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By W. S. Tremaine

When the Hedley Mascot mill was built in 1935, it was designed as a straight flotation plant. The ore to be treated at that time was a gold ore in which the gold was intimately associated with arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite in highly silicified and garnetized limestone gangue. This material was ground to 85 per cent minus 325 mesh in two-stage grinding and floated in standard flotation cells to produce about a 5-ounce concentrate, which was shipped to Tacoma smelter for refining. This arrangement gave us a recovery of about 89 per cent. Test work indicated that the best way to improve this recovery would be to build a cyanide plant to treat our flotation middling. Arrangements for the construction of this plant were finally approved and work on it was started in the spring of 1940. This plant was of the conventional type in which the flotation middlings were thickened, filtered, and then put through the usual cyanide process. Its capacity was 50 tons of middlings per day. This arrangement worked quite satisfactorily and gave us an increase in overall recovery of 4 per cent. Unfortunately, about the time the plant was completed, we developed, and started to ship to the mill, ore that differed entirely from that met with up to that time. Instead of being hard, it was very soft, the orebody from which- it came being much faulted and brecciated. In many sections, the sulphides were oxidized and the breccia was filled in with a very soft, hydrous iron silicate known as chloropal. When this new ore was mixed with the old ore and sent to the mill, the whole operation was disrupted. The chloropal slimed so badly that the classification, flotation circuits, and cyanide plant would not handle it. The difficulty in the cyanide plant was at the head end, where the 10 ft. by 20 ft. thickener and the 8 ft. by 8ft. drum filter would not handle the middlings containing a large percentage of primary slime and chloropal. This material would not thicken to more than 30 per cent solids in the thickener and, when pumped to the filter, would forma very thin, slimy cake. Overall recovery dropped to between 83 and 84 percent and it was quite apparent that some extensive changes would have to be made in our flow-sheet before this ore could be treated successfully.

Jan 1, 1947

By John A. Dresser

Seventy years ago a period of prospecting and mining activity began in the Eastern Townships of Quebec that seems to have been quite equal to that of recent years in the Rouyn field. In the following six or seven years a large amount of work was done over a widespread area. About fifty deposits gave some shipment of ore, from a few tons upwards, and as many as five hundred occurrences of copper were made known in the district by official records. Comparing the scale of commercial undertakings of that time and of the present day, these developments must have occupied quite as large a share of the capital and man-power of the Province as northern Quebec employs today. Working conditions at that time were not very favourable. The country was then only newly opened for settlement, and colonists were few and widely separated. Roads of the class built today were unknown. A single line of railway, the Grand Trunk, crossed the district from east to west. Colonization companies controlled large blocks of land on which they owned mining rights and usually reserved these rights in whole, or in part, when selling the lands. Then, as now, the precious metals belonged to the Crown. Yet the work was not without its successes. One of the first deposits discovered, the Acton, was, for a few years, one of the most profitable producing copper mines of its time. Another, the Eustis mine, has been in almost constant operation ever since, and is now vigorously pushing further development. At least two others, now quiescent, proved profitable operations, and several made considerable production. The manufacture of sulphuric acid in Canada was begun by the founder of the Nichols Company at Capelton, on a deposit that is now being re-developed, after a long and creditable career.

Jan 1, 1928

By M. Reda

Because of the adverse environmental effect of Chromate, Molybdate ions had been investigated as replacement for Chromate and the results had shown not to be encouraging. Film deposited from peroxopolymolybdate (from reaction of Molybdenum meta, with excess Hydrogen Peroxide), are more robust than that deposited from molybdate solutions. This was shown to be due to higher fraction of Mo (IV) and Mo (V) that form from Mo (VI) in the peroxopolymolybdate deposited film than the film deposited from Molybdate solutions. The peroxopolymolybdate film contains 40% un-hydrated molybdic acid, tetraperoxodimolybdate and tetra peroxo tetra molybdate. The protective properties of peroxopolymolybdate were shown to be due to the effectiveness of the un-hydrated molybdic acid.

Jan 1, 2010

By M. E. Wilson, A. C. Lee

"The property owned by Senator-Rouyn Mines, Limited, is in Rouyn township about 17'2 miles southwest of the town of Rouyn. It adjoins the Chadbourne claims of Noranda Mines, Limited, on the south and the Bagamac property on the ·west. It includes seven claims-block 44, blocks 80 to 83 and blocks 96 and 97; the mine is wholly in blocks 44 and 82.Late in 1936 gold was discovered in an outcrop of rusty weathering carbonate rock near the north end of block 44, and the following year the present Company was organized to proceed with the development of the property. During 1937-38, 17,000 feet of diamond drill core were bored to determine the extent of the ore deposit at depth. From October 15th, 1940, to April 15th, 1941, the ore was hauled to the mill at the Arntfield mine for treatment. The mill on the Senator-Rouyn property started on April 25th, 1941, and has been in practically continuous operation since than time. To the end of 1946, 574,874 tons of ore, from which gold having a value of $3,836,450 was recovered, were treated in the mill.GEOLOGYThe rocks exposed at the Senator-Rouyn mine, except in the southern part of the property, are almost wholly quartz diorite, part of an irregular mass that extends west from the town of Rouyn along the north shore of Noranda lake and thence southwest across the Senator-Rouyn claims. In the northern part of the propertyt inclusions of rhyolite occur here and there in the diorite. In the southern part the predominant rock is dacite and in the east-central part of block 44 claim andesite. Dykes of andesite, quartz syenite, and later diabase also occur on the property.The andesite of the Abitibi volcanics is not exposed on the property, but has been intersected in three diamond drill holes, one on the eastern boundary of block 44 and two farther west within the block. This andesite is probably the western end of a band of pillowed andesite well exposed in the Larose claim to the east."

Jan 1, 1954

By C. H. Hopper, D. R. Derry, H. S. McGowan

"The property of Matachewan Consolidated Mines is in the Matachewan area on the west side of Montreal river. It lies in the western extension of the Kirkland Lake sedimentary belt. The first discovery of gold on the property was made by S. Otisse, in 1916. The property was taken over by Ventures, Limited, in 1933 and production commenced in late 1934. To date (December 31st, 1947) it has amounted to 2,308,800 tons, from which gold and silver to the value of $9,567,600 has been recovered. The mill is currently treating 650 tons of ore a day.GENERAL GEOLOGYThe deposits lie close to the south contact of a belt of sediments striking in a general east-west direction. The sediments, presumed to be of Timiskaming age, consist of light buff arkose and greywacke, containing small pebbles. The Keewatin volcanic rocks to the south are andesites or basalts with cuff and agglomerate bands developed especially near the contact with the sediments. The lavas and sediments are overlain by relatively flat-lying sediments of the Cobalt series to the south and west of the mine, but these later sediments are not involved in the mineralization under discussion. The Keewatin lavas and Timiskaming sediments are intruded by dykes and lenses of red syenite porphyry that have approximately the same strike and dip as the invaded rocks. Later diabase dykes, apparently post-ore, run in a north-south direction and cut all rocks except the Cobalt series.OREBODIESThe gold-bearing mineralization forms bodies of two different types: (1) Within the volcanic rocks irregular orebodies with limited vertical extent. These consist of a series of flat-dipping quartz stringers and adjacent lavas and /or cuffs fractured, bleached, and mineralized with pyrite and gold. They are higher grade than the second type (average about 0.16 oz. gold a ton) and formed the main source of ore for the first 5 years of production. They are described in more detail than can be given here in an article by C. H. Hopper (4). More recent work on deeper levels has failed so far to find orebodies of comparable grade, though low-grade mineralization of a similar type does occur on the projected rake of the main group of the 'basalt type' of orebodies."

Jan 1, 1954

By V. Gaudreault

Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) has three smelters that use the Alcoa P155 technology: two in Canada (Grande-Baie and Laterrière, Saguenay, QC) and one in the United States (Sebree, Kentucky). The oldest RTA P155 smelter was built in the 1970s (Sebree) and had an initial current intensity of 155 kA. In the 1990s, RTA installed an amperage booster in Grande-Baie smelter to increase cell productivity. Since then, RTA has continuously pushed the limit of this technology and the target amperage that was 195 kA in 2005 has been increased to 210 kA in 2010.This article describes the successful plant-scale trials to increase current intensity from 195 kA to 210 kA, and the key performance indicator results. It demonstrates RTA's technology leadership to undertake such a development with its Brownfield smelters.

Jan 1, 2011

By DON E. MacDONALD

Marl in Alberta is confined to highly specific geological, hydrogeologica/ and climatic settings. Tufa is fa irly abundant in those areas of western Alberta where bedrock is of the Paskapoo Formation. Marl and tufa originate when the following conditions are met: presence of a carbonate source in drift or nearsurface bedrock; leaching of the carbonate by percolating groundwater; transportation of calcium and bicarbonate ions in a permeable aquifer; discharge at the surface as springs, seeps or lakes; re-precipitation of calcium carbonate. Alberta has seven categories of marl and tufa deposits, based upon over-all depositional environment and calcium carbonate

Jan 1, 1984

By BRIAN HITCHON

Calcium, magnesium, bromide and iodide extraction from formation waters for use as industrial minerals has occurred in several countries, but not yet in Canada. Potential commercial brine fields exist in th e Upper Devonian Beaverhill Lake Formation of so uthern Alberta, and the Middle Devonian Elk Point Subgroup of north-central Alberta, f rom which calcium, magnesium and bromide are potential products. Iodide contents in fo rmation waters f rom the Upper Cretaceous Belly River Formation and the Lower Cretaceous Viking and Bow Island fo rmations in central and southern Alberta are at the lower range limit of commercial iodide-bearing formation waters elsewhere in the world. Available information is insufficient 10 outline potentially commercial areas in Alberta, but such info rmation can be most easily obtained f rom test borings for shallow natural gas. Lithium is not now produced commercially f rom formation waters but its content should be monitored in view of f uture increased demand for this metal.

Jan 1, 1984

By Jehan Rondot

Les trois intrusions alcalines de Suzorite en haute Mauricie, bien que non datees, son! sans doute d ,attacher aU)( nombreuses autres intrusions alcalines dispersees sur les blocks Grenvillia et Laurentia et datees de I 050 Ma =t= 10%, done reliees d l'orogene grenvilien. L 'utilisations de la Suzorite est liee d sa forte proportion de phlogopite (>50%). Le rapport Mg/Fey varie de 3 d 7. Sa mineralogie et sa composition particulieres (forte proportion de Mg, Ket H20) en font son attrait.

Jan 1, 1984

By G. E. Wood

Steep Rock Resources Inc. owns a calcite quarry property at Tatlock, Ontario, and a calcite processing plant at Perth, Ontario. The Tatlock marble deposit forms part of an extensive series of carbonate rocks of the Grenville Geological Province in the Precambrian Shield of southeastern Ontario. The deposit is very unusual, if not unique, in the Grenville area in its combination of characteristics of large size, whiteness, high calcium content, low magnesium and silica contents, and scarcity of accessory minerals. A major expansion of the fine grind products capacity of the plant was undertaken in 1982 and came on stream in 1983. The expansion provides important operating benefits at the plant: greater flexibility as to the product mix and reduced dependence on the single grinding mill previously in place. The expanded facility consists of prima,y and secondary crushers, a rotary drye,~ a screenhouse producing a range of screen separator grade products, an airswept Raymond Mill, and a pebble mill with integrated air classifiers, product storage bins, bulk, semi-bulk, and bagged product shipping capabilities, road and rail access, and a substantial product warehouse. The expansion was designed to be compatible with a move into ultrafine calcite production, and is capable of supplying the anticipated sales growth within its market area during the next 5 years. Products are exceptionally white, with good chemistry, low abrasion, and consistent quality. Markets range, according to product particle size, from pre-cast concrete aggregate to fillers for coatings, plastic pipe, and compounds.

Jan 1, 1984

By O. P. Garg

Based on improved methods of collection and analysis of geotechnical data, slope angles have been steepened in some mines of the Iron Ore Company of Canada at Schefferville, Quebec. This paper describes the slope design case history for Fleming NO.3 mine and illustrates the application of modern techniques. The new design has resulted in significant financial savings due to a reduction in required waste stripping.

Jan 1, 1978

By C. S. Parsons

Ore-Testing laboratories are maintained by the Mines Branch, Department of Mines, at Ottawa for the purpose of conducting experimental test and research on ore treatment. Sample shipments of a few hundred pounds to car-load lots of Canadian ores are received on application for experimental tests, and all possible methods of treatment are investigated. Reports are issued to the shipper, containing the results, with recommendations as to the most economical method of treatment. These reports have been of valuable assistance to mining companies in the preparation of plans for the design and equipment of their treatment plants. Investigations have been conducted on ores and metallurgical products from all parts of the Dominion. The ores from practically every producing mine and important mineral occurrence have been investigated in these laboratories.

Jan 1, 1931

By D. Lopez, D. L. Doerr, T. J. Drake

Automated scanning electron microscopy has been widely used in recent years for gold and other precious metals characterization. However, application of this technology is resource intensive and in most instances needs specialized technical personnel to process the samples and information. Newmont Metallurgical Services (NMS) has recently acquired an ASPEX SEM. The ASPEX SEM offers some significant benefits/improvements in sample preparation and sample processing time. NMS and ASPEX have been working together to develop an approach utilizing this technology for the minerals processing industry and specifically for gold characterization.

Jan 1, 2011

By Fatemeh Pourakbari, Mohammad Reza Yarahmadi, Abbas Sam

Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide gangue mineral in copper porphyry ores. In spite of addition of lime in large quantities to depress pyrite in flotation, considerable amount of this mineral is reported to concentrate, particularly in rougher and scavenger stages. With the Sarcheshmeh pit advancing to a greater depth and reaching to the hypogene zone, the amounts of pyrite and chalcopyrite in the feed are increased. Hence, a reduction in the copper grade and increase in the sulfur content of the concentrate are observed. In this study the effective factors on the pyrite floatability at the circuit flotation was considered at Sarcheshmeh Mine. Mineralization zones in the pit were firstly identified. Then, sampling points were located using GPS system. On the basis of mineralogical composition and morphology, the ore was categorized into five main classes. In this classification the amount of lead and zinc and also pyrite locking with other minerals were analyzed. The study of polished section indicated that inclusion in pyrite was very frequent in all classes, mostly composed of the floatability of pyrite. Flotation tests were performed on the samples of different classes at pH of 11.8 after conditioning time. It was shown that, pyrite floatability was decreased with a decrease in the lead content of the feed samples except for the second class, while for all classes an increase in zinc content contributed to a decrease in pyrite floatability and recovery. It was found that, the lowest pyrite recovery (1.89%) was corresponding to pyrite–molybdenite dominant mineralization with Zn of 0.33% and the highest recovery (86.89%) corresponding to pyrite vein dominant mineralization with Zn equals to 0.9%.

Jan 1, 2016

By Lucas G. Thompson

My topic, "The Administration of Mineral Rights'.' is possibly an unusual one, as it deals with a subject upon which many of us have a more than passing interest, I thought ?it might prove consistent with the objects of this meeting, more especially as I propose to deal, not with those broad subjects of nation-wide importance which are often the subject'? of learned (and sometimes futile) academic discussion, but rather with problems in their practical light. To the scientist, the important question is What is it? to the technician, Can it be utilized? to the business-man, Will it pay? All three questions are important, and so quick has been the march of business on the heels of science? that the one question follows the other with astonishing rapidity and all three must be considered in the modern management of a mineral estate. A .good illustration of the force of this can be found in the recent advance of our knowledge of the element helium in which we have advanced from a solution of the first question to the last question in the short period of 55 years. It is to be borne in mind, however, that in the administration of mineral rights, the question "Will it pay?:' is of primary importance. What forms a mineral estate ? A former practice in western Canada in selling lands was to sell the hair with the hide. All transactions sold the lands in fee simple, which included all mines, minerals and rights and privileges whatsoever, excluding only the royal metals, gold and silver, which by imputation, though not by specific reference, in deeds. of title are reserved to the Crown. At that time the country was in the first ?stages of settlement and the value of our mineral resources was hardly appreciated and little understood.

Jan 1, 1923

By Balmer Neilly

FOR some reason or other, Mine Taxation has never been a popular subject for discussion in meetings of this kind, and it has never received the study and consideration its importance demanded. By way of explanation, two reasons may be suggested. In the first place, the computation, adjustment, and final payment of taxes, have been looked upon in most cases as a Head Office chore. Secondly, since taxes represent an uncontrollable cost item, they have been treated as an added rather than an inclusive factor in calculating unit costs. Perhaps because I am half Irish, and therefore resent taxation of all kinds, perhaps because I am half Scotch, and am therefore concerned with the results, I have always taken a keen interest in this subject. Moreover, by some peculiar set of circumstances, I have been a participating party in many, perhaps I can say most, of the discussions on this subject that have taken place between the Governments and the representatives of this industry during the past thirty years. Looking backward, certain very definite impressions remain. Political considerations have never had any part in these discussions. Views have been exchanged upon the frankest possible basis, and, when we disagreed on some particular detail, we agreed to disagree, and followed through in harmony and? good faith. We, as an industry, have refrained from importuning and fault finding in ways that might be considered as petty or selfish, and it is only upon occasions such as this, where conditions necessitate action, that we lay our troubles before the powers that be. The Ontario Mining Tax Act was drafted by men who were earnest and practical as to purpose, and that Act has stood the test of time. It is, in. truth, a mode! Act, for it has been copied in its general clauses by both Quebec and the Dominion of Canada. We all know that, when a machine is running smoothly, we should leave it alone. The same is true of a well designed, easily applicable, taxation measure, and our present difficulty with respect to this Act arises out of an amendment made in 1916. In that year, you will remember, the Dominion imposed a wartime Income Tax Act. It was described as a wartime necessity and it was intimated t:1 at with the end of hostilities its application would be restricted and finally cancelled. The rate of taxation was modest, and when the Ontario Government was asked that the Dominion Income Tax be allowed as a deductible item, they readily acquiesced. This was looked upon as a temporary arrangement.

Jan 1, 1943

By G. M. Humphrey

It is a great honour and privilege to be here in this distinguished company of the outstanding men in the mining industry and the political life of Canada. I fully recognize that I am so honoured as a symbol of the combination of American and Canadian leaders in industry who are partners in the sponsor-ship of the Quebec-Labrador iron-ore mining development which we are undertaking, and as such I want to express our great appreciation of the co-operation and assistance we have met on every hand in Canada, and the genuine friendliness and never-failing courtesy which we are always accorded. We are quite aware that it springs primarily from the very high regard in which our partner and sponsor, Jules Timmins, and our other Canadian associates are held. Their high standing among you is well known and we quite naturally fall heir to the benefits of the great esteem in which you hold them. Jules Timmins and his long-time associate, John Knox, were the original inspiration for our participation in this venture. It was their enthusiasm and vision which caught our interest and led to our joining with them in the years of exploration and search which have brought us to the threshold of this great development where we stand today. So much has been written of the details of our exploration and plans for future development that it would bore you for me to review them further here, but there is a phase of this development, and an extremely important phase of it, which I think has passed almost unnoticed and which it may be well worth while for me to bring to your attention this evening.

Jan 1, 1951

By S. J. Cook

The system of mining statistics for Canada, as it exists today, represents the result of long years of progress, first by the Geological Survey, later and more comprehensively by the Mines Branch of the Department of Mines, and now by the Mining Branch of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics-all supplemented by the very comprehensive reports published by the several provincial departments of mines. It is the purpose of this paper briefly to state the development and present status of Canada's statistical service, more particularly in regard to information on mineral production, and to show that in its evolution continuous progress has been made in the elimination of factors tending to duplication and overlaping, with the result that the construction of an adequate statistical service has been carried out with the least possible expenditure of .public funds. For the purpose of this discussion, the subject of mineral statistics may conveniently be considered from two points of view. The technical difficulties in obtaining satisfactory and complete data from the variety of industries represented in the mining fields of Canada must be apparent to all. Methods of record-keeping are almost as numerous as mines and even the larger concerns which maintain elaborate records for their own information, often find it difficult to compile the statistical reports required of them, because the specific form of inquiry differs from the method in use in their offices.

Jan 1, 1924

By R. Clarkson

"Free gold particles occur in many base metal and precious metal mines throughout the world. Due to the high density and malleability of gold, large circulating loads of free gold particles can build up over time in grinding circuits. This gold is often deposited in unintended traps throughout the mineral processing system.These unidentified free gold deposits represent a serious security risk as well as an inaccessible inventory of gold. Deposits of free gold particles often remain undetected by mine management until they are accidentally discovered while repairing mill equipment.Nuclear tracers have been used to determine the free gold recovery efficiency of gravity recovery equipment, drills, and sampling equipment (Clarkson, 1994, 1995; Walsh and Rao, 1986; Walsh and Kelly, 1992). In November, 1993, the author inspected the grinding circuit at La Mine Doyon in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec and made recommendations to recover coarse gold and to eliminate gold traps from the circuit. In 1995, the author salted mineral processing circuits with radioactive gold particles. The gamma and X-ray radiation from gold’s nuclear isotope (Au198) were detected through steel, in pipes, and in moving equipment using scintillometers. The radiotracers proved to be a safe, rapid and accurate method of identifying gold traps and improving security.Nuclear TracersWhen particles of gold are placed in a nuclear reactor, some of the gold atoms (Au197) absorb another neutron in their nucleus to form gold’s radioactive isotope (Au198). In the process of radioactive decay, this isotope emits high energy gamma rays and X-rays which are easily detected (even through steel) with scintillometers.Radioactive gold (Au198) has a very short halflife of 2.7 days. At the relatively low activity levels used for tracing, the particles remain detectable with a small hand-held scintillometer for about 10 to 14 days. After 14 days the irradiated gold is close to background levels and within two months it is essentially non-radioactive. The radiation has no effect on the recovery characteristics of the gold particles. The gold radiotracers are very safe due to their very low level of radiation, short half-life, and their inherent physical and chemical stability. However, the use and possession of even mildly irradiated gold is strictly licensed and regulated."

Jan 1, 1997

By E. H. Rose

THE most useful guide to the role of lime in flotation is the view that the chemistry of any flotation operation is primarily a pattern in relative solubilities. We have the coming together of a number of minerals, reagents, fortuitous salts, water, and oxygen, many of which have not been previously in contact with each other, and every one of which is free, at least to some extent, to abandon old alliances and to form new ones. Of one thing the operator may be sure, and that is that, when equilibrium has been reached, those new chemical combinations will have formed which are the least soluble combinations possible to the environment. The laws of solution govern the operation, which means that relative concentrations are always a factor, and temperature frequently is. What the operator is really doing when he chooses his reagents .in the first place (empirically or otherwise) and works out their? optimum amounts, is to provide an environment in which (1) the least soluble possible compound of the mineral he desires to float is one which is also non-wettable, while at the same time (2) the least soluble compounds possible to the minerals he desires to depress are wettable. Since all metathesis is reversible, perfection is impossible to achieve, and the operator is constantly striving to establish that combination of concentrations which will drive each and every particular reaction as far as possible in the direction he desires it to go, in accordance with the law of molar concentration.

Jan 1, 1939