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By Jan Butra

Longstanding mining of copper deposits in the Legnica-Glogow Mining Basin, Poland has accumulated broad experience concerning the impact of geological and mining conditions on seismic and rockburst hazard. Methods of rockburst prevention for deep copper mines have been developed based on gathered data. Methods of rockburst hazard evaluation and rockburst control constitute a set of rockburst prevention measures. Due to their nature and location within the production process, prevention methods can be passive or active. Active methods of rockburst prevention consist of the liquidation of stresses in the areas where they are concentrated through controlled generation of rock-mass tremors and rockburst by blasting works (group extraction blasting, release blasting in the rock mass and pillars able to accumulate the stress, as well as in the roof and floor). Group blasting works as a basic method are very effective in copper mine conditions. Provocation of dynamic events makes it possible to control the timing of their occurrence. In Polish copper mines, all blasting works are made during the absence of miners in the mining fields. Daily distribution of both the number of recorded strong seismic events and volume of energy released, confirm the advisability of using this kind of rockburst hazard prevention. The rockburst hazard prevention methods developed over 40 years of copper deposit extraction are economically reasonable and offer sufficient effectiveness under high rockburst hazard conditions.

Aug 1, 2013

By Yuki Tsunazawa, Sho Fukui, Chiharu Tokoro

"A milling process is one of the important unit processes in mineral processing. In the milling process, the control of particle size distribution is necessary for the later physical separation process. Since the milling process is strongly affected by the equipment designs, operation conditions and raw materials, the control for particle size distribution of milling products is mainly based on empirical rules. Recently, the discrete element method (DEM) has been widely used as an effective tool to investigate the behavior of grinding media. Although the behavior of grinding media can be accurately simulated, it is not well-established the way to predict particle size distribution after milling by the DEM simulation.The objective of this study was to develop a new method to predict particle size distribution in ball milling using the DEM simulation. To predict particle size reduction, a correlation between experiments and the simulation was investigated in various operation conditions, that is, wide range of the rotation speed and the filling ratio of grinding media. In experiments, after lime stone was ground, the average and variance of particle size distribution were evaluated using some kinds of distribution equations. In the DEM simulation, direct simulation of particle disintegration in milling process is generally very difficult because of huge computational load. Therefore, collision energy between grinding media balls orgrinding media ball and wall was used as a factor of particle disintegration.As a result, a good correlation between experiments and simulation was obtained. In addition, the particle size distribution in ball milling could be predicted using this correlation. Therefore, these results indicated that the use of the correlation between experiments and the DEM simulation was an effective approach of predicting the particle size distribution in milling process."

Jan 1, 2016

By Jean Dugas, Roger Sirois

The Mineral Deposits Service of the Quebec Department of Natural Resources is engaged in the preparation of metallogenic maps as a contribution to the Canadian Sub-Committee of the Metallogenic Map of North America. The preliminary work is being done on large-scale maps. The main objective is to clearly represent information on ore deposits in a suggestive way. The design of the legend to meet these requirements is discussed. As these maps are still only descriptive, a further step will be the interpretation of data into metallogenic maps with Jess emphasis on the individual deposits and more on the metallogenic factors. Both types of map should prove useful in the search for ore deposits; the first by providing at once a large amount of information, the second by suggesting the ore controls.

Jan 1, 1967

By Ahmad Ghahreman, Denver Cowan, Yeonuk Choi

"Previous testwork by the authors has indicated that both granular coconut shell based activated carbon and a new microporous carbonaceous bead, Lewatit® AF 5, are highly effective in improving the oxidation kinetics and decreasing the elemental sulphur yield when assisting the atmospheric oxidation of pyrite. While the two carbon catalysts show similar results and improvements to the pyrite oxidation, there are differences between them. For example, the activated carbon assisted oxidation showed faster kinetics than the AF 5 assisted oxidation, while elemental sulphur seemed to remain adhered to the surface of the AF 5 after oxidation when much of the elemental sulphur formed during the activated carbon assisted tests was found in the oxidation residue. The objective of this paper is to investigate the differences between the two catalysts through the use of scanning electron microscopy, photography, Raman spectroscopy, surface chemistry analysis, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. With this investigation the authors should be able to achieve a better understanding of the surface chemistry of the two carbon catalysts (i.e. functional groups, charges, acidity etc.) and help explain the strengths and/or the weaknesses of the catalysts when applied to the atmospheric oxidation of pyrite.INTRODUCTION Previous research conducted by the authors, indicated that both a granular coconut shell based activated carbon (activated carbon) and a microporous carbonaceous bead, Lewatit® AF 5 (AF 5), acting as a catalyst enhanced atmospheric pyrite oxidation in ferric sulphate media by approximately 40% when compared to unassisted oxidation and that elemental sulphur yields were increased from 23% to approximately 69 and 63% when assisted by AF 5 and activated carbon respectively (Cowan, Jahromi, & Ghahreman, 2017). The study indicated that although total pyrite oxidation assisted by the two catalysts was similar, differences were noticed in the impact that the two catalysts had on the outcome of the oxidation. Kinetic curves in the Cowan et al. study indicated that atmospheric oxidation of pyrite seemed to reach completion after 48 hours of oxidation when assisted by activated carbon. A similar trend was noticed in the kinetic curves for oxidation when assisted by AF 5, however the oxidation curve did not reach completion until approximately 96 hours (Cowan et al., 2017). This observation indicated that the kinetics of pyrite oxidation are enhanced by both catalysts, oxidation kinetics are much faster when assisted by activated carbon rather than AF 5."

Jan 1, 2017

By J. E. Gill

Discovered in 1952, the deposits have been explored by diamond drilling on and near a group of islands in lake Nipissing and from under-ground workings. The ore mineral is a uranian pyrochlore. It occurs in breccia zones in association with calcite, apatite, a?cmite, feldsiiars, biotite, magnetite, sulphides, and fluorite in varying amounts. The pyrochlore concentrations occur in a steeply-dipping gneiss series with some crystalline limestone. Trends indicate a ring structure 114 miles in diameter. The main ore zone shows evidence of repeated brecciation and a succession of replacements .giving rise to a complex of rock types. Pegmatite and lamprophyre dykes cut the ore as do calcite-fluorite veins and later faults with small displacements. Columbium and uranium occur al-most exclusively in pyrochlore, but the proportions vary. There is no tantalum and only small amounts of titanium.

Jan 1, 1957

By D. F. Coates

Slope problems arise on mining properties from cuts for roads and railroads and from open pits. When it is 'realized that 1,000,000 extra tons of waste may have to be mined as a result of an average slope being reduced by 1 ° it is easy to appreciate that the slope problems connected with open pits are of far greater importance than the others. The type of slope failure that can occur can be classified in different ways. The most useful classification would be one that separates the causes in such a way as to provide a basis for studies to deal with problems of prevention and control. Using this criterion the types of slope failures are classified into four groups. Having classified the problems in this way an understanding can be gained of the various mechanisms involved in failure ..

Jan 1, 1961

By S. Eckert, M. Reuter, D. Obiso, S. Kriebitzsch, M. Akashi

The present paper focuses the application of CFD techniques to investigate the Top-Submerged- Lance (TSL) gas injection in liquid metal. Previous works of the authors have shown that up- and down- scaling procedures based on the modified Froude number have some shortcomings, as this approach does not take into account the interfacial and viscous forces. Indeed, surface tension and dynamic viscosity of the smelting slags (σ = 0.4-0.5 N/m, μ = 0.2 Pa·s) are higher than the operating fluids that have been used in literature (water, paraffin oil) to study TSL injection in down-scaled furnaces. In order to get closer to real systems, the authors study the TSL injection of Argon in a liquid metal. An experimental campaign was carried out in the X-ray lab at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), where the eutectic alloy GaInSn was used as liquid phase. The alloy is liquid at room temperature, and X-Ray imaging is used to picture the multiphase flow in a quasi-2D vessel. The aim of the present work is to demonstrate the applicability of CFD techniques to model multiphase flows involving liquid metals, and validate the model using the data produced at HZDR. The commercial software ANSYS Fluent® was used together with the Volume of Fluid model to directly resolve the gas-liquid interphase. Some features of the flow, such as the void fraction distribution and bubble detachment frequency are tracked with CFD and compared to the experimental data. INTRODUCTION In the last thirty years the TSL smelting technology has increasingly been used for industrial non- ferrous smelting processes and is now one of the significant pyrometallurgical processes. Developed in the early 1970’s at CSIRO, the furnace is nowadays commercialized in different market sectors, including copper and lead smelting, zinc fuming, waste treatment and slag recovery (Floyd, 2005). Despite the wide application of these reactors in the pyrometallurgical market, some aspects of the process are still not fully clarified, since in-situ measurements and optical accesses are prohibitive because of the high temperatures and aggressive conditions. Phenomena such as the bubbling regime, the slag solidification and the submerged combustion still need a deeper scientific investigation to obtain a better understanding of the process.

Jan 1, 2019

By W. Baranek

The paper describes activities undertaken for intensification of copper cathodes production in electro-refining plants of the Polish copper smelters: 'Legnica', `Glogów I' and `Glogów II'. In the 'Legnica' smelter, Outokumpu?Wenmec machine was used for preparation of copper anodes. Intensive studies were conducted in order to optimise copper electro-refining conditions. As the result of them, spacing between the electrodes was reduced to 99 mm, which enabled placing forty-one cathodes in each tank and increasing amperage from 10.8 to 13.0 kA. This modification resulted in the increase of electro-refining capacity to 103,000 tons/y. Intensification of the copper production at `Glogów II' by 18,000 tons/y became possible after development of new electro-refining procedures, including application of a regime of changes in electrolyte level during the cathode cycle, implementation of the changes in location of starting sheets relative to anodes, and in dimensions of the sheets, and modification in the shape of the anodes. Similar works have been performed at `Glogów I', which were concentrated mainly on defining of a new method of anodes preparation, modification of their geometry, determination of optimum current density, composition of a set of inhibitors and of a method of their introducing. The implemented solutions resulted in the increase in electro-refining capacity at `Glogów I' from 207,000 to 240,000 tons/y.

Jan 1, 2007

By I. Clauzier

"A new method of managing electricity to reduce costs andimprove profits is discussed. Before taking steps to better manage electricity, it is essential to understand the terms peak demand and energy and their effect on an electrical bill. Knowing how electricity is presently used in the plant is the important first step. This goes beyond knowing how much electricity is used at each time of day, the individual contribution of every plant process to the total plant load must be known. At this point, each process is ranked according to importance to production in order to identify possible savings opportunities. These improvements can then be implemented by simply improving operations or in some cases, through the use of an automatic control system. IntroductionIn today's competitive environment, controlling costs is becoming increasingly important. All costs associated with operation must be controlled in an effort to improve competitive position. Electricity is a cost component that can and should be managed.Although the term management can mean different things to different people, the intent is always the same: to make the best possible use of existing resources, whether labour, equipment or electricity.The simple approach to managing electricity presented in this paper consists of four steps.I. Understand Peak Demand and Energy. It is essential to understand the terms, peak demand and energy and their effect on your electrical bill.2. Know Your Present Electrical Use. The present use of electricity in the plant must be known. This goes beyond simply knowing how much is used at each time of day, to accurately knowing how each process is contributing to the total plant electrical load, and ultimately to the electrical bill.3. Identification of Savings Opportunities. With this information, energy savings opportunities for reducing the electrical bill and improving profits can be identified.4. Implementing Improvements. Having identified areas of potential savings, improvements can then be implemented in order of their significance. This could be a matter of simply improving operations, or in some eases may mean the use of an automatic control system.These four steps can result in significant dollar savings."

Jan 1, 1987

By Pierre Montrueil, Marcel St-Amant

Within the next few years, underground mobile equipment will be partially automated. Mining methods will integrate more and more automation. Such an evolution will be possible only if adequate underground communication systems are developed. This is expected due to the available competence in Canadian telecommunication, to the economic pressure on the Canadian mining industries for international competitiveness and to the social changes where a better working environment (i.e. less accidents) becomes a major concern. CCARM propose the concept of a Production Area Network for Automated Mobile Units called PANAMU as an intermediate size communication system. It can be implemented using mature present-day technology and it can be integrated in some mine wide communication systems. It can evolve so as to incorporate new technologies because of its modular concepts. In this paper, the communication requirements are estimated, the amtmptions are defined, the concepts of the PANAMU are presented and an over- view of its implementation is described. CCARM presents this article to the mining industry as a document for discussion.

Jan 1, 1994

By D. E. M. Plaumann, B. S. Fee, R. D. Hansen, R. R. Klimpel

"This paper briefly summaries the status of a recent program aimed at identifying new chemistry for use as sulfide mineral frothers and collectors. The background motivation and planning behind this work is given along with the general families of chemical structures synthesied and studied in detail followed by typical flotation application results in various laboratory and plant scale tests. Flotation testing to date has been very encouraging with often improved recoveries of certain minerals and improved pyrite selectivity being observed over commercially available reagents. In addition, in some cases, the dosage and lime requirements of these new collectors are significantly less than that associated with standard sulfide mineral collectors. INTRODUCTIONFroth flotation is one of the most widely used and economic means of concentrating metal sulfide ores. There are numerous reference books that have been published on the chemical aspects of flotation [e.g., ref. 1-7] which are based on studying the influence on selected minerals of chemical structures that have been used commercially for many years. In fact, almost 98% of the volume of flotation collector and frother reagents used at the industrial level today were known and manufactured in some form 25 years ago [8]. There are many reasons for this lack of significant new flotation reagent development [9] including the general utility and relative cheapness of existing collectors such as xanthates and existing frothers such as the alcohols and glycol ethers. Another reason is the inherent complexity of the flotation process itself coupled with highly variable and difficult to standardize feed materials. This environment makes reliable reagent comparisons difficult and seriously limits the use of theoretically based chemical structure studies to predict new or optimal reagents. In addition, the higher cost of specialty flotation reagents demands that their performance attributes be significantly greater than that achieved with existing all-purpose commercial reagents - something often difficult to prove in practice."

Jan 1, 1988

By A. G. Darnley

"IntroductionTHE PURPOSE of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to drawn attention to recommendations which have been accepted by the International Atomic Energy Agency concerning radiometric reporting methods and calibration in uranium exploration, and secondly to emphasize the benefits that- will stem from adopting them. These recommendations are contained in an IAEA Technical Report, No. 174, which has been prepared with the intention of serving as a general guide to the subject. The existence of this specialized report is likely to be unknown to most of those who can benefit unless it is given some publicity by an organization such as the CIM. The recommendations were prepared by a small international committee consisting of Dr, P. H. Dodd , U.S .A. , Dr. R. L. Grasty. Canada, Dr. L. Levborg, Denmark, Dr. M. Matolin, Czechoslovakia , Dr. S. D. Simov, Bulgaria, and the writer.The fact that there are standard scientific units of mass, distance and time is taken for granted, It is also accepted that the type of instrumentation used to measure one of these parameters is irrelevant to the way the measurement is reported. Geophysical parameters such as magnetic field strength and gravity have generally accepted units, the gamma and milligal, which are defined in SI terms. These units are employed irrespective of the operating principle, or manufacturer or organization involved in the measurement."

Jan 1, 1977

By J. -C. Sztuke, M. Cao

ABSTRACT Wash water and polyethylene oxide (PEO) were used in the flotation of quartz and coal. Wash water decreased entrainment of –15 µm quartz. The optimum superficial wash water rate was 0.05 cm/s. PEO also lowered entrainment. The combination of wash water and PEO led to a slight further reduction in entrainment. For 1:1 mixtures of –15 µm quartz and –300 µm oxidized coal, the combined use of wash water (0.05 cm/s) and PEO increased the separation efficiency from approximately 30% to > 70%, whereas wash water alone at 0.05 cm/s did not lead to a discernible increase.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. J. Debicki

"At the 1992 PDAC Convention, Norman Keevil announced the formation of the Exploration Technology Division (ETD) of the Mining Industry Technology Council of Canada (MITEC). It was evident that base metal reserves in Canada were declining and that the cost of discovering a deposit in Canada was increasing. Coordinated research to develop new exploration technologies was required to discover the next generation of ore-bodies. The ETD was formed in response.The mission of the ETD is to contribute to the survival, profit, and growth of the Canadian mining industry by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of mineral exploration through development of innovative technology by man-aging and coordinating applied cooperative research. In addition, it is the intent of the ETD to become the principal agency by which cooperative research funds are transferred to researchers from the mining industry. The division is industry driven, industry funded and industry managed.The ETD’s Three-Year Plan has focussed80% of its research funds toward two objectives, improving the efficiency of exploration for VMS deposits and establishing the parameters necessary to discover the next Hemlo deposit. The remaining 20% is allocated to other projects, with the current emphasis on geophysics.In 1995, corporate members total twenty-three major mining companies accounting for90% of the exploration expenditures in Canada. The ETD is currently managing ten cooperative research projects totalling $4.6million. Other projects, estimated at $1.6 mil-lion, are currently under development."

Jan 1, 1996

By W. J. Blackstock

Introduction To The great majority of people, the term 'strip coal' has little or no meaning, or if it has any significance it is thought to refer to a poor grade of coal that had to be accepted during the war because no other fuel was available. Few people in the Province of Alberta realize the magnitude of our coal stripping industry, and fewer realize that strip coal has been available to domestic consumers for at least forty years. Among the first in the field of strip coal mining in Alberta were the Tofield Coal Company, Ltd., and Sterling Collieries Company Ltd. It was not until the advent of World War II, with its huge drain on industrial and domestic coal sup? plies produced by the underground mines, that some other source of coal was seriously sought. The tremendous shortage of manpower du ring this period of National emergency made it imperative that any increase in the coal production must be procured on a high tonnage per man-hour basis. It was therefore natural that the highly mechanized strip mine should be eagerly encouraged and subsidized by the Governmental agency - the Emergency Coal Production Board - under the very able direction of Mr. G. A. Vissac.

Jan 1, 1949

By R. D. Hossack

"The selection of a site for plant facilities is a function of several factors and has as its objective the maximization of profits, given fixed markets and sources of raw material locations. In practice there are several sites, any one of which or a combination of two or more would be suitable to meet the basic requirements of source of supply of raw material and labour and still fulfill market demands. The model used to select the optimum profit combination utilizes both computer programs and traditional financial analysis techniques. Of the three computer programs used in the mode), one is a linear program and another is a transportation simulator. Basic cost and price data are required. In examining costs, three levels are used: (a) distribution costs of raw material to the plant and finished goods to the market; (b) direct production costs at the plant, such as labour and locally supplied material; and (c) capital and overhead costs at the plant, such as construction costs, taxes, insurance, and federal and provincial cost allowances. The direct costs generally depend on the scale of operations, so that a large plant in one location may have a lower unit cost than two smaller plants. This, of course, must be balanced against distribution costs. In examining profit, it is necessary to think in terms of the price and volume of sales at each of the market locations. Given basic data and relationships, the model can be used to optimally locate production facilities or, alter-natively, optimally structure a transportation network given existing locations of plants and markets. It is dynamic to the extent that it can react to changes in volume, price and cost to optimally locate an additional plant, the expansion of existing plants, the shutting down or cutting back of plants, or the restructuring of distribution networks."

Jan 1, 1970

By Robin E. Goad

?Located 160 Km northwest of Yellowknife, NWT, Canada Current winter road access ?New all-weather road planned ?Power within 22 km ?Hwy to Edmonton 80 km south Close to existing infrastructure

May 1, 2006

By John A. Hansuld

Geochemical dispersion of metals under various environmental conditions is discussed within the frame-work of Eh (oxidation potential) and pH (acidity). In general, two aspects are considered -(1) the oxidation of certain primary sulphides in the outcrop or sub-outcrop environment, and (2) the movement of metals in different dispersion media. Practical applications of each are illustrated by means of exploration case histories representing environmental conditions in the Canadian Shield, the southwestern United States and the Caribbean.

Jan 1, 1966

By G. A. Maki, P. J. Fullman, R. G. Roden

"In October 1984, Rocanville Division began using a stacking system to handle potash mill tailings. Previous to this date, mill tailings were slurried to the top of the tailings pile and allowed to debrine while flowing down the pile. With the new stacking system, slurried tailings are fed to mobile stackers. The stackers consist of cyclone packs to debrine the tailings and drag conveyors with screw discharges to deposit the tailings onto the existing pile. This paper deals with the various aspects of the project from conception to its present state.IntroductionPrevious to 1984, when the stacking project was first implemented, potash mill tailings were handled as follows. Mill tailings were first debrined to approximately 65010 solids using a cyclone cluster. The cyclone underflows were then introduced onto a vacuum scroll filter table. Here the tailings were further debrined and discharged into the disposal tank where the tailings were reslurried with reclaim brine and pumped to the tailings disposal site. At the disposal site the slurry was discharged onto the tailings pile and by a natural settling process the tailings were debrined with the brine ultimately collected in the reclaim brine ponds. The shape and profile of the tailings pile was controlled by building salt dykes to control the flow of the discharged tailings slurry. As the tailings pile grew in height, booster pumps were added to the disposal system."

Jan 1, 1990

By F. Doxey

Introduction In order to improve outputs and to reduce or hold mining costs, many attempts have been made to mechanize the getting and loading of coal in the major coal producing countries, and machines of various kinds and sizes have been designed and manufactured. Some of the most important are: Joy Continuous Miner Joy Coal Auger Goodman Mining Machine Lee-Norse Koal-Master Jeffrey Colmol Cardox Hordsecg Recovery Drill German Coal Plough British Coal Plough with agitated blades M. & C. Samson Stripper AB Meco-Moore Cutter Loader Joy Gloucester Getter The three last named are the chief longwall machines in use and the AB Meco-Moore and the Samson Stripper are doing a good job in their respective applications. It is understood that the Gloucester Getter recently installed in a British colliery also shows reasonable promise. It was felt, however, that to meet the conditions of the mines in Nova Scotia, any machine developed must have certain distinctive characteristics. It must: ( 1) Be able to cut and deliver coal in quantity and of the right sizes ( 2) Be easily manoeuvrable ( 3) Be suitable for longwall operations ( 4) Not interfere with timbers already set ( 5) Cut its own stable (6) Work on reasonably heavy gradients

Jan 1, 1951