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By Richard R. Klimpel

This paper reviews the use of sulfide mineral collectors in industrial flotation practice. The approach of the paper is to characterize sulfide mineral collectors in a number of ways, including by chemical structure, by influences with different classes of mineralogy, by interactions with particle size, and by interactions with frother type.

Jan 1, 1999

By Michael Godard, Peter Cleyle

"Suncor Energy’s Project Millennium increased oilsands production capacity by an additional 95,000 barrels per day to its present level of 225,000 barrels per day. This massive venture included an expanded Mine, new Extraction and Upgrading facilities, as well as, steam and utilities infrastructuresIn the Primary Extraction process, removal of the bitumen from the oil sand begins with slurry preparation and is followed by primary , secondary and tertiary separation processes. The final cleaning step of the bitumen froth is the Secondary Extraction process, that removes residual water, mineral and solids to produce a clean diluted bitumen suitable for Upgrader feedstock.This paper will review the flowsheet of the Millennium Primary Extraction facility, from its recent commissioning through the ramp up to design production rates. In addition, new technologies in the Primary Extraction flowsheet will be reviewed.INTRODUCTIONAs conventional supplies of oil and gas are depleted in Canada, the Athabasca oil sands industry of Alberta becomes an increasingly important source of energy. Today, high quality crude from Alberta’s oil sands accounts for roughly 30% of Canada’s daily petroleum production. According to government projections, over the next 7 years, oil sands production is expected to more then double, and by 2010 more than half of Canada’s crude oil is expected to come from the oil sands.Oil sands deposits consist of a layer of sand saturated with bitumen covered by a muskeg overburden and underlain by silt and clay. The oil sand is mined where the overburden is economical to remove, typically less than thirty meters thick. The Athabasca oil sand deposits around Fort McMurrray is ideal for mining. Bitumen can be described as a diverse collection of hydrocarbons, organosulfur, and nitrogen compounds."

Jan 1, 2004

By E. R. Bauer

A primary goal of Ground Control Research, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, is to develop information that can be used by the mining industry to reduce accidents and fatalities due to failure of mine roof. A specific research objective is to determine methods to detect hazardous coal mine roof. This paper reviews the existing and experimental techniques, and describes a recent Bureau of Mines contract research project that resulted in a simple technique and prototype instrument for evaluating mine roof competence.

Jan 1, 1986

By A. E. M. Warner, P. J. Mackey

"In 1988, two of the present authors Warner and Vahed [1] were amongst several co-authors on a seminal paper reviewing nickel pyrometallurgical operations of the era. Given that significant changes in the nickel industry have occurred since that time, including the overall political landscape, technology, the overall world energy picture, the countries sourcing nickel and finally the nickel market itself, the present authors considered it timely to provide a 2015 update. In 1988, total world nickel production from sulphide and laterite sources, including production in the former "Centrally Planned Economies"- was about 0.86 million tonnes/a, while in 2014 total world nickel production reached an all-time high of almost 2 million tonnes/a - some 230% higher. On the other hand, while in 1988, about 94% of world nickel was produced pyrometallurgically and of the order of 33% via laterites, today, about 88% of nickel is by pyrometallurgy, with some 41% from laterites, thus showing that more nickel is now sourced from laterites, a trend which is expected to continue.During the period under review, new processing technologies were developed and introduced, along with substantial improvements in both the technologies employed and the scale of operations. Significant productivity gains have been achieved in sulphide pyrometallurgy in part through more efficient mineral processing, particularly in pyrrhotite rejection, and the use of ever larger-scale process equipment. This made it possible to treat lower grade and more complex ores. The significant game-changer from a production perspective was the introduction in the early 2000s of nickel pig iron (NPI) in China via modified iron blast furnace smelting, an old technology long ago cast aside by other nickel producing countries. With the exception of the emergence of this new NPI capacity in China, in the laterite industry modernization and expansion of existing operations has been employed to gain productivity, to cut costs and/or offset the effect of declining ore grades. The NPI technology development has become a game changer in the traditional global supply and demand relationship, opening up a new frontier to supply nickel to low grade utility steel producers. One other key nickel development was the Indonesian ban on nickel ore exports effective in January 2014, thus effectively curtailing NPI production at existing Chinese plants, but on the other hand, potentially prompting new smelting facilities in Indonesia. This paper reviews and updates major pyrometallurgical sulphide and laterite operations worldwide, including changes in nickel extractive metallurgy. It also provides a brief review of new developments in pyrometallurgical operations, with special focus on the NPI process and presents an outlook of the potential future direction of the industry."

Jan 1, 2015

By Schmidt CG

Parameters affecting gold elution using the AARL process are reviewed and critically analyzed in an attempt to optimise metallurgical efficiency and minimise costs in both current and future carbon adsorption operations. Such factors as acid washing, column geometry, elution temperatures and pretreatment reagents are discussed together with eluant water quality and eluate flowrates. Hot acid washing of carbon prior to gold elution has many benefits. Besides improving elution efficiency when eluting with regional water, a hot acid treatment preheats the carbon without causing any gold leakage. Laboratory data indicated that hot acid washing reduces the mass loss of carbon during thermal regeneration. The eluate going to either zinc precipitation or electrowinning is also relatively free of troublesome impurities (organic contaminants and ferrocyanides in particular). Because of the chromatographic character of the AARL elution where an ionic strength gradient is used to inhibit the readsorption of gold, column geometry plays a significant role. While practical considerations and capital costs may restrain the length of the elution column, high length/diameter ratios are advocated in order to promote the plug flow of column eluate. From both a metallurgical and costing viewpoint, the two significant factors affect- ing the AARL gold elution are temperature and cyanide addition. High temperature and high reagent additions within prescribed limits will improve metallurgical efficiencies, but a balance between energy and reagent costs is required in order to minimise overall elution costs. As pretreatment reagents constitute a considerable portion of the total elution costs, both the addition and consumption of sodium cyanide must be carefully considered. Lower cyanide additions may be effective in certain instances, but the more practical use of 0,6 bed volume of a 2-3 per cent NaCN reagent containing 2 per cent NaOH is advocated. This is equivalent to an addition of 20-30 kg NaCN and 20 kg NaOH per ton carbon Treated.

Jan 1, 1986

By J Jeffrey, G W. Wilson, L Gilbert, C

Prior to the commencement of mining, the acid rock drainage (ARD) potential of the waste rock to be produced by an open cut mining operation is assessed by a variety of techniques carried out on drill-hole samples. These include, among others, acid base accounting (ABA), net acid generation (NAG) testing, and kinetic testing. Based on the results obtained, a strategy for the identification, separation and selective placement of waste rock having different potentials to form ARD is developed. During the course of mining, the waste rock classification scheme will be re-assessed periodically to confirm that it is appropriate. This re-evaluation may result in a change in classification scheme, and waste rock dump samples may be obtained for ARD assay purposes to confirm the appropriateness of the revised scheme. The paper describes the evolution over time of the scheme used to classify waste rock at a major open pit gold operation in New South Wales, Australia, including the development of a hydrological model. To confirm the appropriateness of the revised scheme, ARD assay testing was carried out on drill-hole samples collected from dumps having different ARD potential designations, including Non-Acid Forming (NAF), Potentially Acid Forming (PAF), and Low Grade Ore stockpiles. The results of the ARD assay testing and water quality monitoring confirmed the appropriateness of the ARD potential designations and the revised classification scheme, which has been adopted.

Jan 1, 2003

By K. A. Allison, D. R. Van Orden, R. J. Lee

Continuing analysis of environmental samples for asbestos content has resulted in the misidentification of non-asbestos amphibole particles as asbestos fibers. These errors have received wide publicity (such as in the asbestos-in-crayon story) and have caused unnecessary reformulation of products. The primary cause of these errors has been a poor understanding of mineralogy and analytical techniques among the many asbestos laboratories that arose following the passage of the AHERA regulations. Presented here is a procedure based on published data that can be used to correctly classify an elongated particle as asbestos or as non-asbestos.

Jan 1, 2005

By Philani Larrance Ngwenyama, Ronald CW Webber-Youngman

Through-the-Earth (TTE) communication systems were developed to provide post-accident communication in underground mines. Unlike primary tracking systems, they do not require any major infrastructure installations underground. Instead, they use the Earth’s overburden as the medium or channel for the transmission of electromagnetic waves between surface and underground. Under ideal conditions, TTE communication systems should be able to provide full-duplex, two-way voice, text and data communication. However, this will depend on the design and optimization of the different types of TTE communication systems (that is, antenna and electrodes), and understanding of the rock properties and their influence on the transmission of signals. This can help simulate and model the transmission efficiencies and predict the possible range and data rates. Being able to optimize the performances of these systems can enhance rescue missions, improving the chances of saving trapped miners, and ultimately reduce fatality rates across the mining industry.

Feb 1, 2025

By Q Gong, J Li, J Zhao, Y Zheng

Excavation by tunnel boring machines (TBMs) offers many advantages over conventional excavation methods, in terms of safety level, working environment, advance rate and overall cost. While TBMs have been extensively used in civil tunnel construction, they are also viewed as a competitive alternative to the drill-and-blast method for underground mining, attracting increasing attention from the mining industry. This paper presents an overview and general assessment on applications of TBMs in mines, by reviewing more than 60 TBM applications in underground/open pit coal and hard rock mines around the world. The projects range from the early exploratory trials of TBMs in mines in Germany, England, South Africa and America in the 1960s and 1970s, to the ongoing projects in Australia, China and Chile. The paper focuses on the geological compatibilities, the problems encountered, the solutions undertaken and the lessons learned from those projects. The paper summarises the progress made in the past and highlights the challenges faced by TBMs in mining due to complex ground conditions and geometrical requirements. With the technological advances of TBM and experiences gained in the past, more applications of TBMs are expected in underground coal and hard rock mines.CITATION:Zheng, Y, Gong, Q, Li, J and Zhao, J, 2014. A review of the applications of tunnel boring machines in mines, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014, pp 691–704 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

By Michael S. Moats, Daniel Kim, Shijie Wang

"The behavior and deportment of lead, arsenic, antimony and bismuth are critical in producing high quality cathode by copper electrorefining. A critical review of research related to these elements is presented along with a comparison to industrial data, where appropriate. These elements exist predominantly in the anode as complex oxides along die grain boundaries. Upon dissolution, Group 15 elements report both to the electrolyte and slimes while lead essentially enters the slimes. The deportment of the Group 15 elements appears to be influenced by several chemical interactions which are discussed. The effect of these elements on floating slimes and anode passivation is reviewed. Under normal electrorefining conditions, lead, antimony and bismuth are thought to enter the cathode through the encapsulation of slime particles. The literature indicates that arsenic enters the cathode predominately by electrolyte entrainment. Finally, areas for future research regarding these elements are presented.IntroductionControlling lead, arsenic, antimony and bismuth is critically important for the production of high quality cathode in copper electrorefining. The reasons for this are twofold. First, ASTM Grade 1 Cathode specifications [1] for these elements are low, as listed in Table 1. Second, they can affect the efficiency of the electrorefining process (e.g., through passivation, current efficiency, slime processing)."

Jan 1, 2012

Before presentIng my address I wish to acknowledge the honour which has been conferred on me by my appointment to the position of President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.It is a matter of great concern to us all to find our Empire at war. I am confident that, as was the case in the war of 1914-1918, members of this Institute and of kindred Institutes and Associations will contribute in full to the Empire's needs and that in the end our cause shall triumph.I think it appropriate that I should take as the subject of my address that of the Broken Hill Lead-Silver-Zinc Industry. The subject matter of this address has been confined to the operations of Mining, Ore Dressing, Lead Smelting and Refining and production of Electrolytic Zinc in Australasia. The review of the Broken Hill Lead-SilverZinc Industry would not, of course, be complete without reference to those Australian industries which trace their origin to the Broken Hill field, but· it is thought that an outline of these industries would make thIs review too extensive.HISTORICALMany efforts have been made to translate the early history of Broken Hill and its subsequent growth throughout the years into one of the wor~d's most famous mining fields in the form of a simple story.

Jan 1, 1940

By Wilson AC

Permian coal from Western Australia's only producing coalfield at Collie is the dominant fuel used in generating electricity for the State's interconnected grid. Collie coal is sub-bituminous, non-coking and has a low ash, medium volatiles and high moisture content. The seams were laid down in a fluvial basin which extended beyond the Collie Basin and included the Wilga and Boyup Brook Basins at least. Adjacent parts of the southwest Yilgarn Block are prospective for Collie-type basins. In the past few years significant deposits have been delineated within the Perth Basin, specifically on the Vasse Shelf and in the Hill River area. In the former area high quality steaming coals are correlated with the lowest coal bearing member at Collie. The seams are amenable to underground mining and because of their high quality, the coal may have export potential. Sub-bituminous coal deposits of Jurassic age are present in the Hill River area. Exploration has down-graded the prospectivity of the Carnarvon and Canning Basins for sub-bituminous near-surface coal deposits. Tertiary lignite deposits are present in palaeo-drainage systems in the southern part of the State and their potential for development is being evaluated.

Jan 1, 1986

By Simon St J Tose

The objective of this paper and presentation is to review the different criteria and methodology used by AEL and other organisations to create a pre-split design which delivers a stable highwall for the life of that part of the mining operation. It will look at the need to adapt and change the way, size and direction of the production blasts as the mining phase approaches the highwall position for which a pre-split has been created. Key Words: Pre-split: Design; Highwall; Perimeter

Jan 1, 2006

By Stanley N. Watowich

Recently the petroleum market has made us aware that we are indeed global natural resource consumers, and as such, we have become captive to fundamental global resource economics and their attendant vagaries. Global resource supply problems are as old as civilization and mineral exploration one of its important catalysts. On the basis of natural resources empires have been expanded and new frontiers have been developed. Global consumption and production might even be viewed idealistically as a system dedicated to optimizing distribution to the consumer. However, this is not the case. Political instability and increased government polarization make dependency on a global market somewhat insecure. The U.S. must evaluate its domestic mineral re- sources on the basis that all metals are critical and that dependency on even the common and base metals may ultimately weaken our domestic economy and our potential international relationships and could cause critical weaknesses as demonstrated by the petroleum problem. This paper evaluates specifically the Duluth Gabbro Complex, of Northeastern Minnesota, (figure l), as a potential resource of critical and strategic metals. First, a chronology of some of the early exploration, will be followed by more recent intensive company studies and preliminary evaluations of economic feasibility. Lastly, metallurgical data, on some optimum conceptual mining plans will allow metal production data to be compared with an estimate of U.S. domestic needs in 1990. The purpose of this paper is to put into focus the difficulty of converting resources into vitally needed reserves.

Jan 1, 1981

I. N. KNAPP, Ardmore, Pa. (written discussion*).-Captain Lucas has made an important contribution to our, knowledge of Belle Isle, especially as to the outline of the sulphur deposit, and the pronounced irregularity of the salt surface. I agree with his view, that the elevation or mound that constitutes Belle Isle may consist of several salt domes formed at different periods. It may be interesting to note the high gas pressure encountered in pockets in the salt by my No. 1 Belle-Isle well. While drilling a dry hole with cable tools, we sometimes struck. pockets of gas which would float the tools, so that drilling had to be suspended sometimes for several hours at a time, until the head of gas was exhausted, and this with a string of tools, 5-in. (127 mm.) stem 36 ft. (10.9 m.) long, that weighed complete about 3500 lb. (1587 kg.). At about 1800 ft. (548 m.), we struck the largest gas pocket and the string of tools was thrown up and nearly out of the hole. When it dropped back it made several loops

Jan 1, 1918

By Malcolm Scoble, Nick Vagenas, Greg Baiden

Recent advances in underground communications technology have demonstrated the feasibility of teleoperation and automation in underground metal mines. One major challenge lies in the automation of underground mobile machines from surface, with the potential to reduce significantly the need for human involvement in underground operations. This paper reviews the evolution of underground metal mining automation, principally related to the development of teleoperation and automation of mobile mining machines. Examples of prototype systems are given and the associated benefits that have been observed are reviewed.

Jan 1, 1997

By C. Jay Hodgson, P. J. MacGeehan

"Of the 135 current or past-producing 'gold-only' mines in the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield which have produced more than 100,000 tons of ore, the 33 mines which have produced one million ounces or more of gold have accounted for over 84o/o of the total production of 137 million ounces. The published literature on these 33 deposits was reviewed in order to determine the geological setting of the mineralization on a regional (mining camp) and local (mine) scale. The dominant rock types underlying the mining camps are mafic, variolitic, tholeiitic volcanic rocks with a significant ultramafic (komatiitic) component, and clastic and/ or exhalative sedimentary rocks. Felsic volcanic rocks are generally subordinate. Most mining camps are located at or near the top of the mafic-ultramafic sequence, and generally there is a major sedimentary-volcanic contact present which may be 1) a stratigraphic superposition of volcanic and sedimentary units, 2) a rapid, along-strike gradation from dominantly volcanic to dominantly sedimentary units due to facies change, or to the formation of structurally controlled sedimentary basins during volcanism, or 3) frequently (at 40o/o of the camps) a juxtaposition of sedimentary and volcanic sequences across a major fault zone or 'break', which in many instances may represent a reactivated, syn-volcanic basin-margin fault.In contrast to the regional setting, on a local or mine scale over 90o/o of the 33 mines contain felsic intrusions and/ or extrusions within mine workings. The felsic rocks may be quartzbearing (commonly quartz-feldspar porphyries) or dominantly quartz-free (commonly feldspar porphyry syenites or monzonites), and appear to have been emplaced in two different depth-zone environments: an epizonal intrusive environment, and a volcanic vent environment. Although the distinction between epizonal intrusive and volcanic intrusive-extrusive rocks is uncertain in many deposits, the two are tentatively separated on the basis of the grain size of the rock matrix (medium to coarse grained vs aphanitic to fine grained), homogeneity (multi-phased and/ or compositionally zoned vs compositionally homogeneous), and the shape and relationship to stratigraphy of the igneous body (circular or oval in cross section, and cutting the stratigraphy at a low angle vs lenticular and either stratiform or cutting the stratigraphy at a high angle). In addition, felsic intrusions of the volcanic environment commonly grade into tuffs or breccias of extrusive origin, whereas epizonal intrusions do not.Stratiform ore zones of possible exhalative sedimentary origin appear to be confined to deposits in which volcanic felsic rocks are present, and are absent from deposits in which only epizonal felsic intrusions are present. Pervasive carbonate- rich alteration, commonly in roughly stratabound zones of regional extent, and carbonate-rich chemical sedimentary rocks are present in over three-quarters of the deposits containing quartz-bearing felsic volcanic rocks, but are much less common in deposits with quartz-free felsic volcanic rocks. The host sequences of epizonal felsic intrusions which are quartzfree are more commonly sedimentary than those of quartz-bearing epizonal felsic intrusions.Quartz, carbonate minerals, arsenopyrite, scheelite, tourmaline and Cr-muscovite ('juchsite') are the most common mineralogical associates of gold. Arsenopyrite is essentially restricted to the volcanic environment, occurring in about twothirds of the deposits with quartz-bearing felsic volcanic rocks and less than half of the deposits with quartz-free volcanic rocks. Tourmaline, on the other hand, is almost ubiquitous in deposits associated with epizonal intrusions and also occurs in about two-thirds of the deposits associated with quartz-bearing felsic volcanic rocks, but in only one of the eight deposits associated with quartz-free felsic volcanic rocks. Scheelite is essentially restricted to ores of quartz-rich fel"

Jan 1, 1982

By Nekitel S, Arumba J, Kopi G, Findlay RH

The Kainantu area lies within the composite Scrapland terrane which is composed of Mesozoic metamorphic and intrusive units, overlain by Cenozoic marine sediments, volcanic and intrus-ive units and Quaternary fluvial sedi-ments.Four deformations (Dl, D2, D3, D4) are recognised within the Mesozoic sequences, which consist of greenschist to amphibolite facies schist derived from felsic to intermediate pyroclastic rocks and pelitic sediments. The second, third and fourth fold events are present in the Cenozoic sequence, and these rocks are broken by thrusts related to northwest trending D3 folds. South-dipping, possibly lystric, normal faults are recognised and may be related to uplift and exposure of the metamorphic rocks as core complexes.Known mineralisation in the area consists of gold and copper skarn deposits, porphyry copper deposits, shear-hosted gold deposits, epithermal vein deposits and gold placer deposits. Over 35 hard rock and 18 gold placer deposits are known within the area. Of significance are the Kathnell shear-hosted auriferous quartz veins; such structurally controlled veins may be more widespread than proposed prev-iously and offer a new exploration target.

Jan 1, 1994

The ore deposits of the Oobar mining field are confined to sediments of the Early Devonian Cobar Supergroup. The mineralisation is discordant to bedding and parallel to cleavage. The structural association is variable with the deposits near the eastern margin of the Cobar Basin formed in zones of deformation and faulting. The Elura deposit located further to the west is in less deformed sediments within the core of a small anticline. There are wide variations in ore type fran lad sulphide chalcopyrite - pyrrhotite - pyrite to high sulphide sphalerite - galena - pyrrhotite - pyrite assemblages. The deposits ccnmonly contain an inner zone of quartz - sulphide - chlorite veining grading outwards into a chlorite halo containing quartz - carbonate veining. The Elura deposit differs in having an inner massive sulphide zone surrounded by a zone of big-Fe carbonate formation. The mineralisation probably formed during regional metamorphism and deformation in the Early Carboniferous. A possible genetic model involves the injection of metal bearing hydrothermal fluids formed in the upper mantle or lower crust up basement structures into the overlying Cobar Supergroup sediments. An alternate model proposes the leaching of metals from the sediments by brines formed during metamorphism and subsequent emplacement in favourable structural zones.

Jan 1, 1983

By Milton C. Graves, Marcos Zentilli

"Gold has been reported from most geological environments in Nova Scotia; however, virtually all production (circa 2,000, 000 troy ounces; circa 60 tonnes) has come from that part of the province to the south of the Glooscap Fault which is underlain by Lower Paleozoic rocks of the Meguma Group. Over fifty concordant sets of quartz-carbonate-arsenopyrite veins have seen production. The host rocks are greenschist-grade equivalents of Cambro-Ordovician flyschoid quartz wackes and shales folded and metamorphosed during the Devonian Acadian Orogeny. The veins were emplaced under conditions of greenschist-grade regional metamorphism and under the same conditions of tectonic stress that later resulted in the regional folds and penetrative, axial-plane slaty cleavage. Rapid filling of hydraulic fractures caused by excess metamorphic pore fluid pressure under Acadian tectonic stress conditions can account for the geometry and paragenesis of these veins.The ultimate source for gold deposits in most greenschist-grade domains remains in doubt, but these domains seem to have had ample gold within them available for mobilization. The work done, to date, on the gold geology of Nova Scotia suggests that regional greenschist metamorphism was an effective mobilizer and a potential concentrator of Au, As, W, Fe and S from these vast reservoirs.In rocks of pre-Acadian age north of the Glooscap Fault, gold occurs as an important accessory in volcanogenic massive sulphide ore, as a minor constituent in other types of basemetal concentrations and in one small concordant group of quartz veins.The post-Acadian metallogenetic domain, which overlies and overprints the two older domains, contains small amounts of gold in many mineralizing environments. Veins, with stibnite and gold, cross-cut crystalline rocks. Disseminated gold is present in basal conglomerates of post-tectonic molasse. Gold has been a by-product of Mississippi Valley-type Pb-Zn-Ba-Sr deposits in Lower Carboniferous sedimentary rocks and has been reported with Pb-Zn-Ba-F in veins which cross-cut Lower Carboniferous and older rocks. Small post-glacial placers have also seen minor production."

Jan 1, 1982