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By T. L. Tanton

Introduction Sturgeon River area, on the east side of lake Nipigon, Ontario, was the scene of a gold rush in 1934. According to press reports, the active staking during the latter part of the summer spread out rapidly from the early holdings until it embraced practically all of the lower basin of Sturgeon river in a belt up to ten miles wide extending west from Kinghorn for 35 miles to lake Nipigon. And, before winter set in, active prospecting and claim staking reached beyond lake Nipigon to areas where belts of ancient schists were known, notably west of Obonga lake. The writer's familiarity in past years with the areas to which attention has been directed admits of some observations on means of access in the field, the general geology, and the progress that has been made in identifying formations favourable for the occurrence of gold. Canoe Routes From the writer's observations in Sturgeon River area in 1917 and in the Obonga Lake area in 1933, it is recalled that there is, locally, a striking dif~ ference in the accessibility of the two areas by travel along canoe routes. Sturgeon River area is easily accessible from Kinghorn or Jellicoe stations on the Canadian National railways. Many small lakes, commonly of the linear type and with elongations east and west, occur among the forested rocky ridges near Jellicoe (Figure 1) and to the east and west along, or adjacent to, Sturgeon river. This stream has long stretches with gentle current between the falls and rapids. The drainage system provides excellent canoe routes (Figure 2), and the interruptions to travel (Figure 3) are remembered .as scenic features that were passed by portages with firm footing. West of Obonga lake, the streams flowing easterly to lake Nipigon may be followed through scenic canyons to a plateau of law relief characterized by extensive muskegs and shallow, brown-water lakes; and along small streams, where beaver dams have been destroyed, there are muck ponds where the usual alternatives of paddling or portaging can be dismissed in favour of the 'moosing' method of progress with the canoe (Figure 4).

Jan 1, 1935

By I. M. Marshall

SOME years ago the writer had the opportunity to plumb a number of mine-shafts, each of which presented various conditions and difficulties. This afforded the chance to compare several methods of shaft plumbing in the light of ease and rapidity. This comparison led to the development of an adaption of the Weisbach, or approximate alignment, method, to three wires in a single shaft. Professor Weisbach, some time prior to 1850, introduced his method of shaft plumbing by triangulation on but two wires, and was the first to show that a triangle of very narrow shape is the best for this purpose. THE WEISBACH METHOD The two-wire method, using a Weisbach triangle, is described in several .English text-books on mine surveying and is used frequently in various parts of the world, but in Canada it is almost unknown. The writer has described an example of this two-wire method (1), but a brief resumé here may clarify the explanation of its application to three wires. In this two-wire method, instead of endeavouring accurately to align the instrument with the wires, it is set only in approximate alignment, and the small angle formed at the instrument is measured. This is expressed graphically in Figure l, where C represents the position of the instrument and A and B the positions of the wires. The sides of the triangle are measured as well as the angle ACB, and the angles at B and A are found by applying the Sine Rule or the formula

Jan 1, 1938

By O. Bouaziz, O. Magnea, P. Cugy, E. F. Rauch

The experimental difficulty to perform Equal Channel Angular Extrusion (ECAE) of a bulk sample of hard material such as steel was overcome. The original method proposed in this paper consists in replacing the bulk sample by a stack of alternated hard metal (steel) and soft metal (aluminium) sheets. By applying this procedure to an Interstitial Free steel (IF steel), 2.7µm grain sized material was obtained after recrystallisation. Its mechanical properties (hardness, formability in shear, hardenability and faigue limit) were investigated and compared with the properties of the same IF steel with conventional grain sizes (12m and 25µm).

Jan 1, 2004

By Chen Feng

Compared to widespread successful deployment of robotic manipulators for repetitive and hazardous tasks in related industries such as manufacturing, the construction industry has achieved relatively limited benefits from robotics and soft automation. Unlike manufacturing, where robotic solutions benefit from the structured layout of the environment (e.g., factory assembly line), construction robots face unique challenges that arise from the rugged, dynamic, and unstructured environment of the work site, as well as the uncertainty and evolving sequence of occurring on-site events. This challenges any intended construction robots to not only replicate basic human motion, but also be capable of sensing and adapting to environmental changes, and making decisions based on the evolving state of the environment. Building upon recent advancements in robotic mapping, computer vision, and object recognition, the authors propose to introduce autonomous behavior at the basic task level for on-site construction robots to address these challenges in a flexible and extensible manner. This paper reports the outcome of the first phase of this research - a structured methodology for improved design and development of basic task automations - and focuses on algorithms developed for mobile robot navigation and relative pose estimation. The algorithms are implemented on a prototype mobile robotic platform, and evaluated in several experimental scenarios.

Aug 1, 2013

By Moatassem Abdallah

Buildings in the United States account for 72% of electricity consumption, 40% of energy consumption, 13% of water consumption, 39% of carbon footprint, and 30% of waste output. In order to minimize these negative environmental impacts, many public and private owners are requesting that their buildings be more sustainable and certified under the widely known programs such as leadership in energy and environmental design for existing buildings (LEED-EB). To accomplish this, buildings are increasingly integrating green building measures including energy efficient lighting, motion sensors, thermal pane glass, geothermal heat pumps, EnergyStar rated HVAC systems, photovoltaic systems, and wind turbines. This research paper presents the development of an automated decision support system (DSS) that is designed to optimize the selection of green building measures which can be used to upgrade existing buildings. The developed DSS incorporates two optimization models that are capable of (i) minimizing the total upgrade costs required to accomplish a specified LEED-EB certification level such as silver or gold; and (ii) maximizing the number of accredited LEED-EB points within a specified budget of upgrade costs. The DSS is designed to identify a set of optimal upgrade decisions that accomplishes these two optimization objectives. An application example is used to illustrate the capabilities of the DSS and to validate its result.

Aug 1, 2013

By A. Carbonari

In order to gain competitiveness and compete at a global level, construction companies should improve their efficiency. The problem is even more relevant in the construction field, whose work processes find it hard to evolve towards new automated methods and techniques in the management field. For that reason, this paper suggests how construction companies could apply new technologies to implement automated management of environmental hazards. Based on a survey regarding the environmental risks presently experienced in construction sites, noise and dust were considered two of the main hazards. So in this paper a networked system for real time remote monitoring of the spatial distribution of dust in construction sites was developed. Such a system would relieve builders from the commitment of on-site surveys, allowing for a continuous monitoring of the site conditions and of the real exposure of each worker and pass-by to the pollutants generated by construction works. The main system requirements considered are: easy to deploy, reliable, as accurate as needed to be able to send real-time warnings and store a good estimation of the real exposure to which involved people have been subject to. So far the research produced a prototypical hardware for dust monitoring made up of wireless sensors which can be easily deployed on site. The sensors were calibrated by means of laboratory tests, where their measurements were compared with those collected by means of highly accurate instruments, which were taken as a reference. Thanks to these experiments, calibration curves for the sensors were worked out, showing also the measurement range of the sensors.

Aug 1, 2013

By Ryan W. Siggelkow

Mines today use various methods of mining to extract ore. Because of the dangerous nature of many of these processes, remotely controlled LHD machines are being used to extract the ore from the draw point. The remote control system, although being made safer all the time, has remained virtually unchanged for many years. The basic functionality is an operator switching the machine to remote control, getting out of the cab, walking up a stand, operating remotely, returning to the cab, switching to manual, driving manually, switching to remote, and switching to manual. It seems repetitive, and time consuming, does it not? Networking, convergence, video, voice, and data infrastructures, and other technologies are growing by leaps and bounds in virtually every industry and region, except for mining. From the comfort of the living room couch, a Canadian can play hockey online with full voice conversations over the Internet with someone in Russia in real time. Yet, a mine superintendent must jump through hoops to have a private conversation with the front line supervisor underground. "Is Joe around anywhere?" If Joe hears the message, he will respond. If not, who knows? Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he's not. Where is Joe? Nobody really knows, and that is scary. Today, surface knows that the workers disappeared into the cage at 7:00 a.m. They also know that the workers will probably and hopefully return at 3:00 p.m. Is there not a better way to handle this? With such a complex industry, it seems as if, for the most part, the introduction of new technology into mining has either been overlooked or has been met with some resistance. It is time to step back, look at the process, and see how it can be improved. Key areas of focus will be safety, productivity, dependability, and cost-effectiveness.

May 1, 2010

By Franc R. Joubin, Donald H. James

"The Algoma (or Blind River) uranium district is centred in an area of some 600 square miles on the north shore of Lake Huron, about half way between Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (Figure 1). Its favourable location, adjoining the main provincial highway and Canadian Pacific Railway line which follow the lake shore, has contributed greatly to its rapid development.By Canadian standards, the district has long attracted geological attention, beginning with the discovery of the Bruce mine in 1846. It has been repeatedly prospected at intervals since then, chiefly for copper and nickel but also for lead, zinc, cobalt, silver, iron, and gold. Numerous discoveries have prompted the suggestion by Yates (13) and others that one metal-logenic province embraces the entire mineralized area from Michigan through Sudbury and Cobalt.Geological mapping was initiated by Murray in 1847, and the area attracted much interest as the type locality of the Huronian, the correlation and stratigraphic position of which are still not entirely agreed on. Subsequent contributors to the geological literature of the area have been very numerous, and the bibliography at the end of this paper includes only some of the more modern reports.The history of uranium in this part of Ontario also dates from 1847, when J. L. LeConte identified as uranium-bearing a pitchblende-like mineral which he named ""coracite"". The specimens came from Theano Point, north of Sault Ste. Marie. In 1948 a search for the source of these specimens led to the discovery of the Camray uranium field. Occurrences in this field consist of numerous small and locally rich pitchblende-bearing fractures, within or along the contacts of diabase dykes cutting Archaean granite and gneiss.None of the showings explored proved large enough to justify production, but they stimulated prospecting of adjoining areas and thus led to the Algoma discoveries.The first find of radioactive conglomerate in place was made in 1949 in Long township, and it was partially staked as the Fisher-Audette-Breton property. Rusty, overgrown rock-cuts indicated that the pyrite-bearing conglomerate had been investigated years before, probably during searches for base metals and gold. Examinations were made at this time by a number of geologists, including the senior author. In spite of high radioactivity, sampling returned only negligible uranium. The claims were allowed to lapse and the showings reverted to obscurity."

Jan 1, 1949

By A. Ghasemi

An alumina-silica coating was deposited on a nickel substrate by sol-gel process, and the structures and composition were evaluated, The sols were made from aluminium and silicon alkoxide, and an acid catalyst including HCl, To produce adherent silica coatings on nickel, various additives such as surfactant, viscose additive and drying control chemical additives were introduced to the system, and appropriate drying and firing cycles were applied after dipping in solution. The hot corrosion and oxidation resistance of the coating at different temperatures were investigated, The structure and uniformity of the coatings were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), The results indicate that a uniform coating of alumina silica can be produced on a nickel substrate by optimizing the composition and process variables of the sol. Coatings can protect substrates from oxidation and hot corrosion at different temperature up to 1000°C, but is not very effective for hot-corrosion resistance at 1000°C.

Jan 1, 2005

By S. J. Buckler

Many metallurgical processes use submerged gas injection to increase the contact area between gas and liquid phases in order to promote faster overall reaction rates. The work presented in this paper is part of an experimental investigation to measure the gas-liquid interfacial area available in bubble plumes within molten metal baths. Measurements of the nitrogen absorption rate during submerged injection into molten iron baths have been used to estimate the interfacial areas of the bubble plumes. A theoretical model was used to predict the superficial nitrogen transfer rate under mixed liquid phase mass transfer -interfacial reaction control. The interfacial area was calculated by dividing the overall nitrogen absorption rate by the superficial rate. Reasonable agreement was obtained between the interfacial areas measured in our laboratory with data from a comparable system reported in the literature. The experimental results were compared with the predictions of three theoretical models and one empirical correlation. The models of Turkdogan (3) and Zhao and Themelis (5) gave the best agreement with our data.

Jan 1, 2004

By H. H. Wang

Construction safety documents regulate significant safety actions and requirements by which construction workers or employees should abide in order to secure them from occupational hazard events. Therefore, facilitating faster identification of applicable safety requirements from the documents has become an important topic in the construction safety domain. To address the need in this regard, tools and techniques have been developed and research efforts have been made. One of the research efforts is to utilize ontology, a knowledge representation and reasoning approach, as the methodology to achieve the goal of identifying applicable safety requirements. In such ontology-based researches, the development and construction of the safety concept ontology is an essential task as the concepts and the relationships between the concepts both representing key safety knowledge need to be carefully identified. In this paper, the author focuses on the safety documents without predefined concept structure and aims to address the concept and relationship identification difficulties. Specifically, the author leverages the Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) methodology, a theory of data analysis that identifies conceptual structures among data sets, to mine and analyze the documents in order to discover safety concept structure and to further assist the development of the concept ontology for the construction safety documents. The author expects the application of FCA to construction safety domain can eventually benefit the ontology-based approaches for identification of applicable safety requirements.

Aug 1, 2013

By Gary M. Bone

The autonomous control of vehicles interacting forcibly with their environment, such as dozers and tractors, is an unsolved and challenging problem. Forces and motions are inherently coupled between the tool and the means of vehicle propulsion. Furthermore, they are often operated within uncertain and unstructured environments, such as those encountered in underground mining. There is a growing industrial interest in the development of robotic vehicles to improve productivity, efficiency and safety in mining and construction. This paper focuses on the modeling and control of autonomous robotic dozing for a material removal operation. A dozing process model has been developed based on observations of both a fullscale dozer and a scaled-down version. The model characterizes the dynamic interactions between the blade position, material accumulation on the blade, material distribution in the environment, and the motions of the dozer. The dozing control objective is to remove the loose material as rapidly as possible by driving forwards at full power while automatically raising/lowering the blade in response to sensor measurements. Two different controllers were developed to meet this objective. The first controller is based on a set of heuristic rules, and the second is an optimal controller based on the dynamic model. An instrumented scaled-down robotic dozer and dozing environment, designed to emulate the full-scale operation, are used to implement the controllers and compare their performances over multiple dozing passes. Experimental results are presented showing that the model-based controller increased the material removal rate by 33% compared to the rule-based controller. Lastly, technologies for full-scale implementation are discussed, followed by proposed future work and conclusions.

Aug 1, 2013

By Radford B. Langston

Mining Methods Majority of Production Ramp and Fill at Stillwater, Sub-level Becoming More Important Production at East Boulder from Sub-level l Majority JM REEF ROCK TYPES NORITE - plagioclase and bronzite cumulate GABBRONORITE - plagioclase, augite, and bronzite cumulate TROCTOLITE - plagioclase and olivine cumulate ANORTHOSITE - plagioclase cumulate PERIDOTITE - olivine cumulate

May 1, 2002

By Walker. P. W. A.

Abstract -The Riviera tungsten occurrence in the Cape Province of South Africa was discovered in October 1979 as a result of stream-sediment panned concentrate sampling. The Cape age granite and late Precambrian Malmesbury Group carbonates and chlorite schists which it intrudes and which host the mineralization are covered by between 10 m and 30 m of Tertiary/Recent alluvium and clay. The scheelite/powellite and molybdenite mineralization occurs in a greisenized granite cupola with an overprint of porphyry-type alteration as well as in minor skarns. The ore reserve is estimated to be 46 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.2160Jo W03 and 0.020% Mo. The deposit is uneconomic at current tungsten prices.

Jan 1, 1994

By Jas. E. Thomson

PUBLIC attention was first attracted to the Crow River area of north-western Ontario by the discovery of gold in 1928. The first three discoveries were eventually developed into Central Patricia, Pickle Crow, and Albany River mines. In 1929, preliminary developments were carried out at the Howell vein on N.A.M.E. (later Pickle Crow) claims, and in 1929 and 1930 surface and underground work indicated an ore-body at Central Patricia mine. However, due to the financial depression and the distance of these properties from the railway, it was not until 1934 and 1935 that, benefitted by the revaluation of gold, the real potentialities of these two properties began to be realized. Their immediate success led to a resumption of activity on neighbouring properties throughout the area in 1936 and 1937. Preliminary prospecting in the earlier period had been limited by the scarcity of rock exposures in the country. The procedure in the recent programme of intensive exploration has been along similar lines at most properties and has consisted lf detailed geological mapping accompanied by geophysical surveys and followed by systematic drilling of favourable zones. The present importance of the camp may be judged by the fact that, in 1937, Central Patricia and Pickle Crow mines together produced bullion valued at $3,662,953, and paid $1,450,000 in dividends. In addition, there were pro-mising gold developments at Albany River mine. During the past two seasons, the Geological Branch of the Ontario Department of Mines has been making a fairly detailed study of the geology and mineral deposits in the Crow River area. It is the purpose of this paper to present a brief statement of some of the structural features of these deposits; a summary of other geological information essential for the understanding of the main topic is included. A more detailed report on the area will be published shortly by the Ontario Department of Mines. It is impossible to make full acknowledgment here for all help received, for the writer is in-debted to the management, staff, and consultants of every Company in the camp for generous co-operation in the field and for information, plans, maps, and records placed at his disposal. Reports and articles on properties in the area have been written by Hurst (1), Cormie (2), Reid (3), and the staff of Pickle Crow Gold Mines ( 4).

Jan 1, 1938

By A. Otsuki

"This paper discusses the primary collector adsorption onto a sulphide mineral in mixed collector systems to understand its adsorption mechanism. UV-vis measurements were performed to identify the primary collector concentration adsorbed on pyrite, and the adsorption kinetics under different conditions were compared to distinguish their difference between single and mixed collector systems. Small amount of secondary collector addition prior to the primary collector addition significantly improved the adsorption kinetics of primary one. The result was explained by the combination of two previously proposed mechanisms (i.e., different adsorption site mechanism and multi-layer product mechanism). This study showed UV-vis measurement as an effective tool to study mixed collector adsorption behaviour.INTRODUCTIONCollectors are surfactants composed of heteropolar molecules with a non-polar and a polar group (Lotter & Bradshaw, 2010). In a froth flotation process, the function of collector is to improve the hydrophobicity of target minerals and selectively float them with the aid of gas bubbles. Because of the chemical or physical attraction between the polar group and the mineral surfaces sites, collector molecules adsorb on the particle surface with the non-polar group assigned towards the bulk solution (i.e., water), thus the mineral particle surface becomes hydrophobic (Wills & Napier-Munn, 2006).Thiol collectors are major collectors widely used in sulphide mineral flotation. Potassium amyl xanthate (PAX), dithiocarbamate (DTC), dithiophosphate (DTP), mecaptobenzothiazole (MBT) are some common thiol collectors. Previous studies reported that some mixed collectors systems enhanced the flotation performance (e.g., Bradshaw, 1997; Bradshaw et al., 1998; Rao & Forssberg, 1997). Thiol collector mixtures are often used in the flotation of sulphide ores, and discussed with the synergistic benefits (Bradshaw et al., 1998) which include lowering the total collector dosage requirements, improving the sulphide recovery and the rate of flotation as well as the improving the froth characteristics. The current paper mainly considered the mixture between two thiol collectors (PAX and DTC, considered as a weaker and selective collector, and stronger and less selective collector, respectively (Bradshaw, 1997)) to further understand their adsorption mechanism that should assist in improving the flotation performance of refractory gold ore."

Jan 1, 2016

By J. Wickens

"Campbell Mine is dedicated to quality management in the form of a Continuous Improvement (CI) Operating Philosophy. This paper discusses that philosophy, why and how it is being implemented in the milling facility, and some of the challenges experienced to date. Examples of mill CI team projects and results are described. This paper describes practical experiences for those who are considering or are in the process of adopting a CI operating Philosophy.INTRODUCTIONCampbell Mine is 100% owned and operated by Placer Dome Canada Ltd. The mine is located in Balmertown, Ontario approximately 300 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Campbell Mine has produced over s,000,000 ounces of gold since commencing operation in 1949. The operation is profitable and continues to be a major contributor to the gold production of Placer Dome Inc.At Campbell Mine, the concept of Continuous Improvement (CI) is being implemented to make further improvements to safety, quality, productivity, and subsequently profits. CI is not a ""program"". It is a way of doing business that concentrates on improving the system rather than finding fault and being resigned to the status quo.CI focuses on involving all employees in the decision making process and tapping their expertise to improve every facet of the business. In the past, many solutions were simple ""band-aid"" fixes treating the symptom, only to see the problem resurface again. With CI, solutions endeavour to address the root cause of problems and eliminate them permanently. Another primary goal is to eliminate unilateral decisions that benefit a small group but have a negative effect on the whole system."

Jan 1, 1995

By G. D. Ruttan

"LYNN LAKE, in northern Manitoba, has become Canada's second nickel-producing area. The discovery by Sherritt Gordon Mines of nickel ore in an entirely new district was the result of systematic prospecting of a belt of volcanics and sediments situated 100 to 150 miles north of the Company's former copper-zinc mine at Sherridon, Manitoba.Prospecting in this area was begun in 1937 and continued each year until 1941, when Austin McVeigh, a company prospector, found a patch of sulphides on a gabbro outcrop near a small lake named Lynn Lake. Samples from this sulphide indicated nickel and copper in significant amount. In 1943, magnetometer work disclosed a number of weak anomalies in low ground near the discovery. In 1945, staking was followed by geophysical surveys and diamond drilling, which continued through 1947. During this period the A, B, E, EL, and Corebodies were located and partly outlined. The discovery of the high-grade ""EL"" orebody in January 1947 was the turning point in the estabishment of the mine. Subsequent development, including additional exploration on surface and under-ground, evolution of a new metallurgical process, financing, erection of a mining and milling plant, hydro-electric power development, building of a rail line from Sherridon (by Canadian National Railways) and a refinery at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, culminated in August 1954, when the first shipment of nickel left the refinery. This paper, presented at the 1955 Annual General Meeting of the C.l.M. in Toronto, was one of a symposium covering the whole operation."

Jan 1, 1949

By Xue Yang

Even though many approaches have been proposed for automated fault detection and diagnosis of Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, and advanced maintenance programs, such as preventive and predictive maintenance have been applied for the systems, issuing work orders for corrective maintenance is still a reality. Currently corrective maintenance still accounts for more than 55% of all maintenance programs in average facilities in the US (DoE, 2010). Indoor air related problems are especially important among corrective maintenance work orders. This paper provides details of a case study conducted to capture the workflow that HVAC mechanics follow, their rationale in diagnosis process and the information they typically refer to while responding to indoor air related corrective maintenance work orders. The general workflow for HVAC mechanics to complete such types of work orders was summarized into 5 stages, and generic information requirements recorded from the case study were synthesized. Initial findings show two main challenges in the industry for HVAC mechanics to get access to required information, which highlights the need for a systematic approach that would enable identification of such information applicable to a given context under which a work order has been generated and provide values of required information for HVAC mechanics to do sound diagnosis through integrated data repositories.

Aug 1, 2013

By H. Wotruba, K. Neubert

Dual-energy X-ray transmission (DE-XRT) imaging is known from safety luggage inspections at airports. The use of DE-XRT technology for sorting applications in the primary raw materials industry has been the subject of numerous investigations. Beside other metal ores, X-ray transmission sorting is already used for the preconcentration of tungsten ore, gold ore and coal. The applicability of DE-XRT sorting is limited to ore types where differences in metal concentrations are measurable, based on an interpretation of X-ray images. Metal contents in particles occur in large varieties in terms of concentration, grain sizes, spatial distribution and mineralogy and therefore influence the X-ray absorption. As a result, each ore has to be tested individually for its suitability for DE-XRT sorting. The objective of current research at the Department of Mineral Processing (AMR) at RWTH Aachen University is to assess parameters influencing the detectability of rare earth oxides. Two approaches were followed: (1) Practical test work, based on artificial ore samples of defined compositions and (2) Computer-based simulation of absorption features of identical particle compositions. In total, more than 300 artificial samples of various compositions and metal grades were produced and X-ray images from DE-XRT sorting were analyzed. Results from the DE-XRT sensor were put into correlation with metal grades and particle sizes, to analyze influences and limits on the detectability of rare earth oxides. In addition, a new approach was tested in which the X-ray absorption of particles of various compositions was determined based on a Monte Carlo (MCNP) simulation. During the simulation, similar compositions, as used for the artificial samples, were tested and the X-ray absorption behavior during DE-XRT sorting was determined. A comparison of results from both approaches is used to assess the applicability of the MCNP-simulation for the prediction of the X-ray attenuation behavior during DE-XRT sorting.

Jan 1, 2016