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By S. Constantinides

"A major use for many of the rare earths is in permanent magnets. While alternate technologies are in research or already exist, rare earth magnets are unlikely to be supplanted as a major input to clean technologies and high efficiency consumer and industrial devices. We’ll examine where and how the magnet rare earths are utilized and the size of the market. Market growth forecasts based on global markets will be presented. A brief explanation of materials research in the US completes the material.INTRODUCTIONRare earth magnets, first commercialized c.1969, have become essential for a wide range of consumer, industrial and military devices. They are used in the speakers and vibrator motors of cell phones. Rare earth magnets spin the hard discs within the drives and rare earth magnet voice coil motors position the read/write head over the spinning platter. Rare earth magnets are the heart of motors and generators used on airplanes – they are smaller and lighter weight than alternative materials/devices. Now rare earth permanent magnets are being introduced into electric vehicles and wind power generation.Rare earth minerals are difficult to extract from the ores and to separate from one another. The increase in use of rare earth magnets has placed a severe strain on established sources of supply. The establishment of new mines and processing facilities is costly and requires upwards of 15 years to become productive. The combination of rapid rise in use of rare earth minerals coupled with supply shortages has caused rapid price increases and threat of non-delivery of product. The result of this disruptive situation has been a profound response at several levels: corporate, industry-wide and governmental. Let’s learn more about why rare earth magnets are so important to modern society."

Jan 1, 2012

By R. A. Sullivan

I T IS one of the unwritten policies at Preston Mines that we examine closely any method or tool that will help us in our constant battle against rising costs. It is our personal conviction that most work methods can be improved. Therefore even though the job went well yesterday, it does not necessarily follow that it should be done by the same method today. With the arrival of the natural gas pipe line in the Porcupine area it was obvious that we would have to take a good look at the possibilities of using this source of fuel for plant heating. • Steam presently generated at Preston is for heating purposes only, no process steam being required. Prior to the fall of 1960, the heating plant consisted of two low pressure, coal-fired, fire-tube boilers, operating at an approximate pressure of 14 pounds per square inch. These boilers were underfed by stokers and could be operated either singly or together. ~o. 1 unit was a horizontal return tubular boiler, registered at 100 h.p. No. 2 unit was a fire-box boiler, registered at 75 h.p.

Jan 1, 1962

By M. Sengupta, A. A. de Gast

"With rapid deterioration in the urban environment caused by air pollution, the possibility of chemical reaction between dimension stone and the industrial waste gases present in the ambient atmosphere remains. The chemical reaction can cause expensive damage to building stone; it is essential that a stone evaluation for use in construction should assess the possibility of this type of decay. This paper endeavours to develop testing procedures for evaluating stone decay in polluted environments. Such tests can accompany other standard tests used in dimension- stone evaluation."

Jan 1, 1972

By Lorne Sivertson, Peter Kitrredge

"World metallurgical coal imports totalled 110million tonnes in 1978. Of this amount, Japan imported 50 million tonnes, making it by far the largest and most important coking coal market . British Columbia and Alberta exported 12.0 million tonnes of coking coal in 1978, or 11% of the world total. Virtually all of these exports were directed to Japan, making up 22% of total imports.Some observers have suggested that because Japan is almost the exclusive buyer of British Columbia and Alberta metallurgical coal, the benefits of the coal trade may be primarily on the side of the powerful Japanese buyers. Buttressing this suspicion is the fact that Japanese trading companies have taken substantial equity positions in B.C. coal mines, thus presenting the possibility of non-arms-Iength transfer arrangements. There is then at least some evidence to support the hypothesis that Canada's western coal producers receive prices that are less than would prevail in a more competitive market; that is, that they are exploited.This paper produces evidence that Canada's coals are not underpriced in respect to U.S. and world markets. The conclusion is drawn that British Columbia and Alberta metallurgical coals receive prices that are equal to prices known to be competitively determined. This conclusion follows an in-depth analysis of prices, coal qualities and the economic characteristics of all major coals traded in the Japanese market. A by-product of the analysis is an equation capable of predicting the value of any metallurgical coal sold to Japanese buyers, or, for that matter, any buyer. Hopefully, this can be of some use to coal producers in developing their marketing strategies."

Jan 1, 1980

By P. D. S. St. Pierre

IN REGENT YEARS, blast furnace operators have found it necessary to improve their technology in order to handle increasingly low-grade feed and yet satisfy the demands for greater tonnages of metal. Studies have been made covering several aspects of the problem, and in this connection the slags produced in the iron-making process have been critically examined with a view to discovering the slag with the optimum properties for a given operation. A good slag should combine, as far as possible, the properties listed in Table I. Unfortunately, some of these desirable properties are incompatible. For example, the advantage of the small ?bulk of a low-flux slag is offset by its low desulphurization potential and high viscosity. Similarly, a very fluid slag increases refractory wear. It will be seen, then, that a balance must he struck between these conflicting requirements. In the .present paper only the melting relationships of blast furnace slag ?compositions will be considered in detail. In interpreting the data herein presented, the optimum property requirements listed in Table 1 must strictly be borne in mind. It should also be noted that the discussion presented here always relates to calcined fluxes, since this facilitates reference to the final slag composition. Thus, in making calculations pertaining to the ?burdening of the furnace, due allowance should ?be made for the fact that the fluxes are added as carbonates.

Jan 1, 1956

By D. H. Stonehouse

Of the f ive Canadian cement producing regions- Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairie and Pacific-Ontario has the greatest capacity and normally produces the most cement. However, during the last 5 years the greatest activity within the industry in Canada has been in the Prairie and Pacific regions where major capacity increases have taken place. Most Canadian cement companies produce normal Portland, high-earlystrength Portland and sulphate resisting Portland cements. Some companies also manufacture moderate Portland cement, and low-heat-of-hydration Portland cement. Escalating energy costs highlight the need for technology research into more energy-efficient equipment for the energy-intensive cement industry. The industry is well integrated and plants are well situated to support construction in Canada. Expansion into the United States has become common during the past decade.

Jan 1, 1984

By Garnet T. Page

"ABSTRACTThese societies •can help in such aspects of a vocation.al guidance program in secondary schools as: provide vocational and technical information, and assist with vocational exploration, such .as plant visits, films, etc. -as .an aid to the student in making a self-inventory. Evidence is increasing that employers' needs for engineers and scientists will not be adequately met in the future. Therefore, the E.I.C., C.I.M., .and C.I:C. recently revised and extended the activities of the Canadian Counselling Committee on Engineering and Science. This co-•operative .action is to be integrated with the educational system, nationally .and locally, and with provincial associations •of engineers and other groups interested in the provision of vocational information in engineering and science.DEFINITIONTHE scientific treatment of any subject requires consistent use of carefully defined terms. The National Vocational Guidance Association of the United States studied the problem of the definition of vocational guidance for .about 16 years, and in 1937 finally arrived at:""Vocational guidance is the pro-cess of assisting the individual to choose an occupation, prepare for it, enter upon and progress in it. It is concerned primarily with helping individuals make decisions and choices involved in planning a future and building a career -decisions and choices necessary in effecting satisfactory vocational adjustment.""RANGEAs a school enterprise, vocational guidance begins at that point in the individual's life when he finds it necessary to make choices that have a definite significance for his future vocation."

Jan 1, 1952

By Mingxia Liu, Hao Li, Qi Liu

"Laboratory batch flotation tests were carried out on fine (-20 µm) hematite to investigate the non-polar oil’s influences when sodium oleate, octyl hydroxamic acid, or oleyl hydroxamic acid were used as a collector. Batch flotation tests were performed with artificial mixed minerals (hematite:quartz = 1:1) under natural pH condition and kerosene was utilized as the model oil. The experimental results showed that kerosene emulsion behaved differently when used in conjunction with the three collectors. Kerosene helped improve the flotation when sodium oleate or oleyl hydroxamic acid was used as a collector. Nevertheless, it reduced concentrate weight yield, grade and recovery to a noticeable extent when octyl hydroxamic acid was used as a collector, especially at low dosages. In addition, single hematite batch flotation kinetics tests coupled with water recovery measurement were carried out to study the role of kerosene at different collector dosages. It was observed that water drainage and the resulting froth destabilization by kerosene was dominant at low collector dosages, especially in the flotation using octyl hydroxamic acid. At higher collector dosages, the water drainage and froth destabilization effect by kerosene was possibly counter-balanced by the higher hematite hydrophobicity and bubble surface tension gradient, which led to more stable froth layer.INTRODUCTION The minerals industry is facing a steady decline in ore grade, compounded by increasing complexity of mineral dissemination. As a result, the ore has to be ground sufficiently fine to have a suitable degree of mineral liberation, which produces large percentages of fine and ultrafine particles outside of optimal size range for ore dressing. Due to the unique characteristics of fine particles, i.e., small mass, high specific surface area, and problems such as increased solubility of complex minerals (Finkelstein, 1997; Finkelstein & Allison, 1976; Fornasiero & Ralston, 2005), high reagent consumption, fast surface oxidation in the case of sulfides (Collins & Read, 1971; Klassen & Mokrousov, 1963), severe particle entrainment (Subrahmanyam & Forssberg, 1988; Warren, 1984), low flotation rates (Glembotsky, 1953; Philippoff, 1952; Ye & Miller, 1988), slime coating (T. K. Mitchell et al., 2005; Parsonage, 1984), etc., flotation performance of these finely ground ores is very poor in terms of low concentrate grade and recovery."

Jan 1, 2017

By S. Kelebek, U. Demir, T. C. H. Richards, E. Koss

"Laboratory-scale tests were carried out to investigate the response of a high-grade (~143 g/tonne) well-liberated gold ore to flotation using two collector types. Octyl and amyl xanthates, representing conventional types of collectors, were tested against an n-octanoic and hexanoic acids under moderate and high redox potential conditions. The latter was based upon a suggestion in literature that monocarboxylic acids are able to adsorb onto the surface of gold at redox potentials near 600 mV (SCE). This investigation did not demonstrate that these carboxylic acids could function as collectors for gold in real ores. In fact, they appear to have slightly depressed gold. However, the results demonstrated that octyl and amyl xanthates acted as highly effective gold collectors for this ore and that an increase in the collector dosage led to an increase in recovery for all mean particle sizes. In some tests, gold recoveries of around 95% were attainable in concentrates with grades around 6 kg/tonne, indicating that xanthate flotation remains a viable means of concentrating gold even at coarse grain sizes. Various aspects of the process such as grade-recovery performance and recovery by size are discussed.INTRODUCTION Three methods are used for the recovery of gold in mineral processing, either alone or in combination: gravity concentration, cyanidation and flotation. Gold occurs as a by-product in some ores together with platinum group metals and as the primary metal in other ores in the form of native gold and electrum, which are alloys of gold, silver and minor amounts of copper. Flotation is a viable method for recovering liberated gold where the gold is visible under an optical microscope (greater than 1 µm in size) and where the attachment of gold grains is not prevented due to bubble loading by competing minerals. It is generally known that grains finer than 150 µm in size will float with most collectors."

Jan 1, 2017

By M. Reda

Inorganic oxidizing agents of the type MeOx-z such as Chromate, Vanadate, Tungstate, and Molybdate... etc. are widely used as corrosion inhibitor. In non acidic solution these oxidizing agent are reduced on the surface of the meta, according to OX + m e + p H20 Red + n OH" In which y = (n-m)/m. The purpose of this publication is to show that for many metals the value of y for any oxidizing agent determines the possibility of that oxidizing agent being an inhibitor or activator for the corrosion process. The inhibition efficiency for other ions such as Pertecnetate and Tellurate which have not been extensively studied can be predicted. A mathematical, equation was derived to express the relationship among the concentration of oxidizing agent, degree of retardation of the corrosion process I cord cor ° (ratio of corrosion current in the solution containing inhibitor to the base solution) , ionic strength of the solution and the coefficient y. The validity of y and the mathematical, equation were verified by many experimental, works on various metals such as zinc, aluminum and steel. Al, the above research works are based on the published research works of Prof. Mikhailoviskii (from 1979 til, 1998) from the Russian Academy of Science.

Jan 1, 2010

By Brad Gunn

Our program has been dictated by the necessity of broadening our markets through converting potash chemicals to fertilizers more in demand than potassium chloride. To this end, we have undertaken studies on methods of preparing potassium sulphate or potassium magnesium sulphate by rather simple conversion. When mixtures of sodium and magnesium sulphates are reacted with potassium chloride, the ratio of sodium to magnesium is quite pertinent. A range of ratios has been selected and the conversions of potassium chloride to sulphate have been assessed by cyclic operations. Results from experimental procedures for producing potassium nitrate are also avail-able. The influence on recovery for systems including organic solvents is assessed for a variety of situations.

Jan 1, 1971

By D. L. Morgan, J. A. Butterfield

"Geological data, production trends and current projects underway suggest that enough molybdenum will be available from more diversified sources to meet the world's growing demands. The growth in molybdenum consumption has been primarily related to its beneficial effects as an alloying agent in steel. This rapid growth has been deliberately fostered by stable prices, adequate supply and application research. The molybdenum industry is now in a process of change which has been seen in several other metals, such as aluminum and nickel. As supply sources have become more diversified, the market has become more competitive. The recent drop in consumption has led to excess production capacity, accumulation of substantial producer inventories and increased market uncertainties. While consumption is expected to increase in the next two to three years, it will take some time to absorb the excess capacity and inventory. The increased proportion of by-product capacity indicates that prices may become more variable. Producer discipline will be required to prevent serious price erosion in times of surplus. Future prices may not continue to increase with inflation. For the longer term, several factors favour the increased consumption of molybdenum. Engineering requirements are becoming more severe and molybdenum alloys can help to meet these changing needs. In addition, consumers can rely on a large and increasing supply of molybdenum. A 7 per cent growth rate in consumption can probably be sustained through the next decade, but new applications and reasonably stable prices will be needed to make this possible."

Jan 1, 1972

By T. Sugawara, S. Hara, Y. Mitsui

Surfaces of rock slopes in cold regions often become frozen in winter. Therefore, understanding time-dependent behavior of frozen rock, as well as that of unfrozen rock, is important for long-term stability assessment of rock slopes. In this study, a series of uniaxial compression tests and creep tests were carried out on Shikotsu welded tuff under dry and water-saturated conditions at -20 °C to clarify timedependent strength and deformation of the frozen rock. The influence of water content on them also was investigated. It was found that the amount of deformation of the water-saturated specimen was much greater than that of the dry specimen. It also was found that the creep behavior of the water-saturated specimen was similar to that of polycrystalline ice. These show that deformation of the water-saturated specimen is strongly affected by pore ice. The UCS of the water-saturated specimen was approximately equal to that of the dry specimen at a strain rate below 4.2×10-6/s, and its value was about 17 MPa. However, the former increased up to 26 MPa at 4.2×10-4/s with loading rate, whereas there was little increase in the latter. This means that the UCS of the water-saturated specimen was always greater than that of the dry specimen at higher strain rates. The creep life of water-saturated specimens was longer than that of the dry specimens at stress level greater than 15 MPa. These results of UCS and creep life show that inclusion effect due to presence of pore ice plays an important role on strength of the water-saturated specimen. Creep life of the non-failure specimen that was loaded for more than three days was estimated by the relationship between creep life and axial strain rate at 10 s on failure specimens. It was found that creep life of the water-saturated specimens was shorter than that of the dry specimen at stress levels less than 14 MPa. This suggests that estimation of creep life of frozen rock under water-saturated condition is important for the stability assessment of frozen rock slopes. It was clear that the loading-rate dependency of UCS was related to the stress-level dependency of creep life in both dry and wet conditions. This indicates that there are common fracture mechanism in creep and uniaxial compression tests. It also indicates that the creep life can be estimated by the relationship between the UCS and the loading rate. The time dependencies of the water-saturated specimen were in good agreement with those of polycrystalline ice. This confirms that pore ice strongly affects the strength of the water-saturated specimens as, well as the deformation behavior.

Jan 1, 2015

By L Thompson, R C. West, T S. Kho

In 1978, the Outotec direct to blister flash (DBF) smelting process was commercialized with the commissioning of the Glogow 2 smelting facility in Poland. Since then four further DBF facilities have been constructed, two at Olympic Dam, one in Zambia and most recently one at Glogow 1 in Poland. The DBF smelting process differs considerably from conventional smelting process in both chemistry and unit operations, presenting opportunities for flowsheet capital and operating cost savings particularly when the concentrate copper grade is high. WorleyParsons has amassed considerable expertise in the Direct to Blister process and in this paper the process is compared to the modern two stage Double Flash process. The processes are modeled, and the key operating parameters, consumables and production metrics are directly compared. Subsequent flowsheets, key equipment lists and capital costs are also presented for comparison and discussion. The results show the range of concentrates which are most economically treated by the DBF process relative to those best treated in conventional processes along with those concentrates which could be treated by either process. INTRODUCTION The Outotec Direct to Blister (DBF) process was developed and installed at Glogow in 1978 (Czernecki et al., 2006). Currently there are a total of five DBFs built on three sites: Glogow No.2, Olympic Dam No.1, Olympic Dam No.2, KCM Zambia and Glogow No.1, being the most recently constructed. The DBF process was the first flash furnace process to produce blister copper and paved the way for the subsequent development of the flash converter and other continuous converting processes. Today four flash converters are in operation taking the total number of flash furnaces producing blister copper to eight. In all DBF operations it is the unique ore and concentrate composition which made selection of the DBF process the most attractive. In all cases, the concentrate is relatively high in copper but low in iron because chalcopyrite is not the major constituent. When considering smelting options for high copper, low iron concentrates a key question is then often asked, “At what point does it become economic to switch from two stage smelting and converting process to the DBF process?”

Jan 1, 2019

By J. Ita, F. Malekzadeh

"Multi-scale simulation in coupled fluid flow- geomechanical systems is a computationally efficient method for numerically solving large poroelastic systems. When using multi-scale methods, care must be taken in ensuring consistency when information is exchanged between systems that have a different discretization. Here a method is presented which provides consistency between the pore pressure being calculated on a fine scale fluid flow domain and upscaled to the coarser scale geomechanical domain and the pore volume change being calculated on the coarse geomechanical domain and down-scaled to the fine fluid flow domain. Central to this process is the characterization of the mechanical properties of the poroelastic system at both scales.Another advantage of the method presented here is that it is applicable to hydraulically disconnected but laterally drained (i.e. multi-porosity) layered systems as well as hydraulically connected, layered systems. Thus it can be used in geological situations where thin shale streaks or hardpans impede flow between laterally extensive, hydraulically conductive units. This is significant as the pressure evolution of such a hydraulically disconnected, laterally drained system can be very different than a hydraulically connected one as shown here. INTRODUCTIONA multi-scale treatment of fluid flow and deformation is a key enabler when simulation of poroelastic phenomena is limited by computational resources. As the spatial domain of the geomechanics model is usually larger than the fluid flow model, it is desireable to use a coarser discretization in the geomechanical model compared to the fluid-flow model. This type of multi-scale simulation requires a consistent up-scaling of pore pressure from the fine scale fluid flow model to the coarse scale geomechanical model and down-scaling of pore volume change from the geomechanical model to the fluid flow model (see Figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2015

By W. R. Gunter

"INTRODUCTIONThis article documents the current non-metallic mineral s resources of Manitoba (Fig. I), and makes comparisons with currently producing deposits in North America and elsewhere in the world. Industrial minerals may lack the glamour of gold, silver or the base metals, but they contributed approximately 20070 to the value of Manitoba's raw materials, and even out-performed our petroleum industry, except during the oil boom of the early eighties (Fig. 2). Values per tonne of industrial commodities can be as high or higher than for base metal ores. Commodity prices (Canadian), listed in the February 1988 issue of Industrial Minerals magazine, are: talc $202.00 - $306.00, sillimanite $427.00; kaolin $69.00 - $270.00; garnet $175.00 - $250.00; and mica $405.00 - $540.00. The prices are converted to Canadian dollars using the prevailing exchange rates of February I, 1988. Some commodities are not sold by weight. Building stone, for example, is sold by the cubic foot. An average rough granite block, 4 ft by 4 ft by 8 ft, is worth approximately $2000 sitting on the quarry 1100r in southeastern Manitoba (Fig. 3).Thus, not all rocks that do not contain sulphides are worthless. Some may be extracted more profitably than either the base or precious-metal bearing varieties.Industrial Mineral CommoditiesThe commodities available in Manitoba are described in two categories: (1) those already in production that have additional development or expansion potential, and (2) those not in production logical information available at this time.Current Industrial Mineral ProductionThe commodities described herein are currently in commercial production in Manitoba (Fig. 4). These mineral products also have good market expansion potential provided additional geological and market research is conducted. The use of company names in reference to sundry products and locations should not be interpreted as specific endorsement by the Government of Manitoba. The numbers following the commodity name refer to Figure 1. that have good development potential on the basis of geo-"

Jan 1, 1989

By R. D. Clarke, E. De Souza

"A framework for ventilation planning, with a focus on planning to the end-of-mine life, was developed for the Diavik Diamond Mine, Northwest Territories. This framework was successfully used by Diavik’s mine engineers to select a cost-effective ventilation plan that met the life-of-mine requirements. The framework achieved this result by reconciling the production plan with the ventilation plan. A set of design acceptability criteria was created and a PICK (possible, implement, challenge, kill) chart was used to quickly narrow down the generated ideas for detailed assessment and economic analysis. RÉSUMÉ Un cadre de planification de l’aérage, qui met notamment l’accent sur la planification jusqu’à la fin de vie de la mine, a été développé pour la mine de diamants Diavik. Les ingénieurs miniers de Diavik ont su mettre à profit ce cadre pour sélectionner un plan d’aérage rentable qui répondait aux exigences propres à la durée de vie de la mine. C’est en conciliant le plan de production et le plan d’aérage que cet objectif a pu être atteint. Un ensemble de critères d’acceptabilité de la conception a été créé et un tableau PICK (de l’anglais possible, implement, challenge, kill, une méthode donnant la priorité à certaines actions proposées ou à des idées visant à résoudre des problèmes) a été utilisé pour rapidement limiter les idées générées et les soumettre à une évaluation et une analyse économique détaillées.INTRODUCTION The Diavik Diamond Mine, Northwest Territories, has been an underground-only operation since 2012 and has a remaining mine life of 8 years. In the first year of underground-only operations, the production rate increased from 60 kt of ore per month to more than 160 kt of ore per month. In subsequent years, this rate was continuously increased (Table 1) because the operation went through various improvement initiatives. By the end of 2016, Diavik’s total production was 0.41 Mt (+22.8%) ahead of the 2012 budget for 2016 production."

Jan 1, 2018

By Xiong Tong, Jiushuai Deng, Yingbo Mao, Lingyun Huang

Ammonium carbamate has been used as a reagent for the leaching of copper from the copper oxide ore found in the Honghe state, Yunnan province, China. In order to find the optimal conditions for the leaching of copper from this copper oxide ore,the effects of several processing parameters, including the concentration, time, temperature, particle size and stirring intensity have been investigated. The results of these optimization experiments showed that the leaching rate of copper reached up to 72.76% under the following conditions: liquid-to-solid ratio of 10:1, ammonium carbamate concentration of 2.5mol/L, leaching temperature of 45 °C, stirring speed of 300rpm, a reaction time of 1.5 h and 85% by weight thereof passes through a sieve having 0.074 mm.

Jan 1, 2015

By L. Xia, B. Hart, G. Gingras, M. Furlotte

Plant and laboratory test work was performed in order to optimize a copper/zinc flotation separation circuit at Matagami concentrator, Canada. The testing identified a significant difference between the laboratory testing and the plant flotation, particularly for the sphalerite recovery in the rougher copper concentrate. Tests indicate that sphalerite recovery of the flotation concentrate in the laboratory testing was significantly higher than in the plant. The ToF-SIMS surface analysis identifies surface species responsible for the discrepancy in Zn recovery. It shows that sphalerite flotation is in response to the collector attachment and a significant enrichment of Cu on the surface of sphalerite grains. A comparative surface chemical analysis was performed on both sphalerite and chalcopyrite grains from the plant flotation and laboratory testing in order to identify surface species variability between the two testing. Two significant observations were revealed. First, there is considerably more hydrophilic iron oxyhydroxide on sphalerite surface from the plant flotation sample relative to those from the lab testing. The secondary coating likely completely or partially passivates sphalerite surfaces, reducing Cu enrichment and hence sphalerite floatability. Secondly, comparing the surface chemistry on sphalerite and chalcopyrite, the hydrophilic iron oxyhydroxide species have preference for the sphalerite grains relative to chalcopyrite. Despite numerous studies on the effect of galvanic coupling during grinding, there is limited documented evidence on the effect of the milling environment on the flotation and plant operations. This observation suggests that interaction between sulphide minerals and grinding media have a significant influence on subsequent flotation. This paper discusses the results of a detailed surface chemical evaluation of sphalerite grains from both the plant and laboratory testing in the context of grinding environments and pulp chemistry.

Jan 1, 2016

By Xiaowen (Wendy) Ma, Hans Liang, Xiaoying Chen, David Way

"The mineralogical characteristics of the process streams provide key indicators to the potential improvement in the metallurgical performance. Therefore, the process mineralogy and diagnostic metallurgy have been widely used as a tool to assist the metallurgists at the operating plants. The challenge of this study was then how to characterize the diagnostic flowsheet of the minerals of interest in the process streams across the flotation circuit. The investigation from this study indicates that the minerals chematic flowsheet can visibly demonstrate the sources that caused the gold losses during the mineral processing.In this paper, we present studies of the flotation process stream samples, representing the feeds, intermediate products, final concentrate and final tails, which were produced from the flotation concentrators of Mt Carlton mine in Queensland, Australia. This study was focused on characterizing the process streams and learns how the gold in the process streams was associated with other sulphide minerals and host minerals on a size by size basis. The automatic QEMSCAN/MLA Particle Mineral Analysis (PMA) and Trace Mineral Search (TMS) were applied to identify the minerals and to detect the gold in the sized fractions of process streams. The Laser Ablation ICP-MS (LA) spot analysis, QEMSCAN EDS spot analysis and electron microprobe spot analysis were employed to identify and quantify there fractory gold concentrations in the sulphide minerals, like pyrite, and the elemental concentrations of visible gold grains. The diagnostic flowsheet of gold recoveries by the process streams, by mineral association classes and by the particle sizes were generated and discussed."

Jan 1, 2017