Search Documents

Presentation Outline Introduction Deposit Characteristics Geology Grade, Value and Tonnage Estimates 2006 Advanced Program Drilling Bulk Sampling DMS Test Facility 2006 Exploration Summary

May 1, 2006

By Robert J. McCarthy

Mining has a record of achievement in developing and adopting new technology to facilitate the extraction of increasingly challenging resources. Certainly larger, or more capable, mining equipment has allowed mining companies to mine mineral deposits at lower unit costs; however, there has also been the advent of computerized systems that aid in the management and tracking of mining operations. Unfortunately, the latter computerized systems have not always had the success anticipated with their implementation. This paper explores the view that increased transparency of the planning and operating cycle in a mine, as provided by certain computerized systems, can result in some resistance from those whose work becomes ?exposed?. Examples are drawn from industry-leading technologies for both mine management and reconciliation that illustrate the issues and challenges that result. The adoption of appropriate change management principles is suggested as a best practice in planning and mitigating the challenges in implementing technologies which increase transparency in the mining environment.

May 1, 2011

By Robert W. Baker

"Brunswick Mining and Smelting commenced production at the No. 12orebody, a lead/zinc/copper/silver deposit, situated some seventeen miles southwest of Bathurst, New Brunswick, in 1964 at 4100 tonnes per day. Today it operates at 10500 tonnes per day.Brunswick has utilized underground incentives since commencement of operations. Early incentive systems were “off the wall"" based on those in effect at other properties then manipulated to fit, often hack calculated from actual performances to tm1ve at the desired result. If subsequent payouts were considered too high the rates were simply reduced, often retroactively. A large amount of this was' subjective and depended to a large extent on whoever was handling the bonus, in conjunction with senior mine department staff.In 1971, it was' decided that a more scientific approach was needed, particularly with the introduction of the new cut-and-fill mining. After some research, a system based on Work Study was selected. Another major mining company employing such a system loaned one of their experienced employees to train some Brunswick personnel in the art of Work Study and conversion of data to incentive rates, and in 1972, the first such developed incentive rate was-introduced.Along the way, borrowing from others where necessary, a set of Brunswick principles and parameters were developed. While refined to some extent, these remain basically the same today.Improvements in methods and equipment have resulted in improved performance and reduced costs. The use of underground incentives has played an important role in this. A/though individual bonus earnings have steadily increased, bonus cost per tonne has remained nearly constant - in real dollars, it has regularly decreased. These are two of the main parameters of a successful system."

Jan 1, 1995

By H. Dundar, C. Dzomeku

An extensive testwork was performed around the HPGR plant at GoldFields Ghana Limited Tarkwa Gold Mine. The HPGR was used to prepare the feed for heap leaching. The circuit was configured in such a way that the edge material from the HPGR discharge was recycled for further crushing while the product from the centre reported to the heap leach section. The set-up of the Polysius HPGR provided an opportunity to study the effect of different design and operating variables. This paper will discuss the results from the tests performed to assess the effect of rolls’ speed and applied pressure on the capacity and the grinding efficiency of the HPGR. Applying different pressure values appeared to have an influence on the amount of edge material recycled.

Jan 1, 2012

By Andrew Neale, Len Anderson, Rob Perry

"P.T Freeport Indonesia's new SAG mill commenced operation in February 1995. The reclaim system consists of four apron feeders and a series of three conveyors. The feeders are used in various combinations and relative speeds to blend SAG mill feed. It was recognized during design of the control system that effective automatic control would require dead-time and gain compensation. The successful implementation of the Dahlin algorithm to provide variable dead-time and gain compensation is described and compared to Pl control.RésumeL'opération du nouveau SAG de P.T. Freeport Indonésie a commencé en Février 1995. Le système de réclamation du minerai comprend 4 alimentateurs à tablier et une série de 3 convoyeurs. Les alimentateurs sont utilisés dans une combinaison variée et à des vitesses relatives différentes pour mélanger l'alimentation du SAG. II a été reconnu pendant la conception du système du contrôle que le contrôle automatique demandera une compensation pour le temps de délai et le gain. L'implantation de l'algorithme de Dahlin a été un succès et ii est comparé avec le contrôle Pl.ResumenP.T. Freeport Indonesia inició la operación de un molino semi autogeno (SAG) en febrero de 1995. El mineral es alimentado desde cuatro alimentadores tipo apron feeders y una serie de correas transportadoras. Los alimentadores se utilizan en variadas combinaciones y velocidades para mezclar apropiadamente el mineral que alimenta al molino SAG. Durante el diseño del sistema de control se detectó que el control automático requería de un tiempo muerto y compensaci6n de ganancia. En este documento se describe la implementación del algoritmo de Dahlin, que ha sido exitosa y ha permitido proveer tiempos muertos variables y compensaci6n de ganancia. Ademas se hace una comparaci6n con el Pl de control."

Jan 1, 1996

By Nancy C. Mohn

?Even though the age of many existing coal units exceeds 30 years, these units continue to perform with excellent reliability and at a competitive cost with other fossil fuel units. ?NERC data shows a consistent increase in availability for all utility coal generation ?With the opening of power markets, the challenge for coal is to produce competitive electricity while meeting increasingly stringent, and costly environmental limits. ?During the 60s and 70s, subcritical steam power plants dominated the market. The emphasis was on scale-up to larger MW size units. ?In the last decade, we have seen interest in a broader set of technologies with new drivers: ?Fluidized bed technology was developed to respond to increased environmental requirements, particularly with lower quality fuels ?Supercritical pressure units have gained interest for both fuel cost savings and reduced emissions due to higher efficiency.

May 1, 2001

By H. Tokuichi, H. Ohta, K. Sato

A physical separation technique of tantalum capacitors from waste print circuit boards is in a development phase in Japan. A tantalum capacitor consists of an exterior coating of resin (epoxy resin) mixed with silica fillers and a sintered tantalum compact, the latter of which is impregnated with manganese dioxide (MnO2). In this study, we developed a process to recover tantalum oxide from tantalum capacitors by roasting, fluidized-bed separation, and hydrometallurgical treatments. Our aim was to recover tantalum oxide with high purity from waste tantalum capacitors. In this process, the exterior resin was selectively decomposed by roasting without oxidation and pulverization of the sintered tantalum compact at a proper temperature. Furthermore, the decomposed resin with silica filler on the surface of the sintered tantalum compact was mostly removed by fluidized-bed separation. The surface of the sintered tantalum compact was cleaned by ultrasonic irradiation in an acid solution to remove the MnO2 paste as well as residual Ag paste and silica filler. The impregnated MnO2 in the sintered tantalum compact was leached as Mn(II) ions using acid solutions via the reducing effect of tantalum metal to recover purified tantalum oxide.

Jan 1, 2014

By Ali Roshanfekr

Linear mine-waste dumps at open-pit mine sites essentially represent expedient places to deposit large quantities of waste rock. Being in valleys in most cases, the effect of the water flowing through and out of the deposit often raises questions about their hydraulic behaviour and geotechnical stability, especially the zone of the downstream toe. In order to provide better tools to assess the behaviour of these dumps a laboratory and analytical study was conducted. Firstly, physical models were built to assess the flow capacity and hydraulics associated with the linear growth of such dumps. It was found that the elevation of the point of first-emergence on the downstream side becomes constant after the dump grows to a certain length, but that the upstream depth concurrently increases. The limits of applicability of the theories of Hansen et al. (1995, 2005) are discussed in this regard. Secondly, in analysing the seepageface downstream, two approaches for solving this spatially varied flow (SVF) problem were undertaken. Under one of the approaches links to SVF depths were merely made to the hydraulic heads of the body (interior) and flux was calculated using conventional surficial nodes after the fact, Under the other approach flux nodes were used to link the SVF algorithm to the hydraulic heads further ?inside? the body of the rockfill. Although there are inherent uncertainties, it was found that these two methods can be made to perform equally well. Research continues but it appears that a linear variation in depth can be assumed without inducing any unrealistic exit gradients in the zone of primary concern with respect to unravelling.

May 1, 2011

By James F. Allan

"The Kipawa yttrium-zirconium prospect is located about 150 km south of Noranda, Quebec. Yttrium-zirconium mineralization occurs in an elongate, regionally metamorphosed and deformed peralkaline complex in the Grenville terrain. The mineralized zone, as defined by =.0.10% Y2O3, is 1300 m long and 10 m to 30 m wide. Zirconium content typically ranges from 0.50 to 1.20% ZrO2, The mineralized zone strikes northwest and dips 20 degrees to 35 degrees to the southwest. It occurs at the structural base of the peralkaline complex in syenite gneiss and calc-silicate rocks and is conformable with both the footwall contact of the complex, and the layering and gneissosity in the enclosing rocks. Minerals of economic interest are eudialyte (sodium-zirconium silicate), mosandrite (sodium-titanium silicate), britholite (calcium-silica phosphate), and a few other uncommon zirconium and titanium silicate minerals.The highest and most continuous yttrium grades occur in the upper part of the syenite gneiss unit in areas containing eudialyte, mosandrite and minor britholite. Yttrium also occurs in britholite in calc-silicate rocks and in mosandrite in syenitic rocks in the lower part of the syenite gneiss unit. Both the yttrium-bearing minerals and yttrium grades are erratic in the lower part of the unit. Zirconium is generally more uniformly distributed than yttrium. A peralkaline granite gneiss phase of the complex intrudes the syenite gneiss and possibly truncates it, and the mineralization, near the southern boundary of the mineralized zone.The mineralized zone is coincident with a radiometric anomaly and discontinuous yttrium and zirconium soil anomalies.More drilling and metallurgical studies will be required to determine the economic viability of the yttrium and zirconium mineralization at Kipawa."

Jan 1, 1992

By James F. Allan

"The Kipawa yttrium-zirconium prospect is located about 150 km south of Noranda, Quebec. Yttrium-zirconium mineralization occurs in an elongate, regionally metamorphosed and deformed peralkaline complex in the Grenville terrain. The mineralized zone, as defined by =.0.10% Y2O3, is 1300 m long and 10 m to 30 m wide. Zirconium content typically ranges from 0.50 to 1.20% ZrO2, The mineralized zone strikes northwest and dips 20 degrees to 35 degrees to the southwest. It occurs at the structural base of the peralkaline complex in syenite gneiss and calc-silicate rocks and is conformable with both the footwall contact of the complex, and the layering and gneissosity in the enclosing rocks. Minerals of economic interest are eudialyte (sodium-zirconium silicate), mosandrite (sodium-titanium silicate), britholite (calcium-silica phosphate), and a few other uncommon zirconium and titanium silicate minerals.The highest and most continuous yttrium grades occur in the upper part of the syenite gneiss unit in areas containing eudialyte, mosandrite and minor britholite. Yttrium also occurs in britholite in calc-silicate rocks and in mosandrite in syenitic rocks in the lower part of the syenite gneiss unit. Both the yttrium-bearing minerals and yttrium grades are erratic in the lower part of the unit. Zirconium is generally more uniformly distributed than yttrium. A peralkaline granite gneiss phase of the complex intrudes the syenite gneiss and possibly truncates it, and the mineralization, near the southern boundary of the mineralized zone.The mineralized zone is coincident with a radiometric anomaly and discontinuous yttrium and zirconium soil anomalies.More drilling and metallurgical studies will be required to determine the economic viability of the yttrium and zirconium mineralization at Kipawa."

Jan 1, 1992

The Cadia mine is shifting from the open pit operation to the Cadia East underground block cave. The resulting increase in milled tonnes and the decrease in fines production through shifting to block caving require an increase of over 25% in installed power. This expansion is being accomplished via the installation of up-front crushing and HPGR milling of the ore, with the SAG mill receiving a secondary crushed feed. This design, criteria and rationale for selection is presented. Over the coming years, the mine will further expand capacity. The target is to accomplish this with minimal addition of installed power or use of fresh water. This presents a challenge that epitomizes the future constraints on our resource dependent and intensive industry. The approach and proposed options to this longer-term expansion are also presented.

Jan 1, 2012

By R. Liu

As Building Information Modeling (BIM) becomes widely adopted by the construction industry, it holds undeveloped possibilities for supporting Facility Management (FM). Some FM information systems on the market claim to address the needs for FM requirement. However, the question of whether the functionalities provided by the current BIM-based FM software companies are those actually required by the FM Professionals still need to be answered. The data is required by FM professionals in the operation and maintenance phases of facilities and type of maintainability problems that frequently occur, which can be solved early in design phase, have not yet been addressed. The aim of this paper is to clarify the frequently occurring maintainability problems and to investigate the potential areas that can use BIM technology to solve the maintenance problems in early the design phase. A survey was conducted to collect perspectives from the industry practitioners for the maintenance problems and their frequency. The survey results indicated that maintainability considerations should be taken into consideration during the facility design phase. The results also address the perceived areas by practitioners that need maintainability consideration in design phase.

Aug 1, 2013

By Vincent H. Hartung

The process of estimating tailings deposition for a given basin is a relatively tedious process without dedicated software tools. The amount of time required to generate a tailings surface for a given set of conditions tends to limit the number of design alternatives that can be considered for a particular project. Recent innovations in the Surpac Vision mining software include the widely used scripting language TCL (Tool Command Language) that brings with it the ability for non-programmers to extend the software functionality beyond mining applications alone. A software tool was developed using the Surpac Vision scripting language to take advantage of 3D visualization and create a flexible tailings modeling solution. The result is an application that removes much of the drafting overhead required to produce a tailings surface. It provides the means for reviewing alternatives and performing sensitivity analysis with variables such as pond elevation, dam or spigot location and height without a significant increase in overall time for a project.

May 1, 2001

By J. P. Aiello

"INTRODUCTIONWhile this paper deals specifically with potential coal use at the Cold Lake Project of Esso Resources Canada Limited, a majority of the technical aspects of coal conversion could apply to any oil field and industrial boilers or stearn generators. In 1962, Imperial Oil Limited's production arm (the forerunner of Esso Resources), began examining methods of extracting bitumen from a 50 m thick layer of oil sand buried 450 m below the surface in the Cold Lake area. Almost two decades of research followed to develop an in situ oil sands recovery technology that made commercial production feasible.A $13 billion mega project that would have produced 22 000 m3/d (141 000 barrels/day) of synthetic crude oil (160 000 bpd of bitumen) was shelved in 1981, and ultimately replaced by a phased development strategy, involving smaller production units, to bring blended bitumen production on stream as markets and prices permit.The first two phases came into production in 1985. There are currently a total of six phases in production with four more in the construction stage. Each phase has 130to 140production wells (initially) and a central plant with water treatment, crude treatment and stearn generating facilities capable of producing 150 m3/d (9500 bpd of raw bitumen). The stearn generation section for each phase consists of three 180millionBtulhour oil fieldsteam generators.In its natural state, the bitumen is too thick to be recovered using conventional oil recovery techniques. At the Cold Lake Project, bitumen is recovered by a method called cyclic stearn stimulation. Water is pumped to the central plant where it is treated and heated to produce high pressure, high temperature steam. During the steam cycle, this steam is transported in insulated pipelines to the wells for injection into the oil sand formation. This cycle lasts from 30 to 50 days, heating the formation and causing the bitumen to flow. Following an initial flowback period, a surface based artificial lift system pumps the heated liquid bitumen, mixed with water and gas, out of the well and back to the central plant. The water and gas are separated from the bitumen, with the gas being used to provide some of the fuel for the stearn generators and the water being treated and recycled. Approximately 5% of the water cannot be recycled and is disposed of by injection into deep formations . The bitumen is blended with a diluent and shipped by pipeline to market."

Jan 1, 1989

By Andrew D. Lapworth

The use of geological and grade models has been standard practice in mine design for many years now, with a wide range of software available to create and analyze the models. Although geotechnical parameters are also of vital importance for mine planning, there has been very little in the way of commercially available systems for integrating geotechnical data into the mine planning and design process. Sirovision is a new technology based on digital photography for automated, safe and accurate 3D mapping of geological and geotechnical features in rock faces. Datamine has integrated this capability into its product range so that Sirovision becomes an integral part of day-to-day face mapping, mine geology and geological / geotechnical modeling in both open pit and underground mines. This results in improved fragmentation for loading, hauling and processing, and for open pits local geotechnical conditions can be taken into account to improve slope design and control. This paper describes some of the ways that geotechnical modeling can be used to create more refined and cost effective mine designs and then discusses the role of Sirovision in enabling the raw data required for such modeling to be collected quickly, safely and reliably.

May 1, 2007

By I. B. Lambert

The guide has been developed by officials from resources and environment agencies in the Australian Government and the South Australian and Northern Territory Governments. It elaborates on the Australian Government?s policy that new uranium mines are to be approved subject to world best practice environmental and safety standards. The guide outlines the best practice principles and approaches that apply generally to mining in Australia, before giving more detailed consideration to best practice environmental protection and regulation for ISR mining.

Aug 1, 2010

By Clifford R. Stanley

"Abstract - Reproducible analyses of representative samples for elements affected by the ‘nugget effect’ is vital in mineral exploration and reserve estimation. Unfortunately, a priori knowledge of what size of sample is representative from a mineral deposit or its dispersion train is commonly unavailable. Use of the simple ‘equant grain model’ and the NUGGET computer program facilitates determination of the sampling parameters that will produce appropriate samples for chemical analysis. Based on Poisson statistics, NUGGET can be used to determine: (1) the ‘effective grain size’ of nuggets in a suite of samples, (2) the level of representativity (precision) that samples with specific nugget grain sizes will exhibit, and (3) the sample size required to obtain a specific level of sample representativity. The program determines these sampling parameters for any element in any mineral, including solid solution minerals (e.g., Au, electrum, Pt-Fe alloy, diamond), and allows assumption of a variety of grain shapes (e.g., ellipsoids, cylinders, parallelepipeds, etc.). Furthermore, it outputs the effective number of nuggets expected in a sample of given size and the percentile confidence bounds on any element concentration affected by the nugget effect.Results from the software allow determination of effective sampling and analysis strategies that minimize the nugget effect in geochemical analysis/assaying used in mineral exploration and reserve estimation. This will not only improve confidence in the resulting exploration results or reserve estimate, but will facilitate estimation of the error associated with any subsequent interpretation or reserve figure."

Jan 1, 1998

By Robert Lamarre

We will present the summary of a number of case studies whereby mining organizations have succeeded in maximizing equipment uptime by reducing the number of maintenance parts stock outs by more than 80% while scaling down total inventory maintenance parts by more than 20%. We will present a thorough comprehensive methodology to improve business processes in order to optimize inventory management and forecasting. We will examine: ? Demand management optimization ? Forecasting organization ? Inventory management parameters optimization ? Improved replenishment processes ? Inventory optimization and the right KPIs and exception reports We will provide cases in point such as Areva in Africa, Cambior (IAMGOLD) in South America, Osisko Mining Corporation, Barrick Gold/Bousquet Mine and Aurizon Mines Ltd./Casa Berardi in North America. We will discuss how Inventory Management World Best Practices operates in a maintenance environment. We will present how an integrated approach, coupled with a strong Enterprise Asset Management or CMMS system with an Inventory Optimization system specially designed to manage spare parts, actually promises and delivers results.

Nov 1, 2011

By R. C. Snider

The Roy Lloyd Mine in northern Saskatchewan is a high-grade underground gold mine which is currently supplying ore to Golden Band Resources Inc. (Golden Band)?s Jolu mill. Prior to the operation of the mine, an underground exploration program was conducted intermittently at the site. During both the underground exploration phase and mining, Golden Band has implemented water recycling to reduce freshwater usage within the mine in order to address concerns over the potential for impacts associated with freshwater usage and to reduce the volume of effluent discharged from the site. Golden Band initiated an underground exploration program at the Roy Lloyd Mine site (formerly called the Bingo Project) in October 2007 to better delineate the mineralization of the Bingo gold deposit. The exploration program provided geological information required in order to improve the confidence level of the geological resource model and also provided information to aid in the mining of the deposit, such as the determination of groundwater inflow rates. Underground production mining started in March 2011. This paper provides an overview of the mine water recycling methods implemented at the site during both the exploration and initial mining phases of the project, and the success/drawbacks of these measures to date, including the potential cost savings in the form of reduced treatment and monitoring costs inherent in a reduction of the volume of effluent discharged from the site. The paper will also discuss options that are currently being evaluated in order to further assist Golden Band?s ability to recycle water and reduce the volume of effluent discharged to the environment, while ensuring effluent discharged from the site to the environment meets criteria.

Nov 1, 2011

By J. M. Cooper

The HBMS reverb furnace in Flin Flon was originally designed in the late 1920s. Throughout the decades campaign life has been increased due to operational practices, technological changes and brick quality improvements. In recent decades the campaign life had been extended such that a complete rebuild was scheduled every 3 years. The latest furnace rebuild and start up has been after a campaign life of nearly 6 years. Brick construction methods and techniques along with furnace operational practices allow the present campaign to be double that of the historical campaign length.

Jan 1, 2007