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By F. H. Edmunds

LLOYDMINSTER is the centre of a well developed agricultural area, lying on the Alberta-Saskatchewan interprovincial boundary in Township Fifty. The surrounding country is gently undulating, without any notable topographic features, but twenty-two miles to the north the North Saskatchewan river, and thirty miles to the south the Battle river, have cut deep valleys. In the spring of 1934, a wild-cat well (Lloydminster Gas Company's No. 1 well) was successful in striking a large flow of gas at a depth o 1,974 ? feet. The gas was piped into the town, a short distance south, and Lloyd-minster became the first Saskatchewan town to be served with natural gas. Following this discovery, other wells were sunk and, up to the present, thirteen wells have been drilled m what is here designated the Lloydminster area. Ten of these wells are in Saskatchewan and three in Alberta. Seven were successful in obtaining gas, three oil, and three have been unsuccessful. The area tested by this drilling is about eight thousand acres, six thousand of which can be considered as proved gas or oil land. To the south and west of Lloydminster, in the Province of Alberta, there are several areas in which oil and gas have been discovered. The Wainwright field lies nearly fifty miles to the southwest; Battleview, where recently gas has been discovered, is thirty miles west-southwest; and the Ribstone area is about thirty miles south and a little west. At Ribstone, a number of wells were drilled some years ago and there is a small production of oil. The data relating to the wells in the Lloydminster area that are recorded in this paper are taken from the records of the several companies operating in the field. The names of these companies are given on the map and on the type stratigraphic section (Figures 1 and 2). The author wishes to record his appreciation to Mr. R. H. Shaw and Mr. 0. C. Yates, both of Lloyd-minster, for much valuable information; also to Mr. E. Swain, of the Department of Natural Resources, Regina, with whom the writer has visited the field on several occasions, and who, by his enthusiasm and encouragement, has done much to forward the development of the area. The well samples were examined at Ottawa by officers of the Borings Division of the Geological Survey of Canada, who also made the interpretations of the logs. Frequent references will be made to the work of Dr. G. S. Hume, of the Geological Survey, and the writer would like to pay tribute here to his work.

Jan 1, 1940

By R. D. Lawrence

"Comparable transaction analysis is the best known of the market approaches to valuation of exploration-stage mineral properties. The analysis of option and farm-in agreements can also provide useful guidance to valuators. While such approaches can be distorted by incomplete analysis, market-based methods are capable of providing consistent, credible results when carried out carefully with due consideration paid to all factors which buyers and sellers consider when dealing in the real market. IntroductionMineral properties without defined resources present one of the most challenging tasks to the mineral valuator. This paper will concentrate on market-based approaches to valuation of such properties. Other authors at MM2000 presented papers on cost and income approaches. Sorentino (2000) also provides a useful overview with some provacative commentary on methods.Market based-approaches are based on the principle of substitution and include such techniques as: comparable transaction analysis (sometimes referred to as sales comparison analysis); farm-in commitment (or option agreement) analysis; rules-of-thumb; and comparable market value analysis.Are there any valuation standards available to assist the valuator? In Canada there are none that apply to the valuation of mineral assets or securities. This problem is being addressed, at least in part, by the CIMVal Committee of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)1. Further, the recently established Canadian Association of Mineral Valuators will be giving consideration to the adoption of valuation standards."

Jan 1, 2002

By Manqiu Xu

"Ore grades are decreasing and ore deposits are becoming more complex. In order to make a sound economical decision about a mining project, metallurgical testwork must be carried out. A few large “representative” samples cannot represent the metallurgy of a large ore body and a large number of samples reflecting variation in ore head grades and in mineralization types must be obtained for proper metallurgical studies, including flowsheet development for a greenfield project. A relationship can be established between the recovery of valuable minerals and ore grade for each mineralization type. This relationship can be used to establish a correlation between values recoverable and values contained in the ore body that can include multiple pay metals. With this information, a sound economical decision can be made about the viability of a large mining development project.INTRODUCTIONThe demand for minerals today is historically high as many countries are being rapidly industrialized. The supply for these minerals is not necessarily running short. However, it is widely accepted that the world today is running short of the easy to mine and easy to process ore deposits. As ore grade is decreasing and ore mineralogy is becoming more complex, metallurgical testing must be fully conducted in order to make a sound economical decision about a mining project. For a high-grade and high-quality deposit, it is hard not to make a good profit even with low metal prices. For a low-grade and hard to process deposit, the profit margin is much lower and is dependent on the throughput and the recovery of valuable minerals. The recovery of valuable minerals is a function of ore grade and mineralogy and it must be experimentally determined for a given processing option.At Vale Base Metals Technology Development, metallurgical testing for an existing operation or brownfield project is termed as Ore Evaluation, while metallurgical testing for a greenfield project is termed as Flowsheet Development (Xu, 2011). In the past, metallurgical testing involved a few large composite samples for lab and pilot plant testwork. As ore deposit becomes less homogeneous and more variable, a few large composite samples cannot represent the metallurgy of a large ore body. In addition, useful information about the deposit such as zones of “impurities” or floatable rock minerals would not be obtained. Different processing strategies could have been developed if the locations and sizes of these zones were known in advance. For proper metallurgical studies, a large number of samples reflecting variation in ore head grades and in ore mineralization types must be used. A relationship can be established between the recovery of valuable minerals and ore grade for each mineralization type. This relationship can be used to estimate values recoverable in the ore body that can include multiple pay metals. Ultimately, the recovery verses ore grade relationship will be used in business decision-making."

Jan 1, 2013

By Pavel Vasak

Microseismic monitoring has become standard practice in the mining industry as a ground control monitoring tool at depth. Translating the information into practical hazard assessment tools for the rock mechanics practitioner is the focus of research jointly conducted at Creighton Mine by INCO Mines Technology Centre (MTC) and the Geomechanics Research Centre (GRC) in Sudbury, Ontario. Rock mass damage mechanisms are typically related to stress and the presence of geological structures. Due to well executed de-stress blasting practices at the mine, stress related problems are minimized. However, structurally related damage mechanisms associated with shear zones, faults and joints pose a substantial hazard. Identifying active structures from the dataset of seismic and microseismic events is generally problematic. We propose a new methodology that uses a combination of spacetime event density, hierarchical clustering and principal component analysis to identify planes of microseismic activity, termed active planes (APs). Once identified, the presence and intersection of active planes can be used to provide a hazard ranking for nearby excavations. The ranking is based on the standard Q rock mass classification system, with emphasis on the joint set number (Jn) and stress reduction factor (SRF) parameters. If the rock is treated as a fractured continuum, then, the Jn indicates the degree of freedom for blocks to move and hence, increased potential hazard. An increased hazard can also result if the APs are larger-scale and discrete (faults) rather than ubiquitous (joints). In this case the SRF is used as a measure of the degree of looseness in the rock mass.

May 1, 2004

By A. R. Barnes, N. O. Lotter

Recoverable economic copper sulphide minerals such as chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite and covellite often occur together in varying proportions in the major copper-bearing ores, and have individual flotation requirements and characteristics. Pyrite also occurs in these ores to varying extents as the sulphide gangue, and is problematic because of its natural tendency to float quickly and easily. In a bulk sulphide float, selectivity against pyrite is desirable, particularly if it does not host other paymetals such as gold or silver. At the same time it is a requirement to float all of the copper sulphides despite their electrochemical differences. The electrochemistry and semiconductor properties of these minerals are reviewed, together with implications for flotation with and without collector addition. Mixed collector systems for the improved flotation of these sulphides are proposed as a solution. The use of xanthate and dithiophosphate in the collector suite allows the co-existence of dixanthogen and free dithiophosphate radical because the latter has a higher redox potential requirement than xanthate to oxidise to the dithiolate. Because some of these minerals require dixanthogen, and others, free thiolate, to generate surface hydrophobicity, a bulk flotation of all the species becomes possible in the overlapping area of Eh and pH between the two dithiolate equilibrium lines on the Pourbaix diagram. The arsenic-signature copper minerals are added to the study, since many copper operations encounter arsenic as a penalty element in the saleable concentrate. It is shown that the addition of arsenic to the copper and iron sulphides alters the semiconductor and electrochemistry properties, and in turn, its flotation characteristics. The degree of mineral association and liberation between these minerals can be a complicating factor due to textural associations, and should also be considered in the process as a next step.

Jan 1, 2016

By Jessica Egan, Daniel Hodouin, Claude Bazin

"The recovery of gold by leaching is influenced by the size of the gold carrier particles and the chemical environment. Using the relationships between the leaching rate, infinite recovery and particle size for a given set of chemical conditions, it is possible to simulate gold recovery for various feed size distributions. However the use of these particle size relationships is only valid if the leaching of gold from a given size class is independent of the production history of this size class. For instance, to use these relationships it is necessary to verify that gold recovery from the leaching of the 200-270 mesh size class remains the same if the size fraction is taken from a coarse or finely ground ore sample. Several laboratory tests were carried out to answer that question. Results of the tests show that within the large error margin associated to gold content measurements, the history of the production of a size class does not affect the gold leaching from that size class. Emphasis of the discussion is put on the difficulty associated with the processing of data containing significant measurement errors as it is the case for gold assays of leaching tests.INTRODUCTIONMore than 75% of the gold produced in the world is extracted by cyanide leaching of gold ores. The ore is ground to expose the gold carriers and the ground material is reacted in an oxygenated cyanide solution that dissolves gold, leaving solids gangue minerals that are disposed to tailings ponds or returned in underground mines as paste fill. The gold contained in the solution is recovered by either the carbon in pulp process or by cementation onto zinc powder, before being melted and casted into a brick (Marsden and House, 2006)."

Jan 1, 2009

By M. A. T. Cocquerel, M. G. Burcher, J. G. Eacott

"This paper is based on work carried out to examine the feasibility of increasing the smelting rate of two oil-fired calcine-charged reverberatory furnaces . Various constraints prevented physical enlargement of the furnaces and so allention turned to the use of preheated combustion air or oxygen enrichment to bring about the required increase in production. As a basis for further calculation, a furnace heat balance is determined using the smelting metallurgy and combustion data for the current operation. Various other operational data are tabulated and compared with similar data from other operating copper smelters.New heat balances are derived for various levels of combustion air preheat at the current smelting rate, and the effects of air preheat on oil consumption, combustion air and waste gas volumes are tabulated. These data are used to demonstrate the level of increased throughput which would be obtained before constraints in existing gas handling equipment are encountered.A similar exercise for oxygen enrichment is set out, with oil consumption, combustion air and waste gas volumes at various enrichment levels tabulated for the current smelting rate. These data are in turn used to demon strate the smelting rate which would be achieved at a practical level of enrichment before waste heat boiler and gas handling constraints are encountered.The energy implications for both cases are summarized."

Jan 1, 1980

By Heikki Laurila, Sirkka-Liisa Jämsä-Jounela, Jarkko Karesvuori

"Artificial Intelligence includes excellent tools for the control and supervision of industrial processes. Several thousand industrial applications have been reported worldwide. Recently, the designers of the A1 systems have begun to hybridize the intelligent techniques, expert systems, fuzzy logic and neural networks, to enhance the capability of the A1 systems. Expert systems have proved to be ideal candidates especially for the control of mineral processes.As successful case projects, an expert system based on on-line classification of the feed type using neural data analysis is described in this paper. The essential feature of this expert system is the classification of different feed types and their distinct control strategies at the plant. In addition to the classification, the expert system has a database containing information about how to handle the determined feed type. This self-leaming database scans historical process data to suggest the best treatment for the ore type under processing. The system has been tested in the Outokumpu Finnmines Oy, Hitura mine. Other projects have been reported to be in progress.INTRODUCTIONIn the past ten years considerable researches have been done in the application of artificial intelligent methods in process industry. The technologies of fuzzy logic, neural networks and expert systems have received several thousand applications worldwide: monitoring and analysis of process operations, fault diagnosis, supervisory control, feedback control and scheduling and planning of operations. Recently, the designers of these systems have begun to hybridize these intelligent techniques to enhance the current capability of expert system. Complex signal processing, neural networks, fuzzy logic and rule-based systems are also implemented to develop new so-called smart or intelligent sensors, actuators or components. Field buses are playing a more and more important role in automation systems and in imbedded systems. The development of field buses has allowed the distribution of smart components over networks."

Jan 1, 2000

By Johnna Muinonen

"The Thompson Mill processes ores from the Thompson and Birchtree Mines. While the Thompson ore has very little magnesium containing gangue, the Birchtree orebody consists of veins of massive sulphide in a rock matrix that contains a high proportion of magnesium silicate minerals. A significant fraction of the magnesium is floatable, which lead to MgO levels varying from 3-11 wt% in the Birchtree concentrate. The magnesium in the concentrate causes a higher operating temperature in the smelter, reducing furnace life.Birchtree ore represented 20-30% of the mill ore receipts prior to October 2003. Since then the fraction of Birchtree ore has increased to 50%. A reduction of the MgO in concentrate to less than 3% in the total mill concentrate was required to allow safe and economic smelter operation.In October of 2002 a miniplant was set up to simulate the Birchtree plant circuit. Several flow sheet modifications were tested that led to a proposal for a circuit having increased cleaning capacity for the scavenger concentrate and a recleaner on this concentrate. Addition of CMC in rougher cleaner feed was also found to be required. The solution was confirmed through pilot plant testing in the mill in December of 2002. A full-scale installation was designed, engineered, and installed between February and September of 2003 with commissioning in September and October of 2003. Target metallurgy was achieved one week after start-up on slurry to coincide with the Birchtree Mine tonnage increase. This paper highlights the development, design and commissioning stages of the project.The new MgO rejection circuit has successfully allowed the processing of Birchtree ores producing concentrate consistently below 3% MgO. In addition, the new circuit increased overall nickel recovery in the mill.INTRODUCTIONThe Thompson Nickel Belt located approximately 700km north of Winnipeg was discovered in the early 1950’s. Inco first produced nickel from the area in 1960. Over the years the mill has processed several ores from different ore bodies in the area. Currently the Thompson Mill processes two significantly different ores from two mines, Thompson and Birchtree. The Thompson ore is a massive sulphide orebody hosted in schist, containing feldspars, quartz and biotite. Thompson Ore is characterized by high nickel recoveries and clean, low MgO containing concentrates (<2.5% MgO). The Birchtree ore is ultramafic and contains a high percentage of Mg-silicates such as serpentine, chlorite, biotite, amphiboles and talc. Some of these Mg-silicates report to the nickel concentrate and prior to commissioning of the MgO rejection circuit the Birchtree nickel concentrate typically contained 5-8% MgO"

Jan 1, 2006

By Carlos Avalos Casillas, Saul Ortiz Landeros

The current work shows metallurgical results obtained at the Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico (Peñoles CIDT), as a continuation of the work first published in February 2012. With the aim of optimizing the economic values of the products, ores from San Julian (Fresnillo) were selectively floated to produce a lead concentrate and a zinc concentrate containing high silver values. In the laboratory, this included regrinding of the rougher and scavenger lead concentrate to increase the liberation of mineralogical species and thus lower zinc recovery. Cyanide leaching bottle tests were conducted to improve the value of the silver. It is proposed to leach the silver contained in the zinc concentrate and then recover the silver using the Merrill Crowe process. The results show a reduction of zinc recovery in the lead concentrate from 11.3% to 2.0% after regrinding to a P80 of 10 microns, improving the metallurgical quality and economic value of the lead and zinc concentrates. Also laboratory and pilot scale cyanidation tests showed that about 65 to 80% of silver will be leached from the zinc concentrate, after regrinding to a P80 of 10 microns. The proposed processing increases the economic recovery of silver from 72.7% to 78.8%.

Jan 1, 2014

Stress induced, gravity-assisted failure processes typically dominate long before stress levels approach the strength of the intact rock (at approximately smax > 0.4UCS where smax = 3s1 ? s3 and UCS is the Unconfined Compressive Strength of the intact rock (Martin et al. 1999)). Under these conditions, discontinuities typically become clamped and the failure process becomes brittle. This brittle failure process is dominated by new stress induced fractures growing subparallel to the excavation boundary. While it is possible to identify areas with the potential for brittle failure, for example, using the general assumption that brittle failure will occur in areas at right angles to the major principal stress (Hoek et al., 1995), when the threshold smax > 0.4UCS is reached in areas around the tunnel boundary, or elastic modelling and the Hoek-Brown brittle parameters proposed by Martin et al., (1999) (i.e. m? 0 and s ? 0.11), amongst others, recent observations discussed by Everitt & Lajtai (2004), and Kaiser (2005; 2006) suggest that brittle failure processes are enhanced when structural features such as joints, weakness zones, bedding planes or foliations are preferentially orientated around the excavation boundary creating stress raisers which in turn facilitate the stress-driven rock mass disintegration process (e.g., as illustrated by Everitt & Lajtai (2004) on Figure 1b). Such weaknesses induce stress heterogeneities that thus promote tensile-spalling failure processes (Diederichs 2000). The observations suggest that stress induced damage can occur ?prematurely? depending on the orientation of micro and macro structures in situations where the known stress conditions should not yet initiate brittle failure processes. In general, when structural features (micro and/or macro), especially foliations, are present in a rock mass, the strength is effectively reduced, largely due to tensile strength heterogeneity in areas depending on the orientation of the structural features with respect to the excavation boundary. As a result, stress induced damage could occur in areas not normally considered due to the influence of anisotropy (Figure 1).

May 1, 2009

By Alain Langlais, Caroline Boudrias Chapleau, Claude Bazin, Ahmed Bouajila

"Slurry «viscosity» has been recognised for several decades as a variable that significantly influences the operation of grinding mills. This paper describes an instrument that can be used in a laboratory or a plant to measure and monitor the flow properties of mineral slurries. Laboratory results obtained for two different ore samples are consistent with results obtained during a full scale trial. The results provide a basis for analysing the effect of the solids concentration and particle size distribution on the slurry flow properties. Grinding tests were also conducted in an attempt to link the grinding efficiency to the rheological properties of mineral slurries.INTRODUCTIONThe flow properties, or incorrectly called «viscosity», of a slurry influence the operation of mineral processing devices. Work has been conducted for instance to assess the effect of this variable on the operation of hydrocyclones (Kawatra et al. 1996; Klimpel, 1982a) and dense media separators for coal (Napier-Munn, 1996). However, most of the research effort has been oriented toward the grinding processes which is still the most energy demanding operation for ore dressing (Fuerstenau et al., 1995).Results of investigations of the influence of slurry flow properties upon grinding performances are presented regularly in the literature since 1950. In the 70's, most of the research work was conducted with the aim of using slurry flow properties for the control of grinding mill and to analyze the effect of that variable upon the population balance model breakage and rate functions (Austin et al., 1984; Hemmings et Boyes, 1977). In the 80's, most of the litterature dealing with slurry rheology was devoted to the use of viscosity modifiers to adjust the slurry flow properties, allowing an increase of grinding mill throughputs (Klimpel, 1982b; Fuerstenau et al., 1985). Although laboratory and pilot plant results show the benefits of adding these modifiers to the slurry, few plants have published results concerning the advantages of such addition (Fuerstenau et al., 1985). It is felt that the use of these modifiers introduce operating difficulties with the concentration circuits, especially flotation (Kawatra et Eisele, 1988)."

Jan 1, 2003

By Bradford C. Wesstrom, Ricardo Parra

The Freeport McMoRan El Paso Refinery uses co-generation to produce some of its electricity and all of its steam. This paper will cover the operation of the co-generation plant natural gas turbine at a fixed RPM for blade longevity and energy output. The by-product heat from the turbine passes through boilers with additional heat from a duct burner to produce steam for the Tank House and auxiliary operations. The steam demand varies dramatically throughout the day based on unloading activities in the Tank House. The use of an automated steam control system within the El Paso Refinery will help stabilize line pressure by incrementally controlling steam consumption based on electrolyte temperature. This will minimize steam line pressure fluctuations. INTRODUCTION In the mid 1920’s the Nichols Copper Company of Laurel Hill, New York recognized the need for a modern copper refining facility in the southwest. Due to the many railroad heads, affordable power and abundant labor supply, and the close proximity to regional copper smelters in Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico, El Paso became the logical location. In December 1928, ground was broken for the joint venture refinery between the Nichols Copper Company, Phelps Dodge, and the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company. In September 1930, Nichols Copper Company became a part of Phelps Dodge Corporation after a stock exchange. In July 1938, Nichols Division officially became Phelps Dodge Refining Corporation. In March 2007, Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold acquired Phelps Dodge. Energy costs (electrical and thermal) are critically important in the viability of modern copper electrorefineries. The El Paso Refinery produces electricity and steam through its cogeneration system. The El Paso cogeneration facility is a natural gas, 15-megawatt facility containing five turbine generators and associated waste heat recovery boilers. The facility is divided into two phases. Phase I consists of two Allison 2.2-megawatt turbine generators. Phase II consists of three Solar Taurus 3.5-megawatt turbine generators. Presently three units in Phase II are operated. The Phase I units were purchased and installed in 1986 and the Phase II units in 1992 (Solar 1991). The facility operated at full capacity until 2003 when steam demand was significantly reduced due to decrease in cathode production and closure of the copper sulfate and precious metal operations. Phase I units were taken out of service and put on care and maintenance status.

Jan 1, 2019

By Olaf Andersen

Crucible melt extraction yields short metal fibers with eqivalent diameters as low as 50 µm from almost arbitrary metals and alloys. Highly porous components can be made from such fibers by suitable deposition and sintering methods. This technology is being developed at the Dresden based Department of Powder Metallurgy and Composite Materials of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing and Advanced Materials (IFAM) and has been applied to gold alloys and iron-base alloys containing small additions of precious metals. From the manufactured gold fibers, sintered structures were made for decorative applications. Additionally, it was found that due to rapid solidification during the fiber formation, precious metals can be finely dispersed in ironchromium- aluminum (FeCrAl) and FeAl20 alloys. Good catalytic activity at elevated temperatures was found in compositions containing 3 wt.-% Ce and 0.5 wt.-% Pt.

Oct 1, 2003

By K. L. Murphy, G. Multamaki, P. M. Huck

"A preliminary evaluation, based on existing data, has been made of the implications of placing radium-barium sludge in tailings areas. The study was restricted to a consideration of possible increases in the quantities of radionuclides escaping to the environment through either groundwater or surf ace water, considering the types of tailings treated and the effluent treatment systems currently operating in Canada.IntroductionIn the recovery of uranium from ore deposits, the tailings produced by mine/mill complexes are conveyed to impoundment areas in slurry form. After settling, the supernatant is discharged to the environment together with runoff from precipitation on the tailings bas in. Currently, all operating uranium mines in Canada employ barium chloride treatment to control the release of dissolved radium to the aquatic environment. The dissolved radium in the tailings decant is precipitated with barium chloride, forming (Ra,Ba)SO4, and allowed to settle in ponds or lakes. In some instances, settling tanks have replaced ponds and flocculants have been added to aid settling. Because the Atomic Energy Control Board does not consider the precipitation ponds to be suitable for final disposal of these sludges, acceptable sites must be found. Options which have been suggested for sludge management include underground placement either in worked-out mine areas or in special chambers, or placement in the tailings areas. Conceptually, the latter alternative is attractive and probably would minimize sludge handling. This alternative would be subject to the AECB policy which requires that upon abandonment, radioactive releases from a tailings area must be within present regulatory limits and that treatment to meet these limits should not be required in perpetuity.No quantitative data exist concerning either the effect of physical and chemical conditions in the tailings on resolubilization of radium from precipitated sludges or the fraction of this additional radium which would be released."

Jan 1, 1982

By E. Fried

Cemented paste backfill (CPB) is an innovative tailings management method that consists in returning considerable amounts of mine tailings into the underground mine openings. The filled stopes thus participate to the ground support that allows maximizing orebody extraction and a safer environment for the mine workers. There are also significant environmental advantages of using CPB. Indeed, up to 50% of the concentrator tailings can be backfilled, leading to a smaller volume of problematic waste materials to be managed at the surface. Once the CPB is placed, or when the mine is flooded at its end-life, the backfill is subjected to underground water flows that may leach and spread the pollutants (mainly metals, sulphates, and acidity) which can contaminate the underground waters. The aim of this study is to characterize the leaching properties of CPB material and to identify the cement phases that ensure the metal fixation. A laboratory procedure was implemented consisting in the preparation of various paste backfill mixtures using sulphide-rich and sulphide-free materials, different types of binder, and mixing waters having various sulphates, copper and zinc concentrations. After 90-days curing time, the samples were submitted to column leaching tests. The CPB materials were flushed each day with 100 ml of deionised water during 100 days. The collected leachates were then analyzed for pH, Eh, electric conductivity and chemical composition. For some samples, a differential acid neutralisation test was carried out. The objective of this experiment is to dissolve selectively the hydrated phases by adding incremental acid concentrations. By analyzing punctually the equilibrated solutions, the composition of the dissolved phases and their metal content can be estimated. The leaching test results showed that the pH of the leachates remains alkaline during the test period. When the pH decreases under 10 (after 30 days), different behaviours in terms of chemical element release (especially for zinc) were observed. During the test, the oxidation of pyrite seems to slow down, probably due to passivating phenomena. Moreover, the differential acid neutralisation test results allowed a better understanding of the CPB mineralogy and the Zn-bearing cement phases. Zinc and the other metals seem to be fixed within a calcium-magnesium silicate.

May 1, 2007

By Tom Olsen, Tom Ohrling, Peter Taggart, Chris Martin

"North American Palladium commissioned the new concentrator at the Lac des Iles mine in the summer of 2001. The 15,000 tonnes per day mill replaced the existing 2,400 tonnes per day facility, as part of a major mine expansion.At Lac des Iles, the grain size distribution of the platinum group minerals (PGM) is bi-modal. Roughly two-thirds of the PGM are relatively coarse-grained, and often associated with fast floating copper and nickel sulphides. The remainder is ultra-fine, and locked in silicates, which poses a special challenge to the metallurgist. The previous mill typically recovered just the fast-floating mineralisation, but to achieve target recoveries, the new mill has to recover a substantial amount of the ultra-fine PGM. The metallurgical challenges associated with the recovery of fine-grained PGM in the talcous Lac des Iles ores, are described.The paper describes the approach used in circuit optimisation, and how metallurgical and operational optimisation raised palladium recoveries by more than 6% in six months, by tuning the circuit to recover some of the ultra-fine PGM mineralisation.BACKGROUNDThe Lac des Iles mine, owned and operated by North American Palladium Limited, is located about 115 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The mine originally opened in December 1993, and prior to 2001 included a mill capable of handling 2,400 tonnes per day of ore delivered from the nearby Roby pit.Following an intensive exploration programme conducted in 1999, and a detailed feasibility study, conducted in 2000, North American Palladium initiated a mine expansion project, the objective being to expand milling throughput from 2,400 tonnes per day to 15,000 tonnes per day. This required construction of an entirely new mill, which was commissioned in May 2001."

Jan 1, 2003

By E. Wasmund

"Sandfire’s DeGrussa Copper-Gold operation in West Australia is a new high grade copper sulfide mine, which includes a 1.5 Mtpa concentrator which was completed in 2013.Early after commissioning, it was identified that the flotation capacity in the all-mechanical cleaner circuit was not sufficient. In order to improve recovery, the tail from the cleaner scavenger was sent back to feed the rougher scavengers. Test-work was done on-site to evaluate the possibility of using a flotation column as a pre-cleaner. A CavTube™ sparging system was selected, which is especially effective for fine ore particle flotation. Test-work was conducted at site using a 150 mm diameter unit, and then confirmed on a 500 mm diameter unit. A 4250 mm diameter full scale unit was installed in Q4 2014 and commissioned in Q1 2015. This unit gave some significant advantages including a reduction in re-grinding requirements, elimination of a circulating load and increase in the recovery of copper in the cleaner circuit and overall circuit.In this presentation, the benefits of columns and cavitation sparging for floating fine particles and rejecting fine entrained gangue will be explained. Also, the results from a lab unit and a pilot unit will be compared against the results of the full-scale unit. The paper will demonstrate the scalability of flotation columns, and which phenomena and scale-up criteria must be considered to be successful. Finally, some general observations will be made about the importance of columns in copper cleaning circuits.IntroductionSandfire Resources’ DeGrussa copper-gold concentrator is located approximately 900 km north-north-east of Perth in Western Australia. The project area landscape is scrubby mulga lands with few notable features. The climate is arid with high temperature and heavy summer downpours."

Jan 1, 2016

By B. Yu, Y. O. Oyediran, M. Robart

"This paper presents the latest flotation development testwork conducted in 2015 on the ‘B Zone’ samples from the Strange Lake Alkalic Complex (SLAC). Since the discovery by Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), metallurgical development has been under taken by a number of mining companies targeting various value metals, including yttrium, zirconium, niobium, and rare earths.Most recent, Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (Quest) completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) in 2013 where the flowsheet was relatively complex and led Quest to explore alternative options. In 2014, the PFS flowsheet was simplified and one of the features introduced was pre-concentration by rougher flotation. The combined rougher flotation concentrate and slimes successfully recovered >90% TREE in 60% mass thus reducing capital cost and technical risks of the downstream hydrometallurgical processes. The latest flotation development testwork focused on achieving a pre-concentrate in which >80% TREE are recovered in 20% mass. Two separate reagent schemes, based on an ester phosphate collector (Clariant 1682) and a benzoylhydroxamic acid collector (Florrea 7510), were developed. Parameters evaluated in the development testwork included desliming, secondary yttrium and zircon collectors, depressants, temperature, conditioning temperature, time, and density, pH, sodium silicate type, cleaning, and flowsheet configuration. Both developed reagent schemes achieved the targeted metallurgy.INTRODUCTIONThe Strange Lake Alkalic Complex (SLAC) was discovered after geological survey and mapping studies by Geological Survey of Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Natural Resources between 1967 and 1980. Subsequent exploratory drilling programs by Iron Ore Company (IOC) in the 1980s found that the REE and high field strength element (HFSE) mineralization were within the central region of the SLAC which was named A Zone by IOC and later renamed Main Zone by Quest Rare Minerals Ltd. (Quest). Additional exploratory drilling outside the Main Zone by IOC and later by Quest, led to the discovery of B Zone, which was recognized as the most significant deposit of rare earth elements, yttrium, and zirconium in the SLAC. The B Zone Indicated Resources are estimated at 278.13 Mt at 0.93% total rare earth oxide (TREO) and Inferred Mineral Resources are estimated at 214.35 Mt at 0.85% TREO (Oyediran et al., 2014)."

Jan 1, 2016

By S. Banisi, M. Poorkani

The Sarcheshmeh copper deposit contains 1 billion tones of ore averaging 0.7% copper and 0.025% molybdenum. It is located southeast of Iran and currently processes 41,000t/d. Molybdenite as a by-product is recovered in two separate stages. First, a bulk coppermolybdenum concentrate is produced and in the second stage these two are separated. The recovery of molybdenite in the first and second stages is 65% and 85-90%, respectively. The yearly production of molybdenite concentrate varies between 3500 and 4000 t. Sodium sulphide is used as the depressant of the copper and iron bearing minerals which due to a rather high consumption (17.7 kg/t) constitutes one of the major cost items of the plant (i.e., 58% of total reagents cost). A detailed laboratory scale study showed that replacing air with nitrogen could reduce the consumption of sodium sulphide (i.e., H2S or mineral origin). Nitrogen for the plant was supplied from an oxygen plant used for the smelter through a 1400 m long pipeline. The existence of the oxygen plant at the Sarcheshmeh complex was a key factor in the implementation and success of this project. After using nitrogen in the plant for a period of twenty one months, the consumption of sodium sulphide was reduced from 17.7 to 14.2 kg/t at constant metallurgy. The reduction was lower than expected which was mainly due to the type of sodium sulphide used and the lack of any automatic instrument to control the depressant (sodium sulphide) dosage. The latter in turn caused the operators to overuse sodium sulphide in order to reach and maintain the target metallurgy (i.e., higher molybdenite recovery along with lower copper content of the concentrate).

Jan 1, 2005