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By J. Drozdiak

In this paper we present the results of preliminary investigations into the applicability of new laboratory scale tests for the prediction of operating gap and specific throughput in high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR). The work is a part of the CAMIRO HPGR research program being conducted at the University of British Columbia, which aims to develop a suite of small-scale tests and procedures for the selection and sizing of HPGRs. A focus of the presented study is to test sample types in terms of their terra-mechanics based characteristics and relate them to specific throughput and gap results from pilot HPGR testing on the same samples.

Jan 1, 2012

By C. Groccia

As the search for new ore bodies drives mines to be developed at greater depths, the associated high stress environments present challenges for rock support design. Excavations in highly stressed brittle rock are often subject to large volume increases due to rock failure, a phenomenon known as rock mass bulking, which can result in significant wall convergence. Support systems need to be designed to minimize the amount of bulking and to accommodate large wall convergences. In order to design such a support system, empirical guidelines are often used to predict the amount of bulking. However, the empirical guidelines that are currently available are based on a limited number of case studies and consider few input parameters, which may result in an inaccurate bulking assessment. This paper describes methods of collecting quantitative field data at Creighton mine in Canada to better understand rock mass bulking and to further develop the empirical guidelines for bulking assessment for tunnels in highly stressed grounds. Measuring

Aug 1, 2013

By G. R. Cope, C. D. Spence

"The Mac porphyry molybdenum prospect is located 100 km east of Smithers in central British Columbia. The identification of anomalous levels of molybdenum, copper, and silver in three adjacent lakes, sampled during a regional lake sediment survey, lead to the discovery of molybdenite mineralization in float. Subsequent magnetic and soil geochemistry surveys, together with prospecting and mapping, located the source of the float. Mineralization is hosted by a leucocratic granite stock of the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Francois Lake Intrusions which has intruded Carboniferous and Permian Cache Creek Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks. The stock measures 500 m by 300m at surface and is mineralized throughout. Sulphide mineralogy is simple and consists of molybdenite with minor pyrite and local chalcopyrite. Molybdenite occurs within fractures and as selvages along quartz stockwork veins and is best developed near the margins of the stock.Known mineralization is coincident with distinct soil geochemistry and magnetic anomalies. Two additional areas of the property display similar features and these remain to be tested.IntroductionThe Mac property is situated in the Babine Lake area of central British Columbia on NTS map sheet 93K/13E, approximately 100 km east of the town of Smithers (Fig. 1). The property lies on the western margin of the Hogem Range at the northern tip of the Nechako Plateau. The centre of the claim block lies at 54°51 ' 30""N and 125 °34 '30""W.Topographically, the claims are characterized by gently rolling hills ranging in elevation from 900 m to 1500 m. Slopes are forested with tall conifers and underbrush is minimal. Flat-lying areas are swampy with tall grasses and scrub brush.Presently, the property is only accessible by helicopter from bases located in Smithers and Fort St. James. Recent road construction by the British Columbia Forest Service has brought road access from Burns Lake to within 5 km due south of the property. It is expected that in the near future, roads will be advanced into the claim area to facilitate logging of mature timber."

Jan 1, 1995

By Bruce K. McKnight

"The new H-W orebody was evaluated by considering its production at three technically feasible rates. Capital and operating costs were estimated f or each rate and production sequences were established using mining cutoff limits generated by an ore value algorithm. The viability of the project was then examined by conducting economic and financial analyses of each of the three production cases under various world economic scenarios. These analyses employing standard profitability measures demonstrated all three cases would be economically viable; the production case which maximized the Net Present Value of the project was the one selected for development and production.IntroductionWestmin Resources Limited and its predecessor company, Western Mines Ltd., has been continuously carrying out mining operations near Myra Falls in Central Vancouver Island since December 1966. The mining operation, whose current production rate is approximately 830 tonnes / day (t/d), based on ore derived from the Myra and Lynx Mines, produces copper, lead and zinc concentrates which contain significant quantities of gold and silver in addition to the base metals.In the late 1970s, with Lynx and Myra ore reserves slipping to unacceptably low levels, a major increase in mine-site exploration was initiated, with outside geological staff brought in to complement the efforts of the mine's geological staff. By the end of 1979, this program had resulted in the discovery of a significant new orebody on a deeper horizon some 300 metres below the one which hosts the Lynx and Myra deposits. Throughout the period 1980-1982, major drilling was carried out to evaluate the new H-W deposit and by the end of 1982, drill-indicated mineral inventory for the deposit compared with Myra, Lynx and Price ore reserves was as shown in Table I. During this same three-year period, a major development and evaluation program was underway comprising environmental monitoring and control programs, shaft sinking test mining, bulk sampling and mill testing, rock mechanics studies and preparation of the Stage I and II reports for the multidisciplinary Environmental Land Use Committee (ELUC).As a result of the preliminary engineering work and exploration drilling, it became rapidly apparent that the H-W deposit could support a considerably higher production rate than the current one. Accordingly, engineering studies including scheduling of development and production as well as capital and operating cost estimates, were focused on three possible production rates: 1350, 1800 and 2700 t/d. Our task was to select the optimum one of these three rates."

Jan 1, 1987

By Stephen G. Hardcastle

Worldwide, metal mines are going deeper. For example in Canada there are six such mechanized mines planning production at 3000m (10,000?). Working at such depths challenges all aspects of mining including the provision of ventilation to supply an equitable working climate for personnel and machinery. This paper explores the overall challenges of supplying ventilation in Canada?s deepest mines and how the volumes required could be minimized. This is essential because it must be remembered that ventilation and refrigeration are not only costly items to supply, but the magnitude of their cost is also very sensitive to the volume supplied. For ventilation this is obvious because of the cubic relationship between volume and cost. In deep mines, the main function of ventilation is the removal of heat transferred from the strata and generated by the mining machinery, and the air volumes supplied are designed accordingly. The second consideration is the removal of other pollutants that could be harmful to humans such as diesel and explosive fumes. However, the need for ventilation at its present design levels could be reduced. This paper discusses the implications of such technologies as: teleremote mining and alternatives to diesel equipment on the magnitude of the volume supplied; ventilation-on-demand which recognizes ventilation as a costly and limited resource; plus other aspects, such as the benefits of controlled recirculation, local cooling, and heat rejection back to the strata to gain further advantage from new developments. Furthermore, this paper advances the need to be able to design ventilation systems more cost effectively and how such new advances as process simulators can be used in conjunction with ventilation simulators to explore the diverse options that could affect the air volumes required and provide more realistic economic data upon which to base design decisions.

May 1, 2003

By Julia Pflieger, Manfred Russ, Johannes Gediga

This paper shall show an economic feasible approach to implement Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction measures into the mining and metallurgy industry. The goal to improve energy consumption is directly linked to the reduction of GHG emissions and therefore directly in correlation with the economic viability. A baseline scenario of the considered reference system and of the respective reference year has to be defined, mapped and analysed. In a second step an analysis of the same operation using available and prospected Best Available Technology (BAT) processes is carried out to generate a basis for a benchmark system. The identified reduction potentials are reported and the GHG emission reductions are put into relation to the investment cost of the new process technologies / process adaption to be implemented. This economic feasibility calculation is necessary to realise a cost efficient GHG reduction roadmap implementation into the company's business operations. The GHG reduction roadmap is developed using ratios between GHG reduction and investment / operating cost to get an indication for a sequence for implementing carbon emission reductions measures.

Jan 1, 2010

By P. Latostenmaa, T. Veneranta, J. Järvi, E. J. Peuraniemi

Boliden Harjavalta has operated a copper flash smelter since 1949 thus the smelter celebrates 70th anniversary of flash smelting in 2019. This paper shortly describes the historical perspective of the smelter and gives an update of the current operational issues and process modifications made during the recent years. The plant has carried out several major investments lately providing a firm view on the future. A new landfill area for the final slag was commissioned in 2018. A modernization of the concentrate storage area, a new acid plant and a debottlenecking project of the smelting line have been recently commissioned. At the same time, the tankhouse capacity will be expanded. This paper focuses on smelter modernizations. INTRODUCTION Boliden is a metal company operating mainly in northern Europe with core competencies in the fields of exploration, mining, smelting and metal recycling. Boliden Harjavalta, located in Finland, is part of the Smelters Business area of the Boliden Group and operates a copper and nickel smelter with related sulphuric acid plant in Harjavalta, and a copper refinery in Pori. As a short historical review, Harjavalta’s history may be dated back to the year 1910 when the Outokumpu ore body in eastern Finland was discovered. By the end of 1913, a copper mine was in operation and a copper plant based on Hybinette process was ready for commissioning. Due to difficulties in metal recoveries and throughput the Hybinette process was permanently shut down in 1929, and 100% of the mining production was sold as concentrate abroad. As the mine production increased steadily, a decision of a new smelter was made in early 30’s. In 1936 Outokumpu’s copper smelter based on electric smelting was commissioned in Imatra. The smelter was dismantled and transferred to Harjavalta during the final stages of the Second World War. The copper refinery started in Pori already in 1941 and the first copper anodes were cast in Harjavalta in 1945. First sulphuric acid plant started operation in 1947. Due to the post-war shortage of electrical energy, the plant metallurgists initiated a major development work to start exploiting the latent heat of concentrates. Thus, the flash smelting method was developed in Harjavalta and commissioned in 1949. Ten years later, flash smelting was also applied for nickel concentrates. Table 1 summarizes major historical and technical milestones of Harjavalta. The history of flash smelting is described in details in another paper of this conference (Jåfs et al., 2019).

Jan 1, 2019

By I. S. Thompson

"The discovery of low-grade copper-silver mineralization near the town of Tipperary, Ireland, by Gortdrum Mines Limited was the result of reconnaissance geological and geochemical exploration followed by target delineation from induced polarization surveys.Initially, orientation studies at the Tynagh lead-zinc orebody showed that such deposits could be readily detected in stream sediments and soils using cold extraction analysis for total heavy metals. Numerous areas showing stratigraphical and structural similarities to Tynagh were then selected for reconnaissance geochemical prospecting.The Gortdrum deposit was detectable through the presence of anomalous metal values in stream sediments 3,000 feet downstream; soil sampling indicated an area of 2,000 by 700 feet containing 2 Yz to 20 times background cold-extractable metal values. Induced polarization surveys defined the dimensions and attitude of mineralization.Drilling to date has outlined (under 10 to 20 feet of till) low-grade copper-silver mineralization within Lower Carboniferous limestones and shales which have been faulted against Devonian sandstone. Mineralization ex-tends from surface to depths of 250 to 450 feet and consists of bornite-chalcocite-tetrahedrite and some chalcopy-rite in altered limestones and intrusive dikes.The deposit is geologically analogons to the Tynagh and Silvermines orebodies, but in contrast exhibits a predom-inant structural control. Provisionally, it is postulated that mid-Carboniferous folding and faulting produced the pre-mineralization high porosity via recrystallization, shearing and brecciation. Subsequently, hydrothermal solutions from the west, with a probable eommon origin to the volcanic dikes, were introduced along the fault planes. Although syngenetic causes cannot be exempted, the field relationships favour an epigenetic origin."

Jan 1, 1967

By M. Amsden

"Since the computer program is far from complete this must be only a brief progress report on the computerization of flotation metallurgy at the Ecstall concentrator at Timmins.Ecstall is currently treating about 10,000 tons per day of two different ore types. One is a low sulphide copper-zinc ore, the other is a high sulphide lead-zinc-silver ore. The concentrator is divided into three individual grinding and flotation circuits. In effect there are three mills under one roof. Normally there are two circuits on copper-zinc ore and oneone lead-zinc-silver ore. At this point in time one of the copper-zinc circuits is under computerized metallurgy control.The first step in this control is the use of an ARL on-stream x-ray analyzer, coupled with a Honeywell 21 computer which types out assays and recoveries for each individual circuit. Our approach to a computer program was to keep it simple. The program was written to coincide as closely as possible to what an operator would do in the performance of his duties based on the in-formation he was getting from the x-ray analyser read-out. Initially, computer control was put on just the copper circuit of the ""A"" Division, controlling the collector addition at three points in the circuit; primary, secondary, and scavengers. The control was based on recoveries and the grade of the copper concentrate. Targets like 95% recovery and 24% copper concentrate grades that it was felt the circuit could achieve were set to start with. It quickly became apparent that this alone was not enough because if on a certain ore the best recovery that could be made was only 94.9% the computer kept calling for more reagents until the circuit was completely out of control. On another ore it might have been quite possible to get 96% recovery but when the set point of 95% was reached the computer stopped trying for any more. To overcome this problem a very simple optimum seeking program was devised by one of the Ecstall staff and it has worked very satisfactorily since being put into use in July 1970.In the copper float only the two collectors R-208 and the xanthate R-317 are under computer control. The addition of frother and depressant is left to the operator. The flotation cells have automatic level controls which can be adjusted by the operator. pH is controlled automatically through a lime loop-sensor arrangement."

Jan 1, 1971

By A. Atrafi, L. Barroilhet

The top size of particles in the flotation of potash ores, which can be as large as 4 mm, exceeds by far the top size in other flotation plants. It is then understandable that while long chain amines are used in the flotation of fine fractions (below 0.8 mm) of potash ores the coarse particle flotation also requires an extender oil. While new and very promising fluidized-bed flotation machines (e.g. HydroFloat) constitute a significant development in the flotation of coarse particles, in the area of extender oils, as reviewed in 2007 by Strathdee, Gotts and McEachern, there have been no new developments to replace the industry standard asphaltene-based carcinogenic extenders. This situation first of all results from the experimental problems that arise when water-soluble minerals like sylvite are to be tested in saturated brine. Both oils and longchain amines are water/brine insoluble. The oil with the amine dissolved in it can however be emulsified and then used as an extender oil. Such oil droplets must wet KCl particles and the emulsion must be stable to avoid handling problems. In this paper we test the use of the phase inversion technique as a method of studying wettability of KCl particles by the oil in saturated brine, and the effect of amine dissolved in this oil on the wettability. The results show that this relatively simple technique can be used to characterize the wettability of fine KCl particles by the tested oil and to determine the effect of added amine on it, and so it can be useful in selecting proper extender oils.

Jan 1, 2016

By Maria Skyllas-Kazacos

The All-Vanadium Redox Flow Battery that was pioneered and has been developed at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney since the mid-1980s is currently regarded as one of the most attractive energy storage systems for large-scale implementation in a wide range of grid-connected and offgrid applications. Several companies are now manufacturing and installing MW-scale VFBs in applications ranging from renewable energy storage, load-levelling, emergency back-up power and power arbitrage. The full-scale uptake of the VRB in commercial energy storage systems however, is heavily dependent on the availability and cost of vanadium used in the VRB electrolyte. Cost is also a function of purity requirements and although there is little scientific evidence on the effect of impurities on the VRB life and performance, VRB developers continue to demand high purity vanadium at considerable cost. This paper will provide a brief overview of the current understanding of electrolyte impurities on VRB performance together with an economic analysis of the impact of vanadium prices on overall VRB capital and levelised costs for a range of applications.

Jan 1, 2014

By S. Kamado

Development of new SF6 alternative cover gas with low global warming potential is strongly desired for melting and casting of magnesium alloys. We have tried to apply several kinds of HFC and HFE gases with low potential from 30 to 950 as protection gases to AZ91D alloy melt in the temperature range of 650 to 800°C. As a result, protective film consisted of MgF2 and MgO is formed on the melt surface and ignition-proof effect is sufficiently obtained at all the temperature ranges even when flow rates of mixed gases containing CO2 as a carrier gas are almost the same as those using SF6 gas. Reduction of global warming potential exceeds 98% at 650°C and 89% at 800°C in comparison with a mixed gas of CO2 and SF6.

Jan 1, 2006

By C. J. Kerr

"A recent information sheet from the Mining Health and Safety Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Labour was sent to all Ministry inspectors and engineers. The subject title was' 'Two Brakes on a Hoist Carrying Persons"" and it quotes mining regulation 699, sub-section 206(i):No hoist shall be used for the transporting of persons unless it has a braking system consisting of at least two sets of mechanical brakes to stop and hold the drum for the shaft conveyance transporting the persons.The intent of the regulation is that each of these brakes is to be set so that, individually, they can safely stop the drum carrying persons and also hold the drum without movement with the maximum manload.This can be achieved in the following ways: Single Drum Hoist-one brake on each side of the drum, one brake on the drum, one brake on the pinion shaft, where disc brakes are used two separate disc brake assemblies on the disc. Double Drum Hoist, brakes on companion drum can serve as backup brake only pinion brake with one drum unclutched.Friction Hoist, one brake on each side of drum As new hoists can be manufactured easily with a two-brake system, attention will be focused on retrofitting pinion brakes to older hoists.A brake mounted on a pinion shaft is designed purely as an emergency brake in the event of main brake failure , controls malfunction, and power loss."

Jan 1, 1989

By Philippe Monier, Frank C. Basham

"This paper outlines the scope and applications of 'COALMOD', the British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources' computerized financial simulation model for coal mining developments. After a description of the computer system and language of implementation, the logic and scope of current model sub-routines are presented. This is followed by a presentation of examples on the current applications of the model to public policy evaluation, including benefit-cost analysis, fiscal analysis and evaluation of the effects of public infrastructure investments made in support of mining projects.IntroductionThis presentation has been developed in response to a number of requests from coal mining companies and various public agencies who have indicated interest in understanding our application of contemporary analytical techniques to public policy in the coal sector. In particular, the subject of this paper is an explanation of COALMOD. a mnemonic given to a computerized, mine-specific, financial simulation model which is assisting the Government of British Columbia in evaluations of new coal projects, assessment of public sector investments made in support of these projects and. more generally, measurement of the financial effects of current or proposed government policies, and factors outside immediate government control such as coal prices and transportation costs."

Jan 1, 1981

By J. P. Harrison, G. F. Gambino

"This paper examines unpredictability in the parameters governing hydraulic fracturing (HF) as used in stress amelioration for underground excavations, with the aim of showing how this unpredictability may affect design decisions. Using uncertainty models that are appropriate to particular levels of information and degrees of uncertainty, this paper demonstrates how these can aid in decision-making related to feasibility assessments of HF arrays for stress amelioration.Cave mining operations produce large underground voids and high stress concentrations around critical mine locations. These stress concentrations increase the potential for rock burst events. Although de-stress blasting has a long history for redistributing high stress concentrations, to improve safety and reliability HF is now being trialled as an alternative.Unfortunately the HF process is extremely uncertain, and so predicting fracture propagation geometry is difficult. Although the major parameters governing HF propagation have been previously identified, no indication has been given regarding the contribution that uncertainty in these makes to unpredictability in the overall HF system. Using simplified models of HF and referencing a recently proposed characterization of unpredictability, we relate unpredictability in the various governing parameters to the effect it has on strain energy density (SED) in the surrounding rock. Within these models we analyse SED as well as the stress intensity factor (KIc) when investigating the effect of parameter uncertainty and its influence on various crack propagation criteria (Sih & Macdonald, 1974). These models are applicable to unpredictability associated with the development of new fractures; the case of pre-existing fractures is the subject of on-going work.The paper will assess in greater detail the various governing parameters, and investigate the appropriate use of other uncertainty models. As a result, we will show how assessment of uncertainty in HF parameters can be used to both guide feasibility studies and determine the optimal allocation of resources to improve the final design."

Jan 1, 2015

By S. Pinard, A. Desbiens, R. del Villar, D. Jakelski

"During the fall of 1993, a new Pill-based control strategy was installed in the B grinding circuit at the Kidd Creek Division of Falconbridge Ltd. The control strategy was first evaluated on a grinding circuit dynamic simulator (DYNAFRAG), which permitted the discrimination between more than a dozen possible control alternatives. Once the final choice was made the necessary instruments were purchased and installed. The control strategy was configured on the plant computer and is planned to be commissioned shortly.This paper summarizes the control strategy, the design procedure, the installation and the controller tuning. Some preliminary problems posed by the process prior to implementation are also presented.IntroductionIn 1990 the GRAIIM (french acronym for Research Group on Computer Applications to the Mineral Industry) of Laval University started a research project on Knowledge Based Automatic Control (KBAC). This project is sponsored by a consortium of eight mining companies under the umbrella ofMI1EC (Mining Technology Council of Canada), the Quebec Mining Association (AMQ), CANMET and the Centre de Recherches minerales (CRM). The project also benefits from important grants from the Ministere de l'Education Superieure et de la Science and the NSREC-CRD program.The main objective of this project is the screening of advanced (knowledge-based) methods for data processing (filtering, mass balancing, etc.) and automatic control (model-based control) for their use in the mineral processing operations. The project also aims at transferring these tools to the industrial partners through annual workshops for plant engineers, annual symposia, and through specific in-plant projects where the participation of plant engineers is strongly encouraged.The main objective of this project is the screening of advanced (knowledge-based) methods for data processing (filtering, mass balancing, etc.) and automatic control (model-based control) for their use in the mineral processing operations. The project also aims at transferring these tools to the industrial partners through annual workshops for plant engineers, annual symposia, and through specific in-plant projects where the participation of plant engineers is strongly encouraged."

Jan 1, 1994

By Miguel A. Cuba

Resource models are generally constructed using data of different types and/or from different sources. A common issue is the consistency of scale in the information that often leads to a requirement to composite the data prior to model construction. For the purposes of mine planning, development and/or resource assessment, this model may then be upscaled to a relevant selective mining unit. It is well established that the geostatistical parameters for resource model construction is scale dependent. In particular, the volume variance of integrating these various scales has a direct impact on the variogram that should be used in model construction and/or the assessment of volume variance relations as it affects resource estimation. The scaling laws are a set of guidelines that detail how the variogram should change as a result of a change in the volume; these laws are empirically derived and involve some simplifying assumptions, not the least of which is an assumption of shape invariance in the variogram structure. An alternative approach was proposed to directly upscale the variogram via numerical integration, which demonstrates that the assumption of shape invariance is not required and we can directly access the new variogram shape given any volume of interest. This paper compares these two different approaches to variogram upscaling by considering two applications: the first corresponds to a 2D synthetic case and the second looks at a 3D case with data from a porphyry copper deposit. The simulation studies in these cases show that the direct upscaling approach performs better than the scaling laws in fitting the average experimental variogram values at any block size. This is based on a mean absolute error criterion. Moreover, it is also shown that with an increase in the block size, direct variogram upscaling significantly outperforms the scaling laws approach.

Oct 1, 2009

By R. C. Hartviksen

"The Drumbo Mine is a new gypsum mine located at exit No. 32 of Highway 401 between Woodstock and Kitchener, Ontario. The flat-lying 6-foot (1.8-metre) bed of gypsum is near the base of the Silurian Salina Formation, about 380 feet (116 metres) below surface. The mine is owned and operated by Westroc Industries Limited. A shaft, 12.5 feet (3.81 metres) in diameter, was drilled and then lined with a liner-sinking technique new to this continent. The shaft was completed in the fall of 1977. Gypsum production was started in December 1978, employing a conventional room - and - pillar method of mining.Historical BackgroundA brief mention of gypsum in the Drumbo area is included in a survey of the Ontario gypsum industry by Guillet. This occurrence was discovered in 1958 when National Gypsum conducted some widespread diamond drilling. Western Gypsum Products Limited acquired leases in 1960 and concentrated a drilling program in Blenheim Township near the village of Drumbo; 79 holes were drilled in an area of 1900 acres (770 hectares). Mining rights were then acquired for 170 0acres (690 hectares). A test shaft, 44 inches (1.1 metres) in diameter, was drilled to obtain a 50-ton (45-tonne) bulk sample. This opening will be used as an emergency escape way and for ventilation.Westroc Industries Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BPB Industries, has its head office at Mississauga, Ontario and operates gypsum board plants at Mississauga, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg and Montreal. Other gypsum mines are at Windermere, B.C. and Amaranth, Manitoba."

Jan 1, 1983

By H. K. Fredrickson

"Midwest Joint Venture (MJV) owns a high-grade uranium deposit in northern Saskatchewan. The deposit is located too deep below surface to be mined economically by open pit methods, and as a consequence, present plans are that it will be mined by underground methods. High-grade uranium ore of the type at MJV, encased in weak, highly altered ground and with radon-rich water inflows, has not before been mined by underground methods.The test mining phase of the project, completed in 1989, had three objectives: 1. to evaluate radiation protection requirements associated with the handling of large quantities of radon-rich water and mining highgrade uranium ore in an underground environment; 2. to investigate the quantity and quality of water inflows into the mine; and 3. to investigate ground conditions in and around the ore zone as an aid in determining the production mining method to be used.With information gained from the test mining project, a mining method for the production mine has been devised. Level plans have been drawn up, ventilation system designed, pumping arrangements made and methods of ore handling considered. All this is to be done in a manner that will be safe for those doing the work underground. Some of the mining methods planned are felt to be unique in that they are designed to cope with mining problems not known to have been encountered before. New problems underground have required new methods to handle them. Remote drilling, blasting, mucking and backfilling form the basis of the planned mining method."

Jan 1, 1992

By Al Holmes

"In a recent survey of Canadian work values, 89% of the men surveyed and 97% of the women surveyed described the work in a mine as ""not at all auraetive"", Work in a mine, in fact, was rated by both sexes as the least attractive of all of the types of work surveyed. Confronted with this prevailing attitude, Canada's mining industry starts out with two strikes against it in its bid to attract and hold on to its fair share of available work force.Behavioural scientists have, for decades, been seeking answers to the questions:• ""Why do people work?""• ""Why do people choose a particular occupation?""• ""Why do people choose a particular organization?""• ""Why do people leave one organization for another?""• ""Why do some people stay in an organization?""• ""Why do some people work harder than others?""Their answers to these questions, although tentative and often contradictory, are being used by more and more organizations to solve people problems. Few industries can afford to ignore them, least of all, perhaps, the mining industry.Consider the following developments:I. General Motors and the United Auto Workers turn around the car assembly plant in Tarrytown, New York in seven years from the plant with the poorest labour relations and production record to one of the best under a program referred to as ""improving the quality of work life.""2. Shell Canada and the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers have designed a new petro-chemical processing plant in Sarnia using a set of principles that seek to optimize both the social and the technical system."

Jan 1, 1980