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By Jacob W. Young

A casual reading of the geological literature extant to-day would give one the impression that carbon is an element which by some chance or another always existed at or near the surface of the earth, and was never of a magmatic origin. The carbonaceous matter in shales is said to be of vegetal derivation; petroleum is stated to have been derived from vegetable matter or from marine animal bodies; if carbon or bituminous matter is found in igneous rocks or associated with metallic ores, the statement is made that deeply buried carbonaceous sedimentaries were undoubtedly the source from which such carbon or bituminous matter was derived. This, I do not consider a reasonable or common sense view of the matter. Carbon is one of the elements of which the earth is composed. In the table giving the periodicity of the elements it comes sixth in the order of increasing atomic weights. It is an element formed like all the rest were formed, and must be as common to the interior of the earth as the rest of the eighty-odd elements so far discovered. The spectroscopic analysis of light from the sun, and the stars, shows the presence of carbon in the sun and in the colder stars. Thus with carbon, an element, found throughout the universe as well as on the earth, it is entirely reasonable to consider it as present in the interior of the earth with the other elements. Such being the case, the magmatic origin for the various forms of carbon in rocks and ores is a rational and logical conclusion. If but a small fraction of thought and effort was made along these lines, which is made in fostering the idea of the organic origin of the carbon found in the earth's crust, untold advances in this phase of geological science would result.

Jan 1, 1925

By J. R. Goode

ABSTRACT Aurora Energy Ltd. is considering a 10,000 t/d process plant to produce 97 million lb (43,998,460 kg) of U3O8 over a 17-year project from uranium deposits in coastal Labrador. This paper summarizes the test work, mostly done by SGS Mineral Services in Lakefield, Ontario, and the economic studies supporting flowsheet selection. The proposed flowsheet includes semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) and ball milling, acid leaching using air/SO2 as an oxidant, and resin-in-pulp (RIP) extraction of uranium from the leached slurry. Other unit operations examined include ore sorting, heap leaching, liquid- solid separation, solvent extraction, and nanofiltration for eluate upgrading. We also review the extensive environmental test work and studies that were completed.

Jan 1, 2012

By S. Espley, T. Nyabeze, D. Beneteau

"Many mentorship programs are available to Canadian mining industry employees. Some are company-led initiatives, whereas others are provided through educational institutions or nonprofit organizations. In 2016, a national survey was launched to gain insight into perceptions of what mentorship is, learn about available programs, and collate experiences with formal and informal mentorship opportunities. This paper outlines survey findings and delivers recommendations to industry for consideration in employee mentorship programs. In addition, mining industry leaders share their mentor/mentee perspectives. The intent of this paper is to bring awareness of best practices that can help employees grow and develop in their profession.RÉSUMÉ Les employés de l’industrie minière canadienne ont accès à de nombreux programmes d’encadrement. Certains sont des initiatives menées par les sociétés, d’autres sont proposées par le biais d’établissements d’enseignement ou d’organismes à but non lucratif. En 2016, une enquête à l’échelle nationale a été lancée en vue d’obtenir des informations quant à la perception de ce qu’est réellement l’encadrement, de découvrir les programmes proposés et de comparer les expériences aux possibilités d’encadrement, officielles ou non. Cet article présente les résultats de cette enquête et fournit des recommandations à l’intention de l’industrie afin qu’elle les prenne en compte dans ses programmes d’encadrement des employés. En outre, des chefs de file de l’industrie minière partagent leurs points de vue conseillers/protégés. L’intention de cet article est de sensibiliser les employés aux meilleures pratiques, ce qui les aidera à évoluer et à se développer dans leur profession. INTRODUCTIONThis paper about mentorship in the mining industry is based on voluntary responses to a cold survey, written and circulated by the authors. In 2016, a link to an online mentorship survey was circulated to males and females in the mining industry with the belief that mentorship programs should be available to everyone. The link was delivered via the authors’ personal networks in mining, the CIM Reporter, Women in Mining (WIM) email blasts, LinkedIn, and Facebook. This paper summarizes the answers to the survey questions. The paper is a follow up to one by the same authors (Nyabeze, Espley, & Beneteau, 2010), which was written to gain insight into why women join and stay in the mining industry, and to learn why the overall representation of women is low."

Jan 1, 2018

By Edward S. Bell, Frank Angebrandt

"Nuclear reactors must have very large heat outputs to compete with conventional sources and the only feasible applications are in the production of electric power or large quantities of process steam. This paper considers alternative fuels for electric power generation in Canada. In a publicly owned utility, nuclear stations are economic for base-load generation for unit sizes of 500 mega• watts or larger where competitive fossil fuel costs are higher than about 30 cents per million Btu. In British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, fossil fuels will continue to be in adequate supply at costs lower than 30 cents per million Btu and thus, except for the special case of Vancouver Island, power generation in Western Canada will continue to be the hydraulic and conventional thermal type. In Eastern Canada, fossil fuel prices are likely to be higher than 30 cents per million Btu and most utilities will be able to install units of 500 mw or larger, so that nuclear power plants will provide much of the base-load generation required. Base-load generation comprises about two-thirds of the energy generated by power utilities. By 1990, the total annual electrical energy load will be over 600 billion kwh, with two-thirds of this load in Eastern Canada. Allowing for additional hydraulic resources which may be developed in Quebec, British Columbia and Manitoba, hydraulic generation is forecast to provide a little more than a third of this electrical energy, nuclear generation a third and fossil-fuelled generation about a quarter."

Jan 1, 1969

By R. B. Ellestad

Introduction Lithium has been known since 1817, when it was discovered by the Swedish chemist, Arfvedson, while working in the laboratory of Berzelius on the chemical analysis of the mineral petalite, LiAl(Si205)2. Development of the chemistry of lithium proceeded slowly, following the early work of Davy, Gmelin, Bunsen, and Matthiessen. Approximately seventy years elapsed before lithium products assumed any commercial importance, and for a considerable period it was a' very minor industry. Their chief early use seems to have been in medicine, and in the production of lithiated water. Other more important uses were gradually discovered, and the industry has had a slow but steady growth. Chemistry Lithium is classified as an alkali metal, along with sodium, potassium, rubidium, and cæsium. Like these, it is a silvery-white metal, which can be cut with a knife; it is harder than sodium, but softer than lead" It is remarkable in having a density of only 0.53 gram per cubic centimeter, which makes it the lightest metal. On ignition in air, it burns intensely to form chiefly lithium monoxide, Li2O. Like the other alkali metals, lithium reacts vigorously with water to form hydrogen and lithium hydroxide. The later is a strong base, and reacts with acids to form salts. The salts of lithium are in general analogous to those of the -other alkalies, but many of them have unique properties. For example, lithium chloride and bromide are extremely hygroscopic, and have a very high water solubility. Lithium fluoride, phosphate, and carbonate, on the other hand, are all relatively insoluble, unlike the corresponding sodium and potassium compounds. In this instance, lithium exhibits its frequent tendency to resemble the alkaline-earth group of elements (calcium, strontium, and barium). Many of the special and valuable properties of lithium are related to the extremely small size of the lithium ion.

Jan 1, 1948

By Xueyuan Nie, Xuezhi Zhang, Henry Hu, Shen Xinwei, Jimi Tjong, Li Fang

With the demand for weight reduction in vehicles and airplanes, researchers have shown great interested in casting wrought aluminum alloy 7075 because of its potential advantages such as high strength-to-density ratio and stress-reduction capabilities. It is therefore essential to conduct a fundamental investigation on solidification behavior and grain microstructure of alloy 7075. In this study, a commercially-available wrought aluminum alloy 7075 was used to study the solidification behavior of alloy 7075. A thermal analysis was performed based on the cooling curve and its corresponding first and second derivative curves. The nucleation of the primary a-Al phase and eutectic phases were analyzed. The comparison between the microstructures of the wrought and cast 7075 alloys shows that coarse microstructure and porosity are present in the cast alloy. The techniques for grain refinement in casting, such as the addition of the nucleating particles and applied pressure, should be employed to reduce the dendrite arm spacing and the porosity.

Jan 1, 2015

By D. E. Smith, M. K. Murthy

"The commercial potential of a silica-kaolin deposit that occurs on the banks of and close to the Missinaibi River in the District of Cochrane, Ontario, is under evaluation by Algocen Mines Limited. The geological features of the deposit, as well as its probable origin, are described. Mineralogical analysis of the deposit samples indicates that the principal minerals are quartz and kaolinite clay; it is estimated that about 20 per cent of the deposit is kaolin clay. The impurity minerals present are: a slightly magnetic Fe-Ti oxide mineral, goethite, muscovite mica, tour-maline, staurolite, anatase and zircon. Laboratory research studies are in progress to develop and evaluate suit-able methods for the separation of silica sand from kaolin. Results to date indicate that good-quality silica sand with an Fe,03 content in the range of 0.012 to 0.025 per cent can be produced. It appears that the clay portion can also be beneficiated to yield products meeting commercial requirements. It has been possible to beneficiate a portion of theetlay to obtain the particle size distribution now specified by industry. However, research is continuing to develop suitable separation and beneficiation methods which can produce kaolin clay meeting all the commercial requirements."

Jan 1, 1970

By Gyeonghye Moon, Inhyeok Choi, Jyothi Rajesh Kumar, Jin-Young Lee

"This paper deals with the recovery of the tungsten and vanadium from spent SCR catalyst leach liquors by different hydrometallurgical methods. The first part consists of pressure leaching of spent SCR catalyst using caustic soda followed by metal recovery by liquid-liquid extraction. In a leaching process, the following experimental parameters were tested and optimized: NaOH, particle size of feedstock, temperature, and solid to liquid ratio. The optimum condition for leaching of tungsten and vanadium was under the following conditions: NaOH 3 mol/L, temperature 250°C, particle size <300 µm, and solid to liquid ratio 0.4. From these optimum conditions in this experiment, the dissolution efficiency of vanadium and tungsten was 91.5and 87%, respectively. Liquid-liquid extraction following commercial extractants were tested: TBP, Cyanex 272, D2EHPA, Aliquat 336, Primeme JM-T, Alamine 308, Alamine 304-1, and methyl-tri-octyl-ammonium chloride. The conditions for both valuable metal recoveries were optimized.INTRODUCTIONSelective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalyst has become the most effective to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from stationary segments such as power plants and waste incinerations around the world due to the reinforcing regulatory trend and emerging environmental issues (Forzatti, 2001; Spivey, 2002; Li et al., 2011).Currently, the most widely used SCR catalyst is V2O5-WO3/TiO2 system due to its great catalytic properties (Li et al., 2011; Marshneva et al., 1995; Marbergeret al., 2015). In general, the composition of the SCR catalyst used in the stationary application is 0.5 to 1 wt% of V2O5and 7 to 10 wt% of WO3(Marberger et al., 2015; Chen &Yang, 1992, Vuurman et al., 1991; Alemany et al., 1991). Currently spent SCR catalysts are treated as waste and disposed of in landfills. This causes a lot of waste of secondary resources of vanadium and tungsten. In terms of industrial value of vanadium and tungsten (Gupta &Mukherjee, 1990; Moskalyk &Alfantazi, 2003) and reduction of pollutant emissions, it should not be disregarded for their recovery for their material recycling from spent SCR catalyst. However, investigations for recovery of metal values from spent SCR catalyst has been rarely carried out."

Jan 1, 2017

By R. H. Beaton

"About 1905, a plant was constructed at C1ayburn, in the Lower Fraser valley, 4'5 miles east of Vancouver, to process shales from Sumas mountain into heavy clay products. In time, mining operations were found to be more favourable on the opposite side of the mountain, and by 1913 a plant, which soon became the centre of activities, was completed at Kilgard. Destroyed by fire in 1949, the plant was rebuilt on modern lines, and a second plant was established at Abbotsford, six miles to the west. The Company, from its beginning, has grown with development of the Province. In recent years, operations have kept abreast of latest developments, particularly in materials handling. Latest innovation has been the complete conversion of fuel from Bunker C oil to natural gas. In 1957 the Company became associated with Harbison Walker Refractories, Limited, a leader in its field in the United States, and its title was changed from Clayburn Company, Limited, to Clayburn-Harbison, Limited. Currently, the Kilgard plant produces sewer pipe, agricultural tile, and flue liner; the Abbotsford plant, refractories and facebrick. Improvement of products and development of new ones are tasks of a recently-completed testing and research laboratory.Almost all ware produced is marketed in Western Canada or Washing-ton State. The Vancouver area absorbs the bulk of structural clay products."

Jan 1, 1959

By M. A. Perras, H. A. Kasani, G. Walton

The development of an underground repository for the storage of spent nuclear fuel relies on a multi-barrier system to isolate the used fuel from the environment – ultimately, the biosphere. These barriers include engineered copper and steal canisters, dense bentonite, and the natural rock as well. In order to reduce the potential flow pathway along the excavation induced damage zone, various slots perpendicular to the excavation axis have been proposed. These slots are called cut-off seals and generally are filled with bentonite as it has high swelling potential and very low permeability. Many different geometries have been proposed, but clear guidelines on the selection of the optimum geometry have yet to be developed. In order to assess the optimum geometry, three shapes have been selected for this numerical study, including a trapezoid, a triangle, and a thin rectangular slot. The cut-offs were modelled for a conceptual shaft constructed in the Queenston Formation from Ontario over a stress to strength ratio that has been found at many underground research laboratories. It was found that the excavation of a triangular and thin slot cut-off had the smallest increase in the damage as quantified based on the extensile volumetric strain within the plastic yield zone. Both shapes showed an increase in the damaged zone by 13 cm at a stress to strength ratio of 2.75. The trapezoidal cut-off damage zone increased by 20 cm at the same stress to strength ratio. Further study is required to better define the optimum cut-off shape for wider variety of conditions and other geological formations.

Jan 1, 2020

By C. O. Stee

IN the October, 1936, issue of the Canadian Mining Journal there was published a series of very comprehensive and exccellently illustrated papers by Mr. C. O. Stee and members of his staff dealing with Siscoe operations and ore-bodies. These were, in the order in which they appeared: Geology of Siscoe Gold Mine, by O. L. BACKMAN Diesel Power at Siscoe Gold Mines, Ltd., by C. O. STEE andE. A. BLOMQUIST Mining at Siscoe, by L. T. POSTLE and W. F. Engineering and Surveying, Siscoe Milling Practice, Research and Testing Laboratory, Assaying of Mill Tails and Solutions, BROWN(6) by P. A. TEEPLE (7) by L. E. DJINGHEUZTAN by L. RIVETT (8) by G. IRWIN (9) The Editor of the Canadian Mining Journal cordially assented to our suggestion that these papers be reviewed at the 1937 Annual General Meeting of the Institute, and the authors very kindly accepted our invitation to present such reviews . Of these courtesies, full acknowledgment is here accorded. To our readers, we commend the original papers in the Canadian Mining Journal. The summaries presented at the meeting follow. EDITOR. THE GEOGLY OF THE SISCOE MINE The Siscoe gold deposits lie in and near a stock of granodiorite, related to the Bourlamaque batholith, which has intruded highly folded Keewatin volcanic rocks .. The volcanic rocks lie to the north of a belt of Timiskaming sediments.

Jan 1, 1937

By E. C. Roper

THE Britannia Mining & Smelting Company, Limited, have been operating their property at Britannia Beach, B.C., continuously for nearly forty years and have mined over 33,000,000 tons of ore from orebodies within a belt of highly sheared rocks, five miles long by 2,000 feet wide. The property is in the Coast Range mountains, about twenty miles due north of Vancouver. The mountains rise abruptly from sea level to elevations of 4, 500 feet within a horizontal distance of 7,000 feet. The topography has enabled the orebodies to be developed by adit tunnels. The active mining levels are connected to the adits by incline and vertical service shafts. The main service adits are the 2200, 2700, and 4100 levels (see Figure 1). The mine surface shops, three bunk-houses, and over one hundred dwellings form the townsite camp at the portal of the 2200 level adit. A small camp of one bunk-house and a few dwellings is situated at the 2700 level portal. The beach surface shops and camp, adjacent to the 4100 level adit, service the mill, foundry, and other beach installations as well as the mining from the 4100 level. The ore mined from the various orebodies is delivered to the 4100 main haulage level through a system of rock raises and intermediate tramming levels and is hauled on the 4100 level to the mill.

Jan 1, 1945

By Andrew J. Freyman, George S. Barry

"Mineral endowment in northern British Columbia and the Yukon Territory was assessed on the basis of geological opinion which was gathered in a quantitative framework of subjective probabilities. The survey area encompassed 364,000 square miles and was divided into 310 cells having dimensions of one degree of longitude by one-half degree of latitude. The response solicited related to tonnage, grade and number of deposits of a particular mineral in each cell. The questionnaire sought an expression of mineral endowment down to mine-able depth as distinct from economic expectations. Details on the questionnaire and responses are presented in a series of contour maps on individual commooities, which illustrate the collective occurrence picture of the respondents. The approach is largely dependent on the cooperation of an adequate number of geologists familiar with the region being examined. This approach to an assessment of the mineral endowment of a region has a wide range of applicability, from the focusing of exploration effort to aiding government and development bodies in the formulation of regional strategies and the planning, for example, of road, rail and power facilities."

Jan 1, 1970

By D. W. Duncan, A. Bruynesteyn

Acidic mine waters containing solubilized uranium have been observed in many uranium and some copper mines. In every case, the sulphide and iron oxidizing bacterium, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, was also present. This bacterium provides the ferric iron required to oxidize u+4, both by oxidizing available ferrous iron and by oxidizing pyrite or other available sulphide minerals. This latter oxidation also provides sulphuric acid and may increase extraction by exposing more uranium. The enhancement of bacterial activity and the results of some field tests are discussed.

Jan 1, 1971

By R. P. D. Graham

It is almost exactly two hundred years since the foundations of the mining and metallurgical industries in Canada were laid. There &apos;."&apos;as nothing spectacular about this early start. It had to do with the most basic phases of these industries-the mining of coal and iron ore, and the manufacture of cast and wrought iron. At several points along the coast of Cape Breton island, coal seams may be seen outcropping quite conspicuously, and it is probable that they had been observed, and possibly worked in a small way, in very early times. However that may be, these coal seams have the distinction of being the first in North America of which there is any printed record, reference to them appearing in a volume by Nicolas Denys which was published in Paris in 1672. Regular coal mining in the district did not commence until about fifty years later, however. The metallurgists started their operations along the north shore of the St. Lawrence river. Here, at many points between Montreal and Quebec, are to be found deposits of bog iron ore, and in 1 730 a furnace for smelting such ore was established on the St. Maurice river. The St. Maurice forges continued in operation until 1880, and throughout that long period they were famed for the fine quality of castings produced, and also for a-superior wrought iron.

Jan 1, 1924

By A. M. Glendinning

"IntroductionLocationTHE PROPERTY of Aunor Gold Mines, Limited is in Deloro township, Ontario, about three miles southeast of the town of Timmins. It consists of a group of eleven claims located between those of Buffalo-Ankerite Gold Mines, Limited, and Delnite Gold Mines, Limited.GeologyThe ore zone at the Aunor mine consists of a narrow band of fine grained pillowed andesite, irregular bands of 'brown to green carbonated andesite, and lenticular bodies of quartz feldspar porphyry. The zone strikes N.80°E., dips 60 North, and has been traced for 5,000 feet across the property. It varies in width from 0 to 250 feet and is bounded on the north and south by masses of dark bluish-grey tale chlorite schist. These schist bands have widths up to 500 feet.The ore occurs in a series of parallel and branching veins confined to the limits of the zone. These veins tend to terminate and die out on the footwall schist contact, striking generally parallel with the ore zone. In wide sections of the zone, 150 to 250 feet, the veins range in width up •to 3.5 feet and may occur in two or three horizons across the width of the zone, each mineable independent of the other. They tend to dip a little flatter than the general dip of the zone. Where the zone is narrow, the veins are so closely spaced and numerous they can be mined together and in some places the complete zone has been mined from schist to schist."

Jan 1, 1953

By John M. Gordon

DURING and after 1949, various groups of British mining engineers came to the Dominion Coal Company, Limited, at Sydney, N .S., to see at first hand the Dosco MINER ( 1). These visits culminated in 1952 with the ordering of four Dosco Miners by the (British) National Coal Board on an experimental basis through their Experimental Expenditure Funds. Others are now on order. The first machine was delivered in February, 1953, and, after slight alterations to suit the different power supply, the machine was made ready to work. Due mainly to the size of the machine, new rules and regulations governing its operation had to be put into effect and it was not until April, 1954, that the machine was put underground. It started to produce in June of that year. The three others were delivered early in 1955. The authors were sent to England by the Dominion Coal Company to install and demonstrate these machines and to work with the Coal Board engineers to- further interest in the machines in the British coal fields .

Jan 1, 1956

By T. Koulomzine, R P. Jaeggin

The claims now held by Mount Wright Iron Mines Co. Limited were acquired by staking in 1956, 1957 and 1958, i.e., some time after the major deposits of the Quebec Cartier Mining and Normanvi!le Mining Co. (formerly Quebec Cobalt & Exploration Ltd.) were already discovered and partly outlined. The choice of the location of the Mount Wright hold-ings was governed simply by the -availability of ground still open to staking and by its proximity to properties held by major iron companies. Mount Wright Iron Mines had no previous knowledge of the geology and no aeromagnetic results were available to it to guide the choice of areas to be staked. In order to explore the newly ac-quired claims it was decided to make a grid of widely spaced magnetic profiles on the ground rather than use aeromagnetics. This afforded the possibility of making some geological observations simultaneously with the geophysical measurements.

Jan 1, 1961

This work illustrates the potential of two welding processes for joining AA1100-16 vol.% B4C metal matrix composite: laser welding process using a 4 kW Nd:YAG laser and Friction Stir Welding. A comparison is made between these two welding techniques in terms of microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints. A large amount of brittle needle-like phases, together with some residues of B4C particles were observed in the fusion zone of laser welded joints. The use of Ti filler can improve the microstructure and increase the joint efficiency from 63% to 75%. On the other hand, the friction stir welding process being a solid state welding technique is interesting as it avoids the formation of brittle intermetallic phases. In addition, the breakage of B4C particles and the grain refinement of the matrix were observed in the weld zone. Consequently, FSW joints show much better mechanical properties than laser welded joints. Up to 100% joint efficiency can be achieved by FSW for annealed AA1100-16 vol.% B4C materials.

Jan 1, 2011

By P. -M. Tardif, S. Outalha, R. Le

"This paper proposes a new direction to implement an underground mine communication system. It presents actual underground communication systems and discusses their technological limits. A new system based on a wireless local area network (WLAN), together with its main systems characteristics, is then proposed. This paper also presents an experimental protocol for radio frequency propagation measurements. Finally, the paper describes the projected implementation of a WLAN in an experimental mine. IntroductionDuring the last decade, a number of Canadian mining companies have invested in modern communications systems in order to automate processes and reduce operational costs. Safety of miners is also a concern, regulated by health and safety regimes.Underground communication systems rely mainly on analog technology (especially the leaky feeder). Digital upgrades have been made to modernize this technology using a coaxial or fibre optic cable to transmit voice, documents, commands, controls, and video. Therefore, all wired equipment can benefit from an increase in efficiency from the digital technology.However, when it comes to mobile equipment, the only medium was, and is, still radio waves. With the advent of the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard, one can use a technology similar to that of the cellular phone to connect transparently different equipment. WLAN enables the transmission at rates higher than 2 M bits of voice, documents, commands, controls, identification, and of course, digital video. This technology was developed with inbuilding use in mind. Now, one can try to adapt it to underground mines."

Jan 1, 2000