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By Ahmad Ghahreman, Lin Li

"In this study, the Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox reaction kinetics on the surface of pyrite, have been investigated in a 0.5 mol L-1 sulfuric acid solution for a temperature range of 22 to 65°C. Based on mixed potential theory, chronoamperometry is introduced to study the Fe(II)/Fe(III) kinetics by subtracting the current density of pyrite oxidation in an iron-free acidic solution from that in an iron-containing solution at the same applied polarized potential. Tafel behavior was established by this method to analyze the kinetics of the Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox reactions. The results showed that exchange current densities increased slightly with temperature, however remained on the order of 10-5 A cm-2. The activation energy for Fe(II) oxidation and Fe(III) reduction on the pyrite surfaces was calculated to be 102.0 and 32.7 kJ mol-1, respectively. Anodic transfer coefficients also increased, from 0.24 to 0.39, with increasing temperature, which indicates a weakened n-type semiconductor property at higher temperatures. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements have indicated that at lower anodic over potentials the charge transfer is the rate determining step of pyrite oxidative dissolution in sulfuric acid solution. In the presence of Fe ions, the major contribution of the total current density comes from the Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox reaction. INTRODUCTION Pyrite, an abundant sulfides mineral in the nature, is commonly considered a valueless gangue mineral frequently associated with other valuable sulfide minerals such as chalcopyrite, or metals such as gold, or coal (Lin & Say, 1999). Pyrite oxidation has been the subject of extensive research in view of gold metallurgy, as oxidation of pyrite is the initial step to break down the pyrite lattice and expose the encapsulated fine gold particles (Gasparrini, 1983). Fe(III) ion and dissolved oxygen (DO) have generally been considered as the two most important oxidants with respect to pyrite oxidation, having been studied extensively in previous research (Zheng, Allen, & Bautista, 1986; King Jr & Lewis, 1980). The process of pyrite oxidation can be viewed as a series of reactions amongst pyrite, ferrous, ferric and oxygen in which pyrite is initially oxidized by the dissolved oxygen in water forming ferrous (Eq. 1), and then the ferrous also is oxidized by he dissolved oxygen to form ferric (Eq. 2). The ferric, produced by reaction 2, then could potentially oxidize pyrite (Eq. 3) and convert to ferrous."

Jan 1, 2017

By J. B. Heslop, D. S. Bubar

"The Gondor Zn-Ag-Pb-Cu deposit is a stratabound massive sulphide lens occurring within Archean volcaniclastic rocks of the Yellowknife Supergroup. The deposit is located in the west-central portion of the Slave Structural Province, approximately 350 km north of Yellowknife.Initial diamond drilling at Gondor has outlined a steeply dipping, L-shaped, folded, massive sulphide body, which may be traced over a strike length of approximately 800 m, and to a depth of 350 m. True widths of up to 40 m have been intersected in the thickest part of the deposit. Preliminary estimates suggest that the deposit contains a minimum of 7.5 million tonnes grading 6% Zn, 50 g/tonne Ag and less than I% combined Cu and Pb. In addition, significant gold, grading up to 2.8 g/tonne, occurs in some parts of the deposit. The mineralization is open both down-dip and along strike.The Gondor deposit lies conformably within a predominantly east-west striking, north-facing sequence of felsic to intermediate volcaniclastic rocks. Coarse fragmental rocks are abundant in the hanging wall, whereas ash and lapilli-tuffs predominate in the footwall. The main structural feature in the area is a large-scale, steeply northeast-plunging, Z-shaped fold. The sulphide mineralization lies within the synformal portion of this fold, with the thickest part of the deposit coinciding with its hinge zone. Several episodes of faulting have also affected the local stratigraphy.The wallrocks of the Gondor deposit were hydrothermally altered prior to the onset of medium-grade regional metamorphism. A halo of altered rocks surrounds the massive sulphide lens, with no apparent difference in the degree of alteration between the hanging wall and footwall strata. The alteration zone is characterized by the addition of MgO and K20 and by the depletion of Na20 and CaO. These changes are reflected in the mineralogy of the altered wallrocks by local enrichment in chlorite, biotite, muscovite and cordierite.The mineralized zone is medium- to coarse-grained, well-banded and is composed largely of pyrite, quartz, and sphalerite with subordinate galena and chalcopyrite. Preliminary studies of metal distribution indicate that a lateral zonation is present, with lead enrichment in the central part of the deposit, and copper enrichment toward both ends. Stringer-type copper mineralization has not yet been discovered in the footwall of the Gondor deposit."

Jan 1, 1985

By Richard R. Klimpel, Simon Isherwood

"The industrial processing of ores containing gold and/or platinum minerals is generally mining site specific, e.g. McQuiston and Shoemaker (1985). The variety of various mineral processing techniques employed is extensive and includes size classification, gravity concentration, amalgamation, roasting, cyanidation, chemical leaching, ion ex-change/solvent extraction and froth flotation. Because of the relatively small quantities of Au and Pt that exist in the earth’ s crust, the economical recovery of Pt and Au often requires that the Au and Pt be associated with other industrially important minerals. This association of Au and Pt with other minerals can occur in very complicated mineralogical forms. It is probably safe to say that Au and Pt mineral concentration from natural ores represents some of the most complex metallurgical challenges facing the mining industry.Froth flotation is a technique that is receiving increasing industrial attention for the treatment of finely disseminated and/or associated Au and Pt minerals. The high throughput at relatively low capital cost, the potentially high selectivity, and the existence of a well-established technology for treating more abundant associated minerals such as base metal sulfides makes froth flotation an attractive processing alternative. Broadly speaking, the industrial oriented froth flotation experience with Au and Pt minerals exists in two major categories: 1) the flotation of Au and Pt associated with pyrite (or pyrrhotite) and 2) the flotation of Au and Pt associated with primarily Cu, Zn, or Cu/Pb/Zn containing sulfide ores.In the case of the precious metal association with pyrite (or pyrrhotite), much of the published froth flotation experience comes from South Africa. Typically, such processes are done using an acid side flotation with a collector such as mercaptobenzothiazole. The approach obviously is to float pyrite and hence recover associated gold. Generally the higher the total sulfur recovery the higher the gold recovery. Similar experiences of Pt associated with pyrite are a lot less common mineralogically and hence less well documented industrially. For example, in Canada, Pt is often associated with pyrrhotite but is not really processed as a straight pyrrhotite recovery.For the situation of Au and/or Pt associated with other base metal sulfide minerals, the industrial experience base is quite varied and is well documented from both North and South American operations. The nature of most of these flotation processes is to design, operate, and optimize the installed concentrator to get the Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, etc. that is the bulk of the valuable sulfide ore and then take whatever precious metal recovery comes. Typically, such flotations are on the basic side using standard thiol collectors such as xanthates, dithiophosphates, thionocarbamates, etc. It is very common with such ores to use mixtures of collectors in order to get ""everything"". Often in such plants, there is an inherent balancing act occuring so as to operate in such a manner to reject pyrite (and pyrrhotite) in order to maintain high base metal mineral concentrate grades and yet recover sufficient precious metals such as Au and Pt minerals which often are associated with the iron sulfides being rejected. Obviously in such an environment, the smelter operation often ends up telling the concentrator what the precious metal recovery actually was in a given production period."

Jan 1, 1994

By Dan Currie, Tom Lamb, J. Coady Marsh, Gary Landry

"This paper describes the Cape Breton Development Corporation's experience with the Lovat M-300 tunnel-boring machine at the Donkin-Morien Mine. Between January 3 and December 21, 1984, the 7.6 m (25 It) diameter TBM advanced 3350 m (10 990 ft) . The authors will describe experiences with the machine and highlight the implications of tunnelling machines to underground coal mine development in Canada. IntroductionThe Cape Breton Development Corporation (CBDC) has recently completed the drivage of a 7.6 m (25 ft) diameter tunnel, 3.5 km (2.2 miles) in length , to access the Harbour Coal Seam at the Donkin-Morien Project. The tunnel was successfully driven with the first Canadian rock tunnel-boring machine (RTBM or TBM), designed and built by Lovat Tunnel Equipment, Inc. The initial mine development consists of the drivage of two tunnels to the first major coal seam. Future plans are proposed for the development of a 4 million tonne-per-year mine (Marsh et al., 1983, Gillman, 1982), which will require the drivage of a further two tunnels and could access up to four coal seams. The tunnel cross-sectional areas were designed to provide sufficient ventilation area and access for a production of 4 million tonnes per year."

Jan 1, 1986

By W. A. Gow, H. H. McGreedy

It is believed that many of the problems encountered in the operation of gold cyanidation plants are difficult to resolve due to the lack of sufficient and reliable in-formation regarding the variations and actual values of operating variables at any given time. The application of instruments to monitor the more important variables in the cyanidation process should result in more efficient plant operation and a better understanding of the process. The use of pH and conductivity sensing devices for alkalinity measurements, a monitor to determine the dissolved oxygen content of plant solutions, a continuous cyanide titrator and sonic control of grinding circuits are discussed. Although the discussion is oriented toward the cyanide process, much of the paper is applicable to other ore treatment operations.

Jan 1, 1966

By W. Petruk

Mineralogical studies and concentration tests were conducted on samples from an oolitic iron deposit from the Peace River district in Alberta to determine what concentrate grades and metal recoveries could be obtained. The samples assayed 32 to 37 wt. % Fe, and consisted of goethite, nontronite, ferruginous opal, siderite , quartz, amorphous phosphate and illite . Flotation with fatty acids yielded the best over-all results. A flotation concentrate from a composite sample of the iron horizon assayed, by weight, 43.0% Fe, 12.3% SiO2 , 1.9% CaD, 0.9% MgO, 4.5% Al2O3 and 2.0% P2O5 and lost 17.2% on ignition, for an iron recovery of 48.8% and a silica rejection of 80%. When heated to drive off the water, the concentrate assayed 52 w t. % Fe and 14. 8% w t. % SiO2

Jan 1, 1977

By Jaeheon Lee, Junmo Ahn, Isabel F. Barton

"Newmont’s Mike prospect, currently undeveloped, is a blind Cu-Au(-Zn) deposit on the Carlin Trend, containing >8.5 M oz. Au, 1027 M lbs. Cu, and 809 M lbs. Zn as Carlin-type gold and polymetallic Cu-Zn minerals in Paleozoic lower-plate carbonates and shales. This project was undertaken 1) to examine the effectiveness of different lixiviants for leaching the Mike supergene Cu-Au ores via bottle roll tests, and 2) to determine what ore minerals resist dissolution in each leaching agent by comparing the mineralogy and chemistry of head and tail samples. Sulfuric and sulfurous acids were used to leach copper and cyanide was used to leach gold. Thiourea, glycine, and other lixiviants were used to leach both base metals and precious metal. QEMSCAN and SEM study of six samples of different ore types and grades indicate that the Au occurs as varieties of native gold, including auricupride and electrum. Major Cu minerals are native Cu, cuprite, malachite, chrysocolla, and conichalcite (Ca-Cu arsenate), with locally significant Cu in jarosite and goethite. Gangue mineralogy is dominated by quartz, sericite, chlorite, alunite, smectite and kaolinite, K-feldspar, and iron oxides (sensu lato). Results of bottle roll tests and leach residue mineralogy will be presented and discussed at the conference.INTRODUCTION Resource and Geologic Setting The Mike deposit is a large, blind Cu-Au(-Zn) deposit in the Maggie Creek district of the Carlin Trend of Nevada, USA, near the Gold Quarry mine (Figure 1). The mineral inventory, based on drilling, is 8.568 Moz. Au, 1027 M lbs. Cu, and 809 M lbs. Zn at average grades of 0.72 g/t Au, 0.34 wt% Cu, and 2.13 wt% Zn (inventory for a cone at $400/oz Au and $0.80/lb Cu by Norby and Orobona, 2002)."

Jan 1, 2017

By C. H. B. Leitch

"The Bralorne-Pioneer deposit produced more gold than any other deposit in British Columbia over its 70 years of operation (130 kg or 4 million oz of Au, from 7 million tonnes of 18 glt ore). Mineralization is related to a suite of late Cretaceous albitite dykes of 85 to 90 Ma age. It thus occurred long after and is genetically unrelated to the Early Permian (275 Ma) Bralorne diorite and soda granite.The major veins strike about 110 degrees and dip north at 70 degrees, with slickensides plunging 45 degrees east that indicate last movement was reverse. Major ore shoots in the veins occupy somewhat less than 20% of the vein and plunge steeply west, roughly perpendicular to the slickensides. The structures that contain the veins probably formed at around 95 to 90 Ma during a strike-slip episode with easterly directed maximum compression.Disseminated pyrite, pyrrhotite, and minor chalcopyrite occur within envelopes up to several metres from the veins. Arsenopyrite is confined to vein selvages. Local sphalerite and galena appear to correlate with gold-rich portions of the veins. Traces of tetrahedrite and stibnite have been observed but tellurides have not. Gold is found principally as thin smeared flakes of the native metal in the black sulphidic septae of the strongly ribboned veins. Hydrothermal alteration envelopes around the veins grade outwards from intensely foliated quartz - ankerite - sercite (±fuchsite) to less sheared calcite - chlorite - albite to unsheared epidote -calcite.Open-space vein filling textures found in the deep (mesothermal) environment at Bralorne can be explained by a fault- valve model. High-angle reverse faults may have acted as fluid-pressure activated valves on geopressured reservoirs, causing large cyclic fluctuations in fluid pressure that promoted mineral deposition in an episodic fashion . The faults that were mineralized were reactivated sub-vertical former strike slip faults, oriented at a high angle to the northeast-directed stress in a compressive regime."

Jan 1, 1990

By Vincent Jourdain

Located in the James Bay Territory of Quebec (figure 1), the Clearwater property is jointly owned by SOQUEM Inc. and Eastmain Resources Inc. Exploration on the property since the early 70's has resulted in the discovery of several gold showings. Exploration work by the joint venture since 1995 has led to the definition of the Eau Claire Zone containing an indicated resource of 540 000 tonnes grading 11.1 g/t Au (8.7 g/t Au cut at 34.28 g/t Au). Hosted by the archean Eastmain Greenstone Belt, the property geology is dominated by mafic volcanics containing thin horizons of felsic volcanics and/or sedimentary rocks (figure 2). The sequence is metamorphosed to the amphibolite facies and contains two small toalitic intrusions. Regionally, the structural trend is oriented E-W but in the area of the Eau Claire Zone a second trend oriented NE-SW is also present. The first exploration work on the property was conducted by SEREM and SDBJ from 1973 to 1976. It consisted of an airborne electromagnetic survey and a ground follow-up program on several grids. This program, comprising geological mapping, geophysics and drilling, led to the discovery of the Natel showing where a drill intersection returned 8.89 g/t Au over 2.65 m. From 1978 to 1985 the area was withdrawn from staking because of the hydroelectric projects of the James Bay. In 1985, Westmin Resources Limited and Eastmain Resources began an exploration program based on a helicopterborne electromagnetic survey. Once again, a ground follow-up program was conducted on several grids. This program included a soil geochemical survey that identified a strong (up to 10 g/t) gold anomaly. Drilling of the anomaly led to the discovery of the Eau Claire Zone where resources were estimated at 270 000 tonnes grading 6.1 g/t Au at the end of 1990. In 1995, SOQUEM Inc. took an option to gain a 50% interest on the property and obtained its interest in 1998. Since 1995, two principal mineralization zones were identified on the property. The "Rosemary Zone" consists of veinlets and disseminations of pyrite and chalcopyrite within a magnetite-rich amphibolite. The mineralized zone was identified by stripping within an area of 1000 by 500 metres. Drilling indicates copper grades up to 0.32 % Cu over 49.2 m. with locally grades of 0.75 % Cu over 5.9 m. The mineralised zone is associated with QFP dykes and corresponds to a strong magnetic anomaly and a strong copper and molybdenum soil anomaly. The "Eau Claire Zone" consists principally of a set of gold bearing quartz-tourmaline veins oriented E-W and dipping at 45-50??to the south (figure 3). More than ten different veins are recognised in the zone and up to eight veins were observed in a single trench (figure 4). The host rock between the veins shows a degree of deformation similar to the regional volcanosedimentary rocks. Each vein is hosted by a unit of actinolite-tourmaline-biotite schist up to one meter thick. The veins and their hosting schist clearly cross-cut the schistosity of the hosting lithologies and the contacts between amphibolites and felsic to intermediate rocks. Usually, the veins are less than a meter thick and are composed of quartz, tourmaline and calcite. The proportion of quartz and tourmaline varies from 0 to 80% within a single vein. The veins commonly show massive, banded or brecciated texture. Sulphides, mainly pyrite, pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, generally form less than 5% of the vein material.

May 1, 2001

By Daniel Hodouin, Claude Bazin

"This paper examines the economic advantages of adapting the production grade and recovery targets of a flotation circuit as a function of metal prices. The study is periormed using a steady state simulator for a Cu-Zn differential flotation circuit operating under the following strategies of 1) Maintaining constant operating targets, 2) Maximizing individual circuit Net Smelter Return and 3) Maximizing the global Cu-Zn circuit efficiency. Results are compared to assess whether or not one of the strategies produces benefits significantly higher than the others. A discussion of the tools required to achieve such a kind of control completes the paper.Paper not Available at Time of Publication"

Jan 1, 1997

By C. T. Dzgoev, S. S. Gudkov, IRGIREDMET JSC, S. G. Schtoick, A. V. Yepiforov, S. V. Balikov, I. I. Yevtuschevich

The pressure oxidation (POX) and pyrometallurgical process comprises POX of gold containing sulfide and polymetallic lead-zinc concentrates prior to reduction smelting of POX products to generate a lead-silver-gold alloy. Refined lead and gold-silver alloys are then obtained using conventional processes. Zinc and other base metals are recovered from the POX solution. In the course of POX, zinc dissolves in the solution and lead concentrates in a solid residue in the form of sulfate compounds. Sulfur forms the major iron sulfates and jarosites. In order to dissolve sulfur and arsenic from solid residues to the solution, the slurry hot curing was carried out at the temperature of 95°C within 2 hours. After filtration of the slurry, zinc was recovered from the solution. The resulting cake was washed with water and subjected to hot alkaline treatment. After alkaline treatment, the cakes were blended with fluxes and subjected to reduction smelting to generate lead concentrate containing precious metals. This concentrate was refined to obtain refined lead and gold-silver alloy. After iron and arsenic were removed from POX solutions using sodium carbonate, zinc was precipitated as carbonate. After thickening and filtration, zinc precipitate was roasted to generate saleable zinc oxide. Using this process, the recoveries of values to saleable products were 97% Au and 95% Ag to the alloy, respectively, 91% Pb to refined lead and 5% Pb to lead and antimony alloy and 94% Zn to zinc concentrate. The features of the technology is that it has high recovery indices of precious and base metals to saleable products and can be used to process various polymetallic ore and technogenic raw materials.

Jan 1, 2016

By A. Hartikainen, M. Rinne, F. Johansson, R. Yorke, L K. T. Uotinen, E. Korpi, J. Antikainen

"In order to determine the in-situ shear strength of rock joints, large scale testing is required. However, this is both expensive and difficult to execute. One possible method to overcome this may be to use photogrammetry to capture large joint surface roughness in-situ and downscale it to replica samples, which could be sheared in laboratory. In this paper, as a first part in such a method, a technique to digitize surface roughness and to produce replica samples for laboratory shear testing from a larger joint sample are presented. First, a thin granitic rock slice with dimensions of 1.75 m x 0.95 m of granitic intact rock was chosen for the study. The joint surface is fresh and created through tensile induced splitting. The large joint sample is digitized using photogrammetry. Then, one fullscale 1.7 m x 0.6 m geometry is cropped from the digitized joint geometry and then subsamples at 10x, 7.5x, 5x, 2.5x and 1x scales. All sub-geometries are scaled down digitally to produce 0.17 m by 0.06 m geometries. The geometries are used to make casting molds both positive and negative to produce samples with perfect matedness. The casting molds are 3D printed in polylactic acid plastic and C60/75 concrete is cast to produce a replica series. In addition to the creation of this replica series, two pilot replicas are also tested using a portable shear box with a 0.5 MPa normal pressure. The results from the pilot rounds are presented and discussed. Finally, suggestions for future research are given.INTRODUCTIONThe rock mass strength is in many cases controlled by the shear strength of rock joints, especially in hard rock masses. The shear strength is generally found to be influenced by several parameters, including normal stress, the basic friction angle of the intact rock, the joint surface roughness, the joint wall compressive strength, the matedness of the joint surfaces, weathering and infilling. The effect of these parameters for the joint shear strength can be evaluated in laboratory scale. However, the shear strength is known to be scale dependent. How the scale effect influences the strength is not fully understood. The general consensus is that the shear strength decreases when sample size increases, i.e. a negative scale effect (Bandis et al. 1981). However, some studies have presented contradictory results, see for example Hencher et al. (1993) and Kutter & Otto (1990). The extent and nature of the scale effect is still a question of debate (Tatone & Grasselli 2013)."

Jan 1, 2015

By L. Nutter, J. Clancy

"Barite is used extensively by the oil and gas well-drilling industry as a weighting agent. It is particularly well suited for drilling mud because of its qualities; it is non-abrasive, heavy, virtually inert chemically, easy to handle and inexpensive compared to other available heavy materials. Increased deep well drilling in Western Canada, and especially in the Arctic regions, could dramatically affect the demand for barite through this decade. Known deposits in northeast British Columbia are possible sources of incremental barite supplies, should the situation develop.IntroductionThe purpose of this report is to examine the opportunities for expanding barite production in British Columbia. Of primary interest will be the relationship between the projected future levels of production and consumption of barite in Western Canada and the extent to which increased domestic production could replace the need for imports in filling any expected supply shortages.After a brief overview of the nature and uses of barite and some of the relevant features of the barite supply industry, the discussion will turn to the supply gap in the Canadian market and the possibilities for import substitution.OverviewBarite is an industrial mineral which is used in large quantities by the oil and gas well-drilling industry. It is often an important component of drilling mud, a fluid circulated continuously in the well during the drilling process to lubricate and cool the drilling apparatus and to contain the high oil and gas pressures found at depth. Barite (BaSO4) is particularly well suited as a weighting agent for drilling mud because it is a heavy (specific gravity to 4.5) inert mineral which is inexpensive in relation to other materials having a high specific gravity. In the on-site use of drilling mud, ground barite is combined with numerous other solid ingredients and chemicals in the form of a slurry. Other advantages of barite include cleanliness, ease in handling and its non-abrasive character (hardness of 3-3.5)."

Jan 1, 1982

By Brad Bjornson, Geoff Stevens, Mike Ashar, Cliff Britch

"LocationThe facilities are located 30 km north of Fort McMurray, Alberta (or 470 km northeast of Edmonton, Alberta).Brief Description of OperationThe operation includes the mining of oil sands, extraction of bitumen from the oil sands, and upgrading of the hydrocarbon fraction prior to shipment via pipelines to refineries.HistorySuncor was initially called Great Canadian Oil Sands. It was started by Sun Oil of Philadelphia. Construction began in 1965, with the first production coming on September 1967.Details of Present Milling Practice (Plant 3)Plant 3 recovers bitumen from the oil sand using the Clark hot water process. The basic steps in the process are conditioning, primary recovery, secondary recovery and tailings oil recovery.Oil Sand Feed SystemThe oil sand feed from the mine is transferred to the feed bin in extraction by two conveyor systems. Oil sand analyzers on each conveyor system measure the amount of bitumen and fines in the ore. Cones at the bottom of the feed bin distribute the oil sand to five process lines. Feed flow from each cone is regulated by an apron feeder which transfers the oil sand to conveyors that discharge into the conditioning drums. Weightometers on each of these five conveyors measure the rate at which the oil sand is delivered into the drums. The oil sand feed rate to each drum can be adjusted by varying the speed of the apron feeders."

Jan 1, 2000

By Y. J. Yu, C. D. Zhang, Y. S. Zhao, W. G. Liang, Y. D. Geng, J. L. Bi

"In this study, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and thermal conductivity (TC) of shale in two perpendicular directions, vertical and parallel to the bedding of the rock, are firstly measured by experiment. The experimental results show that the CTE of the shale in the vertical direction is 1.69 times as much as that in the parallel direction, while the TC in the parallel direction is 1.83 times larger than that of the vertical direction. Based on the no initial strain assumptions, numerical simulations for the thermal cracking in shale are carried out with the obtained coefficients. Using finite element method and thermal-mechanical coupling theory, two fracture mechanical parameters, KI and J-integral of the shale are also analyzed for the shale thermal fracturing. The simulation results show that both KI and J-integral reach the maximum when the fracturing angle equals to 0° in the shale, namely parallel to the bedding direciton. It is also found that the two fracture parameters decrease with the fracturing angle increasing. Additionally, the thermal fracturing effect of the shale is evaluated under a given scenario. The study is significant for shale oil or gas recovery by in situ pyrolyzing method.INTRODUCTIONOil shale is regarded as a kind of unconventional resource that can contribute to production of shale oil and hydrocarbon gases (Rahm & Dianne, 2011). As is known that there is a large deposit of oil shale in China, and present technology for exploiting oil shale still concentrates on open-pit mining, obtaining shale oil by retorting shale on the ground (Li, Tang, Xue, Zheng, & Du, 2014; Qian, Yin, 2008). However, this technology has a bad effect on the environment and leads to severe resource waste for utilizing oil shale. Exploiting oil shale by in-situ method for ‘green mining’ is widely necessary in China (Kang, Wang, Cao, Liang, Chang, & Liu, 2013; Waters, Dean, Downie, Kerrihard, Austbo, & McPherson, 2009; Zoback, Kohli, Das, & McClure, 2012). One of effective method to exploit shale oil is heating oil shale in-situ underground. For instance, the in-situ conversion process (ICP technique) from Shell Company etc. used a direct heating method, and convectional heating oil shale underground by injecting superheated steam from Mining Technology Institute, Taiyuan University of Technology and constructing horizontal fracture in vertical wellbore from Chevron Company use indirect heating method (Chaudhary, Ehlig, & Wattenbarger, 2011; Hazra, Lee, Economides, & Moridis, 2013; Zhao et al., 2010). The convectional heating method contains complicated procedures with phase transition in double-media of fracture-matrix of oil shale subjected to multi-physical fields coupling including stress, fluid and temperature (Zhao et al., 2010). The characteristics of thermodynamics, solid mechanics and seepage of oil shale have been investigated separately (Hopkins, Rosen, & Hill,1998; Kang, Zhao, & Yang, 2008; Yang, Zhao, Kang, 2010; Zhao, Yang, Feng, Liang, & Kang, 2008; Zhao, Cao, Zhao, Lin, & Wang, 2008). However, it is quite difficult to solve constrained problem of each physical parameter in multi-physical fields coupling for oil shale pyrolysis."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. H. Winckers

"CAMIRO, The Canadian Mining Industry Research Organization, formerly known as MITEC, is a collaborative research organization of Canadian Mining Companies. It is comprised of Exploration, Metallurgical Processing and Mining Divisions.The Metallurgical Processing Division (MPD) has the mandate to contribute to the profitability, competitiveness, safety and growth of the Canadian mining industry by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy in an environmentally conscious manner through the development of innovative technology by managing cooperative industry focused research programs.Current membership includes about ten Canadian mining companies. Past research has largely focused on base metal mineral processing. The Division wants to expand its research base to include all areas of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy.Past performance and plans for the future will be highlighted in the presentation."

Jan 1, 1998

By C. J. Brown

Since its commercialization thirty years ago, the Recoflo® short bed ion exchange process has been extensively utilized for the recovery of a wide variety of acids and metal salts. In addition to a reduction in resin bed height from 200 cm to 300 cm to 15 cm to 60 cm, the process has a number of features such as utilization of fine mesh resins in a compressed bed which together make it ideal for a number of applications. The process has been extensively exploited, for example, in the metal finishing industry for recovery of valuable chemicals from electroplating, anodizing, etching and pickling wastes. More recently, it has also been applied in the primary metals industry for purification of copper electrolytes and metals recovery from leachates. The paper discusses several of these applications and some of the issues that were found to be key to their success.

Jan 1, 2004

By G. R. MANSON

The Brisco Barite Mine lies 70 km south-southeast of Golden, British Columbia. Barile mineralization occurs in a northstriking brecciation zone within Ordovician-Silurian Beaver/ oot dolomites and quartzites. Brecciation was caused by faulting related to the Mount Forster-Steamboat Fault. The main barite vein occupies a fault zone and is up to 12 m wide and over 250 m long. It is light grey to white, fine grained and compact; BaSO4 content is 9/. 70 per cent. Production started in 1945 and has continued to the present. Barile originally was removed from an open pit; later, an adit, begun in 1957, reached more than 240 m along the vein, 15 m below the pit floor. Today ore is hoisted from a decline resting some 37 m below the pit floor.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. Jay Hodgson, P. J. MacGeehan, T. Sanders

"The orebodies of the Campbell and Dickenson mines are localized within an anomalously fissile and deformed zone that transects the eastern margin of a dominantly mafic volcanic complex close to its contact with a synchronously formed sedimentary basin containing clastic and chemical sedimentary rocks. The ore zones are mainly quartz-carbonate fissure veins and siliceous replacement zones formed during deformation and metamorphism, although there are some syn-volcanic exhalative ore zones in the mines. On a regional scale, the volcanic rocks have been affected by syn-volcanic spilitic alteration which has involved the leaching of Fe, Mg, Au and As from, and the addition of Na and variable amounts of Si to bleached zones enveloping primary permeable structures in the rocks. The leached constituents were deposited on the contemporaneous sea floor as iron-rich chemical sedimentary rocks. Although this alteration is not closely related, spatially, to the ore zones, it is characteristic of the general environment, and may serve to distinguish gold-prospective from gold-barren areas on a mining-camp scale.Closely associated spatially with gold deposits is a zone of feldspar-destructive alteration within which the volcanic rocks are characteristically feldspar-free, enriched in As, Au and to a variable degree in Si, and depleted in Na, Ca and to a variable degree in Mg, Fe and K. The alteration zone is also characterized by abundant, variably transposed, small quartz-dolomite to ferrodolomite veinlets formed during deformation and metamorphism, and includes, but extends outside of, the anomalously fissile zone hosting the orebodies. The alteration zone is interpreted to have formed syn-volcanically within the upper part of a major submarine hydrothermal discharge zone."

Jan 1, 1982

By R. G. Zaripova, N. D. Ryan, H. J. McQueen

The austenitic and ferritic stainless steels do not undergo any phase transformation that induces very fine grains in the product through thermomechanical processing as practiced in most other steels. Considerable grain refinement can be achieved by intense multistage deformation descending through warm to cold working; notably multi-axial forging of bulk material can attain high strains with diminished risk of cracking. Hot working to improve ductility yields finer grain sizes as the T is reduced and strain rate E raised; increased strain has limited effect due to the steady state regime. Ferritic steels develop subgrains with size diminishing as E rises and T falls with the advantage of retained strain hardening; recrystallization delivers grains several times the cell size. In austenitic steels, dynamic recrystallization (DRX) provides finer grains at higher E and lower T with a lower limit due to intergranular cracking. The DRX grains contain a strengthening substructure that can easily be retained by quenching; if static recrystallization is allowed to occur the grain size rises markedly. Multistage rolling with diminishing T is able to provide grain refinement to the same degree as straining at the finishing T yet provides better ductility. grains on recrystallization. As a result of the strain induced transformation to martensite, small subzero deformations of austenitic or duplex steels produce very high dislocation densities that yield marked grain refinement when they revert upon reheating.

Jan 1, 2004