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DOME MINES, Limited, is a gold producer situated in the Porcupine area of Ontario, 500 miles north of Toronto. During the year 1960, '71 4,600 tons of ore were milled, yielding gold bullion valued at $6,025,370. Prior to conversion to natural gas, an average of 3,200 tons of coal was consumed annually, one third of which was obtained from Canadian sources with the remainder coming from the United States. Due to the distances involved, the freight charges increased the pithead cost by as much as ISO per cent. Steam is generated at a central boiler plant and used for timber treatment, plant heating and process steam. Until August, 1960, steam was supplied during the winter months by two water tube coal-fired boilers, each rated at 200 boiler horsepower at 100 per cent output. Steam requirement was as high as 150 per cent of boiler rating in the colder periods. The summer load was

Jan 1, 1962

By R. B. Paine, B. M. Wright

"Syncrude has entered a new era involving the use of pipeline slurries to convey oil sand to the extraction plant. Hydrotransport operations and base plant operations encounter vast performance differences when processing different types of oil sand. This paper describes the hydrotransport process, its history at Syncrude, methods of describing the source ore characteristic and plant performance. The use of this information within Syncrude and how it will be managed on an ongoing basis will also be described. IntroductionThe Syncrude Canada Ltd. site is located 43 km north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, on the Athabasca oil sand deposit. The Syncrude operation consists of mining, extraction, upgrading, utilities and other support facilities. The mined ore is sent to the extraction plant where water and solids are removed from the bitumen. The bitumen is then sent to the upgrading plants to be further processed into Syncrude Sweet Blend (a light sweet crude oil). Syncrude produced 73.5 Mbbls of Syncrude Sweet Blend in 1996 and produced 75.7 Mbbls in 1997. Prior to 1993, Syncrude moved ore from the pit to the extraction plant via four dragline / bucketwheel/ conveyor systems. These systems, supplemented by auxiliary ore crushers, satisfied the feed requirements of the extraction plant. Ore was conveyed to the control tower area and placed in the dump pocket via four radial stackers. Various blending scenarios occurred at this point, using feed from the four mining quadrants and from auxiliary feed crushers. Upon entering the extraction plant from the base mine, the oil sand passed through a series of tumblers where it was mixed with hot water and caustic. It then proceeded to one of four primary separation vessels where bitumen froth was floated off and the middlings and coarse fractions were recombined and sent to the tail oil recovery vessels, or TORs, for further processing."

Jan 1, 1999

By W. J. Bennett

"I AM very happy to have this opportunity of speaking to the Montreal Branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.I have selected as the subject of my remarks transportation in that area which is at present our only source of uranium -Northwest Canada. Considering the widespread interest in atomic energy, the end-product of uranium, it may be wondered why I have not chosen to speak of a more spectacular aspect of the development. I hope it will be evident from what I have to say that transportation plays a very dominant role in our effort to maintain a continuing supply from Eldorado's producing property at Port Radium on Great Bear lake and from its coming producer at Beaver lodge Lake in Northwest Saskatchewan. Moreover, transportation has such a bearing on the entire mineral development of the Northwest that it cannot help but be of concern to an organization of this kind. Finally, the transportation problem, of which I shall try to tell you something, is quite unique and the story of its solution or partial solution is, I believe, an interesting one.Transportation experience on this continent indicates that the cheapest method of moving freight is still by water -with •rail, highway, and air transportation following, and in that order •of economic significance. Excluding rail transportation, since the area has as yet no railway lines, this order also applies in the Northwest. I shall direct my remarks to the two kinds of transportation which serve our uranium producers -water and air."

Jan 1, 1952

By R. Roufail

Mineral exploration is in a race to employ drilling technology that can perform the exploration and drilling investigation in a fast and inexpensive manner. After an extensive study of the available drilling technologies in the market, coiled tubing was chosen as a tool to be employed for mineral exploration due to its flexible mobility and ease of operation with a minimum number of personnel. Since coiled tubing technology is primarily used in the oil and gas industry, it was important to re-design the coiled tube rig to drill hard rocks in a fast and feasible manner. The main requirements were to drill the smallest feasible hole diameter and go as deep in the ground as possible, in the shortest reasonable time. The drilled rock particles, cuttings, are to be collected and analysed at the surface for their metal mineral contents. The process also needs to be repeated multiple times at different locations for mapping, without the need to change the tube on the rig due to failure or potential failure. The focus of the new designed coiled tube, for drilling and mineral exploration, is three fold. First is to increase the rate of penetration in drilling by designing a small high speed turbo motor. Second is to determine the controlling parameters of cuttings transport to effectively lift the cuttings to the surface for analysis and third is to minimize the overall weight of the rig for manoeuvring and prolong the life span of the coiled tube string. In this paper, a small downhole turbo motor, 5cm outer diameter, is designed to achieve a rotation speed of up to 10,000 rpm to fit on a small bit, coiled tube drilling assembly. The motor design utilised multiple finite volume and finite element analysis softwares for fluid flow study and fluid structural interaction analysis. The paper is also introducing the concept of a flow slurry loop that is designed to lift the cutting particles to the surface for mineralisation analysis. The controlling parameters of the cuttings transportation are the particle?s physical properties such as size, density, concentration and shape, as well as the rheological properties of the carrying fluid, drilled hole angle, as well as the fluid flow rate and flow dynamics within the annulus gap between the coiled tube and drilled hole. Such parameters are addressed via experimental work as well as numerical analysis. The paper is also presenting the selection and testing procedure of the material type for the coiled tube string. The tube needs to be light in weight for overall rig weight and its transportability. The tube is also required to drill several dozens of investigation holes before failing due to fatigue. A fatigue bending machine is designed to test the endurance limit of candidate materials for coiled tube strings and a performance index methodology is followed for material selection of the optimum material. The coiled tube rig is designed to be light in weight for transportation and relocation. It is also required to speed the drilling operation with the minimum footprint and reclaim the drilled rock particles for mineral composition analysis at the surface.

Aug 1, 2013

By L. McFarlane, D. Rollwagen

"Madawaska Mines produces a uranium precipitate (83-85% u3o8) using a magnesium oxide slurry to precipitate the uranium from solution. The solution, at approximately 9""0 g/l u3o8 is neutralized to a pH of 7.0. At the Eldorado Nuclear Refinery in Port Hope, the precipitate is not acceptable as a single feed to the refinery process. It was discovered that a 2% silica impurity caused emulsion problems in the solvent extraction column.After extensive studies of possible solutions, such as two-stage precipitation and solvent extraction, an acceptable solution was found. The selective precipitation of uranium at a pH of 3.5-4.0 using Hydrogen Peroxide produces an almost silica free product of higher purity (90-93% u3o8) to that of straight magnesium oxide precipitation. Introduction Madawaska Mines Limited is located four miles southwest of Bancroft, Ontario. The annual production of u3o8 is approximately 610,000 pounds. To produce the final product or yellowcake, nine separate steps are required. These are (1) grinding, (2) dewatering, (3) leaching, (4) acid filtration, (5) clarification, (6) ion exchange, (7) precipitation, (8) washing, and (9) drying and packaging. To illustrate these steps, a complete flowsheet of the mill is displayed on page three.The yellowcake is sent to Eldorado Nuclear Limited in Port Hope, Ontario for further concentrating and refining. As part of their routine specification check, a test called the amenability test is performed. This test indicates how a particular dissolved yellowcake product reacts to solvent extraction. The Madawaska yellowcake did not pass the test."

Jan 1, 1982

By W E. vanSteenburgh

The Polar Continental Shelf Project was initiated in 1959 to provide an administrative and logistic vehicle for research in the physical sciences of the land, sea and channel area of the Arctic Archipelago. Most of the scientists are supplied on secondment from the professional branches of the Department. The yearly expeditions number some eighty scientists and sub-professional staff, and they are supported by a fleet of fixed-winged aircraft and helicopters. Accurate positioning is obtained by the use of a Decca Lambda navigational system which is moved as the area of interest is shifted. The Project is designed to accommodate not only physical scientists, but to provide facilities for other scientist who may have an interest in the area under study. The main research scope of the Project includes topographical surveys, hydrography, oceanography, geology, including marine sedimentary studies, gravity, magnetics, seismology, glaciology and geography. The Polar Continental Shelf Project was initiated and recommended by the Committee on Northern Development in 1958.

Jan 1, 1963

By Y. Wang

Phosphates and fluorides are used as regulators for the removal of silicates from diasporic-bauxite both in direct and reverse flotation. While using dodecylamine chloride as a collector, micro-flotation studies showed that sodium hexametaphosphate has stronger depressing power on diaspore than on silicate minerals with increasing sodium hexametaphosphate concentration at pH 6.5, but sodium fluorosilicate shows poor depression on diaspore with increasing sodium fluorosilicate concentration at the same pH. Zeta potentials of diaspore and silicate minerals become more negative both in the presence of sodium hexametaphosphate and sodium fluorosilicate. Adsorption density studies indicated that the adsorption density of sodium hexametaphosphate on diaspore is much higher than that on silicate minerals at the concentration of 75 mg/L. FTIR spectroscopy studies show that sodium hexametaphosphate interacted with the Al atoms exposed on the diaspore and silicate minerals surfaces to form P?O?Al bonds through the P02 groups. It is possible that sodium fluorosilicate interacted through F- or [SiF6]2- with silicate minerals surfaces based on the analysis by AES.

Jan 1, 2006

By W. B. Gallup

"The Athabasca Bituminous Sands have been subject to sporadic investigations since the beginning of the century. It is probable, however, that much of what has been learned and achieved concerning the deposit has been accomplished in the last few years.Current exploratory techniques, generally speaking, involve a moderate amount of coring. Electrologs and often radioactive logs are run on most holes and certain types of these archieved excellent qualitative analysis when backed up by some core analysis for calibration. Exploration - is moving back from the river and consequently a permanent network of access roads has been developed within the last few years. Most of the operations take place in the winter time. There are about 90 permit holders at the present time.Some exploratory techniques are set up to go into recovery experiments where rich tar beds are found. It is probable that in the final analysis there will be several successful methods of extraction and that both mining and various in situ techniques will be applicable depending upon the problem locally."

Jan 1, 1960

By M. Côté, H. Pépin, Y. Richer, C. Gingras

Rolls-Royce Canada has been nominated as a Rolls-Royce Center of Excellence for repair of fan blades in 2003. One of the challenges of the Rolls-Royce Canada Component Repair Center of Excellence team is to reduce cost and time of inspection while ensuring trace ability and quality of the inspection performed on the fan blades. In the context of the dimensional control process optimization, and following the positive conclusions of initial trials carried out in 2003, the technical authorities at RRC have selected the SPG data 3D(TM) technology as a development base for dimensional control programs. The main goal of this development initiative is to develop and support an inspection system to perform the dimensional control and inspection of different components at the Montreal Fan Blade Repair Center of Excellence. The final objective of the program is to build a server platform capable to support different inspection sites within the Montreal facility for the future. This paper presents the certification process of the technology according to the VDI-VDE 2633 certification standards and some results of the fan blade inspection program of the BR 710, BR 715 and TAY according to the JES 195 engineering standards specification.

Jan 1, 2006

By H. J. Conolly

The area around Osisko lake, the Horne mine, and the town of Rouyn, in northwestern Quebec, presents a most interesting structural problem. The present discussion is confined to an area around Osisko lake, about six miles long and three miles wide, shown in Figure 1. The writers are particularly indebted to Mr. Thayer Lindsley, of Ventures Limited, who sponsored the investigation and gave permission to publish this paper. Mr. H. L. Roscoe and Mr. Oliver Hall, of Noranda Mines, Limited, gave every possible assistance; and the Noranda geologists, Mr. H. M. Butterfield, Dr. Peter Priee, and Dr. G. G. Suffel, contributed many data and ideas. It is a pleasure to acknowledge also the fuidance of Dr. W. F. James and Dr. B. S. Buffam and the full use made o their maps and criticism. Dr. M. E. Wilson and Dr. A. Lang, of the Geological Survey of Canada, kindly furnished data on the geology in neighbouring fields. Mr. E. Bailey assisted ably in the field, and Mr. H. F. King kindly reviewed the text. Memoir 166 of the Geological Survey of Canada, The Geology and Ore Deposits of the Roztyn-Harricanaw Region, Quebec, by Cooke, James, and Mawdsley, proved an invaluable source of information. STRATIGRAPHY The following stratigraphie sequence is based in part upon the interpretation of the structure as outlined in this paper:

Jan 1, 1936

By W. E. Oching, M. M. Ghomshei

Attracting and retaining workers in mining industry has become an uphill battle to many mining companies. As workers with significant experience retire, it is getting more difficult to attract not only new workers but also top talent to the mining industry to replace professionals exiting the workforce. To make matters worse, students’ enrolment in the post-secondary mining programs in Canada and USA is continuously declining year after year for reasons not directly linked to job market. This raises a question of how can the future needs of mining be met? This paper focuses on avenues for collaboration of industry and educational institutions to meet the current and future needs of mining. It provides effective approaches that mining institutes can engage with program advisory committees, role of the mining industry in supporting both faculty and students, how to harness the benefits of diverse workforce in the country and use of innovative technologies to attract young workers in mining. This work presents Human Resources (HR) professionals with tools that they can use to hire and retain skilled workers with strong interest to work in the mining industry. It also provides HR professionals with an opportunity to re-evaluate their restructuring practices during economic downturns as they reduce number of employees on temporary or permanent basis. The paper stresses the need of working together of the mining stakeholders including mining industry, academic institutions, First Nations’ communities and provincial(state) and federal governments to meet the current and future demands of mining as the industry experiences shortage of labour and low students’ enrolment in post-secondary mining programs. It is shown that mining educational institutes can enhance their programs and recruitments through establishing a better communication with all stakeholders. This communication can be facilitated by creating a national advisory board, to work with all mining programs at the national level for sustainable mining.

Jan 1, 2023

By Tim Deans

This paper will address methods to manage hydraulic hose and coupling inventory so that parts will be available to build assemblies for the vast majority of equipment with as little inventory as possible. Topics also to be covered will include some basic hose assembly tagging techniques that will help keep equipment running by tracking problem hoses and building ?band aid? kits, having problem hoses premade in stock, and inventory usage tracking (one of the biggest problems for any inventory manager is knowing which couplings have been used so they can re-order). Cradle to grave tracking of hydraulic and industrial hoses insures reliable service of vehicles and ethical disposal of old hoses and couplings. With accountability for disposal of hose products that may contain chlorine (neoprene tube material in some hydraulic hoses) and carbon black that will be scrutinized more closely in the future, a proactive approach should be adopted in order to minimize maintenance facility problems.

Aug 1, 2013

By X. Cao, B. S. Naik, D. L. Chen, P. Wanjara

AZ31B-H24 Mg alloy sheets with a thickness of 2 mm were friction stir lap welded (FSLWed) at two tool rotational rates of 1000 and 1500 rpm and two welding speeds of 10 and 20 mm/s. The tensile behavior of the FSLWed AZ31B-H24 Mg alloy was then evaluated at low (-40°C), room (25°C), and high (180°C) temperatures. It was observed that the failure load increased with decreasing tool rotational rate and increasing welding speed. The maximum failure load occurred at a tool rotational speed of 1000 rpm and a welding speed of 20 mm/s at all temperatures tested. It was also noticed that at the high test temperature, the samples failed along the sheet interface, i.e. shear fracture. At the low and room temperatures, the samples failed on the advancing side (AS) of the top sheet near the interface between thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) and stir zone (SZ). The different modes of fracture observed are associated with the hooking defect.

Jan 1, 2014

By Ram Song, Yohei Harada, Shinji Kumai, Kazuho Otsuka

"Recently, vertical-type high-speed twin-roll casting (HSTRC) has been developed. The HSTRC shows extremely high cooling rates over 1,000 K/s even at the mid-thickness area. The fabricated strip has many metallurgical characteristics; super-saturation of alloying elements, fine solidified structure, and homogeneous distribution of fine constituent particles. In Al-Mn based alloys, the Mn alloying element can be supersaturated in the a-Al matrix and also form Mn-containing constituent particles during solidification. The Mn supersaturation and the distribution of primary/secondary particles in cast products affect the metallurgical behavior in the down-stream processing and can improve mechanical properties of the final products. In this study, Al-Mn based alloy strips were fabricated by HSTRC with various Mn contents. The solidified microstructure, constituent particles and its distribution, and Mn solubility were investigated in the as-cast condition. Due to the high cooling rate of HSTRC, fine constituent particles were homogeneously distributed, and coarse intermetallics were not observed. Mn solid solubility was estimated by electrical conductivity. The estimated Mn solubility was equivalent between strip surface and mid-thickness area.INTRODUCTION Al-Mn based alloys, as non-heat treatable wrought aluminum alloys, are widely used in packaging and heat exchanger for automobile industry. Besides Mn, Al-Mn based alloys often contain Fe and/or Si as alloying elements or natural impurities. During solidification, Mn can be super-saturated in the Al matrix, and also form Mn-containing constituent particles. Additionally, in the subsequent thermal-mechanical processes such as homogenization, rolling, and intermediate annealing, Mn in solid solution precipitates out of the Al matrix as secondary particles. The size, distribution, type, and the amount of dispersoids including constituent particles affect to texture evolution, recrystallization behavior, and final mechanical properties of wrought Al-Mn based alloys (Huang et al., 2016; Huang & Marthinsen, 2015; Engler et al., 1995; Muggerud et al., 2013). Therefore, controlling the initial level of Mn super-saturation and the distribution of constituent particles are important in the cast Al-Mn based alloys."

Jan 1, 2018

By R. Duinker

"This paper, an update to the 2003 paper titled "Knowledge, Technology and Profit" (Twigge-Molecey, 2003) analyzes 45 "problem projects" from the mining and metals industry over the last eleven years representing $133 billion in CAPEX. The projects have been designated as "problem projects" as they did not meet their owner’s initial expectations for project performance as defined in the paper. This paper explores some of the challenges that were present, through interviews with the knowledgeable individuals that were familiar with the projects and investigations using publically available information. The aim of the exercise was to identify the key challenges faced by the projects, and the contributing factors that led to the project failures so that the lessons can be applied to future projects.The project challenges have been categorized into four themes, technical, organizational, environmental & social and missing "homework" prior to board approval. Of noteworthy interest is that environmental permitting aspects have risen to become a significant and notable contributor to problem projects in 11 years from 2003 to 2014. It is further observed that many projects have been challenged by increasing size and complexity and with execution in more remote locations since the previous paper.It is a reality that every project will face challenges. Some projects are simply more challenging than others, and success or failure of the project is often determined by whether the project team is fully prepared to respond to the challenges. This in turn is largely dependent on whether the project "homework" was adequately completed and considered for all aspects of the project."

Jan 1, 2015

By Roger T. Laine

"The Carswell structure, located in the western part of the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan, has been extensively explored since 1967. This exploration has been successful and lead to the discovery, in 1970, of the D sandstone-hosted unconformity related deposit. By the end of 1984, five additional basement-hosted unconformity related deposits had been delineated: the OP and N discovered in 1970, the Claude in 1971, the Dominique-Peter in 1981, and the Dominique-Janine in 1984. The D deposit has been mined out; the Claude open-pit has already produced more than 500 tonnes of uranium, the development of the Dominique-Peter underground mine (first phase) has been completed, and production from the latter started in 1985.All six deposits are located in the southern part of the Aphebian metamorphic core, 18 km in diameter, which has intruded at least 1250 metres of Helikian Athabasca Group sediments during a cryptoexplosion event at 480 Ma, unrelated to the emplacement of uranium mineralization. The metamorphic rocks, affected by the Hudsonian Orogeny, are divided in two lithostratrigraphic units: the Peter River gneiss, aluminous gneiss series, and the Earl River complex, mixed quartzofeldspathic and mafic gneiss series. A well developed regolith profile is recognizable in the south along the contact with the sandstone and inside the metamorphic core sometimes associated with conformable sandstone beds.Basement and sandstone-hosted uranium deposits show many similarities:-linkage to unconformity;-mineralogy and geochronology with a first phase mineralization characterized by a polymetallic sulphide-uraninite-brannerite assemblage dated at 1150 to 1050 Ma, a second phase characterized by a simple sulphide-uraninite assemblage dated at 890 to 820 Ma, and a third phase characterized by a pitchblende-hematite dated at 380 Ma; and,-linkage to early Hudsonian structures with remobilization of these structures during intense hydrothermal alteration resulting in Mg chlorite-illite halos."

Jan 1, 1986

Iron deposits of every major type except laterite occur in Quebec, and form one of the major iron ore resources of the world. The five principal types of ore described are: (1) hematite-goethite masses derived from iron formation through the oxidation and enrichment of iron by natural processes; (2) taconites consisting of fine-grained iron formation; (3) metataconites composed of coarse-grained iron formation; (4) iron and titanium oxide minerals in massive or disseminateed deposits within gabbro and anorthositic rocks; and (5) replacement or contact? metasomatic magnetite deposits associated with complex silicate and skarn mineral assemblages. Most of the ore, although relatively low grade, is easy to concentrate. The physical properties of the ores that affect the choice and efficiency of beneficiation methods are described. The extent to which iron ore from this area can be utilized in the future will depend on the continued use and improvement of highly efficient methods of beneficiation.

Jan 1, 1964

By A. G. Slade

"This paper deals with the direct application of rock mechanics in the underground mines at the Sudbury Operations of Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd. It covers mining methods, the use of photoelastic models, the fore-casting of rock strains and their elimination, closure methods and other common methods of ground control.INTRODUCTIONROCK MECHANICS IS A STUDY IN ROCK BEHAVIOUR and, although it is being termed a new science, it has been practiced since the industry began. Every person involved with rock excavations, from the mine superintendent to the stope driller, is actually practising rock mechanics. They probably call it by another name -experience, and applications of this knowledge are in evidence throughout the Falconbridge operations. Only in recent years have formal rock mechanics studies been employed to provide technical assistance to the mine operators in their primary objective of producing ore safely."

Jan 1, 1968

By M. Ruel

In today's highly competitive worldwide market, it is becoming extremely important for managers to make sure that all resources are used where needed the most. That way, all resources are generating added value, process control equipments are maintained in an optimal state for best performance, and final product is produced at least cost. Performance monitoring is the only way to ensure that everyone is working on top priorities toward the same goal. How can we add value to these warehouses of data? The data is there and the information is hidden; it is just waiting to be extracted. A process performance monitoring system is able to determine if a loop, a system, a unit, or a plant meets the expected performances. The system prioritizes the areas that need attention. It also provides historical reports of the plant status by areas, by loops, and by identified problems. This information is provided to different categories of users in an appropriate format for each one. The system also includes diagnostics and tools to detect and analyze problems.

Jan 1, 2007

By Philippe Henry

HYDROMETAL is using suitable technology to reintroduce lost metal units into the industrial cycle, thereby saving resources and energy while keeping the environment cleaner. Hydrometal is treating on average 60000 t per year of complex materials through a unique hydrometallurgical recycling concept. Zn, Cu, Sn, and Pb are the most important in volume, but in the last 15 years, Hydrometal has also developed a few specific recycling treatments for the minor metals including Ge, In, Co, etc. In 2010, Hydrometal commenced the recycling of RE (Rare Earths) from wastes generated by the RE refining industry in Europe and has decided to initiate new recycling projects for the RE recovery from the magnet or glass industries. Two case studies of recycling of materials in our integrated hydrometallurgical facility (Hydrométal) in Belgium are discussed: recycling of cerium from polishing sludges; and recycling of Ni- Co from cement produced in the zinc industry.

Jan 1, 2014