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By C. Graham

Mechanisation has been a predominant theme of the past 50 years in the mining industry, particularly underground mining. As the level of technology employed has increased, the anticipated productivity gains have not been realised and the differences are not explained by the demand for higher standards of safety and security. Now, mining costs are so high and productivity so low that the resultant return on investment for many Canadian operations has fallen to levels considered unacceptable in a competitive capital market. Simply continuing technological development cannot reverse this trend and its financial implications. The focus on technological development has distracted us from some basic truths. Systems that are more complex are more likely to fail and cost-effective processes depend on the continuity of productive activity and the flow of material. When putting these facts together, it becomes clear that in a system that has fixed external conditions, the single most crucial issue is the effective management of the operational cycle. By its nature, technology focuses our attention on what gets done and how it gets done, while the crucial issue is the increasingly longer periods in the operational cycle when nothing productive is being done. What is required is to match the level of technological complexity to the fixed system conditions, which are virtually unchangeable. This paper looks at the overall system and objectives and attempts to present an appropriate level of technology for the Canadian mining industry, now and in the foreseeable future.

May 1, 2004

By Parsons. Robert B.

"Starting this year, corporations that conduct business in Ontario face a new tax a corporate minimum tax. This tax is in addition to the myriad of other taxes that make up a corporation's total tax burden including federal and provincial capital 1oXJ!S, payroll tax and sales taxes. Mining companies with gross revenues in excess of $10 million or total assets exceeding $5 million may be liable for this new tax. IntroductionOn December 8, 1993, the Ontario government introduced legislation to implement the corporate minimum tax (CMT promised in its May, 1993 budget. There are very few differences between the final legislation and the budget proposals.The CMT is effective for taxation years commencing after 1993. Subject to certain specific exemptions (detailed below), the tax applies to all corporations liable for Ontario Corporate Income Tax that have either gross revenues in excess of $10 million or total assets in excess of $5 million. These measurements apply to the aggregate gross revenues and total assets for all corporations in an associated group and a corporate partner's share of partnership assets and revenues must be included in the determination.In essence, the CMT is an income tax that is based on financial statement profit instead of an income amount that is determined separately under a statute. Accordingly mining companies (including so called ""junior"" exploration companies), which traditionally sheltered their taxable income by claiming generous exploration and development deductions, could find that they have a CMT liability."

Jan 1, 1994

By C. O. Aksoy

Operating the underground marble quarries effectively, it is important to evaluate the deposit blocks economically which are affected by the suitability of the topography and configuration of bedding. The joint sets within the deposit and the spacing between these discontinuties are also of great importance. In this study, the marble deposits that could be geomechanically eligible for underground excavation have been selected throughout Turkey and these selected reserves have been classified accordingly by Q-Rating System. These classified marble deposits that forms groups of 1,2, and 3 (groups were determined by evaluating the O-rating, topography, quarry situation, cracks, joints etc.) are convenient for this type of production. Nevertheless, when the auxiliary factors (topography, location, production method etc.) regarding the deposit have also been investigated, the most convenient sub-group of deposits (Afyon Tiger Skin, Burdur Beige, Diyarbakir Pink and Mugla White) have emerged. The sizing of the pillars have been performed utilising Bieniawski?s stress profile. The LAMODEL software, developed by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), USA and run under the laminated displacement discontinuity method, has been used to size the pillars. This work brings in a novel opportunity to Turkey, in which no underground marble quarry has been attempted up-to-date similar to its several examples in Italy, USA, etc. This study serves as a reference for the marble operators and for the pioneering application of laminated displacement discontinuity method in hard rocks.

Apr 1, 2005

By Murray W. Grabinsky

The in situ performance of Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB) systems can be monitored to improve understanding of the paste?s behaviour and therefore optimize the geomechanical design of the cemented paste backfill system (i.e., minimize binder content, minimize fill barricade complexity, maximize fill rate-of-rise during backfilling, and minimize cure time before resuming production blasting in proximity). However, undertaking such a monitoring program is inherently complex, because the rate-of-rise and accompanying self-weight induced stresses occur at a time rate that is similar to the rate of hydration and associated increase in the paste?s stiffness and strength. In addition, arching within the stope complicates the overall stress distribution. Therefore, to obtain a complete picture of the CPB?s response, it is necessary to measure several variables (3-D total pressures, water pressures and suctions, hydration rates, and blasting induced vibrations) at a given ?point?, and take all such measurements at many points throughout the fill mass as well as at barricade locations. The overall testing program can therefore be logistically difficult to implement and have an apparent high cost. However, if the program is successful, the benefits arising from improved mine design can significantly outweigh the seemingly high initial capital and labour costs of the monitoring program. A case study involving an instrumented paste fill in a tall and narrow Alimak stope is briefly outlined. Plans for a similar experiment in a large long-hole stope are then considered.

May 1, 2008

By D. Nikols, G. Caraghiaur, P. C. Roxburgh

"IntroductionThe Highvale Mine is located 70 km west of Edmonton , Alberta on the south side of Lake Wabamun. It has been developed by TransAlta Utilities Corporation as a captive mine to supply fuel to two genera ting power plant s. The mine is owned by TransAlta and operated under contract by Manalta Coal. Within the mine permit area, TransAlta own s the right to mine 80% of the recoverable surface mineable coal.The planning process starts with the annually produced 25-year energy forecast which is provided by the Electric Utility Planning Council (EUPC). A 1983 forecast predicts an average annual increase in energy requirements of 4% over the next 25 years. Put another way, the requirement will double before the end of the century. A lar ge part of the base load generation of the Province of Alberta is provided by th e plants fueled from Highvale Mine. The Highvale Mine is therefore expected to maintain a high output over a long period of time.Mine PlanningMine planning is an ongoing, interative process that draws from many sources. All levels of planning draw from the same sources but du e to the different processes and objectives of each planning class, the degree of influence may differ. The planner becomes then a coordinator bringing together data and excerpts from several disciplines in groups. Generally, there are four classes of mining plan s; these are all used at the Highvale Mine (Table I)."

Jan 1, 1986

By A. Piche, J. Nantel

"This paper describes the recent developments in Canada toward the establishment of a Canadian Centre for Mining Automation and Robotics, at McGill University and École Polytechnique in Montreal. The role of the Mining Association of Canada (MA C) and of the National Advisory Committee on Mining Automation will also be reviewed. IntroductionIn order to remain competitive, the mining industry must increase its productivity and reduce its costs. In the last two decades, this objective has been achieved through mechanization. From now on, any further improvement in productivity will be gained through increasingly more automated mining equipment.Recent international developments following the Versailles Economic Summit in June 1982, having given rise in Canada, to a renewed interest in applications of robotics and automation to mining.The mineral industry in Canada is at a crossroads. Competition in emerging from everywhere: lower grade ore bodies, increasing distances between viable mines and markets, third world massive production of certain commodities, substitution of "" space age"" materials (ceramics, plastics, composites, etc.) for metals.On the positive side, it is generally believed that present mineral commodities, i.e. base metal, gold, iron, industrial mineral s, etc ., will continue to be in high demand for centuries to come despite substitution. New applications for conventional metals will be found and the enhancement of certain properties of these conventional metals mean continued demand. For some mineral commodities, there will never exist an y substitute."

Jan 1, 1988

By R. J. McCarthy

In-pit Crushing and Conveying (IPCC) is increasingly being considered by mining companies as a means to reduce their dependence on trucks and thus, fuel, tires, labour, etc. There is potential for great savings in operating costs which ultimately can mean better economics for a mining project. Vale has considered the application of IPCC at its Moatize coal project in Mozambique. Up to three studies have been conducted with the latest, at a pre-feasibility level, showing some promise. This paper explores the mine planning and IPCC engineering elements required in an IPCC study, their application to the Moatize project, and the drivers which most impact the viability of IPCC at Moatize.

Aug 1, 2013

While this paper is directed towards the ?Bellambie? type of rope attachment, the principles can be applied to any brand of rope fitting however, it is a only a broad outline and the specific installation and maintenance procedures can be obtained from the attachment supplier. The types of attachment to be discussed are:- ?Thimble Type rope cappel ?Wedge Type cappel ?WRC Rope Clamp ? (Rope Glands) ??Hoist and Balance Rope Sockets In each case, the assembly and stripping (disassembly) plus the basic maintenance procedures is briefly described. A guide for Risk Assessment is also included but because of his familiarity with the installation, the end-user is in the best position to draft the final version.

May 1, 2003

By G. R. Peeling

The Mining Association of Canada launched the Towards Sustainable Mining initiative in 2004. TSM's goal is to improve the mining industry's performance by aligning its actions with the priorities and values of Canadians. The initiative currently includes performance indicators for four areas: tailings management, energy use and greenhouse gas management, external outreach and corporate crisis management planning. Over the past year, the association has been designing a performance assessment and verification system for these performance areas, as its members prepare to move external verification of their performance in 2007. The initiative and its evolution, as well as the challenges faced in developing a verification system applicable to an entire sector will be examined.

Jan 1, 2007

By S. Burling

Australia has a number of uranium deposits, but they vary significantly in their mineralogy, grade and textural characteristics. Therefore, information from traditional (or conventional) sources regarding the fundamentals of leaching the uranium and gangue minerals is not always applicable when studying particular ores. Empirical studies on particular ores can be effective in understanding leach systems and can lead to improvements in process design, but there remains a lack of fundamental understanding which is necessary for ongoing process optimisation as ore bodies continue to vary. ANSTO Minerals has undertaken a program of work to address some of the fundamental questions of uranium leaching, including the unexpected impact for some ore types of leaching at high oxidation potential.

Aug 1, 2010

By A. Cadieux, J. -B. Pineault, C. Allaire

The temperature measurement of the molten metal in the aluminum transformation process is of prime importance. This is particularly the case for aluminum treatment furnaces, such as holding and melting furnaces. Such reverberatory type of furnaces involve a thermal gradient across the metal line which limits the life of conventional thermocouple protective ceramic shields, due to the action of locally induced thermal stresses. This paper presents a novel thermocouple assembly using a composite refractory protective shield allowing long term resistance to such above conditions. Example of results obtained from various tests in aluminum holding furnaces are presented. The results confirm the superiority of the novel thermocouple assembly, as compared to conventional thermocouple units.

Jan 1, 2004

By T. Cutard, H. Marzagui, E. Ouedraogo, M. Roosefid, M. Prompt, C. Deteuf

The present work is achieved in the framework of a French national program on modeling and experimental characterization of the thermo-mechanical properties of refractory materials (PROMETHEREF). This research program is aimed to establish fair models and experimental database and to make it available to industrial partners for numerical simulation of industrial structures made of these materials. The present paper focuses on two silica-alumina refractory castables, an andalusite based one and a bauxite based one. We will present the first rheological characterization results achieved at room on normal and preheated samples of these two refractory castables. Refractory castables are characterized with the help of four points bending tests, compression tests and tensile tests.

Jan 1, 2004

Presentation Agenda ?Background ?OEM Recommendations before RCM ?Operating Context ?OEM Recommendations after RCM ?Reality of Failure ?RCM Deliverables ?Maintenance program optimization ?Spare part optimization ?Implementation ?Further Considerations -Three scenarios ?Summary and Conclusion Background ?P&H Mining?s LCM division performed a RCM study on a ?generic 4100 XPB shovel?in Milwaukee. ?P&H soon realized that the analysis required context -The recommendations were manufacturer knowledge based. -The outcome based on manufacturer requirements. -The strategy was not applicable to all machines, etc. Operator experience and ?local knowledge? are key to the success of an RCM analysis. P&H approached Teck Coal?s Fording River Operation to assist with ?Operating Context?. Teck provided operator and maintainer experience.

May 1, 2010

By Éric Côté

Introduction The 425 Main Ore Zone ? Block of ore partially mined in the late sixties; ? Area was sealed off for over 30 years due to SO2 emissions from oxidizing fill material; 425 Project goal ? Bring the zone back into production without jeopardizing the mine; ? Minimize risks associated to SO2;

Feb 1, 2008

"The last thirty years have seen enormous changes in all aspects of the gold industry, from the technologies of mining and extracting gold to the role it has played in the fiscal policies of nations. In this time, the market price of gold has increased ten fold and mine production has more than doubled. However, the cost of mining and extracting gold has also increased exponentially, and the industry has struggled with declining ore grades and increasingly refractory ore bodies.With the major economic powers of the world shrugging off the uncertainties of the post cold war era and moving into a period of unprecedented political stability, economic growth and low inflation, gold is also losing its lustre as a hedge against inflation and a backing for national currencies. Consequently, countries that had accumulated and hoarded gold for decades are now disposing of these non-performing assets, resulting in major swings in supply of the metal. Fortunately, this has coincided with the end of communism in many parts of the world and a tentative move to free market economies in most of the developing nations. As a result, people are becoming wealthier, and this is creating more demand for gold, principally in the form of jewelry.On balance, the shift in the role of gold, from one in which a significant portion of new gold production lay dormant in bank vaults as insurance against political or fiscal instability, to one in which most new gold is now freely traded as an industrial commodity, responding to normal market forces of supply and demand, has had a negative impact on the price of gold over the last fifteen years. In that time, the gold price has declined from a peak of $850/oz in 1980 to an average price of about $400 through the rest of the l 980's, to a price of -$320/oz today (1997). In large measure, this has been due to the enormous inventory of gold metal that was held by central government banks in vaults around the world, and which has been dumped on the market as soon as the price has started to trend upwards. Even today, after ten years of fairly steady selling by central banks, about 3 0, 000 tons of gold (or -8 years' supply at the present rate of consumption) is still retained in vaults (Murray et al., 1997).The downward pressure on the price of gold has created exciting opportunities for the development and implementation of new technology. Increasing the efficiency of gold recovery from more and more refractory ore bodies, whilst at the same time lowering production costs, have become critical to survival in this industry. These challenges have been met by the development and implementation of new technologies such as heap leaching, carbon in pulp, resin in pulp and the sulphide ore pre-treatment process of pressure leaching, bacterial leaching and fluid bed roasting. For an industry that saw very little technological change in the first seventy years of the twentieth century, the pace of change over the last thirty years must have seemed bewildering at times."

Jan 1, 1998

By Hongyan Qu, Lihui Zheng

"Horizontal wells in coal seams, Qinshui basin, China are prone to wellbore instability problems induced by drilling, completion and production operations due to the presence of natural cleat network, anisotropy with regard to permeability, brittleness and mechanically weak property of the coal rock. The mechanism of wellbore instability in coal seams is very different from that in conventional formations, the traditional wellbore stability study methods therefore, are not proper for wellbore stability analysis in coal.In this study, the mechanism and controlling of wellbore stability of coal seams in the Qinshui basin was investigated through theoretical modeling, laboratory experiment and field operation. Firstly, a new physical model of wellbore stability for highly-cleated coalbed was proposed, considering the combined effect of mechanical mechanism and reservoir characteristics, specifically, taking the effect of reservoir pore pressure in the vicinity of the wellbore on the wellbore stability into account. Then experiments on the triaxial stress evaluation were conducted at laboratory where rock mechanical parameters such as Poisson's ratio, Young's modulus, compressive strength, tensile strength, angle of internal friction and cohesion ability were measured respectively. The in situ stress at different depths in four wells of Zheng 1-303, Zheng 1-308, Zheng 1-309, and Zheng 1-310 in the Zhengzhuang were calculated, and the collapse pressure and formation breakdown pressure were predicted through the theoretical model we developed. Finally, by comparing the maximum collapse pressure and minimum breakdown pressure of the four wells in the coal as well as in the roof and floor of the coal seams, the fluid weight window for safe drilling in each coal seams was determined, and appropriate approaches against anti-sloughing in coal seams, Qinshui basin were applied in the field operation.The wellbore stability was found not only related to the wellbore pressure, but also affected by the pressure in the reservoir through the theoretical model. The fluid weight window for safe drilling in each coal seams varies with the coefficient of wellbore stability in the model. The laboratory experiment results indicate that the roof and floor of 3 # coal in Qinshui basin has high breaking strength, high heterogeneity, and are easy to collapse and breakdown. In addition, the whole rock mineral analysis shows that 3 # coal in the Duanshi block has high clay content, resulting in the phenomenon of hydration swelling as clay encountered water, and leading to unstable coal and extreme large drilling uncertainties. Due to the effect of the unstable rock mechanical properties of the roof and floor formation on the wellbore stabilizing, drilling parameters, drilling fluid performance and BHA were optimized during the drilling process according to the formation properties, rock mechanical properties and drilling techniques in the field operation."

Jan 1, 2015

By Waghmarem Umesh V., Vinay Jain, Pradip, Beena Rai

"The hematite surface plays a vital role in several processes of industrial and technological importance, such as, in beneficiation of iron ores, catalysis, and geochemical processes. Therefore, it is imperative to have a clear description of the structure and composition of this surface, which forms the underlying basis for such a wide variety of complex phenomena. Particularly, from the perspective of beneficiation of Indian alumina-rich iron ore slimes and fines, a clear understanding of the surface structure and composition of hematite surface and its difference from the alumina surface will facilitate identification and/or design of selective reagents which can be used to separate the two minerals. In this work, the hydroxylated hematite (0001) surface was modeled using density functional theory (DFT). The computed planar relaxations are consistent with X-Ray crystal truncation rod diffraction results reported in the literature. It is demonstrated that only one type of surface, that is, the (OH)3-Fe-H3O3-R is stable under aqueous conditions, as the relaxations for the second type of termination: (OH)3-Fe-Fe-R do not match quantitatively with experiments suggesting that its coexistence with the (OH)3-Fe-H3O3-R surface is unlikely. A detailed analysis of this surface shows that two of the three (OH) groups are not connected to the Fe surface atom. Instead, they form H2O molecules by combining with the H-atoms on the O-layer beneath the Fe-terminated surface leaving the Fe surface-atom bonded to only one OH-group. This undercoordination of Fe-atoms on the surface explains its higher reactivity as compared to hydroxylated alumina.INTRODUCTIONThe hematite surface plays a vital role in several processes of industrial and technological importance. A few examples are: flocculation/froth flotation of iron ores (Ravishankar, Pradip & Khosla, 1995), catalysis (Muhler, Schlögl & Ertl, 1992; Samsonov, 1973), and geochemical processes (Brown, Henrich, Casey, Clark, Eggleston & Felmy et al., 1999; Sposito, 1989). Therefore, it is imperative to have a clear description of the structure and composition of the hematite surface, which form the underlying basis for such a wide variety of complex phenomena. Particularly, from the perspective of beneficiation of Indian alumina-rich iron ore slimes and fines, this is an important problem, as a clear understanding of the surface structure and composition of hematite surface and its difference from the alumina surface will facilitate identification and/or design of selective reagents which can be used to separate the two minerals. Our current research focus is at employing molecular modeling techniques to come up with such selective reagents and then test their efficacy in the practical scenario through selective dispersion – flocculation labscale experiments and subsequently plant trials. Obviously, the correct structure and composition of the hydroxylated hematite surface is a fundamental prerequisite for such investigations."

Jan 1, 2016

By P. Au, R. Kearsey, D. Y. Seo, Patnaik. P. C.

Three nickel based superalloys (7.5%Cr+5%Co+2%Mo+1%Ti+5%Al and Ni balance (wt%)) containing different amounts of W and Re were produced in the single crystal (SX) condition utilizing the Bridgman casting process. First, the effect of different levels of Re, and W on chemical microsegregation were investigated by EPMA quantitative analysis, and eutectic phase fraction analysis. Second, in order to investigate the effect of these refractory elements addition on oxidation behaviour, isothermal oxidation testing of the SX nickel based superalloys was conducted at 1000°C for 277 hours under 3 ppm moisture content of air in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). All three SX nickel based superalloys revealed an excellent SX solidification structure with a common primary dendrite arm spacing of -250 µm and a large fraction of ?/?' eutectic located between the secondary dendrite arms. From the average EPMA compositional results, with the exception of Ni, elements such as Cr, Co, Re, Mo, and W all tended to segregate towards the dendrite core during solidification, while Al, Ti, and Ta were present in greater quantity in the last liquid phase to solidify, which resulted in large eutectic ?/? ' phases to form within the interdendritic regions. As the nominal level of Re increased, microsegreagation of Re, W, Cr and Mo increased, indicating that Re had a much greater influence on partitioning behavior compared to W. Figure la shows the specific mass gain as a function of exposure time for each alloy. An alloy with 2wt% of W and Re (Alloy B) exhibited less weight gain compared to two other alloys with either higher content of W or Re (Alloy A and C). Microstructural and compositional analyses of oxidized samples were conducted using SEM and EDS. Figure lb shows the typical surface morphologies of the oxidized Alloys A and B. It is evident that more oxide nodules (indicated by arrows in the figure) were presented in Alloy A. It is speculated that the amount of these nodules was responsible for more mass gain in Alloy A compared to the two other alloys. From the examination of the longitudinal section of the oxidized samples as shown in Figure 2, for Alloy A, nodules actually penetrated deep into the material. For Alloy B, however, a relatively uniform and continuous oxide layer was developed and deeply attacked areas were not observed. It was also found that preferential oxidized regions were located at the area between the ?/?' eutectic phase and the dendrite arms where the concentration of refractory elements was relatively high. Therefore, it is plausible that the oxidation kinetics of these alloys is related to the extent of microsegregation.

Jan 1, 2004

By Fernando Canales

In the last decade a great dealt of attention has been paid to the chemistry of polynuclear gold derivatives with a central heteroatom, not only from the experimental and structural but also from the theoretical standpoint (1). Interesting hypercoordinated species of the type [C(AuPR3)5]+, [C(AuPR3)6]2+, [N(AuPR3)5]2+, [P(AuPR3)5]2+ and [P(AuPR3)6]3+ have been described (2), apart from other complexes with more conventional stoichiometry, and all have in common the presence of gold-gold interactions of ca. 3 Å. Usually, the chemistry of the first row elements of the p-block is known to follow classical rules of bonding, and only in cases of extreme electron-deficiency has the traditional electron count to be reconsidered to account for special types of molecular or solid state structures. Many of these heteroatomcentered complexes are electron-deficient and the gold-gold interactions provide a significant contribution to their stability. The attraction between these closed-shell systems has recently captured the attention in inorganic and organometallic chemistry (1). P. Pyykkö has summarized the available theoretical and experimental evidence of intra- and inter-molecular interactions between heavy metal atoms, such as Au(I) (3). In general, when heavy metals are involved in such interaction, the closed-shell attractions are of metallophilic or van der Waals type, as has been found for d8, d10 coinage-metals, and d10s2 centers. Experimental evidence for the aurophilic Au(I)???Au(I) attraction is available from crystallography, NMR and Raman spectroscopies, and optical spectroscopic measurements of the interaction strength (4). It is manifested in molecular conformations with relatively close Au???Au interactions of ca. 3 Å, whose strength has been estimated at ca. 25-50 kJ/mol (5). These attractions are weaker than most covalent or ionic bonds, but stronger than other van der Waals bonds and comparable in strength to typical hydrogen bonds. The phenomenon cannot be satisfactorily explained by classical theories such as hybridization (3). From a theoretical point of view, the attractions close to equilibrium distances are caused by dispersive interactions together with relativistic effects (6). The attractive contributions are dominated by pair-excitations from the heavy metal, such as gold, strengthened by relativistic effects. In all the cases where there are inter- or intramolecular metal-metal attractions, the correlation effects are essential; if they are omitted, at the Hartree-Fock (HF) level, repulsive interactions are obtained (6). Hence, it is necessary to use at least second-order Møller-Plesset level (MP2) methods for the dispersive forces, which are included in the electronic correlation effects (7).

Oct 1, 2003

By Donald S. Cameron

By dispersing gold in high surface area form supported on metal oxides, its inert character can be transformed to make economical, effective catalysts. Gold has already been demonstrated in a number of fuel cell applications such as gas phase catalysts, electro-catalysts, and electrical connectors. In this paper, the various types of fuel cell systems are reviewed, and several opportunities for gold identified. Low temperature fuel cells, including alkaline and solid polymer electrolyte types rely on high surface area platinum group metal catalysts which are highly susceptible to poisoning by low concentrations of carbon monoxide in the fuel supply. Hydrogen is frequently obtained by steam reforming hydrocarbons, followed by the water gas shift (WGS) reaction. A promising initial use for supported gold catalysts is in catalysing this WGS reaction. Research has shown that gold supported on iron oxide (Au/a-Fe2O3 ) WGS catalysts are more active than the current commercial copper oxide / zinc oxide catalysts, and effective at temperatures as low as 120oC. Products from reformer/ water gas shift reactors can be further purified by removing traces of carbon monoxide. If a small proportion of oxygen is introduced into the fuel gas stream, carbon monoxide can be preferentially oxidized to carbon dioxide even in the presence of hydrogen. Gold nanoparticle catalysts on iron oxide support (Au/a-Fe2O3 ) have exhibited higher activity than commercially available platinum on alumina (Pt/?- Al2O3 ) preferential oxidation catalysts. The low temperature of this reaction may make it feasible to incorporate these catalysts within the fuel cell itself. Proton exchange fuel cells provide several possible applications for catalytically active gold and its alloys. Carbon supported platinum group metals would benefit greatly from improved electrical conductivity if gold replaced some or all of the carbon support material. As electrode current densities are raised, electrical resistance constitutes an increasing proportion of voltage losses within the fuel cell. Dramatic reductions in cell stack voltage losses have already been demonstrated by reducing inter-cell contact resistance using gold plating. The low temperature oxidation properties of gold catalysts have been investigated in controlling gaseous emissions from direct methanol fuel cells, and gold also provides essential catalysis in building direct borohydride oxidation fuel cells. The prospect of a range of other applications for gold in fuel cells to contribute useful improvements in corrosion resistance and conductivity is assessed. Globally, fuel cells have been developed for a wide range of applications including stationary generators, cars and buses, industrial vehicles and small portable power supplies, each of which represents a substantial market. Hence there are likely to be many and varied opportunities for gold catalysts to contribute to the performance and economics of the systems being commercialized.

Oct 1, 2003