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By J. A. Irvine

In 1972, a cooperative program to map and estimate the quantity of Tertiary coal resources in southern Saskatchewan was initiated by the federal and Saskatchewan governments. More than 700 exploratory boreholes were drilled over a two-year period, and data were obtained from other organization s on an additional 1500 boreholes in the area. Stratigraphic data and data on each coal seam penetrated in the boreholes, along with technical and location data for each borehole, were stored in a computer data base for convenience of retrieval, modification and manipulation. Programs and program packages were developed or adapted to: (1) select borehole information defined by variable retrieval parameters from the data base; (2) calculate derived information , such as overburden ratios. cumulative net coal thicknesses , mean weighted center of gravity of coal seams in each borehole, etc., from the selected data ; (3) produce posting maps of either selected data or calculated information in various combinations at variable scales on a plotter or CRT display; (4) produce contoured structure, isopach or ratio maps , and perspective diagrams as appropriate , utilizing plotter or CRT display; (5) calculate and categorize quantities of coal in place within user- defined "mineability-economic-reliability" limits. The emphasis in computer utilization was placed on geological credibility of the results and ease of operation by relatively untrained geological personnel, resulting in extensive use of interactive methods. The single most important benefit derived from using computer-assisted procedures is the ability to produce new maps and quantity estimates rapidly and inexpensively as a result of availability of new data or/and changes in external criteria which impose economic or mineability constraints.

Jan 1, 1978

By S. Koppalkar

ABSTRACT: The development and evolution of the gravity recoverable gold (GrG) test procedure at McGill university is reviewed in this paper. Since the late 1980s, the research group led by the late Professor André Robert Laplante at McGill university has undertaken fundamental studies and applied research of the Knelson concentrator to develop a sustainable method of estimating GrG. Historically, a concept of “free gold” was used, and it was de?ned as the gold that could be separated and recovered from gold ore by amalgamation. Due to health and safety hazards, the practical use of amalgamation has declined. around 1994, a methodology using a 3-in Knelson concentrator to measure gravity recoverable gold was established at McGill university. as a result of more than 10 years of improvement and optimization, this technique has become a standard method of evaluating GrG for gold ores, gold plant streams and platinum group metals. By 2006, about 200 GrG tests were carried out at McGill universityon ores from all over the world. recently, a modi?ed version of the GrG test (a simpli?ed test) was developed to provide a quick and rough estimate of the GrG in a sample; this simpli?ed test has theadvantage of reduced mass, processing time and cost. to recognize and honour the contributions madeby the late Professor Laplante towards the establishment of a standard test procedure for assessing gravity recovery potential, the authors propose that the GrG test be named after Laplante.

Jan 1, 2010

By M. Côté, H. Pépin, Y. Richer, C. Gingras

Rolls-Royce Canada has been nominated as a Rolls-Royce Center of Excellence for repair of fan blades in 2003. One of the challenges of the Rolls-Royce Canada Component Repair Center of Excellence team is to reduce cost and time of inspection while ensuring trace ability and quality of the inspection performed on the fan blades. In the context of the dimensional control process optimization, and following the positive conclusions of initial trials carried out in 2003, the technical authorities at RRC have selected the SPG data 3D(TM) technology as a development base for dimensional control programs. The main goal of this development initiative is to develop and support an inspection system to perform the dimensional control and inspection of different components at the Montreal Fan Blade Repair Center of Excellence. The final objective of the program is to build a server platform capable to support different inspection sites within the Montreal facility for the future. This paper presents the certification process of the technology according to the VDI-VDE 2633 certification standards and some results of the fan blade inspection program of the BR 710, BR 715 and TAY according to the JES 195 engineering standards specification.

Jan 1, 2006

By L. R. Bottomer, G. M. Leary

"The Copper Canyon property is located in the Galore Creek area of northwestern British Columbia. Porphyry copper-gold mineralization on the property is notable for its high gold content and close spatial relationship with a distinctive suite of high level syenitic and monzonitic intrusions, and pseudoleucite-bearing volcanic country rocks. The style of alteration and mineralization is similar in many respects to the nearby Galore Creek deposits.The current geological resource of 32.4 million tonnes grading 0.75% Cu, 1.17 g/ t Au and 17.1 g/t Ag is insufficient to support a mining operation, but definition of additional reserves combined with improved transportation infrastructure in the region may change this in the future. The climate, topography and proximity to an active glacier indicate that the most likely production scenario is an underground bulk mining operation, with the ore being milled offsite.IntroductionThe property is located at 57°07' North latitude, 131 °21' West longitude, on NTS sheet 104G/ 3W, approximately 160 km northwest of Stewart and 90 km south of Telegraph Creek (Fig. 1). The Galore Creek camp and airstrip are located 6 km to the west. Current access to the property is via helicopter either from Galore Creek, or from the Bronson Creek airstrip 32 km to the south-southeast.The deposit occurs within the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains, on the north side of the east fork of Galore Creek, which flows northerly into the Scud River and thence westerly to the Stikine River.Topography is rugged. In the deposit area, elevations range from 1130 m to 1750 m. Valley glaciers and permanent snow and ice fields are characteristic of the region at these elevations, and at its southern limit, mineralization is truncated by the East Fork Glacier.The property is entirely above the treeline, and except for areas of moraine cover and talus slopes, outcrop is abundant."

Jan 1, 1995

By James D. Hall

THIS essay deals with the materials and methods used in the waste filling of scopes in Canadian mines, with especial reference co the methods used at the Sullivan mine, Kimberley, B.C. The author would like to thank members of the staff of the Sullivan mine for information obtained, and acknowledges material from the following publications: Waste Filling of Stopes: Information Circular 6816, U.S. Bureau of Mines. Mining Methods and Practices at Lake Shore, by Leslie S. Weldon; Trans., C.I.M. & M., Vol. XXXIX, 1936, pp. 142-202. Development and Mining (at the Mcintyre Mine), by D. E. Keeley; Eng. & Min. Journal, November, 1933. INTRODUCTION Although mining in Canada is a relatively youthful industry, many of our mines have reached a stage of extraction which requires waste filling, both as a means of support and co make possible the winning of ore that would otherwise have co be left in the mine. Fill may be used at regular intervals as one of the cycle of operations, as in cur-and-fill and square-set scoping; or it may be introduced into a completed stope co provide permanent support for overlying rock formations, and co permit mining of pillars of valuable ore. Waste fill is sorted in resuing, which is a form of cut-and-fill scoping employed in narrow veins.

Jan 1, 1937

By Paul E. Lamoureux

Introduction The Author As the pail of smoke and wartime destruction gradually rises from the surface of the earth, from all countries, statesmen assemble to discuss and prepare pacts and treaties which are designed to, once more, bring people of all nations to understand each other and live in harmony. Scientists and engineers throughout the world are also undergoing a drastic reconversion in their ideas and objectives. No longer do they think only in terms of destruction and twist their brains to develop more devastating weapons or to surpass production records of war machinery. They have turned their eyes and ambitions to more pleasant tasks and are taking stock of wartime developments in materials, fabricating procedures, and equipment, many of which had been carefully shrouded with a veil of secrecy, and are applying their new knowledge to the fabrication or improvement of the tools of peace. The next few years will see the gradual elimination of scores of substitutes and makeshifts, expedients which the constantly changing law of supply and demand' under wartime stress necessitated. The universal search for satisfactory substitutes, however, has resulted in a general awakening of plant engineers to the possibilities of materials with which they were relatively inexperienced, with the result that, in many instances, what was considered a substitution at the outset turned out to be more satisfactory than the original material, and, in reality, can be considered a worthwhile development. Not only have materials been explored, but existing fabricating processes have been reviewed, and others, built around the properties and characteristics of new materials, created.

Jan 1, 1947

By S. Steinlechner, G. Schneeberger, J. Antrekowitsch

The recycling of steel mill dusts is getting more and more important. The costs and requirements of land filling are rising and companies are interested in new recycling strategies. The rising of sustaina¬bility hand in hand with the high rate of valuable metals in these residues supports new research activities on the recycling sector. Especially zinc but also iron and lead are economical factors due to the treatment of steel mill dusts. This paper gives a small overview of fundamental studies concerning the chemical and physical composition of these dusts. Furthermore aggregates for the reduction of these dusts in the liquid phase are introduced and compared. The Flash-Reactor, the TBRC-Technology (Top Blown Rotary Converter) and submerged arc furnaces and there use for melting and treatment of these dusts are in the center of interest of this paper. The final conclusion gives an overview of possibilities for reduction of filter dusts in the liquid phase.

Jan 1, 2011

By Peter Rubie

"For many years, optimising the relining of hard rock grinding mills has been complicated by:?? the large number of variables;?? the low frequency of relines (slow feedback loop);?? the potential economic risk associated with some changesA technology that has its roots in the automotive manufacturing industry is being utilised to construct a statistically accurate, configurable, and dynamic simulation of the mill relining process. The effects of various mechanisation and process changes can be rapidly modelled and compared.This technology will provide mill maintenance managers and contract relining companies with the opportunity to benchmark current performance against world’s best practice. It will also provide an opportunity for concentrator plant designers and mill manufacturers to plan for maximum plant efficiency, by designing an infrastructure and equipment combination that maximises annual plant availability.This simulation tool and its associated data set, has been developed using recent grinding mill performance data from mills of varying dimensions, liner configurations, mill relining equipment, operator and tool variables.The simulation will provide an output that the various stakeholders can utilise to make optimal decisions within the given financial, physical and technological constraints of the individual concentrator plant."

Jan 1, 2012

By K. Gardner

"Many deposits have a geological model developed early in the project stages, which is not always reviewed or modified as the project matures and production commences. Conversely, ongoing pressures, due to a combination of declining head grades, a push for increased revenue and a multitude of other reasons, leads to processing plant modifications, with the primary aim being to increase production. Often, the ore deposit knowledge is not sustained or developed during the operational stages to the level carried out during the prefeasibility and feasibility study phases. This results in the variability within the deposit being poorly understood and a lack of data and knowledge being available to support (and ideally optimise) operations particularly in an environment where the flow sheet has changed and ore feed requirements are complex.INTRODUCTION This paper presents a case study of ore deposit knowledge development and corresponding process plant operating strategy at the Ladolam Gold Deposit, commonly referred to as the Lihir gold deposit in Papua New Guinea. The gold deposit is located in a tropical equatorial climate on the east side of Lihir Island in the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. Gold mineralisation was discovered in 1982, and was followed by a major exploration campaign by a joint venture between Kennecott (Rio Tinto) and Nuigini Mining Limited. The first drillhole was drilled in 1983, and after an extensive period of drilling consisting of 343 holes for 83,500 m, the final Feasibility Study was completed in 1992. The feasibility study was based on a Reserve base of 37.9 Moz in refractory sulphide ore, with gold extraction proposed to occur via whole ore pressure oxidation due to the refractory nature of the mineralisation. The Lihir Special Mining Lease (SML) was granted in 1995 to a new PNG company – Lihir Gold Limited, and Rio Tinto established Lihir Management Company to develop and operate the mine on behalf of LGL. Mining and processing of the deposit commenced in 1997. Newcrest Mining Limited purchased Lihir Gold Limited in August 2010, and subsequently completed a major plant upgrade including the installation of additional grinding, autoclave and carbon-in-leach capacity. Post commissioning of the upgrade, Newcrest has continued to increase throughput and production. A reinvigorated ore body knowledge development program has significantly assisted this process in identifying operating strategies for the process plant and delivering recovery improvement projects to address declining head grade and recovery due to increased stockpile feed and flotation circuit use."

Jan 1, 2017

By B. K. Mishra, Avijit Biswal, B. C. Tripathy, Abhijeet Singh, K. Sanjay, T. Subbaiah

We studied theeffect of anode substrates such as pure lead (Pb), lead antimony (Pb-Sb), and lead-silver (Pb-Ag) on the structural and electrochemical properties of electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD). X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and chemical analyses were used to determine the structural and chemical characteristics of the EMD samples. The charge-discharge profile was studied in 9 M KOH using a galvanostatic charge-discharge unit. In all the substrates the current efficiencies were more than 99% except with Pb-Sb where it was 90%. Results revealed the nature of the substrate strongly affected the morphology of the deposited material which in turn affected the electrochemical properties of the EMD samples. XRD analyses revealed that the nature of the anode did not affect the crystal structure of the deposited EMD and all the samples were predominantly ?-MnO2, which is electrochemically active for energy storage applications. The EMD deposited on lead substrate showed superior discharge capacity of 245 mAhg-1 when compared with other substrates.

Jan 1, 2014

By J. P. Messervey

Dr. K. A. Clark: No one will doubt the statement of fact that, during drilling operations through the bituminous sand beds in the Mildred-Ruth Lakes area, the core-barrel was found to contain bitumen with minor amounts of sand instead of bituminous sand. But many will doubt the interpretation of this fact as meaning that beds of bitumen occur interstratified with the bituminous sand beds. They will prefer to hold faith in the laws of physics, which deny that sand will float on oil or that fluid under pressure will not flow away through a permeable medium, until it is proved that the appearance of the oil in the core-barrel was not due to circumstances surrounding the drilling of the bituminous sand beds. The implication of the interpretation that sand is floating on oil is clear and it is unacceptable. Bituminous sand is unconsolidated sand more' or less saturated with a viscous oil. It is as difficult to conceive of bituminous sand lying on top of a body of the viscous oil as it is to conceive of unconsolidated sand more or less saturated with water lying on top of a body of water. The only difference between the two concepts is that the oil is viscous whereas the water is fluid. Oil-soaked sand placed on viscous oil would, when released, sink through the oil slowly, whereas water-soaked sand would sink through the water quickly.

Jan 1, 1947

By J M. Gibbs

Craigmont Mines Limited mine 50,000 tons of ore and waste per day from the open pit at Merritt, British Columbia. An electric-powered "down-the-hole" drill, a diesel-powered rotary drill and two electric-powered rotary drills have been used. All primary drilling, as a result of cost and operating experience, is now performed with two electric-powered rotary drills. Trials with various loading techniques have increased the amount of AN-FO and decreased the amount of commercially prepared slurries used for primary blasting. Approximately 95 per cent of the primary blasting is accomplished with AN -FO, mixed at the hole. Introduction THE Craigmont mine is located near the village of Merritt, B.C., 240 miles northeast of Vancouver. The concentrator has been in production since September of 1961. Craigmont is a combined open-pit and underground operation. To date, slightly more than 95 per cent of the mill feed has been mined from the open pit. As underground development proceeds, the ore requirements from the open pit will decrease. The average milling rate from September, 1961, to April, 1964, was approximately 4,900 tons per day.

Jan 1, 1965

By G. M. Furnival

A PROGRAMME of structure drilling was commenced in the Southern Alberta Plains in June, 1943, for the purpose of determining the geological structure of the underlying sediments. More than 270 holes have been drilled throughout an area of some 1,800 square miles or 1,000,000 acres (see Figure 1). The Southern Plains of Alberta are covered by a mantle of glacial drift,' at places exceeding 200 feet in thickness. Only where this mantle has been dissected by deep drainage channels is bed-rock exposed to any great extent. Along such channels, surface geological mapping can be conducted to ad- vantage. Accordingly, geological mapping was commenced _in 1942 and continued each season to the present. To supplement this information, a survey of the water wells was carried on in conjunction with the mapping. However, to obtain more positive and evenly distributed structural control throughout the area as a whole and to define more adequately structural trends indicated by the preliminary mapping, it was necessary to resort to the use of drills to penetrate the glacial mantle. Various types of light drills are commonly used for this purpose and provide geological information in the form of drill cuttings, cores, drilling time rates, etc. Correlation of information is generally obtained through comparison of cored sections, drill cuttings, micro-fossils, and drilling time rates. However, in this case the holes were electrologged and correlations were made chiefly by comparison of such logs. The data so obtained is plotted and portrayed in the form of structure contour maps on recognizable stratigraphic horizons and in the form of isopach maps of the recognizable stratigraphic intervals penetrated in the holes. This method had not been widely used in Alberta previously and the technique employed was necessarily developed after the project began.

Jan 1, 1945

By A. Anderko, R. D. Springer, R. D. Young

A thermodynamic model has been developed for calculating phase equilibria and other properties of multicomponent electrolyte systems. The model has been designed to reproduce the properties of both aqueous and mixed-solvent electrolyte systems ranging from infinite dilution to solid saturation or pure solute limit. The model incorporates formulations for the excess Gibbs energy and standard-state properties coupled with an algorithm for detailed speciation calculations. The excess Gibbs energy model consists of a long-range interaction contribution represented by the Pitzer-Debye-Hiickel expression, a second virial coefficient-type term for specific ionic interactions and a short-range interaction term expressed by the UNIQUAC equation. The accuracy of the model has been demonstrated for common acids and bases and for multicomponent systems containing aluminum species in various environments.

Jan 1, 2005

By D. J. Scarpato

"Slope construction in shale can present some interesting challenges for geotechnical design engineers and contractors alike. There are challenges that can be expected and designed-for; however, all too frequently, such challenges manifest themselves as “surprises” in the field. Common constructability challenges can include those such as drill hole deviation during drilling for controlled blasting; and, excavation slope instability arising from inconsistent perimeter control drilling. Drill hole deviation results from the cumulative effects from both drilling mechanics and rock mass conditions. Once a hole has initiated the deviation trajectory, it is difficult to rectify drill steel position. Although such challenges are not necessarily unique to shale, they are often exacerbated by weak, weathered and transversely isotropic nature of bedrock conditions. All too often, the working assumption is that shale is “soft” and easily excavatable; however, this blanket assumption can prove to be costly. This paper is intended to provide design professionals and contractors with the practical considerations needed to avoid the “surprises” associated with drill hole deviation, and minimize the potential for costly claims.INTRODUCTIONFor all the slopes that have been excavated worldwide, and for such advancements in excavation technology and field characterization, one might be tempted to believe that the industry almost has slope development down to a science. This is frequently not the case, especially for weak/weathered and anisotropic bedrock. Excavation contractors are still pushed to the limits of what their technology can achieve, and engineers are all too often called to the field during construction, to make potentially risky onthe- fly decisions relative to excavatability, short and long-term slope stability, and project safety. Although there have been a host of other research papers and journal articles that have been written on the subject of deviation over the past 30 years (Brown, Geen, Sinha, 1981), the problems associated with drill hole deviation are still all too frequent. This fact is especially true for civil engineering surface excavations in bedrock."

Jan 1, 2015

By P. Marcotte, G. LeBlanc, S. Ouellette, J. Boutin

"To characterize noise and vibration sources of different types of mining equipment used in underground mining, the authors performed a study in eight Quebec mines on 28 pieces of equipment. This paper presents the procedure followed to select the equipment to be evaluated, and the low-cost acquisition system developed to perform multichannel time-domain data acquisition in harsh environments. It also presents the results obtained for the noise level produced by the equipment and for handarm and whole-body vibration exposures.RÉSUMÉ Dans le but de caractériser les sources de bruits et de vibrations de divers équipements miniers utilisés sous terre, les auteurs ont étudié 28 équipements dans huit mines du Québec. L’article présente la procédure suivie pour choisir les équipements à évaluer ainsi qu’un système multicanal à faible coût développé pour acquérir des données dans des environnements difficiles. Il présente aussi les résultats obtenus pour les niveaux de bruit produit par les équipements et pour les expositions main-bras et du corps entier aux vibrations."

Jan 1, 2015

By R. J. Young, S. J. Tennant, A. D. Drummond

"Gibraltar Mines is located on the western slope of Granite Mountain, 230 air miles north of Vancouver, B.C. and 38 miles north of Williams Lake, B.C. There are four mineable zones within the copper-molybdenite deposit: Gibraltar East, Gibraltar West, Pollyanna and Granite Lake. Open-pit reserves are 358 million tons which average 0.37% Cu and 0.016% MoS2 at a 0.25% Cu cut-off. The Granite Mountain pluton is one of the several Jurassic-Cretaceous intrusions which outcrop along the east side of the Fraser River fault system between Williams Lake and Prince George, B.C. The original Granite Mountain quartz diorite has been metamorphosed by a cataclastic deformation which foliated the rock on a regional scale. Attendant to the development of the foliation, the rock was saussuritized such that the present mineralogy is compatible with that of the greenschist facies. The presence of garnet-bearing assemblages is explained by a restricted increase in water pressure. Pre-mineral intrusive phases within the saussuritized quartz diorite are: (1) leucocratic quartz diorite, (2) aplite and (3) quartz-feldspar porphyry. A late chloritized hornblende dacite dyke is post-mineral. Quartz-feldspar porphyry and leucocratic quartz diorite are locally present on the inner sides of the Gibraltar East, Pollyanna and Granite Lake pits. Their presence suggests a core around which occurs an elliptically shaped sulphide-bearing stockwork. The stockwork, which comprises four ages of vein development, is imposed on and partly controlled by the regional foliation of the samssuritized quartz diorite."

Jan 1, 1973

By J. S. Stewart

THIS paper was prompted by a persistent demand for what information we have that will throw light on the oil and gas possibilities of the Maritime Provinces. The problems involved were made familiar to the writer during three seasons of field work in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The reasons for renewed interest are: (1) In many parts of that region, the surface is underlain by a thick series of unaltered sedimentary rocks. (2) Oil seepages occur, and oil in commercial quantity has been exploited' near Moncton, New Brunswick, for many years. (3) In recent years, a new method of attack has been developed toward the finding of stratigraphic traps. This method is based on a detailed study of the geological history of the region, as revealed in surface outcrops and samples from deep wells. The well samples show the lateral variation of strata, far from any possible surface outcrop of the same beds. Sufficient work has now been done in the Maritime Provinces to reveal the broad features of the geological history and the character and distribution of the various rock formations. Comparatively little deep drilling has been done in this region, but the holes are widely scattered and the samples from them have added much to the information obtained from the numerous outcrops of bed-rock. The following discussion gives a summary of available information that has a bearing on the subject.

Jan 1, 1943

By E. W. Williams

THE Ontario Research Foundation has developed a process for producing low-density steel shapes by direct reduction of iron oxide powders. The process is a combination of reduction, sintering (without compaction), and carburizing, and has been described by Cavanagh (1). Iron oxide powder, in the form of mill scale or highly concentrated iron ore, carefully sized, is poured into a porous mould. A reducing agent, generally coke breeze, is placed around this mould in a heat resistant sagger which is sealed off and heated to 2,000°F. for a number of hours. The coke/ ore ratio, the particle size distribution, the temperature and time of soaking, and the size and shape of the reduced product, determine the densities and carbon contents attained. The Defence Research Board sponsored a programme of research into some of the mechanical properties of the material (which was named Controlled Density Steel) and this paper is an account of various factors which govern the tensile strength of the steel. The ?practically attainable range of density is from 1.5 to 5.5 gm./ cc. but higher densities are obtained on hot working. This paper, however, is restricted to discussion of results for moulded products.

Jan 1, 1957

By R. L. Bruening, J. B. Dale, N. E. Izatt, S. R. Izatt

IBC Advanced Technologies' Molecular Recognition Technology (MRT) SuperLig® products selectively and rapidly bind with target metal ions to remove them from solution. The MRT process can produce a high purity separation product of maximum added value at low cost. This paper discusses applications for MRT in the gold industry, including recovery of gold and silver as well as metal contaminants from various process and recycle streams.

Jan 1, 2011