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By F. E. Goodwin

Since the last CIM Zinc and Lead Conference ten years ago, significant technical and market forces have influenced how these metals are used, and the geographic distribution of their uses. Unprecedented price fluctuations have opened competitiveness issues, while the rapid growth of the Chinese market has created challenges both inside and outside China. Recent technical developments in battery energy storage, coatings, castings and chemical applications of lead and zinc will be reviewed together with the influence of these trends on end use markets.

Jan 1, 2008

By ANNE FUZESY

Soluble potassium salts in bedded underground salt deposits supply most of The world demand for potassium f or agricultural and industrial use. The potassium salts, sylvite and carnallite, were f irs, noted in drillcores in southern Saskatchewan during The search for oil and gas in ihe early /940s. Problems in shafi sinking beset pioneering potash companies, however, and cominuous production did no, begin uniil 1962. Powsh deposits in southern Saskatchewan occur within ihe uppermost 60 111 of the Middle Devonian Prairie Evaporite a, depths in excess of 900 m. Four groups of po/ash-bearing haliie beds have been distinguished: the Esierha-::,y, White Bear, Belle Plaine and Paiience Lake members. Powsh deposiis extend a jell' kilomeires into Manitoba and south imo orth Dakoia and non heasiern Moniana. Individual potash-rich beds are extensive and consistent in grade and Th ickness. Local th ickening occurs where carnallite is the dominani poiash mineral. Th e preferred ore, sy lviniie, is a clean mixiure of sylvite and haliie. Carnalliie and insolubles are avoided wherever possible because of Their detrimenwl effects on mine stability, grade and refining. Sy lvin ite is exTracted by underground mining or brought TO swjace as brine in solution mining. Poiash is separaiedfrom halite byfloiation or sequential crystallization. The refined produci, potassium chloride, is employed as a fertilizer ingredient as well as in chemical and other industrial capaciiies. The ten poiash mines of Wesiern Canada all are in Saskatchewan and account for aboui 25 per cem of world production. Faciliiies are being expanded, and a new mine and refinery was planned for ihe Breden bury area. Deposiis in Manitoba also were being evaluaied.

Jan 1, 1984

By C. J. Sullivan

"The outlook for supplying the world's metal needs in the next twenty-five years is good, although in several cases basic costs are likely to increase with rising demand. Metal prices calculated at a constant dollar from 1900 to the present show that for nickel, copper, silver, lead, zinc and tin, prices -and presumably production costs -fell from 1900 to the early 1930s. Since then, they have generally risen, apparently reflecting some depletion in relation to demand. This tendency has been accentuated since the post-World War II adoption of managed, full-employment, growth economics, which have resulted in a sharp escalation in world demand for metals. (Abandonment of such policies, apparently now under consideration in North America, would, of course, affect the pre-dictions of this paper.) Nevertheless, metal prices generally are still below those prevailing in 1900. Exploration potential exists for disseminated ores of many metals still thought of as characteristic of lode and vein deposits. These include uranium, silver, gold, tin and nickel and, to a lesser extent, lead and zinc. Considering the discovery potential for some principal metals in relation to expected demand and prices, I would tend to rate them as follows: molybdenum, zinc, lead, uranium, silver, gold, tin, nickel and copper."

Jan 1, 1970

By Y. Yhang, D. C. Sego

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the potential of freeze-thaw dewatering using Albian mature fine tailings (MFT). Freezing tests were first performed to study the effect of freezing rate on dewatering efficiency. Lower freezing rate resulted in higher thawed solids content and shear strength. Subsequently, large strain consolidation tests were conducted to investigate consolidation behaviour and how it is affected by freeze-thaw. The consolidation behaviour was presented in terms of effective stress versus void ratio and permeability versus void ratio. The results can be used to predict the field behaviour of Albian MFT and optimize the application of freeze-thaw for MFT dewatering.

Jan 1, 2014

By L. D. Smith

Net Present Value Impact of Discount Rate The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method of valuations is universally used and accepted. The main criticism of the method is that it does not recognize the value of projects long life projects. This can be seen in the preceding graph where the present value of cash flows in later years are small for discount rates over about 10%. This graph covers a project that has a 25 year operating life. It is clear from the low height of the NPV bars at 10% and 15% in the last years of the project that an additional 25 years would add almost no value to total project NPV. As an example of this effect, an colleague undertook the evaluation of a pulp and paper project. The plant could be justified, but it was not possible to justify planting the trees as they took too long to grow and so had not appreciable NPV. The plant had to purchase wood to feed the plant.

May 1, 2013

By John J. Deutsch

"1T is a great pleasure for me to be present at the Annual Dinner of the C.I.M.; a pleasure which is combined with a mutual opportunity that I value highly. First of all, this occasion gives me a chance to meet again many Members of your Institute and to become more fully informed of the special problems of the mining industry. This alone is ample reason for me to welcome the invitation to join you tonight. In addition, this occasion provides me with an opportunity to tell you something about the work of the Economic Council which might be of particular interest to your industry.In the mining industry, keen competition and constant change are basic facts of life. The continuing prosperity of the Canadian mining industry depends fundamentally on how successfully it is able to adapt both to the changing conditions within the industry and to major trends which operate throughout the world.First of all, the scale and organization of the industry are evolving to new and different dimensions. As one authority has put it, ""The cream of the small high-grade, easy-to-mine ore deposits of this world have been consumed and mining is becoming more and more an industry of very large scale, complex operations. It has already become in most countries a capital intensive industry and its problems, scientific, technical and economic, are growing in difficulty."""

Jan 1, 1966

By J. Budac, R. Krentz, P. Cordingley, G. Freeman, M. E. Chalkley, H. Scheie

Pressure hydrometallurgical unit operations have been in commercial use at the Fort Saskatchewan refinery of Sherritt International Corporation for fifty years. This paper traces the history of Sherritt from its origins in northern Manitoba, and the development of the first hydrometallurgical nickel-cobalt refinery in 1954, utilizing pressure hydrometallurgy, to the modern day refinery. Sherritt's involvement with pressure hydrometallurgy during the past 50 years has included the operation of the refinery, the development and licensing of technology, incorporating pressure hydrometallurgical unit operations, to more than 30 companies worldwide, the joint venture at Moa, Cuba involving both leaching and precipitation at elevated temperature and pressure, and the production of specialty metal powders. Developments in each of these areas are reviewed.

Jan 1, 2004

By The Honourable George Prudham

"I AM PLEASED indeed to be present with you here today and to be taking part in the proceedings of your convention. You have been greeted and welcomed to the Province by Premier Manning who is also provincial Minister of Mines and Minerals, and to this City by Mayor Hawrelak. As Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys in the federal government and as Member of Parliament for Edmonton West, I have been asked to share the honour of extending greetings and a cordial welcome to all.It is a happy coincidence that this representative national gathering, indicative of the growing strength and significance of a great basic Canadian industry, is taking place in the Macdonald Hotel, the new addition of which marks another important step forward in the progress of this City and district.This happens to be the third national convention of the C.I.M. that I •have had the pleasure of attending and I trust that I am not presumptuous in expressing the hope that I will have the opportunity of attending many more conventions of the Institute in my present capacity.Dr. Kidd has bestowed on me a high honour by asking me to be Co-Chairman of this Inaugural Session of the Convention and thus to share with him the responsibility of presiding over the proceedings of this afternoon."

Jan 1, 1953

By G. M. Carr-Harris

"THE SUBJECT of permanent molding has received a great deal of attention in the technical press as illustrated by the many excellent articles in the bibliography which follows. In general, this covers the period 1940-1958 and is merely representative of what is available. Numbers in •brackets refer to items in the bibliography.It may be desirable at the outset to give a few definitions covering those terms directly related to this subject. The following is a definition of permanent-mold casting as given by J. W. Meier in a paper, ""The Non-Ferrous Metals and Alloys"", read before the Ottawa Valley Chapt.er of the American Society for Metals:""Permanent Mold Casting is used where a large number of castings of the same part are required and higher mechanical properties, greater density and closer tolerances are essential. Since metallic mold s are very expensive, the number of castings must be sufficient to, defray, at least partially, the added expense. Molds are usually made from a good quality cast iron, 1but other mold materials, such as the aluminum and copper alloys, graphite, ceramics, etc., are being used in certain cases. Important factors in permanent mold casting are the mold temperature; the proper mold dressing; and, as in all other casting methods, the mold geometry, that is to say, the design of spruces, gates, risers and vents""."

Jan 1, 1960

By R. T. Jones

"Technical publications in the field of mining and metallurgy have existed for a long time. Recent developments in electronic publishing on websites make it possible to disseminate information more widely and cost effectively than before. Professional societies have an opportunity to serve their members and their industry by publishing high-quality peer-reviewed papers on their websites as well as in printed form. Older publications can be scanned, and optical character recognition can be used to provide searchable text. Various business models exist around this process. This paper outlines the approach used by the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) to provide free open access to their journal papers and conference proceedings, as well as the work being done by OneMine.org to collect technical papers from a number of international societies and make them available to subscribers via a large database. An approach is outlined that should be of benefit to authors, readers, and society at large.INTRODUCTIONGeorgius Agricola (1494-1555) was not the first writer on the subjects of mining and metallurgy, but is well known as the author of De Re Metallica (‘of things metallic’ or ‘on the nature of metals’), a book that documents and illustrates the observations he made in the course of his extensive travels in the 1500s. Agricola wrote extensively about mining methods and metallurgical processes that were in place in the Middle Ages. The original Latin version of De Re Metallica was published in 1556, the year after Agricola died. It was translated into English by Herbert Hoover, a mining engineer and later President of the United States, and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, a geologist and classicist. The English version of De Re Metallica was published in 1912."

Jan 1, 2012

By J. A. Meech, R. J. Tucker

"A dynamic computer model has been developed to simulate the operation of ore crushing plants. The model was created in a general form to allow imitation of a wide variety of secondary crushing circuits with only minor program modifications. The system can be run on either a microcomputer or a large time-sharing main frame computer as required.The size reduction and separation characteristics of crushers and screens are based on standard manufacturers' design and performance data. These calculations are isolated within various subroutines to facilitate tailoring of the model to emulate any particular plant of interest. Input and output data are presented in a variety of formats. Crusher, screen and conveyor amperages and surge bin levels can be presented in a tabular form along with appropriate alarms arising from improper circuit operation or process interruptions. Graphical representation of the circuit together with strip chart data output are features of the system when operated in a microcomputer environment.The program is currently being used at Queen's University as a teaching aid to demonstrate plant operating characteristics, control strategies and design concepts. The acceptance of, and reaction to the program at this level indicates a good potential for it to provide a valuable tool for operator training."

Jan 1, 1985

By S. Onuki, T. Ando, M. Tejima, R. Enomoto, Y. Okada

"Al–Si–Cu–Mg die casting alloys are widely used in the automotive industry, and recent advancements in high pressure die casting technology enable heat treating products to achieve desirable properties. However, CO2emissions associated with die-casting production lines should be reduced to address the global warming issue. In this study, the relation between the microstructures and thermal stability of precipitates formed during isothermal aging at 423, 485, and 558 K of Al-11.0 mass%Si-1.8 mass%Cu-0.2 mass% Mg (JIS ADC12) was investigated using Vickers hardness tests and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The hardness tests and TEM results showed that Si compounds and Al–Cu compounds enhanced the mechanical properties of the alloy and that the predominant compound affecting the mechanical properties differed between specimens treated at 423 K and those treated at 558 K. Moreover, additional aging at 423–458 K resulted in a material with a Vickers hardness higher than that of the isothermally single-aged material. Differential scanning calorimetry, differential elemental analysis, and selected-area diffraction analysis using TEM suggested that the combination of Al–Cu compounds precipitated at low aging temperatures and Si compounds precipitated during preliminary aging increased the mechanical strength, resulting in a maximum hardness of 130 HV.INTRODUCTIONAl–Si–Cu–Mg die casting alloys have well-balanced mechanical properties, machinability, and cast ability. These alloys are therefore widely used in the automotive industry because of their superior characteristics, accounting for>90% of the aluminum used in die casting production. As a substitute for iron-based materials, these alloys have contributed to the development of lightweight vehicles.Dong et al. (2014) reported that the heat treatment of die casting materials is effective for changing their dimensions under high temperatures as a result of the precipitation of solid-solution elements. Recent advancements in high pressure die casting technology have led to the application of heat treatments of Al–Si–Cu–Mg alloy products to reduce fuel consumption and satisfy customer needs. Although attempts to reduce CO2emissions have focused on fuel consumption in cars and fuel efficiency regulations have become increasingly strict in recent years, CO2discharged from production lines should also be reduced without adversely affecting the properties of the product. Heat treatments for artificial aging after solution treatment (T6 treatment) and after casting (T5 treatment) are CO2discharge sources, which together with a holding furnace account for >80 % of the CO2discharged during the casting process."

Jan 1, 2018

ABSTRACT This paper details the work of RISKGATE, the largest Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) occupational health and safety initiative to date. The program is an interactive online risk management system developed to maximize health and safety performance in the coal mining industry by implementing continuous improvement in managing major unwanted events. The comprehensive knowledge base covers tires, collisions, fires, isolation, strata control underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives, manual tasks, and slips/trips/falls. All major Australian coal mining companies contributed topic experts to this broad industry initiative: nine coal mining companies, more than 80 experts, and more than 400 days of individual time for knowledge-capture workshops.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. G. Kearnery

Introduction It is believed that the present paper will be of some interest, not because of any outstanding features of Renabie milling practice but because Renabie is the first gold mining property in a newly explored area - in Leeson and Rennie townships, Sudbury district, Ontario - to reach the production stage. The Renabie mill was originally designed by the General Engineering Company (Canada), Limited, as a 300-ton plant and went into operation in June, 1947, treating an average of only 128 tons a day for the balance of that year. Toward the end of 1948 the capacity of the plant was expanded to 450 tons a day, and the tonnage treated was gradually increased from the 1947 figure to the point where 420 tons a day was averaged for the first nine months of 1949. Description of Ore In general, the outstanding gangue component of Renabie ore is white quartz, which comprises at least 80 per cent of its total bulk and in some sections considerably more. Virtually all the gold occurs in very finely divided state; only very rarely has free gold coarser than 325 mesh been observed. The ore has a very low sulphide content, ranging from about 0.50 to 1.00 per cent by weight. The gold occurs both free in the gangue and ? locked in sulphides, the proportion of one to the other varying considerably from one orebody to the other. Pyrite is by far the most abundant sulphide, followed by galena, which, however, appears to be entirely absent in some of the orebodies. Minor amounts of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, and sphalerite have been noted. The ore appears to be entirely free, or almost so, of minerals containing arsenic, antimony, or molybdenum, and in general it could be described as free milling. The various hindrances to extraction of the gold which have been met with are believed to be due largely to the very finely divided state of the metal and to its intimate association with the sulphides and gangue. The ore contains silver, with the gold-silver ratio about 3:1.

Jan 1, 1950

By Joey Hoang, Robert Johansson, Tapani Keronen, Mikael Jåfs, Jani Jansson, Mikko Korpi

At the Copper 2016 conference in Kobe, Japan, Outotec introduced a vision for the year 2020, wherein smelting would make use of four digital cornerstones: intelligent instruments, advanced process control, improved information management and transparency of and access to data. Since then, this vision coined the phrase “Fully Automated Smelter” with the mission promising a concept where no manual actions from human operators would be needed during normal smelter operations. Replacing repetitive physical work, collection and analysis of everyday production data has a great potential for further automation and will provide productive ways to improve efficiency and safety of smelters in the future. Therefore, a lot of emphasis has been put into developing solutions to automate these tasks and to move people out of harm’s way. A lot of new equipment, systems and optimization tools are under development. In addition, a lot of effort is going into developing dynamic process models and advanced control systems to interface with the plant automation systems. The goal is to integrate all these concepts to meet Outotec’s Fully Automated Smelter vision. This paper will cover these latest achievements toward this vision and introduce the near-future of digital smelting. INTRODUCTION As is well known already, the humankind is currently experiencing a change, extent of which is broadly studied by the governmental, educational and industrial institutions and parties. The wellbeing and quality of life have traditionally been improved alongside the developments in industrial production, which is now about to enter its fourth revolution. Therefore, the current change is often described as fourth industrial revolution, or industry 4.0 (or industrie 4.0, as named by Acatech, 2013) and can be considered anything from small incremental development to a ground-breaking global reset that will affect everyone’s lives. Many seem to agree, that the scale of change will indeed be big, even significantly bigger than the three industrial revolutions before it (Pellini, Weyrauch, Malho & Carden, 2019; Geissbauer, Vedso & Schrauf, 2016; Jansson, Bjorklund, Lahtinen, Heinonen, Jafs & Fagerlund, 2016).

Jan 1, 2019

"In many gold deposits, a reasonable amount of the gold that remains in the cyanide leach tailing is associated with pyrite. Some gold plants have found it economical to incorporate gravity circuits on the cyanide leach tailing to recover the gold bearing pyrite before subjecting it to fine grinding, then recycling the ground pyrite back to the cyanide leach circuit. For low grade gold deposits the loss of gold bearing pyrite is exacerbated as the broader process economics normally favour a coarse grind (> 150 ?m). An option that has received attention over the last decade is to recover the gold bearing sulphides in the milling circuit by gravity, similar to the widely-practiced gravity recovery of free liberated gold. The modelling and simulation of a gravity gold circuit in a milling flowsheet is relatively simple compared with a gold bearing pyrite circuit, as the recycle advantages and breakage functions for gold and pyrite are quite different. This current work represents an attempt to simulate the gravity recovery of gold bearing sulphides in a milling circuit that also incorporates fine grinding, using relatively simple simulation models. The simulation results are further explored with reference to the economics of this type of circuit.INTRODUCTION It is well known that gold is associated with pyrite in most sulphide gold deposits and that the amount of gold associated with pyrite will vary from deposit to deposit. Most of the gold associated with pyrite is liberated in the grinding circuit during the processing of a gold ore. However, some gold remains occluded in the pyrite and is lost in the final leach tailings. Little information is available in the literature on methods to enhance gold liberation from pyrite by specifically removing pyrite, either in the grinding circuit or from the final tailings stream, and grinding it finer. One of the earliest record of this approach is described by King (King, 1949) where pyrite present in Witwatersrand gold ores was recovered by circular jigs and Johnson barrels followed by fine grinding of the concentrate prior to cyanide leaching. Dominy et al., 1970, provides information on the use of Yuba jigs to recover pyrite from the discharge end of ball mills. Again, the jig concentrate was ground to a fine particle size before cyanide leaching to recover the liberated gold. Unfortunately, no information is provided in these articles on the additional gold recovery from implementing these circuits in a flowsheet. Martins et al., 1993, provides details of a gravity circuit using Reichert cones and spirals to recover gold bearing pyrite from a cyanide leach tailings followed by fine grinding of the pyrite concentrate in a Tower mill. The ground concentrate returned to the front end of the already installed leach circuit. Overall recoveries were increased by some 2% to 4% depending on the amount of gold and pyrite in the plant feed."

Jan 1, 2017

By G. Shore

Radiation grafted structures my be fabricated to contain ion exchange groups selective to an ion complex. Proper choice of substrate and monomer will provide selective ion exchange with differing physico and chemical properties. Grafting a selected monomer to the proper polymer will provide selective ion exchange with assured chemical protection of the substrate. Ion exchange systems utilizing radiation grafted structures have been fabricated to ''capture'' gold, silver and palladium from dilute solutions. Other ion exchange systems can feasibly be produced to remove other precious metals. Rotating Cathode Technology is used to recover the metals from their regenerating solutions are pure metal foil.

Jan 1, 1985

By Peter Waggitt

Northern Australia has been home to uranium mining for over 70 years, more or less continuously. In the early days, post World War 2, there was little effort made to remediate workings at the end of operations. The three “campaigns” of uranium mining (1951-55; 1960-70; and 1979-present) are all now in various stages of remediation. This includes not only the large legacy site at Rum Jungle but also smaller fields like the South Alligator Valley, as well as contemporary works at Nabarlek and the ongoing closure at Ranger– Australia’s longest operating uranium mine. This paper briefly describes some of the past remediation activities before providing an update on the Ranger closure programme and future timetable.

Jan 1, 2020

By R. T. Jones

The largest known platinum group metal (PGM) deposit in the world is the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, with the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe also being one of the biggest. It is therefore not surprising that the majority (just over 5 million troy ounces or 156 metric tons per annum) of the world's platinum is produced in Southern Africa. Primary smelting of ore concentrates is carried out in that region by five companies, namely Anglo Platinum, Impala Platinum, Lonmin Platinum, Northam Platinum, all of South Africa, and Makwiro Platinum in Zimbabwe. The only other primary smelter of platinum group metals is Stillwater Mining of Montana, USA, although very significant quantities of PGMs are produced as co-products by Norilsk Nickel of Russia. Smaller (but still significant) quantities of PGMs are produced by Falconbridge and Inco of Canada, also as co-products from nickel sulphide smelting. There are many similarities between PGM smelting and nickel sulphide smelting, and the range of technologies in use includes six-in-line rectangular electric furnaces, three-electrode circular AC furnaces, Peirce-Smith converters, and Anglo's ACP (based on Ausmelt technology). PGMs are also recovered from residue materials using DC arc furnace technology.

Jan 1, 2005

By CIM Mineral Resource, Mineral Reserve Committee

Industrial minerals are generally considered to include non-metallic minerals, mineral products, or materials that provide raw material inputs for the construction, chemical, and manufacturing industries. They are often relatively low-value and bulky materials that are generally used close to where they are produced; however, some raw materials may be transported hundreds of kilometres to manufacturers and customers (ENDM, 2021). They do not include the metallic minerals, mineral fuels, or gemstones, and are used in industries based on their physical and/or chemical properties (Wikipedia, 2021). In contrast to most metallic minerals, a general distinguishing characteristic of the industrial minerals sector is their general low degree of market elasticity in relation to the market prices and product specifications. The estimation of either a Mineral Resource or a Mineral Reserve (MRMR) for an industrial minerals deposit can be affected to a significant degree by a number of factors that are not typically applicable to metallic mineral deposits. These factors can include such considerations as the particular physical and chemical characteristics of the final product, product quality issues, market size and market access. In some cases, such information may be confidential and proprietary. One of the key challenges of the industrial minerals sector is to define a commonly accepted listing of which types of minerals, materials, or mineral deposits can be considered as industrial minerals (Mining Standards Task Force, 1999). Although definitions for what constitutes an industrial mineral can vary in detail, general descriptions can be found in American Geosciences Institute (2021), Fastmarkets IM (2021), Snowden (2019), SME (2021) and Wikipedia (2021). A brief listing of some of the materials and minerals that are generally considered to be industrial minerals is provided in Table 1. For the purposes of this document, all references to industrial minerals include not only the minerals, materials, and mineral deposits themselves, but also the various commercial products that are derived from these sources.

Nov 19, 2023