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By Amir Zavichi

Today, with the necessity of timely, on-budget and high quality completion of projects, proper use of construction equipment is essential to ensure project success. Construction equipment places a large monetary burden on the project and if not utilized efficiently, it can result in economic losses. Cranes are one of the most important and expensive operational devices on construction sites. They play a central role, and often activities that rely on crane services fall on the project?s critical path. Currently, material-handling scheduling is done by the crane operator or by an on-duty superintendent using his/hers personal judgment, making the process manual and timeconsuming. Thus, developing an optimal schedule, which considers different dynamic constraints in construction job site, may not be possible based on the current practice. This leads to longer operation times and a negative impact on project cost. This paper presents the latest results of an ongoing study, which aims to design and implement a nearreal time crane operation decision support system to be utilized directly by the crane operator or as an aid for the superintendent in scheduling optimal operation services. This system has several advantages such as maximizing the efficiency of crane operations, guaranteeing the best operation possible to reduce the crane?s travel time, reducing crews and equipment idle time, and minimizing the dependence on subjective human judgments.

Aug 1, 2013

By H. A. Gorrell, S. R. L. Harding

"The potash beds in the Saskatchewan portion of the Williston Basin occur in the upper portion of the Prairie Evaporite formation of the Devonian Elk Point Group. They represent the late stage of a major evaporitic cycle. Two other evaporitic cycles are known in overlying beds, but these apparently never reached the stage of potash salt deposition. The basin in which salt deposition took place extended from the northwestern corner of Alberta southeastward across Saskatchewan into Manitoba, North Dakota and Montana. Deposition of potash salts was apparently restricted to the southeastern portion of the evaporite basin. On a regional basis, five major stratigraphie divisions of the potash-bearing strata have been made. Locally, several of these units may be divided into correlatable sub-units. The potash-bearing strata are separated and overlain by predominantly halite layers of varying thickness. Cross sections show the regional correlation of the potash-rich zones, and maps show the present distribution of the individual potash-bearing zones and the areas of richer development for each zone. The maps tend to substantiate the interpretation of considerable subsurface solution of salt and potash beds."

Jan 1, 1967

By R. Viljoen, K. Manns

"The mining industry instinctively follows rule-of-thumb design velocities often based on very simplistic theoretical “economic velocity” optimization calculations to determine airway sizes. Although these are important building blocks in ventilation planning it should be recognized that mines are far more complex and various, often opposing factors, are at play. Therefore, it is important that each ventilation situation be analyzed on a case-by-case basis to determine the best-fit solution for an operation. The ventilation design process should not necessarily be constrained by theoretical optimal economic velocities that become rules-of-thumb. In some cases, this could lead to unrealistic infrastructure requirements and exorbitant capital expenditure. This type of design often lacks corporate support leading to a scenario where no ventilation upgrades are implemented. Economic velocities typically consider the cost of power, development costs and operational risk. These typical rules-of-thumb work reasonably well as a starting off point when considering feasibility of greenfield projects. For established mines that are looking at expansion these rules may not be appropriate due to capital expenditure constraints or geotechnical ground conditions. The theoretical optimum should be reviewed in the case of an established mine where existing infrastructure could perhaps be maximized. For example, the geotechnical risk of large diameter raises at depth may require multiple small diameter raise to maintain the theoretical economic velocity. If a mine has a life of less than 5 years, then the cost of power is an insignificant proportion of the total owning cost. For these mines, operating the ventilation raises at an increased velocity to avoid a complicated and expensive capital upgrade might be the more appropriate option, even though it opposes the traditional rules-of-thumb. Mines which are capital constrained may be better off accepting a higher operating cost for the interim or settle for minor infrastructure upgrades rather than run the risk of the entire ventilation upgrade not being approved at all. This paper explores a number of examples derived from case studies undertaken by the authors for several deep mechanized mining projects in Australasia. The examples explore conditions under which higher than the economic norm would be applicable."

Jan 1, 2019

By Z. Farhat

In spite of advances in cutting tool technology, the understanding of the basic wear behavior and failure mechanisms needs further study. Tool wear is the main factor contributing to geometrical error and thermal damage in machined components. Manifested as a reduction in tool life, it also affects the workpiece surface finish, increases cutting forces and induces residual stresses. Furthermore, the emergence of high and ultra-high speed machining processes necessitates the investigation of tool wear under these severe working conditions. Tungsten carbide-cobalt composite material has been used traditionally as wear resistant materials for many years. One main application of this material is in cutting tools. WC-Co tools consist of hard WC particles imbedded in a tough Co matrix, which functions as a binder phase. More recently, Cubic boron nitride (CBN) tool material have attracted special attention due to its high hardness and excellent wear resistance. Boron nitride in its cubic form is known to be the hardest material next only to diamond. In this paper microstructural and tribological properties of commercial grade WC-Co and CBN cutting tool materials are investigated under high speed cutting conditions. The CBN cutting tools were found to be superior to tungsten carbide (WC) tools. Four-fold increase in productivity and significant reduction in chipping and cratering was achieved for CBN as compared to WC. Wear mechanisms are proposed and are related to the observed wear characteristics in the cutting zone.

Jan 1, 2006

By Suzie Poulin, N. Geoffroy, G. P. Demopoulos

Most metallurgical industries generate toxic waste that must be treated prior to being released to the environment. However, in a lot of cases, the waste materials are poorly characterized or the analytical results are not well interpreted. These shortcomings often result in the development of inefficient industrial procedures, thus causing economic waste and difficulty meeting environmental regulations. Fortunately, a wide range of analytical techniques are available to guide researchers and engineers into making sound process development decisions. In this work, an industrial selenium and mercury removal process is used as an example to illustrate the application of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) on solid waste. Furthermore, samples of analytical results are presented and interpreted and the modifications to the industrial process that resulted are explained. Finally, a brief description of the advantages and limitations of the aforementioned analytical techniques is given with an emphasis on industrial solid waste material.

Jan 1, 2011

By D. J. King

The development in recent years of a fluidized bed system for use as a counter-current solid ion exchange loading contactor for the purification and concentration of uranium from leach liquors has had a major impact on the design of uranium extraction plants. The main object of this paper is to describe many of the variations that can be applied to the design of uranium extraction plants arising from the use of a fluidized bed loading contactor with a view to providing a guide for the development of a flowsheet for a new uranium extraction plant. The paper has been devoted primarily to the consideration of conventional uranium extraction plants in which a ground ore is leached in mechanically or air agitated tanks. The effect of the use of a fluidized bed loading contactor on each of the plant sections from leach to uranium purification and concentration has been considered. In order to describe most effectively the impact of using a fluidized bed solid ion exchange loading contactor, its use has been compared with the performance that can be achieved with the most common alternative purification processes. The comparisons are made largely on a technical basis, but the effect on the capital and operating costs of the different uranium extraction flowsheets are described qualitatively. In making these comparisons, consideration is given to the effect on the size, number and materials of construction of equipment items and how the quantity and composition of the liquid effluents can be controlled to reduce the environmental problems arising from the disposal of these effluents. The paper also discusses some of the factors that should be taken into consideration in the design of a fluidized bed loading contactor and describes various designs of the elution section that can be used in conjunction with the loading contactor.

Jan 1, 1979

ABSTRACT Understanding process histories and worker exposures in nickel production operations is critical in determining the role nickel compounds play in respiratory cancer incidence. As part of a series on Vale Canada’s (previously known as Inco) nickel processing operations, this paper includes descriptions of Ni electrolytic operations at refineries in Port Colborne, Ontario (1922–1984), and Thompson, Manitoba (1961–present). Industrial hygiene measurements, by area and personal sampling, of workplace aerosols at these operations are reported.

Jan 1, 2014

By William Hawker, James Vaughan, Jeff Chen, Antony van der Ent

"Nickel agromining utilizes hyperaccumulator plants (“metal crops”) to extract nickel from low-grade soils, a process that yields high-grade nickel bio-ore. This feedstock is further processed into a range of nickel products. The bio-ore is relatively free of impurities that complicate the traditional processing of laterite nickel ores. In this paper, current primary nickel processing routes and proposed nickel bio-ore processing options are summarised. A novel pyro-hydrometallurgical route demonstrated at the laboratory scale is described. This process produces a precipitated nickel hydroxide product and takes advantage of the water-soluble basic compounds in the ash to minimise reagent requirements, thereby making it suitable for small-scale implementation in close proximity to the nickel farm. In this process, nickel is precipitated from the leach solution using the basic ash wash liquor. Leaching nickel from ash generated from open air burning requires strong acid and long residence times to obtain high recoveries due to its complex nature and distribution of nickel in multiple phases. This process can be improved by optimising the ashing process with respect to nickel leachability.INTRODUCTIONHyperaccumulator plants have the unique capacity to ‘biopurify’ and concentrate certain trace elements (e.g. nickel) from the soil into their biomass (Reeves 2003; van der Ent et al., 2015). Cultivating these plants as ‘metal crops’ by periodically harvesting and incinerating their biomass generates a high-grade bio-ore (Chaney et al. 1998; Li et al. 2003). This process is called phytomining or ‘agromining’ which is an emerging technology for extracting nickel from sub-economic resources (van der Ent et al., 2015). Potential near-term applications of the technology include implementation on land ahead of processing of the underlying ore-body (Willis 2015), as a mine-site rehabilitation strategy or as an alternative crop for farmers on land that is not suitable for normal food crops. In the longer term, nickel agromining could provide a significant supplement to the nickel supply chain. Critical to the success of agromining is effective bio-ore processing. Due to the unique chemical composition of this feedstock material, existing processes are not very efficient. Our current research efforts aim to develop new process options that overcome limitations of previously trialled routes. In this paper we summarise conventional nickel process routes and proposed new options for producing agromined nickel."

Jan 1, 2016

By Carol A. Pilon

"IntroductionRECENTLY, the Saskatchewan Research Council (Saskatoon ) marked the completion of one of its coal-related projects with the publication of the Bibliography and Index of Coal in Saskatchewan and Adjoining Provinces and States, hereafter referred to as the Bibliography and Index of Coal. Over a two-year time period, literature was surveyed and indexed and bibliographic data were compiled using a computer-assisted information retrieval system called FAMULUS. The final publication contains 1150 bibliographic references, which are cross-referenced by six indices.The project was initiated in September 1974, in support of Saskatchewan's Coal Resources Evaluation Program , an ongoing research program sponsored by the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources (Ottawa) and the Province of Saskatchewan. This program places emphasis on such areas of concern as the occurrence of deposits, chemical and physical properties, calculation of reserves and computer-assisted applications for the evaluation of lignite resources in the Province. Attention is also given to aspects of geophysical exploration, mining conditions and economics, by-products and the transporting of lignite. These are the subject areas .covered by the Bibliography and Index of Coal.The over -all objectives of the literature indexing project may be enumerated as follows: (1) to build a specialized resource library by surveying established public and specialized libraries, and commercial data bases; (2) to enter library data into the FAMULUS information retrieval system, to be used to generate bibliographies and indexes, and to retrieve information by the use of specified searching techniques; (3) to make this library data available to interested persons."

Jan 1, 1977

By A. G. Roach

IT IS generally stated that the gold ores of Nova Scotia are free-milling, and for the most part this is true. However, there is a certain proportion of the gold finely disseminated throughout the sulphides, notably arsenopyrite, and this gold is definitely not recoverable as 'free-milling' gold by amalgamation. The proportion of free-milling gold to total gold seems to vary widely in different localities in the Province and is lowest in deposits of the fissure-vein type. The problem of recovery of these relatively recalcitrant values is usually one of economics, in some plac.es a simple gravity concentrate being of such low tenor that its extraction and subsequent disposal will not bear the costs involved. In other cases, such a high percentage of values escapes from the mortars and plates that concentration is definitely indicated. The size of the mining operation is also an important factor. In the large majority of cases, however, some concentrating step is warranted, even if the resulting concentrate is stock-piled until sufficient has accumulated to justify further treatment.

Jan 1, 1940

By L. Magne, M. Maldonado, R. Varela

Real-time optimization of flotation circuits demands for accurate and reliable measurements to support the decision making process. The collection zone gas holdup is an important variable in this context as integrates the effect of machine and chemical factors on the bubble size and velocity distributions. It has been demonstrated that gas holdup not only correlates with bubble surface area flux, which defines the particle collection rate and recovery in the collection zone, but also with water overflow, a variable which has been related to the froth zone recovery. Therefore, on-line gas holdup measurements provide a reliable alternative to judge efforts leading to the optimization of flotation cells and columns. Estimation of gas holdup in flotation from electrical conductivity measurements has been proposed and extensively used in lab and industrial installations. The approach is based on the application of Maxwell's model, which relates the concentration of a dispersed phase in a continuous medium to measurements of the conductivity of the liquid medium and of the mineral pulp with and without air bubbles included. These measurements require a conductivity cell which covers a representative volume of the flotation cell, and creates a homogeneous electric field throughout this volume that ideally is not affected by the conductivity of the medium. The development of such a cell in the limiting space and geometry of a laboratory flotation cell has been problematic, but a multi-electrode arrangement offers a promising alternative. Electrodes were installed in the flotation cell of a Denver unit; the results of preliminary testing are discussed with a focus on its performance in the measurement of two- and three-phase dispersion conductivity.

Jan 1, 2015

By B. E. Halbert, K. T. Himbeault, S. L. Fernandes, R. L. J. Phillips, B. J. Topp

The Beaverlodge uranium mining and milling facilities operated from 1952 to 1981 with about 94% of the ore extracted from the main underground mine and 6% from smaller satellite deposits. Decommissioning work occurred from 1982 to 1985 involving periods of shutdown, salvage and reclamation. Transition phase monitoring, leading to eventual delicencing commenced in July 1985. Over the last 15 years, discharge from the tailings management facility (TMF) and a fresh water stream, impacted during the operational phase by tailings spills, has improved in water quality for most parameters of concern. Loadings to the environment of three key contaminants (radium-226, total dissolved solids, and uranium) have consistently been less than during the operational phase with radium-226 having the greatest variability. Outstanding environmental issues associated with the recovering drainage system formerly used for tailings disposal, are being addressed in an enhanced environmental monitoring program to commence in 2000. Changes in water chemistry and the natural re-introduction of aquatic organisms are issues of concern. In the meantime, application for release from selected satellite areas commenced in 1999. This paper reviews the issues which have arisen during the transition phase, outlines how they have and are being addressed, and provides a comparison of original and current predictions of the recovery process under way at the former Beaverlodge mine site.

Jan 1, 2000

By C. -M. Katsari, G. N. Anastassakis

"Copper is considered one of the most important industrial metals because of its properties (conductivity, malleability) and variety of uses. Approximately 70% of the global copper is used for various electrical applications, with a significant part of copper originating from recycling, since copper can be recycled and re-used countless times, without any loss of performance and difference in the quality of recycled copper in comparison to that from ore. Copper recycling significantly contributes to natural resources conservation, waste minimization, energy saving, and overall cost reduction. Approximately, 35% of the globally produced copper originates from recycled copper.The objective of the current work is to investigate the recovery of copper from electric wire scraps using wet shaking table as an alternative to air separation methods that prevail over the wet ones in recycling processes. The tests were carried out using feed of correspondingly high- and low-grade in copper. In the first case, the wire scraps had been subjected to shredding only, prior to tabling separation; in the later, the low-content tailing of prior air separation was used as feed ?n table separation.In regard to testing, the following factors were examined: table tilt, water flow-rate, and reciprocating speed. The results of the tests clearly denote that copper wire separation from plastic polymer is feasible, as in most cases, table separation resulted in heavy products of high purity in copper and high recovery, and tailings of very low copper grade. The results of the current work clearly denote that wet tabling can be applied efficiently for the separation of recycled copper wire from plastic, as an alternative to air separation methods, as well as for the recovery of copper from the low-grade tailings derived from air separation methods."

Jan 1, 2016

By Maurice Morton

THE use of organic and inorganic stains has found wide application as a means of detection and estimation of organic fibres. Such stains have enabled the analyst to distinguish between organic fibres of different type and even between wood fibres produced by different processes. Among these stains, aqueous iodine solutions have figured prominently, as in the case of the well-known Sutermeister and Herzberg stains. At the Johns-Manville laboratories, the idea of applying a stain to asbestos fibres was first considered solely as a visual aid in the microscopic examination of such fibres. The staining medium used in this work consisted of a 1 per cent solution of iodine in C.P. glycerine, the latter being used extensively here as a dispersing and mounting liquid for asbestos fibre. This iodine solution was found to have distinct staining properties when used on the local chrysotile fibres, and to improve greatly their visibility under the microscope. It was soon revealed, however, that this staining is apparently limited to the chrysotile variety of asbestos, as against other varieties. It can be readily seen that, if such were the case, the staining test would become a very useful tool in differentiating between chrysotile fibre and the other mineral fibres, without recourse to a lengthy chemical analysis. Hence this investigation was launched, with the purpose of obtaining more information as to the selectivity of this stain as well as its mechanism. The only previous work of this nature that could be found in the literature was that of Van Winsen and Graham (1, 2, 3) on the adsorption of erioviolet dye by serpentine and related magnesia minerals. However, these authors did not refer to any specific behaviour of chrysotile as against other types of asbestos fibre.

Jan 1, 1941

By A. Motamedi

Indoor localization has gained importance as it has the potential to improve various processes related to the lifecycle management of facilities and to deliver personalized and location-based services. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based systems, on the other hand, have been widely used in different applications in construction and maintenance. This paper investigates the usage of RFID technology for indoor localization of RFID equipped movable assets during the operation phase of facilities. The location-related data on RFID tags attached to fixed assets are extracted from a Building Information Model (BIM) and can provide context-aware information inside the building which can improve Facilities Management (FM) processes. The paper proposes a new approach to use received signals from available reference tags in the building attached to fixed assets to locate movable assets. The approach uses signal pattern matching and clustering algorithms for localization. As a result, a user equipped with an RFID reader is able to estimate the location of target assets, without having access to any Real- Time Location System (RTLS) infrastructure. A case study is performed to demonstrate the feasibility of proposed methods.

Aug 1, 2013

By N. W. Martison, J. E. Hawley

"The Moulton Hill deposit is in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, 3 miles northeast of Sherbrooke. It is complex, both structurally and mineralogically, consisting of a narrow, irregular, mineralized zone that has been traced for a length of 600 feet, and in places to a depth of 1,000 feet, containing copper, lead, and zinc sulphides with a low content of gold and silver. It lies in a series of highly schistose micaceous rocks, believed to be of Ordovician age, but the mineralization is probably post-Lower Devonian. New details of the structure of the ore have become available since it was first described (1) , and as these show some striking peculiarities a further discussion is here merited .As detailed elsewhere, the deposit was discovered in 1942 as a result of regional geological studies followed by the application of electrical geophysical methods.Actual production began in July, 1944, and ceased in June, 1945. During the period July, 1944 to June, 1945, 75,643 tons were milled§, yielding the following:"

Jan 1, 1954

By J. Aydt, W. McCombe, H. McLaughlin, L. Nightingale-Mercer

The McClean Lake mill is located approximately 850 kilometers north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and is operated by Orano Canada Inc. (Orano). The mill was designed to process high grade uranium ores, and in 2014 completed a multiyear expansion to increase its production capacity to 24 Mlbs U3O8 per annum. This expansion included significant changes to the mill’s secondary leach circuit in support of safely processing high grade ore directly from the Cigar Lake mine. In particular, inter-stage pumps were introduced for slurry transfer between the secondary leach tanks, replacing the original pressure feed forward operation. The design and selection process for these pumps was strongly influenced by the uncertainty related to actual radiation dose exposure when processing undiluted high grade ore (up to 30%U), and consequently the desire to maintain minimal occupancy in the vault enclosure containing the secondary leach tanks. These constraints resulted in the decision to install positive displacement pumps above the leach tanks in a suction-lift configuration. Operating experience with this design has shown that the pump capacity is significantly de-rated due to process solution gas-entrainment and pipe scale build-up, particularly in the front end of the secondary leach circuit where reagent dosage is high. Experience processing high grade ore also provided accurate radiation dose data to demonstrate that the level of occupancy in the leaching vault enclosure could be re-evaluated to accommodate alternate pump configurations. This paper reviews the lessons learned and improvements made to safely increase the capacity and reliability of the leach inter-stage pump system.

Jan 1, 2020

By A. I. Collins, D. Danninger

Newmont has installed advanced control and online optimization on the dry grinding circuit and both roasters on its Carlin Trend refractory ore treatment plant. Subsequently, Newmont has developed a master plan for institutionalizing advanced control and optimization on all its processing units. Newmont is committed to a program of applying advanced control and optimization from crushing of ore to pouring of gold. This paper describes Newmont's experience with implementing advanced control and optimization and the benefits received. In addition, identification of advanced control and optimization opportunities and their economic justification is discussed.

Jan 1, 2005

By C. Van Den Heuvel, C. B. Van Buuren

BIOX® has been successfully demonstrated over the past 2 decades for the recovery of gold from refractory sulphide concentrates. To date 12 successful BIOX® plants have been installed in 8 countries spanning 4 continents with the 13th installation currently nearing completion in the Philippines. In 2010 BIOMIN introduced the ASTER™ process for improved water balances in commercial BIOX® applications by supporting tightening environmental legislation on water usage and availability in both arid and tropical regions. Previously, a common challenge for BIOX® plants was the inability to recycle thiocyanate containing water due to the low tolerance of the organisms. ASTER™, a biological thiocyanate and cyanide destruction process, renders a non-toxic solution for re-use in BIOX®. Two commercial ASTER™ plants are in operation with the 3rd ASTER™ plant under construction in the Philippines. A 3rd BIOMIN technology, specifically developed for double refractory ores is available for implementation. The HiTeCC process has shown considerable success on ores where competition from disseminated carbon has rendered ineffective gold recoveries. Through HiTeCC, gold is desorbed from the carbonaceous matter by manipulating the ionic strength and temperature of conventionally treated CIL product. One Australian commercial plant utilises HiTeCC while a 2nd installation is set for commissioning 4th Quarter 2014. BIOMIN’s premier solutions for refractory gold processing are described herein.

Jan 1, 2014

By Paul D. Merica

This year of 1926 marks the 40th. anniversary of nickel mining in Canada. Although the first nickel mine of the Sudbury basin was discovered in 1883, it was not until 1886 that the Canadian Copper Company was organized and actually began to mine copper-nickel ore from the Lady McDonald, Stobie and Evans mines. The intervening years have witnessed some exceedingly interesting nickel history, particularly interesting and gratifying as well to Canadians. Forty years ago, at the inception of Canadian nickel mining, the world's consumption of that metal was about 1000 tons per annum and this was supplied largely from New Caledonia ores refined in France. This nickel was used principally for the production of nickel-silver, coinage alloys, and for nickel-plating. No processes were then known for refining the Sudbury ores nor for the separation of copper from nickel. Consequently, the pioneers in Canadian nickel mining faced the double problem of finding a method of treating their ores, and of finding a market for the nickel when and if they could extract it.

Jan 1, 1926