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By H. H. Gardner

Introduction The Greenhill mine of West Canadian Collieries, Limited, is on the Alberta side of the Crowsnest pass, twelve miles from the Alberta British Columbia boundary-line. Here, five coal seams of Lower Cretaceous age are found in the Kootenay formation. They outcrop on the north and south slopes of the valley, with strike approximately N.30°W., paralleling the main range of the Rocky mountains, and dip about 40 deg. westward. Of the five seams, only two, designated No. 1 and No. 2, have been worked to date. On the West Canadian Collieries property, No. 1 seam ranges in thickness from thirty feet to nil. Generally, it has a hard, strong conglomerate roof. No. 2 seam is separated from No. 1 by forty-five feet of shales and sandstones. It has a thickness of eight to thirty feet.

Jan 1, 1947

By A. Kobzhanov, S. Saparova, S. Brochot, D. A. Mango

KATCO (an ORANO Mining and Kazatomprom joint venture) is the largest in-situ leach uranium mining operation in the world, exploiting the Muyunkum and Tortkuduk uranium deposits in southern Kazakhstan. After extraction from the deposits, uranium is then transported via a hydraulic network to be purified in three processing plants located near these deposits. Within KATCO, with the support of ORANO Mining and CASPEO, in 2018 and 2019, a large project that had as its main objective to improve the uranium accounting system was implemented. The objective of this paper is to describe this project and all the changes that it entailed. At KATCO plants, a black-box approach was previously used for uranium accounting. However, it is recommended to use all the available measurements and to deploy a data reconciliation model (between well-fields and plant) as the reconciliation uncertainty is overall lower and it provides a more accurate uranium balance. During the deployment of this project, the rules and algorithms to generate the uranium accounting report, the associated flow diagrams (for uranium accounting), the streams, units of operation, stocks, reporting and Key Performance Indicators calculation rules were re-defined.

Jan 1, 2020

By R. G. Eggert

"A critical element, as the term has come to be used, provides essential properties to a modern engineered material and is subject to supply risk. The rare-earth elements became perhaps the most prominent of the critical elements in recent years because of their important uses in permanent magnets, advanced lighting, and military materials; the geographic concentration of production in China; and the dramatic run-up in prices in 2010-2011 followed by price collapse between 2011 and 2016. Yet criticality extends beyond the rare earths. What is critical depends on your perspective – who and where you are, and when you ask. This paper reviews the many perspectives on, or faces of, critical elements. It compares and contrasts perspectives of industry (General Electric), national or regional manufacturing sectors (Japan, European Union), emerging energy technologies (as seen by U.S. Department of Energy and, separately, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) and the world as a whole (as evaluated by academics). This comparison reveals a diversity of not only perspectives but also methodologies and time frames of concern.INTRODUCTIONRare-earth elements appeared prominently in the news in 2010 and 2011 because of the dramatic increase in their prices; their important uses in permanent magnets, advanced lighting, and military materials combined with the geographic concentration of production in China, which reduced export quotas significantly. Rare earths became the most prominent of what have become known as critical elements or materials – that is, those that provide essential properties to modern engineered materials and yet are subject to supply risks.Yet criticality, the state of being both essential and subject to supply risks, extends beyond rare earths. What is critical depends on your perspective. This paper begins by reviewing a little history and presenting a general conceptual framework from which to think about critical materials. It then reviews the many perspectives on, or faces of, critical elements – corporate, national, and global, as well several that focus on emerging energy technologies. The paper concludes with thoughts on what to do to mitigate the potentially negative effects of the supply risks associated with criticality."

Jan 1, 2016

By D. M. Watson

Mineral discoveries and subsequent extraction have led to the establishment of many small communities, some major towns and a few cities . In Canada, such developments have essentially occurred without benefit of long-range regional or local planning. In the past, this was not a cause for concern. Now, however, rising expectations and reorientation of social values have placed increasing responsibility on government and industry to ensure the long-term viability of communities and regions. Such responsibility means large investments by government in infrastructure and by industry in extractive and processing plants. Uncertainty in the interpretation of ore reserve estimates becomes a critical factor. The traditional methods of reporting reserves - "proven", "probable" , "possible" - may be useful in individual mine production planning, but they are inadequate for planning industrial and public infrastructure, The need for a better information base is critical, with clear and precise definitions of what is being reported, but we are a long way from achieving it. The challenge is therefore to develop a closer professional relationship between government and industry and to tie mineral development to long-range regional strategies.

Jan 1, 1977

By B. W. Raymond, D. W. Zandee

"IntroductionCoal deposits are found in many regions in Canada and vary widely in their age, quality and rank. All classifications of coal except anthracite are found in significant quantities in this country.Deposits in the Maritimes are mainly bituminous; Lignite is found in Saskatchewan and Ontario and sub-bituminous coal in the plains region of Alberta. The Rocky Mountain coalfields of Alberta and British Columbia contain low and high-volatile bituminous coal and, in a few places, semi-anthracite. The British Columbia interior contains deposits of semi-anthracite, bituminous, sub-bituminous coals and lignite. The Yukon and Northwest Territories also contain substantial deposits of bituminous coal and lignite.Currently Nova Scotia produces both thermal and metallurgical coal, Saskatchewan produces lignite and Alberta produces both sub-bituminous and bituminous coal for thermal purposes. Large deposits of metallurgical coal are now being exploited in the Rockies arefl of British Columbia and Alberta by open pit methods. The raw coal is treated in large capacity preparation plants to remove refuse and upgrade the product to a consistent metallurgical quality with respect to ash, moisture, volatile matter and coking properties.The treatment of coal involves crushing, screening and cleaning by dense medium, jigs, water-only cyclones, tables and froth flotation to produce a diverse range of coal products differing in quality and size for various end uses.The chapter on Crushing and Screening Circuits was concerned mainly with crushing of metalliferous ores to produce a concentrate of one or more valuable minerals which normally constitute a small portion of the original mass of the material treated.Coal differs physically from ores in many ways such as lower specific gravity, relatively large volumes but low tonnage of product, and its habit of absorbing moisture requires extensive dewatering processes more complicated than settlement and filtration. Most significant, for this paper at least, is the fact that crushing coal is not as energy intensive and much smaller equipment is applicable.Crushing and screening of ores is intended to reduce the size of all constituents as quickly and efficiently as possible to allow liberation of the mineral particles. The crushing of coal is different in that the coal is not the minor constituent and the production of fines, in the initial stages at least, is highly undesirable. The basic objectives of crushing coal are the reduction of run-of-mine material to sizes suitable for cleaning or further reduction of coal to market sizes."

Jan 1, 1989

By Sean Hillacre, Arthur Lieu

NexGen’s approach to uranium processing design including the crushing/grinding and leaching of raw ore through to yellowcake precipitation and tailings management focuses on minimizing surface footprint, freshwater consumption, and human radiation exposure. Applying the concept of best available technologies economically achievable (“BATEA”), NexGen continues to research, evaluate, test and validate various advanced technologies that can be incorporated into the Project design, including distinctive tailings storage techniques. Additionally, NexGen is proposing that tailings generated from the mill processes be used as cemented paste backfill of stopes, as well as stored in a purpose-built, Underground Tailings Management Facility (“UGTMF”) comprised of several dedicated chambers. The paste backfill method of tailings storage is used globally, however, constructing purpose-built tailings chambers in waste rock is a new concept in uranium mining, which would typically be cost prohibitive for most projects given the expense to develop non-economic material for the sole purpose of storing tailings. The Rook I Project is uniquely positioned to implement the UGTMF due to robust Project economics and favourable technical setting which provides NexGen with the opportunity to set an elite standard for tailings management. When compared to conventional surface tailings management facilities, storing tailings underground as cemented paste reduces geotechnical, geochemical, environmental, and human health risks associated with tailings management. Additionally, the UGTMF vastly reduces the area of surface disturbance and allows for progressive decommissioning during the life of mine operations.

Jan 1, 2020

By J. F. Wright

The cold, or Kississing, Lake area in northwestern Manitoba was the scene of considerable prospecting and mining activity last summer. At the Sherritt-Gordon property, four diamond drills were at work exploring a large deposit of copper and zinc ore, and underground work was in progress on this deposit from two shafts. Some preliminary diamond drilling was completed in five other deposits, and surface exploration work was in progress at a dozen or more additional localities where copper and zinc sulphides were known to be present. Many prospectors visited the area and spent some time in search for new deposits, but apparently few discoveries were made; consequently, last autumn some returned a little disappointed in the area as a prospecting field. Although many visited Cold Lake area last summer in the search for mineral deposits, it should be emphasized that this new prospecting field is a very large one, and that to date only a small proportion of the ground has been examined, except in a very general way. Within the past 18 months, a village of several dozen cabins, and with a population of l00 or more persons, has sprung up on the shore of Cold lake, just west of the Sherritt-Gordon mine. This at present is the business centre of the area, and two banks, a post office - named Kississing by the Postal authorities - a Mining Recorder's office, as well as several restaurants and stores carrying a fairly complete stock of groceries, dry-goods, and general prospecting equipment, are already established.

Jan 1, 1929

By E. C. Keeley

Some Safety Measures at Ontario Mines The following safety precautions have of late been taken by several of the Ontario mines: installation of water crossovers; washing clown of faces to show-up missed holes; insistence on gloves being worn as a protection to men's hands; wearing of safety boots and hats by underground men; and wearing of goggles by all men using hammers, starting holes, etc. In the summer of 1924 the Mclntyre mine began experimenting with means of removing powder smoke from headings by installing fans and pipe-lines of various designs, also with different means of introducing water into the air-blast when blowing smoke. By October of that year they had devised a scheme of water connection between the water and the air line, at a distance of about one hundred and fifty feet back from the face, using two valves and a short hose. By this means a limited amount of water could be introduced into the air which blew into the face, resulting in a fine spray of air and water combined. This spray not only helped to eliminate fumes but also introduced fine particles of water into the air, raising it above the dew point, with the result that when these fine particles of water settled they had attached to them fine dust particles, thus eliminating, to a great extent, the injurious dust caused by blasting. The combined air and water is turned on immediately after blasting and allowed to blow continuously for from four to five hours, until the muckers come on shift.

Jan 1, 1931

By Brian Putland

Single stage semi-autogenous / autogenous (S/AG) milling has become a common design for a variety of ore types with the advantages of being comparatively low capital cost and flexible for future expansion. The single stage SAG/AG milling option is ideal for starter projects with significant exploration and expansion potential. Currently a number of the largest SAG mills designed are installed in single stage configuration. This paper discusses the challenges associated with the process design of single stage SAG/AG milling circuits, the design flexibility required to ensure a robust circuit and the operating techniques adopted at successful installations.

Jan 1, 2012

By Mark Freberg

"IntroductionThis chapter is intended to provide information on the operation and maintenance of several pieces of equipment used in heavy media separation. Most heavy media separation circuits, particularly those involving bath separators can be considered as high maintenance areas. Because of this the efficient operation and maintenance of these circuits is very important if the cost per ton of material treated is to be kept to an acceptable level.Heavy media separation (HMS), is a process used to separate particles of different specific gravities. Under laboratory conditions the ideal way to separate two types of particles which have different specific gravities is to suspend them in a heavy liquid which has a specific gravity between those of the two types of particles. Those particles with the lower specific gravities will float on top of the liquid while the higher specific gravity material will sink to the bottom. Given enough time and a sufficient volume of heavy liquid this process will be essentially insensitive to the sizes of the particles involved.Heavy media separation circuits make use of the same principles described above. The material to be treated is introduced into a mixture of finely ground solids, called media, and water which takes the place of the heavy liquid; the mixture of solids and water is known as medium. The separating force can be either gravity or centrifugal force. The type of solids used as media varies but it is usually a high specific gravity material such as magnetite, galena or ferrosilicon.Heavy media separation is used extensively in the cleaning of coal and to a lesser extent as a preconcentration step in base metal and iron ore operations."

Jan 1, 1989

By A. Bouajila1

Minerals processing organisations will be more and more under intense competitive pressure. Major changes are being experienced with intense respect to resources, processes, production strategies and markets. As result of international competition, only the most productive and cost-effective operations will survive. That is why operators in the minerals industry have always aimed to obtain better performance from their processes along the mineral extraction cycle starting from exploration up to the smelting step if any. A principal ingredient and perhaps the most important one in the process of evolution toward improved productivity is the achievement and implementation of an error-free production synonym of an ignorance-free operation. This is, at the same time, a guarantee for quality, a minimising factor for waste materials production, handling and disposal, and a maximising factor for labour utilisation. The notion of ?error or ignorance-free? -usually identified as a ?made in Japan? manufacturing mythology, will sound, at first impression, like a pious ideal, to be striven for but impossible to attain. Nevertheless, the introduction of measurement and detection technology in the minerals industry along the last century should benefit from the today?s sensors and control systems that explosively expanded beyond their traditional production base into far-ranging commercial ventures. The fastness and spread of those technologies will play an important role in the survival of innovative plants. Their role in information assimilation, and control of operations to maintain an error-free production environment, will help many plants to stay effective on their competitive course. In this paper the feasibility of the zero process ignorance concept as applied to the comminution circuits will be discussed and the challenge behind this ambitious move toward improved productivity will be outlined. Examples of pre-competitive R&D projects started at COREM in order to fulfil this prerogative will be presented.

May 1, 2001

By David J. McDougall

"The production of pig iron, wrought iron bars and castings in Quebec during the 18th and 19th centuries has been so closely identified by historians with Les Forges du St. Maurice on the St. Maurice River a few miles north of Trois Rivieres (Three Rivers), that one is sometimes left with the impression that it was the only iron works that ever operated in the province. There were however, about twelve others, one of which was so completely re-built that it should probably be considered as a separate entity. All but two were constructed after the midpoint of the 1800s, coinciding with the growing Canadian demand for ""charcoal pig"" for railway car wheels and castings for industry, and about half of them were technically, if not economically, successful. The misconception about Les Forges du St. Maurice may have come about either because of its long history of somewhat less than continuous production over a century and a half, or a tendency of Quebec historians to concentrate on events in the French-Canadian milieu, but whatever the reason, the other Quebec iron works have been generally ignored. All but one of the Quebec blast furnaces could be described as ""pre-industrial"" with capacities ranging between three and ten tons per day, the exception being the Radnor furnace built in 1892 with a maximum production of about 35 tons per day and an alleged capacity of 50 tons per day. Until a railway network was completed in the 1880s, the location of all the Quebec iron works except the Grantham Iron works was dictated by close proximity to adequate ore reserves because horse transport was of little use beyond a ten-mile radius. The other essentials of forest resources (mainly soft woods) for charcoal, limestone for flux and water power, were generally available except within a few miles on either side of the St. Lawrence River. Among the dozen iron works established in Quebec between 1732 and 1880, seven used bog iron ore in charcoal-fired furnaces. Five of these, including Les Forges du St. Maurice, were located on or near the St. Maurice River which enters the St. Lawrence River from the north, and two, the St. Francis Forges and the Grantham Iron works were on or near the St. Francis River which enters the St. Lawrence from the south. In a general way deposits of bog iron ore in the St. Lawrence lowlands of Quebec were contained within the limits of the post-glacial Champlain Sea, with many clustered along the flanks of the St. Narcisse recessional moraine which is crossed by the St. Maurice and other near-by streams, and the Drummondville recessional moraine which is crossed by the St. Francis River."

Jan 1, 1999

By Frederick Biery

Outline ? Project Challenges ? Results from 100 recent projects ? What factors are driving the best and worst projects ? A look at recent mining projects ? Conclusions

May 1, 2009

By Renaud Cousin

Supported gold catalysts were prepared by Direct Anionic Exchange on an alumina support and tested during the reaction of CO oxidation and of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons (C1 to C3). The catalysts showed high activies over a range of concentrations and temperatures compatible with an application to automotive exhaust cleaning. Furthermore, a complete resistance to thermal ageing at 600°C in the absence or presence of water was observed due to the obtention of strongly anchored nanosized gold particles during the preparation step.

Oct 1, 2003

By Tim Bekhuys

Equator Principles ? Applies to projects > $10 million ? Voluntary agreement between 58+ EPFIs ? Categorized projects based on environmental risk, consequences ? Requirements for EA, EMP, use of safeguard policies, consultation ? IFC Performance Standards on Social and Environmental Sustainability ? Apply if the project is in a low or lower-middle income country ? Low-middle income countries defined by the World Bank Development Indicators Database

May 1, 2008

By Peter D. Cunningham

At Vale Inco in Sudbury, underground mobile equipment production and maintenance data is presently collected manually from paper slips. This paper reviews a pilot project that developed a system to electronically collect that data. The benefits and improvements in data accuracy, timeliness and reduction in collection effort, will be discussed. Technological issues that arose from the use of WiFi, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and the IREDES mine data equipment standard are also discussed.

Oct 1, 2009

By Edward R. T. Tiekink

Metal complexes continue to find therapeutic applications for the treatment of a wide variety of human ailments. Amongst these, gold(I) thiolates are used to treat rheutmatoid arthritis but, usually in combination with other treatment or as a last resort. New therapeutic uses of gold, both as gold(I) and gold(III), are being sought, including against cancer, the focus of the present contribution. It will be demonstrated that certain gold(I) complexes show exciting cytotoxicity profiles, rivalling those of cisplatin and standard chemotherapeutic agents. More importantly, anti-tumour activity is demonstrated in vivo, albeit in a mouse model. The presentation will give a brief overview of ?metals in medicine? with a focus on gold and will summarise some recent advances in the development of goldbased anti-tumour agents.

Oct 1, 2003

By Geoffrey C. Streeton

A continual objective of mine operations is to reduce ground control costs without compromising the overall safety or performance of the installed ground support. Any change in the ground support regime must not result in a less secure or safe workplace. The due diligence required to implement a change in rockbolting practice is extensive, particularly when the new bolting system has not been used at any other mining operation. Factors such as yield, shear strength and embedment strength must all be investigated to gain an understanding of how the rockbolt can be expected to perform. This paper also discusses the substantial cost reductions and efficiency gains which can be achieved through the introduction of the Jumbolt rockbolt.

May 1, 2001

By W. Grell

"In this paper, two methods of standardizing mill language are proposed; one is based on metric units and the other on English units. Tentative procedures for chemical and screen analysis based on published methods are proposed.Standard procedures for determining work index, and for leaching, flotation, and classification tests are outlined.Objects of Standardization:(1) to improve communication -(a) among gold metallurgists(b) with other branches of mineral dressing(c) with mineral dressing in other countries(d) with general scientific procedure(2) to improve mill control by -(a) standard methods of analysis (i)(ii)(iii)(b) standard methods of calcula tiort(c) standard accounting proceduresin the plantin the mill laboratoryin the assay office(3) to improve mill test work and investigationAreas of Standardization(1) Nomenclature or terminology(2) Measuring techniques(3) Test procedures(4) Accounting procedures"

Jan 1, 1966

By Stuart M. Jones

This paper is derived from a document that compiles autogenous and semi-autogenous mill installations worldwide, through the end of 2010. Updates have been solicited from all major mill manufacturers and most have responded. A review of AG/SAG mills sold to date and in the last five years indicates that the AG/SAG mill market is very healthy and the trend is larger diameter mills with high diameter-to-length ratios. Ring motors (gearless) are the preferred drives for large mills even though the power transmitted through a gear drive is expected to near 11,000 kW per pinion in the near future.

Aug 1, 2010