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By James R. Kuipers

Center for Science in Public Participation CSP2 ? Organized in 1997 to provide technical assistance to public interest groups on mining and water quality issues ? 80%of effort devoted to direct support of grassroots groups and tribal governments ? 20% of effort devoted to public-oriented education for public, tribal, state and federal regulators, and for industry ? Board represented by public interest groups, at large citizens, and academia ? Professional staff with experience from mining industry, academia and government ? website: www.csp2.org CSP2 Mission Statement The CENTER for SCIENCE in PUBLIC PARTICIPATION provides training and technical advice to grassroots groups on water pollution and natural resource development issues, especially those related to mining. CSP2 seeks to focus the debate on factual issues, as brought to light by its technical analyses, and whenever possible to seek consensus and win-win solutions. CSP2 also performs policy related work with federal and state regulatory agencies on the implementation of water quality, waste disposal, and mining reclamation regulations.

May 1, 2002

By A. L. Mular

"On behalf of Bob Bruce and myself I would like to begin by stressing some key points.First, most of us know that the Canadian Mineral Processors was formed in 1969 and is an offshoot of the Canadian Gold Metallurgists. I attended that first meeting in 1969, and I haven't missed a meeting since! Pretty obvious that CMP serves the best booze! At any rate, we know that our meetings are supported by CANMET. Camsell Hall is always at our disposal; Bob Bruce acts as permanent secretary pretty much free of charge; we receive a financial grant from CANMET. This brings me to a second point.Second the Canadian Mineral Processors do not enjoy a free ride in this relationship. CMP provides a genuine service to the mining industry, to government, and to universities. For the industry, CMP serves as a forum for the rapid dissemination of new ideas and new technology developed at remote locations throughout Canada. New developments outside Canada are introduced by invited speakers at our meetings. The effect is to help reduce operating costs and increase efficiency.For government, problem areas and research priorities can be isolated through mutual discussions. Direct communication at our meetings can help CANMET to temper its goals and modify its national priorities.For universities, CMP provides a wealth of operating experience and practical know how. The yearly proceedings are a major current reference source fo1· those of us who teach mineral processing. Admittedly, the proceedings are publ-shed from CMP coffers. However, I note that our fees are up this year, which brings me to a third point.Third, we face some potential problems of a financial and political nature. From a financial view, we may lose our CANMET grant and other financial good will simply because of spending constraints. Our fees are expected to climb each year thereafter.From a political view, we know that the metallurgical society of CIM is anxious to incorporate CMP as a section. The pros and cons of such a merger have been described in a recent mailing. In th2 final analysis, the political and financial problems are interrelated. There are several alternative solutions to both problems, which brings me to a fourth point"

Jan 1, 1979

By Jim Cooney

Background ?1990s saw massive changes in South African mining industry ?over 100,000 jobs lost as the industry restructured; ?1999 ?Placer Dome purchased a 50% interest in South Deep (WAL), a mine located just outside Johannesburg ?This was the first major post-apartheid foreign investment in the South African mining industry The Situation ?Placer Dome decided to lay off 2560 mineworkers (one third of the workforce) from the South Deep Mine to restore the mine to economic viability. ?Unemployment in South Africa was over 25%, and the retrenched mineworkers had few skills with which to make a living. Policy Context ?Placer Dome was committed to: ?global corporate policy of Sustainable Development, ?demonstrating that its business contributes to the economic and social progress of host jurisdictions. ?Government of South Africa was committed to ?attracting foreign investment to its mining sector with a view to modernizing and enhancing its economic and social viability, ?ameliorating the negative social consequences of structural change without arresting the necessary process of restructuring. ?National Union of Mineworkers was committed to: ?working with the mining industry and the government in implementing a Code of Good Practice on Dismissals and a Social Plan to assist retrenched mineworkers (1999).

May 1, 2006

By C. Sui, J. E. Nesset, M. Li, J. Y. Kim, S. L. Chryssoulis

"A plant study of zinc rougher flotation at Brunswick Mining was conducted using lime, soda ash and a combination of both as the pH modifiers in order to establish the effects on sphalerite and pyrite kinetics and mineral selectivity. The plant sampling and analysis was augmented by surface analysis using TOF-LIMS, SEM and XPS as well as fundamental precipitation and surface-charge studies in the sphalerite Ca/C03/S04 system.The results revealed the important role of carbonate ions in cleaning the sphalerite surface for effective activation by CuS04 to occur, and the beneficial role of combined soda ash and lime in increasing pyrite and galena depression.1.0 IntroductionThe studies reported in this paper were initiated as part of an investigation into the causes of a particularly pronounced seasonal deterioration in metallurgical performance at the Brunswick Mining concentrator during the summer of 1995. The concentrator treats a complex base metal ore having a typical feed composition of 9.0% Zn, 3.5% Pb, 0.4% Cu and 100g/t Ag at a current throughput of 9,000 TPD, although at the time of the problem in 1995, the average production rate was closer to 10,500 TPD. Zinc, lead, copper and bulk (zinc-lead) concentrates are produced with overall metal recoveries of 86% zinc, 63% lead, 60% copper and 60% silver; results which are typical of the lower recoveries associated with fine-grained, highly complex VMS and SEDEX type deposits. The main economic minerals of interest are an iron-containing (7% Fe) sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite with the main diluent (about 60% wt) being pyrite.Figure 1 shows a simplified flowsheet of the Brunswick milling circuit while the seasonal decrease in summer metallurgy in 1995 is illustrated in Figure 2. Of significance is the rapid drop in copper and lead recovery in June while there is an apparent delay until late August-September before the zinc deterioration reaches its lowest point. A more typical seasonal effect within the experience of the authors is the reverse of the Brunswick situation, namely an improvement in summer performance thought to be associated with improved differential flotation kinetics during warmer weather leading to better mineral selectivity. The historical Brunswick experience was particularly severe during the summer of 1995 with estimated incremental losses of $10 Million for this period. The potential of the very significant economic benefits to be gained from understanding and hopefully improving the annual drop in performance led to an investigation involving the minesite metallurgical group, the Noranda Technology Centre (NTC) as well as researchers in Professor Jim Finch's group at McGill and the surface analytical services and interpretive skills of AMTEL."

Jan 1, 1998

By R. W. Boyle

"PREFACEThis paper comprises two parts. The first part discusses lithochemical surveys based on major, minor and trace elements in whole-rock samples from primary enveloping halos. The second part continues with discussions of surveys based on leakage halos, zonation of elements, stable and radioactive isotopic distributions, geothermometric, geobarometric, thermolumin escent, pedochemical, hydrochemical, atmochemical and biogeochemical methods. A selected bibliography follows the second part of the paper.ABSTRACTAreal (two-dimensional) geochemical surveys, based mainly on secondary dispersion halos and trains in media such as surface waters, soils and drainage sediments, have proven particularly successful in recent years and have greatly assisted in the discovery of a large number of varied mineral deposits. Three-dimensional surveys based on primary halos and leakage halos have received relatively little attention by research organizations and the mineral industry. Such surveys offer many novel approaches for discovering blind mineral deposits deeply buried below overburden or within their host bedrocks. This paper reviews detailed methods for the discovery of blind mineral deposits based on sampling rocks (lithochemical methods), soils and other types of overburden (pedochemical methods), waters (hydrochemical methods), gases (atmochemical methods) and biological materials (biogeochemical methods) . All are applicable to the discovery of blind deposits; the efficacy of each or in combination depends essentially on the type of mineralization, the extent of the development of the primary and secondary dispersion halos, and the finances available for sampling techniques employing overburden drilling, bedrock drilling, and sophisticated water, gas and vegetation collection."

Jan 1, 1982

By Nicolas Gatelier, Sophie Laurent, Thierry You

Hard-rock caverns for hydrocarbon storage are a very particular type of underground facility controlled not only by local administrative and regulatory constraints that can be very specific, but also by the possible risks of geotechnical or geomechanical failure. Each such facility throughout the world is a prototype that needs to be adapted to very different site conditions. The straight forward application of design methodologies from relatively similar fields (mines, tunnels) can be very useful, but risks holding back the scientific and technical improvements needed by an engineering industry in full development. Here we look at various case histories and at problems that have been raised where recent attempts at standardization would appear to have been ill adapted, and where storage designers, through experience and judgment, may still provide innovative engineering solutions.

Jan 1, 2015

By John Hartlen

"The 19th century was an ""age of gold"" and Nova Scotia experienced its share of early gold rushes. Gold mining activity in the province was focussed into three ""rushes"" which occurred, approximately, in the 1860s, 1890s and 1930s; a total recovery of 1.1 million oz. Au has been recorded. The purpose of this note is simply to chronicle the technical development of gold mining and processing in the province and to comment briefly on the recently renewed interest in this precious metal. The first public discovery of gold in Nova Scotia was made by a farmer in 1860 at Old Tangier or Mooseland, and this find sparked the province's first gold rush. The mining and milling methods of the 1860s were ingenious. Initially, arrastras, crude stone-hewn grinding mills, drawn by men, mules or horses, were widely used. Nova Scotia's first conventional stamp mill was installed at Mooseland by 1862; it was comprised of four wooden stamps and is believed to have been imported from Scotland. One of the largest waterwheels of the 1860s, reportedly 16 feet in diameter and 8 feet wide with a SO-horsepower rating, was used in the Renfrew Gold District to drive gold stamps. Steam power was also employed, and many of the engines were of native construction, as was the unit at Waverley's Lake Major Company, which had a piston 1 foot in diameter by 12 feet long and was connected to a 16-ftdiameter flywheel."

Jan 1, 1999

By James A. H. Church

This paper is in the nature of a protest against the dangerous propaganda afoot for the prevention of new mining undertakings and which is based on the imaginary 'blue ruin' conditions supposed to exist in the industry. An article by Mr. G. R. Pratt, A.M.E.I.C. in the first issue of the Western Canada News, February 2nd, 1925, and entitled "Review of Coal Mining in Alberta", is an excellent example of this type of propaganda. The article is a tissue of misstatements, faulty deductions and erroneous conclusions. For instance it contains the statement that some coal measures in Alberta are mined at great depth - whereas we all know that there is no coal mined at great depth anywhere in the province; another error is the classification of all mines under one head irrespective of whether they are mining prospects, 'country banks', or pukka mines equipped with railway facilities; and I believe that suppressio veri is tantamount to suggestio falsi. The bulk of his article hinges on a Table 1, which shows the details of coal produced in Alberta during 1923. Studying this table Mr. Pratt, in the manner of a conjurer producing rabbits from a hat, offers the following for the confusion of the public:- (1) "Waste effort, want of capital, waste of coal resources which result from unrestricted development"; the fact being that the waste is due to the failure of the Department of the Interior to exercise the powers which are inherent in the form of lease.

Jan 1, 1925

By Garth D. Kirkham

The Problem The Don deposit is a series of two sub-vertical zones that pose a number of challenges with respect to modeling and interpolation. The first challenge is that, based on data and observations, the mineralization and, more importantly, the grade is layered or banded and is stratigraphically controlled. The second challenge is that, due to the undulations of the deposit and extreme changes in dip, using a standard oriented ellipse to guide the estimation process is not appropriate and does not result in an estimate that is representative on a local scale. In order to solve this problem an adapted methodology of relative elevation modelling, has been devised to effectively model and estimate deposits faced with these challenges. Relative Elevation Designed for bedded seam and gridded surface With variable dip and vertical grade variability

May 1, 2013

By The Mill Staff

Professor H.E.T. Haultain: Table 4, on page 131 of this paper, gives the assays of sized mill products. I am sure that there are many others besides myself who would be very interested to learn how the sizes 0-3 and 3-13 microns were obtained. * * * Mr. Del Davis, Mill Superintendent, Flin Flon Concentrator, on behalf of the authors of the paper, has kindly sent us the following information in reply to Professor Haultain's enquiry. Sub-Sieve Sizing by Sedimentation Procedure (As used by R. J. Digney & J. E. Ryan, 1940) Fractionation of Sub-Sieve Sizes General Method: A 1,050-gram sample of the material was pulped to 3 liters; 10 c.c. of sodium silicate and 0.2 grams of Na2C03 was added and thorough agitation given for two hours previous to settling. The material was assumed to consist wholly of particles of the same density as the most abundant particles. The time required for a particle of the upper limit of the lowest size-range to be separated, to fall a specified distance was calculated according to Stokes Law. The pulp was poured into the settling apparatus and, when the calculated time had elapsed, the suspended material was drained. The settled sediments and the process repeated until no more suspended material was obtained. The next larger size fraction was obtained in a similar manner, using the settled sediments which had been stripped of all smaller sizes as above. The fractions were arbitrarily set at 0-3, 3-13, 13-23, 23-33, and 33-43 microns (43 microns = 325 mesh).

Jan 1, 1946

By Technische Universität Braunschweig, K. Saksl, J. Furste, P. Eschenbacher, F. Brunke, D. Wolter, M. Kohnke, C. Siemers, J. Kiese, M. Schlemminger

"In general, titanium alloys combine outstanding mechanical properties with corrosion resistance and biocompatibility and are, therefore, used in many challenging applications. Nevertheless, for special products, well-tailored properties are required which might not be achievable by a specific design so that new or modified alloys are needed. In this overview paper, alloy development strategies performed at the Institute for Materials of the Technische Universitat Braunschweig are discussed at different examples, namely, (1) oxidation-resistant, microstructural-stabilized and cold-workable alloys for exhaust applications, (2) aluminum- and vanadium-free, medium-strength and cold-workable alloys for implants and osteosynthesis applications and (3) free-machining alloys by the addition of particles with low melting points for non-safety critical light-weight constructions to replace heavier steels, e.g. in automotive applications. A special focus is set on the alloy development techniques and the analyses carried out to achieve well-balanced properties by the optimization of the alloy compositions. INTRODUCTIONTitanium belongs to the allotropic metals and can therefore exist in two different equilibrium lattice modifications. Pure titanium crystallizes at 1668°C in a body centered cubic (bcc) structure called ?- titanium which at 882°C transforms to a hexagonal close packed structure (hcp), the a-titanium. A martensitic ?-to-a-transformation is possible at large cooling rates. This thermally induced hexagonal martensite is called the a'-phase. The transformation temperature named ?-transus-temperature (T ?) can be influenced by alloying elements (Peters & Leyens, 2002).For titanium alloy production typical alloying elements are aluminum (Al) and oxygen (O), both a-stabilizers shifting the ?-transus temperature to higher temperatures, whereas tin (Sn) and zirconium (Zr) only show a limited influence on the ?-transus temperature. The ?-stabilizing elements are subdivided into two groups: Niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo) and vanadium (V) stabilize the ?-phase between the melting point and room temperature and are therefore called isomorphous -stabilizers. Elements like copper (Cu), iron (Fe) or silicon (Si) also stabilize the ?-phase to lower temperatures but undergo a eutectoid reaction during cooling. ?-titanium then dissociates to a-titanium and an intermetallic compound. Consequently, these elements are called eutectoid ?-stabilizers (Boyer, Welsh & Collings, 1994)."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. M. Wetherill

"This paper presents the results of an investigation into the level of radon, as against the natural background, at the Vicary Creek coal mine in Alberta. The concentrations of radon and daughter products detected in the mine were considered to be insignificantly higher than the concentrations of naturally occurring radon and thus do not constitute a health hazard to the miners.INTRODUCTIONTHE HIGH INCIDENCE OF LUNG CANCER among miners exposed to radon was established some thirty years ago. The presence of this gas in mines is primarily associated with pitchblende extraction operations, al-though coal contains detectab`e quantities of U30s. A previous study bas shown that coal from southwestern Alberta (Exshaw and Banff) contains lower than average concentrations of this element (1).As part of a general investigation into the occupational health environment of coal miners in Alberta, field measurements were made to establish the level of radon and to investigate the natural background radiation in the Vicary Creek coal mine, located some 16 miles north of Coleman, Alberta, on the easternmost slopes of the Rocky Mountains."

Jan 1, 1968

By Donald Roberts

"Parameters f or design and development of an emergency hoist system (Fig. I) were submitted to Timberland Equipment Limited of Woodstock, Ontario by the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Mining Limited.The unit is the first of its kind in Canada. Not only does it comply with the province of Saskatchewan's mining regulations, but has the added advantage of being completely mobile and self-contained.As well as being useful in the mining industry, the mobile hoist unit could be used in other emergency situations such as rescuing people trapped in wells.JustificationRevisions to the Mines Regulations under Section 13 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1977, of the Province of Saskatchewan stipulate as follows:"" Section 410 .04(4) The Mine Employer shall make adequate provision at every mine where any worker is hoisted in a shaft not equipped with a manway to enable an y such worker trapped in a conveyance in the shaft to be rescued . "" It was not possible to equip the shafts at PCS Mining' s Divisions with "" manways"" and therefore an alternative was required.BackgroundThe Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Mining Limited, a subsidiary of the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, operates four potash mines. Of these, three, Cory, Rocanville and Lanigan Divisions are wholly owned while the fourth, Allan Division, is 40% owned by Kidd Creek Mines Ltd., but managed by PCS Mining. The four underground operations all have a service and production shaft.From 1979 to 1981 the PCS Mining Division, along with Central Canada Potash, were developing an idea to use the existing ground-mounted timberland hoist at Lanigan as an emergency hoist. This hoist was used in the past for rope-up work at both Rocanville and Lanigan and other potash mine s. The Department of Labour at this time had concerns about the time it would take to load, t ran sport and re-install the hoist on a foundation when needed for an emergency. Weight and size made this particular unit very cumbersome for transporting.In addition, the speed at which this hoist operates is too slow for rescue work. When the Department of Labour expressed concern that this unit would be unsuitable for these rea sons, a search for a suitable unit was initiated.The project responsibility for procuring an emergency hoist for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Mining Limited was assigned to the author, a shaft/ hoist specialist a t PCS Mining."

Jan 1, 1986

By W. L. Bancroft, Peter Price

"What is now known as the 'Waite section' of the property of Waite Amulet Mines, Limited, was originally the Waite-Ackerman-Montgomery mine. It includes a group of twenty-eight claims lying on either side of the Duprat-Dufresnoy township line, and about 8 miles north-northwest of Noranda, Quebec. ,The original discovery of ore on the property was made by Thomas Montgomery in Block Q, Duprat township, and was staked by him on behalf of himself, I. C. Waite, and C. H. Ackerman, in the summer of 1925. The property was optioned late in 1925 to N. A. Timmins who, after trenching and drilling the deposit, sold his 85 per cent interest to Noranda Mines, Limited. Early in 1927, a company known as Waite-Ackerman-Montgomery Mines, Limited, was formed and shaft sinking and development undertaken. Production commenced in August, 1928, ·and continued tJ May, 1930, when, owing to falling metal prices, shipment of direct smelting ore was stopped. Development of the mine by shaft sinking, drifting, and drilling continued until March, 1932, when owing to the prolonged low price of metals, the property was closed down. In September, 1933, an amalgamation with Amulet Mines, Limited, was effected, the new company being called Waite Amulet Mines, Limited. Early in 1937 operations were resumed, first by direct shipments to the smelter and later by aerial tramway to the Amulet mill. Operations have been continuous up to the present time, reaching an average of 720 tons a day milled for the year 1940. Production during the initial period (1928-1930) amounted to 75,811 tons, having an average grade of 7 .11 per cent copper, 4.47 per cent zinc, and 0.03 oz. gold and 0.65 oz. silver per ton. During the second period (1937 to end of 1946) , 1,060,524 tons, having an average grade of 4.53 per cent copper, 2.97 per cent zinc, and 0.03 oz. gold and 0.65 oz. silver per ton, were produced."

Jan 1, 1954

By W. Petruk, D. R. Morris

"The lead concentrate produced from the volcanogenic base metal ore of Brunswick Mining and Smelting in New Brunswick contains major to trace amounts of iron, zinc, cadmium, arsenic, antimony, copper, silver, selenium, tellurium, bismuth, sulphur, tin, indium, mercury and manganese as impurities. When the concentrate is sintered some of these impurities enter a variety of oxide phases, whereas others precipitate as metals. In the lead blast furnace the oxide phases decompose and the impurities recombine 10 form new phases, most are eventually discharged to the slag. The metals of the sinter remain as metals in the lead blast furnace where even more are produced, and are discharged largely with the lead bullion,IntroductionMany lead concentrates are produced from volcanogenic base metal ores . Such ores contain a wide variety of trace minerals and trace elements , therefore, concentrate s obtained from them will contain the trace elements as impurities . The impurities in the lead concentrate from one such ore, the Brunswick No. 12 deposit of Brunswick Mining and Smelting Corporation (BM S) in the Bathurst area in New Brunswick , were studied as pan of a larger investigation that was conducted to determine the extent of chemical reactions of the sinter within the lead blast furnace(1,2) The lead concentrate was investigated to identify the host mineral s for the impurities, the lead sinter was studied to identify the host phases, and frozen products from different depths within the BMS blast furnace at Belledune, New Brunswick were studied to determine the behaviour of the impurities.T he investigation was performed by pre pa ring polished sections o f the samples and studying them with a reflecting microscope, a scanning electron microscope (SE M) equipped with a Kevex energy dispersive X-ra y analysis system, a microprobe, and a Quantimet 720 image analyzer. The samples were also analyzed by X-ray diffractometer, and individual grains were analyzed by the Debye-Scherrer X-ray powder film method."

Jan 1, 1985

By Kamran Esmaieli

Open Pit Mining Through Underground Voids: Challenges Main Challenges/Hazards: Unexpected collapse of the pit floor and/or pit walls; The loss of equipment and/or people into underground voids; Loss of explosives from blast holes that broken through into the underground voids. How to address these challenges? An important step that must be integrated into mine planning and design is the accurate detection and delineation of underground voids. (i.e. probe drilling, Geophysical techniques, laser scanning,?); Leaving a pillar of adequate thickness between the working bench and the underground voids; Backfilling the underground voids from surface using vertical or inclined raises; Monitoring the working locations (pit floor and pit slopes) to detect movements.

May 1, 2013

By H. Rafiei Renani, C. D. Martin

"The Cohesion Weakening Friction Strengthening (CWFS) is adopted in numerical analysis to capture the observed progressive failure of hard rock pillars. As a case study, pillars at the Elliot Lake mines with width to height ratios of 0.5 to 3 were analyzed in FLAC3D. Pillars with width to height ratios of 0.5 and 1 show a very similar strain softening behavior while with width to height ratios of 2 and especially 3 indicated prolonged strain hardening. The CWFS model successfully captured the mechanism of progressive failure observed in hard rock pillars including initiation of spalling at the corners, progress of spalling towards the centre and formation of hour-glass shaped pillar, and eventually shearing through the width of pillar. Both the CWFS model and site specific empirical formula successfully separated the stable and failed cases in the Elliot Lake mines. While both models are in reasonable agreement for width to height ratios of less than 2, the empirical formula gives increasingly lower strength values for wider pillars which may result in excessively conservative and uneconomical design.INTRODUCTIONPillars are the portion of in situ rock left between the adjacent openings to maintain the stability of excavations. Conditions of equilibrium require that the loads previously carried by the excavated rocks be transferred to the pillars resulting in elevated stresses within the pillar. Hence, prediction of the behavior of pillars under these loads is important for underground design. Determination of the strength of pillars is a classic subject in underground mining. In conventional mining methods such as room and pillar operations, economic incentives point towards higher excavation ratios i.e., leaving smaller pillars between the mined excavations, while safety and stability requirements favor wider stronger pillars. In some mining methods such as caving operations, the problem is even more challenging. On one hand, the whole operation is directly dependent on the proper continuous flow of caved ore between the drawpoints which requires optimizing the spacing between drawpoints and thereby often leaving narrower pillars. On the other hand, the pillars should be wide enough to ensure the safety of mining operation. Both the blockage of drawpoints as a result of wide pillars and uncontrolled failure of narrow pillars can jeopardize the investments and mining operation.Therefore, design of pillar poses a somewhat unique challenge to rock engineers where simple conservative approaches frequently used in other design methods are no longer acceptable. The behavior of pillar under elevated loads should be predicted accurately."

Jan 1, 2015

By W. P. Clement, M. C. Bell

"PT International Nickel Indonesia, a subsidiary of Inco Limited, mines and processes nickel laterite ores for the supply of nickel matte, primarily to the Japanese market. It has large ore reserves and a substantial portion of its energy requirement is supplied from its own hydro-electric plant. Since the early 1980s, the company has increased its production level and has dramatically reduced its unit costs. Projects are in progress to further decrease costs and recently a major expansion - 31% increase in nominal capacity - has been undertaken, consistent with marketing opportunity in Japan. The expansion project, which has a low capital cost per unit of production, is outlined in this paper.IntroductionPT Inco is a fully integrated mining and smelting facility located in Indonesia on the island of Sulawesi, and is based on a very large, world class nickel laterite orebody located 60 km inland from the Gulf of Bone. Construction of a single furnace line plant started in 1973. Complete supporting infrastructure of townsite, hospital, schools, shopping centres, road systems, and an airport, all had to be built. Prior to completing the first phase, the decision to expand the plant to a three kiln-furnace line was made. A major factor in the decision was the ability to develop the hydroelectric potential of the nearby Larona River. This involved construction of a 30 m high dam, and a 7 km surface canal to the generating station. The penstocks drop 150m to three 55 Mw turbines. The power generated is sufficient to supply the entire electrical load for the complete smelting complex and town site. The unique capability to supply the high smelting energy requirements for a lateritic nickel ore by fully captive hydro power, has, over the past decade insulated PT Inco from the large upward swings in oil prices suffered by other lateritic nickel producers.Wet ore is first partially dried to 20% moisture in two co-currently fired rotary driers, screened on an internal trommel, and delivered to two dry ore storage buildings. The partially dried ore is calcined at 750°C and partially reduced in three large 100 m by 5.5 m kilns. Reduction is accomplished by lancing bunker C oil onto the ore bed at the discharge end of the kiln. The kilns are equipped with five air pipes with onboard blowers to gradually bum the combustible gases generated by the lance oil. The kilns were also originally equipped with two side burners to supply additional heat close to the feed end of the kiln. Calcined ore is transferred by 20 ton refractory lined containers to the furnace feed bins at the top of the smelter. Smelting is carried out in three 18 m diameter furnaces powered by 45 Mw transformers. Slag is skimmed at 1550°C through water cooled breast plates and removed to the slag dump by Haulmaster Carriers. Matte of 25% Ni, 1O% S, 65% Fe is tapped at 1350°C into the converter aisle. The iron is slagged in converters to produce a nickel sulphide matte at 80% Ni. Three rotary Kaldo converters were initially installed. The product matte is granulated, dried, and shipped in returnable rubber bags to Japan. Most of the matte is fluid-bed roasted to nickel oxide and then directly reduced in a second reducing fluid bed reactor at our facilities in Japan.The smelting complex was designed to smelt two million tonnes of dry ore per year, equivalent to 34 000 tonne nickel production at an ore grade of 2% Ni. The cost of the entire project including working capital was $900 million."

Jan 1, 1990

By Chris V. Sellathamby

Condition-based maintenance is replacing preventive maintenance in many industrial operations as a result of gains in productivity. Preventive maintenance is strictly time-based which means that as long as the prescribed time is sufficiently short, failures are prevented. The trade-offs between shorter cycles and increased downtime is a fine balancing act. Condition-based maintenance is gaining momentum as the more cost-effective and green solution to finding the optimal maintenance cycle and improving overall productivity. In the mining industry, various parameters of heavy equipment are monitored continuously to provide feedback for maintenance events. However, strain, shock, and vibration, key factors which lead to yielding and fatigue of metal parts, are not generally monitored by built-in systems, mainly due to the complexity of sensor installation and computational intensity of data processing. Scanimetrics has developed a stand-alone, add-on wireless system for measuring strain, shock, and vibration in heavy equipment and components, the data from which can be directly used to trigger maintenance events. The present system is being deployed in tar sands mining equipment. The system consists of a portable display and control unit, a software platform consisting of data management, sensor instrumentation and data analysis, and wireless strain sensor units, which can be easily installed on equipment. Data from the sensors can be gathered throughout the mine site, processed instantly, and used to generate condition-based maintenance events, improving overall uptime of the equipment and overall productivity of the mining operation.

Oct 1, 2010

By Bhawani Singh, Mahendra Singh, N. K. C Samadhiya

"Inherently anisotropic rocks occur in abundance at many rock engineering project sites in Himalayan region. These rocks pose difficulty in analysis and design due to their direction dependent strength behaviour. Moreover the strength varies in a non-linear manner with confining pressure. Mohr- Coulomb strength criterion is widely used by geotechnical engineers for defining strength of rocks subjected to given confining pressure. However, the conventional Mohr-Coulomb (MC) criterion suffers from the limitation that the strength is treated to be linearly dependent on confining pressure. In the present article, the MC criterion has been modified by incorporating non-linear term while retaining the original parameters c and ?. The non-linearity with confining stress level has been imbibed through critical state concept (Barton, 1976). The criterion has been applied to a triaxial test data base comprising of more than 1140 triaxial tests conducted world-wide on anisotropic rocks. Statistical evaluation of the goodness of fit of the proposed criterion to the data-base has been carried out. Further the predictive capabilities have been evaluated by determining the error in estimation of triaxial strength if only few triaxial test data are available for determining the criterion parameters. The data base has also been back-analysed to assess the critical confining pressure for anisotropic rocks. Statistically the critical confining pressure, for the present criterion, may be taken nearly equal to 1.25?cmax, where ?cmax is the maximum value of the UCS out of all orientations of planes of anisotropy. It is concluded that reasonably good estimates of the anisotropic strength are possible through the proposed criterion.INTRODUCTIONMany rocks encountered in Himalayan region like shale, slate, schist and phyllite are inherently anisotropic and exhibit direction dependency in their strength behaviour. In addition, the strength of the rock also depends on the confining pressure and, the strength response is non-linear especially when the confining pressure may vary over large range. Conventionally, Mohr-Coulomb criterion is the most widely used criterion for rocks. However, the limitation of this criterion in its present form is that the strength is treated to be linearly dependent on the confining pressure. The present study attempts to address the following two main objectives: i) Include nonlinear response in the Mohr-Coulomb criterion while retaining parameters c and In their original form; and ii) consider anisotropic response of the rock for a given confining pressure. A nonlinear strength criterion, which uses shear strength parameters c and as per Mohr-Coulomb criterion, has been suggested based on critical state concept for rocks."

Jan 1, 2015