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By G. A. Gross

DURING the past 5 years a large amount of money and effort has been expended in exploration of iron-formations and in testing their suitability for beneficiation. Beds of ferruginous material are numerous and widely distributed in the Precambrian rocks of Canada and practically all of the known iron ranges or belts have been examined to a limited degree at least in an effort to evaluate their potential as sources of iron ore. A number of favorable beds have been selected for mining on completion of surface sampling, diamond drilling, extensive metallurgical testing and economic studies, and many other ranges are being studied. There are still a great many iron-formations that have not been evaluated by modern concentration methods and their regional extent is not fully known. The iron-formations are easily located by airborne or ground magnetic surveys but the main task in finding a mineable ore-body of this type amounts to locating a bed sufficiently large for mining which consists of material that can be concentrated economically by modern beneficiating methods. The ease with which an iron-formation can be concentrated to give a marketable ore depends primarily

Jan 1, 1961

By A. L. Mular

Some specific cases of the collection of data from industrial grinding and classifying operations, and the development of models from the data so obtained, will be described. The problems encountered, the effort involved, and the value of the derived models in improving the plant efficiencies will be discussed and documented where possible.

Jan 1, 1971

By J. R. Smith

"The Lake Dufault orebodies were discovered by deep surface diamond drilling. When a reasonable amount of outline drilling had been completed, the decision to go into production was made. The fact that shaft sinking, lateral development, the detailing of the orebodies and stope preparation were to be carried out as rapidly as possible necessitated very close scheduling.After a study of varions possible mining methods, an open-stoping system using long-hole blasting was chosen. Diesel-powered Transloaders were selected for the mucking and transportation of ore from the drawpoints to the orepass.At the time of writing, the choice of mining method appears to have been fully justified, although more time will be required to arrive at true operating costs and efficiencies."

Jan 1, 1966

By E. G. Joe

"Recent trends in Canadian mineral processing were reported in seven areas of interest covered by seventeen technical papers at the 1976 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mineral Processors, held at Energy, Mines and Resources' Camsell Hall, Ottawa. New milling equipment included the Enviro-Clear thickener, large-volume Outokumpu flotation machines and abrasion-resistant polyurethane screens. Grinding experiences from a variety of milling operations were reported. Opportunities for increased sizing and grinding efficiency were presented. Flotation control by digital computer and by chemical additions were described in two mill operations. Slurry pumping and sampling techniques were described for various operations. Environmental control in milling was reported concerning dust suppression, arsenic removal and tailings disposal. Several aspects of gold milling were described by the most recently commissioned gold mine and by CANMET. Potash operations were reported showing the similarity of processing and process control to that of metallic minerals."

Jan 1, 1976

By A. Lam

The use of a liquid fed direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) as a power source for micro and small portable applications is attractive due to its system simplicity, low temperature, etc. The aqueous methanol is directly oxidized and does not require additional fuel processing steps as in reformate based PEM fuel cells. In addition, the use of a liquid fuel is advantageous with respect to humidification, stack cooling and system energy density. The DMFC however, has technological issues that must be addressed before it can be widely adopted, particularly in larger applications such as small utility and transportation. At present, the crossover of methanol from the anode to the cathode is a major limitation on DMFC performance and fuel utilization efficiency. In this paper we discuss the influence of fuel modification on the control of crossover. This involves the use of different fuel additives and concentrations to minimize crossover. This appears to be the first reported case of the use of fuel modification (additives) to reduce methanol crossover. The rate of methanol permeation under passive conditions is discussed with respect to the different conditions.

Jan 1, 2005

By F. Khomamizadeh

In this study the effect of solidification rate, T6 and T7 heat treatments on thermal fatigue resistance of A319 aluminum was investigated. Increasing of the solidification rate improved the thermal fatigue resistance of the alloy by refinement of the microstructure. The most sensible areas for thermal fatigue crack growth were the eutectic zones, T6 and T7 heat treatments improved the thermal fatigue resistance of the alloy by enhancing of the matrix resistance against the crack propagation. The slight reduction of the thermal fatigue resistance after T7 heat treatment is attributed to coarsening of the precipitates which reduces the matrix resistance.

Jan 1, 2005

By J. F. Harkom

Introduction The importance of the preservative treatment of mine timbers need scarcely be stressed here. Increasing the life of mine timbers will reduce one of the major costs of mining and also conserve the available timber supply which lies within easy access of the mines. When treated, several species of timber may be used which otherwise could not be considered, owing to their short life. Another feature which should appeal to the mining industry is that wood preservatives are a mine product, and the benefit to be derived from the increased consumption of wood preservatives due to the example set by mine owners is not inconsiderable. Mine timbers may be divided into three classes when considering preservative treatments. (1) Timber obviously not profitable to treat owing to long natural life or short period of time in service. (2) Timber that obviously should receive protection from decay. (3) Timber installed in locations where the length of service required will depend on future developments, so that preservative treatments might or might not prove to be a profitable investment.

Jan 1, 1930

By S-E. Vandat

The goal of this work was to select an appropriate electrode for dummy load of diesel engine in fully salt-water in the DESA factory. The electrochemical corrosion rate of general structural steel, commercial pure aluminum and cathode copper calculated as weighting, volumetric and commercial in fully salt-water by city power. After several tests and then applying the fuzzy logic method, it was determined that general structural steel is the best selection for this purpose.

Jan 1, 2005

By C. G. Anderson

Industrially proven and applied nitrogen species catalyzed (i.e. NSC) acidic pressure leaching has been utilized to treat a number of ores, concentrates and recycled materials. This versatile technology offers many advantages including low temperatures, low pressures, low capital costs, low operating costs, faster throughput and less costly materials of construction than conventional pressure oxidation. This paper will elucidate the application of this technology for production of gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, zinc, germanium, gallium, cobalt, copper and nickel. Recycled material applications will also be elucidated. In addition, details of an application for treatment of a refractory chalcopyrite copper and gold bearing ore will be presented and pertinent economics discussed.

Jan 1, 2004

By K. D. Peaslee

Slag splashing is an important development that has dramatically improved BOF vessel campaign life and reduced operating costs. This paper highlights research from physical modeling work using a 1/8-scale room temperature model BOF and slag characterization studies from several plants in North America and China. In the model studies, gas flow rate during blow and viscosity of the liquid were found to be two of the most important factors to changing the overall rate of liquid splashed onto the vessel sidewalls. When the flow rate was increased or viscosity decreased, the lower regions of the walls were splashed at a much greater rate. It was also shown that by changing the lance height, more liquid was deposited in the upper regions of the vessel at the expense of lower regions. Reducing the number of nozzles was found to be the most effective method of selectively coating a particular vertical section of the wall. Studies of BOF's using slag splashing in North America and China showed a difference in the melting characteristics of the final slag. Generally, slag splashing is successful when the melting point of the slag is 220-270°C below the tap temperature to maintain a balance between fluidity and refractoriness.

Jan 1, 2004

By D. H. Stonehouse

"ALTHOUGH final statistics are not yet available concerning Nova Scotia' s mineral production for 1958, it is estimated that the value will be slightly lower than that of 1957. In making this statement it is but fair to say that one year ago a reduction in mineral value was also forecast (for 1957 as compared with 1956) and final figures from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics ($68,058,743) indicated, instead, an increase of $2,000,000 over 1956. However, 1958 did bring problems to the industry which would indicate a drop in production value. The estimates figure for 1958 is $64,000,000. COAL Coal production came from 28 mines, 5 less than were operating since 1957. There were 5,269,896 tons of coal produced by 1,978,512 man-days' labour, for a tons per man-shift of 2.66 (0.05 higher than during 1957) or an increase of 1.9 per cent over the 1957 all-time high for this Province. This record has been established as a result of concentrated efforts to mechanize the coal mines of the Province, and it is hoped that it will be bettered during 1959. Collieries which showed some production for 1957 and none for 1958 were the McGregor at Stellarton, the Franklin at Sydney Mines, the MacLellan, the Rose bank No. 2 and the Rose bank No. 3 at Inverness."

Jan 1, 1959

By R. Loney, M. Militzer

There is a significant demand for new high strength steels with fine grain sizes for structural applications. One approach in this regard is to develop hot-rolled HSLA steels where refining the microstructure leads to increased strength levels, e.g. 700 MPa yield strength, that can be attained by suitable modifications of chemistry and processing. Here, an HSLA steel is investigated that contains 0.05wt%C-1.65wt%Mn-0.20wt%Mo¬0.07wt%Nb-0.02wt%Ti and approaches the above strength class. The ability to control and predict the mechanical properties of hot rolled steel depends strongly on the thermomechanical processes, which the steel undergoes. The final microstructure and, thus, the properties of the hot-rolled steel are a function of the austenite decomposition obtained during accelerated cooling on the run-out table and precipitation during coiling. The austenite-to-ferrite phase transformation under run-out table conditions has been investigated using a Gleeble 3500 thermomechanical simulator equipped with a dilatometer. The effects of cooling rate and initial austenite microstructure including the degree of work hardening on austenite decomposition kinetics and ferrite grain refinement have been quantified. Results show that grain refinement can be optimized by the presence of work hardened austenite and accelerated cooling. Based on the experimental results, a model is proposed to predict the transformation start temperature and the resulting ferrite grain size for run-out table cooling conditions.

Jan 1, 2004

By K. Huang, L. Pan

"Darcy’s law has been used extensively to model cake filtration. It is a macroscopic model, in which particle size dominates the kinetics and cake moisture. In the present work, a capillary flow model has been developed from first principles to study the effects of microscopic parameters such as capillary radius, boundary layer slip, disjoining pressure, and surface tension that may be important for dewatering ultrafine particles. Laboratory-scale pressure filtration tests show that dewatering kinetics is strongly dependent on capillary radius, which in turn is influenced by surface hydrophobicity, surface charge, and length scales of particles. The model parameters determined from laboratory-scale filtration tests show that use of a hydrophobizing reagent can greatly improve fine particle filtration due to increased slip and decreased capillary pressure. The kinetics of dewatering kaolin clay is fastest at a pH where the layer-structured particles coagulate with a face-to-edge orientation. The capillary flow model developed in the present work may be useful for designing filters and optimizing operating conditions.INTRODUCTIONIn 2014, Canada produced 2.2 million barrels per day of crude oil from the oil sands resources in Alberta, which is expected to grow to 3.2–4.0 million barrels per day by 2030 (CAPP, 2013). One of the challenges to meeting these projections is the tailings management. At present, the industry uses ?77 km2 of the lands to construct tailings ponds. Significant amounts of the tailings disposed to the ponds are silts and clays that are slow to settle and consolidate, creating problems for reclamation. It is, therefore, the objective of the present work to develop a filtration model that may be useful for developing advanced dewatering technologies that can address the tailings management issues.Darcy’s equation is the governing law for filtration. It was derived as an empirical model by H. Darcy in 1856 while he was studying fluid flow in sand filters (Hall, 1956). Since then, many investigators derived it from first principles. It relates superficial fluid velocity to the pressure drop across a porous medium of known permeability. In filtration, the latter can be related empirically to particle size using the Kozney equation (Yoon, 2005)."

Jan 1, 2016

By Pierre Giasson

"Les avantages de l'électricitéLe thème de la réunion 1982 de l'ICM District No. 2: "" Le défi des années 80 pour l'industrie minière de la Côte-Nord"" exprime trè s bien la réalité . En effet, la récession économique qui touche présentement tout le monde industrialisé, frappe de façon particulièrement sévère le marché du fer et de l'acier. Il est donc primordial pour les industries minières de la CôteNord de minimiser leurs coûts de production. Comme on sait, une bonne part des coûts de production est directement reliée à la consommation d'énergie.Si on retourne en arrière de quelques années, les prix des produits pétroliers étaient beaucoup moins élevé s que maintenant . Par exemple: A Philadelphie, en janvier 1930, le prix de l'huile no. 6 (bunker C) était de 1.22$ le baril. En 1940, le prix mondial du pétrole brut se situait aux environs de 1.80$ le baril et augmentait très lentement jusqu'en 1973. A la mi-octobre 1973, l'organisation des pays exportateurs de pétrole (O.P.E.P.) surprend le reste du monde en annonçant que le prix du brut grimpe à S.12$ le baril. .. on connaît la suite.On sait qu'au point de vue énergétique, le nord du Québec est l'une des régions les plus avantagées au monde. Malgré le fait que notre climat soit plutôt défavorable, nous sommes assurés d'une alimentation électrique à toute fin pratique éternelle, contrairement aux autres régions du globe. En effet, l' hydro-électricité ne représente que 2.S070 de toute l'électricité produite dans le monde.Une bonne partie de l'énergie consommée dans les industries minières de la Côte-Nord est utilisée pour produire la vapeur. Or, il y a plusieurs avantages à produire de la vapeur à partir de l'électricité:1. Le prix d'achat d'une chaudière électrique peut être moins de la moitié de celui d'une chaudière à carburant fo ssile.2. Le prix de l'électricité est plus bas que celu i des autres sources d'énergie disponibles dans notre région.3. Hydro-Québec offre un programme spéci al de subventions et un prix garanti de l'électricité, inférieur de 10070 à celui de tout autre combustible (1982).4. Souvent il est possible d'utiliser l'énergie hors pointe à un coût minime.S. L'espace requis pour un chaudière électrique est beaucoup moindre. Par exemple: une chaudière d'une capacité de 120000 Ibs/hre ne demande que SO pi? de plancher, c'est-à-dire un cercle de 8 pieds de diamètre comparativement à environ 600 à 700 pi2 pour une chaudière au ma zout.6. Aucun espace n'est requis pour l'entreposage du carburant.7. Aucun espace n'est requis pour la cheminée.8. Il n' y a que très peu de pièce s mécaniques, donc ces chaudières demandent très peu d 'entretien .9. Les chaudières électriques ne génèrent aucune pollution, donc on n'a pas besoin d'équipement coûteux de contrôle de la pollution.10. Ces chaudières sont extrêmement rapides. En effet, on peut passer de zéro à la production maximum en moins d'une heure si la chaudière est froide et en quelques secondes seulement si la chaudière est à sa température d'opération.11. L'efficacité de ces appareils est au moins de 9S% par rapport à 80-8S% pour les chaudières au ma zout. De plus, cette efficacité demeure la même quel que soit le niveau de production de la chaudière. Il faut faire attention ici: les manufacturiers proposent des rendements de 99% et plus, mais ceci ne tient compte que des pertes de chaleur à travers l'enveloppe, et de l'énergie nécessaire au fonctionnement de la pompe de circulation. Il faut ajouter à cela l'énergie perdue à cause de la vidange qui varie selon le type de chaudière et selon la qualité de l'eau d'alimentation.12. Ajoutons simplement que ces appareils sont très facile à opérer du fait qu'il n'y a aucun système complexe à manipuler.Cependant, il y a un inconvénient non négligeable à utiliser l'électricité comme source d'énergie: comme on ne peut pas emmagasiner l'énergie électrique, nous sommes à la merci du fournisseur."

Jan 1, 1985

By N. Afrin

The microstructure and tensile properties of AZ31B-H24 magnesium (Mg) alloy after friction stir welding (FSW) were evaluated. The grain size was observed to increase from approximately 5 µm to about 9 µm after FSW. The obtained Hall-Petch type relationship showed a strong grain size dependence of the hardness values. While the FSW led to about half of the yield strength of the base magnesium alloy, the ultimate tensile strength after FSW could reach about two thirds of that of the base alloy. The hardening capacity of the FSWed samples was about twice of that of the base alloy. The strain hardening exponent of the base alloy was found to be about 0.1 whereas it became larger than 0.3 for the FSWed samples. After yielding the base alloy showed a high initial and almost constant work hardening rate, corresponding to linear hardening stage II, followed by stage III with a decreasing hardening rate. Stage II linear hardening was observed to be absent in the FSWed samples.

Jan 1, 2007

By S. C. Ellis

THE bituminous sand of northern Alberta has already an extensive literature, and most of the reports dealing with the subject are still available (see Selected Bibliography at end of paper). A phenomenon so striking and, as regards its extent, so unique, as the deposit in the vicinity of McMurray settlement could not fail to attract the notice of the early explorers, and we find references to it as far back as the latter part of the eighteenth century. However, scarcely a thought had been bestowed upon the possible economic value of minerals in the the remote northern parts of Canada before the second decade of the present century, and practically no detailed mapping had been done north of the town of Athabaska. The late Wm. Ogilvie made a track survey of Athabaska river in 1884, and surveys of certain lines-including the 23rd base line-had been completed by 1911. Between this base line and lake Athabaska, nothing had been attempted. Actually, no definite information at all was available regarding the character and extent of the bituminous sand when, in the earl y summer of 1913, a reconnaissance party set out from Athabaska for McMurray. At that period, the journey was made in summer by scow or canoe. No telegraph line had been laid, and a casual mail service by canoe or dog team once in three months formed the only means of communication with the outside world. The investigation has begun by the Mines Branch was continued during several subsequent years. The sand deposits were studied and sampled, the bi rumen was extracted from the sand and studied chemically and physically, and the economic significance of the deposit was given exhaustive study.

Jan 1, 1937

By R. Bonifaz, R. Subiabre

The Chagres Smelter, part of the Anglo American plc group, situated 80 Km north of Santiago in Chile, completed a series of operational improvement in 2005 resulting in an optimum capacity in its operational units. At present the Chagres Smelter has developed an operational strategy which seeks to reduce bottle-necks in the production process. In this way we have managed to lower operational cost, decrease energy consumption and maximize the capacity of the Acid, Oxygen, and Smelting, Converting, Refining and Casting units. A constant review of international benchmarks together with continuous staff improvement and the latest smelter technology have combined to place Chagres among the finest smelting works in the world. In response to environmental challenges, we have studied various options for investment that will yield a suitably profitable business to benefit both Anglo American and Chile. The most relevant technical indicators are: energy consumption=6,3 GJ/ton fine copper (1st in the world), intensity of smelting rate in Flash Smelting unit of 6,900 ton of copper concentrate/m2 of furnace area (1st in the world) and to be one of the top five smelters in achieving the lowest direct cash cost .

Jan 1, 2007

By Alex McEachern

MINING LEADS WAY TO PROSPERITY THE year 1937 will stand out in the history of mining and metal products in Canada as one of which we shall always be proud. The combined contribution of these industries played a large part in leading Canada back to prosperous conditions after years of stress and strain that left their mark upon business the world over. A review of general industry shows a marked improvement over recent years. The upward trend continued un-abated most of the year and not a few of the industries had all they could do to supply the demands. A fact that should be appreciated in a year of wheat failure over an extensive area of the Prairie Provinces is the shifting of the basis of Canadian prosperity from agriculture to that of mining and the use of metals. To the great demand for minerals of all kinds, our mines have well responded and many new high levels were reached. This reflects great credit upon the men who direct the activities of the Canadian Mining Industry. Possessed by a spirit which refused to accept defeat in 1931-1932, they began to increase the efficiency of their departments, explored all channels hitherto untried, and won through to a crowning success. Who among them dreamed that their country's extremity would be their Alex. McEachern opportunity, and that through their united efforts our young nation would be enabled to hold that high position she has attained in world affairs?

Jan 1, 1938

By L. Byszynski

The results of a three month evaluation of the application of EMEW® technology at the KGHM Glogów II Smelter tank house bleed stream are presented. The current, conven¬tional electrolyte decopperization process has some limitations, including: only a fraction of its production is commercial grade cathode copper, significant operating costs, low current efficiency, low current densities resulting in low copper depletion rate, and arsine gas and sulphuric acid emission. The EMEW® cell technology developed by Electrometals Technologies Ltd. can overcome many of these limitations. Tests were performed on a pilot EMEW® installation comprising 30 cells at ambient temperature on electrolyte bleed, using current densities between 100 and 600 A/m2 , with copper concentrations between 45 and <1g/dm3. Results showed that a high grade copper can be obtained to the level of 7 g/dm3 of copper concentration in electrolyte. The use of EMEW® technology allows the direct and efficient recovery of over 85% of the copper contained in the bleed electrolyte. Glue & thiourea addition were tested in order to improve the parameters of the copper depletion process. The behavior of Arsenic and Bismuth was observed and a means for their elimination from the system proposed. On-line copper concentration monitoring is proposed to improve control and performance.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. J. Merwin

Heat treated seamless tubular products are processed in a fashion that can be easily modified to produce dual phase microstructures, through the implementation of intercritical soaking prior to quenching. Dual phase steels are known to possess low yield strength compared to tensile strength. The steel line pipe market is interested in low yield-tensile ratio materials for application in reel barge pipe laying operations. In the current work compositions of commercially produced material already in use for the line pipe market were examined and dual phase microstructures were successfully developed. The microstructure and properties of the materials were found to be stable over the range of intercritical temperatures employed. Tempering temperature and, somewhat unexpectedly, small chemistry differences were found to have the largest influence on properties. Excellent toughness performance was observed in samples tempered at temperatures in excess of 550°C. Tempering in this temperature regime produced materials with strength suitable for application as API X60 line pipe. A difference in tensile strength between steels of similar chemistry was observed, and is not fully understood at this time. Welding performance was considered through simulation of three regions of the heat-affected zone. Neither intercritical temperature, nor tempering temperature, were found to have a significant influence on the heat-affected zone properties. The peak temperature achieved in the thermal cycle was the only significant factor. The hardness of the heat-affected zone was found to increase continuously with increasing peak temperature. While toughness was found to be low for both partially-transformed and coarse-grain heat-affected zones, the toughness of the fine-grained heat-affected zone was substantially better. Based on the results found in this laboratory study, a limited production trial is expected.

Jan 1, 2005