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By Guy Chevalier

QCM?s pellet plant, located in Port-Cartier, Quebec, produces up to 8.6 million tons of iron ore pellets annually. Four different types are produced: three for blast furnace operations and one for direct reduction furnaces. The paper presents the scientific approach that led to the installation of new process equipment to improve the reducibility of direct reduction pellets (DR pellet). The findings, the equipment selection and some post start-up modifications are presented. This low silica DR pellet is used in Midrex and HyL shaft furnaces. A good DR pellet has to meet strict chemical, physical and metallurgical specifications. An important metallurgical property is its ability to release oxygen when exposed to reducing gases. Considering that the market for DR pellets is expanding and being aware that reducibility is critical for our clients, a program to improve the latter was undertaken. Test work showed that one factor which has a negative effect on reducibility is the proportion of particles larger than 75 microns. Knowing that the best way to reduce the amount of coarse particles was to close our open grinding circuits, we began evaluating the most suitable classification equipment applicable to our process operations. We settled on hydro-classifiers based on their very sharp cut and their low operating costs. In light of the hydro-classifiers performance it was also decided to replace the hydro-cyclones of an already closed circuit.

May 1, 2003

By Gil Espejo, Denise Duncan

"In Alberta, several initiatives are under way to form partnerships between educators and industry to work together in preparing a skilled and technically competent workforce for the future. One successful initiative is the Teachers in Business program which provides high school teachers one month paid internships in Alberta businesses. Initiated by the Science Alberta Foundation in 1992, this program has offered participating teachers a variety of work experiences and job shadowing tours in industry.A Growing Need of Education and Industry PartnershipsIn our ever evolving world, industry is in a tight race to keep up to date with new technology and to remain competitive. Industry is relying on the education system to provide them with the core base for their future workforce. To accomplish this, the education system needs the support of industry to develop the right focus to prepare its students for the race. What skills will our future workforce need? How can we best prepare our students for these needs?Teaching the latest in technology, especially at the high school level, is a major challenge. It is difficult for educators to keep abreast of the rapid changes in technology. High school graduates need exposure to the latest advancements. And so do their teachers. Students must be prepared to adapt to the challenges of the future, Le. global competition, rapid technological change and an expanding knowledge base."

Jan 1, 1995

By R. C. Urquhart

Since the first use of the electric arc furnace Henri Moissan (1892) and its use by Paul Hérholdt (1902) to melt steel, it has been successfully used as a pyrometallurgical smelting tool in the production of calcium carbide, iron, ferrous and non-ferrous alloys. Commercial forms of the electric arc furnace have evolved from round, single-phase single electrode units to rectangular three electrode three-phase units to round three electrode three phase units and ultimately to rectangular six electrode three-phase units. DC electrical supply has also been used to replace the three phase power supplies in some cases. This paper examines how these electric arc smelting furnaces have evolved in size, efficiency and configuration within the constraints of the smelting process, electrodes and electrical power supply equipment.

Jan 1, 2014

By C. W. Eggert

"The idea for this talk came to me last year when I was attending the Canadian Gold Metallurgists Meeting. I talked about it to a friend of mine who is an authority on mineral dressing, particularly the theoretical end of the business. He remarked that this was an excellent technical note, why don't you write it up. This is what I have for presentation this morning. I hope in presenting this type of idea in this way it is in keeping with the tradition of the Canadian Gold Metallurgists which was to function on a not too sophisticated level and where operators could get together and trade ideas in an informal way.My basic thesis is that it should be possible to evaluate screen analyses by the application of the standard statistical probability theory. In any statistical analysis the sample is the first consideration. If we look at existing methods of size evaluation we find it is usually based on the fact that a given particle will pass one square aperature and not another. One system of standardizing how these aperatures will be set up is based on Rittenger' s work with the ratio of hole sizes proportional to the square root of 2. Keeping in mind the limitation we have accepted this as our method of 11 sizing"" in attempting to apply standard statistical methods to screen analysis."

Jan 1, 1968

By Chin J. Chang

Powder metallurgy (P/M) technique is known for its capability of producing near-net-shape parts. Its specific characteristics have resulted in low cost and eliminated of many secondary machining. However, more and more P/M parts do require additional operations to fulfil their complex geometric features and surface roughness. Many of the machining factors that influence the machinability of cast and wrought steel parts, such as cutting speed, feedrate, coolant, tool geometry and shape, are also considered in the machining of P/M components. The special feature in P/M structure is the porosity that can decrease the machinability and shorten the tool life. Different variables have been considered in the machinability of P/M materials. Densities and the free machining additive manganese sulphide (MnS), are the two main factors of material composition, which dominate the P/M machining performance. Machining process is the main method that generates the desired working surface of machining components. This paper will discuss the metallurgical structure of the powder metallurgy components, their physical properties and possible issues when encountering machining operation. Turning operation has been tested in this investigation to show the relationship between the cutting speed, federate, cutting forces and chip formation. This investigation also discusses how the free machining additive, manganese sulphide, affects the P/M structure and machinability in order to understand how the metallurgical structure can affect the machining operation and, how to obtain the optimised surface results.

May 1, 2001

By S. M. Bulatovic, D. M. Wyslouzil

"This paper presents the results of a study of the effect of flowsheet configurations on metallurgical results and describes a general method for developing and optimizing flowsheets used in the treatment of massive sulphide ores. The flowsheet configuration can have a significant effect on recovery and selectivity between valuable minerals and gangue minerals. Placing of intermediate products within the flowsheet, positioning of various pretreatment units, such as conditioners or regrinding mills, and the ability of the flowsheet to cope with wide swings in the feed grade and composition are the major parameters that determine the optimum flowsheet configuration. The complexity of the flowsheet is largely a function of the ore itself and of the number of final, marketable products that have to be recovered from the ore. INTRODUCTIONTechnological ExpansionThe trend of past decades has been towards larger equipment and a better understanding of the chemistry of the flotation process. Despite appreciable progress in these areas little attention was given to the study of the actual configuration of the flowsheet, although the arrangement of the flotation equipment significantly affects the overall performance of the circuit."

Jan 1, 1989

By G. E. Agar, W. B. Kipkie

"This paper deals with the prediction of locked cycle flotation results from data developed from individual batch tests. A postulate is made that the distribution of material in a separation stage is determined by the chemical conditions and the flotation time and that this distribution can be characterized by split factors which are constants for a fixed set of conditions. With this premise, it is demonstrated that a steady state balance can be calculated for a circuit.Although the necessary equations can be solved algebraically, a computer program was written that uses an iterative tec1nique to arrive at the steady state balance. The program is written so that a variety of circuits can readily be simulated.A number of examples are examined to demonstrate the validity of this simulation procedure. The sensitivity of the material balance to changes in the split factors was examined. Data developed from different flowsheets is presented on sulfide ores, on copper-nickel separation and on silver flotation,"

Jan 1, 1978

By L. Xia, B. Hart, K. Douglas1, S. C. Chelgani

Development work to optimize a flotation flowsheet for rare earth element (REE) recovery is underway. The original approach used alkyl phosphates and phosphoric acid ester as collectors to concentrate REE minerals. To improve REE recovery, hydroxamates as alternative collectors were investigated. In this paper, micro flotation of REE minerals using salicylic, benzoyl and naphthoyl hydroxamates is reported. Unlike phosphonic collectors, slime removal does not show a significant effect on REE recovery when using hydroxamates as collectors. Among the three hydoxamates, the grade of La, Ce, and Nd for concentrates produced by salicylic hydroxamate is the highest. The recovery response with naphthoyl hydroxamate is similar to that of salicylic hydroxamate; good grades for La, Ce, and Nd, less effective for Nb, Y, and Zr. The data indicated an affinity by salicylic and naphthoyl hydroxamtes for LREE over the HREE minerals. In comparison, benzoyl hydroxamate indicated an affinity for Nb, Y, and Zr. Temperature effects on REE recovery were also studied. The grade and recovery of REEs generated by flotation using a mix of salicylic and benzoyl hydroxamates at room temperature was almost identical or even better relative to the recovery using naphthoyl hydroxamates at elevated temperature.

Jan 1, 2014

RISKGATE is an interactive online risk management system developed by the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC; University of Queensland) to assist the mining industry in implementing continual improvement in management of major unwanted events, and so maximising health and safety performance. A comprehensive body of knowledge has been compiled from diverse mining industry experts for risk management of tyres, collisions, fires, isolation, strata underground, ground control open cut, explosions, explosives, manual tasks and slips/trips/falls. This paper presents an overview of the body of knowledge captured from diverse mining industry experts for the management of unwanted strata incidents, and explosions in the underground environment. This knowledge is divided into a series of initiating events within both topics (as listed) with further degrees of classification based on design, operation, and management concerns. Strata Underground Initiating Events: Explosions Initiating Events Loss of strata control at longwall face Fire or ignition in a sealed area Loss of strata control in outbye roadways Fire or ignition in an unsealed goaf area Loss of strata control in roadways under development Fire or ignition in an extraction face Loss of control of overburden and caving behavior Fire or ignition in outbye Loss of pillar system stability Loss of control of goaf edge in pillar extraction Fire or ignition in a development panel or first working Loss of strata control in shafts The system guides the user in generating substantive and leading edge controls to assist industry stakeholders in the design, management and reporting of organisational and regulatory compliance requirements. From a broader industry perspective, RISKGATE provides an environment for knowledge capture and knowledge exchange to drive innovation and best practice in the identification, assessment and management of risk. By capturing operational knowledge from industry experts, RISKGATE provides a cumulative corporate memory at a time of high personnel turnover in the coal industry.

Aug 1, 2013

By S. Ghafarnejad Parto, Å. Rasmuson, A. Fredriksson, M. Mohammadi, K. M. Forsberg, J. Martinez De La Cruz

The present study aims at recovering rare earth elements (REE) in conjunction with the production of fertilizers from an apatite concentrate. Apatite is one of the REE rich minerals ending up in the tailings pond when Luossarvaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) in Sweden processes Malmberget’s iron ore deposit. Leaching with nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and sulphuric acid respectively have been studied. The nitric acid route was chosen for further investigations and the optimum acid concentration for leaching of the REE were determined. The leached REE are recovered by solvent extraction using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid-mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (EHEHPA).

Jan 1, 2014

By R. C. Bryce, G. S. Martin

"Aur Resources Inc. is the operator of the Louvicourt Mine located 40 km east of Val d'Or. Quebec. Les Entreprises Minieres Redpath Limitée a member of the 1.S. Redpath Group of companies was contracted to construct two vertical mine shaft collars in deep overburden.During the spring of1991 two vertical shaft collars were established in wet, running sand that was in excess of20 m deep. This paper will illustrate the engineering and construction techniques used in establishing these collars and the methods used to overcome the various obstacles that occurred during construction.IntroductionThe Louvicourt copper/zinc/gold/silver deposit is located 40 km east of Val d'Or, Quebec, is adjacent to the former Louvern Mine which operated at depths of 40 m to 850 m below surface (Fig. 1). This deposit was discovered in mid-1989 as the result of systematic exploration and diamond drilling based on a geological model. The Louvicourt project is operated by Aur Resources Inc.The property is being developed to produce 4000 tid with an anticipated life of just over 17 years. Mill start up is scheduled for July 1. 1994, commercial production October I, 1994, and full production by late 1995. The current production plan provides for 24 040 (XX) t averaging 3.89% copper, 1.95070 zinc, 0.039 oz gold per tonne and 0.99 oz silver per tonne, to be mined."

Jan 1, 1994

By M. Falutsu

"The PSI-200 is a rugged, innovative, and easy to install on-stream size analyzer. Its calibration is simple and can be done on-line, during operation. Two measurements are displayed on the panel, which are expressed as percent passing a selected size, or as any statistical diameter. These two measurements are given as two continuous 4-20 mA output signals. Operation alarms are displayed on the screen or are given as digital output signals.The PSI-200 has been used in various applications at Lakefield Research. Particle sizes ranging from 10 µm to 450 µm have been monitored successfully, with an accuracy of 1- 2%. Having the size measured continuously and reliably, optimum conditions have been established for the grinding circuit, resulting in a superior quality in pilot plant testing.INTRODUCTIONThe challenge of any operating plant is to optimize product quality, maximize throughput and minimize operating costs. The importance of particle size measurement at a grinding circuit is well recognized. Monitoring continuously the particle size and keeping the product as uniform as possible is crucial to the whole mill operation regardless of the nature of the operation.Various techniques and instruments have been developed over the years attempting to give reliable on-line size analysis data. The operating difficulties and the reliability of these equipment still present major drawbacks and none of them proved to be widely accepted.PSI-200 is a relatively new on-line analyzer. The operation is simple and of low cost and the maintenance required minimal. It measures particle size and it displays two parameters of the solids size distribution, either weight fraction of passing a certain size or any statistical diameter. Two analog outputs can be sent to a process control system and through a supervisory control loop the correct action can be taken to maintain the desired particle size (perhaps adjust the feed rate to the grinding mill)."

Jan 1, 1993

By Simon C. Dominy, Patrick R. Stephenson, Alwyn E. Annels

Abstract - The often complex, erratic, and localized nature of gold is a common feature of many vein-style gold deposits. This style of mineralization is often referred to as being nuggety or possessing a high-nugget effect. As a result of these complexities resource estimation is difficult and in general, only Exploration Results can be provided or an Inferred Mineral Resource estimated from surface drilling data alone. Underground development, further drilling, and probably bulk sampling will be required to delineate Indicated and Measured Resources. Tonnages can generally be estimated from diamond drill and development information with a reasonable degree of confidence. Grade is much more difficult to define with confidence because it is commonly highly erratic and discontinuous in nature. The dependency of higher confidence Resource categories on development information may create a Catch 22 situation, with funding for such development often depending on the prior definition of at least Indicated Resources. There are no easy solutions to these challenges posed by high-nugget effect deposits, and it is important when classifying and reporting not to downplay the uncertainties often associated with Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates for such deposits. However, in common with all deposit types, if the principles that underpin the estimation, classification, and reporting procedures are borne in mind and common sense applied, most issues can be satisfactorily resolved. This paper discusses the classification and reporting of Mineral Resources for high-nugget effect gold vein deposits within the framework of the JORC Code (JORC, 1999).

Jan 1, 2001

By S. Markstrom

The Boliden AITIK copper mine is located 100 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden. A pre-feasibility study was conducted in 2005 with the aim of increasing the capacity of the existing processing plant. After analysis, options to upgrade the existing plant were abandoned in favour of building a new processing plant, with higher capacity and therefore greater profitability. A new plant could be designed with greater flexibility to make potential future expansions easier. A feasibility study for a new 36 Mt/y processing plant including fully AG grinding circuits and flotation was completed in 2006. The project was approved by the Boliden board shortly thereafter. Construction started in the beginning of 2007 and was completed during 2009. Commissioning of the new plant was undertaken in the first half of 2010. The grinding circuit consists of two lines with each line consisting of a 22.5 MW AG mill and a 10 MW Pebble mill in closed circuit with a spiral classifier. The nominal production level is 2 200 t/h for each grinding line. This paper presents the start-up and operation of the grinding circuit.

Jan 1, 2012

By Cheryl L. Allen

Increasing energy costs associated with mining have become an issue that must be addressed by industry to ensure sustainable production. As underground mine ventilation systems account for 40% to 50% of a mine?s total energy requirement, initiatives to maximize their efficiency have been introduced worldwide. A control method known as Ventilation-On-Demand (VOD), which adjusts the ventilation system by responding to the activities of mine personnel and air quality, has been commissioned at Vale?s Coleman Mine. This initiative is an effort to reduce energy consumption, maximize efficiency of the ventilation system while ensuring air quality. There are five control strategies that can be executed with the VOD control system in place at Coleman Mine: Manual real time control Time-of-Day Scheduling Event-based control Environmental control Activity Based Control/Tagging This paper describes the system, control strategies and impact on energy consumption and flexibility of airflow distribution as applied at Vale?s Coleman Mine.

May 1, 2011

By Deng Yang-wu, Zhang Yan, Chen Chun-fei, Luo Xian-ping, Luo Cai-gui

This paper summarizes the ecological imbalance status of abandoned rare-earth element (REE) mines in southern China. These include large areas of vegetation damage, serious water and soil erosion, landslides, mudslides, heavy metal pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, and fluorine pollution. The causes which lead to the ecological imbalances at abandoned rare-earth mines are analyzed, such as: the inadequacies of using vat leaching, heap leaching, and in-situ leaching processes to extract REE resources; low mineral thickness and low grade of REE ore; and low utilization rates of the resource. Southern ionic REE resources are not fully integrated, with limited access and ineffective supervision of REE mining by relevant departments. The ecological recovery research for ionic-type REE mines is lagging behind, and there is no deployable ecological restoration method for REE wasteland. In the end, the following suggestions are made to improve the ecological imbalance status of rare-earth mine in southern China: develop new rare-earth extraction processes, accelerate the integration pace of REE resources, increase investment in ecological restoration research in rare-earth wasteland, and so on.

Jan 1, 2014

By Kadri Dagdelen

Recent trends of the mining project show that there will be more and more mechanized, largescale mining operations with complex process options to make low grade deposits economically feasible to develop. The global optimization of large scale, complex mine operations will become more important for the future mining. To serve the industry?s future needs, the OptiMine® software program is developed based on expertise gained at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) for more than two decades, by using the special solution methodology based on the Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) technique in the Operations Research (OR). The program has been beta-tested on more than 20 projects as a multi-time period scheduling and cutoff grade optimization tool that handles large scale open pit and underground mining operations involving complex process options, many stockpiles and dumps, blending requirements, and truck hour limitations. In each project, various operational options are evaluated in OptiMine® to develop strategic planning to help defining company?s strategies and directions. This paper demonstrates how the OptiMine® can be used to optimize a large scale, complex production scheduling problem on a case study coming from real world project. The case study describes multi-pit mine production scheduling optimization with pit backfills in such a fashion that acid generating waste rocks are encapsulated to minimize environmental impact.

Oct 1, 2009

By J. Schnarr, D. Deever, E. Johnson

"The above committee sent out a questionnaire to the gold mines for the purpose of learning what units and methods are currently in use in the mines as the first step in an attempt to agree on standard units to be used in any papers or reports that may be given to other mines or presented at meetings. The next step is to try to arrive at acceptable standard units for reporting and methods of making tests. It was suggested by Mr. J. Jardine of Eldorado Mining and Refining that the use of the metric system should be seriously considered. It was also brought out that there was no intention of having any mine change their methods to the standard for internal reporting as this would involve too much change. However for external reporting there shouldn't be too much difficulty in converting to the accepted standard units.On the following pages are the reports of those mines that replied to the questionnaire.MALARTIC GOLD FIELDS LIMITEDP.A. Coulter1. All assays - Ounces per ton2. Consumption of reagents - Pounds per ton3. Reagent strength of solutions - Pounds per ton4. Reducing Power - As described in C 0 I.L, Analysis of Cyanide Solutions5. Pulp Densities - Grams per litre6. Screen Analysis (Tailings) A sample of 150 gms is washed on a 200 mesh screen. The plus 200 mesh material is dried and ro-tapped for fifteen minutes. The plus 200 mesh portions are weighed cumulatively (the balance is considered -200 mesh) and reported in per cent."

Jan 1, 1967

By Julie Q. Shang

The electrokinetic (EK) technology for dewatering of two tailings from the uranium mines in Northern Saskatchewan is studied in bench scale experiments. The study includes four phases: 1. Characterization of two uranium mine tailings; 2. Assessment of voltage loss on the coated Ti anode and water interface. 3. EK cell test series to measure electrokinetic permeability (ke) of two tailings; 4. EK dewatering test series to study electrokinetic enhanced gravity dewatering on two tailings samples. The results have demonstrated that both tailings responded positively to the EK process. For the tailings containing gypsum, the EK dewatering should be a short term process (within one hour) with anode conditioning (pH adjustment). The tailings containing clay minerals responded well to EK dewatering, in which pH adjustment is optional and will further enhance the EK flow. Both tailings as tested have low hydraulic conductivity and are particularly suitable for EK dewatering and consolidation.

Aug 1, 2010

By R. Tipman

"In 25 years, processing of tar sand progressed from two small pilot plants to two major commercial operations owned by Syncrude and Suncor. These plants mine tar sand and extract the bitumen which is then converted into a synthetic crude oil. Considerable research on extraction of bitumen from tar sand has been undertaken by these two companies as well as other major oil producing companies, private individuals, universities and the federal and provincial governments. These studies have produced a number of alternate processing schemes which have yet to be commercialized. The producing companies are focusing their efforts on achieving increased processing efficiency, which includes improved bitumen recovery, reduced unit cost, energy conservation, and equipment reliability. In this review, the Syncrude process and examples of new process developments will be briefly described. IntroductionTwenty-five years ago, tar sand processing was limited to two pilot plants owned by Cities Service Athabasca Ltd., and Great Canadian Oil Sands. Earnest Manning was Premier of Alberta and was inviting proposals for the construction of a commercial tar sands plant. The invitations called for a much larger operation than those which had been undertaken in the past. All of the previous attempts at commercial operations up to 1960's had failed, largely because of a poor technical understanding of the process requirements, lack of suitable equipment, and lack of adequate capital. The previous record was not good. The pending new large scale plant was based on improved but not proven technology and equipment, which were developed from the pilot plant studies. In addition, the surplus of conventional oil in Alberta and low world oil prices were factors reducing the need for such a plant."

Jan 1, 1987