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By C. McLachlan, J. R. Donald

"Positioned at the forefront of the seafloor minerals industry, DeepGreen Resources is on track to becoming a leading producer of base and strategic metals obtained from vast high-grade seafloor polymetallic nodule deposits. DeepGreen believes the seafloor minerals industry is an opportunity for developing a more environmentally and societally attractive way to produce cleaner base and strategic metals. Polymetallic nodules contain nickel, manganese, copper, cobalt and other base and strategic metals. Polymetallic nodules represent an exceptional multi-metal-bearing resource, and no current metallurgical operation or flowsheet exists that can recover the primary metallic values while managing the distinct mineralogy. DeepGreen Resources is developing a new process to maximize the business outcomes consistent with the highest environmental standards, including targeting a near zero waste facility. The present paper discusses the history, context and driving forces of polymetallic nodule project development. An overview of DeepGreen?s Nauru Ocean Resources Inc. (NORI) project is presented along with a literature review of polymetallic nodule processing and the on-shore project development scope and plan at DeepGreen Resources is outlined.INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT Polymetallic Nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone Containing nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese, polymetallic nodules occur in most oceans of the world. The nodules lie on the seafloor sediment. The largest deposit in terms of nodule abundance and metal concentration occurs in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) on vast abyssal plains at a depth of 4,000 to 6,000 metres. The CCZ is located almost entirely in international waters as presented in Figure 1. It has been estimated that the CCZ contains (International Seabed Authority, 2010): •,>21 billion tonnes of nodules; •,>270 million tonnes of nickel; •,>6 billion tonnes of manganese; •,>234 million tonnes of copper; •,>46 million tonnes of cobalt. There are several active hypotheses for the mechanism of formation of the nodules including precipitation, hydrothermal decomposition of basaltic debris, and involvement of microorganisms. Nodules require a nucleus to start forming, which could be a piece of pumice, a shark tooth, old nodule piece, basalt debris or even microfossils like radiolaria and foraminifera. Nodules form concentrically with layers of iron and manganese hydroxides around a core. Although composed mainly of Mn, Fe, silicates and hydroxides, it is the significant content of Ni, Cu, Co, Zn and Rare Earth Elements (REE) that is generating the economic interest in harvesting these deposits. Nodules vary in size from micro-nodules to about 20 cm, the common size being two to eight centimeters. A typical polymetallic nodule and polished cross-section is presented in Figure 2."

Jan 1, 2017

By Curtiss O. Ehrsam, M. Naseem Mian

Alaska’s Red Dog Mine is strengthening its position within Cominco’s “Vision 2000”strategic plan by continually improving quality and quantity of production while reducing costs. Red Dog has evolved into a stable and mature operation, after six years of milling experience. A high grade, partially oxidized orebody in the severe Arctic environment, along with competing producers in a volatile metals market, are the continuing challenges facing Red Dog. The Red Dog Mine is striving to meet these challenges with emphasis on operator training combined with creative systems development and increased production. This paper describes developments in operations along with future plans.

Jan 1, 1996

By Rodolfo Zanella

Au/TiO2 catalysts prepared by deposition-precipitation with NaOH (DPN) (~3 wt%) and urea (DPU) (~8 wt%) were tested in crotonaldehyde hydrogenation at atmospheric pressure. There is no differences in activity (mole.gAu -1 s-1) and selectivity between both DPU and DPN samples for a given activation treatment. This is due to the fact that DPU and DPN samples exhibit similar gold particle size distribution, although the gold loading in DPU is much higher that in DPN. The DPU samples were reduced under H2 at different temperatures (120-500 °C) or under air at 300 °C with various flow rates, to vary the average particle size within a large range, 1.7 to 8.7 nm. The selectivity to crotyl alcohol (selective hydrogenation of the carbonyl bond) is high, 60-70 %, and almost constant as a function of the particle size. The selectivity to crotyl alcohol is also constant for conversions between 10 and 50%. These results suggest that the adsorption mode of crotonaldehyde is of ?3 or ?4-type. In contrast, the TOF depends on the gold particle size, it drastically increases when the gold particle size is ~2 nm. Our results are in agreement with former studies that suggest that the gold atoms involved in the hydrogenation process are those of low coordination.

Oct 1, 2003

By D. L. Koch, J. W. Tester, L. K. Sinclair

"In this study, hydraulic conductivity (K) geostatistics were used to predict residence time distribution of well-to-well flow. Flow profiles, fracture density measurements, and pumping tests were available from the highly fractured Florence Copper in situ leaching site. The flow profiles were used to establish the statistical distribution and spatial autocorrelation of K. Two tests were used for validation. The first test confirmed that fracture density and K are autocorrelated over similar length scales. In the second test, Monte Carlo flow simulations successfully recreated the results of pumping tests. Flow sim¬ulations were used to stochastically model well-to-well residence time distribution. RÉSUMÉ Dans cette étude, nous utilisons la géostatistique de la conductivité hydraulique (K) pour prévoir la distribution des temps de séjour (DTS) de l’écoulement entre les puits. Des profils de l’écoulement, des mesures de la densité des fractures et des essais de pompage existaient pour le site fortement fracturé de lixiviation in situ de Florence Copper. Les profils de l’écoulement ont permis d’établir la distribution statistique et l’autocorrélation spatiale de K. Deux essais ont servi à la validation ; le premier a confirmé que la densité des fractures et K sont autocorrélés sur des échelles de longueur similaires ; quant au second, des simulations d’écoulements de type Monte Carlo sont parvenues à reproduire les résultats des essais de pompage. Les simulations d’écoulement ont servi à établir un modèle stochastique de la DTS de l’écoulement entre les puits.INTRODUCTION In situ leaching is the circulation of a dilute acid or base solution in the subsurface, via a series of injection and recovery wells, to dissolve a target metal. In situ leach modelling requires forecasting the residence time distribution (RTD) of flow between wells. In fractured formations such as copper porphyry deposits, order-of-magnitude variations in hydraulic conductivity (K) can result in highly channeled flow, resulting in a heavy tailed RTD (Becker & Shapiro, 2003; Kang, Le Borgne, Dentz, Bour, & Juanes, 2015). Channeling through preferential pathways has impacted copper recovery at several past in situ leaching field tests (Cathles, Glenn, Lenzi, Nigrini, Deans, & Huff, 1978; Ahlness & Pojar, 1983; Schmidt, Earley, & Friedel, 1994; Sinclair & Thompson, 2015). The aim of this work is to combine multiple types of hydrogeological measurements to stochastically forecast the well-to-well RTD in fractured rock for the purposes of copper in situ leach modelling."

Jan 1, 2018

Adsorption of guar gum was investigated on model minerals typically found in water-insoluble slimes of potash ores. The ionic strength of the adsorption mixtures was varied from distilled water to saturated NaC1 and KC1. The tests were also performed using a saturated brine. The adsorption density of guar gum on illite, dolomite, and kaolinite was found to be not only a function of total ionic strength but also of the type of electrolyte present in solution. Generally, the adsorption of the polymer on the clay minerals was higher in KC1 solutions than in NaCI, but the differences gradually disappeared when the electrolyte concentration approached saturation. The results were analyzed in terms of chaotropic (K ) or kosmotropic (Na') properties of background counter-ions and their different behaviors at the hydrated mineral-water interface. Guar gum adsorption on dolomite was related to the presence of calcium and magnesium sites on the mineral surface, and to the cis-configuration of OH groups of mannose units. Based on viscosity measurements, it was suggested that guar gum macromolecules form entanglements in NaCI solutions (and distilled water), but individual molecules exist in KC1 solutions thus creating different modes of adsorption of guar gum from concentrated NaCl and KCl solutions.

Jan 1, 2006

By F. Pinto, C. A. Prato, R. J. Rocca, P. F. J. Huerta Soaje

"The seismic hazard for civil engineering structures is generally defined in terms of deterministic or probabilistic acceleration response spectra at an equivalent rock outcropping. The design of tunnels, however, requires the definition of demands in terms of accelerations at ground surface (near the portals) and in terms of both accelerations and velocities at different depths within the alignment. The design near the portals is controlled by inertial effects and is often times impacted by the possibility of slope instability and rockfall, whereas the design at deep sections is controlled by kinematic effects. These effects are accounted for in practice by introducing deformation patterns in the structure that are related to an assumed wavefield, often times ignoring the effect of the structural stiffness in the response. This paper presents a study regarding the definition of seismic demands for different sections of 14-km long tunnel in the Andes (Argentina-Chile), with a maximum overburden of 1750 m in a seismically active region. The tunnel will pass through volcanic massifs mainly composed by andesites and rhyolites.The study includes the definition of spectrum-compatible seismograms, deconvolution, and definition of accelerations and peak particle velocities for different overburden conditions. A kinematic interaction study for a 500-m tall ventilation chimney shaft is also described, where a simple formulation for the interaction analysis is considered in order to more accurately evaluate shear and bending demands. INTRODUCTIONThe seismic design of linear underground structures, such as shafts and tunnels, generally considers the inertial forces near the shallow sectors (e.g., portals) and the kinematically imposed deformations for the deep sections (e.g., Hashash et al. 2001). The inertial forces are often times evaluated on the basis of design spectra recommended by seismic hazard studies. The kinematic demands for the deeper sections, however, needs to be defined in terms of additional information which is not always indicated by the seismic hazard studies, e.g.; peak particle velocities and accelerations, and their variation with depth. These parameters can be determined by means of a site response analysis, whereby outcrop motions can be deconvoluted in order to evaluate motions inside the ground mass (e.g., Schnabel et al., 1972). Hashash et al. (2001) defines factors that may be used in order to account for attenuation of motions inside the ground mass. However, these factors are provided for depths up to 30 m only, whereas depths of tunnels structures can range up to thousands of meters."

Jan 1, 2015

By M. du Plessis, D. F. Malan

"Crush pillars are designed to be in a crushed state whilst being formed at the mining face. The residual stress state of these failed pillars provides a local support function in mining stopes and is used in the majority of the intermediate depth South African platinum mines. On mines utilising crush pillars, the pillar dimensions are selected to achieve a width to height ratio of approximately two. This is not achieved in most cases as a result of practical mining problems and poor pillar-cutting discipline. Furthermore, pillar dimensions are seldom adjusted to compensate for the various factors governing crush pillar behaviour. The pillars should, however, be in a crushed state whilst being formed or whilst still in close proximity to the mining face to prevent potential damaging seismicity.An underground investigation was conducted into the behaviour of the crush pillars in a trial site on the Merensky Reef at Lonmin Plc. The aim of this investigation was to examine the mechanism of pillar crushing and the related rock mass behaviour. The underground test results and pillar behaviour are compared to a limit equilibrium model to investigate if the model provides a useful approximation of the behaviour of the crush pillars. This paper details some of the preliminary findings.INTRODUCTIONOn most mining operations, the design of crush pillars is based on trial and error. As the pillar strength is unknown, the pillar sizes are adjusted to obtain the correct behaviour. Crush pillar dimensions are generally selected to give a width to height ratio (w:h) of approximately 2:1, (Ryder and Jager, 2002). Several factors affect the behaviour of the crush pillars and in many cases satisfactory pillar crushing is not achieved. This results in a seismic hazard in many of the mines using crush pillars. If pillar crushing is not initiated whilst the pillar is being formed at the mining face, as the mining face advances and the pillars move to the back area of a stope, some pillars may burst while oversized pillars may punch into the footwall. If pillars are designed in such a way that they are fractured during cutting by the face abutment stresses so that the pillars will already have yielded and reached their residual strength, further compression of the pillars will be associated with an increase in load and stability will be ensured, (Ozbay and Roberts, 1988). The stiffness of the strata must therefore be greater than the post-peak stiffness of the pillar (Figure 1) or violent pillar failure and hanging wall instability will occur. The pillar design should be aimed at determining pillar dimensions for which the post-peak curve of the pillar is as flat as possible."

Jan 1, 2015

By R. J. Rotzinger

The Gibraltar Mine and Mill facility were commissioned in 1972 by Gibraltar Mines Ltd utilizing a flowsheet consisting of two stages of crushing followed by a rod mill / ball mill grinding circuit. During operations a number of opportunities were evaluated to expand the mill capacity; however, the economics of the day did not allow any of these projects to proceed. The mine continued to operate until late 1998 when it was shutdown and put on care and maintenance due to low commodity prices. Taseko Mines acquired Gibraltar in 1999 and in 2004, with the improvement in the metal markets, made the decision to restart operations. During the restart planning a number of opportunities for mill improvements and upgrades were identified and, after operations were successfully restarted, the decision was made to once again review expansion opportunities for Gibraltar. Taseko evaluated various expansion alternatives eventually deciding to install a SAG Mill, convert the existing rod mills to ball mills and distribute the SAG discharge to the resultant six 6 parallel ball mills. This paper discusses the design, implementation and commissioning of the SAG mill grinding circuit.

Jan 1, 2012

By Dean L. Millar

Measures taken by mining companies around the world to reduce their carbon footprints are becoming increasingly important in the sector securing its social licence to operate. The options for measures reduce to three categories of activity: i) demand reduction by avoiding unnecessary waste of supplied energy, ii) improving the utilization of energy that does have to be consumed and iii) adopting low carbon energy production options?including renewable energy. As well as the environmental imperative, as the prices of electricity, gas and liquid fuels increase, so the economic case for activities i) to iii) gains higher priority, especially in such an energy intensive industry. The specific energy consumption for certain upstream minerals industry operations in Canada is reported to be as follows: underground mining: 99.5 kWh/tonne mined; surface mining: 11.7 kWh/tonne mined; base metal processing: 81.4 kWh/tonne milled; gold processing: 99.6 kWh/tonne milled. Around 508 kWh/tonne (slag) of heat is reported to be available in cooling slag from 1500°C to 25°C; an amount that is simply indicative of the energy intensity of downstream smelting and refining operations. Low carbon, energy saving technology options that are available to mining industry companies lead to projects with return rates that must compete alongside other capital intensive projects considered by mining company boards. Energy projects frequently involve longer payback periods and lower rates of return than those of competing bids for capital, such as those for development of new mineral properties. For energy services companies (ESCOs) that specialize in the financing, construction, and the efficient operation and maintenance of energy projects, the same returns and payback periods may be considered acceptable or even attractive. For the ESCO, the key commercial risk mitigating factor is a securing a long term contract for the supply of energy.

May 1, 2011

By Jakob Janzen

This paper demonstrates that the introduction of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) into an isolated diesel generator based grid has the potential to reduce the electricity cost and deliver a good return on investment. Energy storage also allows for increased renewable energy penetration, into the isolated grid, that further reduces the electricity cost. The isolated power system studied includes several diesel generators of different sizes. The typical operating pattern is for the generators to be run at 80% to 85% of their power rating to deal with load fluctuations. Operating the diesel generators near their full power rating, however, improves their efficiency, in this case, while the frequency and load control can be carried out by the BESS. Operating the diesel generators near their full power rating reduces the number of generators which need to be operating to support a given load. As a result, the improved efficiency of the diesel generators and reduced maintenance cost, for operating fewer machines, are the reason for the savings.

Aug 1, 2013

By W. Zheng

Pipelines can develop stress corrosion cracks in either intergranular or transgranular form. Since the mid-1980s, numerous colonies of transgranular cracks have been found across Canada and many other countries in the world. While the intergranular form of cracking has been well studied in the past 40 years, the mechanisms governing SCC in near-neutral pH environment, i.e., the transgranular form of the cracking, are yet to be understood in greater depth. Over the past ten years or so, a large number of research publications have been available on this subject and this paper summarize our latest progress in understanding the mechanistic aspect of the problem. Better understanding of the role of mill scale surface and the steel metallurgy in crack initiation has been indicated in the recent literature. However, the initiation of SCC in the lab research still relies on loading conditions that are far more aggressive than those encountered in the field. Most crack growth studies in the past are also performed under very aggressive mechanical conditions, which could have prevented the observation of environment effects. However, more recent research at lower K or Delta K ranges seems to suggest a strong role of the environment. Naturally, modeling of growth should reflect the effect of the environment, steel metallurgy, and the changing mechanical properties of the pipe steel with time. For a specific steel in a given environment, the crack growth rates tended to increase with the strain rate, indicated either by the nominal applied loading frequency or by the calculated crack tip opening rate. Future research needs to address the issue of concurrent growth of multiple interacting cracks. More attention should also be given to concurrent initiation of multiple cracks in a colony, as failure is usually caused by a coalesced crack not by an individual crack. The effect of soil environment should not be limited to the chemistry of soil solution; other factors such as cathodic processes, the variation of environment with time and physical conditions of coatings should also be considered as part of the study.

Jan 1, 2005

By P. J. Noakes

Remote and isolated, located in a frigid, hostile environment, the Black Angel mine in Greenland had to create a warm social environment which would help attract and retain a stable work force of miners and support staff. The high cost of personnel turnover plagues many mines and, when the mine is inside the Arctic Circle, accessible by helicopters which are highly vulnerable to unpredictable weather conditions during the long, dark winters, the potential costs of personnel turnover become critical factors in the success or failure of the mining venture. Manpower planning should start from the date the engineers begin the technical design of the new mine. The plan should include provisions not only to ensure an adequate, skilled work force, but also to ensure a stable work force of people who are happy enough in the mining environment to want to remain, take their vacation and return to work at the mine. The skilled work force was assured with training courses of four months, designed to produce highly specialized underground workers from unskilled Danes and Greenlanders supported by trained Swedish and other Scandinavian miners. The stable social unit was assured by plans the primary attribute of which had to be flexibility. The accommodation changed from shared accommodation with communal washroom facilities to single accommodation with private washroom facilities. A recreational director was hired to help the workers make use of elaborate recreational facilities. A closed-circuit TV and radio system was installed to operate as a private broadcasting system using taped programs originally broadcast on European TV networks or developed by the mine personnel themselves. The liquor rules were changed and the mine manager became a licensed innkeeper responsible for the orderly operation of the Black Angel Bar in accordance with the Danish laws governing the services of a public bar. The result is a relatively stable work force. Some 35% of the people have more than two years' service with the company, Greenex A/S, and some 62% complete 10 months of service.

Jan 1, 1978

By Frank Cappuccitti, James A. Finch, Stéphanie Gélinas

"A colorimetric technique, originally developed for methyl iso butyl carbinol (MIBC) based on the Komarowsky reaction, has been extended to a wide range of common mineral flotation frothers. The procedure, which is briefly described, is shown suited to on-site determinations in a campaign at Kennecott Utah Copper Copperton Concentrator (Rio Tinto). Some observations are described, including: frother (MIBC) concentration evolution down a bank, frother distribution between pulp and froth phases, and loss of frother over time due to adsorption on certain minerals. A possible interference with a fuel oil addition was overcome. MIBC in recycle water was also measured.The ability to monitor frother easily will help interpret gas dispersion behaviour and should permit further optimization of flotation cell hydrodynamics and chemistry. The capability to directly measure should help optimize the type, amount and location of frother addition, and to assess frother recycled with reclaim process water.INTRODUCTIONOwing to the lack of analytical methods, the task of determining frother concentration in plant flotation circuits is not routinely performed. Industrial sites seldom outsource analyses that are both costly and inconvenient, due to the necessity of shipping freeze-dried samples to remote testing facilities. A more direct colorimetric method has recently been demonstrated for the laboratory characterization of common industrial frothers (Gélinas and Finch, 2004). The approach, based on the Komarowsky reaction (Penniman et al., 1936; Coles et al., 1942; Duke, 1947), was previously described by Parkhomovski et al. (1976) for methyl iso butyl carbinol (MIBC). The reaction involves the interaction of the OH group of a higher alcohol, concentrated sulphuric acid, and salicylaldehyde, to yield coloured solutions with intensities that can be analyzed by UV-visible spectrophotometry."

Jan 1, 2005

By A. Y. Smith, R. J. Allan, E. H. W. Hornbrook, R. W. Boyle, W. Dyck

"HYDROGEOCHEMICAL METHODS in the Canadian Shield can be based on analyses of the following :(1) spring waters and their precipitates;(2) stream and river waters;(3) lake and muskeg waters;( 4) ground waters from drill holes, wells, faults, etc.;(5) waters issuing from diamond drill holes, faults, shear zones, etc. into mine workings and open pits; also analyses of precipitates associated With these waters.The first four can be utilized in both reconnaissance and detailed surveys. The last is suitable only for detailed work.For hydrogeochemical methods of prospecting to be effective, the following conditions must be present. 1. Natural waters must come into contact with mineral deposits and remain in contact with them long enough for the solution of detectible amounts of ore, gangue or indicator elements. 2. Dispersion patterns must be present in the hydrologic systems in order to trace the elements back to their source. These patterns may take the form of trains (e.g., increasing amounts of elements upstream toward t he source (s), Figure 1 ) or halos (e.g., increasing amounts of elements in bodies of water toward the source (s), F igures 2 and 3)."

Jan 1, 1971

By J. Groppo, W. Zhang, R. Honaker

"The flotation of monazite is depressed when using hydroxamic acid as a collector in the presence of calcium ions which may exist due to the dissolution of minerals such as calcite. Minor dosages of sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) were found to effectively depress calcite, whereas the flotation of monazite was not impaired in single mineral flotation tests. However, in a mixed mineral flotation system, monazite flotation was depressed significantly. The mechanism of hydroxamate adsorption on monazite and calcite, the depression mechanism of calcite on monazite, as well as the depression mechanism of SHMP on calcite and monazite were studied using micro-flotation, electro-kinetic, and adsorption tests. Findings indicate that the adsorption of hydroxamate on monazite was due to chemisorption while adsorption on calcite was a result of physical interaction. SHMP significantly increased the negative charges of calcite surfaces which depressed the adsorption of the hydroxamate anions on the calcite surfaces due to an elevated electrostatic repulsion force. When calcium-rich minerals such as calcite are mixed with monazite, the calcium ions dissolved from the mineral surfaces specifically adsorb onto the phosphate oxygen sites on the monazite mineral surfaces thereby causing depressing effects. The addition of SHMP to suppress collector adsorption on the calcite surfaces interacts with the calcium species that were specifically adsorbed onto the monazite surface, which prevents hydroxamic acid adsorption onto the rare earth oxygen sites due steric hindrance and results in the flotation depression of monazite. INTRODUCTIONAs one of the commercial rare earth ores, monazite has been widely exploited to produce additives for catalysts, batteries, alloys, etc. Because of the complexity and the fine nature of some monazite ores, methods such as gravity, magnetic, and electrostatic separation to treat beach sand monazite fail to produce satisfactory concentrates, suggesting the use of floatation is warranted (Cheng, Holtham, & Tran, 1993). The primary associated minerals of monazite ores include ilmenite, quartz, zircon, rutile, sillimanite (Dixit & Biswas, 1969; Pavez a& Peres, 1994, 1993). Using sodium oleate as collector for monazite has been reported in many studies (Cheng et al., 1993; Dixit & Biswas, 1969; Pavez & Peres, 1994, 1993). Several investigations have reported maximum floatability of monazite occurring at pH values between 8 and 9 (Cheng et al., 1993; Dixit & Biswas, 1969). A study conducted by Pavez and Peres (1994) compared the use of hydroxamate and sodium oleate for the treatment of a monazite ore and found that hydroxamate significantly improved the grade of rougher concentrate."

Jan 1, 2016

By T. F. Pugsley, D. Gignac

"The historical background to the project dates back to the mid-30s with the discovery of surface sulphide showings in the Cape Smith-Wakeham Bay ultramafic belt. In the mid1950s, orderly exploration commenced with an extensive work program by Asarco, INCO, Lemoine, Falconbridge and Raglan Nickel Mines Ltd. on exploration permits. In 1966, Falconbridge and Raglan Nickel Mines interests merged. Extensive exploration, drilling, under- ground delineation of the Donaldson orebody and the construction of basic infrastructure such as camps, airfield, road links from Douglas Harbour to Donaldson and Katinniq, a distance of 60 km, were completed.Production project design at that time consisted of plans for a 50 000 mt per year nickel mining and concentrating operation, including a 2000 person community and smelter at Douglas Harbour. These plans unravelled in the mid-70s due to high capital costs, poor nickel market conditions and the realization that the Raglan orebodies were not large enough to economically support the construction of green field smelter and refinery facilities for processing Raglan production. Nickel market conditions in the late 70s and early 80swere generally poor, resulting in further delays on production plans.While recognizing the very high potential to discover increased tonnages of high grade(3% Ni) in excess of 20 million tonnes, the project was deferred into the late 80s when a serious re-evaluation of exploration potential occurred and the requirement to prove up additional reserves resulted in an underground exploration program at Katinniq covering the period 1990-1992."

Jan 1, 1996

By John A. Hudson, Xia-Ting Feng, Joseph S. Y. Wang

Evolution over decades and progress over last five years have been made in many topics of interests to rock mechanics, geosciences, physics, and multi-disciplinary interactions in underground research laboratories and development facilities, as well as in underground energy recoveries and environmental assessments. Rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering advances are associated with quantifications of disturbed/damaged zones and rock alternation and bursting processes and creation of underground spaces and accesses associated with deepening of shafts and lengthening of tunnels. Geophysics and earth sciences advances are associated with continuing collections of seismic, electromagnetic, and gravitational data and conducting various thermal, hydrological, mechanical, chemical, and biological investigations, both separately, simultaneously, and in different coupled ways. Astroparticle and underground physics advances are associated with many long term experiments to detect rare events and needs for increasing larger and deeper halls to accommodate next generation detectors, shielings, and isolations. There are also increasing interesting in underground settings to explore multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary sciences and technologies. Energy and environmental sciences and assessments have evolved from traditional oil and gas focuses to recent activities associated with green resources and alternative recovery/disposal strategies. The evolution and progress of these interdependent and related fields are discussed in this quadrennial Congress.

Jan 1, 2015

By C. Turek, R. Henderson

Mine planning is the foundation of value for a mining company. Good mine planning requires solid understanding of the ore body, rigorous standards and processes, robust and useful information technology and skilled people. Life of mine planning is key to identifying strategic direction for any mine and short range mine planning is key to delivering forecast and budget expectations. Mine planning at Kinross has been identified as a critical success factor and initiatives are being prepared to improve the quality of our plans and to build bench strength in our teams. The Kinross Way for Mine Planning (KWMP) has been developed and implemented to establish the standards to ensure a strong business foundation. This paper briefly describes the process used to develop the KWMP and presents a selection of mine planning best practice initiatives at Kinross mines.

Jan 1, 2011

By Chris Twigge-Molecey

Demand for metals will continue to grow as global population numbers and prosperity levels steadily increase. Consequently, there will continue to be a need to design and construct new metallurgical plants. Business success in general requires projects to be financially successful and return appropriate value to their owners. However, in the metals industry, private and public sector financing sources have become very sensitive to the perceived inability of projects to contain costs and meet other business objectives. Thus, the capital for projects has become more difficult and expensive to obtain. It is instructive to note that Ernst and Young (2011) identified that: “Delivery of predictable project results bestows competitive advantage and market confidence to those corporations who successfully instill this discipline”. The implication for future projects is that they must be systematically developed to minimize perceived risks—and more importantly—to demonstrate that the risks are managed to achieve the business case. Then, provided that the project has been developed in a well-structured way, project success can again be defined as a project with: a final cost within 10% of the budget approved at the end of FEL3, when the project is properly defined and the permit conditions are agreed upon; a start-up date within three months of the definitive, scheduled startup date; production levels at 85% of design capacity within a year of starting commercial operation; production meeting the target environmental restrictions; and with zero lost time accidents during construction and startup. The plant design is one of many integrated activities required to achieve these objectives. This book represents a valuable link between the existing engineering literature that encompasses a wide range of engineering fundamental textbooks and design manuals and the project management literature such as the Project Management Body of Knowledge, or PMBOK® (Project Management Institute, 2014). It is evident throughout this book, that the design team is a small but essential part of a much larger project team comprising the project management, construction management, and construction contractor staff. Design activities must be regarded and managed as part of the integrated whole, with two fundamental links throughout the design process:

Jan 1, 2015

By Michel Rodrigue, Sylvain Duchesne, Louis Racine

"LocationThe Louvicourt mine is located 20 km east of Val d'Or in Abitibi, in the northwest part of the province of Quebec. The mine is located on Highway 117 connecting Val d'Or to Montreal and very close to the main railway networkHistoryFive successive exploration attempts by Aur Resources resulted in the discovery of the large Louvicourt orebody in June 1989. Construction of the surface and underground infrastructures commenced in the spring of 1991. Milling operations commenced in July 1994. The entire project cost CDN$290 million, almost CDN$20 million less than initially estimated. The concentrator infrastructure cost CDN$64 million.Louvicourt mine is owned in partnership by Novicourt Inc. (45%), Teck Corporation (25%), and Aur Resources Inc., the administrator (30%).Brief DescriptionLouvicourt mine is the largest producer of base metals (Cu and Zn) in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. Its average daily production is nearly 4300 t of ore, for an annual production of 200 000 t of copper concentrate (28% Cu) and 33 000 t of zinc concentrate (57% Zn). After only a few weeks of operation, it had attained its objectives for the most part, and operations continue to be improved."

Jan 1, 2000