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By J. Chelsey Dawson

In presenting a thesis on this subject it is advisable to explain a few of the reasons for its seeming incompleteness. World progress has brought us to a position where approximations are not only to be condoned, but regarded as absolute essentials. Production in anticipation of demand is always accompanied by mistakes on the part of the producers. Only through trial and sometimes erring hypotheses may there be evolved the true course and theory upon which the steady triumphant march of world-wide industry depends. The average person likes to have everything placed ?before him in a clear and convincing manner. It is the impossibility of doing this which, in many cases, arises to confound the writer on shales. All that one can do is to present, as lucidly as possible, the known hypotheses' and theories on the subject and leave the reader to study and work out the truth for himself. Many theories have been advanced on the origin of oil-shales ; some may be correct in certain instances and not in others; however, the writer will attempt no decision as to which are and which are not correct, but .will merely point out the relative merits of each. The figures given for reserves of oil and shale in different countries are only approximations and give but a rough idea of the true conditions.

Jan 1, 1925

By J. F. McMahon

Introduction The greater portion of the information presented in this paper was obtained in the course of an investigation on clay gathering and its cost in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario (1). For assistance in the preparation of the paper, the writer wishes to record his thanks to Mr. Howells Fréchette, Chief of the Ceramics and Road Materials Division of the Mines Branch. Clays are mineral substances consisting essentially of hydrous aluminium silicate which become plastic when wet, fairly hard when dry, and stony masses when burned to a sufficiently high temperature and re-cooled. Shales are clays which have been indurated by the processes of nature. Millions of tons of clays and shales are won yearly for the production of brick, tile, sewer pipe, drain tile, roofing tile, fire-brick, china-ware, wall and floor tile, cement, and a host of other products. There are certain types of clay which, due to their particular qualities and limited distribution, are mined entirely or in part for sale to manufacturers, and are even exported from one country to another, as for example china-clays or kaolins, utilized in the manufacture of white-wares and in the paper industry, due to their consistent whiteness; ball-clays, utilized in the white-ware industry, due to their bonding power and whiteness; slip-clays, used in the stone-ware industry because of their glazing properties, and in the grinding-wheel industry for their burned bonding properties; and suspension-clays, such as are used in the enamelling industry. However, the great bulk of clays and shales won are used in the production of heavy clay products, and the manufacturer of these generally owns and operates his own deposit of raw material.

Jan 1, 1933

By M. Mirnezami, J. A. Finch

The McGill component of the consortium contributed detailed examination of the electrokinetic properties of the constituent minerals, primarily pentlandite and serpentine. Mineral specimens were derived from an ore sample; mineralogical examination showed the serpentine was predominantly clinochrysotile, a fibrous mineral responsible for much of the flotation separation problem. The study included design of a novel sedimentation potential measuring device to classify the surface charge of the ore and electrophoresis measurements on single and mixed minerals which progressively approached flotation conditions. The sedimentation potential measurements provided a general association between surface charge and the visual state of aggregation as a function of pH. The electrophoresis experiments started with single minerals in a background of indifferent electrolyte and progressed to mixed minerals in a background of supernatant derived from an ore sample. The single mineral tests supported the suspected electrostatic interaction, i.e., hetero-coagulation, at flotation pH 9-10. The mixed mineral tests demonstrated this interaction and also revealed hetero-coagulation with Mg(OH)2 precipitates, derived from the supernatant. This interpretation was confirmed by optical and electron beam imaging. A series of agents, CMC, polyphosphate, soda ash, EDTA, were examined to disperse the system. To accommodate the small mass of single mineral available a novel turbidity measurement using a UV/Vis spectrophotometer was introduced. Selected conditions were used in contact angle and small-scale flotation tests.

Jan 1, 2011

By CIMVAL

This Code for the Valuation of Mineral Properties (the “CIMVAL Code”) is the result of a review more than a decade after the release in 2003 of the “Standards and Guidelines for Valuation of Mineral Properties” (the "2003 Standards"). The purpose of the review is to update the 2003 Standards to reflect domestic valuation, international valuation, and regulatory developments. The CIMVAL Code was adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum (the "CIM") Council on November 29, 2019. The CIMVAL Code supersedes the 2003 Standards. The 2003 Standards were dated February 2003 and were adopted by the CIM Council on March 9, 2003 as the first comprehensive set of standards for Valuation of Mineral Properties in the Canadian mining industry. The 2003 Standards followed recommendations of the Mining Standards Task Force of the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Ontario Securities Commission, where in its Final Report (January 1999), the CIM was specifically asked to form a committee of valuation practitioners to review and advise on standards for the Valuation of Mineral Properties. The Special Committee on Valuation of Mineral Properties ("CIMVAL") was created on May 5, 1999 with the mandate to recommend standards and guidelines for Valuation of Mineral Properties to be used by the mining industry in general. The CIMVAL Code is limited to the Valuation of Mineral Properties (including any interests therein) and does not cover valuation of corporations or other entities that hold Mineral Properties as assets. The CIMVAL Code does not cover petroleum and related assets. CIMVAL recommends that the CIMVAL Code be followed for all Valuations of Mineral Properties, including those required by securities administrators and stock exchanges. However, when a Valuation is required under the applicable rules of securities administrators or stock exchanges, such rules prevail to the extent of any inconsistency.

Nov 29, 2019

By W. A. MacDonald, C. M. McGibbon, J. H. Reynolds

This paper traces the development of the Seaboard Power Plant, which plays such an important role in the industrial life of Nova Scotia. It also shows the involvement of the plant in the siting of a heavy water production facility in Cape Breton. The paper concludes with an outline of the new installations which the Nova Scotia Power Commission has undertaken as an extension to the Seaboard Plant.

Jan 1, 1966

By J. R. Porter, C. Panaou

"A significant effort is expended on preparation of the capital estimate for feasibility studies. The development of the operating cost estimate is usually allocated a significantly smaller budget and less emphasis is placed on ensuring the accuracy of the operating cost. This paper presents a comparison of capital and operating costs of hydrometallurgy processing plants in order to demonstrate the importance that variations in operating costs have on the overall life-of-mine costs. The analysis is supported by a case study on the operating costs of a water treatment plant at an existing Australian hydrometallurgy facility at the feasibility design level. INTRODUCTIONDetermination of the economic validity of a minerals processing project is a critical outcome of a feasibility study. In many cases, the financial results of the feasibility study will determine if the project should proceed to execution. Ensuring that these results are reliable and built upon sound engineering practices allows companies to make informed decisions on resource opportunities and the selected technology.The methodology for developing a capital cost estimate at the feasibility level is well established. Specialist engineering estimators use budget quotations, first principle estimation and rules-of-thumb to develop an estimate with an accuracy of typically -10% to +15%. Cost reporting software packages are used to methodically build up the estimate from design information supplied by the engineering disciplines. Risk analysis and capital expense workshops are carried out to identify potential deficiencies in the estimate. It is widely recognized that in order to successfully produce a feasibility level capital estimate with an appropriate level of accuracy, a rigorous development process is necessary.The development of the operating cost estimate is typically less rigorous than the capital cost estimate. The operating cost is normally derived by the process engineering discipline and rarely are specialist estimators used to support the development. The allocated budget for producing an operating cost is usually smaller and less emphasis is placed on ensuring the accuracy and contingency reflect the most likely operating cost scenario."

Jan 1, 2012

By A. Varma

Successful technology commercialization occurs when a company is focused on creating shareholder value by providing a reliable product at a price point attractive to the market, while at the same time maintaining strict control of its internal cash burn rates. Developing a technology platform and a market platform are equally important in the commercialization of new technologies such as fuel cells. This paper will discuss some of the key barriers that may prevent successful market entry for emerging and disruptive technologies, such as: R&D priorities, supply chain / manufacturing issues, materials, cost reduction strategies, customer needs, developing a market pull strategy, institutional barriers such as existing regulatory/approvals processes and/or current design/purchasing practices, product reliability and resilience, and finding the right path to market. SDTC is an arms length foundation that aims to financially support the successful market entry of emerging and disruptive technologies that can provide significant environmental benefits to Canada. The fuel cell industry, which represents one such technology, is at a critical point in its evolution where market receptivity and the technology platform are converging to potentially create significant customer advantages for fuel cell products being developed today. Since its inception in 2001, SDTC has received over 850 business cases from which it has identified successful strategies to overcome the noted barriers to commercialization. While maintaining commercial confidentiality, the SDTC database will be mined to: Identify specific success stories that have overcome various barriers and discuss their strategy; Identify specific fuel cell related industry experiences that hinder successful market uptake. The general attributes and trends of successful technology developments identified in this paper will hopefully provide guidance to technology developers and prepare them to successfully tackle the next set of hurdles on the path to commercializing their technology, once they have proven their technology works in the laboratory.

Jan 1, 2005

By Zhanyou Huang

The logic and capabilities of a short-term planning tool are presented. It was developed using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) techniques to solve the open-pit and underground mine planning problems that include multiple mining areas, multiple processes, multiple destinations and blending requirements. It finds the optimum schedule that achieves the objective while satisfying comprehensive product quality and quantity requirements, equipment utilizations, as well as physical and technical constraints. A case study is given to demonstrate its applications.

Oct 1, 2009

By Zhanyou Huang

The logic and capabilities of a short-term planning tool are presented. It was developed using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) techniques to solve the open-pit and underground mine planning problems that include multiple mining areas, multiple processes, multiple destinations and blending requirements. It finds the optimum schedule that achieves the objective while satisfying comprehensive product quality and quantity requirements, equipment utilizations, as well as physical and technical constraints. A case study is given to demonstrate its applications.

Oct 1, 2009

By S. E. Wolfe

The presence of helical ribs in smooth-bore round pipe results in the transport of granular solid particles m water at a much lower velocity than required to transport the same solids in a smooth pipe. The helical motion imparted to the flowing mixture effectively returns settled solid particles to the main stream. The flow may be stopped and restarted without difficulty. Due to the lower velocity required for satisfactory transport large power savings are realized. Also: due to lower velocity, the wear on the pipe walls is much reduced. For satisfactory performance, the ribs should have a high angle relative to the long axis of the pipe and the lineal spacing between adjacent ribs should be modest.

Jan 1, 1967

By E. Godin, M. Rigaud, S. C. Panigrahy, I. Malinsky

"RésuméDes boulettes de concentres d'hématite spéculaire à basse silice ont été produites en substituant la bentonite par de la tourbe, adéquatement traitée, additionnée d'une faible quantile de soude caustique durant le boulettage. La réductibilité de telles boulettes et leur gonflement pendant la réduction ont été évacues, en utilisant quatre mélanges gazeux différents, formes de H2 - CO - N2.L'influence du pouvoir réducteur du gaz utilise, sur le gonflement des boulettes, à été mis en évidence. Quelles que soient ces conditions réductrices, les propriétés mesurées sur les boulettes liées a la tourbe sont comparables aux propriétés obtenues avec des boulettes traditionnelles liées à la bentonite.ABSTRACTAdditions of peat moss and small quantities of NaOH during balling of low silica specular hematite concentrates have eliminated the need to use bentonite as a binder. The reducibility and swelling of such pellets have been evaluated using four different gas mixtures, consisting of H2 - CO -N2. The influence of the reducing power of the gases, on the swelling behaviour of pellets has been documented. Under the different reducing conditions, this new type of pellets exhibit properties similar to the ones obtained using bentonite."

Jan 1, 1987

By F. Habashi

"A short account will be presented on the extraction of rare earths from monazite sand, bastnasite ore, and phosphate rock of igneous origin. This includes mineral beneficiation, leaching methods, fractional crystallization [of historical interest], ion exchange, solvent extraction, precipitation from solution, and reduction to metals. INTRODUCTIONOriginally, the term rare earths was only used for the oxides, R2O3, which are similar to one other in their chemical and physical properties and are therefore difficult to separate. Within the rare earth group, the elements scandium, yttrium, and lanthanum differ in their atomic structure from the elements cerium to lutetium (the lanthanides, Ln). Scandium occupies a special position with respect to this classification and its other properties, and therefore does not belong to either of these groups. The rare earth elements always occur in nature in association with each other. The isolation of groups of rare earth elements or of individual elements requires costly separation and fractionation processes owing to the great similarity of the chemical and physical properties of their compounds, which explains why the history of their discovery has extended over such a long period.The word “rare”, when used to describe this group of elements, originates from the fact it was thought that these elements could only be isolated from very rare minerals. Considering their abundance in the Earth’s crust, the term rare is now inappropriate. These elements are lithophilic and are therefore concentrated in oxidic compounds such as carbonates, silicates, titano-tantalo-niobates, and phosphates.The abundance of the rare earth elements taken together is quite considerable. Cerium, the most common rare earth, is more abundant than cobalt. Yttrium is more abundant than lead, whereas Lu and Tm are as abundant as Sb, Hg, Bi, and Ag. For all practical purposes promethium does not occur in nature. It forms only in nuclear reactors."

Jan 1, 2012

By J. W. McCammon

WHEN times are booming and metal prices are high, most mining men pay little attention to the industrial mineral industry. However, when metal prices drop and mines close down, many mining eyes begin to scan the less glamorous non-metallic field. For some this proves a temporary diversion, but others find this branch of mining, with its generally more stable conditions, to their liking and enter it permanently. The resulting gradual influx of trained mining men into the industrial mineral industry ?has been one of several factors responsible for the rise in production of non-metallic materials in our Province. Another and ?perhaps the most important factor influencing the production of industrial minerals has been the growth in the population of British Columbia. Because most industrial minerals .are low priced and either heavy or bulky commodities they are normally sold on relatively local markets. Thus the extent of the development of the industrial mineral industry of a region is largely governed by the size of the population and the level of industrialization of that region. This point is well shown by com-paring population and industrial mineral production statistics for 1936, 1946, and 1956 (see Figure 1)9. Note that not only has the overall production rate grown with the population increase, but that the per capita production has risen greatly.

Jan 1, 1958

By H. S. Wilson

"The property owned by the Lamaque Mining Company comprises a group of forty-four claims and fractions occupying an area of about 2,458 acres, in west-central Bourlamaque township, Abitibi county, Quebec. It is on ,the outskirts of the towns of Bourlamaque and Val d'Or, about 70 miles east of Noranda, near the eastern end of the belt of greenstones of Keewatin and Timiskaming age that extends eastward through Kirkland Lake into northwestern Quebec, terminating in Haig and Jurie townships 40 miles to the east.The claims on which the orebodies occur were first staked in 1923; No. 3 vein was discovered the following year. The original discovery was made by R. Clark in 1923. This was a small quartz vein containing a pocket of coarse gold on the north side of a hill near the northwestern corner of block 3. It is said that all the gold was removed in one shot in blasting into the vein; elsewhere it was barren. A picket line was then run west along the strike of the vein, which occupied a narrow shear zone, and about 2,000 feet west, in prospecting on either side of the picket line, a large boulder of quartz and tourmaline containing visible gold was found. This led to more intensive prospecting by trenching in the vicinity with the result that the No. 3, or 'float' vein, about 250 feet north of the boulder, was found. Due to low ground this vein was exposed in only one trench. The only other important vein found on the surface was the No. 1, or H, vein, which was exposed in several places by stripping and trenching, but it did not carry appreciable amounts of gold."

Jan 1, 1954

By D. W. R. George, J. L. Stewart

Developments in the last decade, which have contributed to increased productivity and decreased coke rates in the iron blast furnace, are reviewed. Future progress in blast-furnace practice is also considered.

Jan 1, 1966

By J. Dupre, A. Gontcharov, H. Pepin

Produced by the conventional TIG welding CMSX-4 welds had been studied. It was demostrated that microstructure of welds depended on filler materials, welding parameters and joint design. Epitaxial solidification of CMSX-4 clad deposits produced a directionally solidified structure while welding with the similar filler material. Defects free clad welds were obtained by TIG welding without preheating using similar and dissimilar filler materials.

Jan 1, 2006

By W. R. Smith

Introduction No commercial deposits of silica sand are known to occur in British Columbia, so all requirements for foundry and other uses must be imported. During the war, nearly 5,000 tons per year were used, all originating in Illinois and delivered to local consumers for about $12.00 per ton. Present requirements are somewhat less, but the cost is still of the same order. The relatively high cost of silica sand in British Columbia is not only a serious item for present consumers, but might be a deterrent to the establishment of a glass industry, should this be contemplated at any time. The present investigation was undertaken in an attempt to provide a cheaper source of silica sand within the Province. In 1936, a large number of beach and bank sand deposits in the lower coastal region of British Columbia were examined by the British Columbia Department of Mines, and samples were analyzed chemically and mineralogically. The deposits over the whole area proved remarkably uniform in mineral composition, consisting essentially of quartz, feldspar, ferromagnesian minerals, rock fragments, and various accessory minerals, and differing only in the relative proportions of the various constituents. In no case did the quartz content of any sand exceed about 40 percent and the average was of the order of 20 to 30 percent.

Jan 1, 1947

By J. W. Meier

Introduction The great importance of air warfare during World War II and the introduction of large-scale air transportation and airborne operations created an immediate demand for large quantities of high quality light alloy products. Before this war, the use of magnesium, the lightest structural metal, was barely in the development stage, and considerable research work was needed to overcome difficulties in improving its properties and to attain uniform quality in mass production of magnesium alloy products. The Canadian Bureau of Mines was frequently called upon, by various agencies of the Armed Forces and of the newly established war industries, to examine magnesium alloys that had failed in fabrication or in actual service, and to advise on proper alloys and fabrication methods to be used. Failures in magnesium alloy castings were connected mainly with lack of knowledge of proper founding and surface-protecting techniques. Most of the defects were due to microporosity and faulty heat treatment. To aid the foundry industry, small-scale investigations were started on the effect of various factors in the casting technique in order to improve the quality of the products. These investigations were made in co-operation with representatives of the Armed Forces and the Canadian magnesium industry. This work was later co-ordinated into a broad research programme on magnesium alloys, comprising problems on melting, refining, various casting methods, heat treatment, and testing of properties of standard and special alloys. This research programme? is still in force, and the present paper contains some results of the first series of investigations on magnesium casting alloys carried out at the Experimental Foundry of the Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1948

By C. Bissue, G. M. Castillo

Newmont’s Phoenix mine started production in March of 2006. Due to the extreme hardness of the ore, the mill has struggled to meet throughput projections. Grinding studies showed that optimizing the existing circuit would not achieve budgeted throughput. These studies also showed that the pebble crusher was being underutilized due to the inability of the SAG mill to break the rock. The concept was developed to supplement the feed to the existing pebble crusher with a secondary crusher. Models of this process looked favorable so a portable crusher was installed to test the process. The temporary crusher was successful at increasing the throughput by 7% and based on the operating data, plans are currently being developed to install a permanent secondary crushing system in front of the SAG mill. This paper will review the results from the test crusher and the flow sheet for the permanent secondary crusher.

Jan 1, 2012

By E. Benguerel, G. Monteith, L. Centomo, S. Pelletier

In early 2007, it became apparent that with changing concentrate feeds, the magnesium (Mg) load projected for CEZinc starting in 2009 and beyond would quadruple and overwhelm the current Mg process bleed capacity. A project was started, following design for six sigma (DFSS) standards, to select both the optimal process and to evaluate its target capacity for the Mg bleed circuit. The economic and process risks of under or over-designing while Mg reduction efforts were underway at the mines also needed to be evaluated. This paper describes the project methodology, the impact on the plant, and some potential optimizations for CEZinc's basic zinc sulphate (BZS) Mg bleed process.

Jan 1, 2008