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By G. E. Agar

This paper deals with the prediction of locked cycle flotation results from data developed from individual batch tests. A postulate is made that the distribution of material in a separation stage is determined by the chemical conditions and the flotation time and that this distribution can be characterized by split factors which are constants for a fixed set of conditions. With this premise, it is demonstrated that a steady-state balance can be calculated for a circuit. Although the necessary equations can be solved algebraically, a computer program was written that uses an iterative technique to arrive at the steady-state balance. The program is written so that a variety of circuits can readily be simulated. A number of examples are examined to demonstrate the validity of this simulation procedure. The sensitivity of the material balance to changes in the split factors was examined. Data developed from different flowsheets are presented on sulphide ores, on copper-nickel separation and on silver flotation.

Jan 1, 1978

By Karl Marquis

La Mine Mouska exploite depuis deux ans certains blocs de réserve à l?aide de la méthode long trou. Même si, à priori, la méthode long trou semble rentable, le contrôle de la dilution ainsi que le respect d?un échéancier serré s?avèrent primordiaux afin que cette méthode d?exploitation puisse être justifiable économiquement. La présentation suivante fera la comparaison économique entre cette méthode et celle de chambre-magasin.

Oct 1, 2001

By Pierre Lacoste-Bouchet, Ian Orford, Mike Cooper

"The Brunswick Mine ore requires fine grinding to achieve liberation of minerals. With 25mm slugs as the grinding media in the ball mill, there was a limitation of a P80 of 25 microns on the CuPb regrind circuit. Results from pilot plant testing showed that the separation efficiency could be increased through fine grinding with a P80 of 15 microns.Options considered were the capital expenditure for new fine grinding equipment such as a vertimill or the use of the present ball mill equipment with smaller media. The Wheelabrator Allevard Enterprise (WAE) millpebs product was chosen because it was a smaller media with a distribution of steel pellets between 5 to 12 mm.With millpebs the grinding product was reduced in size from a P80 of 25 microns to a P80 of less than 19 microns. The power draw to achieve the finer grind was 13% lower while the media consumption was 57% higher.The millpebs grinding media was also tested on the zinc regrind mill. The purpose of the trial was to understand what the media consumption and power draw would be with the charge lowered to achieve an equivalent grind as obtained with the slugs. The media consumption was approximately the same and the power draw was reduced by 30%.INTRODUCTIONThe Brunswick Mine ore is a complex Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag sulphide ore with the grain size of the minerals varying from submicron blebs to particles up to several mm in size. The ore is ground progressively finer in stages. The first step of grinding occurs in the SAG mill circuit. The product sizing 80% passing 95 microns is fed to the CuPb prefloat stage (Cormier et al 2002). The tails from the prefloat is then further ground to a P80 of 35 microns for the CuPb rougher flotation. The final liberation for the CuPb circuit takes place in the CuPb regrind circuit. The regrinding mill further liberates the cleaner scavenger concentrate, second cleaner tails and third cleaner tails. The reasoning for the progressive grinding is to achieve fine grinding without having galena over ground due to its high specific gravity that preferentially sends it to the cyclone underflow."

Jan 1, 2006

By Damian Connelly

The metallurgical heart of the majority of copper oxide processes is the heap leaching operation. Fresh low grade sulfide ores is a far greater challenge.The success of this unit operation is so important that operators need to understand the ramifications of their decisions or non-decisions and how they could affect the downstream processing. Heap leaching is an operation that can be described as a scientific art whereby principles of science can be used to guide experienced personnel in attaining their goals. Recent advances have been made based on better understanding the ore characteristics. The success of a heap leach operation, or otherwise, is dependent upon a number of factors, notably: The type of ore to be treated The extent of testwork completed to define the process The interpretation of the testwork results Ore preparation prior to stacking Agglomeration and curing requirements Other issues are: Compliance with the ’smaller’ requirements of environmental authorities Adequate and timely drainage of solution from the base of a leaching lift The degree of saturation in the pads Heap porosity – coarser or finer ore, which is better? Higher or lower irrigation rates – which would produce a better result? Laying out irrigation pipework for ease of operation and maintenance The addition of water, raffinate during agglomeration where needed The heap leaching of sulfide ores, including chalcopyrite, via enhanced bacterial leaching is discussed. INTRODUCTION Over the last twenty years, production of extremely pure copper from solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) has become more common in a market of real declining prices for copper metal. This paper touches on a number of heap leach operations and experiences. These projects were subjected to extensive engineering design and resulted in low capital cost, efficient operations with a number of lessons learned. The key to these operations was the performance of the heaps and associated fluid collection systems rather than the plants themselves.

Jan 1, 2019

By S. Gaulocher

Gearless mill drives (GMDs) are the workhorse in the mineral processing industries, more specifically when it comes to grinding crushed ore and cement (in various production stages) in semiautogenous (SAG) mills and large ball mills. They are renowned for their excellent reliability and robustness, long lifespan, and little need for maintenance, and thus yield a low total cost of ownership (TCO). A GMD represents a major investment for a mineral processing plant, and its availability is pivotal for the grinding process. As a basic rule, shut-down periods are to be minimized, but even much more important is that unscheduled shut-downs be avoided. In this contribution, we will present a portfolio of innovative remote diagnostic that consist of the following three key components: 1. Trouble shooting is a form of corrective maintenance and is based on state-of-the art remote access technology, thus enabling highly skilled engineers to access the current sensor readings anytime and from anywhere in order to resolve urgent problems together with the GMD user. 2. Periodic maintenance reports are a form of preventive and predictive maintenance and aim at continuous improvement based on long-term historical records and analyses of multiple measured signals. These detailed reports highlight the health and operational status of the GMD and are periodically (e.g. 3 months) submitted to the customer. 3. Remote condition monitoring spans across preventive and predictive maintenance and is based on continuous recording and automatic analyses of relevant signals using advanced algorithms. The main issue is how to handle the enormous flood of data in an intelligent manner. The results of these analyses are made available to both the GMD user and supplier in real time in order to increase the availability and reliability of the GMD. In this paper, we consider various parts of the GMD, e.g. the cycloconverter, the ring motor, the auxiliary devices (e.g. cooling and lubrication systems), and also phenomena related to the mill itself (e.g. state and quantity of charge). The signal analysis techniques range from simple threshold-based analyses to complex time and frequency domain analyses. We will illustrate the benefits of the proposed approaches with some selected examples.

Jan 1, 2012

By Ken McIntyre, Trodel Wolf-Dieter

"Sirius Minerals is a UK based fertilizer development company focused on advancing into operation its polyhalite project in North Yorkshire, England. The operation is known as the Woodsmith Mine which has an estimated 2.7 Billion Tonnes of reserves and is currently in the construction phase. DMC Mining Services was selected to carry out the construction of four shafts for the project, a production shaft of 6.75m diameter to a depth of 1594 m, a ventilation shaft of 6.75 m diameter to a depth of 1565 m, and two additional shafts to support the construction of the material transport system (the MTS and Lockwood Beck intermediate) to 360m in depth for servicing the underground conveyor network for transport of product from the mine site to the costal port facilities located at Teasside. This paper will review the status of the project to date and the innovative approaches that DMC is utilizing to ensure a safe and successful shaft sinking project. INTRODUCTION The Woodsmith Mine in North Yorkshire is a Sirius Minerals-owned deep potash and polyhalite mine located near to the hamlet of Sneatonthorpe, Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 75 km east of York. The area of interest is more than 700 km2. The £3.2 billion project is to develop the Woodsmith Mine to extract polyhalite, and a tunnel system to transport it to a materials handling facility and harbour at Teesside. The site is the world's largest and highest-grade deposit of polyhalite and is expected to produce 20 million tonnes of polyhalite, potash and POLY4 per annum, as well as create over 1,000 direct jobs and many more indirectly. It has the potential to generate over £2 billion of annual exports for the UK. As the project will require mining to be undertaken in the North York Moors National Park, many objections were raised about the mine. Sirius Minerals has gone to great lengths to ensure that the project is sensitive to the local landscape, including: mineshaft head frames that will be positioned below ground to reduce their visual impact; surface buildings will be kept to a minimum; and the entire site will be landscaped and screened by existing woodland to blend in with the surrounding area. The project will also abide by strict environmental limits which govern our activity during the construction phase."

Jan 1, 2019

By C. Prévost, V. Leclerc, R. Pinto, M. Ruel

"A buffer’s ability to dampen production variations is directly related to its size. Small buffers cannot handle large variations in production, resulting in production losses when their inventory is depleted or saturated. This paper presents a predictive control algorithm used to regulate the inventory in a buffer of limited size, subject to large production variations caused by an upstream batch process. The algorithm was designed to manage the acid flow rates in an acid regeneration process, servicing batch leach reactors at Rio Tinto Fer et Titane, in Sorel-Tracy, Québec. The objective was to increase production by reducing equipment downtime caused by imbalances in the acid tanks servicing the leach reactors. The controller attempts to maintain acceptable acid tank volumes by optimizing the leach reactors acid/slag ratio and reaction time as a function of anticipated acid needs, all while maintaining product quality.INTRODUCTION Some beneficiation processes in extractive metallurgy require processing bulk material in batches. Typical examples of metallurgical beneficiation batch processes are smelting, leaching, electrowinning, elution and carbon-in-pulp. These processes are often situated midstream in an ore beneficiation flow sheet and either receive or transfer ore to continuous processes. Batch processes, by their very nature, introduce large variability in the flow sheet, because they process large finite quantities of material at nearly periodic time intervals. In order to dampen variations in production, various buffers–tanks and stockpiles–are utilized to accumulate ore upstream and downstream of batch processes. A buffer’s ability to dampen production variations is directly related to its size (Phillis & Gumede, 2011). Small buffers cannot handle large production variations, resulting in equipment downtime when their inventory is depleted or saturated (Everett, 2010, Berton et al., 2013). Consequently, the batch equipment production rates must be adequately managed to minimize production losses, attributed to depleted or saturated inventories, while maintaining product quality. Algorithms that anticipate or predict future production variations are often utilized to regulate buffer inventories, subject to large flow rate variations (Salvo et al., 2002; Bonvin, 2013). This paper presents a predictive control algorithm used to maintain an acceptable volume in a spent acid tank servicing several batch leach reactors. The algorithm is implemented at the acid leach plant of Rio Tinto Fer et Titane, in Sorel-Tracy, Québec."

Jan 1, 2017

By Barrick Pierina, John Frostiak, Igor Gonzales, Kenneth G. Thomas, Ken Manning

"1.0 SummaryThe Pierina deposit was acquired in August 1996 when Barrick Gold Corporation purchased Arequipa Resources, a junior mining company with extensive land positions in Peru. At the time of acquisition, Arequipa had developed two exploration tunnels and drilled 9 exploration holes on the property. Metallurgical tests, conducted on samples taken from the tunnels and the exploration holes indicated that the ore was amenable to heap leaching. Barrick’s exploration team recognised from the outset, the potential of the mineralisation and convinced Barrick’s senior management that this was indeed a world class deposit that should be pursued. On November 25, 1998, the first dore was poured at Pierina, 27 months from the time of acquisition. During that period Barrick completed its exploration programme, prepared a development plan including capital and operating costs, production profiles and cash flow forecasts, and a schedule to develop a mine and construct a leach pad and gold recovery plant, including all supporting infrastructure. All permits and environmental approvals were obtained and all necessary land was acquired. The project was completed on schedule and under budget. This was the first greenfield mine development for Barrick outside of North America.This paper details, mainly, the research and development, engineering, construction and commissioning of the metallurgical process facilities.2.0 The Develonment ProgrammeImmediately after the acquisition, Barrick began the process of gathering information required to prepare a project development plan. Kilborn Engineering was retained to assemble all of the information collected and collated into a development plan document. This document was completed by June 16,1997. The objective was to bring the mine into production as quickly as possible with critical activities identified as follows:"

Jan 1, 2000

By Jörg Fischer-Bühner

Conventional 22ct Au jewellery alloys are comparably soft in the as-cast and soft-annealed state and hardening by cold-working is the only way of giving strength to the jewellery. The paper first focuses on hardening of 22ct jewellery alloys by conventional means, i.e. solid solution hardening with base metals (aiming particularly at an increased as-cast hardness) as well as precipitation hardening by alloying with base metals beyond the solubility limits and subsequent age-hardening heat treatment. Co-additions of ~2% turned out to result in most pronounced solid solution hardening up to ~100 HV1 in an investment cast & quenched state. Subsequent heat treatments, consisting of solution annealing at 850°C for 1h followed by water quenching and ageing at 300°C ? 400°C for ~ 1h lead to pronounced age-hardening with a peak hardness of ~ 260 HV1. In contrast, 22ct Au alloyed with Ni, Fe or Sb display no age-hardening effect within the same range of heat treatment parameters. The 2nd part of the paper reports on some preliminary trials to enhance the hardening effect of the base metals by additions of suitable elements, which possess a strong tendency to phase formation with the added base metal during ageing treatments. It is shown, that the age-hardening behavior of 22ct and 990/995 Au alloyed with Co or Ni can be remarkably influenced by additions of Sb. A total of only 10wt%0 of CoSb or NiSb-additions lead to a peak hardness of ~ 150 HV1 for a 22ct Au and ~ 100-120 HV1 for 990 Au , which is obtained already after very short ageing times (20-40min) at 300-400°C after solution annealing at 700°C / 1h / water quenching. It is suggested that the age-hardening mechanism in these alloys consists in precipitation of intermetallic CoSb- and NiSb-phases.

Oct 1, 2003

By L. Lui, A. Cauchon, A. R. Laplante

"The gravity circuit at Les Mines Camchib Inc. consists of two pinched sluices to bleed a feed to one of two 76 cm (30"") Knelson concentrator. The Knelson concentrate is upgraded to smeltable grade with a smaller Knelson (18/30 cm) and a riffleless table. Their tails are column cyanided and washed prior to recycle to the grinding circuit. This paper details size-by-size circuit performance. The Knelsons recover around 90% of free gold (as determined by Mozley Laboratory Separator), even below 37 µm. The sluices are ineffective, with upgrading ratios around 2, but approaching unity in the fine sizes. Much of the effectiveness of the circuit lies in the high gold circulating loads in the grinding circuit, which partly atone for the poor sluice performance, and the ability of the Knelsons to recover free gold. Secondary upgrading recovers slightly above 99% of the primary concentrate gold, 90% of it in a 65% Au concentrate and the balance in a heavily loaded (10 to 20 oz/st) pregnant solution. INTRODUCTIONBackgroundThe operating performance of the mill of Les Mines Camchib Inc. has been described earlier (Laplante et al., 1989). The presence of significant chalcopyrite (1 % and up) makes flotation necessary prior to cyanidation, to limit cyanide consumption and minimize environmental impact. In 1982, the presence of very high gold circulating loads in the grinding circuit lead to the commissioning of a gravity circuit, schematically shown in Figure 1. Gravity recovery of gold has been found beneficial because it increases metallurgical recovery by 1-3% (Laplante et al, 1987), as only part of the flotation tail is cyanided, and economic recovery, because of the lower net smelter return of gold in the flotation concentrate (as compared with the gravity concentrate). The latter increase is estimated, with a net smelter return of 95%, at 1.5% when gold recovery by gravity is equal to 30%. In early 1988, a sampling program was initiated to characterize the behaviour of gold in the grinding/gravity circuit. This paper reports on the results of this study."

Jan 1, 1990

By J. B. Brodie, C. Pelletier

"The vulnerability of Canadian and U.S. companies, their directors, officers and employees to onerous penalties associated with violations of environmental statutes and common law actions has provided the impetus for the increasing use of environmental audits. This trend is developing in direct proponion to the cost and difficulty of obtaining liability insurance. Companies operating in British Columbia should be cognizant of developing legislative and enforcement trends and their implications for individual and corporate responsibility. Canadian mining companies doing business in the U.S. should be particularly aware of the environmental exposure which may be assumed with property acquisition or by operations which produce or use any of an ever-increasing list of regulated substances.The environmental audit is now a key component of prudent business planning which will identify noncompliances and environmental liabilities, outline defensive strategies, and assist in a legal defence should charges be laid. This paper will discuss the purpose and mechanics of an environmental audit with emphasis on those features which will maximize protection against statutory and common law actions.IntroductionThe environmental audit is but one weapon in a comprehensive defensive strategy for corporate and individual survival in an increasingly litigious world. The principles of the environmental audit have been formulated as a logical response by management to an ever-growing list of environmental vulnerabilities, which often have the potential to result in plant shutdowns, prosecutions or fmancial liability of major proportions. Accordingly, the audit may play a critical role in maintaining profitability as well as assisting in the defence of a company and its employees against actions taken by regulatory agencies and citi7.cns under statute and common law. Should convictions result from these actions, the penalties are likely to be ameliorated by the demonstration of due diligence through management policy supporting the audit procedure.An awareness of environmental sensitivities, strict adherence to licensing requirements, and planning for environmental emergencies are now generally considered to be as important to profitable performance as operating costs, metal prices, and labour peace. Why is this so? The increased priority given to environmental matters is partly a result of changing attitudes amongst the mining profession, but perhaps more importantly, it is also a direct consequence of the proliferation of ever more stringent environmental legislation, the targeting of management for responsibility and the draconian penalties imposed for violations of such legislation. Contributing to this trend are recent court decisions involving disputes of an environmental nature in which the standard of care required for a successful defence now requires almost super-human diligence in environmental management. The principle of ""strict liability"" (in which negligence or permit violation does not have to be shown) is also being increasingly applied in the resolution of civil actions."

Jan 1, 1988

By E. M. Watkin

"Land directly disturbed by hard rock mining activities in Ontario and Quebec was surveyed in 1974 as part of a country-wide assessment, (Murray 1977). Some 15, 000 hectares, or 5 7 square miles, are listed as having been disturbed by overburden removal, waste rock and tailings deposition (Table 1) in the region. That area represents sixty-eight per cent of the total area which ha1; been disturbed by mining in central and Atlantic Canada. Assessment of disturbed areas was undertaken using LANDSAT-1 and LANDSAT-2 satellite imagery. Certain limitations of the technique were recognized but the data obtained were considered a relatively acceptable assessment of the extent of disturbed areas larger than ten hectares.Approximately ten per cent of the land disturbed by mining in the two provinces has been reclaimed to varying degrees. Indeed, this proportion is correct for the country as a whole. As pointed out by Ripley, Redmann and Maxwell (1978), some of the land was disturbed long before environmental concern 01· reclamation were ever considered. In numerous instances reclamation will remain impossible until presently active operations are closed. Nevertheless, these authors feel such figures make it clear that reclamation has not been a high priority in Canada in the past. Canada is a vast country, and there has been little pressure toward efficient use of all land space. Most mining operations occur in areas distant from the country's population centres. Under these circumstances, therefore, the pressure to reduce the environmental impact of mining is much less than in the more densely populated areas of Europe and the eastern United States, where such activity can occur in or adjacent to large metropolitan areas."

Jan 1, 1980

By Jeffrey L. Pagnutti

Train derailment can lead to loss of capital, damage to the environment, and loss of life. Machinery condition monitoring techniques can be used to develop a structural health monitoring system for railway track to detect faults at the incipient stage, before catastrophic failure occurs. This study uses vibration measurements from a novel material haulage unit to develop a decision support system for railway track maintenance. A variety of feature sets and classifiers were compared to determine the optimal configuration for fault detection. The results highlight the shortcomings and advantages of certain methods and describe the process in which the optimal result was obtained. The Parzen data descriptor paired with a refined statistical feature set performed the task of fault detection with less than five percent false positive and false negative classification error. Overall, the outcome of these experiments indicated that condition monitoring of railway systems is a promising approach for fault detection and has the potential to avoid catastrophic failure.

May 1, 2013

By Michael Moats, Adirek Janwong

The use of cylinder electrowinning cells, such as emew® technology, for the recovery of silver from primary and secondary sources has been growing. In this study, common operating parameters used in silver electrowinning were evaluated for recycling applications. Silver powders were produced from an industrial solution in a laboratory scale emew® cell. A design of experiments was employed to evaluate the effects of HNO3 concentration, iron concentration, current density and solution flow rate on current efficiency, particle size, bulk density, and crystallographic orientation. Current efficiency was affected by each parameter with increasing HNO3 concentration having a strong negative effect, increasing iron concentration and current density having moderate negative effects and increasing flow rate having a positive effect over the ranges examined. Finer particles were produced with increasing current density and decreasing flow rate. Bulk density increased when HNO3 concentration increased. The crystallographic orientation of all powders was dominated by the (111) plane. Increasing flow rate decreased the relative intensity of (200) direction. Based on these observations, silver electrowinning in cylindrical cells can operate at high current efficiency and produce larger powders at low HNO3 concentration, low iron concentration, low current density and high flow rate.

Jan 1, 2014

By O. W. Ellis

Introduction During the month of September, 1928 enough money had. been promised by private individuals and corporations to comply with the Research ?Foundation Act 1928 (Chapter 57, 18 George V) of the Province of Ontario. The Ontario Research Foundation (referred to below as O.R.F.) may be said to 1iave come into being at that time. Under the terms of this Act, the Treasurer of the Province was empowered to match dollar for dollar of the sums subscribed by private .corporations and individuals up to a limit of $1,000,000. However, the response to the appeal for this by the Premier of the Province, the Honourable Mr. G. Howard Ferg uson, was so exceptional that the Act was amended in 1929 so as to empower the Treasurer to increase the maximum contribution on the part of the Province to $2,500,000. In March, 1933, the Chairman of the Foundation, Sir Joseph Flaville, Bart., was able to report that, in the interval between the Premier's appeal and December 1st, 1932, private enterprise had paid ?into the treasury of the Foundation $1,670,050, and that the Provincial Treasurer had assumed responsibility for a like sum. The endownment Fund of the Foundation was, therefore. $3,340,100. This sum was ?invested a lm~ s t entirely in Government securities, in securities guar. anteed by the Government, and in 1mmicipal securities. Sir Joseph Flavelle remarked at that time that "The payment of $1,670,050 to the Endowment of the Foundation by private persons and corporations is a somewhat remarkable performance when it is remembered that for three of the five years the business of the country has been suffering from a severe depression". Since that time it has been the consistent policy of O.R.F. to live within the income derived (1) from the investment of its Endowment Fund and (2) from fees collected for services rendered.

Jan 1, 1950

By T. R. Raponi

"The Williams Mine, Canada's largest gold mine, processes over 6,000 t/d of ore utilizing SAG/ball milling, leaching and CIP, carbon stripping, electrowinning and refining to produce gold dare bullion.Grinding accounts for over 50% of milling costs with grinding media, power and mill liners making up over 75% of grinding costs. Since 1991, several changes in these areas have been made which have significantly reduced costs, while fineness of grind and mill recovery have both been increased.This paper discusses the changes made in the grinding circuit over the past few years and assesses their impact on operating costs and mill operations.IntroductionThe Williams Mine is located in the Hemlo area of northwestern Ontario, about 40 km east of Marathon. It is operated by the Williams Operation Corporation, which is equally owned by Teck Corp. and Homestake Canada Inc. Canada's largest gold mine, the Williams Mine commenced operation in October 1985 at a rate of 3, 000 t/d. Mill throughputs have typically exceeded design, averaging 3, 397 t/d in 1986, and 3,380 t/d in 1987. In August 1988, production was increased to 6,000 t/d. Throughput averaged 4,212 t/d in 1988. Production increased over the next few years averaging 5,477 t/d in 1989, 6,248 t/d in 1990, 5,987 t/d in 1991, and 6,283 t/d in 1992. With a recovery of over 95.5%, production for the first three quarters in 1993 is averaging 6,408 t/d.GeologyThe main ore body is a steeply dipping conformable zone of microcline-quartz-muscovite rock. It occupies the contact zone between hanging wall metasedimentary rocks and foot wall felsic quartz feldspar porpyritic rocks of possible volcanic or subvolcanic intrusive origin. The ore body is enveloped by muscovite schists which are thickest on the footwall side. The schist is enriched with tourmaline, pyrite, and green mica containing vanadium and barium. The ore body contains pyrite and barite which occurs mostly in laminae and bands to veinlets and breccia fillings. The gold occurs as free (native) grains, 20 to 30 µm in size at grain junctions of the microcline and quartz. Visible gold is rare in the main zone. There are commonly two or more discernable layers of economic value which are separated by weakly gold mineralized material which usually consists of muscovite schist, barite rich zones or sulphide poor-microcline-quartz rock and in the upper and western fringes by biotite rich schist with feldspathic fragmental characteristics. Molybdenite is a common constituent as very fine disseminated grains in the microcline-quartz rock and is most prominent with gold enrichment. Stibnite and realgar are two of the more common accessory sulphides."

Jan 1, 1994

By P. A. Crane, N. Shirley, Aung Moe, H. M. Nicholson, D. Kan

Kazakhstan’s first commercial copper-leach solvent extraction-electrowinning plant, Central Asia Metals’ Kounrad project, was commissioned in April 2012. Exploiting low grade waste stockpiles produced during Soviet era open pit mining, a 10,000 tpa copper cathode plant was designed, constructed and commissioned within 18 months. Overcoming initial challenges with a workforce unfamiliar with the technology and with extensive periods of sub-zero conditions during winter the project has consistently met targets and produced high quality copper cathodes at cash costs of less than US$1/lb. Challenges encountered during the first two years of operation are described and future plans briefly discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By Leonard L. Fischman

It is important to define "adequacy," and the most useful definition is a continuing availability of mineral materials under cost and other conditions which imply no significant burden on the achievement of otherwise attainable levels of consumption and well-being. For current decision making, it is sufficient to consider adequacy just to the end of the century, with some regard being given to then remaining mineral inventory. A comparison of cumulative demand projections to the year 2000 with already identified reserves ( economically recoverable amounts in known deposits) suggests little reason for concern with world adequacy of iron ore, aluminum, manganese, chromium or potash. Conservative estimates of "prospective" reserves (amounts producible at today's prices, but yet to be discovered) suggests that there are ample quantities of virtually all other mineral resources as well. A probable exception is oil and gas, of which there may be scant amounts remaining after the turn of the century. However, there is an evident sufficiency of substitute forms of energy, though it is difficult to see just where developing technology will take us. The critical questions have to do with the increasing dependence of the industrialized countries on external sources of supply , coupled with a new international politic s which complicates the problem of insuring timely development of, and access to, remaining deposits. In this context, Canada, a still mineral-rich nation, is in one of the more favorable positions.

Jan 1, 1977

By A. Brian Hawkins

"When pyrite oxidizes in dark grey/black, calcareous, mudrocks or in argillaceous limestones, ferrous sulfate is formed and sulfuric acid is released. The sulfuric acid combines with the calcite present in the rock and calcium sulfate (gypsum) develops. When this occurs on the outer edges of aggregate particles, the gypsum forms in the matrix hence there may be little expansion of the general material. However, when the chemical reactions occur within the rock fragments, particularly on microscopic, clayrich, laminae, the developing crystals exert a significant pressure on the host material. If the rock is medium strong to strong, the force of crystallization splits the rock along the weaker planes, facilitating the ingress of the oxidizing agents and the continuation of the chemical reactions. In addition to causing dilation/heave, some of the engineering properties of the material are changed, including the strength, Los Angeles value, water absorption etc. As a consequence material, which at the time of quarrying would be acceptable for use beneath floors or hardstandings, would no longer be considered suitable.INTRODUCTIONMudrocks accreting in aerobic environments are frequently disturbed by organisms and as a consequence there is often little sign of bedding. In contrast, sediments which have formed in anoxic environments commonly have distinct bedding planes which, because of the grain size of the accreting material, are often smooth and planar. These rocks are frequently referred to as shales, which O’Brien and Slatt (1990) define as “characterised by a finely laminated structure, which imparts a fissility approximately parallel to the bedding.” This should not be confused with rhythmic bedding where the variation in grain size results in lithological laminations or colour changes.Early geologists, in the stratigraphic naming of rocks, often used the term shale for material which is now more likely to be described as mudstone or mudrock (Hawkins and Pinches, 1992). In many contexts, the width of the bedding is an important factor, not only in determining the rock name but also in indicating the potential engineering characteristics. Until recently a shale was considered to have bedding separations of less than 20mm, i.e. the bedding was described as laminated. However, in an engineering context, EN 14689: 2003, Annex A, defines shale by specifying a bedding thickness of < 6mm; such a material would be described as thinly laminated in BS 5930:1999. Ideally the term shale should be abandoned and be replaced by fissile mudstone or fissile mudrock."

Jan 1, 2015

By P. B. Queneau, Peter V. Avotins, Lauch F. Farris

"The Lang Bay germanium property is a carbonaceous sandstone deposit outcropping near the Pacific coast, 100 km north of Vancouver. The germanium-bearing seams are up to 5 m thick. Where one such seam outcrops, it averages 50 to 60 g Ge/tonne. Drill core analyses have shown considerably greater concentrations of germanium at depth. Additional drilling to establish continuity and grade of the germanium-b earing strata is scheduled for 1986. The germanium occurs in association with lignite, which makes up 1 to 2% of the seam. American Cyanamid Company engineers have developed a proprietary flotation reagent effective for concentrating the germanium rich vitrain portion of the Lang Bay lignite. Ongoing laboratory studies are developing procedures for further upgrading and refining of this germanium. This paper outlines progress made by Fargo Oil Corporation on Lang Bay geology, reserve estimation, mine planning, ore dressing, refining, and economic evaluation.IntroductionIn 1871, Mendeleyev specula ted on the properties of a ""missing"" element between silico n and tin on the periodic table. The discovery of germanium fifteen years later proved the Mendeleyev predictions to be remarkably accurate. Almo half a century later, the pioneering work of McCutcheon of Eagle-Picher led to production of germanium dioxide from Oklahoma zinc smelting residues. Demand for the element surged due to development of the Ge02 diode rectifier during World War II, followed by development of the transistor in 1947. The chief commercial sources for germanium during the following two decades were the Cu-Zn mines in the Congo and the Zn-Cu-Pb mines of Tsumeb in Southwest Africa. The germanium was chemically combined in complex Cu-Fe sulphides (germanite and renierite), from which the element was recovered either by leaching the selectively roasted sulphide, or by direct fuming of GeS(I). Although these deposits have reportedly been depleted (2), new deposits of renierite have been discovered in Zaire. Alternative sources of germanium are therefore being sought worldwide for use in infrared optics, semiconductors, fibre optics, and catalysts. One such source is germanium-rich coal (2)."

Jan 1, 1986