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By Donald J. Farrish

"Mr. Chairman and fellow CMP members, most of these remarks will be made with particular reference to copper concentrate but the basics apply generally to other metal concentrates as well.For very good reasons, using copper as an example, smelting capacity usually is located either close to mine production or close to areas of high copper consumption. The mine producer can add on smelting capacity to insure that the copper in his concentrate can be processed into a marketable form under more or less controlled conditions including costs. On the other hand, the consumer wishing to assure a better supply of copper likewise can build smelting capacity and offer treatment charges attractive enough to discourage mines from investing in their own facilities. In this regard, freight is an important factor. Bulk shipments from the heart of Africa with a large overland component are uneconomic whereas concentrate movements from Australia or South America compare favourably with smaller metal shipments.A mine project which incorporates smelting capacity, will often, through the presence of this capacity, encourage active exploration and development of additional concentrate production in the vicinity. The usual result is that new mines within reasonable distance of the smelter will be able to avoid the capital required to build their own smelting and refining facilities and that the existing facilities will expand to appreciate economies of scale."

Jan 1, 1978

By W. Marnette

The copper demand is booming. New epicentres with strong dynamic economic growth have arisen in China and other emerging markets. Furthermore, Europe contributes to higher copper demand due to positive economic growth. China and India are therefore expanding their smelter industries, with the backing of a coordinated policy of global raw material sourcing, which includes investments in raw material deposits and state-run measures to support their international trade and competition. Likewise, Europe faces scarcity of copper raw materials. The copper industry in Europe is historically grown and shows excellence in environmental protection and technical leadership. Recycling has always been an important sector. This reiterates the recycling-know-how which exists in the European sector. However, Europe still relies on importing a considerable amount of raw materials from foreign countries. As a result, the global competition for copper and copper raw materials has increased. Tough competition as regards industrial location and costs, the emergence of corporate concentrations and the use of protectionist trading practices by countries like China and India, which distort the markets, now determine the picture. Hence, a copper smelter in Europe is forced to develop tailor-made concepts to safeguard and improve its international competitive position. It is imperative that this is also flanked by improved conditions on the local level and a European raw material policy which takes account of the changed situation on the world market.

Jan 1, 2007

By Elhachmi Es-Sadiqi

"For over 40 years, CANMET has focused its research on value-added products and energy efficiency in the metals industry. The Efficient Metal Production Program is currently managed by Dr. Elhachmi Es-Sadiqi, and the Canadian steel industry is its main client — both directly and through international organizations such as the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) and the International Lead and Zinc Research Organization. AISI membership includes Canadian steel companies IPSCO, Dofasco, Stelco, Algoma Steel and Sidbec Dosco.Canada’s steel industry makes important contributions to the economy. The industry comprises 14 companies and employs 33 600 people in locations such as Sydney, Nova Scotia; Tracy, Quebec; Selkirk, Manitoba; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. With annual production at about 16 million tonnes, sales in 1995 totalled $11 billion, $3.8 billion of which was exported.Canada’s steel industry supplies the transportation, oil and gas, appliance, packaging and construction industries. It is at the forefront of new technology use and has a substantial support network to provide raw materials, equipment and service. Three main segments of the industry include flat-rolled products (e.g., plate and sheet steels), long products (e.g., concrete reinforcing bar and structural steel), and specialty and alloy steels (e.g., stainless steel and tool steels, in both long and flat products)."

Jan 1, 1998

By T. Patching

"MINING operations at the Star Key Mine provided an example of a small-scale prairie-type coal mine that employed several interesting procedures and achieved good productivity with low capital expenditures. The mine was located about 11 miles north of the city of Edmonton, on the north side of the Sturgeon River valley. It opened in 1945 and operated until 1979. Output in the winters reached about 500 tons a day in the late 1940s, but in the spring and summer periods activity was usually limited to only servicing and development work. In the later years of the mine's life sales fell to less than 100 tons per day. Most of its output was bought for domestic use in furnaces and stoves so production of large sizes was desired. A modest market for stoker coal did exist for a time. Screenings (-5 / 8 in.) were sold to the city's power plant until it converted to natural gas and were also used for thawing frozen ground for work on pipelines. These markets were comparatively small and the small sizes did not command as high a price as did the larger sizes. However the extension of natural gas services to rural markets cut into the domestic heating market and finally led to closure of the mine. The coal was strong when freshly mined, but because of its high inherent moisture content, about 25%, it did not store well on surface but tended to disintegrate. It was of subbituminous Crank with a heating value of about 8000 Btu per pound and burned with a clean flame. The seam mined was in the Edmonton Formation, of Upper Cretaceous age, at a depth of 60 to 80 ft below the surface. The seam in the mine area was about 11 feet in thickness but thinned gradually to the north and south and split to the west (1). It was approximately horizontal but gentle rolls in the floor of several feet in height necessitated brushing in places to produce suitable haulage grades. The floor material was of bone and clay, overlying a thin layer of coal. Above the seam there were only a few feet of mudstones and weak sandy shales while the remainder of the overburden was clay and unconsolidated glacial till and surface soil. Because of the soft floor and weak roof material the miners usually left about a foot of coal in the floor to provide a firm working surface and about a foot of coal above the rooms and two feet of coal above the entries to provide a competent roof."

Jan 1, 1985

By A. Dolatmoradi

Nanocrystalline structure formations produced by severe plastic deformation in Fe-0.15C with initial ferritic-pearlitic and IF steel with ferritic microstructures have been studied through microstructural observation and microhardness measurements. It was found that the nanocrystalline region first forms near the surface of samples due to localized severe deformation. It was also observed that the nanocrystallization rate of Fe-0.15C and IF steels and the deformed layer thickness in these two materials are different with similar milling conditions. The crystallite size and structural evolution of the samples during milling was studied by employing XRD and SEM.

Jan 1, 2010

By L. A. Forsyth

"SINCE I received and accepted your invitation to present to this meeting a paper on A Canadian Integrated Coal and Steel Industry, I have given the subject a great deal of intensive study.Two conclusions have emerged from my considerations: first, that the subject should be dealt with by a person having a firm grasp of its technical aspects; and second, that it is a subject which requires expert analysis of the complicated problems it presents in pure economics.A third conclusion inevitably results from the two just mentioned -namely, that the mantle of the prophet which has been draped up-on my shoulders is too large for me to wear, because I am neither a practical nor a theoretical coal and steel man; and I am not an economist.With the warning that I have discovered, and am keenly conscious of, the inadequacy of my background for the task, I shall attempt to place before you those aspects of my subject which appear to high-light it from a layman's point of view.In the first place, in .order to avoid confusion as between my audience and myself, some definition of terms may be required.As I interpret it I am discussing -a coal and steel industry, using the last word in the generic and not the unit sense, self-sufficient in the provision of all its needs from within the geographical limits of Canada.Now, I start with the proposition that, in the very broadest aspects of such a concept, the Corporation of which I happen to be the executive head meets my definition as a combination of operations resulting in one fully integrated unit of a coal and steel industry."

Jan 1, 1952

By Joseph B. de Hart

Two papers recently published on the subject of mine ventilation: "The Theory of Ventilation," by Douglas Hay. and "The True Effect of Natural Ventilation in Deep Mines," by Robert Clive, form the first and second reports respectively of the committee on the Ventilation of Mines appointed by the Midland Institute of Mining Engineers. The purpose of the present paper is to draw attention to these two papers and the discussion thereon. The theory of ventilation as taught in our schools is based on Atkinson's formula, which is a variation of Chezy's formula for the flow of water in pipes. The formula depends on two assumptions : 1. That air is an incompressible fluid within the limits ordinarily encountered, and; 2. That the pressure required to produce ventilation varies as the square of the rate of flow. The Atkinson formula has been assumed to hold good over the entire range of conditions met with in mines.

Jan 1, 1924

By Peter S. Jack

"IntroductionTHE ORES treated at the concentrator of the Britannia Mining and Smelting Company, Limited, Britannia Beach, B.C., have always contained some lead, but it was not until 1950 that the combination of lead headings and lead price was such that recovery of this metal at Britannia became worthwhile. In that year, with the mining of a new orebody, the lead in the mill feed was raised from 0.07 per cent to 0.15 per cent. Chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and pyrite concentrates are produced by flotation at Britannia, •and 95 per cent of the lead in the mill feed reports with the chalcopyrite concentrate, so that the rise in lead headings was reflected almost wholly in the lead content of the copper concentrate. In 1950, investigation was started to determine if some of this lead could be recovered economically."

Jan 1, 1953

By Nancy E. Wilk

In 2015, more than 1.2 million deaths annually were estimated to be caused by occupational risks (WHO, 2018). In 2021, this estimate increased with the publishing of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Office (ILO) Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury based on data from 2000 to 2016 (WHO/ILO, 2021). These global estimates reported that each year 1.9 million people die from exposure to occupational risk factors, 81% of these fatalities resulting from non-communicable, occupational diseases. WHO/ILO notes that the health-related risk factors with the largest number of attributable deaths were exposures to long working hours followed by workplace exposures to particulate matter, gases, and fumes. The health outcome with the greatest work-related burden of deaths was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, followed by stroke and ischaemic heart disease. In considering the 2021 data published by WHO/ILO, it is likely that the estimates are low and underestimate the true burden of occupational disease and injury. In support of that position, more recently the ILO estimated that “2.3 million women and men around the world succumb to work-related accidents or diseases every year; this corresponds to over 6000 deaths every single day” (ILO, 2022).

Jan 1, 2023

By Wei Yingchun

Based on the deep burial depth of coal deposits in Huainan-Huaibei coalfields, Anhui Province, China, this paper puts forward the concept of partitioning of coal deposits according to occurrence conditions. This process is controlled by tectonic forces. The classification scheme of coal deposits exploration types is presented according to occurrence and mining conditions of coal deposits as viewed from the perspective of deep coal exploration properties. The principles underlying geological exploration services for the resources development are incorporated. There are six exploration types of coal deposits in the Huainan and Huaibei coalfields. Exploration models tailored to different types of exploration have been established and exploration strategies corresponding to different exploration models have been proposed. Steady-state temperature must be measured for the deep heat-harm type of coal deposit. The sealing coring of mine gas samples should be performed for the high mine gas type of coal deposit. For coal deposits with complex structures, such as those located beneath nappes, coal-controlling structural styles must be performed. Existing data on shallow districts are very important to the research of folds and fault-block types of coal deposits beneath and peripheral to old and existing coal mine areas. For the types of fault-block coal deposits hidden by thick Cenozoic cover, particular attention must be paid to comprehensive use of research on regional coal occurrence law and geophysical methods. The present work promotes the exploration level of coal deposits in Huainan-Huaibei coalfields to best meet the need for sustainable development of the coal industry.

Aug 1, 2013

By Theo. Koulomzine

"The property of Consolidated Central Cadillac Mines, Limited, consists of 1,103 acres formerly held by Central Cadillac Mines, Limited, and Wood Cadillac Mines, Limited. Both mines have been partly developed to depths of 565 and 1,000 feet respectively, and from 1939 to 1943 they produced gold, with small amounts of silver and tungsten, having a total value of $2,208,528 from 377,489 tons of ore. The average grade of the ore was $5.85 a ton . Less than 10 per cent of the ore hoisted was discarded by sorting. New development work, carried out since the former Wood property has been purchased by Central Cadillac, has shown that the tonnage indicated by mine workings and diamond drilling exceeds 2,000 tons per vertical foot.The property lies between the claims of Kewagama Gold Mines, Limited, and Pandora Cadillac Gold Mines, Limited, and straddles the Cadillac 'break' for a length of nearly 1 ½ miles. The main workings are 1 3/4 miles east of the well-known O'Brien gold mine.GEOLOGYOutcrops are very scarce, with none at all of the most important horizons, so that the general geology shown in Fig. 1 is deduced mostly from underground workings and diamond drilling. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section through the ore zone.The ore lies within a belt of Blake River volcanics which is approximately 600 feet wide and is flanked on the north and south, respectively, by Cadillac and Kewagama sediments. All the formations have a nearly vertical attitude. The Blake River belt consists essentially of well sheared volcanic tulfs, but associated with these in the northern part are a number of bands of iron formation and the central part, to a width of 100 feet, is occupied by talc schists, making the Cadillac fault proper. Intruding the volcanics south of the Cadillac shear zone are dykes of two types- finegrained aplite or quartz albitite, and porphyry; both consist essentially of albite and quartz and are distinguishable only by the grain size. They have the general east-west trend of the formations they intrude."

Jan 1, 1954

By Robert C. Lo

As tailings dams grow in physical size, their impact on public safety and the environment also increases in severity. Over the last three decades, tailings dam engineering has evolved from largely "trial-and-error" methods to a mature, multi-disciplinary engineering endeavour. This paper reviews the current practice of tailings disposal, and the evolution of tailings dam engineering. Key factors affecting dam integrity and examples of dam failures are then highlighted. Finally, the paper reviews some of the recent trends that lead to new challenges to the mining industry. These challenges include: coping with heightened public concern about dam safety; balancing potential conflict between seismic and environmental requirements; and addressing issues introduced by globalization of the mining industry. Institutional responses and technological tools available to meet these challenges are also outlined.

May 1, 2001

By R. Pot

"IntroductionTHE PURPOSE of this paper is to discuss briefly the main logging and testing devices presently at our disposal, to point out some of their limitations, and to suggest possible improvements of the techniques.Some of the more important devices .are those that are used in:(1) Coring(2) Formation testing(3) Electric well logging(4) Radioactive well logging(5) Measuring of bottom hole pressures(6) Sampling of reservoir fluidsThe first four of these procedures are concerned with the well while it is in the process of drilling. The last two are carried out as soon as possible after a well has been brought into production and .at intervals during its life. My remarks will be concerned mostly with certain aspects of formation testing. The reservoir engineer is dependent on the information derived from these operations in order to obtain a clear picture of the conditions in a reservoir and to enable him to assess and forecast its future behaviour.Since any calculation is no better than the data on which it is based, not enough emphasis can be placed on the necessity for the testing and logging equipment to be of the highest quality and for the analysis of the results obtained to be thorough."

Jan 1, 1952

By Bruce Chalmers

INTRODUCTION TIE most important practical problem with which Physical Metallurgy is faced is the control of the mechanical properties of alloys. The most difficult aspect of this problem is the development of new alloys with the properties that are required for meeting exacting engineering requirements. A great measure of success has been achieved by following the empirical method and most, if not all, of the present variety of alloys have been developed by the process of experiment and observation or trial and error. It may, however, be that this method will become. less productive as time goes on, and that eventually it should be replaced by a process based on an understanding of the factors that determine the properties, so that alloys can be 'designed' to meet the requirements. This method of investigation will not be possible until a much better fundamental understanding of metals has been gained, and this will come only about as a result of a great deal of detailed research. The subject of Physical Metallurgy can be divided, as follows, into two parts: we may consider the factors which determine the structure, in the broadest sense, of an alloy. These include the composition and also the treatment to which the material has been subjected. The second aspect is the influence of the structure on the mechanical and other properties. In order to make an effective contribution in this field, it is necessary for an individual or a group to concentrate on a specific and very restricted topic. It is proposed to discuss in some detail the particular subject in which the writer and his colleagues are working.

Jan 1, 1951

By W. L. Uglow

In recent years, the microscope has come to be recognized as a valuable aid to engineers whose business is the discovery, development, concentration or reduction of metallic ores. In many of the large treatment plants microscopical research has already an important status; and in the hands of efficient operators the microscope has indicated methods of solving ore problems resulting in the saving of thousands of dollars that otherwise might have been lost in tailings, or expended in freight rates or smelter charges. Failure to procure all the information that the microscope can supply concerning the physical and mineralogical characteristics of complex ores has in many cases led to the construction of unsuitable concentrators, just as the failure to investigate in detail the geological conditions of an ore deposit has often results in the squandering of money on shaft sinking, and mechanical installations which subsequent development of the deposit failed to justify. The great progress recently made in the selective separation of minerals by means of the various processes of flotation and leaching brings strongly to our attention, the scope of the field in which microscopical methods may be advantageously employed. The microscope enables one to observe the minute details of rock, ore, gangue, concentrate, tailing, matte, slag and metal, that are invisible to the naked eye. Furthermore, the technique of microscopal research has been so highly developed that a microscopist can not only observe, but deter-mine the compositions and measure the diameters of the mineral constituents in the ore to be treated. Magnifications of these constituents up to 3,000 diameters may be produced by the proper combination of eyepiece, objective, and projection apparatus, and the images thus viewed may be photographed through the microscope, and permanent records made of them.

Jan 1, 1924

By A. M. Cormie

Introduction The purpose of this paper is to give a brief, general outline of mining practices at Torbrit Silver mine. The geology of the mine is touched on as it is felt that a rough picture of the geology will result in a clearer understanding of the mining methods employed. The main part of the paper deals with mining methods and a section is included on haulage. Development practice is mentioned only briefly. Torbrit Silver Mines, Limited, a subsidiary of Mining Corporation of Canada, is located in the Alice Arm area of northern British Columbia. Access to the mine is by boat to the village of Alice Arm at the head of Alice arm, then truck road, following the course of Kitsault river for 18 miles in a northerly direction to the plant site. The main portal is a further two-thirds of a mile along the course of the river, at approximately the same elevation as the plant, 1,014 feet above sea level. Geology The ore occurs in a massive, irregular-shaped quartz-barite body replacing a folded area in a series of volcanic breccias, tuffs, and flow rocks locally referred to as 'green-stones'. A series of parallel, nearly vertical, fine-grained basic dykes cut across the formation at right angles to the strike of the ore belt over a horizontal distance of 140 feet. The whole of the quartz-barite vein material, which ranges up to several hundred feet wide in places, carries silver values but commercial grade is confined to lenses and shoots where there have been more than usual concentrations of native silver and silver-bearing minerals. The ore-bearing structure plunges at approximately 25 degrees along an axis striking roughly N.65°W.

Jan 1, 1951

By P. M. Dranchuk

"SINCE their inception, the mineral industries have, from time to time, been confronted by various and sundry problems. These have been identified, attacked and solved by means of a slow methodical process peculiar to these industries. During the past decade, these industries have experienced increasing difficulty in attracting and retaining an adequate supply of manpower. This poses a situation which seems to be unlike those that came before it in that it appears to be immune to those methods of attack which were successful in the past. Despite various attacks upon the problem, its seriousness appears to be increasing at an increasing rate. The point has now been reached where the President of AIME recently expressed the opinion that this is the most serious problem facing these industries at this time (1). Another observer has gone so far as to state, ""Given the motivation and the determination, the crisis in mineral education in Canada, can, in time be met. But it will take a generation if we Start DOW (2)"".Part of the difficulty arises out of the identification and assessment of the problem itself. For, although the manpower shortage has been developing over a fairly long period of time, there still appears to be no unanimity concerning its seriousness and the nature of the threat which it poses. Some observers continue to maintain that the current situation is not new at all, but is merely the reappearance of something old which is cyclic in nature. They observe that in the past there were numerous periods where the mineral industries encountered manpower shortages but that, in each instance, the situation eventually rectified itself. Furthermore, they draw attention to the fact that the current problem is not confined to the mineral industries but that in fact all industries are experiencing an increasing manpower shortage. They are therefore confident that if left alone the present problem will eventually disappear."

Jan 1, 1967

By G. J. Hamilton

"THE Royalite-Canada Southern Coleville No. 1 gas strike of August 15th, 1951, and the closely following low gravity black-oil strike of August 23rd, were the first of a series of recent oil and gas discoveries in western Saskatchewan. They are in what is now known as the Coleville field, 25 miles north and west of Kindersley and 30 miles east of the Alberta-Saskatchewan border (Figure 1).Gas flows have been recorded in the Viking sand at daily rates of between 5 and 10 million cubic feet, and black oil of 15° A.P.I. gravity is produced from Mississippian sediments of Banff age at a daily rate .of 50 to 100 barrels on pump.Development drilling was carried on during the winter months, with very little attempt at step-out exploratory ventures. This year, however, a step-out programme to the northeast (Figure 2) is •being carried on in order to determine the position of a possible truncation of Mississippian sediments in that direction. Section 30 of the Coleville area has been fully developed on a 20-acre wellsite basis, and structural information is restricted to local rather than regional interpretation. No attempt will be made in this paper to interpret the Coleville area with respect to the regional geology in any but a general manner."

Jan 1, 1952

By C. D. Kaeding

IN the summer of 1937, the Algoma Steel Corporation, Limited, decided to embark on the full-scale development o their Helen mine and the erection of plants to produce commercial iron sinter from its ores at a rate ? of fifteen hundred tons per day. The Helen deposit has long been known as one of the largest bodies of non-commercial iron ore in Canada, consisting almost entirely of siderite with a band of pyrite along the north wall and some lenticular inclusions of pyrite throughout the mass. It originally contained a nominal amount of hematite (2,800,000 tons), localized at the western end of the ore-body, but this was mined out during the years 1900 to 1918. For details of the:-geology of the Helen range and of the surrounding district, the reader is referred to Memoir 147, Michipicoten Iron Ranges, Geological Survey of Canada, 1926 (1). The siderite mass was explored by diamond drilling in 1917 and the portion so drilled was estimated to contain 67 million tons of siderite averaging 36.0 per cent Fe, 3.2 per cent S, and 8.2 per cent SiO,, without establishing its ultimate depth or extent. The variation in the sulphur content shown by drilling was from 1.5 per cent in 72 per cent of the tonnage, to 7.2 percent in the remaining 28 percent. The pyritic ore aver-aged about 38 percent iron, but otherwise its composition was substantially the same as that of the siderite mass.

Jan 1, 1940

By J. T. Birkholzer, M. Rutenberg, K. -H. Lux, R. Wolters, J. Rutqvist, L. Blanco Martin

In this paper, we present numerical results corresponding to the Thermal Simulation for Drift Emplacement (TSDE) test, conducted in the Asse salt mine (Germany) between 1990 and 1999 to simulate reference repository conditions for spent nuclear fuel in rock salt. This test is of significant relevance for nuclear waste disposal in salt because extensive research and measurement programs were set up for the experiment. In our numerical study, we use two sequential simulators, TOUGH-FLAC and FLAC-TOUGH, and we investigate two-way coupled processes, focusing on thermo-mechanical analyses due to the main effect of heating. The two simulators used have recently been updated and are able to deal with large strains and creep processes. Moreover, specific constitutive relationships and coupling functions for rock salt and crushed salt under repository conditions are available. Within the framework of a benchmark exercise between Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Clausthal University of Technology, the same scenario has been modeled in three dimensions using the two simulators mentioned. The main objective of the current, first stage of the benchmark is to evaluate the capabilities of these two simulators to predict relevant processes under repository conditions for high-level nuclear waste in saliniferous media. The comparison of the numerical predictions between them is very satisfactory, leading to a successful code-to-code verification. The comparison between measurements and numerical results shows that the most important processes are captured by the codes and constitutive models used. However, some differences exist between measurements and numerical results. These differences will be addressed in the next stage of the benchmark exercise, in which a parameter fitting effort will be undertaken. Overall, from the results obtained it can be concluded that TOUGH-FLAC and FLAC-TOUGH have the necessary capabilities to reproduce relevant processes under repository conditions for high-level nuclear waste in saliniferous formations.

Jan 1, 2015