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By R. Glenn Madill

Western Canada is defined, for the purposes of this paper, as that part of the Dominion bounded approximately by the 95th and 141st meridians of longitude and the 49th and 80th parallels of latitude. It is comprised of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and that portion of the Northwest Territories lying to the west of the 95th. meridian. The first magnetic observations made in Western Canada were in the interests of navigation by sea. Observations were made by Captain Middleton in Hudson bay at Churchill and York Factory in 1725, and along the Pacific coast by Captain Cook in 1778 and Captain Vancouver in 1792. The first systematic magnetic survey in Western Canada was made between 1819 and 1826 by Sir John Franklin in his widely distributed explorations. It is of interest to find that while the first magnetic declination observations made in Hudson bay and along the Pacific coast were purely in the interests of navigation, the next investigations, which were made in the Western Arctic, included measurements of inclination and force with those of declination. There was a valid reason for this more complete research into the magnetic field as the construction of declination charts depended on the position of the north magnetic pole. Halley promulgated a theory 1683 that " the globe of the Earth may be regarded as one great magnet, having four magnetic poles, two of them near each pole of the equator, and that in those parts of the world which lie near any of those magnetic poles the needle is chiefly governed thereby, the nearest pole being always predominate over the more remote" . The position of a magnetic pole may be defined as a point where the inclination is 90 degrees and the horizontal force zero. It is obvious that the position cannot be' defined by declination observations alone since, for some distance from the magnetic pole, .the horizontal force is too weak to give directive force sufficient to effect the pointing of a compass.

Jan 1, 1948

By R. Wirth, B. Orberger, C. Wagner, A. Tudryn, B. Baptiste, S. Miska, Université Paris-Sud

Banded iron formations (BIFs) comprise complex textures and mineralogy, which result from fluid-rock interactions related to high and low temperature alteration. The initial iron oxy hydroxide mineralogy and associated phases such as carbonates, quartz, apatite and phyllosilicates were transformed leading to an upgrading of these BIFs into the world’s largest source of iron ore. In low-grade BIFs, a large part of the iron is related to micro- and nano- metric iron-bearing inclusions within micrometric quartz and/or carbonates (mainly dolomite). We studied laminated jaspilitic BIF samples from a drill core containing 26.71 wt.% total iron, 0.2 wt.% SiO2, 0.32 wt.% MnO, 15.46 wt.% MgO, 22.32 wt.% CaO, 0.09 wt.% P2O5, < 0.05 wt.% Al2O3, 0.15 wt.% H2O and 34.08 wt.% CO2 (Aguas Claras Mine, Quadrilatero Ferrifero, Brazil). Bright rose coloured dolomite and quartz bands alternate with massive specular hematite bands. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and FIB-TEM analyses reveal that the micro- and nanometric inclusions in dolomite are mainly hematite and minor goethite, partly occurring as clusters in voids. Curie Balance analyses were carried out at different heating steps and temperatures on whole rock samples and a synthetic mix of decarbonated sample and pure dolomite. X-ray diffraction on the products of the heating experiments shows that that hematite is stable and new phases: magnesioferrite (MgFe2O4), lime (CaO), periclase (MgO), portlandite (Ca(OH)2) and srebrodoskite (Ca2Fe2O5) were formed between 680°C and 920°C. These finding gives hints to optimizing the beneficiation process, as the presence of hydroxyl ions bearing goethite micro- and nanoinclusions lowers the sintering temperature. Prior separation of coarse hematite and barren dolomite and quartz, followed by lower temperature sintering of the inclusionbearing dolomite/quartz leads to transformations into phases with higher magnetic susceptibilities (such as hematite and magnesioferrite). The entire Fe and Fe/Mg oxide feed (the priorly separated fraction added to the sintered fraction) can then pass through wet-high intensity magnetic separation after crushing.

Jan 1, 2016

By F. W. Gray

Ideal utilization of the heat energy in coal should theoretically be secured by supplying each atom of combustible material present with the exact quantity of oxygen necessary for complete combination. An intimate and equal admixture of the fuel particles with air is therefore to be sought. Coal, or the combustible substances of which coal is composed, may be used in solid or liquid or gaseous form. The use of coal in small particles intimately mixed with air is, in effect, a specification of coal in pulverized or dust form. There has been much important development of this manner of using coal, which may be instanced as the outstanding advance in the use of coal as a solid. The completeness and efficiency of combustion in a properly designed dust-fired furnace permits the use of locally available coals of inferior quality, and enables them to be used commercially instead of imported coals of better quality. That is to say, some grades of coal of low calorific value, that are not economically useable in lump form on grates, are useable in pulverised form, because of the more complete combustion thereby obtained, and the consequent more efficient results. In the case of coals that are unsuitable for steam-raising in grate-fired furnaces, because of clinker troubles, (arising usually from a combination of high sulphur content and low-temperature fusibility of the ash content) use in pulverised form has obvious advantages, and in addition gives the benefit of any heat units that are contributed by free sulphur in the coal.

Jan 1, 1924

By Michel Lefebvre, André Piché

Every organization performing R&D is faced with the challenge of introducing new technologies to its operations. Difficulties must be overcome if companies are to realize the benefits anticipated from such developments. This paper outlines the difficulties encountered in transferring to operations various technologies developed at the Mining and Exploration Division of the Noranda Technology Centre. The approach used in the selection of a privileged partner for the technology transfer, the criteria motivating the choice and the process followed to establish the partnership are presented.

Jan 1, 1997

By S. Shimaya, T. Maejima, M. Shimo

"The authors conducted the in-situ gas-tightness tests in a fractured rock at the Namikata underground LPG storage site in Ehime prefecture, Japan. The test consisted of two independent setups, a gas-tightness test that used boreholes, and a chamber-scale test that used a horizontal drift sealed with a concrete plug. In each test, the gas pressure was increased up to the onset of the measurable gas flow to obtain the maximum containment pressure. This paper discusses the hydraulic conditions for gas leakage initiation and the importance of the pore pressure measurement for monitoring the gas-tightness of the LPG storage cavern based on the test results.INTRODUCTIONJapanese first underground LPG storage plant was constructed by JOGMEC, the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, at Namikata in Ehime prefecture in granitic rocks (Kato et al., 2007). The “hydraulic sealing principle” (Åberg, 1977) that utilizes groundwater flow into an unlined cavern to prevent the leakage of gas through fractures in the surrounding rock mass was employed for storage of LPG. This paper describes the results of the in-situ tests performed at the Namikata Site to obtain information on fundamental gas-tightness characteristics of fractured rock. Two types of in-situ tests, a borehole gas-tightness test and a chamber gas-tightness test, were carried out near the storage caverns. Figure 1 shows the cavern layout of the Namikata underground storage plant and the test locations. The storage facilities consist of three caverns (W26m×H30m×L485m). The cavern crown lies at a depth of 150m below the sea level in Cretaceous granitic rock (Figure 1). Water curtain boreholes excavated from the water gallery tunnel at EL-125m level are located above and side of the caverns to prevent water drainage from fractures during the construction stage as well as during operation. The borehole tests were performed from a drilling adit excavated from the eastern end water gallery tunnel, while the chamber test was conducted at the southern edge of an exploratory drift extending from the central water gallery tunnel."

Jan 1, 2015

By Farzad Khodabakhshi, Adrian P. Gerlich

"Multi-pass friction stir processing (FSP) was performed to fabricate a new Al-Mg-Graphene nanocomposite. Microstructural developments and distribution of graphene were studied by using electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. In the stirred zone (SZ), grain structure was refined down to about 2 µm attributing to the operative dynamic restoration mechanisms and the locking effect of graphene phase. As a result, the yield strength of Al-Mg alloy was improved more than two times due to incorporation of graphene nano-sheets. Also, the indentation hardness resistance of nanocomposite was increased up to ~60%.INTRODUCTION Aluminum-matrix nanocomposites have garnered significant in recent years due to their superior performance and potential advantages for several industrial applications including the automotive and aerospace sectors. Among various reinforcing nano-materials, carbon-based structures featuring sp2 or sp3 hybridization bonds have been found to offer considerably improved physical and mechanical properties. Such carbon allotropes form at micro- and nano-scales including; graphite, carbon nano-tube (CNT), nano-fiber, and graphene. The potential of two-dimensional (2D) carbon materials was introduced in 2004, with the development of graphene as an alternate 2D allotropic form of the carbon structure with a honey-comb lattice at the atomic-scale. It has been shown that it is currently among the strongest materials ever tested with an intrinsic tensile strength of 130 GPa and Young’s modulus of 1000 GPa, and also offers unique thermal and electrical properties.To fabricate metal-matrix nanocomposites reinforced by graphene nano-sheets with typical metallurgical processing techniques, some attempts have been reported in the literature for various solid-state techniques including; hot rolling, mechanical alloying, and friction stir processing (FSP) of pre-cast plates or surface dispersed graphene oxides. The main challenge in those methods was to facilitate the considerable high temperature and pressure for attaining a uniform dispersion of the nano-sheets during the consolidation process. In most cases, significant difficulties have been reported in obtaining a uniform dispersion of graphene within the metal matrix. Among various techniques for production of metal-matrix nanocomposites, FSP has attracted significant attention as a method of surface modification since it was first reported by Mishra et al. In this process, a non-consumable rotating tool is plunged into the surface of material for the aim of microstructure modification. Extreme material plasticity is induced without melting as a result of friction between the tool and workpiece. Frictional heating and severe plastic deformation induced by the FSP process enables metal matrix nanocomposite fabrication by softening the base material and mechanical stirring to disperse the reinforcing nano-materials into the matrix."

Jan 1, 2017

By L. Paulino, C. E. Zangiacomi, J. Yamamoto

"This paper presents the learning from Alcoa Po9os de Caldas Smelter in Brazil, after several energy restrictions resulting from the failures of three rectifier units at its power switchyard. Starting on December 27th, fuses and diodes failed in three rectifier units of Potline #1, causing a long and dangerous power interruption. Even after current was reestablished, amperage was only 70% of the line target leading to a bath freezing process that lasted for around 48 hours. The process engineering team played with several potroom parameters as pot resistance, bath and metal levels, alumina feeding and bath chemistry in an attempt to minimize impact on the potline metal output and energy consumption. As it will be illustrated, the first battle was to keep the pots running on a ""survival"" approach. After that, several changes took place on the procedures used to run at reduced current which were considered rather successful. Finally, some recommendations will be given to foresee and prevent transformers and rectifiers from undesirable failures."

Jan 1, 2006

By Francis Breton, Lei Pan, Kun Liu

"Effects of Fe, Cu and Mg minor alloying elements on creep properties of 8xxx aluminum conductor alloys were investigated by conducting compressive creep tests at 100 ºC under a constant load of 69 MPa. The microstructural evolution was studied using an optical microscope and electron backscatter diffraction technique. The creep properties were characterized by the primary creep strain in the first stage and the minimum creep rate in the second stage of creep deformation. Results showed that additions of all three minor alloying elements (Fe, Cu and Mg) demonstrated a beneficial effect on the creep resistance but individual alloying elements exhibited different impacts on creep properties. The additions of Fe and Mg showed a strong impact on both the primary creep strain and minimum creep rate, while the Cu addition displayed a favorable effect on the primary creep strain but no impact on the minimum creep rate. Microstructure observation revealed that with increasing Fe contents, the volume fraction of fine intermetallic dispersoids gradually increased while the subgrain size and misorientation angle became smaller, providing strong barriers to the dislocation and grain boundary movements. The addition of Cu moderately reduced the subgrain size and misorientation angle and in combination of solid solution strengthening it promoted the retardation of the creep deformation during the primary stage.INTRODUCTIONThe 8xxx aluminum conductor alloys offer significant advantages such as low density, high conductivity to weight ratio and low price over copper conductors and become an attractive candidate in electrical engineering and building wiring (McQueen, Chia, & Starke, 1986; Birol, 2009; Engler, Laptyeva, & Wang, 2013). The mass resistivity of aluminum conductors is one-half of copper conductors. Thus, only one-half the weight of aluminum is required for equivalent capacities. Therefore, this unique property coupled with a relatively low price of aluminum offers significant economic advantage to develop aluminum conductor alloys for electrical applications in the electrical wire industry."

Jan 1, 2016

By E. Ghali, A. D. Bas

There is a lack of electrochemical studies of oxidized gold ores since the majority of previous studies were conducted with sulphidic gold ores. In this study, the influence of agitation and iron oxide minerals, i.e. magnetite, hematite, and maghemite on gold leaching was investigated by means of galvanic and passivation phenomena. Cyclic voltammetry studies of Roasted Gold Ore (RGO) in de-aerated electrolyte have shown one oxidation and one reduction reaction while three oxidation and one reduction peaks were observed with gold electrode. Galvanic coupling results by Zero Resistance Ammeter (ZRA) mode indicated that magnetite showed a negative effect on gold dissolution while maghemite and hematite showed a positive effect, relatively, as a result of higher galvanic corrosion rates. Generally, gold dissolution was found to increase in the initial 15 minutes. Increasing agitation speed from 100 to 400 rpm resulted in higher galvanic corrosion rates for RGO, magnetite, and maghemite electrodes, while 250 rpm was found to be optimum for hematite electrode. Passive products such as silver and iron-oxide were identified by XPS and SEM-EDS analysis, respectively.

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Hasselbring

Sub-Level stoping was used in this country at least as early as 1912, at the Magpie mine in Michipicoten. The fundamental principles of the system are the same wherever it is used, but modifications have been adopted in the Michigan iron mines and in several Canadian mines. It is a system whereby a suitable body of ore may be developed quickly and worked cheaply, with a low initial expense, and by miners of quite ordinary ability. The basic method, described in the following pages, may be modified to meet conditions where one or more factors are not in accord with normal sub-level stoping requirements. In suitable ground, sub-level stoping is probably the most satisfactory method yet devised for underground hard-rock mining. It is so simple, straightforward, and safe that no special training of a crew is necessary. Any miner capable of drifting and raising can carry on the work necessary for sub-level stoping after the shaft has been sunk. The method is suitable, however, only for reasonably wide ore-bodies, the minimum width of ore to which it can be economically applied being somewhere in the neighbour-hood of thirty feet. The development programme is simple. Assuming, for purposes of illuslustration, an ideal ore-body, two thousand feet long, dipping nearly vertical, and varying in width from forty to a hundred feet, this programme would be as follows. The shaft should be sunk on the footwall side about sixty feet outside of the ore-body and near its centre. Levels are then established at suitable intervals, usually 125 feet. On each level, a cross-cut is run to the ore-body, and there a main-haulage drift is driven in either direction to the end of the ore. Cross-cuts are then run at 25-foot intervals, so that ore-chutes can be spaced about 25 feet centre to centre each way. It is not necessary that these cross-cuts be extended to the walls of the ore-body, if the position of the walls is known; they are extended just far enough to make room for the correct location of the chutes.

Jan 1, 1934

By Stanley G. Butcher

"The methods generally applied to predict performance and financially evaluate beneficiation options are reviewed.Typical costs f or a western Canadian thermal coal operation are examined. Preparation-from truck dump to loadout-frequently amounts 10 over a quarter of total minesite costs. Failure to achieve projected yield-whether caused by mine or plant problems-s-substantially increases production costs because more coal has 10 he mined to meet a specific market demand. Problem identification by mass/ash balances is recommended.Thorough characterization of the coal and associated waste materials and more reliable prediction of beneficiation process performance are therefore essential to determine a project &apos;s financial viability.IntroductionWestern Canadian coal prep a ration plant capacity is partway through a massive expansion program . In 198 1 potential product ion was 14 million tonnes, by 1985 it will be 26 million tonnes per year. Only two years ago the industry was concerned whether it could sustain this rate of growth to meet market demands : now with diminished market demand and lower coal prices being offered by our international competitors there are doubts whether t his potential will be fully employed , even by 1990.One direct consequence o f the occurrence of a variety of coals in a stunningly beautiful but complex geo logical setting such as the Rocky Mountains and their Foothills is that each project is unique. Coal is a low value per tonne product. To supply distant markets from geographically isolated deposit s necessitates expensive , dedicated , infrastructure . T o be profitable these operations must achieve eve ry advantage of the economy of scale.Each of the mi ne complexes commissioned in the 1970s experienced severe problems in the area o f co a l preparation . Most bought their way out , paying for major plant modifications by increasing the scale of their total operation . The current market recession may not allow new operations this route to profitability.The objective of this paper is to illustrate the economic impact of coal preparation problems on the profitability o f the total minesite operation and thus provide a sound basis for decision making process."

Jan 1, 1985

By V. Concha, M. Hashemzadeh

"The objective of this study was to gain a better insight into the kinetics of chalcocite leaching in an acidic ferric sulfate media. Chalcocite leaching in acidic media is known to occur in two sequential stages, with the first stage being much faster than the second. The leaching residue from the first stage is typically assumed to be a covellite type of material. This study hypothesized that the mineralogy after the first-stage leaching varies in response to different leaching conditions. We investigated the dependency of the mineralogy of the first-stage leaching residue on temperature and initial ferric concentration. The experimental results showed that chalcocite leaching behavior altered upon temperature and initial ferric concentration. A proposed combined reaction model was found to be able to describe the experimental data. The first stage was described very well by the shrinking core diffusion model while the second stage was described very well by the shrinking core chemical reaction model. This finding has important implications for mine operations to manipulate leaching conditions to create the desirable leaching kinetics.INTRODUCTION The kinetics of chalcocite leaching in sulfate media has been extensively studied (Cheng & Lawson, 1991; Fisher, 1994; Fisher, Flores, & Henderson, 1992; Niu, Ruan, Tan, Jia, & Sun, 2015). Sullivan (John D. Sullivan, 1930) proposed a two-stage process for chalcocite leaching in an acidified ferric sulphate solution. The two-stage leaching of chalcocite is presented as the following reactions:"

Jan 1, 2017

By G. F. Flaherty

THE property of Tashota Goldfields, Limited, in the Lake Nipigon area, Ontario, is located about 4 miles west of Onaman lake and 16 miles by winter road south-southeast of Tashota station on the transcontinental line of the Canadian National railways. The mine, formerly developed to a limited extent under the name of Tashota Gold mine, has, since late in 1933, been under the management of Minefinders Limited, who, in 1935, brought it into production on a 60-ton per day basis. During the winter of 1934-35, the writer was geologist at the property. The geological structure in the immediate vicinity of the mine workings lends itself well to analysis on the basis of the mechanical principles of folding. Since structure is of prime importance in the localization of the ore-shoots and of the host shear-zones at the property, the correlation of all structural details and their mechanical interpretation forms a working hypothesis of structural control for the direction of exploration and development work. It is believed that the structural relations here set forth may be found applicable in part, or at least suggestive, in working out the relations of ore-shoots to structure in the Sturgeon River area to the south, and in the Little Long Lac area to the southeast (Figure 1).

Jan 1, 1936

By P. E. Cavanagh

Abstract Many investigators have been interested in developing some non-destructive method for detecting or determining the changes in physical properties in steel occurring during endurance tests or normal service life of a part which fails in fatigue. This paper presents a broad discussion of some of this work and the possibilities of developing useful test procedures based on some of the information obtained in the past. Changes in magnetic properties, electrical resistance, damping capacity, X-ray diffraction patterns, and remaining fatigue life at load different from service load have all been investigated as possible means for following the sequence of events during fatigue failure. In some special instances, tests such as these may be used to predict fatigue failure. As an in stance of practical application of the continuous determination of changes in magnetic properties during fatigue, a brief account is given of work done in non-destructive inspection of mine hoist-rope. As a result of extensive experiments and field crisis, it has been found possible to detect the beginnings of failure in a wire rope in service. The test method used will detect plastic deformation in a wire rope, no matter what its cause. There is no possibility of determining the remaining useful life of a rope by calibrating changes in magnetic properties in terms of remaining fatigue life. A change in magnetic properties at a point in a rope may indicate a decrease or increase in fatigue life, depending on the overload history of the rope. A continuing change in magnetic properties ac a point, however, does reliably indicate a developing weak point which will eventually lead to failure. The important point about any change in magnetic properties is not the magnitude of the change, but whether or not it continues.

Jan 1, 1947

By H. F. Zurbrigg

"The Frood-Stobie Mine is by far the largest metal producer in the Sudbury area. Its efficient development was made possible by the consolidation of three mining properties that covered parts of the same ore body. They were known as the Frood Mine, the Frood Extension, and the Stobie Mine.The southwest or Frood portion of the orebody was discovered by Thomas Frood and A. J. Cockburn in 1884. Cockburn's interest was acquired by J. H. Metcalf and W. B. McAllister and patents were issued to Frood, Metcalf, and McAllister in 1884. The property was purchased by the Canadian Copper Company (lnco) in 1886.James Stobie discovered the northeast or Stobie part of the orebody in 1885. In 1886 Stobie and Rinaldo McConnell applied for the location and patent was issued in 1886. They sold the property to the Canadian Copper Company (lnco) the same year.The Frood Extension property included very little of the ore zone at surface but it covered ore down the dip from Frood. Frank Cochrane was granted title to the property in 1908 and sold it to the Mond Nickel Company in 1910. The title was transferred to the International Nickel Company in 1929 at the time of the Inco-Mond merger.Prior to 1930 the three properties produced a total of about 1 ,000,000 tons of ore from mining done during the periods 1887-1903, 1913-1915 and 1925-1929. Since 1929 the Frood-Stobie operation has produced more than 120,000,000 tons of ore, about half from open pits and half from square set and blast hole stoping. The current production rate is in excess of 6,000,000 tons per year.The principal products from the ore are nickel and copper. The by-products are iron ore, cobalt, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, gold, silver, selenium, tellurium, and sulphuric acid."

Jan 1, 1949

By Lauri Pesonen

"Although electrical energy use at copper smelters is typically about 15-20% of operational costs, it is something which is not very often analyzed and discussed at a detail level in technical papers and presentations. This paper aims to list different equipment configurations per smelter area and estimate their electrical energy consumptions versus unit of material processed. In addition chosen smelting technology and oxygen enrichment rates affect the overall electricity consumption and therefore some overall guidance is provided for efficiency gains.INTRODUCTION In principle, processing plants, such as copper smelters, require electrical and chemical energy together with some degree of human input to process input materials into desirable output form like metallic copper. From the standpoint of metallurgical plant designers, the thermodynamics of smelting, when it comes to releasing and conserving thermal energy, is sufficiently understood and frequently discussed in the literature in detail, but judging from the quantity of publications, the way how we exactly utilize electrical energy is not. This article is meant to illustrate how electrical energy consumption is distributed among different process units and equipment types at copper smelters using various smelting technologies. In general, typically about 15-20% of operational costs are related to electricity and at locations with high electricity prices the potential savings can be quite significant for the overall profitability of the plant operations. In today’s tight profit margin environment any potential savings are more than welcome. The purpose here is not to promote any certain copper smelting technology, but to open a discussion on how and where we use electrical energy, and how the overall energy use could be lowered with the implementation of newest electric power saving designs and solutions. Using the principles outlined in this article, it should be fairly easy and straightforward to replicate the calculations and even improve them wherever it is seen necessary for the greater benefit for us all in this industry"

Jan 1, 2017

By G. Goodall, R. Jabbar, S. Muinonen, A. Cummings

"Glencore’s Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations in Falconbridge, Ontario, has been in operation since 1930. Many new technologies and practices, now common in the industry, have been implemented at the site and contribute significantly to the industry’s understanding. Since the last update on the Smelter operation published at the NiCo 2005 conference, the Converter Aisle has undergone significant changes in the operation of vessels. The Aisle continues to consist of 4 Peirce-Smith converters, but the Slag-Make Converter, and the Slag Cleaning Vessel have been re-tooled or re-built as Hybrid Vessels (HV), each generating matte for the two Finishing Converters and clean slag for disposal. The complicated scheduling and the overall benefits to the Smelter are reviewed here as part of the on-going tradition of industry support.INTRODUCTION The Glencore Nickel Sudbury Smelter operates a Roast Reduction Smelting (RRS) flow sheet with a specialized Converter Aisle operation that maximizes metal recovery to Bessemer matte. The main process equipment consists of a pair of Fluid Bed Roasters, a submerged-arc Electric Furnace and four Peirce-Smith converting type vessels (Figure 1). In the RRS flow sheet, concentrate is roasted with air to remove sulphur as SO2. Calcine from the Roasters is mixed with petroleum coke upon addition to the six-in-line rectangular Electric Furnace. The coke back reduces the metallic oxides, producing a matte and a discard slag.Gases from the Roasters are sent to a single pass absorption Acid Plant where the SO2 is converted to acid. Under the previous operating targets, approximately 70–75% of the sulphur in the incoming concentrate was fixed as acid with the balance going to the Electric Furnace in calcine for Bessemer matte production. Off-gases from the Electric Furnace and Converters are combined in a balloon flue, treated for particulates in electrostatic precipitators and discharged to the Smelter stack without any SO2 fixation."

Jan 1, 2017

By H. Sato, Y. Sato, T. Ooishi, K. Sakamoto

"Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.(SMM)'s Niihama Nickel Refinery(NNR) produces high quality Nickel cathode, Cobaltcathode and other by-products using hydrometallurgical refining process called “MCLE”(Matte Chlorine Leach and Electro-Winning). In 2005,NNR started to use nickel and cobalt mixed sulfide (MS) produced by one of the SMM’s subsidiaries Coral Bay Nickel Corporation(CBNC)’s HPAL plant in Philippines, although its main and the only raw material until then was nickel matte. With start-up of the second HPAL plant at Taganito in 2013, NNR expanded its production capacity of nickel cathode from 41,000 to 65,000 tpa and finally achieved its target in 2015 by producing 65,980 tpa. SMM developed the technologies to improve poor reactivity of MS and installed new facilities to cope with increased Cobalt and Sulfur production at that time. This paper describes the technical approach to increase MS treatment with high efficiency.INTRODUCTIONThe Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd.(SMM)Niihama Nickel Refinery(NNR) produces Nickel cathode, Cobalt cathode and other by-products using Matte Chlorine Leach and Electro-Winning (MCLE) process technology. SMM uses nickel matte and nickel & cobalt mixed sulfide (MS) as raw materials for the MCLE process. Table 1 shows typical composition of these raw materials. Nickel matte had been only raw material until 2005, and with start-up of Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) operation in the Republic of the Philippines, MS became major part of it. In 2009, when CBNC doubled its production capacity, NNR also expanded its plant capacity of electrolytic nickel from 36ktpa to 41ktpa, keeping an eye on the possibility of 65ktpa with oncoming SMM’s second HPAL in Philippines. Poor reactivity of MS was the prime concern at that time because our intention was to increase production with MS. Nickel extraction rate deteriorated with increasing usage ratio of MS in raw materials. To keep high nickel extraction rate under high ratio of MS, NNR developed a new leaching technology. Another concern arising from treatment of MS was Cobalt and Sulfur contents that are much more than those of nickel matte as shown in Table 1.NNR introduced new technology of solvent extraction process as to Co/Ni separation process in order to keep cost competitiveness instead of the conventional cobalt oxidation–neutralizing method. As to sulfur products, new sulfur productive facility was installed to improve the exposure to sulfur dust and the hot working conditions for workers. As a result of process development and installation of new facilities against the problem with MSusage,65 ktpa production was achieved in 2015."

Jan 1, 2017

By L. Henry Smith, David C. Arthur

"The Williams Mine is Canada’s largest gold producer, with annual production of 450 000ounces from 2 300 000 tonnes of ore. Highly mechanized and automated underground mining practices are employed in order to achieve and maintain high levels of productivity and minimize costs.The mine ventilation system is modified to include a new vent raise and variable pitchvane-axial fan. This addition allows several fan installations underground to be decommissioned. A substantial net savings in installed horse power is achieved.Heating costs associated with under-ground ventilation air are a significant portion of mine operating costs. Air heating costs are substantially reduced by recovering heat from upcast exhaust air, minewater and compressor cooling circuits. This waste heat is used to supplement propane fired air heating systems for underground ventilation air. An additional benefit is the availability of a heat sink for summer cooling of the compressors.System design, energy savings data and payback calculations are presented."

Jan 1, 1996

By M. Kawata, T. Amano, T. Miyamoto, K. Shibayama

"The High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) plant of Taganito HPAL Nickel Corporation (THPAL), located in Taganito, Philippines, with a nameplate capacity of 30,000 Ni-t/year started commercial operation on October 2013. The plant load was smoothly ramped up and it achieved monthly production equivalent to 33,000 Ni-t/year in 2016. Partial improvement of the plant capacity for the achievement of 36,000 Ni-t/year, as evaluated from the current operation progress of each system is planned for 2017. In this paper, aside from presenting the progress of the plant ramp-up, research and development activities such as the reduction of nickel loss and the improvement of filtration capacity which was achieved by particle size control of ZnS precipitates in the Zinc Removal system are also discussed.INTRODUCTION Taganito HPAL Plant Project History of THPAL Taganito HPAL Nickel Corporation (THPAL) was incorporated in August 2008, as a joint venture of three (3) companies, namely Mitsui Corporation with 15% share, Nickel Asia Corporation (NAC) with 10% share and Sumitomo Metal Mining Corporation (SMM) with a controlling stake of 75%. Aside from its capital share, NAC’s Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC) supplies the ore for the HPAL plant located in Taganito, Claver, Mindanao, Philippines. The objective of THPAL is to produce 30,000 MT of nickel and 2,600 MT of cobalt as mixed (Ni/Co) sulfide by treating nickel laterite ore in the Philippines and exporting to Japan as raw material for SMM’s Niihama Nickel Refinery (NNR) for the next 30 years. In other words, 1.15 wt% of nickel in ore is refined to 99.99 wt% nickel in electrolytic nickel. The mixed (Ni/Co) sulfide is shipped to NNR and SMM provides the technology and management personnel to THPAL plant as well as sulfuric acid which is the main reagent for HPAL process. Figure 1 shows the location of THPAL and current relationship between the stake holders.The Characteristics of THPAL Plant In terms of plant design, a 2-train system is applied for the HPAL circuit considering the reliability of the process, facility and avoidance of whole plant shutdown due to HPAL troubles. The technical data, operation know-how and improvements gained from the successful operation of Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) which was established in April 2002 were reflected in THPAL’s plant design. As for the H2S plant, a more economical design was considered which is different from CBNC."

Jan 1, 2017