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By K. B. Culver

"This paper provides background information on the expansion programs of Rio Algom Limited at Elliot Lake. Included are details on the Quirke expansion program, the Panel mine rehabilitation program, including the selection procedure for the tailings containment area, the Stanleigh mine rehabilitation program, housing, government regulations and the Environmental Assessment Board hearings. Introduction After 2Y2 years of public hearings, 4 years of arbritrating differences of opinion between our engineers and government licencing authorities, interspersed with research into radium removal and development of the LAMIX process and carrying out the work associated with some 24 control orders issued to us by the MOE, it is very difficult to compress all of the experiences and frustrations into a single paper. The highlights, as they relate to the expansion programs of Rio Algorn Limited and its affiliate, Preston Mines Limited, will be covered. Denison Mines Limited, of course, is the other uranium producer in Elliot Lake. They are currently in the process of expanding from 7,000 to 11,000 TPD by the second half of 1980 and then to 15,000 TPD by the mid 1980's. In giving this overview, the following seven items will be discussed: • The basis for Rio Algom's and Preston's expansion plans. • The Quirke Expansion. • The Panel Rehabilitation. • The Stanleigh Rehabilitation. • Housing Programs. • Government Licencing Requirements. • Environmental Assessment Board Hearings."

Jan 1, 1980

By Yu Chen, Charlie C. Li

The application of rock bolts for the stabilisation of underground openings needs a good understanding of the response of the bolts during rock excavation. The pull-and-shear performance of two types of rock bolts—that is, the fully encapsulated rebar and the D-Bolt—has been studied both experimentally and numerically. The rock bolts were tested under a pull-and-shear load at five displacing angles (i.e., 0°, 20°, 40°, 60°, and 90°), and at the same time, the strains on the bolts were monitored during testing. The two types of rock bolts have similar loading capacities, while the loading angle has obvious influence on the deformation capacity of the D-Bolt. The ultimate total displacement of the D-Bolt decreases from 140 mm under pure pull loading to 70 mm under shearing. The displacement capacity of the rebar is not significantly influenced by the loading angle but remains at a quite low level from 29 to 53 mm. The D-Bolt yielded in a longer section the rebar bolt under pure shear. A trilinear material model was used to simulate the strain hardening behaviour of the bolt steels in the numerical code FLAC3D. The numerical results show that the axial load in the bolt decreases exponentially with the distance from the loading position for the rebar bolts, but it remains constant in the bolt sections between the anchor positions for the D-Bolts. When the bolt is subjected to a lateral load, shear stresses are created on the D-Bolt surface within a short distance from the loading position.

Jan 1, 2015

By Ralph L. Rutherford

Geologists or mining engineers familiar with geology are frequently requested by mine operators to give correlation in-formation regarding some mining property with respect to an adjacent area on one at some greater distance. It is the object of this article to mention a few of the difficulties involved in securing this information and to point out some of the salient factors upon which correlation is dependent. In view of the nature of the following discussion, a brief statement of the general character of coal formations .. seems appropriate. Coal formations, by reason of their environment of deposition which is in fresh or brackish water, exhibit the features common to continental deposits, in contrast to those of marine deposits. Such deposits are characterized by rapid variation in thickness and in lithological character both later-ally and vertically. (Plate 1 A). They consist essentially of sandstones and clay shales with all gradations between them, and also a few beds of coal and frequently some conglomerates.

Jan 1, 1924

By G. D. Garland

The influence of natural electric currents, induced in the earth by changes in the earth's magnetic field, on the electric logging of boreholes has not always been recognized. Measurements made with fixed electrodes of changes in the vertical potential gradient in a hole near Calmar, Alberta, have indicated the effect of earth currents related to magnetic disturbances. It is found that appreciable errors in self-potential logging could arise during periods of magnetic storms, but the precise pat-tern of disturbance in any area seems to depend on the local structural conditions. As the amplitude of the natural earth currents increases toward the auroral zone, it is suggested that periods of magnetic disturbance be avoided, if possible, when electric logs are taken in the northern part of the western sedimentary basin. NATURAL electrical currents flow continuously near the surface of the earth, apparently as a result of electromagnetic induction

Jan 1, 1962

By M. Piboule et J. M . Charbonneau, C. Picard

In the western part of the Chapais syncline (Abitibi-east, Quebec), the lava flows belonging to the Haliy Formation separate in two distinct sequences. The basal sequence contains prophyri tic metabasalts of calc-alkaline af f inity overlain by porphyritic metatrachyandesites and metatrachytes of alkaline to shoshonitic affinity. The upper sequence contains porphyritic metabasalts similar to those of the basal sequence along with highly potassic metaandesites trending to a subalkaline affinity. A geochemical study of trace and REE elements established that the composition of these lava flows results from a mixing or contamination process. The primitive tholeiitic liquids which are enriched in LREE were modified by the addition of a crustal contaminant enriched in Y, Zr, Th and K20. The magmatic liquids resulted from successive steps in the admixing process, evolved by fractionated crystallization. The mechanism of gradual admixing seems to be the major cause of the observed ea le-alkaline characteris ties and may also be the cause of the alkaline to shoshoni tic affinity in those lavas. The tendency to differentiation by fractional crystallization reveals the tholeiitic character of the primitive liquids.

Jan 1, 1984

By J. P. Mogan, E. D. Dainty, K. Katsuyama

"The Volvo BM 861 U articulated truck is one of the few underground diesel units manufactured by an organization which shares the same corporate roof as the engine manufacturer. As a consequence, the unit has provided an opportunity for the characteristics of the entire system- turbocharged aftercooled engine, transmission and exhaust scrubber- to interact to minimize emission levels. The performance of the components of the system, as evaluated by full-scale dynamometer testing, is summarized. The over-all effect of the various innovations was a 38% reduction in the recommended ventilation level over that of the bare engine.IntroductionThe Mining Research Laboratories of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada is required, as part o f the certification service of the Canadian Explosive Atmosphere s Laboratory, to test the exhaust emissions of diesel engines, and to recommend appropriate amounts of fresh ventilating air to minimize the risks to health of underground personnel working with, or in the vicinity of, such diesel engines. Volvo BM AB of Sweden made application for the certification of the BM 861 U truck during a period in which EMR personnel were engaged in a number of research projects concerned with improving the environment in dieselized mines. One such avenue of research was the venturi or high-energy scrubber; as the BM 861 U was equipped with this type of scrubber , EMR and Volvo BM agreed to cooperate in a considerably more extensive investigation than would be normal for a certification application. The outcome of some of this research is summarized in this paper."

Jan 1, 1981

By G. H. Faye

The prospect of obtaining high-grade concentrates from Canadian pyrochlore ores is rather unlikely, and experimental beneficiation pro-cesses ?appear to have yielded products in the range of 3 to 20 per cent N'b205? A possible solution of the problem is to find an economical chemical method for recovering high-purity Nb2?05 from such concentrates. A technically feasible but economically unproved process is outlined in this paper, in which the concentrate is decomposed by an acid attack and the oxides of niobium and tantalum are isolated and then separated by liquid-liquid extraction. The solution of the ore is adjusted to 7 M HF-5 M HNO3 and the niobium and tantalum are extracted from this solution with methyl isobutyl ketone. The mixed oxides of niobium and tantalum are recovered from the oxdanic phase and dissolved in 0.5 M HF-1.0 M HNO3. Tantalum is extracted preferentially from this solution with methyl isobutyl ketone, leaving niobium in the aqueous phase. By the use of this process it is possible to produce niobium pentoxide and tantalum pentoxi.de in 99.5 per cent purity with a recovery of approximately 95 'per cent, under lab-oratory conditions.

Jan 1, 1957

By Kr. N. Karparov

Measurements made with high precision GPS landmarks and geotechnical radar Reutech MSR- 300 associated with the observed movements in the north face of Assarel Mine, where on a horizontal distance of 50 m, 2 groups of landmarks indicated different deformation behavior. Measurements are made in order to confirm the applicability of the radar system in regions of complex geotechnical conditions. The standard deviation of each landmark is used as an accuracy standard between the separate measurements of the deformation vectors made by the high-precision GPS system for each landmark. A very good correlation between the displacement vectors can be seen based on the measurements made with the high-precision GPS system and the measurements made by the radar system MSR-300. Geological, engineering geological and hydro-geological conditions of the area of concern are discussed in this paper. The measured deformations and the FLAC/SLOPE analysis show similar results. In the paper is discussed their local character and their sensitivity to other geotechnical and hydro geological conditions.

Aug 1, 2013

By A. Robles-Vega

Personnel of Mexicana de Cobre, a subsidiary of Southern Copper located in Nacozari, Sonora Mexico have been working in the past few years on the development of a process to treat and manage, in an environmentally accepted practice, the residues and effluents generated during the process. To date, this team has been reviewing existing technologies and also has explored new alternatives. At the end of this phase, a novel, efficient and complete process has been configured which will be able to treat some solid and liquid streams such as Teniente converter dust, Peirce Smith converter dust, a Sb-rich precious metals slag, copper refinery electrolyte bleed, acid plant blowdown and an acid bleed of the precious metals plant. The process will consist of a leaching stage, followed by a very selective copper precipitation using novel technology which has been named as back reactions. After copper precipitation, impurities (As, Sb and Bi) will be precipitated mainly as arsenic trisulfide (As2S3) using H2S(g) which will be generated by means of a new process developed in our company. At the end of the process, small volumes of arsenic trisulfide will be vitrified and then disposed as a stable residue.

Jan 1, 2007

By Atsushi Sainoki

Blast vibration induced by mining activities, such as stope production blasts, could lead to the initiation of seismic events that inflict damage to mine openings. In this paper, the effect of stope production blasts on nearby fault is examined. First, validation of blast vibration attenuation is performed with a numerical model representing a single blast hole through comparison with that calculated from charge-weight scaling law derived from in-situ data. Subsequently, a mine-wide scale model with a fault parallel to a steeply dipping, tabular ore deposit that is mined out with sublevel stoping method is generated, and the stopes are extracted and backfilled with static analysis to simulate burst-prone conditions on the fault. Based on the stress states, dynamic analysis is performed, in which blast vibration is applied to grid points on a stope wall on the hanging wall side. This assumes 9 blast holes located close to the wall, and blast-induced particle velocities that consider the positional relationships between the assumed blast holes and the stope wall are applied. During the dynamic analysis, blast sequence is considered, and stress states and shear displacement on the faults are examined. It is found from results that, after a rise in normal stress on the fault due to compressive waves induced by the blasts, the normal stress decreases because of the reflection of the compressive waves on the fault. The reduction in the normal stress due to the reflected waves is found to be large enough to cause the fault to slip. The results also show that the level of normal stress eventually keeps decreasing with time as the blast sequence proceeds and that an increase in shear displacement on the fault is accompanied by a decrease in normal stress. This study clarifies the mechanism by which blast vibration causes the fault to slip. In addition, the simulation technique to apply blast vibration that takes into account blast sequence and the locations of blast holes to a stope wall is developed.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. Shibata, N. Murayama, H. Yamamoto

As one of effective usages of wastes discharged in the non-ferrous metal industry, the syntheses of AlPO4-5 and hydrotalcite were carried out using aluminium dross as a raw material. AlPO4-5 is an aluminium phosphate condensate with properties of zeolitic materials and large pore size. Hydrotalcite is an inorganic anion exchanger and has a layered structure of complex hydroxide. They were synthesized in an autoclave at high temperature and pressure. Various physical properties such as crystal structure, surface texture, and specific surface area were measured. AlPO4-5 can be synthesized from aluminium dross under hydrothermal conditions at 180°C-200°C, and 3h. At the same time, AlPO4-34 and non-porous AlPO4 were also formed as by-products. The crystals of AlPO4-5 have a hexagonal structure. Lt is desirable to heat the reaction product at around 550 °C to remove tri-ethyl amine. The specific surface areas of the reaction product before and after heat treatment at 550°C were 17.9m2/g and 358m2/g, respectively. Hydrotalcite can be obtained by a co-precipitation method from the aluminium dross and waste MgCl2 solution discharged in the aluminium regeneration process. Small amounts of SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 remain in the reaction product as an impurity component. The interlayer distance of the obtained reaction product is about 0.3 nm. Hydrotalcite changes to Mg-Al oxide during calcination at 500 °C for 3h, and then hydrotalcite is formed again by a rehydration operation. The physical properties of the reaction products obtained from the wastes were very similar to those from fresh reagents.

Jan 1, 2004

By R. Heikkilä

The utilization of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and model based 3-D control of work machines have increased a lot in new road construction in Finland as well as in other Nordic Countries. Up today, much less attention has been paid into the development of maintenance and rehabilitation processes. As a part of a large research and development program RYM PRE Infra FIN BIM in Finland, a focused research project of the BIM with experiments in total five (5) pilot projects has been performed. A main idea of the new BIM based process has been to utilize mobile laser scanning method for initial data acquirement, the use of novel 3-D analyze and modelling methods for point cloud processing, the use of new type optimization method for the planning of geometric and structural improvements needed for the existing uneven road surfaces, and further, through the creation of 3-D machine control models apply the newest 3- D machine control systems for continuous 3-D control of practical construction work using milling machine and asphalt paver. Finally, an evaluation is made between the new process model and the traditional way of working.

Aug 1, 2013

By A. R. Laplante

Gold recovery early in the flowsheet, typically from the primary grinding circuit, has seen significant advances in the past three years. Some of the advances achieved under the auspices of the AMIRA P420B Gold Processing Technology project are reviewed. The areas covered are gravity-recoverable gold (GRG) characterization, GRG behaviour in classification, gravity recovery simulation and the link between gravity recovery and cyanidation.

Jan 1, 2005

By H. R. Butler

"The Ontario Division of Inca Metals Company, a Unit of Inca Limited, operates eleven mines, four mills, three refineries, one smelter and one iron ore recovery plant. All but one mine, mill and refinery are located within a fifty kilometer radius of Sudbury, Ontario. A mine-mill complex is located some 100 kilometers west of Thunder Bay on the shore of Lake Shebandowan and a nickel refinery at Port Colborne.During the past 10 years the use of recycled water in our milling operations has increased to more than 95% at each mill. This high degree of water reuse has reduced the (a) need for fresh water and (b) the contaminant level of the downstream aquatic environment. The aggregating of effluents in a common receptor provides a process water having a consistent quality thereby minimizing upsets in mill metallurgy while concurrently improving the operating economies and the downstream aquatic environment."

Jan 1, 1980

By Rakesh Kumar, Rajabrahma K., A. K. Verma, V. Mukesh

"In this study, laboratory investigation as well as numerical investigation is carried out to ascertain the transition from one mode to another for Semi-circular bend setup. Laboratory investigation is carried by varying the span length (s/2R); crack length (a/R); notch angle (a); and notch thickness (t). The specimen consists of cement, sand and water mixture in a ratio of 1:1:0.5 by weight and are prepared as per the ISRM standards (2014). Tests are conducted by a servo controlled universal testing machine at a strain rate of 0.2 mm/ min. The results are collected in terms of failure load, crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) and images of crack initiation and propagation.Image analysis of laboratory tested samples shows that crack initiates at the notch tip when the notch inclination angle is 0°. As the notch angle increases (i.e. 30° and 60°) the fracture begins to initiate behind the notch tip. The direction of crack propagation in front and back side of the sample is same for notch inclination angle is 0° whereas it differs more and more as crack inclination increases. The transition represents the change in mode of failure from mode I (0°), mode II (30°) and mixed mode I/II fracture (60°).Finite element method used to find the transition based on MTS failure criterion. The inclination of notch is varied like 40, 42, 44, 45, and 50 deg and FEM analysis shows that the transition from mode-I to Mode-II take place at 49 deg. The same procedure can be extended to find the transition from mode-II to mode-III."

Jan 1, 2015

By Chris G. Dobson

Introduction The Britannia mine is at Britannia Beach, on Howe sound, approximately thirty miles from Vancouver. The first claims were staked in 1898, and a local company was formed at that time to develop them. In 1904, Mr. Grant B. Schley became actively interested in the property and in the following year the Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, Limited, was incorporated to operate it. This Company was taken over a few years later by the Howe Sound Company, Limited. The mine comprises five more or less separate ore-bodies, which have produced approximately 20,000,000 tons of ore to date. The East Bluff ore-body, with which the present paper deals, is well suited to large-scale mining by means of carefully placed powder blasts. It covers approximately an acre and lies in the slate footwall, in a bay produced by a fault. The hanging-wall side, on the west, forms the face of the Bluff glory-hole, which extends to the 1,200 level. A portion of this ore was available for breaking into this old glory-hole, below which four bulldoze chambers could quickly be built. Mining of this block is complicated by a very soft footwall, which 'runs' badly when broken. In stoping, care is taken to guard against the hazard of dilution by deliberately leaving a small portion of ore on the footwall. Some of this will undoubtedly be lost, but it is hoped to recover a fair amount of it after the major drawing is completed. The deposit occurs in a greenstone which has been highly silicified following brecciation. The chief minerals are chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and pyrite. Concentrates of copper, zinc, and pyrite are made at the mill. The average grade of ore runs 0.7 per cent copper, 1.5 per cent zinc, and 0.03 oz. gold per ton. The rock, which is practically a chert, is extremely hard, but shatters well. Both in stoping and drifting, holes must be closely spaced and powder used generously. Development When development work started in the East Bluff, there were no raises and only one drift on each level in this section of the mine. After blocking out the ore by thorough diamond drilling, a production of two thousand tons per day was set as a goal. To obtain this tonnage from so small an area required a great deal of carefully planned and well timed development work.

Jan 1, 1935

By M. Takebayashi, K. Takenaka, S. Matsubara, T. Yoneyama

The cathode production of Toyo Smelter and Refinery, owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. reached 450,000 tons per year in 2016 with three tank houses. Niihama tank house commenced operations in 1919 with conventional sheet cathode technology. Approximately 100 years of operation experience and the technical development enabled that the current density of Niihama tank house and the Toyo tank house #1 increased to 320 A/m2. These operation techniques were utilized at the Toyo tank house #2 which started in 2005, and its current density reached up to 350 A/m2 with permanent cathode technology. In order to achieve high current efficiency under condition of 350 A/m2 operation at Toyo tank house #2, continued efforts had been made to verticality of anodes and permanent cathodes. To improve verticality of anodes and cathodes, reduction of short circuit ratio by changing the shape of the anode, optimizing the anode pressing machine and off-line process for rectifying the distortion of permanent cathodes was carried out. In addition, concentration control of electrolyte and expansion of Ni removing ability from the electrolyte prevented passivation. Finally, more than 96% of the current efficiency was stably confirmed. INTRODUCTION Today, Toyo Smelter and Refinery of Sumitomo Metal Mining operates three tank houses in Japan, namely, Toyo tank house #1, Toyo tank house #2, and Niihama tank house with a total capacity of 450,000 metric tons of copper cathodes. Figure 1 shows the trend of cathode copper production and the current density at three tank houses over the last 10 years. Cathode production by Toyo Smelter and Refinery reached 450,000 tons per year in 2016 with three tank houses.

Jan 1, 2019

By R. Maxwell

"At Opemiska Copper Mines we have, over the past four years, operated 300 cu. ft. and 700 cu. ft. flotation cells as roughers, scavengers and cleaners and found them competitive with conventional flotation cells on a cu. ft. basis on all phases of flotation.The economics are very much in favour of the large cells for the following reasons:Power consumption is 35 to 40%, of conventional machinesMaintenance cost is about 20 to 25% of conventional machinesSpace required is about 30 to 35% of conventional machinesInstallect cost is about 40%, of conventional machinesTo put the above in more concrete terms below is what we are doing at Opemiska:1. Increasing mill capacity from 2000 to 3000 T.P.D. and will use only 5Cff, of the flotation space for 3000 tons that we used for 2000 T.P.D. with conventional flotation machines.2. Will require only 10 flotation cells for 3000 tons against 85 conventional cells for 2000 tons.3. Cells will be, one 2000 cu. ft. rougher, six 700 cu. ft. scavengers (2 banks of 3 each) and one cleaning circuit using three 300 cu. ft. cells.You will note that in this 3000 ton per day plant, we are going to have only ten cells. Had we put in conventional cells for this tonnage, we would have needed 120 cells."

Jan 1, 1970

By C. H. Lau, I. T. Ng

Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) of rocks is an important mechanical parameter for many civil engineering and rock engineering applications such as tunnel excavation, slope stability and foundation design. Macau is one of the world's fastest growing and most densely populated cities, many large and important infrastructures have been being continuously built using pile foundations which are designed to be supported by granitic bedrock. In Macau, the UCS of the granitic bedrock is required almost for every project involving pile foundations and is always measured directly from UCS test in the laboratory. However, direct measurement of UCS requires high quality rock core sample which is not only time-consuming and expensive but also requires high level of operating skill. In view of this fact, estimation of UCS using some empirical correlations will be more practical and efficient because they are relatively fast and economical compared to the direct measurement from UCS test. In the past, some empirical correlations had been established and widely used for estimating UCS of rocks in common engineering practice. However, it has been well recognized that the rock properties are generally varied with sites or geological regions in other words an empirical correlation developed from one region or one country may not be applicable for other regions or countries. Due to the reason that the empirical correlations for predicting UCS for granite are scarce in practice, in this study an extensive experimental program has been performed and a large database containing data such as UCS, Point Load Index (Is50), Schmidt Rebound Hardness (RL), porosity (?), water absorption (S), specific gravity (Gs) and dry density (?d) has been developed. An attempt has been made for developing a new empirical correlation for estimating the UCS of Macau granite. Accordingly, a comprehensive statistical analysis for correlating UCS with Is50, RL, ?, S, Gs and ?d has been performed and a local empirical relationship based on the developed database is proposed for obtaining reliable estimation of UCS for the granite of Macau. Finally, the performance of the proposed correlation is accessed by using another independent testing database developed in this study. It indicates that Is50, RL, ? and S have strong correlation with UCS whereas Gs, ?d have poor correlation with UCS. This study not only proposed a proper predictive empirical correlation for UCS determination for Macau granite but also provides detailed statistical information which is beneficial to engineers for obtaining better characterization of Macau granite.

Jan 1, 2015

By R. M. BUCHANAN

The segment of Canadian industry based on smelting of alum in um and manufacture of consumer products is based entirely on imported alumina and bauxite. In the absence of Canadian bauxite deposits, consideration of anorthosite, a less desirable aluminous rock, is being undertaken as one alternative in maintaining assurance of supply. Anorthosites in Canada cover many thousands of square kilometres of the Precambrian Shield. Although compositions vary widely among Canadian anorthosites, many appear to exceed the specified minimum of 25% A I 20 3 in bodies containing more than the required JOO million tonnes. A lthough most Canadian anorthosites are of Precambrian age, one located in British Columbia has been identified as being Middle _Cretaceous.

Jan 1, 1984