OCTOBER 2004 NEWSLETTER: WEBSITE EDITION
From
the Chairman
We are deep into a highly divided presidential election season this year. As we approach the coming election on November 2, 2004, I would like to encourage you to be an active part of the process. SME is an engineering and technical society not a political lobbying organization; therefore, I’ll keep my comments politically neutral. However, the political platforms of some of the local and national candidates under consideration may have significant influence or consequence to an industry that many of us depend for a living; or at the very least, an industry that our economy depends on. There are a wide range issues being debated, not necessarily related to mining that may directly affect our lives here locally, nationally, and abroad. The political outcome will impact us during the next few years and possibly many years to come. I urge all of you to study the issues and candidates carefully and then vote for those you feel will most nearly carry out your idea of good government. At the very least, share your thoughts or important issues with others. However, if you have access to the Chicago Section’s e-mail address list, please do not use it to promote your political position. As your personal circumstances allow, I encourage you to serve in public office; including school or zoning boards, city and county councils, state, and national positions. We can make a difference. -- Gordie Stevens
From the Program ChairmanThis Meeting“Effect of Blast Design on Response of Cracks in Residential Structures” This case history describes the instrumentation of a house near an aggregate quarry to assess the effect of changes in blast design on the house response. The velocity response was measured for the superstructure as well as walls and ceilings. Micrometer response of three cracks was measured as well. In all some 11 velocity transducers and 3 crack sensors measured excitation and response for each blast. Dynamic response of these cracks was compared to various measures of ground and/or structure motion to determine those with the best correlation. Variations in the ground motion and air pressure wave (air blast) reflected changes in the blast design. In addition dynamic crack response was compared to the long-term, weather induced crack response as well as the changes in temperature and humidity that produced the response. The study confirms the domination of long-term, weather induced crack response compared to the dynamic response produced by blast-induced phenomena. A Note from Rick Ackermann: This talk will contain some information that may assist the operators in defending themselves from criticism that “your blasting is cracking my house!” That was not the primary purpose of the study, but the information gained during the study on weather induced crack response was an important result. Dr. Charles Dowding is a member of the board of directors of the International Society of Explosive Engineers and the American Rock Mechanics Association and founded Digital Vibration Inc., the first company to perfect remote digital blast vibration monitoring in the early 1980s. He has written widely in the field of geotechnical engineering, and is best known for his three books: Construction Vibrations, Blast Vibration Monitoring and Control and GeoMeasurements by Pulsing TDR Cables and Probes. He received his B.S. from the University of Colorado and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, was a Royal Norwegian Fellow at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining Northwestern University. Dr. Dowding (along with co-authors) received the Applied Research Award from the National Rock Mechanics Committee for work on blast induced cracking of structures. He has consulted extensively for mining, quarrying and construction firms. Currently he is developing systems to monitor and display autonomously the status of critical facilities through the Northwestern Infrastructure Technology Institute. Last MeetingEd Kelleher, Vice President of DBT Mineral Processing—USA talked about crushing using feeder breakers as an alternative to traditional fixed crusher installations. Feeder breakers do not require extensive foundation set up or dump box as do cone or jaw crushers. Kelleher stated that for the right application, a feeder-breaker would cost more initially than some crushers, but can have lower total setup costs and can outperform and have lower maintenance costs that the crusher it replaced. The feed-breaker can be skid mounted, and be set up and running within 3 days of delivery. Moving the unit can be done within a couple of days for a short move. More time may be spent moving the conveyor on a long move. Depending on the setting, a large feeder-breaker can take 60 inch x 60 inch (narrow dimensions – the length can be longer than that!) and reduce it to –6 inch or – 4 inch pieces. And they work best when choke fed. Kelleher showed pictures of a feeder breaker being fed by a 75 ton truck. There are applications where feeder-breakers will not perform well, and Kelleher noted some of them during his talk. He also provided handouts and CDs to all who wanted information on his company’s products, and gave away t-shirts and other items. If you have questions or need information you can e-mail him at dbtminpro@aol.com .
Next MeetingMarshall Miller, SME Henry Krumb Lecturer
GEM/PIE NewsFIRST “CAVALIERS IN THE QUARRY” A SUCCESSThe LaSalle Peru Township
High School Foundation for Educational Excellence and Illinois Cement Company
partnered to present “Cavaliers in the Quarry” on October 2.
This was a community education event and a fundraiser for the Foundation.
There were over 600 paid admissions and 150 volunteers on site. Illinois
Cement furnished the location, Western S&G contributed sand for the treasure
hunt, and rocks for the pet rock painting.
The Earth Science Club of Northern IL (ESCONI) had a fossil and mineral
display. The Illinois DNR Rock Box
trailer was present and MSHA had a safety exhibit.
Pieces of John Deere, Caterpillar, and Hitachi equipment were on display.
They even let the kids climb up into the cab on some of the equipment. There
was great community support from the Cities of LaSalle, Peru, and Oglesby,
including police, fire department, and Peru Volunteer Ambulance, plus State
Police, Army Reserve, Radio Station WAJK-FM, and LaSalle News Tribune. Various
student organizations and sports teams staffed the activity stations: rock bowling, coloring station, fossil making, dig for
treasure, rock painting, face painting, stone throw, and target golf. The
FFA and the teachers handled the concessions.
Pouncing Panthers 4-H Club helped
with the nail pounding which was sponsored by Maze Nails.
It was a wonderful opportunity for families to come out and learn what's
happening behind the berm.
--Submitted by Linda Hiltabrand GEM Committee Activities
Section
News
Don't forget to pay your 2003-2004 dues. Click here for details. Click here for the 2003-2004 Officers Change of Meeting Location Comments?Any comments on our new location and earlier meeting time? We have received some already, but the Executive Committee would like to hear some more comments, pro & con. We are hoping this location & time will be easier and more accessible location for those toward the southern end of our region while still being the same travel time for those living in the western suburbs! Back to TopBylaws Change for Chicago SME SectionAt the last meeting, it was
brought to the attention of the Executive Committee that our Chicago Section
Bylaws restrict the number of consecutive annual terms officers (or at least the
Chair) may serve. Due to the fact that Gordie Stevens has recently been elected
by the Section for his fourth consecutive term as Chair, the issue was brought
before the attending members during our September 21st meeting. A
motion was proposed to extend the number of consecutive annual terms for Chair
to an indefinite number, based on the voting preferences of the Section members.
At that time, the motion was seconded, and approved by unanimous vote of those
in attendance. Congratulations to our now legally elected chair, Gordie Stevens. Speakers for Spring MeetingsThe Chicago SME is actively
recruiting speakers for certain of our meetings for next spring.
If you have any suggestions for speakers or topics, they will be welcomed
by Frank Kendorski, our Program
Chair. If you would like to share
any of the innovations or successes from your operation with the group, we would
appreciate volunteers from within our own ranks.
If any of our vendors would like to present technical material in an
educational format, this would be welcomed. Email Newsletter and Notice RecipientsWithin the next three weeks
I will be sending our a e-mail that you MUST reply to if I am to continue to
sent you our notices of meetings, newsletters & etc. Due to the passage of the Federal CAN SPAM ACT of 2003 the
rules are changing so that by early in 2005 I will need your permission to send
out e-mails for the Chicago SME. It
seems that sending out notices for professional organizations falls in a gray
area for the law. If the SME did
not advertise for conventions, sell books etc., we could send out the notices to
our members at will. However, as an
arm of the SME national organization, which DOES promote fee events and for-sale
items, they have advised us that we should get you’re your permission to send
you the e-mails in order to make sure the SME complies with the law. Anyone who
wants to continue receiving our e-mail notices
MUST reply to the e-mail that you want the SME to continue sending you the
information, otherwise I will be required to drop your e-mail address from the
our local list. For those of you who are involved in this type of notification for other groups, our chair, Gordie Stevens, has received some information from the SME national concerning this issue, which I will fax or e-mail a PDF file to you on request. -- Rick Ackermann, Editor rackermann@patrickengineering.com
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Member NewsJohn Head Joins Continental PlacerAround the middle of
September, John Head joined Continental
Placer Inc. at the local office in
Wheaton, Illinois after nearly nine years with Mactec.
His new company has an active mining practice, to complement its
extensive environmental business. John
said he had “decided to return to my roots and get back to mining
engineering.” Note that Continental Placer has moved their local
offices over the summer out to Wheaton. His new contact information is as
follows: H. John Head, P.E. Senior
Principal Engineer Continental
Placer Inc. CPI
Environmental Services, Inc. 1123
Wheaton Oaks Court Wheaton,
IL 60187 Phone:
630-407-0800, x 103 Fax:
630-407-0799 Cell:
630-750-0652 (unchanged) E-mail:
jhead@continentalplacer.com Richard
Phelps, Former Managing Editor of EM&J, Joins Patrick Engineering
Dick Phelps, the former
Managing Editor of Engineering & Mining Journal, has joined Patrick
Engineering as Senior Project Manager at their Lisle offices.
Prior to joining E&MJ, Mr. Phelps spent 8 years in the banking
industry as a mining engineer. His group was responsible for evaluating and approving large
capital finance loans for new and expanding mining operations.
Prior to joining Chase, he spent several years in the coal industry at
various locations in the US. Dick Phelps can be contacted at: Patrick
Engineering 4970
Varsity drive Lisle,
IL 605 Phone:
630-795-7 Fax:
630-434-8400 e-mail: rphelps@patrickengineering.com Raj Rajaram Forms His Own Independent CompanyDuring the summer, our
former Program Chair Raj Rajaram
left Black & Veach and formed his own consulting company in association with
a partner in India. He is now an
independent consultant working in the areas of Hazardous Waste Management,
Geotechnical/Tunnel Engin-eering and Construction. Raj has started a company in India to transfer US
technologies in hazardous waste management and wastewater to clients in India.
His company is called Complete
Environmental
Solutions Private
Limited
(www.cespl.com)
and is located in Noida, India (suburb of New Delhi). From looking at his web site, Raj will be working with
various associates offering a wide range of services.
Raj is still living in the Chicago area and can be contacted at raj2468@comcast.net,
or by phone at 630-915-6176. And most of us thought we had a long commute to work…. -- R. Ackermann
Industry NewsNorthwest Mining AssociationCheck
out the Northwest Mining Association web
site at http://www.nwma.org. Found
via a link on the Northwest Mining Association (NWMA) web site:
A web site worth noting in an
election year: http://www.activistcash.com/index.cfm
. This site tracts activist charitable
groups & foundations and where the money goes.
For an interesting election year read, click on “foundations” and go
to the Pew Charitable Trust and note their largest beneficiary, the activist
group Tides Foundation. A check of
the information on Tides brought up an interesting connection in an election
year; Tides connection to Teresa Kerry, John Kerry’s wife and her foundation,
Heinz Endowments. It is worth
following the links and reading. Foundations:
Pew Charitable Trusts
Heinz Endowments Activist Groups: Tides Foundation & Tides Center --Rick Ackermann
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