SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit

29 February 2010 - 3 March 2010

SME celebrates “A Century of Mining Research” with a keynote session
presenting leaders in all areas that contribute to the scientific body of
knowledge in mining: industry, academia and government. Speakers will
offer historical perspective with an eye toward a future that is both safer
and healthier, while also productive and sustainable. Invited presenters
will share their respective contributions and perspectives.
 
The Conference will be held from February 28 to March 3, 2010.
 
ERM will be exhibiting at booth #1127.
 
Enhancing Health and Safety Management System Performance Through Behavior Change
J. Rose; ERM CVS, Mount Pleasant, SC

There has been a significant increase in the level of activity around Health and Safety management systems (HSMS). State and Federal government agencies have joined with industry sector associations and others in the calls to promote – and in many cases require – HSMS implementation. For companies deciding whether to implement an HSMS, value must be demonstrated to assure payback on investment, and for those who already have an HSMS, continuing value through improved performance is expected and must occur. This presentation addresses how in both cases value is achievable through the effective implementation and assessment of Health and Safety Management Systems to drive enhanced performance. This presentation will produce these learning outcomes for attendees: * Understand why traditional HSMS implementation and assessment approaches have largely failed to provide the value companies demand, * Understand how a behavior based approach provides the desired value through enhanced health and safety performance, and * Experience case study results that demonstrate the success of the behavior based approach.

In-Situ Denitrification of Spent Ore at the Wharf Mine in Lead, South Dakota
R. Waterland, Department of Metallurgical Engineering,  University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, J. Adams, Goldcorp, Inc., Lead, SD  T. Cota and P. Corbetta; Environmental Resources Management, Greenwood Village, CO;

In-situ denitrification was performed on a lined spent ore depository at Wharf Mine in Lead, South Dakota, to reduce residual nitrate and nitrite in spent ore from ANFO use in blasting activities and degradation of cyanide used in leaching the ore. The spent ore depository was constructed in October 2002 and holds 2.5 tons of spent ore. Full-scale insitu denitrification of spent ore with an inoculum solution of denitrifying bacteria and nutrients was applied to the top of the spent ore from July to August in 2007 and from July to September in 2008. The inoculum application was then discontinued and the spent ore was allowed to drain down. A detailed sampling program of the spent ore in the depository was conducted in December 2008 to determine effectiveness of the in-situ denitrification and to estimate the remaining nitrate load. The effectiveness of the in-situ treatment of the spent ore was evaluated by three-dimensional kriging and visualization of analytical results from boring composite samples. Based on the kriging analysis, the in-situ dentrification of the spent ore was highly effective, reducing the original estimated nitrate and nitrite load by approximately 90 percent.

A Rock Solid Mine Plan is the Foundation of a Successful EIS
A. Trippel and A. Anderson; Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Midland, MI and St Paul, MN

Successful EIS’s share at least one common feature, a comprehensive and well-presented mine life cycle plan which all environmental, social, and permitting studies are based upon. Technical and even political weaknesses in the plan often result in delays, increased costs, eroding a social license to operate, or even denial of permits. A simple graphic will help illustrate the essentials of a solid mine life cycle plan as the foundation for building a technically - and legally - defensible EIS. This foundation is the key to permitting a successful 21st Century mine.

Click here for more information.
 

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