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By Allan P. Fawley

ONE hundred miles from Vancouver, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, is the Pioneer mine. It is situated on Cadwallader creek, a tributary of Bridge river, and is reached by travelling from Vancouver to Squamish by boat, a distance of thirty-two miles, from there by train to Bridge River (one hundred and seven miles), and finally by automobile across Mission mountain .(7,000 ft. elevation) to the mine (fifty-six miles): a total distance of one hundred and ninety-five miles. Prior to 1924, many Companies had examined the Pioneer, which had been developed by shaft to a depth of 200 feet, but, while values were good, the small size of the ore-shoot discouraged large investors. In July, of that year, opera-tions were re-commenced by the late David Sloan and, on sinking further, the ore-shoot was found to lengthen greatly as well as to ex-tend in depth, while remarkable gold values also were encountered. When, later, the price of gold rose from $20 to $35 per ounce, the mine was in an excellent position to take full advantage of the increase + and not only became an extremely profitable enterprise itself but its success greatly stimulated the search for and development of other 1-gold properties in British Columbia.

Jan 1, 1937

By W. F. Giuvlore, E. Mcroberts, T. S. Golosinski

"The rising demand for Canadian coal and depletion of shallow deposits, most suitable for surface mining, result in rapidly increasing volume of waste materials which have to be moved by the coal mining industry. While at present this challenge is being successfully met using conventional mining methods, in the future, innovative methods must be considered if Canadian coal is to remain competitive.The need for more efficient mining methods is also faced by the oil sands industry to assure competitiveness of the synthetic oil price.A look at the world mining practice indicates that large volumes of material can be economically mined and moved by the continuous mining systems comprising bucket-wheel excavators, belt conveyors and stackers. To assess the state of art and applicability of this mining method to Canadian conditions, the field trip was organized by the Department of Mining Engineering o f the University of Alberta, to several typical mining operations in Europe. It is in Europe where the continuous mining methods were developed and are almost exclusively used in large-scale surface mining."

Jan 1, 1984

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

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

Jan 1, 1994

By Grant D. Nicholas

This paper compares an integrated evaluation approach to decision-making with more traditional sensitivity analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. The primary objective is to highlight the differences in NPV that can arise from using these evaluation methods in a top down and bottom-up approach. Results from three resource scenarios, derived from sampling a "virtual" ore body (reality) on grid spacings of 75m, 50m and 25m, are analyzed and compared.

May 1, 2007

By Himanshu Dehra

The pre-fabricated outdoor rooms are often utilised near the mines and construction sites for office purposes. The paper has presented modelling and simulation results of the integration of commercially available glass coated photovoltaic (PV) energy technology and solar ventilation technology into a pre-fabricated outdoor room. The pre-fabricated outdoor room has been setup at Concordia University, Montréal for full scale testing of the glass coated PV modules with solar air ventilation. The computer simulation model has been developed for PV modules installed on a double wall wooden frame in an outdoor room based on its preliminary field testing. The testing apparatus was a wooden frame assembly of double wall with solar air ventilation: two adjacent glass coated PV modules, air column and plywood board filled with polystyrene. The measurement data collected from various sensors were: solar intensity, ambient air temperature, room air temperature, electric power, surface temperatures of PV modules and plywood board, air velocities and air temperatures in the air column. The enhancement in the air velocity of the air column was achieved with an exhaust fan fixed in an outdoor room. The simulation model is used to perform the two dimensional energy analyses with applied one dimensional solution of steady state heat conduction equations. The simulation model is based on conjugate heat exchange paths with network boundary conditions of convection, radiation heat exchange and solar air ventilation heat transport. The model parameters are based on measured values of ambient air temperature, room air temperature, air velocity at outlet of air column in double wall, electric power and available solar intensity. The model has predicted fairly well energy performance of glass coated PV modules with solar air ventilation installed on a wooden frame. The model is also useful for predicting heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) requirements for the pre-fabricated outdoor rooms.

May 1, 2007

By Douglas Macaulay

"The Work contains the personal views and opinions of the Author and in no manner should it be construed as reflecting the official position of Export Development Canada. The Author makes no representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of the Work and specifically disclaims any implied warranties, merchantability or fitness of use for a particular purpose". Export Development Canada ?Canada?s official export credit agency, established 1944 ?Mandate to support export and foreign investment ?Financially self-sustaining, AAA rated borrower ?Services include: Financing (FIN), Political Risk Insurance (PRI), Contract Insurance & Bonding (CIB), Accounts Receivable Insurance (ARI) ?A trusted partner in troubled times

May 1, 2010

By Gavin A. Hunt

In order for mines to operate profitably throughout their life it is important to monitor and maximise ore recovery. A common problem facing many mines is the underestimation of clay type and its distribution in ore at the mine face, blast hole or in the ore stockpile. Too much clay entering the heap leach ore stream for example causes a dramatic reduction in heap leach efficacy and or increased leaching times. The end result is poor leaching performance and much reduced metal production. Poor clay identification and quantification is attributable to many factors, including costly and slow off-site mineral analysis techniques, such as XRD, XRF and petrology, the visual and subjective limitations of the core logging geologist and a lack of suitable low cost, high throughput mineral logging instruments. To get round these problems a new, non-contact, imaging spectrometer - the SpecCam - was developed by Spectra-Map Ltd, to allow high throughput identification and quantification of minerals from mineable material. Its novel imaging design can collect millions of data points (pixels) per day; each pixel contains spectral information that allows a wide variety of mineral types, including the smectite and illite clays, and phyllosilicates such as talc and kaolin, to be identified. Because all the ore can be imaged a much more reliable mineral log can be made. Hence, mapping changes in mineral composition - related to variations in phenocrysts, macrocrysts, veining or wall rock - is possible. Examples of SpecCam data from Goldfields Cerro Corona Porphyry stockpile and from Rio Tinto?s Argyle Diamond mine illustrate the mineral identification and quantification capabilities of the SpecCam. More importantly, for the first time very accurate % abundances for the different minerals can be obtained using an image-based modal count technique. The modular design of the camera, plus its extremely flexible high speed filter, mean that the SpecCam can be easily installed on different equipment, each one suited to different ore recovery problems. For example the SpecCam can be used on an automated portable logging frame to measure drill core, RC chips, hand samples or powder, or alternatively installed on a Geotek multi-sensor core logger for high-throughput, automated logging of drill or blast hole core using co-registered multi-sensor data. An exciting recent development has been the installation of the SpecCam on CommoDas ore sorting equipment, used around the world for 24 hour mill-feed monitoring and automatic ore sorting. Real-time ore sorting decisions can be made as material is monitored on a conveyor belt running at 3m s-1, from which the ore can be automatically sorted into high-grade, low-grade or waste streams for example. The three installation options for the SpecCam mean that most mineral analysis and automated core logging or ore monitoring needs can be met at the mine. For the first time rapid and automatic mineral identification and accurate quantification can be made. All of which allow the mine geologist or metallurgist to make important decisions about maximising the metal recovery process.

May 1, 2007

By C. S. Lord

"The Regal Silver mine is 5 miles north-northwest of Albert canyon; a station on the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway; 21 miles east of Revelstoke; British Columbia.Development, commenced in 1918, comprises more than 8,000 feet of workings from six adits, one of which extends into the Regal Silver property from the adjacent Snowflake ground. Production has been limited to a little tungsten concentrate recovered recently from a few r..undred tons of ore treated in a small underground mill. The property has received some attention as a possible source of tin. The deposits are large quartz veins containing irregular sulphide bodies. Ore minerals normally make up less than 1 per cent of the veins and include pyrite, galena, sphalerite, scheelite, and stannite. The veins are approximately parallel with the bedding of the enclosing graphitic, siliceous to calcareous, slates and argillites. These strata are of Precambrian age, strike about northwest, and dip northeast. No other rocks are known in the vicinity of the workings . Granitic rocks, intrusive into t'he sediments, outcrop 4 miles to the southwest and 7 miles to the northeast and may underlie the property at no great depth."

Jan 1, 1954

In 2009 Newmont Mining Corporation?s annual global spend on grinding media reached $94M USD, having doubled in the five years since 2004. The major contributing factor to the spend escalation during this period was unit consumable price, with total media consumption also rising as a function of annual ore tonnes milled. In an effort to better understand and manage the growth of this expenditure a significant supply chain management program was implemented. This was complemented by a series of technical initiatives focussed on grinding media specifications, quality management and the prediction of grinding media wear rate as a function of physical ore characteristics. This paper discusses the methodology and outcomes of these activities.

Jan 1, 2012

By A. H. Onur, S. Ural

"The Afsin-Elbistan coal deposit with its 3.4 billion metric tons of reserve is the biggest coal basin and one of the most important resources for electrical energy production in Turkey. The coal deposit is located north of Elbistan, Kahramanmaras Province, in southeast Turkey (Fig. 1).The Kislakoy sub-basin of the Afsin-Elbistan basin was selected as the first open cast mine to feed four power station blocks of 340 MW each. The mine is equipped with six identical bucket wheel excavators of the type Sch Rs (2300/5) 32. The annual coal demand of the power station is 18.5 million metric tons. The Elbistan basin encompasses an area of 900 km2, and its centre lies about 1150 m above mean sea level. The sedimentation took place mainly in the upper Pliocene period. The thickness of the coal bed varies from 20 m to 60 m, respectively. The basal part of the coal beds consists of clay, marl and sandy clay. These formations are overlain by gyttja, which may also occur in the form of calcareous ooze, enveloping coal beds. The thickness of the gyttja is up to 35 m (Otto-Gold, 1969). The coal of Afsin-Elbistan is soft coal and the quality has been found to vary considerably throughout the deposit. The thicknesses of the sterile intercalations vary from 0.50 m to 2.2 m and average 1 m in thickness. From the quality control point of view, the coal seam is regarded as upper seam where the gyttja formation occurs as sterile intercalations, and lower seam where the clay formation occurs instead of the gyttja (Fig. 2). The CaO content of upper Kislakoy coal is very high, grinding resistance is low and base to acid ratio of ash, that is, the ratio of acid oxides of metals to base, is greater than one (Ural and Onur, 2001). Contrary to upper Kislakoy coal, CaO content of lower Kislakoy coal is very low, grinding resistance is high and base:acid ratio of ash is smaller than one. Modified Impact Strength Index (MISI) tests are used to determine the grindability of the Elbistan coals (Ural, 1999)."

Jan 1, 2003

By Bernhard Schwab

A popular rule in the mining industry is that a property should only be developed if average unit production cost is less than a given proportion of the estimated long-run price of the mineral. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the average cost approach (ACA) with the use of net present value (NPV) as an investment criterion. It is concluded that the ACA is an easily understood and easily applied rule of thumb which may serve as a rough first screening device, for example in the early stages of deposit exploration. Its operational convenience is at the expense of accuracy and validity, and the NPV provides a sounder method of making decisions, especially in the case of marginal deposits.

Jan 1, 1978

By J. R. Morris

"A hoisting plant design should satisfy two basic requirements:1. to provide the necessary materials handling capacity, including ventilation where applicable, while meeting the requirements of good practice and, as a minimum, government regulation; and2. to optimize the economics of the project. Selection of hoisting equipment to meet the first objective is a complex but logical engineering process. The necessary calculations of payloads, accelerations, speeds, rope strength, hoist size, and power requirements are very readily carried out on computers or programmable calculators. A variety of hoist options can be quickly examined to assess the effects of changes in design parameters.Meeting the second requirement involves balancing the costs of various hoist arrangements and shaft designs, together with the time cost effects of differing shaft sinking rates and potential advances to be gained by concurrent level development. The proposed mine layout is significant here, as is the possibility of future shaft deepening and/or production increase. The availability of used equipment may be significant, both as regards first cost and delivery time. The factors are interactive, with their relative effects .varying from project to project. This paper sets out the primary factors to be considered."

Jan 1, 1990

By William B. Hetherington

Communities are the foundation upon which the whole structure of society rests and upon which the nation builds its hope for the future. They are not established to serve any one particular generation, nor any one element or group, but should be erected to render a lasting service to all who are to follow. They play a very vital and important role in the lives and welfare of the people, in their industrial, business, and social relations, and in the economy of the nation, of which they are the fundamental assets. Communities and civic governments are destined to be vital factors in the national welfare in the days that are to come. Any improvement in national or world conditions must have its origin within the communities. Any attempt at solution of the community problem must give some consideration to the fundamental elements which exist in every community, and to the underlying principles, and ways of life and thought, upon which community life is based. The community is, in its essence, a number of people living and working more or less closely together, sharing common rights, privileges, conveniences, and comforts, which would be impossible for the individual to obtain for himself by his own efforts alone, or in any other way than by the mutual exchange of persona! services and resources. In this way, men have increased the returns from their labour and commerce, have raised the standard of their living, with better social, educational, and recreational facilities, and enjoy a greater personal security.

Jan 1, 1943

By Stopford Brunton

For many years it has been accepted as axiomatic that the greater number of 'veins' or 'leads' in the gold districts of Nova Scotia are of the 'interbedded' type. The corollary to this hypothesis is that the vein or lead will have a continuous hanging-wall of one kind of rock, and a continuous footwall of the same or another kind of rock; but the essential point is that the foot and hanging walls are, according to this theory, both continuous and of uniform composition throughout; and that the vein or lead conforms to the bedding of the adjacent strata. With regard to the deposition of the gold in the rocks, the probability is that the key of the problem is contained in a statement by E. R. Faribault, of the Geological Survey of Canada: "The combined effect of cleavage, jointing, and stratification is to cause the rocks, especially the quartzites, to break into rhombohedral blocks". It is essential to comprehend that the rocks of the Province are no doubt folded into anticlines and synclines; but also it must be fully realized that the gold deposits and pay-shoots do not depend so much upon these as upon the fractures resulting from the disturbance caused by the intrusion of granite masses, and controlled by the combined effect of cleavage, jointing, and stratification. These fractures would form the channels through which the ore-bearing vapours and solutions would rise, and at the junctions of these fractures, where the fracturing was greatest, the easiest passages would be afforded to the ore carriers, with the result that the ore-shoots would be found at or near the intersections of fractures. It is a significant fact that in at least thirteen different districts throughout the Province, operators have at various times remarked upon the occurrence of rich ore at the intersection of 'leads,' 'veins,' 'beds,' etc.

Jan 1, 1928

TRE ? worldwide leader in InSAR ? Spinoff of Polytechnic University of Milan ? Numerous patents for cutting edge technology (e.g. SqueeSAR?, PSInSAR?) ? Focus solely on InSAR with over 13 years experience ? ISO 9001 quality certification ? Powerful scalable parallel processor to handle all jobs What can InSAR provide for mining? An advanced suite of tools for monitoring ground deformation over mine sites: ? Deformation maps ? A dense network of measurement points ? Time series ? Cross sections of surface profile evolution

Aug 1, 2013

By H. R. Butler

"The Ontario Division of Inca Metals Company, a Unit of Inca Limited, operates eleven mines, four mills, three refineries, one smelter and one iron ore recovery plant. All but one mine, mill and refinery are located within a fifty kilometer radius of Sudbury, Ontario. A mine-mill complex is located some 100 kilometers west of Thunder Bay on the shore of Lake Shebandowan and a nickel refinery at Port Colborne.During the past 10 years the use of recycled water in our milling operations has increased to more than 95% at each mill. This high degree of water reuse has reduced the (a) need for fresh water and (b) the contaminant level of the downstream aquatic environment. The aggregating of effluents in a common receptor provides a process water having a consistent quality thereby minimizing upsets in mill metallurgy while concurrently improving the operating economies and the downstream aquatic environment."

Jan 1, 1980

By John N. Ludden, Maurice Rive, Hillar Pintson

"Quelques soixante-dix-sept plutons présents dans la Sous-Province de Pontiac et dans la partie centrale de la Sous-Province de I’Abitibi ont fait I ’objet d’une reconnaissance systématique. Ils ont été regroupes en huit suites plutoniques majeures et trois suites mineures à partir de critères géologiques et petro logiques. Parmi les suites majeures, quatre représentent I' activité intrusive la plus ancienne dans la région. L’une d' entre e/les est représentée par deux complexes anorthosito-gabbroi' ques lites et les trois autres comprennent les orthogneiss dioritiques a leucotonalitiques et les intrusions dons la composition varie de diurétique et granodioritique à leucotonalitique. Leur mise en place peut être pretectonique a syn ou tarditectonique; certains plutons sont synvolcaniques. Quelques data/ions U! Pb effectuées à propos de ces roches donnent des âges s' étalant entre 2 718 et 2 694 MA. Les données géochimiques indiquent la présence des deux lignées magmatiques, tholemique et calcoalcaline bien qu’il n'y ait aucune évidence de relations entre elles dans I' espace et dans le temps. Ces suites magmatiques différentes peuvent provenir soit d’une croute tholemique impliquée dans un processus de subduction soit directement du manteau.Les trois autres suites majeures comprenant des monzodiorites, des granodiorites et des monzonites ainsi que les deux suites mineures comprenant des syenites correspondent à un évènement intrusif plus jeunesse déroulant entre2 694 et2 680 MA. Ces roches sont syn, tarti a post tectoniques et sont enrichies en alcalins, Ba, Sr et terres rares legeres par rapport aux quatre suites précédentes. Leurs caractères chimiques prop res suggèrent qu' e/les proviennent d' une source différente par rapport à celle precedemment citee.La derniere suite plutonique majeure correspond a un monzogranite leucocrate, riche en pegmatite, également syn a tard tectonique, dont I' age n' est pas connu avec précision. ll représente le seul granite ""vrai"" de la région et dérive d’une anatexie soit des meta sédiments soit des granodiorites-tonalites plus anciennes. La troisième suite plutonique mineure correspond a quatre stocks de granodiorite porphyrique qui n’ont pas été étudiés en détail.ABSTRACTSevenly-sevenplutons have been identified in the east-centra/part of the Abitibi Subprovince and adjacent Pontiac Subprovince. These have been subdivided, on the basis of geological and petrological criteria, into eight major and three minor plutonic suite. Four of the major suite, which represent the oldest intrusive activity in the area, range in composition from dioritic-leucotonalitic orthogneisses to diorite-granodiorite/leucotonalite and include two layered anorthosite- gabbro complexes. Their time of emplacement ranges from pretectonic to syn-late-tectonic and some plutons are synvolcanic. U-Pb zircon ages for these rocks range from 2 718 to 2 694 Ma. Geochemical data indicate the presence of both calc-alkaline and tholeiitic magma series for these rocks although there is no evidence time and space relationships between the two. The different magma series also suggest the derivation of these rocks from two sources, either from subduced tholeiitic crust or directly from the mantle. Three major monzodiorite-granodiorite, monzonite, and two minor syenite suites comprise a younger inlrusive event ranging from 2 694 to 2 680 Ma in age. These rocks are syn-, late- to post-tectonica and, compared to the above four plutonic suites, are enriched in alkalis, Ba, Sr and light Rare Earth Elements.Their distinctive geochemistry suggests that these rocks were derived from a different source region than for the older plutonic suites. The remaining major plutonic suite consists of leucocratic, pegmatite-rich, monzogranite-granodiorite. These rocks are also syn- to late-tectonic but their ages are not known with precision. They are the only ""true"" granites in the area and were derived by the partial melting of either older"

Jan 1, 1990

On the recent trip from Vancouver to Calgary with the President, Mr. C. C. Huston, and yourself, I had the opportunity of outlining a plan based on the following: Among the aims of the Institute are, obviously, the fostering of the confraternity of those engaged in the technical and management fields of the mining and petroleum industries. This may be achieved in a number of ways, of which, to me, the interchange of ideas and experience between different parts of Canada and different sections and divisions of the Institute appears to be one of the most important. I think you and the membership as a whole are, and have been, well aware of this. The annual tour of the President .and Secretary, particularly their visits to Branches, shows this to be true. The interchange of ideas through the medium of the BULLETIN also illustrates the point; indeed, most Institute activities are directed along these lines. I am convinced that much more could be accomplished if it became financially possible to do so. Many able and fine men are, I think, willing and anxious to give their time and energy to furthering these phases of Institute activity, but it is unfair to expect them to assume as well the financial obligations involved. Specifically, I would suggest that the following could be done if sufficient funds were available:

Jan 1, 1952

By M. L. Jeremic

Altered and unaltered coal from the Star-Key Mine near Edmonton, Alberta has been tested under compression and under tension. The test results showed that altered coal samples have an appreciably lower strength than unaltered coal. Altered coal samples do not give a linear load-displacement curve, peak strengths are poorly defined and yielding is observed over a range of loads, so the material can be regarded as relatively plastic. However, unaltered coal samples produce a linear loading curve with a high tangential modulus and an easily distinguished peak strength at which there is a sudden brittle failure. These findings lead to important differences in the theoretical design of ribs and pillars in underground mines in the two coal types. The substantial differences in the strength properties and behaviour of the two types of coal are governed by a higher intensity of cracks in the weathered coal. Two causes of the additional cracking can be suggested-subaerial weathering and subterranean weathering of the coal.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. J. Macdonald

Gold deposits hosted by banded iron formation (BIF) in Ontario exhibit a marked association with localized zones of deformed and hydrothermally altered BI:F . Secondary sulphides and carbonates are conspicuous. Proposed carbonate-facies IF , or exhali tes, such as green carbonate in the Larder Lake camp and ankerite veins in the Porcupine Camp are structurally controlled, hydrothermally deposited zones of carbonate replacement and fissure filling. Gold precipitation from hyd r othermal fluids in strain-generated conduits may be due to (a) plating upon secondary sulphides, (b) pH change due to carbonatization of BIF or (c) destabilization of gold in solution due to sulphidation of BIF .

Jan 1, 1984