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By J. C. White

"During the early development of the Mattabi Mine in 1970, discussions with the Ontario Government revealed their policy of prohibiting, as much as possible, the development of new, isolated, single-industry townsites. Subsequently, Mattabi located its first housing in the Township of Ignace, which is situated 50 miles from the site of the mine and plant. Over 200 employees now commute 100 miles daily to and from work.This paper describes the experience gained and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of a remote townsite."

Jan 1, 1976

By J. Illescas, N. C. Murray

This paper provides an economic comparison and technical evaluation of different approaches for copper recovery from small-scale resources such as historic tails, dumps, pond and pit water as well as acid mine/rock drainage. Factors such as the location, the availability and cost of reagents, power availability and cost and a local market for end product alter the preferred processing technique. A number of scenarios are presented and technologies considered include; solvent extraction, ion exchange, sulphide precipitation, cementation, copper sulphate crystallization, membrane (RO) and copper cathode production.

Jan 1, 2014

By Lawrence Devon Smith

The selection of the production rate is one of the most crucial decisions to be made in the development of a mineral property. However, it is not uncommon for the production rate to be decided arbitrarily, before any technical evaluations begin, and it is often not reconsidered when better data becomes available. A number of methods are used in the mineral industry to select the production rate for a project. There is general agreement that the size of the ore reserve has a strong influence on this decision, but what other factors are involved? Is there a way to identify an optimum rate? This paper examines the factors that influence the selection of a production rate from the perspective of project economics. The NPV maximum value should be viewed as a “failure” point. The “two times capital” maximum is proposed as a lower limit. A practical check is suggested to confirm that a selected rate is in an optimum range. Production rate assumptions are much more likely to be reviewed for marginal projects, but they should also be reviewed for viable projects.

Jan 1, 1997

By G. F. Colborne, A. Thunaes

"When the Canadian uranium milling plants went into operation during the early 1950's, they utilized flowsheets developed at the Radioactivity Division of the Federal Mines Branch in Ottawa. Since then, numerous process improvements have been made by the Mines Branch, by the operating companies themselves and by other research organizations. This paper will consider uranium milling technology from the standpoint of a new mine operator charged with the responsibility for the design of an economic flowsheet, and will indicate the range of process elements available to him and the testwork required to enable an intelligent decision to be made."

Jan 1, 1968

By R. D. White

"The Cumberland Basin of Nova Scotia has long been considered a structural basin by virtue of the elliptical outcrop and inward dip pattern of the Pennsylvanian outcrops. Recent published and unpublished data indicate that subsidence began in the late Devonian, perhaps resulting from a graben or rift. The Mississippian sediments which filled the growing depression were continental, lacustrine and marine with evaporites. The cessation of the riftforming processes is recorded by the alluvial swamp-type sediments of the Pennsylvanian which filled the depression. In excess of 25,000 feet of Carboniferous rocks are believed to be present in the deepest part of the Basin. Starting with the rift hypothesis, we can speculate on the kinds of sediments, their location and the structural features present beneath the Pennsylvanian surface. Using surface exposures and a limited amount of subsurface data, we theorize that (1) the Mississippian evaporites acted as glide zones which effectively divided the Basin into two horizontal structural layers. The rocks above the evaporites, responding to Appalachian stresses, formed the long diapiric folds with cores of overthickened evaporites. Below the evaporites the structures are related to movements of the rift floor, compaction closures and structures formed by differential horizontal movements of the rift walls. (2) The rift, in its deeper parts, will have more and a greater variety of marine rocks than the outcrops indicate. Should the rift hypothesis be correct, the possibility of finding hydrocarbons is enhanced."

Jan 1, 1972

By Joseph F. Daniels

In recent considerations of the utilization and beneficiation of coal, the chemise and the chemical engineer have been occupying the centre of the stage with their presentation of the picture of new fuel forms. The stage hands and supernumeraries of the cast, the miners and the consumers who carry the brunt of the present-day burdens, are apt to be forgotten in the glorious settings and the climaxes. With no thought of disparaging or of minimizing the efforts of our fellow scientists, let us remember that economic considerations as well as technical difficulties will limit these chemical applications, which must develop and move slowly before reaching the stage of industrial application at some later day. In the meantime, the coal-mining industry must live on hard faces rather than rosy dreams. In these brief notes it is my purpose to call attention to some of the physical advances in the utilization and beneficiation of coal which have been of interest to the industry in the State of Washington.

Jan 1, 1928

By Ronald B. DeDiemar

This paper will present the intrinsic factors of a cone crusher that affect performance, develop and define an ideal feed gradation for a cone crusher and, finally, bring out an important new development in computer design of crushing chambers and show an ability to predict crusher performance without trial-and-error methods.

Jan 1, 1979

"Previous studies on the effect of polytetrafluoroethylene addition during chalcopyrite leaching under conditions similar to those of the CESL process have reportedly resulted in complete leaching of the copper without the need for grinding of the flotation concentrate. However, these studies employed a pulp density of only 1% and finely sized PTFE particle that required the use of high impeller rotation rates that are not sustainable at an industrial scale. This paper explores the performance of 1/8” diameter balls of PTFE, that readily sink in the leach solution, on leaching performance at impeller rotation rates and ore pulp densities more typical of industrial practice. Possible routes for separation of the PTFE from the leach residues and their regeneration for recycling back to the leaching stage are also discussed.INTRODUCTIONChalcopyrite, CuFeS2, is the most important primary sulfide source of copper. While pyrometallurgical smelting of chalcopyrite remains the only widely accepted route for treating chalcopyrite concentrates, several medium temperature pressure oxidation processes are claimed to be economically feasible (Muir & McDonald, 2007). Among these, the CESL process has been extensively piloted and demonstrated at the prototype scale. The overall process chemistry of the CESL process may be summarized as follows (Marsden & Wilmot, 2007):4CuFeS2 + 5O2 + 4H2SO4 ? 4Cu2+ + 4SO4 2- + 2Fe2O3 + 8S0 + 4H2O (1)4CuFeS2 + 17O2 + 2H2SO4 ? 4Cu2+ + 10SO4 2- + 4Fe3+ + 2H2O (2)Though copper extractions of over 95 % are achieved, the CESL process requires extra grinding of the concentrate (Muir & McDonald, 2007). This is because leaching is conducted at temperatures around 150 °C, where the elemental sulfur produced is molten and grows thicker on the mineral’s surfaces as oxidation progresses, creating an increasingly large barrier for mass transport. In addition, the sulfur is sticky and tends to cause the mineral particles to agglomerate, effectively halting further oxidation of the particles that end up embedded within the agglomerates. Consumable surfactants, such as ligin sulfonate, have been shown to be effective at avoiding agglomeration, but they are not effective at removing sulfur from the minerals. Hence, their use does not obviate the need for fine grinding."

Jan 1, 2012

By G. S. Hume

FOR MANY YEARS Canada lived in the hope of attaining a substantial production of petroleum and natural gas that, to geologists familiar with the sedimentary basins of this country, seemed an entirely reasonable expectation. There have been surges of exploration activity stimulated by oil and gas discoveries and development such as occurred in Turner Valley. However, it was not until the Leduc field in Alberta was found in 1947, and the significance of that discovery was realized, that the search became really intensive and continuons. Expansion now has become a matter-of-fact attitude based on results which would have been considered impossible of achievement a few years ago.

Jan 1, 1957

By R. O. Burt

The original flowsheet of the TANCO mill consisted of a simple two-stage gravity circuit for the recovery of the tantalum concentrates. With decreasing grade and grain size of the tantalum minerals, considerable modifications to the circuit have been required. This paper discusses the various recent improvements carried out 011 all stages of the flowsheet, which have resulted in a 10% increase in recovery. Future improvements, including on stream analysis, and the possibility of tantalum flotation , are also discussed.

Jan 1, 1979

By Sub-Committee of the Committee on Research

"THE FOLLOWING REPORT was compiled by a sub-committee of The Metallurgical Society of CIM, Committee for Research, and represents a viewpoint of the steel industry in Canada. The objective was to define those areas in which the industry considers that external sources of Research and Development are a necessary function in supporting the in-house R & D conducted by the industry.On future occasions, the viewpoints of other metallurgical industries, such as those of nickel, copper and aluminum, will be presented. The report is divided into several sections: 1.-R & D Spending by the Steel Industry (a) Memberships in Recognized Steel Research Centres (b) Memberships in Recognized Industry Associations (c) Sponsored Research at Recognized Centres (d) Sponsored Research at Universities(e) Sporadic Research 2.-Areas for Research and Development(a) Instrumentation (b) Environment Control (c) Refractories (d) Sponsored Research at Universities(e) Electric Furnaces (f) Continuous Casting"

Jan 1, 1970

By Zhiye Zhao, Jianping Sun, Zhipeng Xu

"The subsea rock cavern project is an underground storage facility. For cost-effective and safe excavation, the risk caused by the groundwater seepage into the rock cavern must be addressed. As one of the essential steps of the assessment work, the hydraulic conductivities of the fractured rock masses should be reliably determined based on the limited measured data and geological information from the few boreholes. On the basis of site investigation data and monitored water flow and water pressure data during excavation, this paper presents an estimation method for hydraulic conductivities of the rock masses containing water bearing zones.INTRODUCTIONIn the development of underground rock caverns/tunnels, the uncertainty of hydro-geological conditions plays a critical role in terms of construction cost and construction safety. Excessive groundwater seepage has been identified as one of the key safety factors which always lead to vast loss, such as the Seikan Tunnel in Japan which encountered sudden water inflow and then catastrophic face collapsing, tunnel flood during excavation (Xu et al., 2013). As a key factor in the risk management associated with the groundwater leakage into rock cavern, the hydraulic conductivity determination is very important for cost estimation, reliable water control and construction management.The case presented in this paper is an underground project consisted of a cluster of rock caverns/tunnels for storage of hydrocarbon products. These caverns are located in heterogeneous sedimentary bedrock, at a depth of 130 m beneath a basin, and the crowns of caverns are located at about 100 m below the sea bottom. The caverns/tunnels are designed at two levels, the water curtain tunnels are at the upper level, and oil storage caverns are at the lower level, as shown in Figure 1. A number of horizontal and vertical water injection holes drilled from the upper water curtain gallery tunnel will establish continuous horizontal and vertical water curtains for providing a stable pressure distribution around the caverns, to keep oil/gas inside the lower storage caverns. As the hydrostatic pressure of groundwater around the storage caverns is higher than the pressure of stored oil and gas, the stored oil and gas will not leak out of the cavern (Lu, 2010; Xu et al., 2015). Groundwater pressure gauges are installed in the water curtain gallery tunnels, and water from the operational and access tunnels is injected continuously into the curtains to maintain the pressure. Some monitoring data are recorded at different construction stages. This paper proposes suitable methods to predict the hydraulic conductivity in rock mass and to determine the hydraulic conductivity in the water bearing zones."

Jan 1, 2015

Project Details ? Located 420 km northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories ? Jericho kimberlite discovered in 1995 ? Feasibility study showed +3,000,000 carats recovered from 2.6 million tonne reserve ? Nine year mine life ? Approx. 100 person workforce in full production ? First mine for Tahera, First new mine for Nunavut Completed Ambitious Construction Schedule During 2005 o Feb ? Mar/05 Winter road mobilization o Mar ? Dec/05 Pre-stripping, earthworks o Mar ? Apr/05 Camp facility, occupied May 3 o May ? Dec/05 Process plant o Jun ? Dec/05 Maint. shop, fuel storage, power plant o Jan ? Mar/06 Commissioning, start-up o April 2006* COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION

May 1, 2006

By G. Goodall, D. Mercier, M. Brochu, C. Kaplin

A nanostructured CoNiCrAlY coating was obtained by thermally spraying cryomilled feedstock powder using the high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) process. The oxidation behavior of the nanostructured powder and coating were compared to their conventional counterparts by performing static oxidation tests at 1000°C for durations ranging from 1 to 96 hours. It has been found that oxidation of the conventional powder yielded a duplex oxide scale composed of an inner layer of Al2O3 and an outer layer composed of Cr2O3, NiAl2O4 and other spinels. Interestingly, oxidation of the as-sprayed nanostructured coating yielded a similar duplex oxide scale while oxidation of the polished coating resulted in a single Al2O3 layer. These findings indicated that surface oxide seeds act as nucleation sites for the growth of the mixed oxide layer. Also, it was determined that nanostructuring of the coating promotes the nucleation and growth of a single and adherent a-Al2O3 layer by increasing both the number of diffusion channels and the aluminum concentration at grain boundaries.

Jan 1, 2010

By Lloyd W. Trevoy

Syncrude Canada Limited is presently studying commercial production of heavy minerals from plant tailings of the openpit A lhabasca tar sands operation. When tar sands are processed and upgraded to synthetic crude oil, heavy minerals can be removed f rom the extraction circuit and beneficiated to provide concentrates of zircon and titanium minerals. Calculated recovery rates indicate that crude oil production capabilities of 105,000 barrels per day would provide 26,000 tonnes of zircon and 114,000 tonnes of titanium minerals annually. The titanium minerals concentrate is a mixture of ilmenite, leucoxene and rutile; it could be used as recovered or upgraded to synthetic rutile. With the consrruction of further synthetic crude oil plants in Western Canada, a large reserve of heavy minerals will become available.

Jan 1, 1984

By Robin Belley

Outline Introduction Wabush Mines HistoricalBackground Mine and Concentrator at WabushMines High Intensity Magnetic Separators (HIMS) Development of the Manganese Removal Process Pilot Plant Testing Phase Manganese Removal Line 1 Coming Phase: Manganese Removal Line 2 Manganese Concentration Process Development Historical Background 1847: Creation of the Cleveland Iron Company1850: Opening of its first iron ore mine in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan 1965: Beginning of Wabush Mines at Scully Mines, Wabush, Labrador. 1980-1990: Questions raised about how to exploit Scully high Mn Ore (> 2%)Part of the available ore is not saleable due to too high a level of pyrolusite (MnO2) Adding this ore to the resources would be valuable (longer mine life and lower stripping ratio) 1990s: Testwork for Manganese removal Many different processes are studied over more than a decade High Intensity Magnetic Separators (HIMS) are identified as the best technology for Mn removal 2007: Pilot Mn removal line installed Testing carried out through 2007-2008 First Production Line is ordered (2008) 2009: Cleveland Cliffs (now Cliffs Natural Resources)acquire the remaining part of Wabush Mines 2010: Mn Removal Line 1 construction & commissioning Summer 2011: Mn Line 2 Construction

May 1, 2011

By V. F. Kozyrev, L. B. Tsymbulov, L. Sh. Tsemekhman, A. N. Golov

Gipronickel Institute, JS has developed a new process and equipment for melting copper raw material in a two-zone Vaniukov furnace resulting in the production of white matte and low-grade slag in terms of copper content. Tests on processing copper nickelcontaining ore from Norilsk (Cu - 17 %), Ni - 3 %) were conducted in Vaniukov pilot furnace (total area 11.4m2) of Severonickel Combine. The amount of the processed material was about 11 thousand tons. Principal results of pilot testing are presented.

Jan 1, 2007

By Grant J. Goddard

"The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) has been in operation for over 30 years. Today, and in the future, technology and its application will play an ever more critical role in the company’s business success.The Carol Mining and Concentrating (CMC) division of IOC is energetically applying technology today to enhance performance and results, and is aggressively exploring opportunities to apply technology to support improved business results in the future.A critical area of focus is the application of technology to maintenance management performance. CMC has taken a “back to basics” approach to the fundamentals of maintenance management in 1995 and 1996. In parallel, the mine is aggressively implementing its Vision 2000 maintenance integration plan. This plan is targeted at levering the energies applied to sound maintenance management fundamentals as the company moves to a fully condition based maintenance approach.This paper discusses some of the strategies, key technologies and objectives of theVision 2000 maintenance integration plan at the mining operations of IOC."

Jan 1, 1996

By S G. Bergdahl

Underground mining in Sweden is today characterized by mechanization and automation, owing to the rising cost of labour. Drilling in drifts and tunnels is still essentially done with jackleg drills, but rigs wh1ch make it possible for one man to operate two or more drills are now frequently used. Large jumbos for longhole drilling, with two drills operated by one man, are used, especially in sub-level caving. A special drill-rig for drilling through overburden and blasting without removing the overburden has been successfully used in canals and also in ports, where blasting is per-formed under water. The increased use of mining methods based upon long blastholes is a result of the development of equipment for drilling long straight holes. The most common mining method in Sweden is sub-level caving. Extensive research, with model tests, has been carried out in order to determine suit-able dimensions of drifts, sub-levels and drilling patterns. The results have been tried in practice and have given increased yield and less waste rock in hoisted ore.

Jan 1, 1963

By R. P. Viljoen, A. D. Scheglov, A. L. Sokolov

"Abstract -The distribution of mineralized provinces is analyzed on the basis of their genetic link with specific blocks of the earth's crust including ancient platforms, mobile belts and zones of tectonic­ magmatic activation. Mobile and fold belts surround the Siberian platform in Russia and the Kaapvaal craton in South Africa, with decreasing age zoning away from ancient platform margins. The main differences in the geological development of the two cratonic areas are: (1) the long period before the final stabilization of the Siberian platform (3600 Ma to 1600 Ma) and the comparatively short period of time for the stabilization of the Kaapvaal craton (3600 Ma to 3050 Ma) and (2) the intensive multiple activation of the marginal zones of the Siberian platform and the tectonically­ controlled, magmatic sedimentary, intracratonic activity, typical of the Kaapvaal craton. Mineralization of the Siberian platform is largely characterized by marginal reactivation zones of differing ages although mineralized intracratonic Cu-bearing basins of Proterozoic age are also known. Mineralization of the Kaapvaal craton is mainly related to the formation of the intracratonic basins i.e., Witwatersrand (Au, U) and Transvaal (Au). The latter is characterized by multi-age volcanic-intrusive activity including the emplacement of Bushveld Complex (Cu, Ni, Pt, Cr, Au, V). The Siberian platform is characterized by the prolonged development of inherited mineralization from Archean until the late Mesozoic. The main period of mineralization in the Kaapvaal craton is restricted to the middle Proterozoic.The Baykal-Patomskaya and Namaqua-Natal mobile zones occupy similar positions adjacent to the Siberian and Kaapvaal cratons, respectively, and demonstrate similar modes of metallogenic development: i.e., the early formation of exhalative Pb-Zn-Cu deposits during the early stage and magmatic Cu deposits during the late stage. The more remote mobile belt near the Siberian plat­ form, the Trans-Baykal, is characterized by intensive multi-age mineralization (Wo, Mo, Sn, fluorite), related to a period of tectonic-magmatic activation. The Saldania Belt occupies a similar position near the Kaapvaal craton but is known for its poor Au, and Cu rnineralization. lt does, however, have some similarities with Trans-Baykal Belt in regard to Mo-W bearing granitoids.The phenomenon of interference of geosynclinal, orogenic, platform, and tectono-magmatic activation regimes is known for the Russian section of the Pacific Ocean Volcanic Belt."

Jan 1, 1994