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By Robert Halupka

The industrial minerals sector represents a broad range of products involving a variety of technologies serving a diversity of markets and end uses. Unit values of products vary widely, reflecting the peculiarities of each product/market sector. Generalizations are therefore understandably difficult to make and borrowers may need to take extra time to "educate" lenders on the key aspects of their business and industry sub-sector. This paper will examine the factors and the thinking that lenders apply when considering financing proposals to companies in the industrial minerals sector. If you understand the lender's perspective and their concerns, then you can make better use of your own time and resources when arranging financing for your company or project.

Jan 1, 2001

By Carrasco .. P. J. A., R. Parada, I. Saavedra, F. Parada, R. Parra, E. Balladares

In most of the smelters, the management of flue dust has a double objective: the control of minor elements in the anodes and the management of volatiles compounds that can cause contamination due to fugitive gas emissions. This is a special concern when high content of Va elements (As, Sb & Bi) are present in concentrates. We present the results of the experimental study to prove the principle of a novel process that recovers, via volatilization, the As, Sb and Bi in the flue dust as gaseous sulfides, due to a previous sulfidization. In the case of as control any further classical treatment for its stabilization is possible from the gas. The clean calcine can be returned to the smelter avoiding any concentration of these minor elements in the circuit. This process is now tested at pilot scale and shows better indices on carbon footprint than the classical hydrometallurgical process for flue dust.

Jan 1, 2011

By Z. D. Hora

Limestone of economic interest is widespread in British Columbia. Triassic deposits on Texada Island are a convenient 1idewa1er source of li111es1one for cemen1 and lime for 1he Pacific orthwes1. Permian limes/one near Pavilion Lake is used for quicklime, and a deposit near Kam/oops is used for cement. Quarries at Dahl Lake and Pwrmigan Creek serve local pulp and paper needs.

Jan 1, 1984

By L. E. Reed, I. G. L. Sinclair

An exploration program seeking kimberlite pipes, the common primary hosts for diamonds, Was' conducted during the years 1979 through 1982 in the James Bay Lowlands of Ontario by Selco Mining Corporation (now the Mining Division of BP Resources Canada) and Esso Minerals Canada. The area to be explored was selected on the basis of its regional geological setting, and because of the known presence of kimberlite indicator minerals in the region. The primary exploration technique was low level airborne magnetic surveying, followed by detailed ground geophysics. This work located many pipe-like bodies, with diameters of a few hundred metres, as well as several dykes. Targets located by these geophysical methods were drilled, intersecting a total of45 intrusions, consisting of34 alkaline diatremes containing tuffisitic breccias, 7 carbonatites, and 4 massive alnoites. K-Ar determinations indicated ages of 152 Ma and 180 Ma for two of the massive alnoites. The texture and general mineralogy of the tuffisitic breccias are similar to those of diatreme facies kimberlites, but detailed examination of their mineralogy and chemistry demonstrated that they lie within the alnoitic rather than the kimberlitic compositional field. Although the exploration program did not lead to the discovery of true kimberlites, it did demonstrate the presence of a large, previously unknown province of alkaline volcanic activity, which has no surface expression.

Jan 1, 1991

By Mark Weidenbach

OZ Minerals owns and operates the Prominent Hill copper-gold concentrator in South Australia, built in 2008 and commissioned in early 2009. The concentrator operates via semi autogenous grinding in a thirty four foot ThyssenKrupp Polysius mill followed by a twenty four foot Polysius ball mill in closed circuit with hydro cyclones, designed for an ore throughput of eight million tonnes per annum. The main aspects of designing the circuit are discussed along with the issues faced in the early stages of operation. A review of the optimization strategy applied to the milling circuit such as cyclone optimization, advanced process control strategy implementation and reline management to improve availability is then discussed highlighting areas of significant process improvement that have seen the plant exceed nameplate throughputs above nine million tonnes per annum.

Jan 1, 2012

Abstract - A method to extract certain types of error variance information from paired data is presented, which constitutes an important tool for the calibration of Gy’s formula for variance predictions in the sampling of broken ores. The research summarized here complements publications by others on geochemical precision. The model and method proposed for treating duplicate data provide a practical means of deriving separate estimates of the purely analytical and aliquot sampling variances, from a unique set of duplicate assays, and, hence, proposes a new avenue for estimating effective mineral grain size.

Jan 1, 1998

By George B. Saunders

It is the purpose of this paper to point out conditions as they exist in the merchandizing of coal, to compare these conditions with methods in use by competitive producers of coal substitutes, and to present briefly some suggestions which may help the individual operator to market more coal in the immediate future, while we are waiting for the scientist and research worker, who are now busy on coal betterment , to produce in a practical way the results which they now write about in such glowing terms. While it may be unnecessary to call the attention of coal operators to the present deplorable condition of the industry, it might be well to impress upon our members in other branches of mining, as well as upon the public at large, the seriousness of the situation. Emerging from the war and the period of reconstruction that followed, the coal industry found itself with too many mines and too many men for normal conditions. To make matters worse, the interruptions in deliveries caused by strikes, the unfavourable publicity caused by socialistic propaganda, and the repeated governmental investigations, made the market a fertile field for coal substitutes which were not so handicapped. These substitutes were well advertised, and were marketed in an up-to-date manner, furnishing an example from which the coal operator could well profit. Now, whether or not there is agreement as to the cause or causes of this condition, there can be no doubt that we are today face to face with the fact that the sale of coal has not kept pace with the sale and use of other commodities. Had it done so, we would ere this have been able to take care of the surplus labour and work our mines at least approximately full time.

Jan 1, 1929

By Nirmal Weerasekara

Mill liners serve the dual purpose of protecting the shell from wear and transferring the rotary motion of the mill to an effective grinding action. As the liners wear, the efficiency of energy transfer changes, so there is balance between liner profile for wear and for milling efficiency. A tool that can simultaneously predict the evolution of the liner profile and the associated change in milling efficiency should prove most useful in optimal liner design. This paper presents such an approach, based on measured 3D liner profile data informing 3D DEM simulations of charge motion and liner wear modelling.

Jan 1, 2012

By Jacek Paraszczak, Stefan Planeta

"RésuméDans la première partie de cet article on discute Ie contexte technico-économique de l'usage des foreuses à l'eau sur béquille dans des mines sud-africaines. Par la suite on présente les résultats d'une étude comparative du forage avec les foreuses à l'huile et à l'eau par rapport aux foreuses pneumatiques. La performance des foreuses est discutée sous les deux aspects: l'aspect technique concernant Ie taux de pénetration et la quantité d'eau rejetee dans les galeries et l'aspect de fa santé et sécurité au travail, et plus particuliérement, les niveaux de bruit et de vibrations ainsi que Ie brouillard de l'huile. On conclut par l'évaluation du potentiel de forage à I'aide des foreuses hydrauliques dans Ie contexte canadien.AbstractIn the first part of this paper the technical and economical aspects of water-powered drilling are discussed. This technology, originally employed in South Africa, received some interest from Canadian mine operators. In this context a comparative experimental study of pneumatic and hydraulic (oil- and water-powered) jackleg drills has been realized. The performance of the drills is compared and the results reviewed with regards to technical aspects (penetration rate, amount of water spilled) as well as health and safety considerations (noise and vibration level, presence of oil mist). The potential for application of hydraulic jackleg drill is discussed."

Jan 1, 1995

By K. Östcrdahl

We are developing a cost-saving and environmentally friendly process with low energy consumption to recover the metal content and recycle the acid from spent pickle baths. The metals are precipitated as metal fluorides, which can be turned into metal oxides and hydrofluoric acid by thermal hydrolysis. In the proposed process the solution is concentrated by nanofiltration and the metals are precipitated in a subsequent crystallization step. Different nanofiltration membranes have been evaluated in experimental batch tests. The membrane MPF-34 from Koch Membrane Systems offered both good flux and acceptable metal retention even after long periods of acid storage. The solubility of B-FeF3.3H20 has been measured at varying acid concentrations and at different temperatures. The solubility decreases with increasing hydrofluoric acid and nitric acid concentrations. This suggests that the crystallization process should be operated at high acid concentrations. The crystal growth rate of B-FeF3.3H2O is found to be quite low but increases significantly with temperature. This suggests that the crystallization process should be operated at higher temperatures (40 - 60°C). Within the project a pilot plant has been constructed where the spent pickle bath solution is concentrated by nanofiltration to the desired metal fluoride supersaturation, and B-FeF3.3H2O is crystallized in a 10 L continuous crystallizer.

Jan 1, 2006

By M. Drozd, M. Somppi, Z. F. Yamak

"Activated carbon is used to recover gold in solution from various gold circuit designs including carbon-in-pulp (CIP), carbon-in-column (CIC), and carbon-in-leach (CIL) processes; however, the characteristics and durability of the activated carbon can vary. Handling this medium poses challenges when fine carbon losses occur in the CIP, CIC, and CIL circuit discharge. Additionally, adsorbed gold on carbon fines can be lost to the discharge. The studies in this paper aim to standardize laboratory methods for testing activated carbon qualities specific to the gold industry. The investigation focused on size distribution, platelet content, wet attrition resistance, gold kinetics, and gold loading. The results demonstrate that a 96 h attrition test and a gold loading test form a basis for ranking carbon samples based on expected economic performance of the plant. ¦ KEYWORDS Activated carbon, Carbon attrition, Carbon ball-pan hardness, Carbon evaluation, Carbon fines loss, Carbon turnover RÉSUMÉ Le charbon actif sert à récupérer l’or en solution dans diverses conceptions de circuits de broyage d’or, notamment les procédés de charbon en pulpe (CIP, de l’anglais carbon-in-pulp), de charbon en colonnes (CIC, de l’anglais carbon-in-column) et de lixiviation au carbone, ou charbon au lixiviat (CIL, de l’anglais carbon-in-leach). Toutefois, les caractéristiques et la durabilité du charbon actif varient. La manipulation de ce milieu pose des problèmes dès lors que se produisent des pertes de carbone à grain fin dans la décharge des circuits CIP, CIC et CIL. Par ailleurs, l’or adsorbé sur les fines de charbon peut se perdre durant la décharge. Les études réalisées dans le cadre de cet article visent à normaliser les méthodes de laboratoire pour tester les qualités du charbon actif spécifiques au secteur de l’exploitation aurifère. L’étude portait sur la composition granulométrique, la teneur des plaquettes, la résistance au frottement humide, la cinétique de l’or et l’adsorption de l’or, à savoir la capacité du charbon actif à adsorber l’or sur une période spécifique. Les résultats ont montré qu’un test de frottement de 96 heures et un test d’adsorption de l’or constituaient le fondement d’un classement des échantillons de carbone du point de vue économique en vue de trouver l’échantillon générant le meilleur rendement des usines. ¦ MOTS CLÉS charbon actif, dureté de la batée des billes de carbone, évaluation du carbone, perte de fines de charbon, renouvellement du carbone, résistance au carbone INTRODUCTION The use of activated carbon for gold extraction is among the most common processes in modern gold-milling plants. Although gold losses are inevitable in the milling process, operators often focus on reducing gold loss to tailings. One focus area that is important in gold recovery is optimizing the use of activated carbon and examining potential changes to realize improved economics for carbon-in-pulp (CIP), carbon-in-column (CIC), and carbon-in-leach (CIL) processes. Granular activated carbon (Figure 1) is widely used for gold extraction from slurries containing gold-cyanide complexes. This activated carbon—produced from charred coconut shells—is well suited because of its adsorption kinetics, gold-loading capacity, attrition resistance, and ability to be reactivated. The extraction process using activated carbon technology involves adsorbing gold from an aqueous leachate; the gold is dissolved using a cyanide salt and consequently a dicyanoaurate(I) ion (Au(CN)2–) is formed, as noted in equation 1."

Jan 1, 2019

By P. V. Golde, R. A. Poole, G. R. Baiden

"The results being presented in this paper are those obtained during 1996 on a drilling automation project at Stobie mine. This project has successfully demonstrated that the remote operation of multiple drills (by a single driller) from surface using Tamrock Data Solo 1000 Sixty drillrigs is technically feasible and can potentially bring significant rewards in terms of productivity and work environment improvements, as well as labour and maintenance savings. BackgroundThe ObjectiveThis paper is an update of a previous report on remote drilling research at Stobie mine. Enabled by the communications system installed at the mine, the ability to remotely control underground equipment from surface has been demonstrated (Poole et al., 1996). This paper discusses the needs and process required to carry this concept to consolidate the operation of multiple machines under a single operator.The TeamThe team assembled to develop and implement the automation and the communi-cations extensions needed to allow the multiple machines’ operation from the surface by one operator included the following:INCO Mines Research supplied the project management and original project initiative. The primary purpose was to prove the advantages of savings associated with the driller not being required to travel to the underground drill location coupled with the savings associated with one-man, multiple-machine techniques.Tamrock EJC supplied the Data Solo 1000 Sixty drills and the Tamrock specific machine-based custom software. The drills were produced in Finland with no provision for remote operation of the drill from other than the umbilical attached local console.Automated Mining Systems supplied the modifications to the drill communications equipment to allow the machine communications to become broadband compatible. As well, Automated Mining Systems also supplied the hardware necessary to be able to remotely control the portable video camera, as well as the data logging equipment.Stobie Mine personnel were made available to test the function and then integrate the concept of remote control drilling into the Stobie operations."

Jan 1, 1997

By J. S. Stewart

THIS paper was prompted by a persistent demand for what information we have that will throw light on the oil and gas possibilities of the Maritime Provinces. The problems involved were made familiar to the writer during three seasons of field work in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The reasons for renewed interest are: (1) In many parts of that region, the surface is underlain by a thick series of unaltered sedimentary rocks. (2) Oil seepages occur, and oil in commercial quantity has been exploited' near Moncton, New Brunswick, for many years. (3) In recent years, a new method of attack has been developed toward the finding of stratigraphic traps. This method is based on a detailed study of the geological history of the region, as revealed in surface outcrops and samples from deep wells. The well samples show the lateral variation of strata, far from any possible surface outcrop of the same beds. Sufficient work has now been done in the Maritime Provinces to reveal the broad features of the geological history and the character and distribution of the various rock formations. Comparatively little deep drilling has been done in this region, but the holes are widely scattered and the samples from them have added much to the information obtained from the numerous outcrops of bed-rock. The following discussion gives a summary of available information that has a bearing on the subject.

Jan 1, 1943

By Norman A. Parlee

Introduction The principal primary iron and steel producing capacity of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation is at the Dominion Iron and Steel, Limited, plant at Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The main raw materials are Cape Breton coal, Wabana (Newfoundland) iron ore, and Port-au-Port (Newfoundland) limestone. This plant, which was established at the turn of the century has gradually expanded its production facilities so that today its ingot producing capacity is over 720,000 tons annually. Principal operating units of the plant at present are three batteries of 173 Koppers by-product coke ovens with conventional by-product recovery equipment, three blast furnaces .of 15 ft. 6 in., 18 ft. 3 in., and 19 ft. 3 in. hearth diameter (inside the brick), one 700-ton hot metal mixer, ten open hearth furnaces (two of 175-ton capacity, three 12 5-ton, five 60-ton), one 10-ton electric furnace, a 40-inch blooming mill, a billet mill, a rail mill, a tie plate mill, rod and bar mills, and a wire and nail mill. Extensive machine shops and an iron and brass foundry are also available for plant maintenance and repairs. This paper will describe developments during the past five years and those now in process. It will also briefly discuss research being done and indicate the direction of future development.

Jan 1, 1951

By J. Keith Haddock

"The Luscar Mine is a metallurgical coal mine located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, 41 km southeast of Hinton, Alberta. The mine is operated by Cardinal River Coals Ltd., a 50/50 joint venture between Luscar Ltd. and Consolidation Coal Company of Canada. The mine produces a high quality medium volatile metallurgical coal which is sold on the export market principally to Japan and South Korea. Operations consist of a surface mine with capacity to produce 3.0 million tonnes per year and an underground mine which is currently mothballed due to market conditions.GeologyBedrock units within the Luscar minesite are of Devonian to Upper Cretaceous age. The commercial coal measures in the area are, however, confined within the Lower Luscar Formation. The Luscar Formation consists of a 460-metre thick sequence of interbedded sandstones, shales and coal seams. The sequence is primarily deltaic in origin, and is bounded to the north and south at the Luscar mine by tectonically induced thrust faulting.The only mineable coal seam at Luscar is referred to locally as the Jewel seam. Average thickness of this coal measure is usually 10.5 m to 14 m, although in some areas folding and faulting has produced ""pods"" of coal from 15 m to over 40 m thick while in others the structural deformation has thinned the coal to 3.0 m to 4.6 m. Waste within the Jewel seam seldom exceeds a metre of shale, carbonaceous shale or infrequent sandstone stringers.Reserves and Coal QualityProven surface mineable reserves, based on pit scheduling through 1996, are 50.8 million raw tonnes. An additional 19.2 million raw tonnes are contained in possible extensions to the present planned operations. These surface mineable reserves are considered to be those reserves within 155 m of the surface. Underground reserves, located within 770 m of the surface show that 25.7 million raw tonnes have been proven to date in additon to 27 .5 million indicated and 260 miIJion inferred.Coal specification at Luscar Mine is as follows:"

Jan 1, 1985

By C. A. Y. Shephard, H. L. Brusset

Pressure maintenance by water flooding in the Pembina Field made consideration of wet crude dehydration and disposal of the produced water mandatory. Crude dehydration, the treatment and disposal of produced water, as well as the sale of gas and crude oil were expected to be handled more efficiently at one central point than at several conventional batteries. This plan was effected by routing the produced fluids to the central station by way of several well testing batteries referred to as satellites. To realize the full efficiency inherent in such consolidation the entire system was made self-regulating. Programming ensures the testing and proper routing of all products to their destination. Forty producing wells have been self-operated during the winter 1959 -1960 with gratifying results.

Jan 1, 1960

By Royston Colbourne

Objectives Of Presentation - Identify specific risks - A fresh look at risk - Provide a moment reflection on risk - Open discussion on risk A route to solution and advanced thinking.

May 1, 2010

By L. D. Roper

"This paper introduces novel comminution flowsheet concepts involving a novel apparatus, eccentric-high-pressure-centrifugal-comminution (eHPCC), and forthcoming advantages to the international mineral processing community. eHPCC is one-machine synergising high-pressure-rolling surfaces, high-intensity-attrition and centrifugal classification. eHPCC has demonstrated: an absorbed power- intensity of 4 MW/m3; receipt of lump feed whilst producing 80% of product particles less than (p80) 120 µm (choke-fed, dry, open circuit without grinding media; an inert comminution environment); tramp metal tolerance, and a minimum embodied-free-energy saving of 15% as compared against conventional comminution (this comparison withstanding 133-times difference in throughput). Furthermore, this paper introduces: process design and operating characteristics of eHPCC (wet, dry, with and without grinding media); reline considerations (vertical-lift without confined-space). The international mineral processing community is invited to consider eHPCC as an alternative to conventional comminution circuits and/ or complimentary so as to enhance existing process flow sheets.INTRODUCTIONEccentric-high-pressure-centrifugal-comminution (eHPCC) was conceived in 2013 (Patents pending) and has the potential to eliminate the in-efficiencies and complexity of conventional tumbling mill circuits. During the development and testing phase eHPCC demonstrated improved energy efficiency and sustainability offsets.eHPCC will compliment any upstream feed source, be it run-of-mine (ROM), primary crushed rock, or any other conventional comminution stream such as tumbling mill oversize. Another novelemerging technology, Conjugate Anvil-Hammer Mill (CAHM) (Nordell and Potapov, 2011), receiving ROM, will be a complimentary open-circuit feed to eHPCC for very high throughput flow-sheets.eHPCC may compliment downstream process requirements through selective mineral liberation. Selective mineral liberation is entirely feasible as the ore is comminuted upon itself (autogenously) in the high pressure zone caused by the synchronous rotating components."

Jan 1, 2016

By V. H. Valenzuela

Materials in process or in stocks are quite relevant items in almost every plant, particularly in mining operations, where efficiency in rate of recovering material of interest becomes a key issue when production costs are evaluated. A manager requires information to do an effective use of the resources, especially when raw materials are involved. Losses associated to leaking, efficiency in the transformation process, performance of equipment, and operating conditions are a short list of items which must be properly identified and evaluated. Operations supervisors require information in order to keep key process variables under control. Because of these information needs, it is absolutely necessary to carry on a series of activities related with installation and maintenance of measuring equipment, sampling equipment, sample preparation, chemical analysis, statistical analysis, data handling and reports generation. These pieces of data must be managed on a wise manner in order to get the most of it, keeping always on mind data reliability. Normally, information related with metallurgical balance and even more, the metallurgical balance concept, is handled under an accounting criteria which does not allow dealing with the real world. This situation happens because the criteria utilized do not consider aspects such as bias and uncertainty associated with every measurement that affect the quality of the information and therefore conclusions drawn from it. The purpose of this paper is to give a few rules, necessary to follow, in order to develop an adequate Metallurgical Balance System for an operational point of view. The Gaussian approach for error propagation is used as a basis, allowing one to know the actual uncertainty of the balance and the way how it can be improved. A few real applications of this concept are listed, detailing experiences obtained from practice.

Jan 1, 2007

By Warwick D. Bullen

Gold mining in the Yellowknife area of the Northwest Territories started long before the concept of sustainability entered the academic literature and by the time the term enjoyed widespread public acceptance, the Yellowknife gold mining industry was in its sunset years. Nevertheless, the city of Yellowknife will long outlive the gold mines that it was founded on, demonstrating that not only can mining build sustainable communities, but that sustainable mining as a concept is an entirely valid precept. To this effect, the authors examine the complex economic and social aspects of the gold mining industry in the Yellowknife area over the last 70 years.

May 1, 2004