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By B. Oraee-Mirzamani

One the most important tasks after excavation of tunnels is the implementation and installation of a support system. Tunnel collapse poses a safety hazard and can cause worker injuries. In addition, it may have a severe economic impact because tunnel collapse can stop production and ore transportation. Therefore, an appropriate and well-designed support system is necessary for collapse prevention and to help stabilize the tunnels. In this research, we suggest a support system for the Parvade1 underground coal mine. The study case is a common mining roadway tunnel in the E1 longwall panel in this mine. To design an appropriate support system, we used the finite element method (Phase2 software). The results of this research can be used to design support systems for future tunnels in this mine and any coal mine that has similar conditions.

Aug 1, 2013

By G. R. Heffernan

"IntroductionTHE PURPOSE of this paper is to give a •brief history of iron and steel in British Columbia, a quick look at the present operations of Western Canada Steel, Limited, a review of iron ore resources and iron and steel markets, and a projection of what the future might hold for the industry in British Columbia.From the Past to the PresentWhile the paper is entitled Past, Present, and Future, in covering the past, which we shall call the time prior to 1947, there is very little to be said. Small shipments of iron ore were made from the Texada deposits by the Puget Sound Iron Company from 1886 to 1907. Total ore shipped did not exceed 70,000 tons. Part of this is believed to have been used in building a United States battleship in 1907 in the Bremerton Naval Yards in Seattle, Washington.In 1914 a small steel mill was started on Lulu island, rolling bars from •box piles and used shafting. This mill operated spasmodically for a few years but finally burned down in 1921. The rolling mill stands were sold to China and are no doubt in operation in China today.In 1916 the City of Port Moody assisted in the financing of a mill which operated on re-roll rails, box piles, and steel ingots made in an experimental electric furnace in Port Moody. This furnace also produced small quantities of pig iron scrap. The backers of the Port Moody mill showed a great deal of enterprise and must have been a very forward looking group, since this was one of the first recorded applications of the electric furnace to small ingot production. Despite their enterprise, the operation was unsuccessful and terminated in 1921."

Jan 1, 1953

By R. J. Enkin

Modern mineral exploration depends on multidisciplinary 3-dimensional integration of geological and geophysical data. Identification of the geological sources of geophysical anomalies requires knowledge of the physical properties fingerprint of rock types, formations and their alteration products. Understanding how and why rock physical properties vary within the Earth's subsurface ensures that appropriate geophysical exploration methods can be chosen, and allows for more efficient and effective surveys to be designed. Physical properties knowledge is integral to geophysical modeling - measured data or values estimated based on geological understanding are used to produce realistic forward calculations and to constrain inversion models. Mira Geoscience and the Geological Survey of Canada, in collaboration with industry and academia, are building a Rock Properties Database System (rpds.mirageoscience.com). It compiles the most valuable physical properties for mineral exploration (density, porosity, magnetic susceptibility and remanence, electrical resistivity and chargeability) linked with location and lithological metadata. A critical knowledge gap, addressed in this study, concerns the dependence of physical properties on alteration and mineralization processes. We report on the results of a collaborative University of British Columbia - Geoscience British Columbia project, ?Integrated Geological & Geophysical Porphyry Models: Adding Value to Geoscience BC Geophysical Data?. As part of the QUEST and QUEST-West geophysical initiatives, Geoscience BC focused detailed geophysical surveys on a suite of six known porphyry deposits: Mount Milligan, Endako, Huckleberry, Bell, Granisle, and Morrison. Physical properties for a set of 269 samples of characteristic host rocks and their altered equivalents were measured. The causes of physical properties variations were investigated through their correlations with ore and alteration mineralogy determined from thin-section observations and X-ray diffraction analyses. Physical properties of variably altered host-rocks and intrusive rocks vary significantly between different BC porphyry deposits. No specific unifying geophysical model exists that can be uniformly applied during exploration. Knowledge of local background geology and local physical properties variations is necessary as host-rocks and intrusive rock compositions vary depending on magmatic affinities, and alteration styles will vary reflecting host-rock compositions, crustal depth and influence of meteoric water. A district-scale exploration strategy requires location of intrusive bodies, which are commonly magnetic, resistive and low in density. Correlations should not be expected between density and magnetic susceptibility, because alteration may lead to magnetite destruction or to secondary magnetite development. Deposit-scale ground geophysics might image potassic alteration zones that can be magnetic in both alkalic and calcalkalic systems. Low magnetic susceptibilities, resistivities and densities might aid in locating the typically more porous phyllic and argillic zones. All geophysical data must be interpreted with background knowledge of local rock types and in light of the expected deposit model and associated magmatic and hydrothermal processes. The most effective means to building physical properties knowledge prior to geophysical investigation remains collecting rock physical properties measurements. The cost of rock properties data collection is low, relative to the overall costs of running a mineral exploration program, and can provide an important framework for design of geophysical surveys, survey method selection, geophysical modelling, and data interpretation.

Aug 1, 2013

By W. Noel O?Brien

Introduction Since 1930 numerous improvements have been made in equipment designed for the mechanical removal of broken ore in underground mining operations. New applications of mechanical equipment, as? well as improvements and adaptations of well established systems, are being made continually. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss present-day equipment for the removal or transfer of broken ore by means of a powered hoist and scraper arrangement. The terms used throughout the paper are those commonly employed in the trade literature and by mining men. The terms slusher hoist, hoist, and scraper hoist are used inter-changeably to mean a machine, powered by compressed air or electricity, with drums for the winding of wire rope. The tail rope, also known as the pull-back rope or return rope, drags the empty scraper toward the tail-sheave, that is, back to the loading point. No attempt is made to cover the entire field of application of scraping methods. Rather it is the? writer's desire to emphasize the fundamental principles of scraping practice and design and to relate them to some modern applications. The available literature on scraping practice has been freely used. together with personal observation and information and advice of practising engineers and representatives of companies manufacturing slushing equipment.

Jan 1, 1951

By Jr. Wilkinson

Suncor Energy currently mines approximately nine hundred thousand tonnes of ore and waste per day at its open pit operations in the Athabasca Oilsands near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Modeling these deposits for planning purposes is particularly challenging given the characteristics associated with the deposit - stratigraphic deposition coupled with gradational grade distribution. The identification of ore and waste is a combination of bitumen cutoff grade, minimum mining thickness and separable waste thickness subject to criteria established by provincial regulatory agencies. Suncor along with Mincom Inc. have collaborated on this project to derive a methodology, automated by computer software, to streamline the ore and waste identification process. This paper explains the methodology and programs created to identify ore and waste in use at Suncor Energy and how this identification is used to categorize reserves and to generate mine design surfaces.

Apr 1, 2005

By B. P. Verma, K. N. Sinha, N. M. Raju, B. Singh

The paper describes a new method of grouting bolts developed at the Central Mining Research Station at Dhanbad in India. This method makes use of wire-mesh sleeve instead of the expensive metal tube to insert the cement mortar into the drill hole. The field trials confirmed that the method is cheap and an effective system of support.

Jan 1, 1972

By P. F. Venus

In December 1977, a large pillar was removed by blasthole mining methods at lnco's Creighton No. 3 mine. Although the 2,363.000-ton blast was not a size record for a single underground blast at Inco, it did represent a significant departure from conventional blasthole mining. In terms of the application of nominal 6-inch-diameter boreholes underground, coupled with bulk slurry explosives, the magnitude of the blast is considered a first and very important development. The application of large-diameter boreholes in underground operations was first tried successfully in 1973. Since that time over 13/4 million feet have been drilled in this adaptation of an open-pit technique to underground operations. The blast, which required 708 holes, totalling 131,500 feet of drilling, was loaded in a six-week period, using special slurry handling techniques developed jointly by Inco and CIL. Inco operating and engineering personnel consider this application of large boreholes and slurry explosives for blasthole mining a very important milestone in modern mining technology.

Jan 1, 1978

By Jamie N. Burdeski, Susan E. Hartfield-Wünsch

Aluminum sheet use has been steadily increasing in the automotive industry to achieve mass reduction and improve fuel economy. One significant manufacturing challenge for aluminum sheet implementation is the reduced formability compared to the steel alloys it replaces. This paper includes friction results from the draw bead simulator (DBS), twist compression (TCT) and strip draw (SDT) tests, for two oil based lubricants and four hot melt lubricants. Formability testing was done with the same lubricants and materials, testing in pure stretch with a hemispherical punch, and in draw with a breadpan shaped die.

Jan 1, 2015

By J. A. Abols, P. M. Grady

Recovery via gravity is one of the oldest mineral processing methods available. Unfortunately, the use of gravity techniques for gold recovery has been in decline for the past century as more effective chemical processes such as flotation and leach/CIP have been developed. Recently, with the push towards more sustainable environmental outcomes, the benefits of gravity separation have become more apparent. While gravity as a unit process is not usually capable of achieving as high a recovery as flotation or whole ore cyanidation, a combination of gravity devices alone or in conjunction with these processes can offer significant advantages to the operator. This paper reviews the range of gravity devices available, their application and the results that can be achieved by maximizing gravity through the use of a combination of gravity recovery devices. Three case studies are provided.

Jan 1, 2005

By Xiaolin Cheng, A. J. Sinclair

"Norm calculation procedures originally designed principally for igneous rocks are very rigid in their application and, in general, do not utilize important alteration minerals. For instance, volatile components are essential constituents of many metasomatic rocks but either are not used or are not used effectively in determining normative minerals by the CIPW norm or Niggli-Barth norm procedures. Our approach to determining norms for metasomatic rocks allots all major, minor and volatile constituents to a set of standard normative minerals which are commonly observed as products of hydrothermal alteration. A useful procedure is to have a metasomatic norm approximate the mode as closely as possible. Petrographic information helps to provide the necessary mineralogical constraints. With the recognition of an immobile component and knowledge of sampling and analytical errors in lithogeo chemical data, it is possible to recast norms into amounts of alteration minerals relative to a given amount (100 grams) of parent rock. Combining these results with the calculations of absolute loss or gain of individual chemical constituents and considering errors (e) for an appropriate confidence level, an overall (net) material exchange equation can be presented as follows:<equation>where all items have extensive units (e.g., grams). The model includes the initial and final mineralogy of rocks (evident in the field) as well as gains and losses of specific elements. Only those constituents whose calculated losses and gains are significantly different from zero are retained in the above model, and only the normative minerals with abundances significantly different from zero are included in the model (equation). One advantage of the chemico-mineralogic model is that parent rock and product are modeled in mineralogical terms that are familiar to and easily usable by exploration geologists."

Jan 1, 1995

By M. C. Bétournay, J. E. Udd

"The Mining Laboratories of CANMET are the principal federal government vehicle for the delivery of mining research in Canada. With research being performed at five locations, which are mostly mining communities, the laboratories are in close proximity to the industry which they serve.The Mining Laboratories have three principal roles: (1) to support government in its development of policy; (2) to aid industry in the enhancement of productivity; and (3) to improve the health and safety of Canadians,both in the workplace in mines and around abandoned mine sites.From 1994 to 1996, CANMET’s mining research was re-focused into four programs. These are: (1) Underground Mine Environments; (2) Mine Mechanization and Automation; (3) Ground Control, and; (4) Coal Mining Health and Safety.In this paper, the authors outline the work of the Mining Laboratories and also identify the areas considered to be primary targets for future mining health and safety research in Canada."

Jan 1, 1997

By John Lund

INTRODUCTION GOLD-BEARING placers of Alaska and the Yukon Territories are buried under a layer of permanently frozen alluvial overburden, or &apos;muck&apos;, which varies in depth from twenty to one hundred feet. The placers, and the decomposed bedrock layers upon which they are deposited, are also permanently frozen. During the summer, surface muck which is exposed to the sun will thaw, but only to a depth of a few feet. To reach a valuable deposit, the frozen overburden must be either penetrated with shafts, or stripped from the deposit entirely. In either case, before the placer can be mined, it must be thawed. At modern dredging operations, the frozen muck is stripped from the placer by powerful jets of water from hydraulic giants. The placer, and several feet of decomposed bed-rock, are then thawed by forcing water through narrow pipes which have been driven into the deposit. Other methods of thawing frozen placers were used extensively during the early years of the Klondike &apos;gold rush&apos;, but experimentation later proved that creek water at its natural summer temperature was a more effective and economical thawing medium than any other which had been used. EVOLUTION OF COLD WATER THAWING Early prospectors of the far north reached placers by digging shafts through the frozen muck. They then thawed the placer sand and gravel by building wood fires at the bottom of the shafts.

Jan 1, 1951

By Xiaolin Cheng, A. J. Sinclair

"Abstract - Norm calculation procedures originally designed principally for igneous rocks are very rigid in their application and, in general, do not utilize important alteration minerals. For instance, volatile components are essential constituents of many metasomatic rocks but either are not used or are not used effectively in determining normative minerals by the CIPW norm or Niggli-Barth norm procedures. Our approach to determining norms for metasomatic rocks allots all major, minor and volatile constituents to a set of standard normative minerals which are commonly observed as products of hydrothermal alteration. A useful procedure is to have a metasomatic norm approximate the mode as closely as possible. Petrographic information helps to provide the necessary mineralogical constraints. With the recognition of an immobile component and knowledge of sampling and analytical errors in lithogeochemical data, it is possible to recast norms into amounts of alteration minerals relative to a given amount (100 grams) of parent rock. Combining these results with the calculations of absolute loss or gain of individual chemical constituents and considering errors (e) for an appropriate confidence level, an overall (net) material exchange equation can be presented as follows:SMineralparent rock ± e + SConstituentgained from solution ± e= SMineralaltered rock ± e + SConstituentlost from wall-rock ± ewhere all items have extensive units (e.g., grams). The model includes the initial and final mineralogy of rocks (evident in the field) as well as gains and losses of specific elements. Only those constituents whose calculated losses and gains are significantly different from zero are retained in the above model, and only the normative minerals with abundances significantly different from zero are included in the model (equation). One advantage of the chemicomineralogic model is that parent rock and product are modeled in mineralogical terms that are familiar to and easily usable by exploration geologists."

Jan 1, 1995

By M. Myllymäki

"Pre-treatment of mill feed in a minerals processing plant enables for higher production efficiency per ton of product, reduction of consumables and diverting mineral feed types. Sensor based particle sorting allows for pre-concentration of the run-of-mine (ROM) material prior to other concentrating process. Various sensors provide different responses from the minerals in measured particles. The capability of “accepting” or “rejecting” particles based on sensor responses is investigated in specific test work for each project. Modern sorting machines use pneumatic actuators to divert the reject particles from the material stream. This paper discusses the incorporation of ore sorting test work in processing and plant design. When taking the effects of a sorting circuit into account early in the process planning phase, the downstream process can be adequately sized and impacts evaluated. Potential benefits include but are not limited to increased head grade, lower tonnage to the mill, increased mining operations, removal of deleterious elements and changed properties in the process feed. In a case study we present the Keliber lithium project in central Finland. The plant will produce 9000 tons of lithium carbonate per year from a spodumene ore. Ore sorting and flotation tests were carried out in laboratory and pilot scale. Process models were designed and simulations performed using Outotec’s HSC Chemistry Simulation software. Changes in the flotation performance (grade, recovery, impurity levels) were simulated with and without the pre-concentration of the ROM material. The metallurgical performance and mine economics of the different operational scenarios were evaluated using the Ore-Met optimizer module of the simulation software.INTRODUCTION Challenges in the recent years such as declining ore grades, increasing energy prices, scarcity of water and increasing environmental regulations raise the demand for more efficient processing technologies. Sensor based sorting offers a method for pre-concentration or waste rejection at an early process stage. The technology analyzes each rock particle separately for their unique physical and chemical properties, and diverts the particles into separate material streams by high pressure air jets. Successful implementation relies on ore heterogeneity, differential sensor response and suitable feed preparation."

Jan 1, 2018

By Mousa Mohammadi

Due to operational advantage of dragline in simultaneous excavation and back-filling, the equipment has gained vast importance in open-pit mining. Besides, absence of auxiliary haulage units and a myriad of other benefits are also credited in favor of excavation of muck piles by the draglines. However, the aspects of production, productivity and economics are of utmost significance in dragline operation and planning. In this light, the present paper is an endeavor to analyze availability and utilization of dragline operations. The paper presents a good amount of data for 4-draglines operating in one of the major opencast projects in India. The study reveals the trends of availability and utilization of these draglines during last 11-years. Furthermore, the study also highlights the salient reasons for loss of available hours and for idling of the draglines. Some startling information and facts have been illustrated in form of graphs and pie charts.

Aug 1, 2013

By O. A. Bascur

Several new hydrometallurgical plants have been built in the past years, new processes and equipment as well as advanced process control systems are being used to deal with the increasing requirements of safety, quality and production. Plant Information Management Systems are now being recognized as a key infrastructure component of the plant, giving the management, the operators, process engineers, finance, maintenance, and regulatory agencies an integrated view of the operation and providing the links for the (increasingly) multidisciplinary organization. This paper reviews several implementations of Plant Information Systems; real time performance management infrastructure examples are reviewed as a key component of business strategies, such as Mine to Port Planning and Supervision, Metallurgical Mass Balances, Solvent Extraction Composition Statistical Process Control, methods to minimize organic losses, reduce variable costs and to improve metal extraction. Several examples are provided to illustrate how companies are using the real time and historical information from assets and metallurgical processes to enable and empower people to improve the operations quality, safety and throughput, as well as continuous improvement and innovation initiatives.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. Hall Carpenter

"Wet concentration has, in the history of ore dressing, been the primary treatment method following crushing, grinding and sizing, when these have been necessary. The evolution of new methods of gravity concentration has been comparatively slow.Today, the most significant and sophisticated of the new types of gravity concentrators is, no doubt, the cone concentrator developed by Ernst Reichert of Mineral Deposits Pty. Limited in Southport, Australia. These units have now had some years of use in the field, are becoming one of the standard tools of the industry and their metallurgical results, as outlined in this paper, are out-standing."

Jan 1, 1966

By G. Ladouceur

"LOCATIONThe mine and mill are located in Lemoine township which is 20 miles directly south-east of the town of Chibougamau Quebec. Personnel live in Chibougamau and commute to the property over 33 miles of paved and gravel roads. Concentrates are trucked 13 miles to a railway siding on the line connecting Chibougamau and Quebec city.HISTORY Several companies explored the property before acquisition by Patino Mines (Quebec) Limited in 1973. Further exploration led to the discovery of a high grade copper-zinc orebody and the property was brought into production by the above company in 1976.ORE The ore contains 85% - 95% sulphides consisting of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and minor gold and silver. Argenti tetrahedrite, antimonial silver, native bismuth and galena are also pre sent in very minor quantities. Associated gangue minerals are quartz, carbonates and occasionally chlorite."

Jan 1, 1979

By Andrew J. Freyman, Graham T. Armstrong

"In September, 1968, a survey of operating mines in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories was undertaken to determine the role of Indigenes (Indian, Metis, Eskimo) on the mines, and the attitude of mine management to these employees. The operating mines in the Territories had (at that date) a total employment of 2,002 men, of which 91 (4.5 per cent) were Indigenes. Indigenes make up 45 per cent of the Territorial population (18 per cent in the Yukon and 63 percent in the Northwest Territories). The paper documents some of the problems associated with indigenous employment in mines. A study was undertaken to determine the role of Indigenes (Indians, Metis, Eskimos) in operating mines in the Yukon and in the North-west Territories. In addition to the mines north of the 60th parallel, the experience of several other Canadian mines was examined. The general picture obtained is considered to be representative of the Canadian mining industry."

Jan 1, 1969

By E. G. Baltuch

Natural Ventilation in mining and metallurgical processing applications is key to proper operation function. There are number of ventilator designs available to a project team or design engineers, the selection of which will affect both the type of building structure required, project costs and design performance which is difficult to rectify or re-engineer once implemented. Research and applied results, such as that performed by Air-Therm Inc., demonstrates that computational fluid dynamic simulation allows for 5 dimensional observation, analysis and optimization at significantly lowered cost than previously possible. These results have been fully implemented on a number of mining and metallurgical applications and the company continues to study, optimize and innovate as new tools become available to provide the best possible engineered solutions for particular applications.

Aug 1, 2013