New Mining Technology 采矿新技术

New Mining Technology采矿新技术 李明

Mining technology: scratching the surface采矿技术:刻画(停留在)表面 • Mining is going through a rapid and profound transformation. It is becoming a global industry, increasingly dominated by a radically shrinking number of global mining companies. • 采矿业正在经历一个快速而深刻的变革。受到全球矿业公司数目急剧萎缩(不断减少的趋势)的支配/控制,采矿业正在变成一个全球性的行业/产业。

Paradoxically, mining technology is not developing at anything like the same speed, even though some significant changes have taken place. Because mining is a global industry, its technologies are rapidly transferred between countries and there is not the same urgent competitive incentive to develop proprietary technologies that one finds in many other industries. • proprietary专利的/专利权的/私有的;incentive 刺激性的/鼓励性质的/诱发的 • 奇怪的是，采矿技术并没有以同样的速度发展，即使已经发生了一些重大的变化。由于采矿是一项全球性的行业，其技术正在国家之间快速地转让，而且并没有像在其他许多行业中同样急迫的竞争去激励其开发专利技术。

Currently, mining companies are putting far moreemphasis on finding new, higher-grade ore deposits worldwide than finding better ways to mine them. Demand for metals and minerals is up, and rising; so are prices. • 当前，矿业公司更加注重于在全球范围内寻找新的高品位的矿床而不是去寻找更好的方法去开采它们。对金属及矿物的需求量已经很大了,并且一直在增加/升高，同样它们的价格也在提高。

To some extent, the mining companies have actually withdrawn from the task of technological innovation as they focus on the urgent immediate goal of increasing production to keep up with demand. • 在一定程度上，矿业公司实际上已经撤消了科技创新的目标，因为它们把注意力集中在迫切的增加生产满足需求的直接目标上了。 • keep up with跟上

Further down the road, however, developing technology will not play as important a role in all sectors of mining as it has in the past. Mining may not be the oldest profession, but is possibly the oldest industry – the earliest known mine dates back 43,000 years. Technological progress has always been the key to keeping mineral depletion and mineral prices in balance. • 再这样下去的话，无论如何,在矿业各方面发展技术不会象以前那样发挥同等重要的作用了。矿业或许不是最老的职业，但可能是最老的行业—已知最早的矿可以追溯到43，000年前。科技进步始终是矿石损耗和矿石价格保持平衡的关键。

Since the early 1900s, the National Materials Advisory Board in the U.S. points out, a relentlesssearch has been under wayfor new and innovative mining technologies that can improve health, safety, and productivity, as well as mitigate the adverse environmental and ecological impacts of mining. • 自20世纪初，美国的国家材料咨询委员会指出，对新型的和创新性的开采技术已经进行了不懈的研究,来改善健康、提升安全以及提高生产效率，也减轻采矿对环境和生态的不利影响。 • under way在进行中;

Mining technology innovations included the invention of the safety lamp, and safe use of dynamite for fragmentation, the safe use of electricity, the development of continuous mining machines for cutting coal, the invention of rock bolts for ground support, open-pit mining technology for mining massive, low-grade deposits, and the introduction of longwall coal mining. • 采矿技术的创新包括安全灯的发明、炸药破碎的安全运用、安全用电、开发连续采煤机、发明岩石锚杆用于地层支护、露天矿开采技术用于开采厚大及低品位矿床和引进长壁式采煤。

The mining industry is currently setting impressive records in underground and surface mine production, productivity, and health and safety in all sectors (metal, industrial minerals, and coal). • 目前,采矿业在地下和露天矿山的采矿生产、生产率、健康和安全等的所有（金属、工业矿物和煤炭）方面创立令人难忘的记录。

In spite of this, the industry needs more effective and efficient mining technologies. For example, the inability to ascertain the conditions ahead in the mining face can slow progress and create health and safety hazards. • 尽管如此，该行业需要更有效和效率高的矿产开采技术。例如，在无法探知回采工作面前方的状况时，会使工作进展缓慢和有健康、安全的危险。 • ascertain确定/探知；

As mining progresses to greater depths, the increase in rock stress requires innovative designs for ensuring the short and long term stability of the mine structure. • 随着采矿向更大的深度(深部)发展，岩石应力的增加需要创新的设计，以确保矿井结构的短期和长期的稳定。

“Truly continuous mining requires innovative fragmentation and material-handling systems,” said a 2002 report by the National Materials Advisory Board." In addition, sensing, analyzing, and communicating data and information will become increasingly important. • 美国国家材料咨询委员会2002年的报告指出“真正连续的开采需要创新性的破碎和物料输送系统，” 。此外，感测、分析和传输数据和信息将变得越来越重要 ”

Mining environments also present unique challenges to the design and operation of equipment. Innovative maintenance strategies, supported by modern monitoring technologies, will be necessary for increasing the operational life of equipment and the mining system as a whole. • 采矿环境也对设备的设计和操作提出了独特的要求。由现代监测技术支撑的创新性的维修策略，总体上对于提高设备和矿业系统的运行寿命将是必要的。

Advanced mine technology: some examples 先进采矿技术的一些实例 • Mine technology development comes from a wide variety of sources. Some of the most radical and promising innovations are adaptationsof technologies originally devisedfor other industries. • 采矿技术/工艺的发展有一系列来源.最基本和最有前途的一些原始设计技术的创新是为了适合于其他的行业而进行的． • adapt for 使适合于/为…改编;

“Mining technology advancement today is progressing in several distinct areas,” says Greg Baiden, Laurentian University’s Canadian research chair in robotics and mine automation. “The main areas of advancement are computer systems for engineering and geology, voice and data communications and surface plant control. • “现今采矿技术在几个明显不同的领域里发展进步，”加拿大(Laurentian)劳伦系大学的Greg Baiden在研究讲座中在谈到机器人技术与采矿自动化时说到.主要的发展领域是工程与地质学,声音与数据传输以及露天机械控制的计算机系统方面.

Examples of the new technologies include mine design software, rock analysis software, and geology mapping software. Further advances in voice and data communications have seen the beginnings of tele-operation of mining equipment from LHDs (load-haul-dumps倾倒) and drills to robot arms. • 新技术的例子包括采矿设计软件、岩石分析软件以及地质绘图软件.在声音与数据传输方面的进一步发展已经看到了由从LHDS和钻机到机器人钻臂发展而带来的采矿设备的远程操作的开端.

Surface plants have gradually seen the introduction of relatively advanced process control technology. For example, fuzzy logic controllers have been applied to mill operation.” • 露天机械也逐渐地引进了相对先进的加工控制技术。例如，模糊逻辑控制器已经被用于磨矿/破碎。 • The following examples are just a tiny selection of the multitude of innovations the industry is making use of. • 以下的例子仅仅是工业中正在应用的大量改革中的极少的几个方面/选择．

Smart mining • 全自动化采矿 • Declan Vogt, in charge of mining research for South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is impressed with the potential of smart mining and its emphasis on measurement and precision to increase productivity. • 南非科学与工业研究委员会负责采矿研究的Declan vogt 对全自动化采矿的潜力以及它重点强调测量和精度以提高生产率印象深刻．

“There is scope for mining to catch up with other industrial processes,” he says. “Many of these are well measured and hence can be well controlled, while underground mining is not well measured in real time. So there is scope for considerable process improvement. • 他说:”对于采矿业来说,赶上其他的行业进程还有机会,”其他的很多行业被精心测量/调节,因此能被充分控制,然而地下采矿不能被很好的实时测量,因此还有大量改进的余地.

As cheap wireless sensors become more widely available, it will become possible to measure the mining process as completely as, for example, a petrochemical process. We can expect to see similar productivity improvements as those already seen in other industries when the loop is closed and control is applied.” • 正如便宜的无线传感器利用的更广泛一样,象调节石化过程一样,调节/测量采矿过程成为可能.当回路/循环闭合且控制/调节应用时,我们期待看到那些已经在其他行业中看到的相同的生产率的提高．

Processing • 选矿 • An example of what mining companies are doing in-house to improve their bottom lines and mining technology as a whole is Phelps Dodge’s copper concentrateleaching plant in Arizona, commissioned in 2003. • 矿业公司正在做室内试验用来提高他们的关键技术和开采技术,一个实例就是在亚利桑那州的Phelps Dodge公司的铜精矿过滤机械，并于2003年投入使用． • leaching浸出/滤出; concentrate集中/浓缩/精矿; commission委托/服役/授权;

It was the first commercial facility to use pressure leaching to treat chalcopyrite concentrates. Chalcopyrite ores account for about 70% of the world’s known copper reserves. Concentrated pressure leaching provides an economical alternative to conventional smelting and refining methods for these concentrates. • 这是首次采用商用设备压浸处理黄铜矿精矿．黄铜矿矿石约占世界已知铜储量的70%．精矿压浸过滤提供了一种经济的可替代传统的熔炼和精炼的精矿浓缩法.

The National Materials Advisory Board points out that the most important transformation of the mineral industry in the next 20 years could be the complete replacement of smelting by the hydrometallurgical processing of base metals. • 国家原材料咨询委员会指出,在以后的20年中矿物行业最重要的变化可能是湿法冶金处理碱/贱金属完全取代熔炼法.

“For this to happen, the trend that began with dump and heap leaching, coupled with solvent extraction-electrowinning and that was followed by bioleaching and pressure oxidation, would have to be accelerated,” said the board’s 2002 report. • “为此,以倾倒、堆摊沥滤/堆浸结合溶剂提取-电解冶金开始以及后来的生物沥滤和压力氧化的这种趋势将不得不加速”，2002年的委员会报告说

“Future research and development should be focused on innovative reactor designs and materials, sensors, modeling and simulation, high-pressure and biological basics, leaching and metal-separation reagents.” • “今后研究和发展的方向应着重集中在改革反应堆设计和原料、传感器、模拟与仿真，高压和生物基，沥滤/溶浸和金属分离试剂。”

Virtual reality • 虚拟现实 • Mining companies in Greater Sudbury and Red Lake, Ont., have used giant screens to obtain three-dimensional images of the earth by combining drill-hole data, topographical maps, magnetic surveys and airborne photos. • 在加拿大安大略省的Greater Sudbury and Red lake 矿业公司已经通过联合钻孔数据，地形图，磁测量和航空照片的方法进而采用巨型屏幕来获取地球/大地的三维图像。(Airborne航空的)

As a result, they are able to extract pertinent information much faster than in the past. For instance, they can devise alternative tunnel routes to avoid rock bursts by instituting mathematical processes. • 结果，它们能够比过去获取相关信息快得多。例如，它们能够通过建立数学程序来代替巷道以避免岩爆。 • pertinent有关的/相干的;

The effect is the orebody “coming off the screen,” according to Andrew Dasys, managing director of Laurentian University’s NAVNet, a research group affiliated with MIRARCO. Goldcorp’s Red Lake operation used this technology to make a $13-million decision to sink a shaft. • 效果是矿体表现在屏幕上，这是根据Laurentian 大学MIRARCO下属的一个研究组织 Navnet 的研究中心的主任Andrew Dasys 的研究。Goldcop 的红湖公司利用这种技术决定投入1300万美元掘进一个井筒。

Mine Planning 矿山规划 • As mining becomes more capital intensive and face advance becomes more rapid, there will be a greater need for information about the geometry and grade of the orebody prior to mining, according to Vogt. Geophysical techniques like ground-penetrating radar already have a lot to offer, but they will be improved and added to. • 根据Vogt的研究结果得出，随着采矿变得资本更加密集以及工作面掘进的更快，这就需要在采矿之前了解更多的关于几何学与矿体品位的信息。地球物理学技术如穿透地层的雷达一样可以提供很多的信息，但是它们还需要完善和充实。

Geology will be integrated with data from other sources, like production drilling penetration rates, for example, to produce hugely improved short-range predictions of the orebody, and hence better mining. • 地质学将会结合其他来源的数据，象生产钻进穿透率,例如,它们会产生大量改善的接近实际矿体的预测，从而更加有利于开采。

Geology will also move from prediction of the orebody alone to prediction of the surrounding rock enabling more effective layout and support design. Vogt says that borehole radar was developed by the CSIR specifically as a contribution to this area. • 地质学不仅应用于矿体的预测而且还预测矿体的围岩，从而矿山布局更合理及支护设计更有效。Vogt 指出钻孔/探地雷达由CSIR(科学与工业研究中心)开发，尤其作为对本领域的一个贡献。

Underwater mining • 水下采矿 • Greg Baiden at Laurentian University would like to open up an entirely new frontier in mining, one which would be heavily technology driven. • Laurentian 大学的Greg Baiden 更喜欢开启一个全新的采矿领域，此领域会被科技极大地推进/驱动。

“For every person on Earth to achieve a First World lifestyle,” he says, “the demand placed on Earth resources would exceed our current resource output many times.” • 他说“对于地球上每一个人来说，为达到第一世界的生活方式” ，“对于世界资源的需求将会大大超过当前资源产量的很多倍。”

As India and China aspire actively to First World status, he says, keeping up with demand over the coming decades is going to be a huge task . • 由于印度和中国都热/渴望第一世界的地位，他说，在接下来的几十年中，满足这种需求，将是一项艰巨的任务。

“What are we to do to meet this demand?” Baiden asks. “We as miners are currently limited to mining on 29% of the planet’s surface area. Can we double our mining output from land surfaces alone? Maybe. But if not, where are we to go? To outer space? I think the challenges there are well beyond our technology to date.” • “我们怎么做才能满足这种需求呢？”Baiden 问到“作为矿工的我们仅是在29%的地球表面积内进行采矿作业,我们可否仅从陆地表面使采出矿量加倍?或许可以,但如果不能,那我们需要去哪里去获取呢？去太空？我认为这种挑战是超出我们所能达到的技术水平的.”

Far more tempting, he says, are the oceans, which encompass 71% of the planet’s surface. Currently, the oceans and lakes are untouched with the exception of oil and gas, and some diamond mining. • “更为诱人的是，”他说，“是占地球表面积71%的海洋。目前，海洋和湖泊下除了石油和天然气以及一些钻石矿物以外其他矿物还没有开发。

Mining has not yet to explore underwater on a significant scale, basically because the technology does not yet exist, but Baiden has started to work on it. Mining robotics technology will allow the mining of large-scale mining deposits on the bottom of oceans and lakes. • 采矿业尚未对水下进行过规模的探测，主要是因为当前这种技术并不存在，但是Baiden 已经在这方面开始工作了。采矿机器人技术将会允许对海洋和湖泊下的大型矿床进行开采。”

“The environment is hostile, to say the least,” Baiden says. “High pressure, extreme temperature, and a fluid mass that is highly impractical to support human life for the long term. • “至少可以这样说(退一步说),环境是恶劣的”,Baiden 指出,“压力高，极端温度和流体质量这些对长久维持人们生命都是不切实际的。

Yet the geothermal potential of the earth under the oceans is tremendous. We are just beginning to open this new frontier in mining. Robotics and tele-mining will play a huge role in the opening of this frontier.” • 然而，海洋下面的地热潜能是巨大的。我们仅仅是开始去打开这个矿业新领域。机器人采矿和远程遥控采矿将会在开启这一新领域中发挥巨大的作用。”

Automation and control • 自动化与控制 • Better automation and control systems for mining equipment could lead to large gains in productivity. The National Materials Advisory Board points out that some equipment manufacturers are already incorporating human-assisted control systems in newer equipment, and improvements in man-machine interfaces are being made.

为采矿设备提供更好的自动化和控制系统会获得较高的生产率。国家原材料咨询委员会指出，一些设备制造商已经开始把人类辅助控制系统应用在这种新型的设备上，并且人机接口的改进也正在研制中。为采矿设备提供更好的自动化和控制系统会获得较高的生产率。国家原材料咨询委员会指出，一些设备制造商已经开始把人类辅助控制系统应用在这种新型的设备上，并且人机接口的改进也正在研制中。

Further down the road, however, research should focus on more autonomous vehicles that have bothsensor capabilityand sufficient processing power to accomplish fairly complex tasks without human intervention. Tasks include haulage and mining in areas that are too dangerous for human miners. • 再进一步说，研究的重点应集中在拥有传感器能力和足够的操作动力的更加自动化/自控的机动车辆方面，使之在没有人干预的情况下，能够完成相对复杂的任务。这些任务包括对于矿工来说危险地点的矿石运输及回采工作。

Semi-autonomous control methods should also be explored, such as “fly-by-wire” systems in which the operator’s actions do not directly control the vehicle but give directions to a computer, which then decides how to accomplish the action. • 半自动化的控制方法也应加以探讨，如“电传系统”，它是指操作人员的行动并不直接控制机动车辆而是通过直接将控制指令传给电脑，然后由电脑决定如何去完成这个行动指令。 • autonomous自治的/自主的/自控的;

A good example of this technology is currently being used in large construction cranes; the motion of the crane to move a load from one location to another is controlled by the operator through a computer, which controls the rate of movement of the crane in such a way as to minimize the swing of the load. • This technology has considerably improved safety, accelerated cycle time, and enhanced energy conservation in the motion of the crane.

目前,应用这种技术的一个很好的例子是应用在大型建筑用起重机，这种起重机移动一个负荷从一个地点到另一个地点的指令是由操作员通过一台电脑来控制的，然后再由电脑来控制起重机的移动速度，通过这种方法减少起重机负荷的来回摆动。目前,应用这种技术的一个很好的例子是应用在大型建筑用起重机，这种起重机移动一个负荷从一个地点到另一个地点的指令是由操作员通过一台电脑来控制的，然后再由电脑来控制起重机的移动速度，通过这种方法减少起重机负荷的来回摆动。 • 这项技术已经极大改善了它的安全性，缩短了循环时间，并且增强了起重机运行中的能量保护。

The Rand Corp. points out that remote and autonomous control technologies are still in the formative stages, and that there is a lack of consensus in the mining industry about how desirable they are. • 兰德公司指出远程和自动化控制技术仍然处于发展阶段，并且他们是否令人满意，在采矿业中仍然缺乏共识。 • consensus一致同意; desirable令人满意的/优良的; • Research and Development Corporation研究与发展公司/兰德公司;

These technologies are currently available for only a few specific tasks, such as remote guidance of LHD vehicles and continuous miners, operator-assisted drill positioning, excavator scooping, and vehicle tramming. • 目前,这些技术仅对于一些特殊的作业是可用的，例如，远程指导装运卸(LHD)设备和连续割煤机，钻孔定位辅助控制器，电铲挖取和矿车运输。

Despite this climate of uncertainty, some of the requisite technologies are nearing commercial availability for several pieces of machinery. • 尽管有这些不确定的因素，一些关键的技术对于机械的不同部分在工业上是可用的。 • commercial availability工业效用; • availability 可用性/有效性;

Power sources for underground mining • 地下采矿的能源 • Mining Technologies International (MTI), in collaboration with the Canadian federal government’s CANMET-MMSL, is currently assembling the world’s first hybriddiesel-electric LHD prototype. • 采矿技术国际协会与加拿大联邦政府的CANMET—MMSL合作，目前正在装备世界上第一台柴油与电混合驱动的装-运-卸机组样机。 • prototype原型/样机; hybrid混合的; diesel柴油机;

The assembly will be completed in mid-2006 and the prototype will be tested and optimized at the CANMET-MMSL Experimental Mine in Val-d’Or, Que. The hybrid 1.5 yd LHD will then be tested in four operating mines. • 这种装置将会在2006年中期完成，并且这个样机将会在CANMET-MMSL的试验矿山val-dor,Que 测试和优化,这个混合1.5码的装-运-卸机组将会在四个运营矿山进行测试。

New Mining Technology 采矿新技术