of the JSW Capital Group, which is increasing the effectiveness of deposit and commercial product quality management. The paper also presents the required specification of the technical architecture necessary to implement systems and the actions required to integrate them with other IT systems of the JSW Group. The heuristic technical architecture of the JSW SA production line management system presented in the paper enables an analysis of the production process profitability in a carried account system in the area of mines, preparation plants, and coking plants of the mining group of the biggest European coal producer for metallurgical purposes.