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Experimental determination of the response of an AG/SAG mill treating two components of significantly different impact resistance is challenging for two main reasons: firstly, small scale laboratory tests have yet to be confirmed as valid representations of the full scale milling environment, and secondly pilot plant testing requires 10-20 tonnes of ore per scenario which precludes the use of drill core, rendering the process very expensive. In order to mitigate these difficulties, modelling was considered as a potential way forward. However, as the JKSimMet AG/SAG model currently has no capacity to simulate the interaction of two ore types with differing impact resistance, density and/or feed size distributions, an alternative modelling approach was developed. This approach aims to essentially calibrate the AG/SAG process under a set of given conditions, for which survey data and the ore properties of the main components in the feed blend already exist. This paper describes a new conceptual model, which provides a simplified approach for investigating the multi-component behaviour of two ores of differing hardness/SG in a given AG/SAG milling environment, and which can potentially be used for scale-up from laboratory/pilot testwork and geometallurgical estimation of throughput.

Jan 1, 2012

By L. Yaun

In underground coal mining operations, gas content in a coal seam is used to assess the risk of coal and gas outbursts. To estimate the gas content, a number of systems have been developed, however issues remain about the rapidness and accuracy of these systems. To address these issues, a new and improved system has been developed that includes a sampling-while-drilling unit for coal sampling, a coal canister, an underground-based portable measurement unit, a surface-based measurement apparatus, and gas content calculation software. The system has been successfully applied in underground coal mines at Huainan, China. This new, rapid and accurate system, its main components and field trials are described in this paper.

Aug 1, 2013

By R. W. Brigstocke

History The birth of the mining industry of Canada took place about 1670. According to Salone (Salone E., La Colonisation de la Nouvelle France, page 205) the first discovery of ore in the country was made by an iron-master, Monsieur de la Potardiere, near Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Under French rule some prospecting was done; but at this time no one seemed to consider the working of mines practicable. It was not until the time that Begon became Intendant, when the Marquis of Vaudreuil was Governor, that mining was attempted. Begon was a patron of industrial arts and did his best to promote home manufactures. The mining industry was developed under his regime and discoveries of copper and lead ores were made in 1730. About this time the St. Maurice Forges were erected to treat bog-iron ore, and they were in operation for many years. Prior to 1747, iron pans to the value of £21,000 were manufactured, together with bar-iron and plough-shares. About 1769, that is, ten years after the conquest by Wolfe, stoves and other articles, and, later, potash kettles, appeared. What is still more interesting to us-or was, at least, to General Wolfe-is that cannon balls made at the St. Maurice Forges delayed his operations. A map dated 1744, a copy of which appears in the report of the Ontario Bureau of Mines for 1913 (Vol. XIX), indicates the extensiveness of the wanderings of the French and also shows the location of the lead mine on the east shore of Lake Timiskaming. Bog-iron ore was turned into metal, with charcoal for fuel, at Norman-dale, Norfolk county, Ontario, in 1813, and at Clementsport, Nova Scotia, in 1825. In a volume published in 1672, reference is made to the occurrence of coal on the Atlantic seaboard, and in 1677 Monsieur Duchesneau, the Intendant, levied a royalty of twenty sous per ton on all coal taken from Cape Breton.

Jan 1, 1932

By Norman Marr

Introduction In Canada, the mining industry and water-power development are intimately associated in that mining, which ranks second among the country's primary industries, depends principally upon hydro-electric energy for its large power requirements. On the whole, the Dominion has been very favourably endowed with water-power resources; generally speaking it is a well-watered country with numerous rivers and lakes located in are as where the topography favours water-power development. Precipitation, the raw material of water power, varies from an annual fall of more than l00 inches on the Pacific coast to about 12 inches in sections of the Prairies and the Northwest Territories; in Ontario and Quebec the annual average is 24 to 40 inches and in Nova Scotia about 45 inches. In its descent to the sea, the resulting run-off, much of it from considerable altitudes, creates sources of potential energy at every rapid and fall along the country's many streams and rivers. Many of the innumerable lakes in the Dominion provide storage basins for the regulation of stream flow, thus enhancing the potential power of available sites. While water-power resources are fairly well distributed across the Dominion, as is shown on the accompanying map of Canada showing power sites (Figure 1), it is particularly fortunate that those areas which are lacking in indigenous fuels have been compensated in large degree for this scarcity by being favoured with a high proportion of the total potential water power. This has an important bearing on the mining industry in that extensive mining operations can be economically carried out in the great Canadian Shield, which is lacking in commercial coal deposits but is rich in water-power resources. This Precambrian formation, which forms a wide belt around Hudson bay and in which many metalliferous ores are found, was 'subject to severe glaciation in a recent geological period, so that its river systems are comparatively young and are characterized by numerous lakes joined by short reaches of fast water, rapids, and falls which offer frequent opportunities for power development. The western Cordilleran region, which also is important in mining, has abundant water power. The accompanying geological map (Figure 2), prepared by the Geological Survey of Canada, shows the great extent of the Precambrian and Cordilleran regions and may be compared with the map of water-power sites to show the high incidence of water-power resources in these potential mining areas in which important mineral discoveries have already been made.

Jan 1, 1949

By P. Z. Caverhill

In this section of the province only the most meagre of surveys have been made and because these are not sufficient to determine with any degree of accuracy even the total forest area, the information presented in this paper is not complete. Area: -The area south of the Canadian National, and served by the Pacific Great Eastern, is roughly 38,000. square miles, 30,000 of which is classed as productive. This is approximately equal to the productive area of Norway, or half of Finland-or of 30 per cent of Sweden. It is larger than that of either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Eliminating from the productive area 3600 square miles of grass-land and areas capable of agricultural development, 26,000 square miles (16,600,000 acres) remains as absolute forest-land, as compared with the 55,000,000 acres of Sweden, the 37,500,000 acres of Finland, the 17,000,000 acres of Norway, and the 7,600,000 acres of Austria.

Jan 1, 1925

By Thomas Glück

Established and emerging mining companies face significant challenges in managing their operations and projects. Outcomes often do not meet the expectations of all the stakeholders of particular developments. This paper reviews typical management practises used by mining companies to undertake mining projects and improve their operations. A simple application of the House of Quality (HOQ) tool used in the Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) management approach is presented. It is shown that a QFDMMPtg approach could lead to innovation in mining processing plant development practice.

Jan 1, 2015

By L. L. Bolton

The Department of Mines as at present constituted has evolved from the organization which came into existence following the passage of the Geology and Mines Act by the Dominion Parliament in 1907. At the outset, it may be said that it is not a function of the Department of Mines, nor of any of its branches, to administer the mining rights vested in the Crown. The title to Crown lands in the provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia ( with the exception of certain specified areas, such as Indian Reserves, Ordnance Lands, the Railway Belt of British Columbia, and the Peace River Black) is vested in the respective provincial governments ; the title to Crown Lands in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and in the Canadian Arctic, is vested in the Dominion Government, and matters pertaining thereto are (with a few exceptions) administered by the Department of the Interior, Ottawa. Nor are statistics of mineral production at present collected and published by the Department of Mines. This function did belong to the Geological Survey from 1886 to 1906, and to the Mines Branch from 1907 to 1920; but commencing with 192l this duty was transferred to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics, consequent upon the decision of Government to place the collection of all statistics under the direction of one officer.

Jan 1, 1929

By E. Brzychczy

Artificial intelligence techniques are ever more frequently implemented in the modern world. One of their numerous uses is supporting enterprise management. Intelligent techniques and intelligent information technology (IT) systems can be implemented in mining-related issues as well. The author of this article concentrates on supporting the process of planning mining operations by intelligent systems and techniques. The author also underlines the importance of knowledge accumulation in a mining enterprise (especially tacit knowledge) as well as its efficient storing and using. Additionally, the author provides a short description of characteristics of intelligent IT systems and indicates their capabilities in planning mining operations. She presents two solutions, namely: an advisory system which supports the process of planning preliminary works and exploitation works in hard coal mines, and a method of modeling and optimizing mining operations. Finally, the author indicates a few possible future development trends of intelligent systems - the intelligent systems of decision support.

Aug 1, 2013

By H Zorychta

Based on underground measurements made at the Nova Scotia coal mines of the Dominion Coal Company, Limited, this paper presents a comparison between the physical properties of hardwood packs and steel friction props when used for longwall support. The probable loads sup-ported by steel friction props on a longwall face at both the Dominion No. 20 Colliery and the Princess Colliery are delineated, and the results of the tests are presented in graphical form. It is concluded that the steel friction props are more efficient than the hardwood packs that they replaced as roof supports. Introduction AN evolution in the methods of longwall face support is taking place in the Sydney coalfield. Longwall face support had consisted primarily of timber props and hardwood packs. In 1957, however, at the Princess Colliery, Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, the first longwall was equipped with steel friction props. At the present time, eleven longwall faces are supported on wood and sixteen faces are carried on steel friction props.

Jan 1, 1965

By J. C. Underwood

"The wear performance of grinding balls under conditions of impact and abrasion is affected by their chemical composition and structure. The selection of appropriate analyses and heat treatments that will provide both abrasion and impact resistance takes into account the effects of certain elements on structure and harden-ability, as well as the over-all effect of composition and hardness penetration on the residual stress pattern developed through heat treatment. Direct quenching from forging temperatures substantially increases hardenability over that obtained in reheat-quench practices, and can be done without undue risk of damage to the ball provided that the harden-ability bears the correct relationship to ball diameter.Average volumetric hardness and percent hardened volume are convenient parameters for quantitatively expressing the response to heat treatment and indicating anticipated wear properties. A number of factors which can lead to reduced wear life as a result of material or processing problems are reviewed and illustrated."

Jan 1, 1959

By X. W. Yi, Z. J. Li, G. W. Ma

In this paper, the compressive strength and failure patterns of reinforced cemented paste backfill (CPB) were studied aiming to promote the stability of backfilled stopes. The concept of ductile backfill was proposed and a series of unconfined compression tests were carried out on both non-reinforced and reinforced cemented paste specimens. Portland cement (3% to 5% by weight of tailings) and five different types of ductile materials (0 to 0.5% by weight of solids) were employed in this experiment for the specimen preparation. The test results showed that inclusion of ductile materials enhanced the unconfined compressive strength (UCS), reduced the post peak stress loss and transformed the failure behaviour of specimens from classical brittleness to ductility. The strength of CPB reinforced with different proportions of polypropylene fibres was compared. The stress-strain curves illustrated that both cement and fibres contributed to the increase of UCS, but higher strain values at the peak stress were achieved by fibre reinforcement. CT sliced images acquired from X-ray computed tomography (CT-scan) demonstrated that the reinforced specimen developed irregular crevices at the edge of cross sections and gained the capacity of bearing large displacements owing to the mobilised tensile strength of fibres. It leads to the potential of avoiding unexpected falling blocks of CPB when adjacent mining occurs. This finding highlights a strategy to improve the self-supporting capacity of the fill mass with less cement usage and reduce the ore dilution rates when excavating to adjacent stopes.

Jan 1, 2015

By C. DeLong

"The Mt. Milligan porphyry copper-gold deposits are in central British Columbia, 155 km northwest of Prince George. Mineralized outcrops and float were discovered in the Mount Milligan area by prospecting. The most recent discoveries, which utilized lithogeochemistry, were in 1983. Areas containing the outcrops and float then were investigated by geological mapping, soil and lithogeochemical sampling, ground and airborne geophysical surveys, trenching and diamond drilling. This work led to the discovery of the Mt. Milligan Main deposit in 1987 and the Southern Star deposit in 1989. Extensive diamond drilling continued until 1991 and delineated a measured and indicated resource of 299 million tonnes grading 0.45 g/t Au and 0.22 % Cu from the combined deposits.The Mt. Milligan deposits lie within the Early Mesozoic Quesnel Terrane and are hosted by porphyritic monzonite stocks and adjacent volcanic rocks of the Takla Group. The Mt. Milligan Main deposit is centred around the MBX stock and Rainbow dike, and the Southern Star deposit around the Southern Star stock.Potassic alteration is extensive within the stocks and in volcanic rocks adjacent to the MBX stock and Rainbow dike. Propylitic alteration surrounds the potassic alteration and decreases in intensuy away from the stocks. Mineralization consists mostly of pyrite, chalcopyrite, lesser magnetite, and minor bornite, molybdenite and gold.Mineralogical zoning is well-developed within the deposits. A biotite-rich subzone forms the core of the potassic alteration zone and hosts most of the copper and gold. Numerous polymetallic veins lie within the propylitic alteration zone just beyond the limit of porphyry-style copper-gold mineralization."

Jan 1, 1995

By Richard W. Hutchinson, Christopher Osterman

The Selebi-Phikwe deposits are hosted by amphibolite to granulite facies gneisses of the Limpopo belt. The sulfide orebodies are generally stratiform and conformable to the foliation of the wallrock gneiss. Sulfide remobilization has occurred during metamorphism and has produced discordant sulfide veins, called piercement structures, which project into the hanging wall and footwall gneisses. These piercement structures are compositionally similar to the stratiform sulfides, consisting mainly of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite. However, texturally the piercement sulfides are coarse grained and inclusion-free, whereas the stratiform sulfides are fIne grained and packed with tectonically produced wallrock inclusions. The piercement structure sulfides and adjacent stratabound sulfides were sampled and analyzed for major base metals and PGE's for comparative purposes. Most of the piercement structures were enriched in Cu, Ag and Au, whereas they were generally depleted in Ni, Co, Fe and PGE's. Changing elemental associations were observed from the stratabound sulfides and along the length of the piercement structures. This and the degree of depletion or enrichment of various major and minor elements in the sulfide piercement structures may reflect the relative mobilities of metals under metamorphic conditions. The similarities between sulfIde piercement structures and the footwall Cu-PGE veins in some Sudbury deposits are reviewed.

Jan 1, 1994

By W. J. D. Stone

"INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, a number of publications have described the advances in High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separation. A number of significant, but small capacity installations were made and are successfully operating. These were followed some three years ago by larger installations treating ilmenite gravity concentrates; at least one machine treating 25 tons per hour of new feed was installed and is successfully operating.However, this still did not result in general acceptance that High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separation could be applied on a large scale. Neither did it dispel the feeling that High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separation was ""expensive"" and hence, confined to small scale – high value applications suchas the cleaning of tin concentrates. In addition, there is the usual reluctance of being the ""guinea pig"" which has resulted in waiting to see ""someone else"" make the first large installation decision. Such a decision and installation has now been made.Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show that High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separation has been commercially accepted on a large scale and to show its general application to the base metal mineral industry.Examples are confined to a few specifics due to the large volume of preliminary test data that is available. The art has now reached the stage where much of the preliminary work should be taken through to serious evaluation."

Jan 1, 1971

By A. Scheltema Beduin, H. Oterdoom, A. Haaks, C. Kempe, A. Liedtke

The bath level measurement is applied in many furnaces to keep control of the level of slag and metal or matte inside. The BLM is used mainly in bath processes, and has not seen much evolution in its basic functionality. For a closed DC FeCr furnace, special demands based on the furnace design and extreme process conditions were considered for the design of a bath level measurement in order to collect valuable information about the furnace operation. This paper will describe these demands and the solutions for them, followed by some of the uses for the BLM in a closed FeCr furnace. Some of the future developments on the BLM conclude this presentation.

Jan 1, 2015

By E. G. Gaylord

THE material improvements which have been made in the practice of exploiting oil and gas reservoirs in the United States during recent years may be attributed largely to: (1) The necessity for drilling deeper wells at costs not much greater than was formerly expended on shallower wells. (2) The necessity for producing oil at a lower cost per barrel. (3) A growing recognition of the importance of the nature of production practice upon ultimate yield of oil and gas. The first two of these factors result, to a large extent, from the fact that a greater proportion of new development has been deeper development, and these wells have been drilled in the face of progressively lower per well allowables. In California, for instance, maximum allowables have declined from 400 barrels per day in March, 1938, to 156 barrels per day in September, 1940, and during this same period some 125 wells were drilled to the deeper 10,000-foot producing horizons discovered during this time. The third item listed above results from our increasing knowledge of the basic factors which influence the amount of recovery we may expect from reservoirs. In addition to the longer-range planning now being undertaken by the more prudent operators, State proration and conservation laws have focused attention upon the importance of methods conducive to obtaining progressively greater quantities of the hydrocarbons in place. In a paper of this length it will be possible to discuss only a few of the recent advances. An effort has been made to select the more important of these and to indicate, where possible, the factors which have made these advances possible.

Jan 1, 1941

By Robert B. Parsons

"Finance Minister Paul Martin's first budget disappointed almost everyone. The business sector was disappointed at the some what feeble attempt to grapple with the country's deficit. The mining industry was disappointed by tax proposals regarding mine reclamation that fall short of the industry's needs. Has anybody been happy with a federal budget? Federal Budget DisappointsThe federal government's budget papers that were tabled on February 22, 1994, contained a rather bizarre mixture of unrelated tax proposals. The budget signals an unexpected attack on the tax treatment of debt settlements, on certain types of corporate reorgani2ations, and on income earned by foreign affiliates. This is an old style budget, which proposes a pot pourri of technical changes and policy initiatives. Mine ReclamationEffective February 23, 1994, a taxpayer's contributions to a prescribed mine reclamation trust fund will be deductible as a current expense. The budget papers do not provide a definition of what will constitute a ""prescribed"" trust: this definition will surface in due course. However, the budget papers indicate that:• income earned in such trusts will be subject to tax each year;• all withdrawals from the trust (including income already taxed) will be included in computing the income for tax purposes of the recipient;• reclamation costs will continue to be fully deductible at the time incurred; and • contributions, trust earnings, and withdrawals will not be taken into account for the purposes of determining a taxpayer's resource allowance."

Jan 1, 1994

By J. Convey, S. L. Gertsman

"THE EXPANSION of steel capacity is seldom spectacular. It may be for this reason that the remarkable progress made in Canada has not been generally recognized. In 1950, Canada's output of steel ingots amounted to 3,270,000 tons ( l ), which is a ll8 per cent increase over the tonnage produced in 1939. It can therefore be readily seen that Canada's growth curve for steel production is climbing at a rate paralleling her growth as a nation. It is by no means •an exaggeration of its importance to consider the steel industry as the cornerstone in the economic structure of Canada's manufacturing activities. From the humble diaper pin to the giant members of massive bridges, fortifications, and other steel structures, steel accompanies us as a necessary and inescapable companion in our journey through life. The Age of Steel has a literal meaning, and refinements in the manufacture of the products of steel are adapting it to more and more varied uses as time passes.The integrated iron and steel works of Canada fall into two natural geographical divisions. One has its base on the Great Lakes and draws its supply of •coal and some of its ore from the United States. In this division lie the works of the Algoma Steel Corporation, at Sault Ste. Marie, at the junction point of lakes Huron, Superior, and Michigan; and the works of The Steel Company of Canada, at Hamilton, on lake Ontario."

Jan 1, 1952

By M. Zamalloa, P. J. Mackey, P. Coursol, Y. Prévost

"Over the last decade or so, the availability of commercial thermodynamic modelling packages, such as FactSageTM, have been utilized to help the plant optimize slag chemistry and to minimize slag handling issues that can arise, such as those due to a process upset, for example, by undue feed variability. This paper illustrates an extension of the application of this software in examining a large range of NCV operating parameters, such as the %Fe/SiO2 ratio in the slag and the level of minor gangue components in the slag including CaO, Al2O3, ZnO, MgO, and PbO. The conditions influencing the slag liquidus range of NCV slag are discussed with respect to the overall process chemistry.Given that a sufficiently low %Fe/SiO2 ratio is used in NCV slag, most components such as CaO-ZnOPbO- Al2O3-MgO, in small concentration, all contribute to lowering the NCV slag liquidus. Considering the present level of these minor components, the NCV can operate consistently at 1200°C if the %Fe/SiO2 is between 0.6 and 0.8 in the slag. Using the type of phase diagrams presented in this paper, it is possible to develop different Noranda reactor/Noranda converter operating strategies adapted to the feedstocks available at Xstrata mines/plants or from other sources. The NCV is unique in that a fayalite-based slag is employed for high-efficiency continuous converting with excellent operating results."

Jan 1, 2007

By A. Quilodran, B. Jakovljevic, T. McCallum, P. Wong

"Rare earth separation by solvent extraction (SX) requires multiple separation plants each consisting of many extract, scrub, and strip stages to separate the individual metals. SX modeling advances have brought benefits to circuit design and process optimization by quickly narrowing test conditions without the need for exhaustive laboratory studies. Modeling can be used to optimize circuit configuration, O/A ratios, and acidities, which allows for CAPEX and OPEX savings. A comparison between pilot plant data and the results expected from modeling is presented for rare earth separations with CYANEX® 572.INTRODUCTIONRare earth separations can be difficult due to limited separation between the elements (Xie, Zhang, Dreisinger, & Doyle, 2014). This requires relatively complex solvent extraction circuits utilizing multiple extract, scrub, and strip stages as well as multiple SX configurations to achieve the desired metal purities. Designing rare earth circuits can be complex, and significant time and testing may be necessary to determine the required staging and optimal conditions.Circuit modeling for rare earth separations has been introduced to the industry using CYANEX® 572 extractant (Soderstrom, McCallum, Jakovljevic, & Quilodran, 2014). CYANEX® 572 is an acidic organophosphorus extractant formulation which has a weaker ligand-metal complex strength than that of the traditionally used phosphonic acid extractants. This allows efficient extraction while requiring a significantly lower acid concentration for stripping (Wang, Li, Zhao, Dong, & Sun, 2015). The reduced acid requirement in strip is expected to provide OPEX savings.The modeling can be utilized to quickly determine the required acidity and organic/aqueous (O/A) ratio for a given separation. It is also expected to reduce CAPEX requirements as optimal staging can be determined, and implemented.CYANEX® 572, combined with modeling, was utilized to produce a purified dysprosium (Dy) stream. To achieve this separation, multiple SX circuits were designed and operational conditions specified to separate Dy from the mixed rare earth chloride feed."

Jan 1, 2016