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By J. E. Gebhardt, D. McBride, M. Cross

Heap leach processes can encounter diverse flow conditions, such as infiltration into dry ore material, drainage, perched water tables and heterogeneous materials, leading to large variations in permeability and the creation of preferential flow pathways. Climate and meteorological conditions, such as precipitation, evaporation, and temperature, can also have a significant effect on the hydrodynamics of the heap. Nonuniform and adverse flow behavior within the heap contributes to reducing the leaching efficiency of the heap leading to lower metal recoveries. The variability of flow within the heap can result in solute transport problems, which limit the leach reaction kinetics. Therefore, understanding the flow and transport phenomena within the heap is critical in its design and optimization. A comprehensive heap leach model, developed within a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) framework, employs robust algorithms to solve diverse variably saturated flow conditions. The model allows for a wide array of complex thermo-fluid physics to be represented and captures suites of very complex reactions that are closely coupled with thermal conditions and key microbial populations. Employing a three-dimensional heterogeneous ‘test’ heap, a number of flow conditions are investigated and the sensitivity of metal recovery is discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By P. R. Clark, M. D. Gleghorn

"IntroductionAt TransAlta Utilities Corporation's Highvale Mine, located west of Edmonton, Alberta (Fig. I and 2), dragline stripping has proved to be a practical and economical method of overburden removal and future plans have been based upon the continued use of draglines (Fig. 3) as the major stripping equipment (Williams, 1979, Nikols et al., 1986). However, long range planning has shown that the capacity of draglines alone will be exceeded in the early 1990s as mining progresses into deeper overburden cover (Tapics, 1983). Strip ratios will increase from I.3 bank m!/ t of coal in 1985to 4.5 bank m3 / t in 1995. During this period the depth of overburden will increase substantially and the areas to be mined will be characterized by weak soils including glacially displaced overburden. This increased overburden depth in relatively weak soils will make it impractical to _continue side casting by draglines without prestripping in advance. In 1983, a major investigation was initiated to determine what additional overburden removal equipment was appropriate to the Highvale operations, and recognizing the long delivery times of this major equipment. when it would be required. This paper describes studies and tests which were undertaken in 1983 and 1984 to select prestripping methods and equipment for the future operation of the mine.Previous planning studies have shown that with the current burn schedule and with the economies of progressing from low cover to high cover, as has been practiced in the past, overburden volumes will exceed the capacity of the existing draglines in the early 1990s (Fig. 4). These previous studies had placed reliance on (I tandem dragline operation for future overburden removal requirements up to a depth of 45 m throughout the Highvale Mine. New drilling together with the associated geotechnical studies and some detailed planning on the practicality of using tandem draglines, created concerns about their universal application. Even without considering geotechnical conditions there was a depth limitation to tandem dragJines and substantial prestripping would be required to achieve the ultimate depths."

Jan 1, 1987

By Gonzalo Mato, Colin Godwin, G. Ditson

"The mid-Cretaceous Seagull batholith intruded Mississippian sedimentary and volcanic rocks and Jurassic(?) granitic and ultramafic rocks within the Omineca Crystalline Belt in the Yuk on Territory near the British Columbia boundary. Leucoerotic fluorine- and boron-rich granites of the batholith exhibit many textural variations from aplite to pegmatite, but are dominated by a coarse-grained seriate unit and a fine-grained porphyritic unit.Four distinctive tin vein occurrences within and near the batholith are described, the most interesting of which is the MC showing of quartz-calcite-chlorite-cassiterite veins in intensely fractured zones of sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Three other showings occur within the batholith:J) the EC showing of quartz-fluorite-cassiterite-sulphide veins with prominent muscovite-illite alteration;2) the DU showing of quartz-hematite-fluorite-sulphide- sulphide-cassiterite with considerable manganese staining and sericitic alteration; and3) the VAL showing of quartz-tourmaline-cassiterite-fluorite-arsenopyrite veins with little associated alteration.Most cassiterite occurrences are within easterly-trending, vertical structures and all occurrences are thought to represent parts of a single system. These mineralogical and physical variations are apparently related to the distance from the upper contact of the batholith.For the Seagull batholith, Rb-Sr isotopic data give a 100±1.4 Ma isochron age that is concordant with the K-Ar model age from biotite of 101±4 Ma. Initial Sr isotopic ratios for the batholith are high at 0.712, indicating an old, sialic crustal source for this pluton. This initial ratio is similar to values for granitic rocks associated with tungsten deposits in the Yukon Territory. The high initial ratio for Sr, the high Si02 content, the high s/I index, the presence of normative corundum. leucogranitic composition and associated lithophile-tungsten mineralization demonstrate that the Seagull batholith is probably an S-type granitic body. This factor is significant to regional exploration jar tin and tungsten in the Canadian Cordillera."

Jan 1, 1983

By Alan F. Stewart, Frederic B. Claridge, Robert S. Nichols

"In recent years, an increasing number of mines in mountainous terrain have examined the possibility of placing mine waste rock into stream valleys. Pressure to utilize stream valleys as a primary location for waste disposal has increased at many of the mines currently under development or expansion. As the number of environmentally and economically ideal wastedumping sites is limited, consideration must be given to utilization of stream valleys. This raises concerns about maintaining water quality in streams passing through or beneath the dumps and potential detrimental effects to dump stability. Commonly, the flows in the streams tend to be flashy, reflecting localized intense storms and rapid runoff in steep-sided slopes within the watershed. These conditions pertain particularly to British Columbia, which is characterized by mountainous terrain and periodically intense precipitation events.The method of conveying flow through a waste dump depends on a number of geotechnical and hydrological factors, including the size, durability and transmissivity of the rock and the design stream flood flow. This paper describes the approach to the design of waste dumps in stream valfeys developed at several mines in British Columbia."

Jan 1, 1986

By M. C. Ethier, A. L. Laramie

"The Granisle and Bell Copper mines were officially put into production in 1966 and 1972, respectively. The Granisle Mine was purchased in late 1979by Noranda and the two operations were amalgamated as one division. Both mines were closed in 1982after sustaining heavy financial losses during a period of low copper prices beginning in 1981.This paper describes the resumption of operations at the Bell Mine in 1985 after its shutdown period of three years and the dramatic and sustained improvements in productivity and efficiency realized as a result of a commitment by employees and management to the application of Participative Management and Employee Involvement principles. After a general description of the effects of such a philosophy on the operation as a whole, and a comparison to the operation's last full year as a producer, it deals with the practice of this philosophy in the maintenance department at the Bell Mine and the superb results realized.IntroductionThe Bell Copper deposit was discovered in 1963 and came onstream as a 10000 ton s per day open pit mine in the fall of 1972. Identified reserves at that time were 46 million tons of ore containing 0.50% copper. The mine shared facilities of the townsite of Granisle with the nearby Zapata-Granby mine which had established the community six years earlier.Because of easy grinding ore and improvements to milling circuits, Bell's throughput rate was increased to 17 000 tons per day by the late 1970s. In the open pit, improvements resulted in mining of additional reserves with higher stripping ratios. At startup, a half ton o f waste was mined for every ton of ore processed.By the end of 1982, with 48.2 million tons already mined, the Bell Mine had identified additional mineable reserves of 39.4 million tons containing 0.52% Cu.In November 1979 the Granisle Mine was purchased from Zapata-Granby. The two mines, with a total of 700 employees, were operated under common management as the Babine Division until 1982 when low copper price s forced the closure of both for an indefinite period.The outlook for copper prices remained bleak and only 50 people were retained on the payroll to maintain the two plants, most of them working on a part-time schedule.The population of the Village of Granisle dwindled from over 1500 inhabitants to under 500, as people moved away to seek other employment.Prior to the shutdown, the Bell Mine employed 370 people and pit extraction averaged nearly 50000 tons per day of which 16000 tons was mill feed, and the remainder waste. Total cost to produce a pound of copper was C$1.36 in 1982."

Jan 1, 1990

By Jae-sang Ahn

As the amount of construction information used in the growing construction field increases, the importance of efficient construction field management has been growing. Therefore, construction industry have been tried to introduce and conjugate various software and IT technology such as PMIS, Web Camera, RFID, GPS, PDA. However, existing IT technology especially PMIS have not been performed systematically because of difficulty of real time information collection and decision-making from the insufficient handy equipment. These problems make construction manager cannot efficiently respond to diverse condition occur in construction sites. In addition, after the completion, individual who use PMIS have to move another site and use another system so than cannot use information from previous sites. On the other hand, development of IT technology transmute PDA phone for text-based work like schedule management, internet research to smart phone for network based multimedia service. In other words, smart phone is not just IT equipment but new way for overall industry and it can satisfy the demand IT technology on construction sites. Therefore, the purpose of this study is introduce mobile based individual unit PMIS system using cloud computing and SNS which is in development progress. It is expected to be possible to collect and record the real-time information that occur at the site and make rapid decisions based on the recorded information, by converting the office works that are managed based on the site PC or Web, if the site management system that is based on the smart phones and Cloud computing that will be constructed through this research are utilized. After this study, it is necessary to research about interwork with project unit PMIS system and test on real construction site.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. Aiello

"Introduction Byron Creek Collieries Limited Corbin mine is located in southeastern British Columbia approximately 180 air kilometres southwest of Calgary (Fig. I), twenty four kilometres south of Highway No. 3 via a newly constructed provincial road (Fig. 2). The development of the area began July 30, 1905, when D.C. Corbin, a prominent businessman from the northwestern U.S., and his associate E.J. Roberts first visited the site of Coal Mountain on horseback. Coal was in great demand by railways and other industrial users, so the Corbin Coal and Coke Co., after acquiring 6,000 hectares of land in the area, began to develop a mine. Mr. Roberts was responsible for the construction of the 22-kilometre rail spur, the Eastern British Columbia Railway, which joined the mine to the CPR main line at the McGillivray Loop. Rail access to the mine and its developing community, Corbin, B.C., was completed in September 1908, the same year that the first underground mine began production. The Corbin Coal and Coke Co. operated six mines on Coal Mountain (Fig. 3) and production from 1908 to 1930 inclusive totalled 2,120,800 tonnes. This production was allocated to the mines as follows:"

Jan 1, 1985

By Simon C. Dominy, Ian M. Platten, Garry F. Johansen, Alwyn E. Annels, Brian W. Cuffley

Abstract - Coarse gold-bearing veins are characterized by high grades that are localized and erratic. Effective sampling of coarse gold-bearing veins is difficult because of the low concentration and erratic nature of the gold particles. Diamond drilling is an effective measure of geological continuity, however, grade distribution can only be reliably obtained from underground development (including close-spaced sampling, bulk sampling, and trial mining). Comparison between surface and underground drilling, underground linear/panel and bulk sampling indicate that drilling and linear/ panel samples generally understate bulk sample grades. Bulk samples are likely to be the closest estimators of true grade. It is unlikely that anything above an Inferred Resource category can be estimated from surface drilling alone, and at best the grade will only be a global estimate. Underground development, in-fill drilling and bulk sampling/trial mining will be required to delineate Indicated and Measured Resources. Closely spaced development and bulk sampling is likely to be the only way to determine Reserves. The resource estimation process must driven by a clear geological model that should attempt to understand both geological and grade continuity. Traditionally, grade interpolation has been undertaken using classical methods, though more recently, computer-based block modelling techniques have been used with some success. Three case histories are presented, documenting the problems of estimating resources in coarse gold-bearing veins and the practical ways in which they were approached.

Jan 1, 2000

By W. A. MacDonald, C. M. McGibbon, J. H. Reynolds

This paper traces the development of the Seaboard Power Plant, which plays such an important role in the industrial life of Nova Scotia. It also shows the involvement of the plant in the siting of a heavy water production facility in Cape Breton. The paper concludes with an outline of the new installations which the Nova Scotia Power Commission has undertaken as an extension to the Seaboard Plant.

Jan 1, 1966

By François Charette

High stress conditions in underground mines push the performance envelope of support systems to their limit. In weak rock masses these conditions lead to large deformation and breakdown of the rock material, while stress release events in hard rock mines can lead to sudden and usually violent rock and support failure. In typical support systems, a combination of different reinforcement and support mechanisms provide the required convergence control and retainment. These systems usually involve a multi-pass support installation. The advantages of a single pass support system are investigated and several bolting combinations are compared. Criteria for design are reviewed and new criteria are proposed to include cost and effectiveness in commonly used engineering approaches. Field observation and testing is used to illustrate the difference between the proposed approach and more conventional systems.

Nov 1, 2011

By David Eichenberg

A154S A154N After 3 Years of Mining ?Current mining Level A154S 280RL ?110 Vertical metres of A154S ?Current mining Level A154N 300RL ?100 Vertical metres of A154N ?Variations in Kimberlite Volume ?Ore Types and Plant Production

May 1, 2006

By R. N. W. DiLabio

"In a continuing program of mapping glacial dispersal trains, near-surface till samples were collected down-ice from a copper-silver-gold prospect at Onaman River, Ontario, and down-ice from the past-producing gold district at Oldham, Nova Scotia. The program is designed to aid exploration by illustrating glacial dispersal from various types of known occurrences and by identifying postglacial processes that control drift composition at a detailed scale.Native gold was mined at Oldham from arsenopyrite-bearing saddle reef quartz veins in a dome in Early Paleozoic slates of the Meguma Group. Gold abundances greater than 10 ppb in till form a dispersal train at least 1900 m long. Gold abundances between 40 and 100 ppb occur in clusters up to 600 m down-ice from gold-bearing bedrock. Anomalous arsenic abundances in till form a broad train 1100 m long that is significantly different in shape from the gold train.At Onaman River, subeconomic amounts of Cu-Ag-Au occur in quartz lenses in Archean mafic volcanic rocks. A dispersal train defined by the distribution of mineralized boulders and increased abundances of Cu, Ag and Zn in till extends 600 m down-ice from mineralized bedrock. Gold abundances between 10 and 70 ppb do not define this dispersal train, but occur instead in clusters 300 to 600 m down-ice from mineralized bedrock. In vertical sections in the upper 2 m of copper-rich till, Au abundances vary sympathetically with Ag and Cu levels; however, there seems to be no preferential site of Au enrichment in the mineral portion of the soil profile.Several of the mineralized boulders at Onaman River are richer in Au and Ag than the mineralized bedrock from which they were derived. Although some of the high Au and Ag assays were caused by biased sampling of sulphide-rich portions of the boulders, many were caused by leaching of sulphide minerals from 'the boulders, which left a limonitic boxwork that is enriched in Au and Ag. A few of the Au-rich boulders may have been derived from an unknown bedrock source."

Jan 1, 1982

By W. E. Hale

An area of about 7,000 square miles within the eastern part of the Grenville Sub-province is underlain chiefly by granitic gneisses. There are, however, some exposures of mafic rocks which warrant further investigation, and some attractive structures, particularly basins, which deserve additional economic consideration. T HIS paper describes in a very general fashion the economic and geological features of an area of about 7,000 square miles on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the eastern part of the Grenville Sub-province (Figure 1). The scarcity of published geological data on this part of the Cana-dian Shield (DePuyjalon, 1899 and Longley, 1944) justifies the presentation of these tentative results. It should be appreciated, however, that the information which follows was acquired in a rapid reconnaissance designed specifically to out-line what might be interpreted as favourable geological environments for the occurrence of economic minerals, rather than to produce an authoritative analysis of the geological history of the region.

Jan 1, 1962

By Zihe Ren, Edouard Asselin, Marcus Tomlinson, Tianbi Zhang, Jing Liu

"Raman spectroscopy is used to quantify the extent of disorder in the carbonaceous matter associated with preg-robbing ores. Previous studies of Goldstrike ores showed that the height and width of the peaks for the “D” (disordered) and “G” (graphite) bands, the so-called “Raman ratio” had a strong correlation to the preg-robbing value (PRV) measured for various ore samples. A brief literature review on Raman spectroscopy as it applies to preg-robbing ores is presented. Further, recent studies, presented here, have shown no correlation between the Raman ratio and the PRV for a wide variety of ores. This suggests that the extent of organic carbon crystal disorder is not the main factor in determining preg-robbing characteristics.INTRODUCTION Preg-robbing may arise from natural carbonaceous materials in the ore. Several mechanisms have been proposed in the past decades including a physical sorption process by the carbonaceous matter, or via the reduction of aurocyanide at the mineral surface (Abotsi & Osseoasare, 1986; Afenya, Osseoasare, & Abotsi, 1983; Tan, Feng, Lukey, & Van Deventer, 2005). Nevertheless, the mechanisms of preg-robbing remain poorly understood. Understanding the nature of the preg-robber is of practical importance for the selection of a suitable treatment process. Fine carbon particles in the ore have been recognized as preg-robbers due to their similarity to the activated carbon used in the carbon in leach (CIL) or carbon in pulp (CIP) processes. Previous research has illustrated that the activated carbon (also referred to as amorphous carbon in some literature) has a much higher absorption ability than pure graphite with high crystallinity (Adams & Burger, 1998). Adams et al (Adams, Swaney, Friedl & Wagner 1996) concluded that carbonaceous matter is largely responsible for the overall preg-robbing capacity of a given ore. However, the mechanism of carbon preg-robbing was still not clear mostly due to the complexity of amorphous carbon and its behavior in different solution matrices, and at different pH and temperature (Adams, 1990, 1993)."

Jan 1, 2017

By G. P. Demopoulos

The solubilities of calcium sulfate in HCl-CaC1z-H20 solutions up to 100°C were successfully modelled with the aid of OLI software after bringing proper modification to it. Modelling, more specifically, was carried out with the help of the Environmental Simulation Program, V-6.6.0.4 (www.olisystems.com). New model parameters were obtained by regressing the solubility data. A private databank was established by adding the newly defined model parameters and the calcium sulfate hemihydrate phase that is not included in the original OLI database. The McGill-modified OLI software was successfully applied not only to modelling solubilities but also the transformation of the various CaS04 phases, namely dihydrate, hemihydrate and anhydrite. In this paper, the modelling methodology will be discussed along with a comparison of the capabilities of the newly developed model vs the original OLI model.

Jan 1, 2005

By V. S. Gischig, G. Preisig

Hydraulic stimulation of deep reservoirs is an essential procedure for developing engineered/enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), but also in other Geo-energy contexts. The goal is enhancing permeability to such a degree that fluid flow rates within the reservoir are sufficiently high for an economically productive reservoir. Two fracture stimulation mechanisms are distinguished that may occur concurrently during the hydraulic treatment: 1) During hydro-fracturing (HF) new tensile fractures are propagated from the borehole by means of a fluid pressure overcoming the minimal principle stress d3 plus the tensile strength T0 of intact rock. In case of a pre-existing fracture oriented normal to d 3 , the fracture can be opened by exceeding d 3 only. Fluid injection is performed via small packed intervals for creating a stack of hydraulic fractures. 2) During hydro-shearing (HS), over-pressure induces slip along pre-existing fractures that are favourably oriented in the stress field for reactivation in shear. Such stimulation is usually performed in a large packed interval or in an open borehole. Which mechanism occurs predominantly during stimulation depends on the rock mass structure and in-situ stress field, but also on the orientation of discontinuities intersecting the open-hole section and thus being pressurized. Both mechanisms also differ in how they affect fracture permeability. While permeability gained by HS is mostly irreversible due to rearrangement of asperity contacts accompanied with shear dilation, permeability enhanced during HF reduces nearly reversible after pressurization unless proppant is used to ensure permanent apertures. In this contribution, we critically discuss the pros and cons of both mechanisms regarding efficiency of enhancing permeability and the associated hazard of induced earthquakes based on literature review and numerical modelling. We review literature that reports on how much permeability required for productive EGS reservoirs and how much permanent permeability can be gained by stimulation. We also compile information regarding the degree of seismicity induced during HFor HS-dominated stimulation procedures, together with conceptual studies that reveal characteristics of seismicity associated with the two mechanisms. Many observations and models indicate that HF may have a higher tendency of being aseismic, while felt seismic events are usually associated with HS. Further, we present a hydro-mechanically coupled fracture flow model that investigates, if and to what degree the stimulation strategy can be designed such that one of the two mechanisms is evoked and dominates over the other. It shows that HS may dominate in presence of larger persistent fractures nearly optimallyoriented in the stress field, even if HF is attempted in short packed intervals. The model further demonstrates that stress transfer during HS promotes the development of permeability across an anisotropic layer of the stimulated rock instead of a large volume. Hence, the study sheds light onto the feasibility of creating productive EGS reservoirs in crystalline rock at several kilometres depths.

Jan 1, 2015

By Hajime Miki, Gde Pandhe Wisnu Suyantara, Tsuyoshi Hirajima, A. M. Elmahdy, Keiko Sasaki

"Seawater has been reported to depress molybdenite in a copper-molybdenum (Cu-Mo) flotation process at high pH due to the precipitation of Mg(OH)2. Meanwhile, to improve mineral recoveries, collectors are usually added into the flotation cells, thus adding the complexity to the mechanism of bubble-particle interactions involved in Cu-Mo flotation. Therefore, understanding the interaction mechanism in seawater flotation and in the presence of collectors is important to explain the minerals depression. The present work investigated the effect of kerosene on the bubble collision and attachment to pure chalcopyrite and molybdenite surfaces in MgCl2 solution as one of the seawater major components at pH 6 and 11. Mineral surfaces were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM). In addition, minerals floatability in the same system were tested in a column flotation. The study of bubble-particle interactions shows that following several collisions, bubble could displace the intervening liquid layer on the mineral surfaces, forming a three-phase contact (TPC). A TPC formed more rapidly in the presence of emulsified kerosene in a 0.01 M MgCl2 solution at pH 6 for both minerals. The reason is kerosene increased the surfaces hydrophobicity and destabilized the intervening liquid layer on the surfaces. Moreover, the average time required to form a TPC was shorter on molybdenite surface. This can be attributed to the effect of adsorbed kerosene on molybdenite surface and molybdenite surface roughness.INTRODUCTIONIn froth flotation, bubbles are used to separate hydrophobic mineral particles from hydrophilic particles. In this process, bubble-particle interactions (i.e., collisions, attachment, and detachment) are crucial with regard to mineral recoveries. The effectiveness of froth flotation depends on the formation of stable aggregates between the hydrophobic particles and the bubbles, allowing the bubble to carry the particles to the froth layer. To form such aggregates, the bubbles and particles must collide, and the intervening liquid layer must be drained below the liquid layer critical thickness, forming a stable threephase contact (TPC) (Ralston & Dukhin, 1999). Particles detachment may take place if the particles still have sufficient kinetic energy and the TPC is not formed. Previous studies of bubble-particle interaction in electrolyte solutions have been conducted using atomic force microscopy (AFM) (Assemi, Nguyen, & Miller, 2008), and by approaching the bubble using mica plate (Pushkarova & Horn, 2008), however, these studies did not focus on the bubble-particle collisions. Bubble collisions and attachment to hydrophobic (Teflon) and hydrophilic (glass) surfaces in a a-terpineol solution have been investigated by Krasowka et al. (2003)."

Jan 1, 2016

By David L. Anderson

This paper explores the financial impact of the initial version of the Saskatchewan Potash Reserve Tax; first, a one; and second, in conjunction with the other taxes affecting the industry's profitability. A though the introduction of the Reserve Tax is shown to lead to a substantia increase in a hypothetical firm's effective tax burden, the more unusual outcomes frequently attributed to this levy on y occur after the imposition of other non-provincial tax rulings. Despite this qualification, the results obtained suggest that the Reserve Tax undoubted y acted as a catalyst in the polarization of attitudes during the ear y period of industry/government confrontation

Jan 1, 1979

By D. A. Beck

The load-deformation response of discontinuous rock under static and dynamic loading conditions has been simulated using Explicit Finite Element models. The intent of the analysis was to investigate the effects of specimen size and confining stress on strength, dilation and comminution. The simulations allow the development of homogenised constitutive material properties for discontinuous rock masses using laboratory scale measurements and representative Discrete Fracture Networks (DFNs). A procedure for this is presented which includes a comparison of measured seismic response in a mine to the Dissipated Plastic Energy (DPE) that is released in the simulated rock masses. The models also show how confinement and scale affect the stress-strain and DPE response of the simulated rock specimens, reproducing a number of known rock phenomena that are often poorly captured in geotechnical modelling. A case study is presented showing a satisfactory match between the model-derived, homogenised material properties and values achieved by calibration of a mine-scale model where many thousands of seismic, displacement and damage measurements were available.

May 1, 2009

By Sylvie Poirier

This paper focuses on new developments regarding thermal rock fragmentation applications. The technology consists in a strong burner powered by diesel fuel and air. The thermal reaction, which is created, allows for the enlargement of 125-mm to 450-mm holes by breaking the rock in a spalling effect. It has been used for over 30 years in Russian open pit mining. Following an agreement between Dynamitage T.C.G. Inc. and the owner of the technology, major improvements have been brought to this technology, allowing for the fabrication of a prototype suitable for the Canadian industry. In Russia and Ukraine, thermal rock fragmentation is actually used to drill large diameter holes in surface mining. Upon having acquired a better knowledge of this technology, it seems that it presents a great potential for selective mining in narrow-vein operations, for either surface or underground mining. Rocmec International Inc., a subsidiary of Dynamitage T.C.G. Inc., and Natural Resources Canada are technical partners in the evaluation of the operational parameters and environmental aspects, such as gas, heat, dust and fog emissions. Furthermore, Canada Economic Development is a financial partner in this project. This paper presents the technology and its history. It also reports on the changes brought to the equipment to adapt it to North American environments. A summary of the tests realized since 1995 is provided, along with the main conclusions obtained. The anticipated applications for the use of this technology in both surface and underground environments are described, such as open pit mining, bulk sampling and narrow-vein ore extraction. An estimate showing a comparison between the thermal fragmentation mining concept and the long-hole mining method is presented and, finally, the future developments planned are listed.

May 1, 2002