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By Antonius Prayoga

PT Smelting adopted the Mitsubishi Continuous Technology for its copper smelter plant which has been operating since 1998. Through a series of expansion projects, the plant annual production capacity increased gradually from 200,000 to 300,000 tons of copper. There were no significant modifications for the smelter to reach the 50% additional capacity. It was mostly achieved by intensifying the operation of the furnaces by increasing the oxygen content in the furnaces blowing air. Intensive smelting furnace operation caused shorter campaign life of some furnace refractory, especially the melt zone wall on furnace outlet. During each furnace relining, which is done once every two years, severe wall erosion was found. The worst condition occurred in 2007 when the smelting furnace experienced a melt leak through the eroded wall beneath the bath-line coolers. During the 2008 furnace relining, a modification was performed by installing vertical coolers behind the melt zone wall. Additional vertical coolers were installed during the 2012 furnace relining to extend the coverage area. The modification improved melt zone wall integrity significantly by keeping them safely within the two year campaign life. Recently a modeling study was done to estimate the influences of molten waves on furnace wall erosion. The aim of the study was to predict the impact of blowing parameters, such as blowing air velocity, on the melt wave character and wall erosion.

Jan 1, 2015

By G. Belzil, F. Robichaud, M. Fullam

ABSTRACT The Goldex mining and milling complex is operated by Agnico-Eagle and is located in the Abitibi greenstone region of northwestern Quebec, Canada. Commercial production started in 2008. Average gold recovery is 93.5% with approximately 68% of gold recovery coming from the gravity circuit. During the first three years of production, three gravity audits were carried out to optimize performance of the gravity circuit. This paper presents results of the audits and the development of a model linking gravity and overall gold recovery, and outlines improvements made to increase gravity performance and reduce operating costs.

Jan 1, 2013

By J. Lipp

The lion share of lithium produced globally originates from South American salars. The standard operation for lithium production utilizes an array of evaporation ponds. This process consume vast areas and is either very slow when relying on solar evaporation - roughly 18 months of residence time; or with very high energy consumption since over 90% of initial water volume needs to be evaporated. A new technology, based on solvent extraction was developed. Results indicate a distribution coefficient up to 30, and selectivity greater than 1,000 towards Na extraction. The loaded solvent is stripped using a strong mineral acid, and the product solution is the lithium derivative of that stripping acid. Utilization of this new LiSXTM technology results in reducing the area needed for a commercial plant as well as reduces the residence time. In addition applying different stripping acids can diversify the product line of such facility.

Jan 1, 2014

By M. Reda

Because of the adverse environmental effect of Chromate, Molybdate ions had been investigated as replacement for Chromate and the results had shown not to be encouraging. Film deposited from peroxopolymolybdate (from reaction of Molybdenum meta, with excess Hydrogen Peroxide), are more robust than that deposited from molybdate solutions. This was shown to be due to higher fraction of Mo (IV) and Mo (V) that form from Mo (VI) in the peroxopolymolybdate deposited film than the film deposited from Molybdate solutions. The peroxopolymolybdate film contains 40% un-hydrated molybdic acid, tetraperoxodimolybdate and tetra peroxo tetra molybdate. The protective properties of peroxopolymolybdate were shown to be due to the effectiveness of the un-hydrated molybdic acid.

Jan 1, 2010

By Freislich. M., Y. Gordon

"In the changing global market scenario for raw materials for the steel industry, a number of novel iron- and steelmaking process technologies are being developed to provide the steel companies with economically-sustainable alternatives for iron- and steel-making. In addition, the steel industry is also focusing on reduction of energy consumption as well as green-house gas (GHG) emissions to address the crucial subject of climate change. In this context, it is important to assess these critical issues for the alternate iron- and steelmaking technologies that have been developed. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of energy-efficiency and GHG emissions for some selected iron- and steelmaking technologies that are being considered for implementation. In this work, Hatch’s G-CAP™ and En-MAP™ tools that were developed with the main objective of quantifying and qualifying the potential energy savings and CO2 abatement within the iron and steel industry, were employed in the evaluation conducted. INTRODUCTIONThe iron and steel industry continues to transform itself and evolve in the ever-changing global market place – the raw material scenario is constantly changing with respect to quality and quantity (availability), there is stiff competition in both global and local markets, and there is increasing pressure to address global climate change issues, especially since the steel industry is highly energy- and carbonintensive. There is growing importance of steel production in developing countries such as China and India – this means that the steel industry in these countries will play an important role in defining and shaping the future of the industry.Climate change is expected to present new risks to the steel industry with respect to ensuring a sustainable business. Legislators are proposing to limit GHG emission by placing an implicit price on CO2 emission - market-based “cap and trade”, carbon tax etc.. In this scenario, it is important for the steel companies to reduce exposure to climate-related risks and at the same time, find business opportunities within these risks. Thus, there is a need to strategically manage the climate change risks; the key steps to strategically manage climate change risks are presented in Table 1[1]."

Jan 1, 2012

By G. G. Richards, D. J. Rioux, R. L. Stephens

Teck Cominco Metals Ltd. operates an integrated zinc-lead complex at Trail, British Columbia, Canada. The year 2007 marks ten years of operation of KIVCETTM flash smelting technology for the treatment of zinc plant residues and lead concentrates. Since start-up in 1997, the furnace throughput has been increased to exceed its design rate and other metallurgical performance targets while continuing to meet its environmental objectives. This was achieved through resolution of key mechanical issues, improved understanding to stabilize the reaction shaft operation and control furnace accretions, significantly reduced boiler corrosion by molten chloride salts through the extensive application of weld overlay, a suite of projects to improve furnace integrity, and some debottlenecking of the surrounding unit operations in the lead smelter. The combination of increased feed rate and improved on-line time allowed the KIVCETTM furnace to set a new quarterly feed throughput record of 129,300 tonnes in the first quarter of 2008.

Jan 1, 2008

By H. F. Zurbrigg

"The Frood-Stobie Mine is by far the largest metal producer in the Sudbury area. Its efficient development was made possible by the consolidation of three mining properties that covered parts of the same ore body. They were known as the Frood Mine, the Frood Extension, and the Stobie Mine.The southwest or Frood portion of the orebody was discovered by Thomas Frood and A. J. Cockburn in 1884. Cockburn's interest was acquired by J. H. Metcalf and W. B. McAllister and patents were issued to Frood, Metcalf, and McAllister in 1884. The property was purchased by the Canadian Copper Company (lnco) in 1886.James Stobie discovered the northeast or Stobie part of the orebody in 1885. In 1886 Stobie and Rinaldo McConnell applied for the location and patent was issued in 1886. They sold the property to the Canadian Copper Company (lnco) the same year.The Frood Extension property included very little of the ore zone at surface but it covered ore down the dip from Frood. Frank Cochrane was granted title to the property in 1908 and sold it to the Mond Nickel Company in 1910. The title was transferred to the International Nickel Company in 1929 at the time of the Inco-Mond merger.Prior to 1930 the three properties produced a total of about 1 ,000,000 tons of ore from mining done during the periods 1887-1903, 1913-1915 and 1925-1929. Since 1929 the Frood-Stobie operation has produced more than 120,000,000 tons of ore, about half from open pits and half from square set and blast hole stoping. The current production rate is in excess of 6,000,000 tons per year.The principal products from the ore are nickel and copper. The by-products are iron ore, cobalt, platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium, gold, silver, selenium, tellurium, and sulphuric acid."

Jan 1, 1949

By Harry Jomini

Introduction The Wakefield plant of the Aluminum Company of Canada, Limited - a member of the Aluminum, Limited, group of companies - produces magnesia, magnesia fertilizer ingredient, and hydrated lime, from brucitic limestone. Wakefield is on the Gatineau river in Wakefield township, Quebec, some 22 miles north of Ottawa. The plant is near the western bank of the river adjacent to the Ottawa-Maniwaki highway and branch line of the Canadian Pacific railway. The plant is unique in the sense that it is the only place in Canada where brucite is processed. It is also distinguished for its outstanding safety record, as not a single lost-time accident occurred during either 1948 or 1949. The plant is amply provided with safety and comfort provisions in keeping with the standard practice in all of the twelve plants operated in Canada by Alcan and its associated companies. History Following the identification of brucite in the Rutherglen and Bryson districts in Ontario, occurrences of the mineral were discovered in the Wakefield area, Quebec, in 1939. After exploratory work on these deposits and investigation by the Bureau of Mines, Ottawa, on a method of extracting the brucite from the ore, a plant for treating the ore from the Maxwell property was built in 1941 by the Aluminum Company of Canada and commenced operations in early 1942. The process used is more or less in accordance with the method worked out by Mr. M. F. Goudge of the Bureau of Mines.

Jan 1, 1950

By P. H. Tolcher

Canada, as the Free World's largest mine producer of zinc and the third largest mine producer of lead, has a vital interest in the future growth in demand for these metals. This paper traces the development of lead and zinc consumption in the last two decades, both on a total-Free-World basis and by major market areas. How Canada, as a major mine producer, has shared in this growth is also indicated. In addition, future consumption for both metals in the current decade of the 1970's is fore-cast. The demand these projections will make on Free World mines, particularly on Canadian mines, is examined. Some of the opportunities and challenges the Canadian mining industry will likely face during this period are also dealt with.

Jan 1, 1971

By F. E. Millett

The following notes deal chiefly with changes from steam to electric drives, or, in the case of the Bellevue pumps, from air to electric. Where electric power can be purchased or generated cheaply it can be used to advantage and is generally more economical than steam, especially in places remote from the central power-plant. Nothing could be more simple than the operation of electrical gear. It does not require a competent engineer constantly on the alert, oiling and watching bearings, and maintenance is at a minimum. The ease with which the current is transmitted from its source to where it must do its work is one of its greatest advantages. Transmission losses are very low. Generally speaking, the smaller the plant the lower the loss and 90 per cent, and better, efficiency is easily attained. In and around Bellevue 2300-volt, three-phase, is the standard distributing pressure; our power requirements and the distances transmitted, for the present, do not require more than this. Most of the heavier motors are 2300-volt .machines, which eliminates the cost and possible troubles of step-down transformers, and makes for a cheaper and less bulky motor. This applies to two fan, two hoist, and two compressor motors, the smallest being 75 and the largest 520 horse power. The standard pressure on power lines to all inside pumps is 550 volts, and 220 volts is general for the the tipple. While 110 volts is used for house and office lighting service, it is not economical around and in the mine. No matter what kind of device is used to lock and protect the lamps, they are invariably missing.

Jan 1, 1926

By G E. Craig, W. M. Williams

A simple, easily constructed apparatus suitable for the zone refining of iron and other reactive materials is described. After eight passes at one inch per hour, the iron produced showed a marked drop in hardness to 49 Brinell. In addition, an arbitrarily -defined recrystallization temperature was lowered by about 35°C and the rate of grain growth greatly increased. CERTAIN materials, of which iron is one, are so reactive that they cannot be zone refined in any known container without becoming contaminated. For such substances, the floating zone method ( 1) may be used. In this method, the specimen is supported vertically in an inert atmosphere and the molten zone supports itself by its own sur-face tension. The method was first applied to silicon (2) and has since been used for other reactive metals such as zirconium and titanium. Smith and Rutherford (3) have previously reported on the floating zone refining of iron; the efficiency of the method for reducing the car-bon content was demonstrated on

Jan 1, 1962

By A. Warczok

Smelting slags contain payable metals in a dissolved form and as mechanically entrained matte or metallic inclusions in the size range from 2 to 1000 µm. Slag cleaning requires reduction of magnetite and metal oxides and sedimentation of inclusions. Slag cleaning in an electric furnace is carried out in batch or semi-continuous mode. The strong trend for continuous slag cleaning generates the basic question about the optimal geometry of the electric furnace. Results of combined CFD, potential distribution and heat transfer modeling allowed for the determination of the fluid flow pattern and the temperature distribution in a classical, circular electric furnace as well as in a rectangular furnace. For the rectangular furnace, various length/width ratios and position of electrodes have been simulated. Analysis of key phenomena pointed out the advantages of the rectangular electric furnace over the circular furnace, particularly for continuous slag cleaning. Phenomena that have been analyzed were mass transfer, the rate of slag reduction, coalescence and settling of inclusions, all on the basis of the calculated slag flow pattern and the temperature distribution.

Jan 1, 2007

By The Satff

"TEXADA Island is situated in the Strait of Georgia, about 100 miles northwest of Vancouver. The property of Texada Mines Ltd. lies on the southwest coast of the northern end of the Island. A part of the ""Sunshine Coast,"" the climate is moderate, with about 30 inches of rain during winter months and relatively dry summers. Texada has been shipping high-grade magnetite concentrate continuously since 1952 to Japanese ore buyers. In 1959, a 3,000-foot tunnel was driven just above sea level to explore the possible downward extension of known orebodies then being mined by open pit. In January of 1961, because the open-pit operations had a limited life, C. C. Huston and Associates were brought in as mining consultants to do a feasibility study on the possibility of going underground for production. This study was completed in March, 1961. With the completion of the report, the Company went to Japan seeking a ,long-term contract to justify the capital outlay necessary for setting up an underground operation. Concurrently, underground diamond drilling revealed more ore, and the Company planned some modifications to the concentrator for increasing the copper recovery. By November, 1961, a ten-year contract was signed with Japanese ore buyers for the sale of 450,-000 long tons of concentrates beginning in October, 1963. Since that time, the Company has built its own 65 000-ton ore carrier and an additional three-year contract has been negotiated, with an annual tonnage increase of from 450,000 to 550,000 tons."

Jan 1, 1967

By T. Möller

Grinding mills are the heart of the mineral processing plant, and are production-critical machines which are required to achieve high availability. Liner wear life and a liner design that promotes ease of installation are important variables to achieve a high level of mill availability. Increased mill size results in more mill internal surface to protect, and more liner components to install and remove. This drives designers toward an increase in liner size to minimize the number of components to be installed by the liner handler. The liner attachment method can also have a large impact on mill availability as well as safety during installation. This paper outlines the experience from the development, installation and follow-up of liners installed in two 38' x 45' AG Mills at Boliden Aitik in Sweden. A new Poly-Met shell liner concept has been developed to minimize the number of liner components. The new Poly-Met shell liner components are made much larger than conventional Poly-Met or steel liners. This reduces the number of components to be installed/removed by the liner handler and helps to minimize installation time and consequently down- time. A new attachment system has also been developed to eliminate the need for the installation crew to be in the ?drop-zone? of the shell liners while installing the liner bolts. One interesting aspect of this project was the requirement to predict liner life for these new large format AG mills. The existing 22' diameter mills at Aitik provided a base-line reference for this purpose, and DEM studies were used in the project development stage to predict the wear life of shell liners for the new 38' diameter AG mills. The results from this study are included.

Jan 1, 2012

By H. Lazreg

This paper presents an evaluation of surface resistivity techniques as a tool for delineating salt-water intrusion in Shippegan, N.B. The study consisted of resistivity profiling, resistivity soundings and a limited number of induced polarization soundings in selected areas in the Province of New Brunwick. The results from resistivity profiling indicate that when seawater intrusion occurs in a sandstone formation the resistivity contrast is sufficiently large to allow a precise delineation of the intrusion. A formula is then derived to convert resistivity values to chloride concentration in the "cone of intrusion". The results from resistivity soundings showed that shaly formations may have resistivities as low as seawater-contaminated sandstone. An indeterminacy has resulted from this resistivity overlap. A limited number of IP soundings were performed in an effort to resolve it. The results showed that IP can be of appreciable help in resistivity interpretation.

Jan 1, 1972

By Richard E. Barrett

SOME YEARS AGO I was associated with a mining operation which, because of its isolated location, burned wood for heating purposes. Year after year the tractors and tucks hauled the cordwood in from the edge of the ever-growing clearing. Each year the cartage costs became greater. The degree to which transportation distances affect the economics of fuels obviously varies with many factors, but the main criterion is the amount of heat a unit weight of the fuel will produce. For in-stance, wood is limited in most cases to a haulage distance of a few miles. Coal can be shipped hundreds of miles, whereas petroleum and gas ?can be transported thousands of miles. The world is now on the brink of having a new fuel -uranium. It has the virtue of being so concentrated that transportation costs can, for all practical purposes, be disregarded.

Jan 1, 1958

By Graeme G. Strathdee

"IntroductionThis paper presents an overview of the industry status, describes current potash industry practices at three mills, and summarizes developments that have taken place since the previous review by Banks (1985).The commodity potash is produced in both New Brunswick and Saskatchewan from the evaporite ore sylvinite. This ore is a mixture of co-crystallized halite, NaCl, and sylvite, KCl, and a minor assortment of silica, carbonate, sulphate, and clay minerals. Carnallite, KMgCl3.6H20, is also dispersed throughout the bedded deposits and can affect the recovery of sylvite for fertilizer and industrial uses.Canada continues to be a principal source of supply of agricultural and industrial potash products. Figure 1 shows the sector performance between 1989 and 1997 in the context of the world supply and demand situation as reported by Prud'homme (1997) of Natural Resources Canada.Potash industry output is traditionally measured as the quantity of potassium nutrient and reported as tonnes ofK20. Mineralogically, the principal form of potash produced in Canada is sylvite, KCl, and 1 nutrient tonne K20 corresponds to approximately 1.64 tonnes of sylvite of agricultural grade, about 95% KCI. In 1997, the Canadian industry milling capacity was 13.4 million metric tons (Mt) ofK20 (22 Mt KCl) while the actual production was 9.0 Mt K20 (14.8 Mt KCl). Worldwide milling capacity in 1997 was 35.9 Mt K20 (58.8 Mt KCl) and global consumption was 25.3 Mt K20 (41.6 Mt KCl). Canadian producers can deliver about 35% of the global demand for potash commodities"

Jan 1, 2000

By W. Lin, Z. Z. Dong, C. L. Zhou, Y. C. Kuang

The inversion of rock mechanical properties based on well-logging data is a common method to drillbit selection in petroleum engineering, the basic principle of which is to use deep-well logging data and experimental regression model to calculate rock mechanical properties. The profile of rock mechanical properties can be established. According to the profile, the type of drillbit can be selected in different formations, which will improve the economic benefit of bit use indicators. Compressive strength of rock is one of the most important parameters. Conventional method to establish regression models of acoustic velocity and uniaxial compressive strength is on the basis of rock core sonic experiments and uniaxial compressive experiments. However, with the increase of deep drilling operation, triaxial compressive strength prediction model will play a more vital role in drillbit optimization selection in deep wells and improving ROP (Rate of Penetration). Triaxial compressive strength is an important parameter to evaluate the formation strength property. In this paper, to the sandstone commonly encountered in oil drilling, combined the rock mechanical experimental results with the changing porosity experimental results under confining pressure, a new interpretation model of triaxial compressive strength based on well logging data is proposed. Firstly, three types of sandstone samples are collected. Then measured components, uniaxial compressive strength, triaxial compressive strength and porosity. Experimental results show that: confining pressure has a significant influence on sandstone strength, with the increase of confining pressure, triaxial compressive strength increase; furthermore, the triaxial compressive strength of different porosity sandstones have different change rules when confining pressures changes; sandstone porosity decreases with the increase of confining pressure and it obeys logarithmic function. According to the results, regression models of sandstone, in-situ uniaxial compressive strength model and uniaxial compressive strength model under normal pressure are generated. Meanwhile, using well logging data in the acoustic velocity, density and gamma value can derive in-situ rock formations uniaxial compressive strength and in-situ porosity. Eventually, a new model established in this paper, containing in porosity, uniaxial compressive strength, lateral pressure and power exponent of regression, can predict triaxial compressive strength which will guide drillbit selection.

Jan 1, 2015

By John D. Galloway

Mining is one of the important primary industries of Canada, with a gross production in 1927 estimated at $241,773,000- the highest in the history of the country-and an impressive dividend record. It is quite apparent, therefore, that mining is a business worthy of the careful attention of the people of Canada. Furthermore, with a vast undeveloped territory more or less mineralized, it is highly probable that our mining industry will continue to expand indefinitely, with a consequent increase in production and in the amounts of the yearly profits distributed. In recent years, the public has taken a larger interest than formerly in mining-an interest, moreover, that is not academic, but primarily from the viewpoint of profits. It is quite evident that mining is a profitable business, at least to some, and the average man on the street, hearing of these profits, is attracted thereto. I have no doubt that many of you have .read in promotion prospectuses, with figures to prove it, that mining is the most conservative, the safest, and the highest-yielding business in the world. Now, a lot of this information is best judged by the old saying that "While figures don't lie, liars figure". At the same time, mining, properly conducted, is a profitable business, even though speculative, and undoubtedly much profit will come from Canadian mines in the future. In this paper my conclusions regarding mining investments are based largely on British Columbia experience, together with some slight knowledge of mining conditions in the other Provinces. It is considered, however, that the inferences drawn are applicable to mining throughout Canada.

Jan 1, 1928

By Shintaro Takamiya, Kazunari Yoshida

"Recently, small sized micro-needles for medical are required more frequently by patients. The biggest reason is that it presents great burden on the patients, due to the size of the needle injection. People need to use a very small needle to lower the pain, but the downfall is that it makes them more expensive due to their complicated manufacturing method. Therefore, we need to fabricate a needle by wire-drawing to decrease its price. Tube-drawing is beneficial for its production value; however, in conventional tube-drawing it is difficult of control the wall thickness of the tube and makes it 1mmor lower in diameter. That is why, we propose fluid-mandrel drawing for new tube drawing. This method allows fabrication of a fine tube by using the pressure of the fluid in the tube. In this research, the goal is the fabrication of a fine tube by fluid-mandrel drawing and its evaluation. Finally, the fabrication of a fine tube by fluid-mandrel drawing was conducted and in result a tube with a diameter of 0.2mm, high strength and thin wall and fine inner surface was drawn, which can be used as a lesser pain micro-needle.INTRODUCTIONThe main manufacturing method of the current medical needles is roll forming. With this method, it is difficult to make a tube with a diameter lower than 1mm. Deep drawing has been proposed and used as method to further reduce the diameter, but this method is costly and the injection needle obtained by this method is several times more expensive.Therefore, we need to obtain a fine medical needle by drawing process that can be mass-produced and inexpensively manufactured. However, with the conventional drawing process, it is not possible to obtain a syringe needle with a reduced diameter easily, that is why, a fluid-mandrel drawing has been proposed which can reduce the diameter without damaging the inner surface. The methodology of the method is, a fluid is filled in the sealed tube and the pressure inside the tube during drawing is responsible for the good inner surface and wall thickness. It is also expected that the fluid can be easily discarded and that the tube can be manufactured on a long scale."

Jan 1, 2017