Search Documents

By R. G. Hamm

A brief outline covering the shovels and draglines in use in the open-pit mines of Western Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta and the Yukon, is given, followed by the procedure for the selection of the correct wire rope for each application. Such fa ctors as wire rope constructions, lay directions and types of cores are mentioned. Once the correct wire rope has been selected, there are variousfactors that can affect the service fife ofthe rope and the reduction ofdown-time during rope change-overs. Factors such as hairpin winding, types of Becket loops, and shovel drum and bail adaptors are described.

Jan 1, 1979

OBJECTIVES ??REDUCE OPERATING COSTS ??INCREASE LIFE COMPONENTS ??EXTEND LIFE of THE DOZER ??REDUCE MAINTENANCE COST ??REDUCE DOWNTIME ??IMPROVE DURABILITY & RELIABILITY ??IMPROVE BOLD JOINTS PREFORMENCE ??IMPROVE SAFETY

May 1, 2004

By Kevin O?Callaghan

Applying Legal Concepts - The Crown must consult, and where necessary accommodate, when: - Crown has knowledge, real or constructive, of the potential existence of Aboriginal rights or title and contemplates conduct that might adversely affect it - Duty to consult is triggered at a low threshold - How much consultation necessary? - Proportional to the strength of claim and potential impact - Spectrum: notice to direct involvement in decision making - Not duty to agree or to get consent (no veto) - Reciprocal: Duty requires good faith and sincere engagement on both sides Role of Proponents: Crown may delegate procedural aspects of its legal duty

May 1, 2010

By Stephen P. Quin

One of the most prospective undeveloped greenstone belts in Canada, the Hope Bay greenstone belt extends over 80km in a north-south direction and is between 7 and 20km wide. The belt lies on the arctic coast and comprises mafic meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks that are bounded by Archean granite intrusives and gneisses. The greenstone package has been deformed during multiple events and is transected by major northsouth trending shear zones that appear to exert a significant control on the localization of mineralization. The Hope Bay belt contains a number of significant gold deposits hosted in a typical Archean greenstone belt and which occur in several geologic settings, including shear-hosted, lode-style and breccia-associated. Combined, the deposits host a measured and indicated resource of 1.6 million oz of gold averaging 15.7 g/t plus an inferred resource of 2.7 million oz of gold averaging 12.3 g/t. All deposits remain open to expansion. Exploration in the period 2000-2002 by Miramar includes more than 110,000m of drilling to more fully define the nature of the known deposits, while regional exploration has focused on identifying and evaluating new targets. In carrying out its programs, Miramar uses a number of techniques to improve its chances of exploration success. Activity in 2003 includes 43,000m of drilling focused on expanding resources in the Madrid area, testing the Boston deposit at depth and continuing the hunt for more discoveries. Meanwhile Miramar is advancing one of the deposits towards a production decision, based on a low capital, high return development scenario.

May 1, 2003

By T. P. R. de Jong, H. Harbeck

"This contribution reports recent mineral sorting experience and lists the opportunities of the newest generation of automatic sorters with a special focus on electromagnetic detection and Xray transmission. With the available sensor resolutions and actuator systems that are available today sorting of minerals down to 2 mm size and up to 250 mm lump size is technically feasible. In industry, ore as well as coal is still hand-picked and current automation potential only utilised in a handful of specific applications. Recently a number of technological developments took place that may increase sorting potential, save mill costs and lead to lower overall tonnage costs.They are:??High speed and high resolution sorting systems based on X-ray transmission imaging??High speed on-line image processing and further development of advanced data processing??Modular multi-sensor automatic sorting units (using one or more sensors such as colour, electromagnetic and X-ray in a single device)??Sensitive electromagnetic sensors for sorting based on differences in magnetic susceptibility and electric conductivityThe above enables compact dry separation, insensitive for moisture fluctuations and at high separation sharpness, as well as “electronic” high gradient magnetic separation for larger particles. Besides conventional X-ray transmission (XRT), dual-energy XRT (DE-XRT) is now being redesigned to meet the requirements of the mining industry. The mentioned technologies provide automatic dry separation of minerals and rock as alternative for conventional processing."

Jan 1, 2005

By J. A. López-Molina, S. García, V. Castellanos-Pedroza

"Groundwater inflow into underground constructions may cause hazardous working conditions and environmental problems. It is essential to localize and characterize potential flow paths and to estimate the amount of water leakages, so that appropriate sealing works can be performed. Estimating the amount of water ingress is a multi-phase process starting from qualitative and quantitative examination of rock mass. Due to association of uncertainty, vagueness and incompleteness with the monitored data set, particularly resulted from the in situ tests, accounting relevant approaches such Fuzzy Logic and Recurrent Neural Networks, are proposed in this research for learning acquisition, extraction of rules and prediction of behaviors. The computational set of artificial tools permits using the complex information entities or information granules (rock types, geologic structures, hydro-fracture potential) for data abstraction and derivation of knowledge from records (numerical or linguistic format). This is more a theoretical perspective than a set of methods or principles. As a theoretical perspective, this proposal encourages an approach to data that recognizes and exploits the information present in indexes at various levels of resolution or scales. In this sense, it encompasses the methods which provide flexibility and adaptability in the resolution at which knowledge or information is extracted and represented. The product of merging these tools is a 3D artificial-mapping of rock classification (Qi-system), geological conditions and Lugeon units that permits, as far as possible, to understand more and better the flow behavior."

Jan 1, 2015

By B. Goard

"IntroductionCemented backfill has been placed underground in slurry form in Inco Limited's Ontario Division mines since the early 196Os. The slurry was traditionally mixed on surface at between 65 and 70 wt% solids* and transported underground via gravity through a borehole-pipeline distribution system. This method of placement, while simple and dependable, has proven to be costly because of the large amounts of transport water involved.A significant quantity of the slimes buildup on mine levels is caused by the backfill water carrying cement and other fine material out of the stopes. The level cleanup and eventual pumping or hoisting of the slimes and water back to surface result in substantial indirect backfilling costs.The cement that remains in the stope is always overhydrated because of the high water cement ratios that exist. As a consequence, high concentrations of Portland cement must be added to the backfill to produce the fill strengths required for the different mining methods.Pouring backfill at these densities also demands extensive fill preparatory work in the stopes to withstand the hydraulic heads created by the slurried fill. This, along with the delays in pouring necessary to allow for water drainage, result in significant losses in productivity.These negative aspects of slurry placed fill has led Inco Limited to investigate several methods of transporting backfill underground via pipeline, at higher densities (i.e. 75 to 95 wt.% solids). Three separate transport methods are presently being experimented with by the Company's Mines Research Department. Each utilizes a different technique or form of flow transport, i.e. concrete pumping technology, high density slurry flow, and pneumatic conveying."

Jan 1, 1987

By Steve Massman, Edward Wipf, Gary Beerkircher

"As mine size and tonnage continues to increase, material handling/processing equipment has also increased in size with 400 MT haul trucks, 2000 KW crushers, 12 M SAG/AG mills, 8.5 M ball mills, 3000 M3 flotation cells and 12.5 MW HPGR’s all with planned designs to increase in size further. Related equipment including vibrating screens have also increased in size with screens seeing feed rates of 3000 MTPH. Open circuit SAG Pre-Crush and closed circuit HPGR flowsheets are becoming more common with large screening requirements. Large multi-slope (banana) or horizontal screens are commonly used for these applications, however as the size of these screens has increased, the number and size of the brute force/overhead exciters has increased but with limitations. An example is a SAG discharge screen that will see surges of material from the SAG mill which overload the screen, reducing the screen stroke or throw causing a large reduction in screen efficiency with excessive fines & moisture in the screen oversize feed to the pebble crushing circuit. This paper will present some actual examples of the use of Two-Mass screens as a solution to these overloading problems and the advantages of Two-Mass screens in other high tonnage applications.Brute Force Drive Compared to Two Mass Drive Vibrating ScreensThe standard single mass screen as depicted by figure 1 is generally recognized in the mining industry. It is characterized by the screen body – labeled as the single mass (Mt) that is supported by isolation springs (Kiso). The stroke needed to process material is obtained by incorporating large eccentric wheels and/or drive boxes (Fb) directly mounted to the screen body via a drive tube."

Jan 1, 2017

By P. Keating, J. Goutier, J. Ayer

"New, high-resolution geophysical surveys were undertaken over parts of the Abitibi Subprovince, Canada, to help with geological mapping and to promote mineral exploration. Gravity surveys in the Rouyn-Noranda and Matagami areas (Québec) allowed better 3-D mapping of important geological structures, and a multiscale edge analysis of ground gravity data over the Blake River Group confirms that major faults behave at depth as predicted by surface geology. Airborne gravimetry west of Matagami (Québec) helped to identify a new trend south of Lake Grasset that is almost perpendicular to the assumed geological trend of the area. Electromagnetic (EM) surveys, flown in the Chibougamau (Québec) and Bartlett Dome (Ontario) areas, allowed new conductors to be identified at greater depths than were achievable with previously used EM systems. Airborne magnetic surveys were flown in the Burntbush area (Ontario), and other available high-resolution magnetic data were compiled to produce a continuous and homogenous magnetic grid of the Abitibi region.The resulting compilation map clearly shows the locations of dikes, faults, and shears zones, and reveals some fault extensions in areas of extensive overburden. This grid also allows the computation of enhanced maps, such as vertical derivative and tilt maps (e.g., a tilt map shows subtle magnetic features in the Blake River Group that are difficult to see in the total magnetic field or its first derivative). Results from these new surveys show there is considerable value in (1) resurveying areas covered by older surveys, and (2) recompiling data sets from these older surveys."

Jan 1, 2012

By F. D. Aaring

"IntroductionTHE PINCHER CREEK gas condensate field, in Township 3, Range 28, and Townships 3 and 4, Range 29, West of the Fourth Meridian, was discovered in 1947 by the Canadian Gulf Oil Company with the completion of Pincher Creek No. 1 well in the Madison lime-stone of Mississippian age.This discovery was the result of a great deal of detailed seismic work in the area and is a credit to the geophysical personnel of the Company. The depth of the reservoir varies from 7,400 feet to 8,200 feet subsea, with the established water level at -8,200 feet. The predicted depth was but a scant 100 feet from that found in the discovery well, at 11, 705 feet. Since the discovery of the reservoir, three additional wells have penetrated the Madison limestone and have further verified the original •seismic interpretation of the limits of this reservoir.To date, •only a very small amount of gas has been produced from this field. Consequently, the reservoir studies that have been made so far are predominantly based on investigations of the phase behaviour of the fluid and physical characteristics of the reservoir rock. In view of the above limitations, it has been necessary to set up and perform model reservoir studies with the fluids and to recover as much core from the productive Madison limestone as possible in order that it might be analysed by conventional laboratory technique and be subjected to detailed microscopic geological examination."

Jan 1, 1952

By R. Matusewicz

The key drivers for the copper smelting industry are a complex mix of economic and "human" factors which combine to drive technology in new directions and can provide a strong indication of future industry trends. Recent examples have been the drive to achieve increased scale of production and resultant cost efficiencies by using a single furnace high intensity smelting vessel, and the broad acceptance of Top Submerged Lancing (TSL) technology for this duty. The development and adoption of continuous converting processes to counter the increased pressures faced by the Peirce Smith converting process is another example of the need for innovation. This paper discusses the merits of the continuous converting process, describes how the Ausmelt TSL batch converting process has been adapted to the new Ausmelt Continuous Copper Converting (C3) process in response to these industry trends and examines the Ausmelt continuous converting flowsheet options available to the end user.

Jan 1, 2007

By Jeff R. Reinson

The Diavik Diamond Mine is producing diamonds from two orebodies, the A154 South and A154 North kimberlite pipes, discovered beneath the waters of Lac de Gras. Innovative dike technology with appropriate water collection and treatment systems allowed Diavik to start open pit mining of the ore bodies in 2002. To allow planning, engineering, and implementation of sufficient water handling infrastructure, reasonably accurate estimates of groundwater inflow quality and quantity over the life of mine are required. Prior to mining, a numerical model using the continuum approach was developed for regional and site wide water management. After approximately two years of mining, groundwater inflows to the pit were found to exceed those predicted by the base case hydrogeologic model. The most likely explanation was flow through Dewey?s Fault zone. As this fault was not explicitly accounted for in the model, a detailed hydrogeologic investigation was conducted to evaluate its geometry and hydraulic properties. A multi-disciplined approach was used and involved core logging, fluid logging, geophysical logging, packer testing, a pumping test, and water quality sample collection. The results of the field investigation were used to update the conceptual and numerical models and to develop a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model to address small scale problems such as flow into future underground drifts. The updated numerical hydrogeologic models predict that up to 70 per cent of the groundwater inflow to the A154 N/S open pit is through the relatively narrow fractured rock zone associated with Dewey?s Fault. Consistent with the continuum model, the DFN model predicts that inflow to a drift excavated in Dewey?s Fault will be approximately 10 times the inflow to a drift excavated in competent rock. The DFN model provides a better understanding of the distribution of these inflows on a local scale over the length of the drift.

May 1, 2006

By Hamid Butt

Information Technology ??Advanced Information Technology is dramatically changing information flow within organizations. This enables employees to have information at their fingertips to make informed and prompt decisions. ??Real-time information allows timely analysis, which dramatically reduces cycle times, making organizations faster and more flexible. Business Challenges ??Continual growth of mining and Mine mobile fleet.??Increasing maintenance costs. ??Difficult to identify and troubleshoot equipment problems while equipment is operating. ??New equipment is increasing in complexity and cost. Therefore, each failure results in a greater impact to production and cost. ??Troubleshooting practice is reactive. ??Protect and optimize the use of mining assets to realize maximum business value. ??Maintenance and Operating information is not easily accessible ?no near real-time system that provides complete information.

May 1, 2006

By Dave Price

"Canada is scheduled to become the 4th highest diamond revenue producing country in the world by year 2004 with the already operating Ekati Mine and the anticipated operation of the Jericho Mine in 2002 and the Diavik Mine in 2003.This paper provides an overview of worldwide diamond production statistics and a brief introduction to a diamond processing plant. The dense medium separation (DMS) extraction process is presented and this process is discussed in more detail with respect to the extraction of diamonds in terms of feed preparation, dense medium, dense medium cyclones, ferrosilicon recovery and dense medium cyclone operating efficiencies.INTRODUCTIONThe Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories started commercial production of diamonds in the 4* quarter of 1998. At full production, the mine is anticipated to produce annually some 3 million carats of diamonds. The Jericho Mine in Nunavut Territory and the Diavik Mine in the Northwest Territories are anticipated to come into production in the 1'' quarter of 2002 and 1st half of 2003 respectively. The combined annual diamond production of these three mines will total approximately 10.34 million carats by 2004, making Canada the 4~ highest diamond revenue producing country in the world.A diamond processing plant initially utilizes crushing, scrubbing and screening in the beneficiation process to liberate diamonds from kimberlite ore and size the product for further treatment through DMS. Alluvial diamond operations do not require initial crushing and scrubbing but incorporate a feed preparation and sometimes a recrush facility with the DMS plant. The heavy sink product from the DMS, which contains diamonds, is further upgraded through x-ray separation and high intensity magnetic separation prior to producing the final diamond product.DMS is a relatively simple separating principle. A mixture of particles of different density is immersed in a dense fluid, so that particles having a density lower than that of the fluid will float while those of heavier density will sink. The translation of the float-sink principle from a laboratory method to continuous industrial practice offers the prospect of very precise mineral separations based on density differences alone."

Jan 1, 2000

By Norman Marr

Introduction In Canada, the mining industry and water-power development are intimately associated in that mining, which ranks second among the country's primary industries, depends principally upon hydro-electric energy for its large power requirements. On the whole, the Dominion has been very favourably endowed with water-power resources; generally speaking it is a well-watered country with numerous rivers and lakes located in are as where the topography favours water-power development. Precipitation, the raw material of water power, varies from an annual fall of more than l00 inches on the Pacific coast to about 12 inches in sections of the Prairies and the Northwest Territories; in Ontario and Quebec the annual average is 24 to 40 inches and in Nova Scotia about 45 inches. In its descent to the sea, the resulting run-off, much of it from considerable altitudes, creates sources of potential energy at every rapid and fall along the country's many streams and rivers. Many of the innumerable lakes in the Dominion provide storage basins for the regulation of stream flow, thus enhancing the potential power of available sites. While water-power resources are fairly well distributed across the Dominion, as is shown on the accompanying map of Canada showing power sites (Figure 1), it is particularly fortunate that those areas which are lacking in indigenous fuels have been compensated in large degree for this scarcity by being favoured with a high proportion of the total potential water power. This has an important bearing on the mining industry in that extensive mining operations can be economically carried out in the great Canadian Shield, which is lacking in commercial coal deposits but is rich in water-power resources. This Precambrian formation, which forms a wide belt around Hudson bay and in which many metalliferous ores are found, was 'subject to severe glaciation in a recent geological period, so that its river systems are comparatively young and are characterized by numerous lakes joined by short reaches of fast water, rapids, and falls which offer frequent opportunities for power development. The western Cordilleran region, which also is important in mining, has abundant water power. The accompanying geological map (Figure 2), prepared by the Geological Survey of Canada, shows the great extent of the Precambrian and Cordilleran regions and may be compared with the map of water-power sites to show the high incidence of water-power resources in these potential mining areas in which important mineral discoveries have already been made.

Jan 1, 1949

By K. J. Griffin, G. W. Rosval

"In our increasingly competitive market, attempts to improve productivity by increasing axle loads have placed more severe demands on rails. CP Rail thus requires stronger, tougher, and more wear-resistant rails from steel manufacturers. The choice of any rail steel is always a compromise between technical and economic factors. The technical assessment of a candidate rail consists of laboratory and field testing. Laboratory evaluation of rail steels cannot adequately model many service conditions and must, therefore, be supplemented by long-term field testing. The field testing conducted on CP Rail is the subject of this paper.Long-term, in-track, assessment of candidate rail steels begins with the selection and re-laying of a test curve representative of the intended service with both the candidate rail and a control rail steel (i.e. the present intermediate or premium rail standard). The wear performance of the candidate rail is evaluated, in relation to that of the control rail, using data obtained with a rail profilometer developed by the Research and Development Department of CP Rail. Qualitative observations are also periodically made to evaluate the relative susceptibilities of the two rail types to surface defect formation. Testing continues until stable metal loss patterns are achieved. Relative life predictions are then made and detailed monitoring of the test site is discontinued.CP Rail's in-track assessment program for premium rails has resulted in the establishment of a new CP Rail premium rail standard - low-alloy, head-hardened, rails have replaced high alloy rails. The wear/fatigue lives of these new premium rails exceed those of our previous standard by more than 50%, and they also exhibit excellent weldability. CP Rail will continue to evaluate new premium and intermediate strength rail products."

Jan 1, 1988

By Kallioinen Jouko

"Advanced Flotation Technology is the application driven design of Don-Oliver flotation cells to achieve the optimum performance for each type and grind of flotation. Optimum performance is the combination of both recovery and selectivity.Optimized performance is the combined product of optimized mixing and effective froth removal. Optimized mixing is applied to roughers, scavengers, cleaners and specialty cells such as those to float hydrocyclone underflows in both primary and regrind circuits in order to reduce overgrinding. Effective mixing for fine material is easy, but overmixing reduces selectivity in frothbed.Selectivity in flotation is an important target, especially when treating complex ores, and parameters in frothbed have been examined to improve the separation of minerals and eliminate circumstances that reduce separation rate.Advances in process control have been achieved with expert controls and instructive operator information data. This has gained a higher degree of understanding of cell operation and ore type being processed to be used in future process development work. Excellent results of this Advanced Flotation Technology have been achieved and designs through 7000 cu ft (200 m3) are currently available for high capacity concentrators. This paper will detail how flotation cells are more responsive to the exact requirements of the duty specified."

Jan 1, 2000

By Joe Shoemaker

Automated Spot Generation ? No Operators below the Highwall ? No Operator Wear and Tear ? Reduced Swing Time ? Single and Double Sided Loading ? Minimized Bench Width

Aug 1, 2013

By Norman A. Jull

"IntroductionThe scope of this paper is intended to deal mainly with cyclones in grinding circuits. However, the section on Cyclone Equipment, contains more general descriptions, to cover most of the cyclones used in mineral separation plants.Cyclones as heavy media separation vessels are discussed by Mark Freberg (this volume). Their use in tailings deslirning is discussed by P.C. Lighthall, eta/. (this volume).Cyclone EquipmentCyclone TerminologyApexObviously, the apex of a cone is the smallest end. However, with cyclones the term is usually used for the fitting which is attached there to control discharge of the underflow stream.Note that the cyclone need not be so mounted that the apex is the lowest point, although that is the most common method. Keeping the apex below the rest of the cyclone helps avoid plugging when the underflow contains very large particles and the tonnage of underflow solids can fluctuate.Various devices for adjusting apex diameter or otherwise controlling the underflow are discussed later under ""Cyclone Construction"".BypassingThe transport of a portion of feed slurry directly to underflow so that classification is bypassed by that portion of feed.This action is fundamental in any hydraulic classification, whether gravity or centrifugal, because the large particles going to underflow have some void volume between them, which remains filled with feed slurry.D50By definition, D50 is that particle size which has an equal probability of going to overflow or to underflow.It is calculated by drawing a curve of recovery vs particle size and noting the size at which 500Jo recovery occurs.This may be done equally with corrected or with gross recovery (see below) and the resulting value should therefore be identified as d50c (corrected d50) or as d500 (gross d50).Note also that it is common in industry practice to plot size analysis data on the retained size rather than on the average of passing and retained (the middle of the size band). To portray sizing alone it makes no difference, but to read a D50 value off a curve of corrected or gross recoveries, it is essential to plot those values on the average size of each band."

Jan 1, 1989

By Salvador Gómez, Rodolfo Espinosa, Jaime Bravo, Leopoldo Gallas

"Compañia Fresnillo, S.A. de C.V. - Proaño Mine, is owned by Industrias Peñoles S.A. de C.V. (Peñoles). The Proaño Mine, is one of the richest silver underground mines in the World, and for this reason, production capacity has always being expanded, based on generated reserves. Reserve generation has not being an easy task as this is a vein type deposit.This paper presents the growing stages at the Concentrator, for about the last twenty years; which can be listed as follows:1.,Increase in capacity from 1,000 to 4,500 tonnes per day, at several stages; on the same infrastructure, and without production interruptions.2.,Addition of a new flotation circuit to recover a zinc concentrate with a high silver content.3.,Installation of a semi-autogenous (SAG) mill, to replace a conventional crushing circuit. 4.,Modernization. Installation of an on stream analyser, an automatic reagent dosification system, 4500 ft3 unit cells, pressure filtration, a closed circuit video system to help process monitoring, an automatic ball addition system for SAG and ball mills, and on-line particle size analysers.5.,Silver recovery from old tailings, installing a 2,350 tonne per day treatment plant.INTRODUCTIONIndustrias Peñoles, S.A. de C.V. (Peñoles)Peñoles’ mission is to add sustainable value to non-renewable natural resources. Peñoles seeks to: build long-term shareholder value; provide customers with the highest quality product services; maintain productive long-term relationship with suppliers; develop and promote the capabilities of their personnel; foster mutually beneficial relationship with the communities in which operates; protect and preserve the environment."

Jan 1, 2002