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By J. E. Gill

THE 1938 season was marked by a distinct lull in exploratory activity in the Province of Quebec. Quebec was not unique in this respect, but the condition appears to have been more acute here than in most other parts of the Dominion. Various causes may be suggested to account for this. The general disturbance in political and economic conditions throughout the world has certainly had an adverse influence. Uncertainty induced by changes in the mining laws of Quebec in 1937 contributed. A third cause was the belief, now held by many, that the easily accessible deposits in the main producing belt extending eastward from. the Rouyn district have now all been found and that new discoveries in this field will henceforth come more slowly and more expensively. A fourth is the lack of conspicuous success by companies and individuals who have interested themselves in less accessible areas to the north, notably the Chibougamau district. A fifth, the unattractive appearance, as viewed on published geological maps, of the vast area extending northward to Ungava bay and Hudson strait. A sixth, the attraction of such speculative funds as were available to the Northwest Territories, where spectacular finds were reported in the fall of 1937. Whatever may be the relative importance of these causes, languor in exploration will ultimately be reflected in production returns. This appears, therefore, to be an opportune time to take stock of the general position of the Industry in the Province and to consider ways and means of counter-acting those conditions which are now impeding, or will in the near future impede, its expansion. At the request of the Institute Secretary, Mr. Carlyle, I have prepared a brief summary of accomplishments to date and a discussion of some of the geological aspects of the problem.

Jan 1, 1939

By M. Neven, R. A. Steane, E. Lam

"The Key Lake uranium mill is located in Northern Saskatchewan. It treats a high grade, complex uranium and metal sulphide ore. The plant and process are in many respects unique, because commercial treatment of this type of uranium ore had never been done before. The process and engineering design was based on extensive laboratory test results. A pilot plant testing stage was omitted because of confidence in the test results and time constraints to bring the plant into production.The bench scale testwork on exploration drill core samples along with preparation of the feasibility study and environmental impact statement were carried out between 1976 and 1979. The contract for detailed engineering was awarded to Wright Engineers of Vancouver in late 1980 and in August of 1981 following a public inquiry, approval to proceed with construction was granted.Construction began immediately, and during the winter the foundations for many of the plant buildings were poured and by the beginning of the following winter the buildings had been erected and installation of equipment began. Despite a six month construction worker strike in 1982, the crushing plant started up in June of 1983 and ore processing commenced in October of that year, approximately 3 months behind the original schedule.This paper describes the mill design and compares the expected performance, with the operating experience. Emphasis is directed towards flowsheet and equipment changes made since start-up, operational difficulties encountered and further improvements envisaged. Auxiliary systems are only discussed where they directly affect mill operation."

Jan 1, 1986

By L. Flett, S. Woods, C. Deredin

"Following a significant reduction in world Imperial Smelting Furnace (ISF) capacity from 2003 to 2008, a major optimization initiative was successfully carried out on the lead upgrading and bulk (zinclead) flotation circuits in the Brunswick Concentrator.This paper describes the process improvements that have taken place in order to reduce the quantity of bulk concentrate:•,Increase in lead upgrading rougher flotation circuit capacity•,Installation of a closed-circuit bulk regrind utilizing MillPebs and 150 mm Cavex hydrocyclones•,Installation of two additional cleaner flotation stages on the bulk circuit•,Optimization of the manipulated variables in the lead upgrading and bulk circuitsINTRODUCTIONThe Brunswick Mine (Xstrata Zinc Canada) is located near Bathurst, New Brunswick and is one of the world’s largest lead/zinc mines. Milling of ore commenced in 1964 from the No. 12 orebody, with an expansion in 1966 to accommodate ore from the No. 6 open pit mine. The planned closure of the mine will take place at the end of the first quarter in 2013. The ore is a complex massive sulphide, consisting of approximately 20% valuable minerals, 60% pyrite and 20% silicates.A simplified flowsheet for the concentrator is given in Figure 1. The overall flowsheet involves SAG milling, secondary ball milling, selective flotation, and dewatering by thickening, filtering and drying. The complexity of the flowsheet evolves from the requirements for fine grinding and the production of four concentrates: zinc (sphalerite), lead (galena), copper (chalcopyrite) and bulk (sphalerite plus galena).Primary hydrocyclone overflow feeds the copper-lead aerator-roughers for flotation at pH 9.0 with soda ash. Plant xanthate (80-20 sodium isopropyl and potassium amyl) and AP407 are used as collectors in the copper-lead circuit. The rougher concentrate is directed to the copper-lead regrind circuit and the tailings are fed to the secondary grinding circuit. The secondary hydrocyclone overflow from the secondary grinding circuit feeds the copper-lead rougher-scavenger banks. Rougher concentrates are reground to a P80 of 28 µm prior to three stages of copper-lead cleaning. The first stage of cleaning is done in an open circuit with the tail reporting to the cleaner scavenger. The cleaner scavenger concentrate reports to the regrind circuit and the cleaner scavenger tail combines with the rougher/scavenger tail to feed the zinc circuit. The second and third stages of cleaning are performed in closed circuit with the cleaner tail being recycled to the copper-lead regrind circuit. The average final concentrate grades 23% Pb, 3% Cu and 704 g/t Ag, and is fed to the copper separation circuit."

Jan 1, 2013

By Lynn M. Gould

Syncrude Canada operates the largest oil sands crude oil production facility in the world and produces over 13 percent of Canada?s total oil requirements. To do this, Syncrude mines the oil sand in open pits, extracts the raw oil known as bitumen from the sand using water-based processes and upgrades it into sweet light crude oil by fluid coking, hydroprocessing, hydrotreating and reblending. The final product, Syncrude Sweet Blend (SSB) is sent by pipeline to three Edmonton area refineries and then to pipeline terminals which ship the SSB to refineries in Canada and the United States. As parts of the Mildred Lake Base Mine reached their economic life, they were replaced with new facilities at the Aurora satellite mine. Aurora is situated on Oilsand Leases 10, 12, and 34, 35 kilometres northeast of the Mildred Lake facility. (Figure 1) In 2000 the first hydrotransport low energy extraction production train started up at Aurora. A second production train is scheduled for start up in 2003. Open pit mining at Aurora occurs using two hydraulic shovels, two cable shovels, and trucks ranging from 320 ton to 380 ton payload capacities.

May 1, 2002

By Alice H. Zhu

Belt conveyors are widely used in materials handling industries. The bulk materials which can be transported include ores, coal, earth, grain, limestone, wood chips, fertilizer components such as potash and many others. Along with the new technology development and enhanced industrial automation requirements, belt conveyor instrumentation has also been modernized to improve conveyor availability and performance. Traditionally, belt conveyors are equipped with emergency pull cord switches to shut the conveyor down, misalignment switches to signal the belt offline condition, speed sensors to detect the belt slippage, and level switches to prevent material plugging in the discharge chute. Belt rip detectors are also normally provided for long belt conveyors. As a rule, equipment condition monitoring is not automated at most operating facilities, but is performed manually by maintenance staff via time-based surveillance. The new generation of condition monitoring instrumentation and control equipment can be successfully utilized to design a reliable, cost-effective, and centralized monitoring system, capable of monitoring a wide variety of mechanical equipment. The implementation of the condition monitoring automated system can provide continual monitoring of the plant equipment to ensure safe operation of the equipment to its required capacity. Any abnormal behavior of the motors, gear reducers and pulleys can be analyzed, alarmed, and recorded immediately, so problems can be detected and resolved before critical components failure. Therefore, the current trend is to provide the belt conveyors with condition monitoring system in addition to the traditional instrumentation, where temperature probes and vibration sensors can be installed on motors, gear reducers and all pulleys. Another innovative development is a three-in-one type belt rip detector which combines laser, tray and cord type detection together to ensure a prompt belt tear indication. The purpose of this paper is to present the latest development of belt conveyor instrumentation and introduce the application of newly developed instruments.

Nov 1, 2011

By Christoph Müller

Information exchange for mine process optimization is essential. Today, modern mining equipment uses the IREDES standard to exchange production plans and reports for easy management and storage. To gain further benefits from process optimization, a mine wide access to real-time information is needed as e.g.: The current status of a machine, operational details etc. Presently, real-time data exchange systems are developed by machine producers. Each machine producer uses its own way of gathering, managing, and storing production data. These proprietary mining processes increase the complexity of cross platform data exchange and management for mines which involves machines produced by different vendors. Casting and unifying the data requires much effort. For this purpose, ?IREDES On-line? currently is being introduced. The standard defines an open, web based method for the exchange of volatile real time machine information. Two different principles are used: Web Services for cross platform information exchange within the IT world and the optional OPC UA for use with automation and process control systems. With such a standard information from machines of different vendors may be managed by using one common platform without spending the effort for dedicated interface development. Additionally, information management and storage will become straight forward since all the data are of the same format. The IREDES On-line standard utilizes the latest IT technologies as well as the knowledge and experiences gained from the previous IREDES standard. The paper explains the benefits, the use, as well as the technical design of the standard and gives application examples from the practice.

Oct 1, 2009

By Raymond Philippe

Background ?Hatch Water has worked with most major mining companies in Chile on water supply and optimization projects ?Many(copper) mining projects are located in Northern Chile, which hosts the driest desert on earth Water supply options in Northern Chile ?River ?Availability/Rights ?Well(Brackish) Water ?Availability/Rights ?Municipal Wastewater ?Water rights ?Volume ?(Desalinated) Seawater ?Infinite source ?Cost depends on distance and altitude ?Recycling/Reutilization ?Water losses All these options present water quality issues

May 1, 2009

By B. Konda, R. Lauer, D. Camilucci, D. Gladwin

"Income based taxes are significant cost elements to be considered in evaluating investment in new mine development. This paper presents the results of comparative analysis of effective income-based tax rates for mining in the Northwest Territories (NWT), selected Canadian provinces and international jurisdictions. The study was done as background to a review of royalty regulations for the NWT. ObjectiveThis paper presents results of comparative analysis of effective mining royalty1 rates, and combined effective mining royalty and income tax rates on selected mine models for the Northwest Territories (NWT), with those for several other jurisdictions in Canada and abroad which compete with the NWT for mining investment.BackgroundThe February 27, 1995 federal budget directed the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) to proceed with a comprehensive review and amendments to northern natural resource management legislation in order “to increase revenues and ensure a fair return to the Crown.” DIAND is responsible for the administration of the Territorial Lands Act, and its regulations.The Territorial Lands Act gives the Governor-in-Council the authority to “… make regulations for the leasing of mining rights in, under or on territorial lands and the payment of royalties therefor,…”. In the NWT, the Canada Mining Regulations (CMR) provide for the disposition of mineral rights for most minerals, other than coal, petroleum and related hydrocarbons, in return for the payment of a royalty to the Crown.As part of this review of the NWT mining royalty regime, several computer mine models were developed and tax regimes in a number of jurisdictions were analyzed. Effective mining royalty rates, and the combined effective mining royalty and income tax rates were compared across the jurisdictions. The results presented in this paper are a part of the background work done in preparing a discussion paper on proposed changes to the NWT mining royalty that is expected to be released for public consultation in the very near future."

Jan 1, 1997

By Percy Coulter

"GeneralThe Malartic Gold Fields mill is presently treating ore from four different companies. The ore is delivered by truck, by the shipper, and dumped into the Malartic Gold Fields ore bin. This ore varies in size from 'Run of mine' to minus 8 11, All ore is crushed to pass a 3/ 8 11 x 4 11 cross slotted screen.Weighing and SamplingAfter crushing the ore passes over an adequate-weigher (250 T .P.H. capacity) on its way to the fine ore bins. This weigher has a remote counter at the sampling point.A 36” Vezin sampler cuts 15% from the ore stream as it enters the mill bins. This portion is elevated, by means of a short belt conveyor, to feed the No. 2 Vezin sampler. (This elevation is necessary to give headroom for the following machines). The ore on the conveyor is levelled to give a uniform stream to the second sample cutter. The second, third and fourth cutters are 2411 •The No. 2 Vezin sampler cuts 19% from its feed and this portion falls directly into a 1611 x 1011 Denver rolls crusher. This crusher reduces the ore to -1/ 8 11 , approximately. The discharge from the rolls crusher falls on a revolving circular plate with scraper, which gives a uniform stream to the No. 3 Vezin sampler.The No. 3 Vezin cuts 10% from its feed. This portion falls on another revolving plate to give a uniform stream to feed No. 4 Vezin."

Jan 1, 1966

"Each and every flotation plant must produce daily/weekly/monthly production reports in which metal balances for payable and penalising elements are presented. Several factors including ore heterogeneity and harsh production environment affect the reproducibility of the reported data. Best practices of metal accounting thus prescribe that production reports be accompanied by measurement quality reports quantifying the reproducibility (a data quality metric often expressed as a relative standard deviation) of each data reported. Ignoring the irreproducibility of measurements may lead to the perception that random errors have been totally eliminated through statistical data reconciliation, which is wrong. This paper aims at explaining the full lifecycle management of reproducibility estimation from the outset at the measurement process to its reporting after having been through the statistical data reconciliation process. Indeed, the reproducibility of reported data can be obtained by performing a sensitivity analysis. Necessary conditions for obtaining a truly representative assessment of measurement reproducibility are stated. Typical levels of measurement reproducibility found in operating flotation plants are also reported. These numbers can be used as benchmarks for reproducibility levels that can be realistically expected.IntroductionEach and every flotation plant must produce daily/weekly/monthly production reports in which metal balances for payable and penalising elements are presented. Such production reports are the most expected output from a metal accounting system (MAS). The duly recurrence of this task combined with an insufficient level of automation has somehow contributed to the misleading perception that it is mainly a clerical work. However, as shown in Figure 1, a MAS encompasses way more than just a reporting system. Acknowledging that the content of production reports indubitably origin from raw measurements has important implications for how both the reports and MAS should be monitored."

Jan 1, 2016

By D. M. Doyle

"The Strathcona Concentrator operations, the application of control systems in the crushing, flotation and tailing fill sections, and current and future computer control concepts are described in this paper.The computer has been used for reporting and monitoring roles and operating the on-stream analyzer since start up of the mill in 1968, while over the past twenty months, it has been used for process control. The systems which have been developed include:1. The blending of pentlandite concentrate with pyrrhotite concentrate to produce a special product of constant nickel analysis.2. The blending of cement with tailing fill to produce backfill of consistent cement content.3. The supervisory control of xanthate, frother and pH to the flotation circuits to maintain the nickel copper concentrate grade within narrow limits.IntroductionThe Strathcona Concentrator is currently treating 7,200 tons per day of an ore which contains nickel associated with the minerals pentlandite (28 -32% Ni) and pyrrhotite (0.3 -1.0% Ni). The ratio of the nickel minerals varies from 4 to 15 parts of pyrrhotite to 1 part of pentlandite over the orebody. The production of a high grade concentrate re4uires the separation of this small quantity of .oentlandite from the much greater proportion of pyrrhotite and gangue and is complicated by the presence of two pyrrhotite minerals differing in nickel content, floatability and magnetic susceptibility."

Jan 1, 1974

By Don A. Toth

Until recently, the fire protection systems used to protect mining equipment were based on generically designed, off the- shelf concepts. These systems were reliant on single agent approaches and were generally comprised of a series of small twenty or thirty pound chemical canisters that would discharge their contents when triggered by thermal detection means. As the equipment grew in capacity, the logic used to increase the protection was to add more chemical canisters to the system. Hydraulic excavators and large-scale mining trucks grew dramatically in size into the 1990?s and beyond; with this growth came the increase in major losses due to fire. This was evidenced throughout this period, and continues to be of great concern today. During this presentation you will learn of the significant changes that have come about as a result of this history. Today, dual-agent products, infrared detection and unit-specific, engineered systems are the primary phrases used when discussing how to best protect this equipment from fire loss. This session is a must for anybody looking to optimally protect their equipment assets and for those looking to renew and/or secure new insurance for high value equipment in the future.

Apr 1, 2005

By M. Tarvainen, J. Kallioinen

"Depressed metal prices coupled with increasing production costs have presented a great challenge for operators to control and reduce the costs of production to maintain profitability. Depleting ore reserves, added to the above has forced Outokumpu to take a hard look at its operations, to develop new methods to profitably extend the life of its mines. One of the areas investigated and approved for further development has been the use of larger and more energy efficient equipment. As a result, large flotation machines were developed and today 38 and 60m3 flotation machines are in use.Secondly, ore preconcentration has been developed to avoid processing the part of the ore that has little or no mineral values.Another quite recent development and the topic of this paper, has been the use of coarse flotation before conventional flotation. The main idea is that part of the valuable mineral is separated as early as practical by floating it with specially designed flotation equipment, installed in the grinding classification circuit. The new flotation cell is specially designed for this application and differs from the conventional cells in the tank design, feed arrangement and modified mechanisms in some cases."

Jan 1, 1984

By G. J. Govett

THE RESERVES of industrial minerals of the Western Plains are probably several times more valunable than all the known deposits of metallic minerals of the Canadian Shield, though sharing little of the latter's popular appeal. Because of comparatively low value per unit weight or volume, an adequate and accessible supply of industrial minerals is essential for the full development of any territory; assessment of the value of deposits should consider fully the proximity to cheap transportation, and existing and potential markets. Production statistics of industrial minerals are probably a more reliable guide to economic development than, for example, those of petroleum, and the relative importance of industrial minerals increases with growth of the population. The development of a high-volume natural deposit such as petroleum naturally favours an increase in population, and thus industrial minerals form an integral part of an expanding industrial economy. This situation is clearly demonstrated by the relationsl1ips of industrial minerals production, petroleum production, and population growth, in Alberta (Figure 1).

Jan 1, 1959

By Tad Crowie, Victor Delgado, Nick Katsikaros, Tim Hughes

"A number of silver producers have identified a need for a system to recover silver and gold from base metal flotation concentrates on site rather than sending the concentrate to third party smelters to improve mine economics. Historically intensive cyanidation has only been used for coarse gold gravity concentrates in batch machines but Gekko have applied the InLine Leach Reactor (ILR) to these difficult to leach concentrates.The ILR’s unique ability to operate at various solid to solution ratios, high mass capacity, the ability to handle fines, the use of peroxide to aid silver leach kinetics and simple operation has resulted in significant economic benefits to Hochschild PLC’s Selene and Arcata operations. This paper describes the commissioning phase of the ILR5000BA intensive cyanidation reactors on concentrates from the Selene mine at the Ares Concentrator.INTRODUCTIONIntensive leaching of high grade concentrates in gold ore treatment is now commonplace and is considered an essential feature of most gold circuits (Lane, Fountain and LeBrooy, 2008). The devices commonly used for intensive leaching (InLine Leach Reactor, Acacia Reactor, etc) are specifically designed for the typical coarse nature of the concentrate.In some of these intensive leach applications, significant amounts of silver are co-recovered with the gold. In fact, the intensive leaching conditions of 1 to 2% NaCN in solution and high dissolved oxygen levels, overcome the issue with silver’s slow dissolution rate in traditional CIL/CIP circuits and avoids the formation of insoluble silver sulphide minerals on the surface of the gold (Marsden, 2006).There are a significant number of mine operators producing silver in the form of mixed base metal sulphides flotation concentrates. Typically the mine operators are paid for the silver after processing of the concentrate by the base metal smelter whom recovers the silver during the refining process."

Jan 1, 2010

By Juan Anes, Dominic Fragomeni, Tim Edwards, Dave Scott, Simon Yu

"The Montcalm concentrator operation was successfully commissioned in fall of 2004 at the Xstrata Copper’s Kidd Creek Metallurgical Site, Timmins. The start-up met or exceeded the Type 1 profile as defined by McNulty. Since the life-of-mine was estimated at seven years, concentrator optimisation endeavours had to be fast-tracked. These joint endeavours between the Kidd Creek Metallurgical Site staff and Xstrata Process Support were focussed on increasing ore treatment capacity and metallurgical performance. This paper reviews these endeavours. A flotation circuit survey, together with appropriate Process Mineralogy measurements, identified recovery opportunities in both locked and overground pentlandite in final tailings. The bypassing of first rougher concentrate directly to final concentrate was also recommended, given the composition of that stream. A subsequent grinding circuit survey identified a low circulating load due to poor classification performance. Modelling of these data suggested a change to the cyclone nest and pumping arrangements in the grinding circuit. Implementation of these recommendations has led to a 25% gain in milling circuit capacity as well as improved flotation circuit performance. These improvements amount to nickel and copper recovery gains of 2.57 and 1.83% respectively.INTRODUCTIONHistoryThe Montcalm Ni/Cu Ore is processed in a spare division of the Xstrata Copper’s Kidd Creek concentrator, located near Timmins in Northern Ontario. The flowsheet had been specified by earlier work, and the project fast-tracked so as to commission production operations into a time of rising nickel and copper prices. The Montcalm flow sheet starts with on-site ore crushing to - 19 mm. The crushed ore is trucked to the concentrator. This off-site crushing minimizes contamination with the Kidd Creek Cu/Zn ore. In the concentrator, rod and ball mill grinding to a target p80 of 39 µm produces the Rougher Flotation Feed. Flotation to Bulk Concentrate follows as Cu/Ni roughing and two stages of cleaning. Bulk concentrate is subjected to Cu/Ni separation using conventional column cells. Xanthate is the collector and MIBC is used as frother. Depramin C, a CMC (Carboxy Methyl Cellulose) is added to depress ferromagnesian silicates in the flotation process."

Jan 1, 2009

By T. Bhambhani, D. R. Nagaraj

"Ultramafic Ni ores present significant challenges in processing in that both recoveries and grades are not satisfactory, due to the presence of Mg silicates in large amounts. Significant quantities of xanthates and CMCs are generally used for their recovery by flotation. Additionally, given that some of these ores are processed under acidic conditions, CS2 generation due to xanthate decomposition presents some safety hazards. Technology to replace xanthate has been developed for which the safety and health issues are absent. Collector S-10294 shows significant improvements in Ni and overall S recovery at a dosing rate of one half that of xanthate. New polymeric modifiers have also been developed that help reduce the Mg content of the concentrates at very low dosages. The reagents are custom designed for use in normal or hypersaline water, and acid or alkaline conditions.INTRODUCTION The use of xanthates in sulfide mineral flotation is reported to have started as early as 1925 (Nagaraj 2005). The reagent is now ubiquitous in the mining industry, accounting for 40-50% of total collector consumption. In recent years, the development of more selective reagents has rendered xanthates largely obsolete in Cu flotation. However, xanthates continue to be sold in large amounts in the Au, PGM and Ni flotation industry, where bulk sulfide flotation is required. The low cost and easy availability is the largest driver for the use of xanthates in the minerals industry. Of particular interest to this study is the use of xanthates in the flotation of Ni sulfide ores. About 60% of the world’s annual nickel output is obtained from sulfide Ni ores (Hoatson, 2006). A strategically important category of these ores is the ultramafic hosted sulfides, such as those of Western Australia and Canada. These ores are characterized by low Ni grades (<1%), with the Ni minerals being pentlandite, violarite, millerite and mackinawite, and gangue minerals comprising an array of altered Mg silicates, mostly serpentines. The challenges associated with treating these ores are well documented (Eltham et al. 1973; Claridge et al. 1975). One challenge is that Ni recoveries from these ores are lower. This has been attributed to the increased pulp viscosity, as discussed in detail by Vasudevan et al., 2010. Additionally, Mg silicates tend to report to the concentrate in large quantities, which is problematic for two reasons: a) concentrate dilution, and b) the high melting point of Mg silicates tends accelerate wear on the refractory lining of smelters. This has been attributed to network transport to the froth phase via bubble flux and entrainment (Patra et al, 2010)."

Jan 1, 2012

By Rob Morrison, Peter Cameron

"Many products and technologies have been developed from outcomes of research projects carried out by the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC). When these products and technologies are applied to the design and optimisation of blasting, comminution and separation, improvements in profitability can be realised.In 1970 Alban Lynch promoted two practical ideas to improve plant operations:• Ore and equipment properties can be separated allowing experience with one type of ore or equipment to be transferred to other types of ore and equipment. If this experience was encapsulated in a mathematical model, then these properties could be combined and used to simulate (ie. to design and to optimise) complete mineral processing circuits.• Many problems associated with scale-up from laboratory to industrial equipment could be eliminated by experimental work on full-scale equipment in the plant.Many JKMRC research projects have focussed on the development of models of unit operations in mineral processing and their application to process simulation.Models of comminution and classification developed at the JKMRC have been used since the early 1980's. Ore characterisation techniques developed to support these models are licensed world wide through JKTech. The application of comminution modelling techniques to blasting, which optimises the process feed size distribution is used in Mine-to-Mill® projects. The advances in the understanding and modelling of froth flotation over recent years have provided the opportunity for integrated ore characterisation and process optimisation from resource to product.JKMRC project outcomes often provide proven opportunities for the mineral industry to improve performance and productivity. JKTech was established in 1986 to commercialise and market the most promising outcomes and thus ensure their continuing availability to the mineral industry.They include:• Commercial software (JKSimMet, JKSimBlast and JKMetAccount).• Monographs (Comminution and Blasting).• Technologies (Mine-to-Mill® and flotation optimisation).• Hardware products (JKFrothCam, JKJetLift® and the Mineral Liberation Analyser).This paper summarises these technologies and their benefits."

Jan 1, 2003

By Kristie Tarr

Portland cement is primarily used to solidify backfill in underground mine workings and it represents a major cost in mining operations. CANMET-MMSL has invented an alternative binder technology that does not contain any amount of Portland cement and is made using waste materials, such as development rock and smelter slag. The technology has been successfully tested with many types of base metal and ferrous slag. Research conducted in collaboration with several mining operations in Canada has shown that the CANMET-MMSL binder has considerable potential as a replacement for Portland cement in mine backfill. An integral part of the overall mining operation, backfill is used for two main purposes: safety and environmental remediation. Depending on the mining method used, backfill provides a working surface, stabilizes stope and pillar walls, as well as the surrounding rock mass, and controls caving of stope backs. There are several benefits associated with the replacement of Portland cement in backfill, including reductions in (i) the footprint by placement of slag waste underground, (ii) the environmental effects and long term liability resulting from disposal and containment of slag waste on surface such as acid rock drainage, (iii) GHG as a result of reduced Portland cement usage (the production of 1 ton of Portland cement produces 1 ton of GHG), and (iv) the significant costs associated with reduced Portland cement usage.

Oct 1, 2010

By K. S. Coley, G. A. Irons, T. Kaneyasu

"It is very important to reveal the lime dissolution mechanism in steelmaking slag, to promote its dissolution without calcium fluoride, which is now almost forbidden for use in most industrialized countries. In this research, the purpose was focused on the development of an experimental method to measure the mutual diffusivity of Ca2+ under the condition of lime dissolution into slag. By forming diffusion couples using a ""vacuum slag aspirating technique"", the method was established. The following mutual diffusivities of Ca2+, in CaO-SiO2-FeO slag systems, imitating oxygen steelmaking slag, were determined using this method:4.1*10-10 m2/s at 1400°C for 27wt.%CaO-53wt.%SiO2-20wt.%FeO slag,4.3* 10-10 m2/s and at 1400°C for 20wt.%CaO-40wt.%SiO2-40wt.%FeO slag, and 1.3*10-10 m2/s at 1250°C for 20wt.%CaO-40wt.%SiO2-40wt.%FeO slag.It was also verified that, if the basicity and ferrite content of the bulk slag are low, then a calcium silicate film forms on the lime surface, and drastically deters the lime dissolution."

Jan 1, 2004