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By Jérôme Girard, Shiu Kam, Sue Longo

"Historically, tailings management in a northern climate has involved the deposition of tailings into the Tailings Management Area (TMA) as conventional slurry. This type of system is obviously viable but presents challenges that are difficult to manage as circumstances change over the life of mine. These issues can include:? Increases in mill throughput, and? Life of the TMA for the life of mine.This case study will present how thickened, high-density, non-segregating tailings are used as an alternative to conventional slurry disposal to achieve greater storage capacity and enhanced environmental performance for a gold tailings facility in a northern climate. This paper will focus on how this change in deposition strategy accommodated the increased throughput of the mill and the increased life of mine. Specifically, the paper will discuss the addition and integration of new processes to the exiting mill system to accommodate the tailings management issues. It will highlight the challenges from laboratory testing to pre-feasibility to the engineered design of the thickened tailings system implemented at Musselwhite Mine.BACKGROUNDGoldcorp Canada’s Musselwhite Mine, in Northwestern Ontario (120 km north of Pickle Lake), is an underground gold mining operation that began production in 1997. The current mill throughput is about 4000 tpd (1.4 Mtpa). Gold extraction is based on a CIP process with cyanide destruction.The existing tailings management area (TMA) is located about 2 km southwest of the mill complex. The TMA is contained by high ground to the north and to the west and flanged by a moraine ridge along the south side. A number of dams have been constructed along this ridge. The dams were first built in 1996 and subsequently raised in 2000 and again in 2005. Excess tailings pond water is discharged to a polishing pond then released to the environment via a wetland.The TMA was originally designed to contain 13.7 Mt of tailings under a ponded surface for closure. The water cover was to inhibit adverse long-term environmental effects because the tailings contain pyrrhotite and other sulphide-bearing minerals that are potentially acid generating. The design was modified during Stage 3 Construction in 2005 to expand the storage capacity to 17.3 Mt (Golder, 2005). As of end of 2009, over 16 Mt of tailings had been deposited in the TMA. The slurried tailings were historically deposited at 50% solids."

Jan 1, 2011

By G. B. Bell

"INTRODUCTION On February 1, 1962, after five years of exploration and research, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation announced that they would develop the Adams Mine. Plant construction began immediately and in December of 1964 the first shipment of pellets arrived at J & L's blast furnaces in Pittsburgh. J & L continued to operate the property through its wholly owned subsidiary, Jones & Laughlin Mining Company, Ltd., until August of 1971 when it was sold to Dominion Foundries and Steel, Limited of Hamilton. Dofasco engaged Cliffs of Canada, a subsidiary of Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, to manage the operation of the property.SUMMARY:The Adams Mine is a one million tons per year iron ore pellet operation located in the Boston Township Iron Range, approximately seven miles southeast of Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The property includes 5,300 acres in which eight areas suitable for open pit mining have been outlined. It was estimated that the reserves in these out lined areas are sufficient to produce 30 million tons of high grade iron ore pellets.The ore 'consists of fine grained magnetite with alternating layers of chert and is mined by conventional open pit methods. This extremely hard and abrasive ore averages about 20 percent magnetic iron, and has a ratio of concentration of 3. 9 /1. Presently, mining operations are confined to two pits with a third one being developed for operations to begin in 1973.The run-of-mine ore is crushed and ground and then concentrated by magnetic separation and flotation to a concentrate grade of 68 percent magnetic iron. The concentrate is agglomerated by a grate-kiln pelletizing process and shipped by rail to Dofasco's blast furnaces in Hamilton and to Jones & Laughlin's furnaces in Pittsburgh."

Jan 1, 1973

By M. Doggett

All 231 Canadian primary gold mines that produced from 1946 to 2004 were analyzed with respect to their production and economic characteristics. Trend analysis revealed that the average annual capacity of Canadian gold mines, as measured by ore processed or gold produced, has increased over time. Conversely, the average grade of gold mines has decreased over time. The distribution of gold output is highly uneven: for example, the 22 giant mines producing more than 100 t (metric tonnes) of gold account for 62% of total output. Small mines producing less than 10 t Au account for 54% of total mines, but less than 4% of total gold. Each historical mine in the database was evaluated on the basis of a set of economic and technical assumptions to determine if it would be economic to develop today. Based on the net present value using an 8% discount rate, only 103 of the 231 mines were determined to be economic. About 80% of the uneconomic mines had less than 10 t of contained gold, and 63% had less than 5 t. It is concluded that these small mines would not be viable today due to a combination of real capital cost increases, and more stringent permitting and environmental regulations. The implication is that future gold supply in Canada will hinge on the discovery and development of a new generation of larger mines. Given that only one giant mine has been discovered in the past 20 years, it seems likely that gold output will decrease in the future.

Jan 1, 2007

By Ralph H. Cleland

GENERALLY speaking, the Industry lost ground in 1941 in its accident experience. Though the frequency of compensation accidents was but slightly higher than in the previous year and well below past experience, our fatality rate shot up to that obtaining in 1938, and the average cost per man employed was the highest for some time. The number of fatalities was 56 in 1941 as against 33 in 1940. The average cost of compensation per man employed was $34.25 in 1941 as against $28.43. There was but a slight increase in the number of men employed. Accident prevention efforts were maintained, as shown by our frequency, but our accidents were of a more serious nature. In a period of considerable labour turnover, with many new men entering the Industry, especially the base-metal division, and much mental distraction, we might well have expected a high rate of accidents. That this did not occur is a tribute to managers, supervisors, and workmen alike. We all regret the high fatality rate and one must consider why this occurred. So far as it is possible to determine, there is no apparent explanation. There were no disasters. The accidents occurred to the same class of work-men, both in respect to jobs and age groups, and from the same age-old causes that we all know so well. Luck is a big factor in the seriousness of an accident; the solution lies in preventing accidents, even first-aid cases. Generally speaking, if minor accidents do not occur, major accidents do not occur.

Jan 1, 1942

By L. Frost

"Since the late 1990s, increased prevalence of severe lung disease among US coal miners has been observed, particularly in central Appalachia where thin-seam mining is prevalent. While respirable silica exposures have been implicated in many cases, the available dust monitoring data from mines shows no explanatory trends. One possible factor could be differences in the relative toxicity of silica particles based on their surface condition. Previous research has indicated that particles with occluded surfaces (e.g., by a thin layer of clay) may be less toxic than those with non-occluded surfaces. However, this dust characteristic has not been investigated before now in central Appalachian mines. In the present study, 18 respirable dust samples from seven central Appalachian mines and two northern Appalachian mines were analyzed to assess the relative occurrence of surface-occluded silica. Results showed that the dust from central Appalachian mines actually had higher fractions of occluded silica, which may be due to extraction of large amounts of rock strata along with the coal. However, the central Appalachian mines also more silica particles overall (i.e., occluded + non-occluded) in terms of total number percentage of respirable particles.INTRODUCTIONResurgence of occupational lung disease among US coal miners, especially in the central Appalachian region, has been observed since the late 1990’s (Gibson, 2016; Zosky et al., 2016; Suarthana et al., 2011; Gamble et al., 2011; Antao et al., 2005; Attfield & Sexias, 1995). In addition to increased prevalence of simple Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (CWP, or “black lung”), the prevalence of severe and rapidly progressive disease has risen dramatically (Almberg et al., 2018; Blackley et al., 2018a, 2018b, 2016, 2014; Graber et al., 2017; Cohen et al., 2016). While exposures to respirable silica have long been known to cause or play a role in diseases such as silicosis or progressive massive fibrosis (PMF), which is conventionally considered as the most advanced form of CWP, it is unclear whether silica is the only culprit in the recent outbreak of severe disease. Indeed, as disease rates have risen, both total respirable dust and silica concentrations generally appear to have declined since the late 1980s, based on regulatory monitoring data in the most affected mining districts (i.e., MSHA coal Districts 4, 5 and 12, which cover central WV, eastern KY and southwestern VA, and southern WV, respectively) (Figure 1). Of course, the latency of disease can vary and may be or more 10 years, but many of the most recent cases are likely to have resulted from exposures that occurred since the late 1980s."

Jan 1, 2019

By Dave Rose, Jacques McMullen

"The Detour Lake mine is located 200 km northeast of Timmins, Ontario, Canada.The mill processes a free milling gold ore using both a gravity circuit and leaching with a state-of-the-art carbon-in-pulp circuit. The grinding circuit is a conventional SABC circuit with a tonnage of 55,000 tpd at 95 microns with the addition of pre-crushing upstream of the SAG mill.The Detour Lake mine has one of the largest gyratory crusher in the world (60"" x 113"") and over the years, many improvements have been made to this crusher with the result of improving plant throughput. This paper will present how choke feeding the gyratory crusher has been found to be one of the main influences on crusher product particle size and plant throughput. It will explain how the effect of choke feeding the gyratory was measured and from that, the various changes made to improve choke feeding of the gyratory crusher.IntroductionOre is hauled from the open pit mine and dumped directly into a single 60"" x 113"" primary gyratory crusher. The live capacity of both the feed and discharge hoppers of the gyratory crusher are designed for two (2) truck loads each, assuming a nominal payload of 300 tonnes per truck. The surge bin under the primary crusher feeds an apron feeder that controls the ore feed rate at approximately 4,200 tph onto a 227 metres long x 1.52 metres wide belt conveyor with a nominal capacity of 4,200 tph.The primary crusher is operated at an open side setting of 172 millimetres to produce a F80 feed to the secondary crushing circuit of 135 millimetres."

Jan 1, 2017

By M. J. Bunyard, I. Mullany

"The pressures on mine operators are varied and constantly increasing, declining ore grades, more remote locations and increasing environmental concerns. The challenge facing the mining industry is to find new ways to process ores which are more efficient and less costly and to control them better. This requires a fundamental rethink in the way in which projects are developed, it is no longer good enough to just copy what has been done before. The process starts with the surfacing of the primary underlying constraints for the project and the establishment of new design principles to address these. The generation of new design criteria and processing options follows the well-established path of brainstorm, focus, brainstorm, refocus and economic evaluation. The aim is process intensification, doing more with less, as early as possible and better use of plant data. The methodology requires a complete geometallurgical understanding of the orebody to facilitate the evaluation of viable processing options. Examples of early stage processing considered are blast optimization and ore sorting to reject waste and reduce processing costs. Mine to mill integration, which starts with the optimization of blasting for separation, offers another way to significantly reduce operating costs and increase efficiencies.VALUE MODEL The mining industry has, over the past decade, experienced an unprecedented cycle of increased commodity prices and investments in new mining and processing capacity followed by a market collapse and fall in prices and confidence. Whilst there are now some signs of a return to investment in new capacity, the metals and mining industry is still wrestling with eroding margins and investor demand that companies achieve the full value of their assets. Metals and mining companies must work on all available levers to deflate their costs back to more manageable levels and capture the full value for their products. Levers include optimizing external spending, re-thinking make vs buy trade-offs, debottlenecking, improving availability and operating time of key equipment, more accurate and agile planning processes, value-in-use optimization, and tighter performance management. Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a company’s value model. The three goals of a successful mining enterprise are social acceptance, environmental acceptance and sound financial returns to shareholders. Some of the KPI’s used to measure the success or not of achieving these goals are shown in the translation layer."

Jan 1, 2017

By Bassam Kattaa

"Abstract - A heavy mineral survey of beach and dune sands including geochemical analysis for trace elements was undertaken to evaluate the economic potential of the sands and to understand the nature and distribution of the heavy minerals relative to potential source rocks. Results indicate that heavy minerals are generally derived from outcropping volcanic rocks that comprise a proportion of the hinterland in the south part of our survey area. The most abundant minerals are magnetite and pyroxene. The morphologies of the heavy mineral grains are angular to subangular, suggesting that they were transported short distances from the source rocks. Factors controlling heavy mineral distributions include wave and wind action, proximity to provenance, the fluvial drainage network, and longshore currrents.The most economically important mineral is ilmenite. Zircon and rutile concentrations are relatively minor and thus have lower economic potential."

Jan 1, 2002

By P. A. Riveros, W. D. Gould, R. Molnar, D. W. Koren, P. Bédard

This paper reports the results of the field demonstration campaign of a new process for removing and destroying ammonia from mining/ metallurgical effluent solutions. The 50-day campaign was carried out at a uranium plant in Saskatchewan, Canada. The process was developed by adapting and integrating two well established technologies: zeolite adsorption/ elution to extract the ammonia from the effluent stream and to produce a concentrated ammonia eluate; and conversion of the ammonia in the eluate to innocuous nitrogen by applying bacterial nitrification-denitrification (NH3 = > NO3 - => N2). The data show that reasonable target criteria were met, under very challenging operating conditions. Problem areas and possible causes for poor performance are identified. Preliminary and generic cost estimates of the process are also presented.

Jan 1, 2003

Westwood Quebec Long Life, Low Cost CONSTRUCTION UPDATE ? Shaft advanced to 840m (after 1 year), 3 km of down ramp and 2 km of exploration drift ? Head frame and hoist room structure completed ? 2009, 84,700m drilling program completed (increase 9%) 2010 OUTLOOK ? $102 million expenditures planned ? Shaft to advance to 1,300m and the first loading excavate 71,500m drilling program planned

May 1, 2010

By Andrew Chapman

The scope of the SA (Situational Awareness) working group is to analyze the effectiveness of information delivery systems in mining equipment and develop a unified display design, to mitigate against the proliferation of screens within equipment cabs. This working group comprises a variety of stakeholders representing a cross-section of relevant mining and mining-related organizations. This stakeholder network will help guide the direction of the working group towards a common, mutually beneficial end. For now, the focus is on shovel displays; however it should be noted that this work is expected to form the foundation for similar work with other equipment in the future.

Aug 1, 2013

By L. Su, S. Liu, K. Jiang, K. Xie

The reduction of iron dissolution and acid consumption is fairly important in the extraction of Ni and Co from laterite ores from both economic and efficiency perspectives. BGRIMM conducted detailed research to investigate the behavior of iron in a nickel laterite leaching process. The mineralogy of Ni and Co was studied. In limonite ore about 76% of nickel is present in goethite while in saprolite ore 79% of nickel is associated with magnesium and silicon minerals. Test work revealed that limonite can be decomposed completely with enough acid concentration during atmospheric leaching. More than 98% of Ni and Co were leached into solution while 85% of the iron was also dissolved with 130-140 g/L iron in solution. Iron precipitates as hematite in the temperature range 250-270?C without neutralization reagents. That’s why limonite is treated by high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) technology to achieve nickel extraction and iron precipitation in the same autoclave. BGRIMM’s test results indicated that the remaining acid in atmospheric leaching solution and acid released by iron precipitation at a lower temperature was enough to leach saprolite efficiently. The so-called inverse leaching technology leaches limonite at atmospheric condition and the leaching slurry combined with saprolite is pumped into an autoclave to leach saprolite at 150-170?C. In the autoclave iron precipitates as hematite without acid consumption. Total nickel and cobalt extractions in the test program were more than 90% with iron content in solution below 8 g/L. In this inverse process iron dissolves in the atmospheric leaching stage and precipitates as hematite in the low temperature leaching stage. Compared with HPAL the leaching temperature is reduced to 150-170 ºC from 250-270 ºC. Compared to atmospheric tank leaching acid consumption is reduced from 850-950 kg/t ore (atmospheric) to 550-650 kg/t ore (inverse).

Jan 1, 2016

By Rees J. Llewellyn

High chromium white irons can be formulated to provide required combinations of abrasion and erosion wear resistance, toughness and capability to withstand corrosion attack. As a consequence, they are used widely in casting form throughout the mining/mineral processing industry, particularly as components for slurry pumps and also as mill and crusher liners, laminated wear plates in chutes and hoppers and in valves, nozzles and cyclones. Traditional cast chromium molybdenum and high chromium white irons for wear applications are covered in ASTM A532 Classes 11 and 111 and are also available as comparable proprietary alloys. They rely on heat-treated, hypoeutectic microstructures containing a high volume fraction of very hard eutectic/secondary metal carbides and martensite to provide extremely high wear resistance. The ability to increase the carbide volume fraction and hence achieve higher wear resistance, has been limited because of severe casting difficulties encountered when carbon and chromium contents are raised and hypereutectic alloys with structures also containing coarse acicular primary metal carbides are produced. The limitation has been overcome and cast hypereutectic chromium white iron pump components have established themselves in a wide variety of mineral processing service applications. Comparisons will be made between the microstructures and wear test performance data for the various alloy types and details will be provided of the service performance improvements that have been achieved through the use of hypereutectic chromium white irons.

May 1, 2004

By Claude Deveau

"Studies on the performance of Falcon batch type concentrators treating ultrafine tantalum at Tanco have revealed that very fine heavy minerals are concentrated within certain areas of the concentrate bed. This information led to the design of a bowl which would allow entrapped lighter low grade particles to escape while providing more space for heavier particles to be recovered in the bed.Numerous tests were then completed with a modified batch-type and non-fluidized Falcon bowl in which the diameter of the discharge lip was adjusted downward manually in steps. This allowed for the gradual building of a higher grade concentrate bed.This work ultimately led to the design of a new Falcon with an automated continuously variable lip. In April 2005, Tanco commissioned the first Falcon UF600.This paper will discuss laboratory scale results and also plant performance of the Falcon’s UF technology.INTRODUCTIONTantalum Mining Corporation of Canada, also known as Tanco, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cabot Corporation based in Boston, Mass. Operating since 1969, the underground highly mechanized room and pillar operation produces tantalum, lithium and cesium minerals and is located a 2 hour drive east-northeast of Winnipeg Manitoba, Canada.At Tanco, tantalum is recovered using conventional gravity concentration, enhanced gravity concentration and flotation. This paper will discuss how the need for improved equipment to treat very fine tantalum particles was filled by a machine which was modified to the point of creating a completely new technology.In November 2003, Tanco began the investigation for the potential use of a high g-force smooth walled concentrator for treating ultra fine tantalum produced by its flotation circuit. Until then, the tantalum flotation concentrate had been treated by a circuit which consisted of a Mozley Multi-Gravity Separator 902 (MGS), a Mozley MGS 900 and a Bartles cross belt concentrator. Through QemScan analysis, it was found that the majority of the losses from this circuit were of an extremely fine nature which exceeded the recovery limits of equipment on hand. Mean particle size of the tantalum losses was less than 10 µm."

Jan 1, 2006

By Walter Herd

For the past eight years, No. 2 mine of the Cumberland Railway & Coal Co., Springhill-a subsidiary of the Dominion Coal Co., Ltd.-has had an unenviable reputation for bumps. As the workings extended in certain directions under a greater cover, these bumps increased in severity and it became apparent some change in the system of extraction was necessary if the mine was to continue to operate. In September, 1924, following several fatalities resulting from bumps, the Mines Depart~ of Nova Scotia requested from the U. S. Bureau of Mines the services of George S. Rice, Chief Mining Engineer of the Bureau, to report on the conditions then prevalent in No. 2 mine, Springhill. °This request was promptly and courteously granted. Mr. Rice made a full investigation and a comprehensive and helpful report, which is embodied in the 1924 Annual Report of the Department of Public Works and Mines, Nova Scotia. Prior to 1925, the room-and-pillar method was employed, and in January of that year (there being a cessation of work from March to August due to labour troubles) longwall retreating on the west side, on a limited scale, and in a small section on the east side of the mine, was started. The major portion of the east side was not operated on this system till August, 1926, as there was developed a considerable area ready for pillar extraction between an arbitrary boundary and a point up to which bumps of any consequence had not been experienced. In ?the interval, development work for longwall retreating below the 5,900-foot level was vigorously pushed.

Jan 1, 1929

By John A. Wells, Leticia Conca, Kenneth G. Thomas

"Since about 2002 there has been significant capital cost escalation, not inflation, in the mining industry causing turmoil for successful project completion. Project capital costs have more than doubled and some cases tripled in this time period. This has rendered many projects to be economically challenged and in some cases not viable. In addition higher than expected operating costs have further adversely affected project metrics such as NPV and IRR. Capital cost increases for projects have been widely reported globally. This current paper reviews three items. Firstly, why such capital increases and the various components that make up capital estimates. Secondly, it looks at reasons why preliminary estimates, for example at scoping and pre-feasibility level, have been lower than the ultimate constructed costs. Such increases and differences in estimates have caused major problems for mine builders and have led to a general nervousness on the part of those providing project finance. Thirdly, what discipline is needed in project execution in an attempt to mitigate such capital increases. The paper will hopefully give a better understanding of the various issues and factors involved for those in the mining industry.INTRODUCTION The years 2012 and 2013 were a turbulent time for the mining industry. The European economic crisis, politics, metal price volatility and a wave of changes of CEO´s in some of the major mining companies all contributed to a challenging couple of years. Two issues stood out. First, the huge increases reported in the capital costs of projects, where increases of 100% - 300% were not uncommon and in some cases exceeded that during the first decade of the 21st century. Second, company write downs related to takeovers during the boom and the stabilization/correction in commodity prices. These have led to great uncertainty, made it difficult (or impossible) to raise project financing costs, contributed to the changes at CEO level and placed many projects either on hold or cancelled altogether. It is commonplace now to read of companies talking of reduced capital expenditure and making a complete review of their projects and operations to contain costs."

Jan 1, 2014

By Kym Runge, Emmy Manlapig

"The objective of an industrial flotation circuit is to separate valuable minerals from non-valuable minerals utilising differences in their flotation recovery rate. Regrinding and reagent addition are particle modification processes which are employed within these circuits to maximise the flotation selectivity of one mineral with respect to the others present in the ore feeding the process.Batch test nodal analysis, or the ability to compare floatability through mathematical combination of laboratory batch flotation test results, is a powerful technique for assessing the effectiveness of particle modification processes on ore floatability in industrial flotation circuits.In this paper, the use of nodal analysis is demonstrated within an industrial flotation circuit. It is used to show that regrinding and staged reagent addition within Teck Cominco’s Red Dog zinc retreatment circuit is beneficial to pulp flotation selectivity. Optimisation of these processes could potentially improve the zinc recovery within the circuit. Lime addition, which is periodically employed to depress pyrite in the circuit, was found to depress sphalerite in preference to pyrite and to result in poorer metallurgical performance in the circuit.INTRODUCTIONThe objective of an industrial flotation circuit is to separate valuable minerals from non-valuable minerals utilising differences in their flotation recovery rate.Different minerals can only be effectively separated using flotation if they are sufficiently liberated from each other (i.e. do not co-exist within the same particles) and have a sufficient difference in surface hydrophobicity. Size reduction processes and chemical addition are utilised before and within a flotation circuit to achieve sufficient particle liberation and to maximise differences in mineral hydrophobicity. In effect, the objective of these processes is to maximise the flotation selectivity of one mineral with respect to the others present in the ore feeding the process."

Jan 1, 2004

By A. Bamber

Canadian leadership in a global mining context will depend not only on entrepreneurship and best practice but also on technological innovation. This paper argues for more ambition and commitment to R&D for technological innovation in Canadian mining. It focuses on underground hardrock mining, where past R&D initiatives have simply not stood the test of time, and it is important to examine why. Concerns arise because industry’s commitment to R&D has not been sustained over time. Innovation through exploration, processing, and environmental technologies has been more significant. Meanwhile, R&D capacity and synergies in government institutions and universities have not been exploited. There is a need for more commitment, coordination, and collaboration by industry, governments, and universities. This paper examines some corporate models that have achieved sustainable innovation, along with some that have not. A strategy for innovation is discussed that relates to culture, commitment, coordination, and collaboration.

Jan 1, 2005

By Vu Van Dong

Resource estimation is the science of determining the amount and quality of a given material in the ground that has the potential to be mined at a profit. This is because during this time computers have become more widely available and more powerful and software packages have become more comprehensive and user friendly. Over the past three years The Mining Geology Company with the support from Vinacomin Group has developed the Coal Geological Modelling and Reserve Estimation ? VMG system. The VMG system enables the geological and mining engineer to start at the reserve estimation for the mine design and planning. The VMG system enables the national and international standards (NI43-101, CIM-Canada; SAMREC Code, Africa, and JORC Code, Australia) and user friendly with menu driven thereby permitting the engineer with minimal computer training to rapidly learn and utilize the system. Geological and mining data input through digitized map files and drill-holes information files stored in the database that is an integral part of the VMG system with the main function for collection, validation, and recording, storing and processing of data will include both ?primary? (observation and measurement) and ?interpreted? data. It is recommend that data be stored digitally, using a documented, standard format and a reliable storage medium that allows for easy and complete retrieval of the data. The coal reserve estimation through standard polygon methods with the increased use of these mathematical techniques (geometrical modelling, geostatistical method, least square method, ?) over the last ten years corresponds, to some degree, to a decrease in both the amount of the coal deposit mapping and, in particular, coal seam structural interpretation and modelling, and permit rapidly evaluation of coal seam and overburden quality and quantity. The understanding of the relationship between the coal mineralization of interest and the likely related complicate geological processes and structure that govern its emplacement and geometry within the geological framework is essential to the establishment of the geological controls for coal mineralization. System outputs includes: drillholes summary reports, stratigraphy, cross-sections, isopach maps, structure, contour maps, premining and post mining topography maps, and 3D perspective view on coal seam structure.

Oct 1, 2009

By A. E. Hilder

Introductory The following pages present the results of field investigations, laboratory and commercial tests, drilling, surveying, and preliminary development of the refractory clays which have been discovered recently in the township of Kipling, at the foot of Long rapids on the west side of the Mattagami river about 57 miles north of Kapuskasing and approximately 7 miles north of Smoky Falls, the terminus of the privately owned railway operated by the Spruce Falls Power and Paper Company, Kapuskasing (see Figure 1). Investigations on the clays of northern Ontario have been carried on over a period of seven years by officers of the Ontario Department of Mines, and I am indebted to the information published by that Department in reports by W. S. Dyer and A. R. Crozier, as well as?by Professor R. J. Montgomery, of the Ceramic Department, University of Toronto. It was, in large measure, the data given in the 37th, 38th, and 42nd Annual Reports of the Ontario Department of Mines that led me to make a personal investigation of the Mattagami River clays, with the result that we now have a commercial undertaking that will develop eventually into an industry of considerable importance in supplying the central manufacturing districts of Canada with refractories that heretofore have been largely imported from the United States. An extract from the 42nd Annual Report of the Department, Part III, 1933, page 75, reads as follows: "As for the refractory clay, the deposits are undoubtedly very large, but what is urgently needed is a deposit near the railway under sufficiently shallow overburden for recovery by stripping'. Having previously made an investigation of the clays adjacent to the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario railway, and these clays proving unsuitable, I turned my attention to the outcrops of refractory clays on the Mattagami river, first reported by Keele in 1919. This area offered possibilities within the economically permissible distance from rail transportation.

Jan 1, 1935