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By Mel Owen, Bob Tipman

"A number of studies have identified the presence of heavy minerals in the Athabasca oil sands. A 1996 Mineral Development Agreement study into the recovery of Co-Products identified low operating costs, a simple flowsheet and access to market as key drivers in advancing interest in a viable project.Commercial bitumen extraction processes recover 50% of the titanium heavy minerals and 85% of the zircon into froth containing 1 % of the feed solids. Froth treatment tailings grade is 11.5% Ti02 and 3.6% Zr02.Processing this high grade feed in a combination of flotation, roasting, screening, gravity concentration and magnetic separation, results in concentrates of rutile, leucoxene, ilmenite, zircon and rare earths of marketable quality.A combination of high grade feed and a simple process lead to operating costs among the lowest in the industry. Low cost heavy minerals and low energy costs indicate an intriguing potential for low cost pigment production in Alberta. The production of heavy minerals from oil sands remains one of the largest untapped resources in the Province of Alberta1.0 IntroductionThis paper describes the results of an investigation into the recovery of heavy minerals from tailings produced by the major oil sands plants. The study was carried out under a Canada-Alberta Mineral Development Agreement (Alberta Chamber of Resources 1996). The MDA Co-Products Study examined the potential for the economic recovery of heavy minerals from oil sands tailings."

Jan 1, 1998

By Ross L. Sherlock, David J. Scott, Gordon MacKay, Wayne Johnson

"Abstract - The demographics of Nunavut indicate a very young and poorly educated population spread over wide areas in small isolated communities. The current economic sectors will be unable to expand and meet the demands of this emerging workforce. Given the realities of Nunavut, the most promising direction in which the economy may expand is through mineral development. The Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (NLCA) has established the legislative framework for sustainable development in Nunavut through mineral development. The NLCA has transferred ownership for much of Nunavut’s potential mineral resources to beneficiaries of the lands claim. Royalties generated from mining operations on subsurface Inuit-owned lands, and to a lesser extent on Crown land, will flow back to beneficiaries of the lands claim through their administrative company, which may then be invested in the communities. Additional benefits of mineral resource development in Nunavut will be realized through impact and benefit agreements.To realize the benefits from mining operations, Nunavut has to be able to attract and support exploration and development companies through the release of high-quality geoscience data. However, due to Nunavut’s isolation and the expense of conducting geoscience fieldwork, the jurisdiction lags far behind the rest of Canada in terms of quality and quantity of government geoscience. About 70% of the territory is inadequately mapped to attract exploration companies or to make informed land-use decisions. The role of government-funded geoscience in Nunavut is to stimulate exploration and discovery through new framework mapping and focused thematic projects. The timely delivery of high-quality geoscience products will attract exploration companies to Nunavut and further their efforts to discover and develop mineral resources in order that the subsequent benefits of this activity may flow to the beneficiaries of the NLCA as well as all other residents of Nunavut."

Jan 1, 2003

By Mark Liskowich

When is it the proper time to initiate engagement with various stakeholders, including Indigenous communities? This paper will demonstrate what stage of a project’s evolution is the appropriate time to initiate a stakeholder engagement plan. It will look at aspects to consider when identifying the communities to involve. It will describe the contents of a Stakeholder Engagement Management Plan as well and touch on how tried and true options analyses, such as a Multiple Accounts Analysis can be used to inform the results of the engagement, guide the development of your project and clearly document the engagement process. It will illustrate the benefits of initiating engagement at the appropriate point in your project’s schedule, and the limitations of doing so too early and at later stages of the project engineering. The benefits of this approach can be realized within any legislative Jurisdiction including the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012 and Canada’s new Impact Assessment Act.

Jan 1, 2020

By S. L. Gula

"Effective and timely communication during routine operations, and especially during emergency situations, is no easy task in any underground mine. At Cominco Fertilizers, Potash Operations, where 150people are employed underground to produce 3.1 million tonnes of potash per annum at a depth of 1100 m (3600ft), this is no exception. The over-all mine workings underlie an area of approximately 20 km 2 with average travel time to the active mining areas being approximately 30 to 40 minutes by light vehicle, and significantly longer than this for heavy equipment.In a mine of this size, the deployment and management of personnel and materials on a day-to-day basis, and during mine emergencies, is an important exercise. The Personal Emergency Device (PED) system has provided the Potash Division a means to achieve improvements in this area and reduce the communications bottleneck.The MineAt Cominco Fertilizers Potash Operations, approximately 30 km southwest of Saskatoon, the orebody is the same horizon being mined by other potash producers in the Saskatoon area and extends over 300 km in an east-west direction, and approximately 150 km in a north-south direction. Mining operations are carried out with approximately 150 employees operating on a continuous-shift basis, seven days a week.Mining is presently being done from Block 6 which takes the mine to its northernmost boundary and contains reserves of approximately 50 million tonnes. Production is from one level by five twin rotor continuous mining machines, each capable of cutting a face up to 5.5 m wide and 3.3 m high . All ore is transported to the shaft via approximately 20 km of conveyor where it is removed to surface by two 24 tonne skips.After the ore is conveyed to the mill for processing, the finished product is shipped by rail car or trucks to other parts of Canada, the United States or through Vancouver to other parts of the world."

Jan 1, 1993

By Y. Lizotte

"This paper examines the application of blasthole sloping to narrow vein mining in Canada, for ore deposits where widths are less than two metres. While the technique has now been utilized for more than ten years, it remains in the experimental stage and on-site testing is necessary for its adoption at new mining operations or in differ¬ent geological settings. It is intrinsically a safer method than other narrow vein methods in current use.The investigation describes the main operating parameters for mines recently surveyed. The criteria for method applicability are defined and the problems encountered are studied. It is concluded that blasthole sloping for narrow vein mining is a viable modern method which promises to gain popularity and that emerging fragmentation technology and blasting research can be used to further increase applicability of the stoping method."

Jan 1, 1991

By S. Jeon, T. H. Kim

"Understanding the frictional properties of discontinuities is crucial to ensure the stability of underground structures. In particular, the frictional behavior at depth depends on the complex interaction among mechanical, hydrological, thermal and chemical characteristics and their coupled effects. In this study, a series of triaxial compression tests were carried out to investigate the behavior of rough shear surface of synthetic rocks. The frictional behavior showed little variation at different confining and water pressures. The test results were analyzed using Coulomb’s failure criterion. In addition, numerical analysis was carried out using PFC2D to simulate the test.INTRODUCTIONUnderstanding coupled behavior of rock at depth is of great importance in design, construction and operation of underground structures such as a disposal facility of radioactive waste, hot dry rock geothermal system and oil reservoir. In particular, many uncertainties are involved in characterizing deep rock mass deformation in the designing process and interactions among fluid flow of groundwater, high temperature and stress disturbance should be considered. Many independent studies have been carried out to investigate the thermal, hydro, mechanical and chemical coupled effects in numerical and experimental methods. They include the researches by Lockner, Summers, Moore and Byerlee (1982), Jafari, Amini Hosseini, Pellet, Boulon and Buzzi (2003), Tembe, Lockner and Wong (2010), Lee, Lee and Jeon (2012), Indraratna, Premadasa, Brown, Gens and Heitor (2014)."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Christoffersson, T. Nillson-Wullf, H. R. Manouchehri

"Mining industry has been the building blocks for human development through millennia and will continue to play its role in sustainability and meeting society’s needs for raw material. In the way towards sustainability, the next generation of efficient and heavy duty of Sandvik’s crushers, CH860 and CH865, are introduced for efficient crushing. As the secondary, tertiary and/or pebble crusher, these new crushers are designed to over perform in tough mining environment. Featuring higher crushing forces relative to the mantel diameter and 500 kW motor, combined with advanced automation system, i.e., sophisticated HydrosetTM and Automated Setting Regulation (ASRTM), combined with overpressure system with dedicated air supply in dust collar, etc., the new crushers provide higher safety, productivity, and reliability with the same foot-print of conventional cone crushers.Since crushers are more energy efficient than mills it makes sense to effort in fine crushing to save energy and protect environment. That has been the logic behind development and introducing stronger and more efficient crushers by Sandvik. The results on crushing hard iron and gold ores by CH865 have proven its efficiency in fine crushing at a higher productivity, availability and reliability rates through increasing throughput for defined size fraction and extended crushing chamber liner life.Within this paper the performance of the CH865 to deal with two different ores are presented discussed with a glance at how the downstream milling process can be benefited by saving energy and reducing the operation cost. In plant practice, the implementation of the new CH865 provides between 25 and 30% of the crushed ore in the size range of first step milling, i.e., < 2 mm, that offers opportunity for reduction in energy consumption in milling and even changing the process plant configuration by directly forwarded that part to gravity separation. Furthermore, potential of converting the rod mill to ball mill to improve productivity has been considered by plant engineers. Furthermore, some potential applications for such efficient crushers are brought into considerations and discussed. The new developments provide about 30% higher crushing force to efficiently deal with competent ores and pebbles. The CH860 and CH865 crushers are well suited to replace conventional secondary and tertiary crushers respectively; nevertheless, CH865 is virtual option for pebble crushing in SAG and AG milling circuits."

Jan 1, 2016

By D. Assmus, S. Daly

"Poor fragmentation, high toe areas, excessive shovel wear and tear and frequent re-drilling and blasting of certain tough waste rock zones in the Lomex pit in the early 1980snecessitateda better understanding of these zones.A combination of geotechnical mapping, penetration rate data, toe elevation contouring and observations on shovel and drill performance were used to determine the character and extent of these zones. This complementary information was brought together by the geotechnical mapper and the explosives supervisor.Distinct zones with particular geological characteristics were determined. A classification system with three types of blast and dig-ability was developed for the Lomex pit and later applied to the Valley pit, with considerable success. The three blast zone types are called ""poor"", ""f air"", and ""good"". This system will be described in detail.The explosives supervisor adjusted the blasting parameters to each zone, in particular, pattern spacing and burden. The resulting powder factors showed considerable variation between the poor, fair and good zones within each pit as well as between the two pits. Pattern geometry and length of collar were also adjusted to improve fragmentation. Cost savings resulted from less re-drilling and less wear and tear on drills and shovels in the poor zones and more efficient use of explosives in all the zones. An annual estimated cost savings of well in excess of $1,000,000 is realized at Highland Valley Copper. A by-product of the mapping was the determination of unstable structures and water flowing zones. Blasting was then adapted to this information for enhanced slope stability."

Jan 1, 1992

By A. L. Craven, J. P. L. Bacharach, D. B. Stewart

"Inert gas use for underground mine fir e control is a well-established mature technology in some parts of the world. This paper reviews three candidate inert gases and describes three case histories where inert gas fire-fighting technology was used in actual underground fires.IntroductionInerting is the introduction of an inert gas into an atmosphere in contact with a fire to reduce the level of oxygen and hence the intensity of the fire 10 the point of extinction. The benefits of inerting include:a. Reduced Explosion HazardBy displacing oxygen from the atmosphere surrounding the fire the risk of secondary gas explosions is reduced. For example, simple methane-air mixtures at standard temperature and pressure are non-explosive below 12% oxygen. In actual mine fires, combustible gases may include hydrogen and carbon monoxide as well as methane. Such gases are also rendered non-explosive with oxygen removal to below 40/0. Fuel-rich oxygen-deficient mixtures can however be made explosive through dilution with air. Such dilution can occur downwind of the fire. It is also important to remember that the atmosphere in a sealed-off fire zone is rarely homogenous.b. Reduced Fire Intensity and SpreadIn a fire zone the initial combustion may well set alight materials surrounding the fire. Inerting can reduce the intensity and spread of secondary combustion and can cool the area surrounding the fire zone after the fire itself has been extinguished.c. Reduced Air LeakageLeakage of air into sealed areas in excess of the natural leakage may be reduced either by introducing inert gas into the leakage paths to replace air or by pressure balancing seals and providing a chamber of nitrogen on the outbye side of the seals. Both methods assist in the reduction of the intensity of combustion and hasten oxygen starvation."

Jan 1, 1986

By T. W. Sullivan

"This paper explores the history of AC static variable frequency control drive systems on open cast mining machinery, in particular electric mining shovels and electric walking draglines, over the past ten years. It critiques the peformance of these drive systems from a productivity and operating cost standpoint and evaluates the over-all success of the original design concepts as they were envisaged in the 1970s. The paper details the state-of-the-art as it exists today as well as design improvements contemplated for the immediate future.IntroductionConsidering the fact that the very first successful application of an alternating current electrical distribution system occurred at the Gold King gold mine near Ames, Colorado, U.S.A., in the year 1891, it seems somewhat ironic that almost 100 years later, AC excavator drive systems are just now becoming commonplace in the mining industry.If one were to read the biography of Lucien L. Nunn, the first person to successfully install a commercially viable alternating current power distribution system, one would quickly visualize a parallelism between his fight to achieve acceptance of his new lower cost technology and that of those commissioned with the belief that AC static variable frequency control drive systems are not only a better performing, lower cost drive system for mining excavators today, but moreover, the drive systems of the future in our industry.This paper will deal with the evolution and incorporation of AC static drive systems on open cast mining excavators. It will trace the history of the development of these drive systems in the mining industry, the current state-of-the-art concerning these systems, and what the future holds for these excavators in our industry."

Jan 1, 1990

By Leroy G. Hagenbuch

"IntroductionAn integrated Truck Management Information System (Truck MIS) evolves as seemingly separate functions combined to yield a single homogeneous result / product. The concept of a computer integrated Truck MIS includes truck dispatch, truck maintenance management and truck weighing.A truck management system is only as good as the information / data bases input to it. The concept of an integrated system works best with automated data gathering. Automated data gathering provides timely and normally, the most accurate historical information/data bases. Data bases are, however, historical, which is a problem to be overcome in a computerized truck management information system, especially in regards to a truck dispatch system as loading sites / loading conditions and some dump site conditions continually change. As these changes occur, data base s must change as well, and thus the need for the continual update of data bases that the computer uses for a Truck MIS.For a truck dispatch system to achieve reliability / viability, dispatch decisions need to revolve around real time data gathered in an automated way. Integration of all truck management function s through automated data gathering lead s to the best over-all system.An integrated system is a combination of many different factors and is only as good as each factor / building block put in the system. With the proper building blocks, an integrated Truck MIS is very feasible - an MIS System that includes weighing, time and motion study, truck maintenance and maintenance management, as well as truck dispatch.Truck MISAn integrated Truck MIS provides for truck dispatch as the ultimate end result, a truly automated /integrated truck dispatch system (to function non-operator-dependent). The following comprises its central building blocks:-Time.- Haul Cycle Segments.Truck Status, i.e. Load on truck,- being loaded,- loaded,- unloaded,- in service,- out of service.- Vehicle Location.Loading Equipment Status.- in service,- out of service.Optional- distance travelled in each haul segment.With this data provided on a non-operator dependent basis, it is possible to build good data bases so a computer can make truck dispatch decisions. Knowing what information is needed as the central core to a good Truck MIS, how can this information be automatically gathered and fed into a central control computer?"

Jan 1, 1986

By C. S. Lord

"The Regal Silver mine is 5 miles north-northwest of Albert canyon; a station on the main line of the Canadian Pacific railway; 21 miles east of Revelstoke; British Columbia.Development, commenced in 1918, comprises more than 8,000 feet of workings from six adits, one of which extends into the Regal Silver property from the adjacent Snowflake ground. Production has been limited to a little tungsten concentrate recovered recently from a few r..undred tons of ore treated in a small underground mill. The property has received some attention as a possible source of tin. The deposits are large quartz veins containing irregular sulphide bodies. Ore minerals normally make up less than 1 per cent of the veins and include pyrite, galena, sphalerite, scheelite, and stannite. The veins are approximately parallel with the bedding of the enclosing graphitic, siliceous to calcareous, slates and argillites. These strata are of Precambrian age, strike about northwest, and dip northeast. No other rocks are known in the vicinity of the workings . Granitic rocks, intrusive into t'he sediments, outcrop 4 miles to the southwest and 7 miles to the northeast and may underlie the property at no great depth."

Jan 1, 1954

By M. Remillard, M. Garon, D. Hodouin, M. Therien

"Nineteen streams in the copper and zinc flotation units of the concentrator of the Matagami Division of Noranda Inc. have been sampled f or particle size distributions, chemical assays, and gold and silver contents in each particle size interval. The data are upgraded by the mass balance package BILMA T. These results, in conjunction with microprobe analyses, are used to quantify the silver losses in the copper cleaning flotation stages and to determine how over-all silver and three silver-bearing minerals are recovered in the plant final products. RESUMEDix-neuf produits des circuits de flottation du cuivre et du zinc de la division Matagami de Noranda Inc. ont été échantillonnés pour leur distribution granulométrique, leurs analyses chimiques et Ie contenu d&apos;argent et d&apos;or des fractions granulométriques. Le bilan métallurgique a été obtenu à l&apos;aide du programme BILMA T. Ces résultats, couples avec une étude minéralogique a fa microsonde, sont utilisés pour quantifier les pertes argentières aux diverses étapes de nettoyage du circuit de cuivre et pour déterminer la répartition de l&apos;argent et des trois minéraux argentifères dans les produits finals de l&apos;usine."

Jan 1, 1988

By Sukumar Bandopadhyay, Arunapuram Sundararajan

"For the last three decades, the application of network planning has provided a basis for a formal and general approach to the discipline of project management. For fixed activity duration, a very simple algorithm commonly known as critical path method (CPM), gives the length of time required for the total project as well as indicates the activities which are vital to the completion of a project. Project Evaluation Review Techniques (PER T) on the other hand, generalize the above approach to recognize uncertainty in the activity durations by allowing them to be random variables. One of the misleading aspects of current "" PER T"" solution method is, however, the implication that there is a unique critical path. In general, any number of paths could be critical, depending on the particular realization of the random activity durations that actually occur. In this case, simulation can be utilized to estimate completion time of a project.In this paper, the concept of criticality indexing is discussed, and a simulation model application which defines the critical path based on the criticality indexing concept, to a longwall development - extraction network, is presented. The model also provides suitable scheduling of resources based on the resource constraints and smooth s out period-t o-period assignments. IntroductionThe successful management of large-scale projects require careful planning, scheduling , and coordinating numerous interrelated activities. To aid in these task s, formal procedures based on the networks and network techniques (variously called PERT or CPM) were developed. In its original form the completion time for individual activities of a project was assumed fixed and known in advance: this in turn led to the familiar algorithms for computing the critical path, earliest start time, slack, and so forth. The unreality of such an assumption is, of course , apparent in many contexts. Consequently, attempts were made to introduce probalistic activity completion times, allowing representation of the stochastic nature of most projects."

Jan 1, 1987

By Pierre Antoine Dhaiti, Gilbert Sergerie, Michel Dagbert, Jean-Maurice Brodeur

"Quality of iron ore is generally determined by several factors which can be correlated or independent. Among these f actors, we generally find per cent iron, silica, magnetite or hardness. Forecasting the short- and long-term fluctuations of these f actors in the future pit is an important feature of mine planning in these deposits. Computer simulation provides a realistic answer to these questions. It allows to generate values for the most important quality features of each shovel load with the proper correlations between them as well as between one load and the next being fully reproduced. Then different sampling schemes f or grade control or blending facilities can be examined on the simulated data. The mechanics of the simulation procedure and its potential applications are described in an example.IntroductionThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate the use of in-situ grade simulation in the planning o f the grade control in an iron ore min e. More precisely, given a production unit of given size, we need to know how many samples have to be collected in that unit so that we ca n recognize its grade with a reasonable precision. Conclusions that we would like to arrive at are of the type: with 4 blasthole samples we ca n get the iron grade of a 10,000 ton bloc k with less than a ± 2% Fe error 95% of the time.The approach t hat we take to solve this problem is simulation. We simulate the grade of samples and the grade of the block that contains these samples. We repeat the simulation for hundred s o f blocks. By comparing the sample grade with the block grade in each case, we determine the actual number o f blocks where the difference sample-bloc k is less than a given limit."

Jan 1, 1983

By R. A. Sproule

Abitibi Greenstone Belt ? ~2.745 to 2.680 Ga (U-Pb zircon ages) ? Several lithologically-distinct and structurally repeated(?) assemblages ? Represents: ? Allochthonous terranes? ? Single autochthonous terrane? ? Combination of the above Volcanology of Komatiites in the Abitibi greenstone belt ? Tisdale and Kidd-Munro assemblages have channelized flows ? Pacaud and Stoughton-Roquemaure assemblages DO NOT have channelized flows ? Only Tisdale and Kidd-Munro assemblages are mineralized

May 1, 2003

By George S. Martin, Michael D. Winship

"Placer Dome Inc. is the operator of the Musselwhite project located 100km north of Pickle Lake, Ontario. J.S. Redpath Limited was contracted to conduct an underground exploration program using shaft access.During the winter of1988, the shaft collar was established in 16 metres of water bearing sand and till overburden. This paper will illustrates the engineering techniques used to overcome the obstacles to installing a shaft collar in deep overburden. Specialized dewatering and piling procedures were employed.INTRODUCTIONHarold and Allan Musselwhite discovered gold in the Opapimiskan Lake area, north of Pickle Lake, in 1962. The prospectors were grubstaked by ten companies in 1973.A diamond drill program was initiated shortly thereafter.In 1983an underground ramp exploration program was carried out on the West Anticline portion of the property. The program was unsuccessful in establishing an ore reserve so surface exploration continued. In 1986the ""T"" zone was discovered. Further surface drilling was done and an over-all drill-indicated reserve of 6 million tonnes at 7 grams per tonne was outlined. The gold mineralization occurs in several vertical tabular deposits within the iron formation. In late 1987the joint venture partnership, now consisting of Placer Dome Inc., Inco Gold Co., Corona Corporation and Esso Minerals Canada, contracted J.S. Redpath Limited to conduct an underground exploration program on the ""T"" Zone.The scope of work for the project was to: 1. establish a 45 km winter road in 1988 and 1989;"

Jan 1, 1989

By T. Kho, W. Zhang, M. E. Reed

The control of flash furnace heat balances is critical. Suspension smelting control and stability comes from stable operation of the heat balance, and this leads to a stable reaction shaft exit temperature. A number of flash furnace operations have been reviewed to determine if the application of this approach is beneficial for their operation. The cause and effect relationship between reaction shaft exit temperature with uptake and throat buildup is being enhanced with this work program. Our operating personnel are exposed to the operational hazards of cleaning this buildup from the throat and it is imperative that as an industry we continue to look for repeatable solutions. WorleyParsons has reviewed operational data from a number of flash furnaces and looked at the possible improvements that can be made to decrease variation in the reaction shaft exit temperature. The data assessed for each operation illustrate the need to fully understand the process inputs to the particular operation and to ensure that the control changes are correctly impacted. In the plant data that have been assessed for a number of operations combinations of feed changes and inappropriate process decisions have lead to changes in reaction shaft exit temperature which impact the overall furnace operation and the uptake shaft condition, and ultimately the boiler. INTRODUCTION In 2016 WorleyParsons jointly prepared a paper outlining the effects of heat balance control on the Olympic Dam flash furnace (Reed et al, 2016). That paper investigated the importance of heat balance control in flash furnaces and demonstrated the changes made at the Olympic Dam operation to control the heat balance in the furnace and the impact that change had. The operation is still using the tool to assist in trouble shooting performance and pinpointing problems that may lead to issues in the furnace throat and Waste Heat Boiler (WHB). As a result of the interest in the methodology and due to the issues surrounding safety and process performance caused by WHB throat buildup and damage, WorleyParsons approached a number of flash furnace operators to discuss the application of the approach at their operations.

Jan 1, 2019

By Robert B. Parsons

"Considering the traumatic events of Canadian mining taxation of the 1970s, one wonders at the sanity of anybody who tries to predict what the 1980s might hold for the tax structure of the mining industry. Yet, the author agreed to tackle this task when called upon to do so at the annual meeting of the Quebec Metal Mining Association in June. The text of this ""daring"" speech follows.IntroductionI have been asked to play the part of the oracle at Delphi, and to predict what the 1980s might hold for the Canadian mining industry in terms of taxation. To appreciate the challenge of this difficult assignment, try to imagine someone in my position back in 1972 attempting to forecast the balance of the 1970s. I daresay that ten years ago nobody could possibly have conceived of the devastating and casualty-ridden rollercoaster ride that mining taxation actually took in the 70s. Nevertheless, I shall examine the entrails and try to shed some light on what might happen during the balance of this decade as far as mineral taxation is concerned.If one were to retreat deep into history, one would find that taxation generally served one purpose-namely, to raise revenues for the government. More recently, an important second function has emerged: taxation is increasingly being used as a fiscal tool-a tool intended to mould and shape future events in order to accomplish certain economic, social and political objectives. It is these two main forces-the need (or desire) for revenues and the perceived convenience of using taxation as a fiscal tool-which will continue to shape the tax structure of the future.In our assessment of where taxation of the mining industry may be headed, we should be able to learn something by looking at where we have been."

Jan 1, 1982

By K. G. (Ken) Thomas

"This paper gives an insight into the various processes available to treat gold ores. A brief overview is given of the various types of refractory gold ores. Particular emphasis is given /0 comparing the costs of oxide vs refractory gold ore processes, inclusive of grinding through to dore bar.HistoryThro ugh time gold has been recovered from the earth&apos;s crust by various mean s. Five major historical steps can be identified for metallurgical processing as shown in Table I .Gravity concent ration started with, for example, river bed panning and developed to more sophisticated processes such as the Johnson concentrator, belt concentrator and jigs. The South African gold fields were a major developer of gravity concentration processes during the first half of the twentieth century.As coarse free gold became depleted, stamp milling, in conjunction with amalgamat ion , was developed. Basically, rock was crushed under large mechanical hammers an d the gold collected in mercury . The mercury was then evaporated in a retort to leave sponge gold for further fire refining.As deposits became deeper and gold finer, the gold became more difficult to recover ; fine grinding was required to liberate the gold. In the 18905, MacArthur and the Forrest Brothers of Glasgow, Scotland, introduced the cyanide pro cess for dissolution of gold and its subsequent precipitaiton by means of zinc. This process, in vogue until the early 1970s, was commonly referred to as the Merrill-Crowe process for recovering fine gold .Activated charcoal was used as a means of recovering gold from solution in the 1880s, especially in chlorination plants in Australia( l). Two factors probably retarded the development of carbon instead of zinc-based processes during those year s. First , there was no satisfactory procedure for the elution of carbon to allow its recycling and, second, the development of the Merrill-Crewe process for gold recovery by zinc cementation probably discouraged any further work on the use of carbon"

Jan 1, 1991