Search Documents

By Christopher McElman

Real-time mine management solutions have evolved over time from closed, proprietary solutions, to a "system of systems" that may include a wide variety of off-the-shelf components and technologies. Modular Mining Systems has embraced open standards for their NextGen products to bridge the technology gaps between these systems. However, the remaining logical gaps must be overcome, in order to achieve truly seamless integration between discrete systems. When dealing with volatile real-time management problems, the effectiveness of business process modeling and middle-ware can break down. Scientific principles of military command and control applied to mining domain help to achieve better alignment and reach the highest level of integration. The combination of open standards and off-the-shelf hardware and software with a deliberately structured command-and-control approach provides a clear evolutionary path from ad-hoc connected systems towards real-time management of a seamlessly integrated digital mine.

Oct 1, 2009

By D. MacGREGOR, VERA TUREK

The Badgeley Island quartzite deposir in Georgian Bay is worked by lndusmin Limired and was developed in 1969 to produce a high-qualiry silica for use in rhe ferrosilicon and glass industries. The quartzire is part of the Precambrian Bar River Formarion, and is a generally whire, fine-grained rock containing rhin sericire seams. Primary sedimenrary features wirhin the deposit are bedding and ripple marks. Amphibolite and diabase dykes cur the quarr zire body.

Jan 1, 1984

By X. Wu, W. R. Chen, J-G. Legoux, B. R. Marple, E. Irissou

Cold gas dynamic spray (CGDS) has been considered a potential technique to produce the metallic bond coat for TBC applications, because of its fast deposition rate and low deposition temperature. This paper presents the influence of spray processes for bond coat, including air plasma spray, high velocity oxy-fuel, and in particular CGDS, on the oxidation performance of TBCs with a Co-32Ni-21Cr- 8Al-0.5Y (wt.%) bond coat. Oxidation behaviour of the TBCs was evaluated by examining the coating microstructural evolution, TGO growth behaviour, and crack propagation during thermal exposure at 1050°C. The relationship between the TGO growth and crack propagation will be discussed.

Jan 1, 2010

By A. R. Guest, R. Clayton, J. Jakubec

"The potential for mudrushes is a potential hazard that should be evaluated during cave mining studies. Mudrushes are a phenomenon that can have very different origins, but produce the same results: injury, loss of life, damage to property, excess dilution, production delays, or mine closure. Although mudrushes are more common in cave mines than other mines, any mining activity that enables the accumulation of fine particles and water is susceptible to mudflow. This paper describes the process developed by the authors during the past decade to evaluate the risk of mudrushes, specifically in caving and sublevel caving mines.RÉSUMÉ Un danger potentiel qui devrait être évalué durant les études d’exploitation par blocs foudroyés est la possibilité d’afflux de boue. Le phénomène des afflux de boue peut avoir des origines très diverses; les résultats sont cependant les mêmes : des blessures, des pertes de vie, des dommages à la propriété, une dilution excessive, des délais de production ou des fermetures de mines. Bien que les afflux de boue soient plus fréquents dans les mines exploitées par blocs foudroyés, toute activité minière qui permet l’accumulation de particules fines et d’eau est sujette à des coulées de boue. Le présent article décrit le processus développé par les auteurs au cours de la dernière décennie pour évaluer le risque d’afflux de boue, surtout dans les mines exploitées par blocs foudroyés et par sousniveaux foudroyés."

Jan 1, 2016

By Xian Jian Guo, Lei Li, Hua Wang

Direct smelting of copper concentrate to blister copper has the advantages of energy saving and environmental protection. There has been a lot of effort invested in process development including test work and theoretic analysis in the past half century. However, the process has only been applied commercially to a few smelters that treat chalcocite types of copper concentrate. The main limitation to treating chalcopyrite types of copper concentrate is high copper content in smelting slag and low direct copper recovery. Thus intensive slag cleaning is needed. In this paper, the thermodynamic analysis was mainly carried out for the multiphase equilibrium of direct to blister copper smelting for both chalcopyrite and chalcocite concentrates. The practical problems in direct to blister copper smelting, which are mainly in copper content in slag, are clarified. The operational window of slag composition for different temperatures and oxygen partial pressure for the treatment of chalcocite type concentrates is identified. The process operation optimization for the blending of chalcocite, pyrite and chalcopyrite concentrates was done. INTRODUCTION The extractive metallurgy of copper can be divided into two broad groups of processes, namely, pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, and the former is dominant. About 80% of copper in the world is produced by pyrometallurgy (Christopher et al., 2006). The first stage of conventional copper pyrometallurgy processing is to smelt copper concentrate to copper matte composed of FeS and Cu2S with slagging to remove a proportion of the iron (Gargul, Boryczko, & Bukowska, 2017). The smelting processes include bath and flash smelting. The second stage of the process is to convert copper matte to blister copper. In most cases, the copper matte is converted in Peirce Smith (P-S) converters, which are batch operations (Kubiszewski, 2015). The P-S converting can be divided into two periods, slagging and copper blowing. During slagging period, FeS in copper matte is oxidized to FeO, which reacts with silica flux forming slag. When the iron content in matte is less than 1%, copper begins to oxidize and reduce to form blister copper (Kucharski, Sak, Madej, Wędrychowicz, & Mróz, 2013).

Jan 1, 2019

By Sean Dessureault

Technological Revolution ?Information age ? brought about by: ?Low-cost processing, storage, information sharing ?Shared & integrated data ? Increasingly more sensors & data sources From data collection to data use ??Data mining??analyzing the huge volumes of data ?Key example used in MBAs: ?Wal-mart, Google Explosion of data, trickle of information ?Paralysis of action Outline Trying to provoke- What drives innovation now? ?Challenges in mining Data Action Approach ?Examples from research & consulting upon request Conclusions ?Unaddressed challenges (Research Opportunities)

May 1, 2006

By Tedd E. Lister, Andre Anderko, Peiming Wang

Mobile electronic devices such as smart phones and tablets are a significant source of valuable metals that should be recycled. Value metals in phones are gold, palladium, silver, copper, cobalt and nickel. Devices now contain increasing amounts of rare earth elements (REE). Effective recycling schemes should include the recovery of these critical materials. Targeted recycling of items containing more of the less available critical materials could address their future criticality. This presentation will describe an electro-hydrometallurgy approach to efficient recycling of metals from scrap mobile electronics. The electrorecycling (ER) process generates oxidizing agents at an anode while reducing dissolved metals at the cathode. Development of the process involved generation of E vs pH diagrams, complemented with metals dissolution experiments used to assess the effectiveness of various solution chemistries. Although several schemes were envisioned, a two stage process has been the focus of work: 1) initial dissolution of Cu, Sn, Ag and magnet materials using Fe+3 generated in acidic sulfate and 2) final dissolution of Pd and Au using Cl2 generated in an HCl solution. Results from laboratory work will be discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By Bernard Tougas, Franco Chiesa, David Levasseur, Bernard Duchesne

"In the present paper, the optimization of a tilt poured permanent mold will be carried out using filling and solidification modeling. This exercise resulted in 3 modifications of the initial mold design which was based on the foundry experience. The optimization provided a 20% improvement in the yield while increasing the output from 10 to 15 castings per hour.In a subsequent study, the value of the critical fraction solid of AlSi7Mg (A356) alloy was verified by radiographic analysis of the castings produced in the first 5 cycles of a run, which are necessary to bring the mold to a dynamic thermal equilibrium."

Jan 1, 2014

Accountability for profit realized or lost, and responsibility for continued safe operation are the main impetus behind operator training. Efficiency in operation enables production at lower unit costs. An inefficient operation eats profitability of the operation, creating short term losses, and also affecting longer term viability particularly when commodity prices fluctuate and competition erodes market share. Safe operation and efficient operation are ultimately conjoined entities which may not be able to be sustained without dual effort. Training is a very valuable tool to engage operations in adopting more efficient and safe practices. Training requires time, facilities and trainers. One novel way of minimizing both the trainers and the facilities is through the use of Computer Based systems. Included amongst this are Computer based equipment simulators, following an identical philosophy as flight simulators used for pilot orientation and training for different aircraft types.

Feb 1, 2008

By B. R. Schneiders

"Atikokan is 200 km west of Thunder Bay and earned its mining fame from the discovery of the Steep Rock Iron Range in the late 1930s. Gold, however, was discovered in the Atikokan and Mine Centre areas in the late 1800s and eventually led to one of Ontario's first gold camps, and a total production of approximately 52,000 oz of gold and 174,000 oz of silver from 218,000 tons milled.The general geology of the area consists of Early Precambrian rocks of the Wabigoon and Quetico subprovinces, separated by the east-trending Quetico Fault. The Wabigoon Subprovince, to the north, consists of metavolcanics, minor metasediments and granitic batholiths. The Quetico Subprovince consists of metasediments and granitoids. Small ultramafic plutons occur throughout the metasediments.Within a 50-km radius of Atikokan, more than 50 gold occurrences, prospects and past producers have been discovered since the 18oos. The Atikokan Gold Study performed by the Ontario Geological Sur vey (Wilkinson, 1980, 1982) defined three types of gold mineralization in which gold is concentrated in quartz and quartz-carbonate veins:I) Metavolcanic-Hosted, Stratabound Type-associated with altered felsic fragmental units and chemical sedimentary rocks; possible gold mineralization source rocks. The mineralization is due to metamorphogenic (epigenetic) enrichment. Associated with dynamic metamorphism events and/or felsic intrusive events.2) Marmion Lake Batholith Type-occurs within the gneissic core of the batholith associated with north east-trending lineaments, representing faults or shear zones. Mineralized veins are related to several periods of deformation and shearing, suggesting that metamorphogenic veins were produced during dynamic metamorphism.3) Contact Zone Type -occurs in the contact zone rocks between gneissic batholiths and meta volcanic belts. Hydrothermal solutions produced during several deformational periods acted to leach and concentrate gold mineralization. Localized, discontinuous shear zones host the epigenetic (metamorphogenic) veins.Twenty-one properties in the area were mapped and sampled, and researched petrographically and geochemically. Geological data from the Atikokan Economic Geologist Program of the Ontario Geological Survey are used in discussing the types of mineralization, genetic models, and exploration targets and techiques."

Jan 1, 1983

By Stephen Hardcastle

Personnel Heat Exposure Issues In Canada?s Deep Mechanized Mines ?Project developed in 2004 ?Base/precious metal industry identified heat stress/management as a major challenge affecting productivity and operating costs ?Project started in 2005 ?Current research nearing completion ?Guidelines, further data analysis and ?Communicating the Science? will continue into 2011

Oct 1, 2010

By L. M. Ame, W. D. Harwood

"This paper outlines a management philosophy aimed at promoting employee involvement, quality and process improvement at Inco 's Thompson operations. It describes the use of statistical process control techniques, lessons learned and examples of progress.IntroductionThis paper provides an overview of the Manitoba Division's performance through the promotion of greater employee involvement, quality and process improvement. Having learned from other practitioners o f quality management, the Manitoba Division believes its experiences are applicable to all mining and other businesses.The Thompson operation consists of two underground mines, an open pit, a mill, a smelter and an electrolytic refinery. The workforce consists of 2000 members. The main products are electrolytic nickel slab and proprietary nickel rounds. Production levels are currently at capacity in response to heavy market demand.Paralleling much of the mining industry the corporation was faced with six years of decreasing nickel prices (Fig. I). Inco Limited survived by focusing on productivity and cost improvement. Manitoba Division productivity improved 32070 over three years beginning in 1982-the worst financial year in the company's history (Fig. 2). A real unit cost reduction of 20%, net of inflation, was also achieved (Fig . 3)."

Jan 1, 1990

By John Monhemius

Looking back over the past half century, it can be seen that the growth in the importance of hydrometallurgy for the production of non-ferrous and precious metals almost exactly parallels the rise of the environmental movement and its principal NGOs, such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The paper will review important landmarks in the development of the science and technology of hydrometallurgy and show how many of these have been influenced by pressures on the industry brought about by environmentalists. Successful innovations as well as commercial failures will be considered and reasons for the success or failure will be analysed and lessons drawn to guide future developments.

Jan 1, 2014

By Douglas W. Reeve, Hoc Nghia Tran, David Barham

"In kraft pulp mills, the spent pulping liquor is concentrated and used as fuel in the recovery boiler. Extensive deposits are formed in the upper section of the boiler due to the very high ash content of the fuel and the volatite nature of the ash. Deposits are composed of Na2S04, Na2C03 NaCI, some potassium salts and reduced sulphur compounds. Chloride and potassium salts are enriched in the deposits compared to the smelt due to their greater volatility.Severe corrosion of the superheater tubes in a recovery boiler has been traced to three factors: a non-uniform temperature profile in the flue gas, relatively high operating steam temperatures and high chIoride and potassium concentrations in the fireside deposits.The role of chIoride and potassium in superheater corrosion has been explained by increased Iiquid phase in deposits. Together with corrosion studies, this information has shown that kraft recovery boiler superheater corrosion due to the chloride and potassium enriched deposits can be avoided by proper boiler operation and by judicious superheater and furnace design.IntroductionThis investigation of recovery boiler superheater corrosion was initiated by the discovery of severe corrosion of the final stage superheater in a Canadian closed cycle kraft pulp mill(1,2). Metal wastage leading to tube failure was believed to be due to three major causes : the relatively high operating steam temperatures, the uneven distribution of flue gas temperature across the boiler which created a "" hot spot"" and the high chloride and potassium concentrations in the superheater fire side deposit. The mill responded to the problem by i) lowering the superheater steam temperature from 475°C to 380°C, ii) minimizing the chloride content in the spent pulping liquor, by controlling the NaCI input with recovered bleach plant effluent, and iii) changing metallurgy of a portion of the bottom section of the final stage superheater platens from ferritic steel T-22 (2.25% Cr, 1% Mo) to austenitic steel Incoloy 800H (21% Cr, 32% Ni, 46% Fe, 1.5% Mn, 1% Si, 0.6% Al) (Fig. 1). Details of the superheater corrosion experienced in the closed cycle mil! have been reported in previous papers(l ·2,) ."

Jan 1, 1984

By A. Gillis, J. Keyes

"This is a prelirr1inary report on automatic control at East Malartic Gold Mines.After installation of the cyclones in the East Malartic grinding circuit, the interest was aroused in the automatic control system for the circuit. Investigations were made as to the possibilities of such an installation. This resulted in a preliminary survey of the circuit by Milltronics Ltd and an analysis of the circuit by Mines Branch personnel. A study of the investigation and analysis indicated that a cost reduction and improved efficiency could be expected by the installation of an automatic control system in the grinding circuit. It was also indicated tl1at such installation should pay for itself within a year. This was the point that sold management on such installation. The need of three operators was expected to be eliminated .The installation was to consist of a central control panel, microphoncs on each mill, regulation of feed rate, pneumatic valves for addition of solt1tions, density control of the cyclone overflow, which is a grinding circuit product, rod mill feed box plugging detector and a conveyer weightometer for tonnage indication and control.As well as the elimination of one man per sl1ift, other benefits which were to be received but unable to estimate were: 1) More tonnage per clay by operation of the mills at the proper capacities. 2) Lower grinding costs. Less under-loading should result in less steel wear and lower pumping cost. In the condition of overloading, a coarser grind is obtained resulting in greater impeller and liner wear. The overloading and underloading showed up on the n1icropl1oncs. 3) An improvement in the recovery as a result of less over-load. The tailings loss from a coarser grind are not as frequent."

Jan 1, 1965

By P. Mottahed, J. Ran

Mining practice and research have shown that the jointed roof in stratified rock behaves like a voussoir beam structure with strength greater than that determined by the continuous beam theory. Previous studies have demonstrated the voussoir beam mechanism and developed methods to estimate the crushing and buckling strength of voussoir beams. However, research on voussoir beams with multiple mid joints has not been suffICient and problems such as the voussoir beam support and applications of the voussoir beam mechanism to the mining environment have not been addressed. In this paper, mechanism of voussoir beams containing multiple mid joints and truss support are studied and applications of the voussoir beam mechanism to underground mine openings are discussed based on the numerical and experimental results.

Jan 1, 1995

By Abdurrahman Tosun

It is very important for after blasting processes that muck pile fragmentation is predicted and controlled during blasting. Therefore, a significant research effort has been devoted to the development of mathematical equations that predict the value of average muck pile fragmentation. The specific charge parameter used in all of these equations is determined as the ratio of the total mass of explosives used to break a volume of rock. The length of blast surface and the row number of the blasthole are ignored in the calculation of the specific charge. However, in a blasting operation, blasthole geometry may result in additional material being impacted by a blasthole. This is due to effect shares of in both end sides of blastholes and the back region of blasting surface. In this study, a total of 14 blast tests, 8 at the first quarry and 6 at the second quarry of the Bati Anadolu (Western Anatolia) Cement Factory, were performed. In each study area blast tests were designed in the same direction continuously to provide stable structural properties of the rock. Therefore muck pile fragmentation depended on only specific charge values for each blast tests. Specific charge values were calculated according to both an average blasthole and also the total volume of material occurred as a result of blasting for each blast tests. During loading until the end of blasted material the front, the back, the arm off and the bucket off pump hydraulic pressure values occurred in hydraulic pistons of the loader were determined with a lot of data received for each blast tests. After that the relationships between specific charges values obtained according to two different methods and hydraulic pressure values of the loader were established with two correlations. The relationships between specific charges values obtained according to the total volume of material occurred as a result of blasting and hydraulic pressure values of the loader occurred as the best results especially the blasting operations that have the total length of blasting surfaces are short.

Aug 1, 2013

By J. E. Nesset

The past 50 years have been a golden era, not just for the CMP but also for the development and success of Canadian technologies in the field of mineral processing. The CMP has played a critical role of technology transfer agent, and the success of these technologies is also linked to the success of the CMP itself. The presentation will cover, in brief, the growth of the CMP from its origins as the Canadian Gold Metallurgists in 1964, with some 39 attendees, to the present day when the annual meeting sees 500 and more from a dozen countries. Also covered will be selected technology success stories from the 50th anniversary volume to be given to all delegates ‘Canadian Contributions to Mineral Processing Technology 1968-2018’. The volume itself highlights some 40 technologies that have been divided into five categories; process water treatment and minesite environment, technology innovations, innovations in operations, technology providers and university contributions. Some international perspectives will also be shared.

Jan 1, 2018

By David Fisk

Mining: Current Business Environment ? Commodity prices are high, but cyclic ? Increasing global competition ? Equipment costs remain high ? Maintenance costs continue to increase ? Aging experts with ?tribal knowledge? are leaving/retiring ? High metal prices multiplies theimpact of downtime on production and profitability

May 1, 2008

By J. H. Hodgson

"Those of us who have been concerned with the problem of geophysical exploration in southwestern Ontario have followed the development of the Poulter method with much interest. I have much appreciated the opportunity of reading an advance copy of Dr. Poulter's clear exposition and of preparing the following brief remarks on the probable applicability of the method to the Palaeozoic area of southwestern Ontario.During the years 1944 to 1946, the Ontario Department of Mines, in co-operation with the Union Gas Company and the Dominion Natural Gas Company, operated an experimental party in the hope of establishing a seismic technique appropriate to the •area. The results were completely negative. During two summers' field work, no reflections whatever were obtained except in one area near Windsor. It is the •purpose of these remarks to inquire whether Dr. Poulter's techniques might yield favourable results.It was the conclusion of the report on our work that two principal causes contributed to the failure of the method. In the first place, the geological column possesses few elastic discontinuities and those that exist appear to have low reflection coefficients. In the second place, the area is drift-covered in general. This drift complicates the situation by absorbing seismic energy and by giving rise to groups of complicating refracted phases which obscure the entire interesting section of the record. The situation is further complicated by the high reflection velocities and the relative shortness of the Palaeozoic section, these factors combining to bring in a reflection from the basement in about half a second."

Jan 1, 1950