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By Marius Jacobs

"Safety performance in many companies and even industries has stalled in the few years. Accidents rates are at a "plateau" and yet, serious accidents and fatality rates are not. In more dramatic cases, such as in the BP Texas disaster, organizations that have "exemplary" safety statistics, suddenly have a catastrophic or multi-fatality event occurring. Other classic examples are the Piper Alpha disaster and NASA’s Challenger and Columbia disasters and even the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Looking into the root causes of these accidents provides an insight into the events and deficiencies that led up to the accident, but what are the common features in the organization’s mindset? What characterizes these organizations’ decision-making, their approach to safety and to risk and are there specific cultural features that can be delineated? The research and review presented in this paper covers a period since 1994, which started in the Australian resource industry and since then covered international events. The features of these organizations are summarized as the seven deadly delusions, based on extensiveresearch since 1997 of organizations that suffered unexpected disasters.The Piper Alpha Oil Rig disaster in the North Sea, on the 6 July 1988, was one of the most pivotal events in safety around the world. It changed the thinking and focus of governments, whole industries and led to numerous books and papers. It resulted in new legislation, textbooks and a critical self-examination by the oil and gas industry.In short, an explosion and fire occurred when a pipe started leaking gas and ignited. A temporary flange, with no safety valve, was used to block off this pipe during a maintenance operation the previous shift. The permit to advise operators not to start the pumps on this line was misplaced and lost. Several deficiencies, problems and system failures coincided. A key factor was that the water deluge system was inoperable at the time and failed to extinguish the large fire that erupted, followed by an even larger gas explosion. The accommodation unit, situated on top of the oil rig, was the main "killing field" - most men gathered here to await instructions (which never came) and where they died from smoke inhalation. Later, a large explosion of the gas pipeline from an adjoined rig exploded and killed more people.The line of events and the associated system failures are all very relevant in the analysis of the accident, and provide the only insight into what caused the accident. But much "further back", inside the organization’s culture, lurks more dark matter. The first inclination is to ask what was "deficient" in the culture. Did they not care enough about safety, or about their people? Did they have a culture where production decisions were more important than safety considerations? Did they ‘coerce’ supervisors and employees to ignore safety precautions or did they just "fly by the seat of their pants"?Not surprisingly, it is very difficult to identify the true nature of the culture in that business because in such an aftermath of death and destruction, no one dare say that the safety culture was a ‘positive one, focused and caring’ or that the company was doing well in safety and that this is only a freak accident. Indeed, there were many deficiencies in the organization’s systems and procedures, such as the permit to work system.But there are some niggling questions: How is then that the Piper Alpha Oil Rig was actually considered the company’s most productive and safest oil rig in the North Sea? Why would this rig win a safety competition, 6 months before the disaster, with the deficient permit as its most outstanding successful system?"

Jan 1, 2014

By Niklas Willemsen

Introduction to SVCs ? SVC = Static var Compensator ? Dynamic step-less control of reactive power without switching of passive components: ? Voltage control/stabilization ? Harmonics- and flicker mitigation ? Dip mitigation ? Main components: ? TCR (Thyristor Controlled Reactor) ? Tuned harmonic filters ? Control- and cooling systems ? Typical applications: ? Mine hoists ? Large mining complexes ? EAF, SAF, rolling mills, wind/solar farms etc..

Aug 1, 2013

By John R. Craynon

Science and Sustainable Development Each of the ?pillars? of sustainable development are directly impacted by mining. We need science to understand exactly how mining contributes to each. Overview of presentation ? History of mining and sustainable development ? Role of stakeholders in measuring/accepting contributions of mining to SD ? Identified ?shortfalls? in understanding mining and SD ? Science needs

Aug 1, 2013

By K. C. Viveros, R. R. Ambriz, C. García, F. De Villèle, A. Talha, D. Jaramillo

Cold hole expansion on base metal, weld metal and heat affected zone of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy welds was simulated by means of finite element method. Three dimensional compact test models with a previous fatigue crack length with a relation of ??= a/W = 0.3, were used to analyze the hole expansion process. Considering the local mechanical properties for each zone of the welded joint, the optimal expansion degree (1.64 to 2.46 %) was determined. The residual stress field, through thickness, after the expansion process in all welding zones, were correlated with the crack opening displacement obtained by finite element analysis. It was observed, that compressive residual stress fields for a post-expansion, in different crack lengths, provided a crack closure mechanism for base metal, weld metal and heat affected zone. Contrary, the crack remained open when residual stresses are positive. The results are given as tangential stresses versus distance from the edge of the cold expansion and crack opening displacement as a function of applied load.

Jan 1, 2014

By A-A. Bogno, Ch. -A. Gandin, A. Maitre, H. Henein

Most metallic materials are produced from their liquid state. In order to control the properties of industrial products, it is very important to understand their solidification path and the resulting microstructures which can be significantly affected by melt undercooling. High undercooling results in rapid solidification and a refined microstructure with minimal microsegregation. This paper reports on the analysis of rapidly solidified Al-Cu droplets obtained by a single fluid atomization process, Impulse Atomization. A quantitative analysis by Rietveld refinement method of the Neutrons Diffraction data was carried out to determine the fraction of the intermetallic Al2Cu. Knowing the fraction of Al2Cu, the eutectic fractions and corresponding dendritic and eutectic undercoolings were estimated using the metastable extensions of solidus and liquidus lines of the Al-Cu system calculated by Thermo-Calc. In addition to this work, a model of microsegregation coupled with ThermoCalc software via TQ (application programming interface of ThermoCalc) and the Wang-Beckerman model for dendritic growth velocities has been developed for binary alloys. This has led to the development of a phenomenological relationship between primary phase undercooling and initial growth velocity. A comparison of estimated primary undercoolings using a coarsening model with the adiabatic undercoolings for each alloy composition has confirmed that solidification occurs under adiabatic conditions during recalescence.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. Y. Hascoet, M. Marya, S. Marya

Additive manufacturing (AM) brings disruptive changes over the ways parts and products are designed, tested, qualified, assembled, inspected and marketed. With these changes come real technical challenges, therefore, concerns that mainly stem from the maturity and diversity of today’s AM processes, the feedstock materials, and the interactions between the numerous process parameters. Additive manufacturing is somewhat similar to laser and electron-beam conduction-mode welding and involves a multitude of dynamic physical events between projected feedstock and moving heat source that influence process robustness, thus deposit properties. For this paper, a simple air vent, selected for its size, thin-wall, hollow geometry and materials (specifically 316L) was made using a laser-based powder blown technology (Construction Laser Additive Direct or CLAD) and systematically inspected by optical microscopy, microhardness indentations, and electron-back-scattering diffraction (EBSD). This exemplary part is first analyzed to broadly discuss metallurgical phenomena in additive manufacturing, particularly solidification and texture development. The paper then expands to other alloys and continues correlating metallurgical observations to process parameters and part properties, also borrowing from past experience with the same 3D printing CLAD system.

Jan 1, 2014

By Zachary Mayer

Agenda ? Kidd Mine ? Background ? Problem & Opportunity ? Challenges associated to depth - Production Rates - Productive Work Time - Operational Delays - Transfer Levels - Mucking Time - Impact on Hoist ? LHD Automation ? Sandvik AutoMine Lite ? Expected Benefits Kidd Mine - Background ? Located in Northern Ontario, Canada ? Underground base metal mine operating since 1966 ? Total 148 Mt mined (2.31% Cu, 6.08% Zn, 75 gpt Ag) ? 2.35 Mt/Y from stopes as deep as 9500 ft (2.9km) below surface ? Mining method: blasthole open stoping ? Mine/Mill: 1263 employees and contractors ? 2012 National John T. Ryan Safety Award

Aug 1, 2013

By Patrick Cloutier

Presentation objectives ? Introduce discrete-event 3D computer simulation as a tool to design, improve and optimize construction projects: ? Describe a real typical construction project planning issue. ? Present an applied use of simulation to solve this issue. ? Detail benefits of using simulation versus traditional planning methods.

Aug 1, 2013

By Hugo Julien

According to OSHA 29 CFR Part 1910.119 (Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals), Canadian Provincial Safety Standard Acts or Federal laws, the owner of stationary equipment (Boilers, stacks, piping, pressure vessel, etc.) should follow a complete inspection plan and follow an Integrity Operating Windows (IOW’s) adapted for each of them. Some important variables shall be included in the inspection plan such as specific damage mechanisms versus alloy used in the original design, process conditions, etc. Some North American’s standards exist, like the one listed in ASME PTB-2-2009, to help owner to create such inspection program. The new API RP 584, Integrity Operating Windows (IOW’s) can guide Mining & Metals owners to find out their specific IOW’s. Inspection frequencies are often described in the Jurisdiction Safety Acts such as the British Columbia B.C. Reg. 104/2004, etc. but often left in the owner representative responsibility (Bill C-21, federal Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act). Every deficiency should be repaired according to recognized Codes such as ASME PCC-2, etc.. If flaws not conforming to the original Code of construction are found, this article will introduce the Fitness-For- Service assessment principles to be able to accept it without any repairs.

Jan 1, 2014

By Adam Powell, Matthew Earlam

INFINIUM, Inc. is scaling up a new molten salt electrolysis process for producing rare earth metals. Instead of conventional carbon anodes, this process uses Pure Oxygen Anodes™ which employ a stabilized zirconia solid electrolyte between the molten salt and anode. This eliminates two problems with today's rare earth metal production technology. First, it eliminates carbon anodes and contamination of the product by carbon and its impurities, enabling 10-100 times larger batch size than current practice, and lower labor costs. Second, it eliminates emissions of perfluorocarbons (PFC) such as CF4 and C2F6, which are very problematic greenhouse gases with 6000+ times the global warming potential of CO2. The zirconia also enables a sealed vessel with no LiF emissions, creates a reducing environment enabling use of low-cost welded steel vessels, and either produces a high-purity oxygen by-product or can use natural gas to reduce the necessary electrical energy with no HF production. This paper will describe the technology and its current status for rare earth metal production.

Jan 1, 2014

By Dave Rose, David G. Meadows, Mike Westendorf

"Copper Mountain’s concentrator was commissioned in May 2011. The circuit consists of a 34’ x 20’ EGL SAG mill, a Raptor 900 pebble crusher and two 24’ x 39’6” ball mills. Each mill is equipped with a 2 x 8500 HP dual pinion drive system. The plant was designed to process 1585 mtph of SAG feed. From startup, the mill struggled to meet the required production rates. Over time, a major initiative that involved blasting and fragmentation, optimization of the SAG mill in terms of discharge grates, ball size and slurry density, and operation of up to three mobile pre-crushing plants resulted in significant increases in throughput. In parallel, a number of modeling tools, including JK SimMet, were run based on plant benchmarking exercises. Samples collected at the mine site during ramp up confirmed the very competent nature of the ore with drop weight - A*b values of less than 24 being recorded on a variety of plant feeds and lithologies. After due consideration including demonstration of proof of concept, a new pre-crushing circuit incorporating an XL2000 cone crusher and associated screening equipment was designed, constructed and commissioned at the site in August 2014. This paper reviews the history of the original circuit design, the various optimization steps taken and impacts, together with the final pre-crushing circuit and net results.IntroductionThe Copper Mountain Mine is located approximately 20 km south of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada (refer to Figure 1). The region has a long history of copper mining dating back to 1923. The Copper Mountain camp occurs in the 'eastern volcanic belt' of the Nicola Group (Monger, 1989). It is an alkali copper-gold deposit in which the volcanic strata are intruded by early Jurassic dykes, sills, irregular plugs and zoned plutons (Woodsworth et al., 1992). The stratified rocks are relatively fresh with slight metamorphism in the local contact regions."

Jan 1, 2016

By Ian Thomson

The Social License to Operate ? We are operating in an era where social license in the resource industry is as important ? if not more important ? than mineral potential ? Concept proposed by Placer Dome executive Jim Cooney in 1997 as essential requirement for the future survival of the mining industry ? ?You don?t get your social license by going to a government ministry and making an application or simply paying a fee? It requires far more than money to truly become part of the communities in which you operate.? Pierre Lassonde, President of Newmont Mining Corporation (2003). What it is ?Granted by the local community ? Intangible, informal, non-permanent ? Has to be earned and then maintained ? Defined as ? Ongoing Acceptance (a lower level) ? Ongoing Approval (a higher level) ? Expression of the quality of the ?relationship?

Aug 1, 2013

By William Winsor, Harold L. Snyder

"AbstractShould oil and gas be proven in commercial quantities on the Labrador Shelf, current technology is not adequate for production operations in this severe environment, which includes yearly invasion of pack ice and icebergs. The fishery of this section of the North Atlantic is a vital resource to which a major oil spill or blow-out would impose an intolerable burden, This means that production systems must be designed and built to be fail-safe.The experiences of mining in Bell Island and Cape Breton have shown that it is possible to operate beneath the ocean floor, and this technology may hold the key for safe, reliable and economic production, This paper attempts to define particular problems and outline possible solutions.IntroductionOUR DISCUSSION is subject to the assumption that large hydrocarbon reservoirs will be discovered in the sedimentary basin of the Labrador continental margin. The petroleum industry has not attempted to operate in a harsher area. The Labrador coastline is exposed to North Atlantic storms and icebergs year’round, Arctic pack ice occurs up to six months of each year. However, there is no doubt that, if sufficient hydrocarbon potential is outlined, development will proceed."

Jan 1, 1977

By N. Behnood

"This paper describes how material selection, quality assurance, and failure investigation play important roles in the efficiency and safety of mining and metallurgical operations.INTRODUCTION Material selection, quality assurance, and failure investigation are all complementary elements of materials engineering in the application of materials technology for failure prevention. Based on commodity price increase of 300% between 2002 to 2013 [1] and increased cost ofcapital projects and operation, equipment failure, which in some cases causes complete shutdown of the operation, becomes a vital importance in mining and metallurgical plants. The following sections present a number of examples from many failure cases experienced by the author during his three decades of work as a materials engineer in the mining industry."

Jan 1, 2015

By Roger Payne, John R. Goode, Feng Gao, James Brown

The Eco Ridge deposit is located in the Elliot Lake mining camp in Northern Ontario, Canada. Between 1955 and 1996, the area produced more than 138,000 t (300 million pounds) of U3O8 and very significant amounts of thorium and heavy rare earths. Based on the NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment by Roscoe Postle Associates (RPA) dated June 2012, and the economic review by RPA as announced in Pele Mountains’ Press release dated September 12, 2013, the Eco Ridge Mine Project would extract and process 46 Mt of material to produce about 19,000 t (42 million pounds) of U3O8 and about 65,000 t of rare earth oxide (REO) over a 14-year life. This paper discusses process optimization studies including beneficiation and hydrometallurgical testwork. The proposed modified flowsheet includes the flotation and processing of 1) a pyrite concentrate, 2) a dominantly light rare earth elements (LREE) concentrate, 3) a concentrate containing most of the balance of the uranium and heavy rare earths (HREE), and 4) a relatively inert tailings.

Jan 1, 2014

By Tom Gabardi, Peter Clarke

"MillMapperTM is a new 3D laser scanning technology that has only recently been introduced into the North American mining industry. It enables mill operators to gain a much more complete understanding of the condition of their mill internals and to more accurately predict how liners will perform in the future. This paper describes the technology and techniques used to obtain data on internal mill conditions, how this data is processed into meaningful information which enables better prediction of liner life and gives examples of the reports provided by the software. Examples are given, using client sites data, on how this information is being used to reduce the costs and improve the revenue from SAG and ball mills.INTRODUCTION Scanalyse Pty Ltd developed the MillMapperTM technology in Australia over a number of years and has recently introduced it into North America with a significant take-up in Canada. The technology was commercially released in Australia in late 2006 and there has been significant technical development in the features provided since that time. MillMapperTM has been accepted as a useful technology in the Australasian region and more recently has been introduced to sites in Chile, Peru, Brazil, USA, Canada, Laos and South Africa. Over 100 different mills have been scanned and the technology has been thoroughly tested and validated. It has become an integral tool in condition monitoring and improvement programs for SAG and Ball mills across many sites and is now providing significant and measurable benefits to the mining industry. Some of these benefits will be described in this paper using actual examples."

Jan 1, 2012

By H. F. Letient, D. C. Johnson

At the 25th Annual B.C. Mine Reclamation Symposium in September 2001, Huckleberry Mines Limited received the Jake MacDonald Reclamation Award for its exemplary mine waste management plan, conceived to prevent the onset of acid rock drainage (ARD) and facilitate reclamation of the site. The mine is an excellent example of a total mine waste management plan, with all materials scheduled in detail for the life of the mine. The filling plan for the waste management facility takes into consideration the requirement for permanently flooding the potentially acid-generating rock. From an acid generation point of view, the tailings fall in the zone of potentially acid-generating material. To avoid long-term ARD concerns, it is planned to float pyrite out of the tailings toward the end of the mine life, thereby generating a non-potentially acid-generating tailings stream which will be used to cap the deposited mine waste. The pyrite-rich tailings will be discharged into the deeper portion of the impoundment. On closure, a permanent water cover will be maintained over the mine waste. Only beaches of non-potentially acid-generating tailings will remain exposed. Mining will be phased to also allow one of the pits to provide storage for potentially acid-generating rock and to be flooded at the end of mine life.

Jan 1, 2004

By Alex Cormode, Carlos Perucca

"Sylvinite ore from the Saskatoon area typically contains about 5% insolubles, occurring as clays and carbonates. These insoluble slimes must be removed sufficiently well to permit an efficient subsequent potassium chloride flotation, due to their high adsorptive capacity for amines used as potash collectors. The insolubles are liberated from sylvinite by high attrition scrubbing in a slurry. The liberated slimes are separated by multistage cycloning or by a selective flocculation-flotation process.An outline of the potash processing operations at Agrium Vanscoy Potash Operations is given, emphasizing the insoluble slimes froth flotation separation process. This process was originally implemented at the Agrium plant in the mid- 1970's and replaced a hydrocyclone system.IntroductionAgrium Vanscoy Potash Operations is located 40 Km southwest of Saskatoon, almost midway between the communities of Vanscoy and Delisle. Processing operations started in 1969, and the annual production capability was subsequently increased to the current 1.8 MM tonnes per year of muriate of potash.The mining operation at Agrium Potash which was described in a paper by Jones and Pruggerl , is done underground using four large continuous double rotor boring machines for the main production with development done by heliminers. Annual ore production is 5.5 MM tonnedannum. Ore is hoisted 1,100 m to surface for processing."

Jan 1, 1999

By Claude Deveau

"With ever decreasing feed grades, finer mineralogy and increased demand for product, it became obvious that a major step in equipment performance was required to reduce operating costs and increase production. Offsite testwork indicated that a Centrifugal separator was capable of recovering fine tantalum and that the newly developed C Series Falcon concentrator would be capable of replacing many pieces of aging equipment and provide improved performance. Further investigation led to the rental and the purchase of a Falcon C20 concentrator followed by a C10 to maximize circuit performance.Falcon Concentrators Inc’ s practice of working with the customer mirrors Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada’s (Tanco) philosophy of continuous product development. This synergy honed valve design for continuous operation in a highly abrasive ore environment.Tanco has recently purchased two more Falcon concentrators for the recovery of additional tantalum from its spodumene circuit. These new units have additional user friendly operating features partially based on developments made at Tanco.The Falcon C Series units have enabled Tanco to maximize recovery of tantalum that was otherwise lost while using the original conventional gravity circuit."

Jan 1, 2000

By Robert J. Mitchell

A general approach to mine backfill design, including laboratory testing procedures, is outlined in this paper. Relationships between certain design parameters are developed and the effect of other factors is discussed. It is concluded that the inclusion of backfill design calculations at an early stage of mine design can often produce over-all design economies. Not only are the data needed for backfill plant and tailings disposal area design, but also the pillar recovery method and over-all mine stability are dependent on the attainable fill properties.

Jan 1, 1979