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By Jarrett. K. M.

Nobody has, as yet, made a perfect machine. Therefore, when a machine is operating and functioning as it is designed to do, there is always some vibration present. This is easily and simply measurable with present-day equipment and any increase in the amount of vibration will indicate a potential failure. When an increase is noted, vibration analysis can pinpoint the cause of the potential failure and remedial action can be taken before an unscheduled shutdown is necessary or a breakdown occurs.

Jan 1, 1972

By A. J. Stapleton

"This paper gives a brief description of the occurrence and development of the Needle Mountain mine at Gaspe Copper Mines, Limited and describes the trackless mining equipment used in this highly mechanized underground operation.Maintenance of the trackless equipment is considered in detail, with particular emphasis on scheduling and control, examination and inspection. All maintenance is carried out in an underground garage, and the facilities for maintenance and field repairs are also described. Maintenance costs are given for various units and the figures for different types of loading and haulage units are compared to support the trend toward larger units and the increasing use of rubber-tired loaders."

Jan 1, 1969

By Henrik Saxén, Mikko Helle, Hamid Ghanbari

In this study, a process integration approach in a primary steelmaking is investigated to evaluate future operation concepts of a steelmaking site considering sustainability issues. Mathematical programming is used to study the integration of the steel plant with chemical units for utilization of available off-gases in the system, and carbon capturing and sequestration unit. Different industrial carbon utilization options are considered to find the best route of development. A multi-period optimization model is developed based on site-wide mass and energy balances by considering the availability of the fuels and by-product gases and their consumption in the production system and a conceptual polygeneration system. The objective is to reach maximum economic profit while environmental aspects of integrated system are considered for different fuel systems, alternative blast furnace reductants and implementation of new process technologies. The model can provide useful information concerning techno-environmental and economic aspects for decision-making and can estimate optimal operational condition of current and future primary steelmaking under alternative scenarios. The results of the work illustrate the potential to develop steelmaking towards more sustainable operation in the future.

Jan 1, 2015

By Mauro Torres, Gabriel Zarate

"AngloAmerican used the extractant M5640 at Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde and uses PT5050MD at Los Bronces Division, which are aldoxime and modifier blends. In the first case, the modifier is the esther TXIB, while in the second case is the tridecanol TDA. It is a well-known fact that the extractant degrades while the modifier does not and with time the oxime/modifier ratio can change significantly, depending on the operating conditions of each plant.In order to evaluate the effect of this varying modifier content in the plant organic, especially in the organic losses, a complete metallurgical test work program was conducted at laboratory and pilot plant scale by Flomin SNF, a new extractant supplier. Results showed that the addition of an aldoxime without the modifier did not affect the chemical performance of the extractant, but there was a significant decrease in the viscosity and density of the organic.Based on the results obtained in the metallurgical program, it was decided to run plant scale tests at the SX plants of Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde. In these tests, instead of adding extractant to maintain the organic inventory, CuPROMEX 3406 which is an unmodified aldoxime was added until the original oxime/modifier ratio was reached. This was obtained after 6 months of operation and since then both plants are running with the extractant CuPROMEX 3302 both supplied by Flomin SNF.In the case of Los Bronces, the pilot plant work was completed and it is programmed to run similar plant scale tests. In this case, the oxime/modifier ratio increased and TDA will be added until reaching the original ratio.The plant results obtained at Mantoverde and Mantos Blancos, together with the pilot plant test results obtained at Los Bronces, are discussed in this paper."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. Budac, J. Dennett, D. Mayne, P. Nawrocki

"The Nickel/Cobalt operation in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta has successfully used an oxidative ammonia leach process to refine a variety of feeds into high quality nickel and cobalt products for over 60 years. Fundamental changes to the refining process were made when the major feed was converted from nickel concentrate to cobalt rich mixed sulphides in the early 1990s. Since the early 1990s, the production capacity of the refinery has expanded to match increases in both mixed sulphides and other feeds. In addition to increasing the production capacity of the refinery, other changes have been required in order to improve the operability and reliability of the refinery as well as to deal with increasingly stringent safety and environmental requirements. This paper describes recent changes at the refinery including changes to the flow sheet, improvements in unit operations, incorporation of new feeds, management of byproducts, and control of impurities.INTRODUCTION The Cobalt Refinery Company (Corefco) plant in Fort Saskatchewan processes nickel-cobalt mixed sulphide intermediate produced at the lateritic nickel mine and high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) facility in Moa Bay, Cuba. Both operations are jointly owned and operated by Sherritt International and General Niquel of Cuba. The mixed sulphide, along with other feed materials, is processed at the Fort Saskatchewan refinery using a pressure ammonia leach-hydrogen reduction process to produce nickel and cobalt metal. This refinery was originally constructed in 1954 to treat nickel concentrate from Sherritt’s Lynn Lake mine in Manitoba. (Benson and Colvin, 1964; Boldt and Queneau, 1967; Forward, 1953; Forward and Mackiw, 1955; Kerfoot, 1989) From the mid-1970s until the early-1990s, the facility operated as an independent refinery, treating nickel-bearing feeds from around the world. The flowsheet was changed in 1992 to address the increased cobalt content of the feed. (Cordingley and Krentz, 2005; Kerfoot and Cordingley, 1997) The flowsheet was adapted further in 2009 to improve cobalt speciation in the leach process, which allows better cobalt-nickel separation. The 2009 iteration is shown in Figure 1. Three ammonia leach stages were used to ensure high recoveries of nickel and cobalt. Underflow solids from the final leach stage contained mainly iron oxides. One of the features of the leach process is the innovative recycling of ammonia. Ammonia vented from the leach process in tail gas and from atmospheric tanks is recovered and recycled into the refinery using water based scrubbers and a high pressure distillation process. Indeed, roughly 250 t NH3/d is recovered as distillate and recycled back into the process. Also, air enriched with ammonia which is vented from the later first stage autoclaves is recycled to the lead first stage autoclaves to maximize oxygen and ammonia utilization."

Jan 1, 2017

By A. Motamedi

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

Aug 1, 2013

By J. W. Sanger

The establishment of a central steam-heating system in Winnipeg and its inauguration in October, 1924, has attracted a considerable amount of attention. Not only does it excite the curiosity of the engineer, but it has stirred financial and civic bodies throughout Canada to such a degree that there is now a much keener general interest in this particular type of public utility than has been shown heretofore. This does not mean that we may expect a mushroom growth of central-heating systems in all our larger Canadian cities in the near future, but it does mean that the pioneer work which Winnipeg is now doing will undoubtedly be used to guide others in their judgment as to the feasibility of similar projects elsewhere. The success of the municipal hydro-electric system in Winnipeg, and the low rates for electricity resulting therefrom, was without a doubt the most important factor influencing the citizens of Winnipeg to venture into this new field. The events which led up to the central steam-heating proposal in Winnipeg are interesting.

Jan 1, 1926

By D. W. Hayley

The rapid expansion of exploration drilling with anticipated production facilities for oil and gas in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories has created a demand for granular construction materials. This paper discusses the technique adopted and experience gained by the authors from several major resource evaluation programs in this remote area. The first part of the paper describes a methodology for deposit identification, logistics of helicopter and ground-based drilling operations and the sampling difficulties which are unique to permafrost: soils. The second part describes the exploitation of a large glaciofluvial deposit at YaYa Lake on Richards Island. Granular construction material is sparse in the delta region relative to projected demand. Exploitable sources of granular materials for aggregates or construction borrow are found in glaciofluvial deposits of Pleistocene age or in outcrops of Paleozoic bedrock. Glaciofluvial landforms can be located by reference to published surficial geology maps coupled with airphoto interpretation. Preliminary assessment of these features in a large region is most economically carried out during the summer months with a drill that is transportable by helicopter. Once prospective borrow pit sites are identified, a detailed ground-based winter drilling program must be undertaken to establish aggregate quality and quantity, and to provide information on natural features which could affect development. The glaciofluvial terrain has been highly modified by the formation of massive ground ice within the gravel deposits. This presents some unique pit development problems which are not encountered in a normal bedrock quarry operation.

Jan 1, 1977

By C. M. Anson

This paper describes the progresses used in the manufacture of steel wheel-centres, tyres and axles at the works of the Commonwealth Steel Products Co., Newcastle, N.S.W., Australia. The plant is adjacent to the Northern railway and consists of three main buildings, namely: the foundry, the forging and rolling shop, and the machine shop. The foundry contains a 6-ton Heroult electric furnace, together with all necessary mechanical appliances for moulding. Reheating furnaces, steam hammers and tyre rolling mill are installed in the forging shop. The machine shop contains lathes, boring machines, and hydraulic presses. Until this plant commenced operations all wheels used in Australia were imported, previ.ous to the war, from England and Germany, and latterly from England only. Besides being of great benefit to the country in that there is now a domestic source of supply of these articles, there is also the advantage of retaining the home market; and in addition, a small portion of the population are now engaged in highly technical occupations requiring a great degree of skill. The plant began to operate in October 1919, and by 1921 was in a fair way to meet the domestic demand for those articles of railroad equipment which it manufactures.

Jan 1, 1925

By Sylvain Picard

"RESUMELe gisement Silidor représente la dernière découverte effectuée dans le camp minier de Rouyn-noranda (fin 1985). Située à 5 km à I' ouest-nord-ouest de Rouyn-Noranda, ce gisement aurifère doit être mis en exploitation au cours du mois d’avril 1990. 11 est constitué par plusieurs facies minéralises comprenant une tonalité, un dyke mafique, une brèche carbonatée et par une veine de quartz. L’or se présente en particules très fines associées ou non à la pyrite. La zone d’altération hematitisee se développe sur une largeur de 30m environ de chaque cote de la veine. Une première étude structurale montre que la minéralisation s’est mise en place le long d’une zone de tension, orientée NNW, résultant de I' interaction de deux zones de cisaillement dextre orientées N270° et N300°. Les réserves diluées sont évaluées jusqu’ à 700 m de profondeur, à 4,78 Mt à 5,4 g/t Au. ABSTRACTThe Silidor ore deposit, located 5km WNW of Rouyn-Noranda, is the latest discovery made in the Rouyn-Noranda mining camp. Discovered at the end of 1985, this gold deposit will begin production in the spring of 1990. The deposit comprises several facies including a tonalite, a mafic dyke, a carbonated breccia and quartz vein. Gold is present as very fine grains, associated or not with pyrite. A 30m wide hematized alteration zone is developed on both sides of the structure. A structural analysis shows that the mineralization took place along a NNW oriented tension zone that resulted from the interaction of two dextral shear zones, oriented N270 and N300 respectively. The diluted ore reserves are estimated at4,78 Mt at 5,4 g/t down to a depth of 700m."

Jan 1, 1990

By R. White, C. Doyle, B. Martin, C. Díaz, J. Hrepic, G. Cuthbert

"A program initiated to improve the service life of the magnesite-chrome refractory in the top blown rotary converters at INCO’s Copper Cliff Nickel Refinery identified slag corrosion as a major wear mechanism. Target slag compositions were established to produce a non corrosive slag. A plant program to achieve this target slag by the addition of controlled amounts of do lime and MgO was instituted. Addition to rates of the slag modifiers was optimized based on the slag composition assays achieved and the requirement to address corrosion effects on the high alumina content ladle refractory. A60% gain in TBRC refractory performance was eventually achieved and has been maintained yielding a net annual savings of $700,000. A significant gain in available converter operating time has also been realized.IntroductionINCO’s Copper Cliff Nickel Refinery utilizes two top blown rotary converters (Fig. 1) to smelt a blend of semi-refined nickel concentrates, producing a granulated nickel matte suitable for the adjacent carbonyl based nickel refining operation. The converter, or TBRC, operation is a batch process composed of feed charging and melting, oxidation of the excess sulphur in the matte, and reduction of residual nickel oxide. The final matte, containing about 78% nickel, is tapped at 1600°C from the converter and is granulated in a sluice equipped with high pressure water jets."

Jan 1, 1997

By W. M. Goodwin

"IntroductionIN THE preceding paper we have learned about Canada's resources of metallurgical coal. There is an adequate amount in Nova Scotia, a very large reserve on the eastern flank of the Rocky mountains, and a strictly limited supply on the Pacific coast. Added to these is an unknown quantity of coking coal in the Peace River district, at present rather isolated but possibly capable of industrial development in the future.The chief use of metallurgical coal is to make iron and steel. For this, an adequate supply of iron ore is required. So we should now scan the Canadian supply of iron ore, the possibility of its increasing use at home, and the probable markets abroad.Trade in iron ore tends to be international, as is the case with many other raw materials. The present tendency with iron and steel, in contrast, is to keep its manufacture within national boundaries, and there is no evidence that this will change much in the years to come. We should keep these two points clearly in mind when considering the disposal of iron ore from Canadian mines. We should remember, also, that the modern blast furnace and steel plant has such a large output that a correspondingly large population, reasonably compact, is needed to consume its products.Large Ore Supply in East, Small in WestCanada has now four major iron ore fields, well situated to serve adequately the eastern half of the country. Wabana .and Labrador are well placed to serve overseas markets and plants on the eastern seaboard and eastern interior of the United States and Canada."

Jan 1, 1952

By S. Power Warren

Introduction It is generally conceded by flotation men that the condition at the surface of a particle of mineral or gangue is the most important factor controlling its behaviour in a flotation cell. Much research work has been devoted to the study of the forces that are active at the surface of the particle and of the effect of the surrounding solution upon these forces. Study of the relationship between mineral or gangue particles and gas bubbles indicates that, in the main at least, flotation is a physical phenomenon. The important factor, that of mineral-gas-bubble attachment, is unquestionably physical; however, modifications may be effected by chemical means, whereby the nature either of the surface of the particle or of the surrounding solution may be changed. For example, the coating of lead sulphide that forms on lead-carbonate ore particles when sodium sulphide is added greatly aids the flotation of the carbonate particles. Without going into the question as to why, under certain surface conditions, mineral particles will attach themselves to gas bubbles whereas under other conditions they will remain unaffected, it may be stated that there are three general conditions in a flotation pulp which control the attachment of the particle and the gas bubble.

Jan 1, 1933

By C. S. Parsons

Custom milling-plants have been operated successfully for a great many years on this continent. One of the outstanding examples in the United States is the Golden Cycle mill at Colorado Springs, which mills the gold-telluride ores from the Cripple Creek district. In eastern Canada, the Northern Custom Concentrators, Limited, at Cobalt, successfully treated the cobalt-silver ores of that area for a number of years. Flotation plants have entered the custom field in the past few years. The building of flotation concentrators to treat ores on a custom basis indicates the advance which has been made in flotation. In fact, three years ago it was considered almost impossible to treat successfully a mixture of miscellaneous ores by flotation. The methods used at that time were considered so delicate that any change, even in a single ore, would usually result in decreasing the effectiveness of the separation. Today we find four large custom flotation plants in the United States and one in Canada for treating complex lead-zinc ores from many different localities. The advent of these mills was brought about by the serious problem confronting the lead-smelting plants due to increasing amounts of zinc in the ores presented for treatment. It was necessary to penalize the mines shipping high-zinc ores. The penalty is justified, because high zinc in the lead blast-furnace charge not only decreases the tonnage of the furnace but increases the amount of flux necessary, as well as increasing the metal loss in the slag. It has been estimated that in the Salt Lake valley alone, 75,000,000 pounds of zinc was lost in the slag-dumps from the operations of three large lead blast-furnace plants. It has also been estimated that $150,000 worth of additional flux was required to slag this zinc. It was to avoid at least a part of this wste and to help maintain an ore supply that custom flotation concentrators were built by the smelters.

Jan 1, 1928

By T. Orser

In 2010 Newmont made the decision to purchase a 42 foot (ft) Semi-Autogenous Grinding (SAG) mill from Metso and a 28 Mega-Watt (MW) Gearless Mill Drive (GMD) from ABB for the Conga Project in Peru. The test and study work showed that a single line 42 ft SAG mill circuit gave the most favorable project economics in comparison to an equivalently powered single line 40 ft SAG mill circuit. This paper does not address the process design or the project economics, but instead focuses on the key aspects of the SAG mill design, GMD design and the associated component manufacturing. This paper also addresses, where applicable, the potential reliability differences between the initially proposed 40 ft SAG mill and the finally accepted 42 ft SAG mill.

Jan 1, 2012

By Brian L. Beninger

This paper discusses the application of the computer to coal preparation process predictions. In broad terms, the computer is used to perform two main functions. Firstly, the given float-sink analysis is interpolated and extrapolated to cover the entire actual range of raw coal specific gravity. Assumptions based on historical data must be made at times. Secondly, the partition curve, which, from historical data, defines the efficiency of a specific coal washing process, is applied to the washability data in order to determine the expected clean coal yield and quality. The vast amount of numerical work which is required to make a prediction of this type exhibits the need for computer methods in this area.

Jan 1, 1979

By J. Zhou1

"The extractive metallurgy of gold ores is largely driven by their grade and mineralogy. The concentration of gold in the crust is extremely low and highly variable, resulting ore variability in many gold and copper-gold deposits. More importantly, gold in an ore may occur in two or three forms (i.e. microscopic gold, submicroscopic gold and surface gold), making gold ore processing extremely challenging. Geometallurgy is a technique to document variability within an orebody and quantify and evaluate the impact of many factors including geology and mineralogy on grinding, flotation, leaching and metal recovery processes. The objective of gold geometallurgy is to reduce and minimize the technical risk in project evaluation, plant design, mine planning and production forecasting through geometallurgical modelling, representative sampling and subsequent systematic mineralogical and metallurgical testwork. Gold deportment study is a powerful tool in characterization of various gold ores. Effective and quantitative gold deportment results are critical and useful for predicting gold recovery and building geometallurgical models of gold ores. This paper provides an overview of geometallurgy fundamentals and applications in gold processing, with a focus being on the ore characterization and gold deportment study.INTRODUCTION Geometallurgy is an inter-disciplinary approach which links the geological, geochemical and mineralogical characteristics to the metallurgical performance of an orebody. Combined with mine planning, it has been used in scoping, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, process design and optimization of gold, copper-gold, copper-moly, nickel and iron projects among others (Williams & Richardson, 2004; Dobby, Bennett, Bulled, & Kosick, 2004; Bulled, 2007; Bulled, Leriche, Blake, Thompson, & Wilkie, 2009; Kormos, Sliwinski, Oliveira, & Hill, 2013; Muinonen, Sciortino, Korczak, & St-Jean, 2013; Leichliter & Larson, 2013; Leichliter, Jahoda, & Montoya, 2013; Hatton & Hatfield, 2013; Baumgartner et al., 2011, 2013; Hoal, Woodhead, & Smith, 2013; Zhou, 2013). The goal of a gold or copper-gold geometallurgical program is to characterize and understand the metallurgical variability of an orebody, such as comminution, gravity, flotation and cyanidation parameters and metal recoveries, and to build a geomet model which can be used to assist in mine planning and to predict the plant performance. In any geometallurgical program, representative sampling is the key to ensure the results of a geometallurgical study will reflect future performance once the plant is commissioned. Geometallurgy compliments, but does not replace, the traditional mineralogical and metallurgical approach during the development and operation of a gold or copper-gold project. Geometallurgy is a methodology for testwork design and a framework for mine planning. The first part of this paper provides an overview of geometallurgy fundamentals and application in gold ore processing."

Jan 1, 2017

By S. Flewelling, M. Scobie, G. R. Baiden

"SynopsisA feasibility study to develop a research program, the Mine Automation Plan (MAP), was recently completed. This was undertaken by a team comprised of Inco Ltd., Falconbridge Limited, the Canadian Centre for Automation and Robotics in Mining (CCARM) and the Centre for Resource Studies (CRS). The study was sponsored by PRECARN Associates, which is a consortium of thirty-six Canadian companies focussed on research and development in artificial intelligence and robotics. PRECARN Associates was formed in 1987 when a number of research proposals were funded in the fields of process control systems, robotics systems and intelligent engineering systems. In July 1991, PRECARN accepted the next round of proposals for research. The MAP project was one of the successful proposals, being awarded $100,000 for the development of a feasibility study defining a long-term R&D plan for underground hardrock mining automation.The development of the feasibility study started by addressing the fundamental structure of the mining process, and its relationship to the metallurgical process, over-all infrastructure support and management systems (Fig. I).Mining may be considered as comprising five subprocesses: (I) delineation; (2) development; (3) production; (4) backfilling; and (5) infrastructure support services. Within these subprocesses many applications for artificial intelligence and robotics exist. The mining process is dependent upon the interaction between the physical mining process and information. For example, the delineation process is dependent on geomechanical, geochemical and geophysical techniques to develop a model of the orebody based upon access to such data. This same relationship between the physical and information models holds true through the development, production, backfill and infrastructure support systems.The foundation for the MAP study has been the recent development by Inco Ltd. of an underground communications system (Fig. 2). The system has the ability to supply high bandwidth communications, over voice, data and video to mobile and stationary locations within the mining operation. It is seen to be the future backbone of a comprehensive, automated information system which should permit the application of the concept of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) to underground mining. CIM, through the automated flow of information, has been successful in integrating the engineering, production and various support groups in manufacturing."

Jan 1, 1994

By Arthur Barnes, Mika Muinonen, M. J. Lavigne

"The carbothermic reduction of chromite ore to produce high carbon ferrochromium is among the most energy intensive metal extraction processes performed, due not only to the highly endothermic nature of the reduction reactions but also the very high operating temperatures required for the smelting operation to separate the chrome-containing alloy from the discard slag.KWG Resources and XPS have collaborated over the last 3 years in developing a patented (Winter) processing alternative to the traditional smelting operation in which all processing takes place in the solid state at temperatures many hundreds of degrees lower than those required for liquid processing. Amongst the attractions of the process are much lower capital costs, as well as reduced operating costs, particularly of energy.A techno-economic study on the new process identifies a reduction in overall energy consumption of 70% against conventional processing and approximately 40% lower than the current best practice. By utilising more natural gas than coal based energy sources, the KWG process is able to show an overall 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with the most energy efficient current practice. The impact of the new process on future processing is therefore regarded as highly significant, with global energy reductions equivalent to the effect of completely eliminating energy demand from a country the size of Italy.The study concluded that the potential for this process to completely revolutionise the global ferrochrome industry should not be underestimated. Its impact reaches far beyond exploitation of a regional natural resource."

Jan 1, 2015

By Fathi Habashi

The year 1987 marked the centennial of the beginning of modern hydrometallurgy. On October 19, 1887 British Patent No. 14174 entitled Process of Obtaining Gold and Silver from Ores was issued*. The discovery was made by John Steward MacArthur (Fig. 1), a chemist-metallurgist, supported and assisted by Robert and William Forrest, two brothers practicing medicine in Glasgow. The discovery was made in the basement of their clinic. The process, which became known as the cyanidation process in reference to the alkali cyanide reagent used, immediately received industrial success in New Zealand in 1889 and in South Africa in 1890t. It displaced the chlorination method which had been in use. In 1903 MacArthur was awarded the first Medal of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy in London1131 - The cyanidation process was responsible for the doubling of gold production in the world in the two decades which followed its first application (Fig. 2). To the modern metallurgist, it may be surprising to think of MacArthur coming across an obscure reagent such as an alkali cyanide as a leaching agent for gold ores. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the background and the factors that led to this invention, the development of the understanding of the process, and the application of modern technology.

Jan 1, 1999