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By T. Maruyama

Tamano Refinery started its operation in 1972 with the cathode production capacity of 84,000 tons per year. After several expansions, the production capacity increased to 228,000 tons per year in 2001. In this paper, we are introducing our next expansion projects starting October 2006. The project expands the production capacity of cathode from 228,000 tons to 260,000 tons per year. The main modification of this project is the conversion to the ISA process and the installation of additional seventy-two cells in the No.2 Tankhouse. The No.1 Tankhouse remains the same, using the conventional process. Half of our starting sheet cells are converted to commercial cells. The other expansions are to enlarge our purification plant. And the incidental facilities are enlarged, for example, circulation tanks, heat exchangers, filtration system, etc. Finally, this paper describes those improvements to our refinery performance and preparing for future expansions.

Jan 1, 2007

By J. Schmidt

Cold drawing of copper wire rod is usually combined with an in-line annealing process to adjust the ductile microstructure of the wire again. One important key factor for successful annealing is the quality of the copper itself. Rod producers can check the recrystallization behaviour of the rod by different methods: chemical analysis, Spiral Elongation Test (SEN) as well as the Rapid Elongation Test (AR) are some examples of common testing methods. The comparison of the results of these methods does not always show sufficient correlations. The paper introduces firstly the SEN and AR-Tests and their different approaches to the mentioned task. The second step is to compare some results of the SEN-Test with the results of the AR-Test and identify causes of deviations. Thirdly, the effect of pre-annealing is discussed, which is especially common for wire rod with diameters of more than 8 mm.

Jan 1, 2007

By M. Huang

Electrodeless conductivity was employed to investigate the feasibility of continuous on-line monitoring of the free acidity of sulphate and/or chloride solutions of Cu and other base metals from various hydrometallurgical processes. These solutions were measured with both commercial and experimental electrodeless conductivity sensors from 15 to 250°C. It was confirmed that hydrogen ion has the greatest impact on conductivity by carrying the bulk of the current because it is the most mobile ion. In combination with a solution speciation analysis the conductivity sensor can be calibrated to account for the contribution of Cu electrolytes as well other dissolved salts allowing fast and accurate on-line measurement of free acid. The sensor was tested at both lab and pilot scale with very good performance. The average difference between the measured and the titrated acid concentration was less than 5%, which is excellent for industrial applications.

Jan 1, 2007

By Robert B. Parsons

"Finance Minister Paul Martin's first budget disappointed almost everyone. The business sector was disappointed at the some what feeble attempt to grapple with the country's deficit. The mining industry was disappointed by tax proposals regarding mine reclamation that fall short of the industry's needs. Has anybody been happy with a federal budget? Federal Budget DisappointsThe federal government's budget papers that were tabled on February 22, 1994, contained a rather bizarre mixture of unrelated tax proposals. The budget signals an unexpected attack on the tax treatment of debt settlements, on certain types of corporate reorgani2ations, and on income earned by foreign affiliates. This is an old style budget, which proposes a pot pourri of technical changes and policy initiatives. Mine ReclamationEffective February 23, 1994, a taxpayer's contributions to a prescribed mine reclamation trust fund will be deductible as a current expense. The budget papers do not provide a definition of what will constitute a ""prescribed"" trust: this definition will surface in due course. However, the budget papers indicate that:• income earned in such trusts will be subject to tax each year;• all withdrawals from the trust (including income already taxed) will be included in computing the income for tax purposes of the recipient;• reclamation costs will continue to be fully deductible at the time incurred; and • contributions, trust earnings, and withdrawals will not be taken into account for the purposes of determining a taxpayer's resource allowance."

Jan 1, 1994

By Mahmoud Shakeri1

Various types of thin-walled structures have been frequently used as energy absorbers to mitigate the adverse effects of impact and hence protect the vehicle structure under consideration when subjected to different loading conditions. Compression tubular structures that buckle in a progressive manner, can be used to advantage, providing inexpensive and versatile, but nevertheless weight and stroke efficient energy absorbers. In this paper quasi-static nonlinear finite element simulations are performed to study the effects of number of corners of the cross-section, wall thickness, plastic hardening rate of material, foam-filler and load angle on deformation mode and mean crushing force of tube. Crush strength increases as the number of corners of the cross-section increases, though it almost saturates for the number of corners beyond 11. Higher plastic hardening rate stabilizes the collapse pattern. Foam-filled tubes seem to have higher critical load angles in oblique loading and display a more stable and gradual decrease in mean load over the transition region. Substantial decrease in the initial peak load and dynamic load at any a given deflection was observed as the load angle increases. The investigation of bitubal arrangements and Multi-cell tubes reveals that these may be preferable to monotubal specimens due to the presence of the inner profiles. In addition, a comparison is conducted between the numerical and experimental results of the mean forces of some special angle elements. Good agreement is obtained.

Oct 1, 2011

"At the May 15, 2006 and the May 1, 2007 Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) meetings in Vancouver and Montreal, CSA requested CIM consider certain issues arising out of the CSA review of Technical Reports and public disclosure, in general, regarding the practice of estimation and reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The following is a summary of the issues raised by the CSA and the responses of the CIM.Preamble: At the May 15, 2006 and the May 1, 2007 Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA)-Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) meetings in Vancouver and Montreal, CSA requested CIM consider certain issues arising out of the CSA review of Technical Reports and public disclosure, in general, regarding the practice of estimation and reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The following is a summary of the issues raised by the CSA and the responses of the CIM Reserve Definition and the CIM Estimation Best Practices Committees (the Committees). This information is intended to provide the Qualified Person (QP) with further guidance when estimating Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and in preparing a technical report written under National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). Several members of the CIM Reserve Definition Committee, the CIM Estimation Best Practices Committee and some members of the Committee for Mineral Resources International Reporting Standards have reviewed these issues and provide the following commentary.Issue 1. - CSA requested CIM review and comment on the selection of an appropriate commodity price to be used in Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves estimates.Commodity prices are used in the estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and in the economic analysis of a property. In times of rapidly changing commodity prices, or when prices are at the extreme ends of a commodity price cycle, the QP has a difficult job in selecting an appropriate commodity price.• The selection of appropriate technical variables, including commodity price, is clearly the responsibility of the Qualified Person (QP). The QP must describe the reasons for selecting these variables, including price, in the technical report.• The definition of a ""Mineral Resource"" contains the wording ""reasonable prospects for economic extraction,"" therefore, a QP must select economic parameters, including commodity price, that will result in an estimate of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves that have ""reasonable prospects for economic extraction""."

Jan 1, 2003

By J. E. Nesset

The past 50 years have been a golden era, not just for the CMP but also for the development and success of Canadian technologies in the field of mineral processing. The CMP has played a critical role of technology transfer agent, and the success of these technologies is also linked to the success of the CMP itself. The presentation will cover, in brief, the growth of the CMP from its origins as the Canadian Gold Metallurgists in 1964, with some 39 attendees, to the present day when the annual meeting sees 500 and more from a dozen countries. Also covered will be selected technology success stories from the 50th anniversary volume to be given to all delegates ‘Canadian Contributions to Mineral Processing Technology 1968-2018’. The volume itself highlights some 40 technologies that have been divided into five categories; process water treatment and minesite environment, technology innovations, innovations in operations, technology providers and university contributions. Some international perspectives will also be shared.

Jan 1, 2018

By Y. C. Kim

This paper discusses Air Liquide's patented SPALTM (Surface Protection Air Liquide) technology and process for the inerting of coreless induction furnaces using cryogenic liquid gas. Air Liquide Canada Inc., in collaboration with Riverside Brass and Aluminum Foundry Limited (Riverside Brass), conducted plant trials to demonstrate the applicability of the SPALTM technology for copper-based alloys. Results showed that with SPALTM, Riverside Brass benefited from a significant increase in metal yield as the level of dross formation was drastically reduced. Together with the many other benefits of this technology, SPALTM demonstrated to be a non-negligible cost-effective solution to reduce metal production costs. In an effort to optimize the argon flow, different flow rates were used and the oxygen level above the metal bath was measured to pinpoint optimal flow. The results of metal yield, charge mix, dross formation, and melt temperature are compared with and without argon. The metal yield improvements are dramatic and calculated net savings are presented hereunder.

Jan 1, 2007

By R. A. L. Drew, J. P. Immarigeon, F. Jalilian, M. Jahazi

In the present work TLP bonding of Inconel 617 is investigated. The influence of the main processing parameters i.e. time and thickness of the interlayer were studied with optical and scanning electron microscopy. Boron containing interlayers with two different thicknesses were used and the influence of various holding times from 5 min to 24 hours on the microstructure of the bond region was investigated. The results indicated that, for the testing temperature of 1065°C and holding times above 2 hours with an interlayer of 25.4 microns thick no liquid phase was observed. The same phenomenon occurred only after 6 hours for a 76.2 microns thick interlayer. Precipitate growth started at grain boundaries and continued inside the grains. The composition, size and morphology of the precipitates were studied using electron microprobe analysis. No noticeable changes were observed in the grain size of the base metal with increasing holding times.

Jan 1, 2004

By W. Beres, Li. J.

The finite element method (FEM) has been applied to investigate the stress fields and deformation of a TiN/Ti-6A1-4V coating/substrate system subjected to nanoindentation. MSC Patran and MSC Marc were used to prepare the three-dimensional finite element models and to perform the simulations of the Vickers nanoindentation experiments. Pure silicon and TiN/Ti-6A1-4V coating/substrate system were analyzed. The properties of the materials were assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic with a linear hardening behavior. The reverse method was used to extract material properties, such as the yield stress and strain hardening coefficient, from the numerical results by comparing the simulated indentation load vs. penetration depth (P-h) curves with those obtained experimentally. Both non-linear elastic and non-linear elastic-plastic analyses were carried out for the coating/substrate system. The results are given for four different coating thicknesses.

Jan 1, 2004

By B. T. Lu, J. L. Luo, H. X. Guo

This paper investigated the synergistic effect in the slurry-erosion process of carbon steel. In line with the mechanisms of material loss, the synergism due to interaction of erosion and corrosion was divided into the corrosion enhanced by erosion and erosion enhanced by corrosion. The erosion-corrosion tests were conducted with A1045 steel in slurries containing silica sand. Experimental results showed that the rotating of the sample in corrosive media raised both OCP and corrosion rate, but the impingement of solid particles did not affect the corrosion current significantly. In the quiescent solutions, the Faraday's law gave a good prediction for the weight loss caused by corrosion but for rotating samples, the weight loss experimentally measured was virtually greater than that predicted by the Faraday's law, indicating that the corrosion-enhanced erosion could occur in corrosive fluids in absence of solid particles. A half-logarithm relationship was observed between the weight loss due to corrosion-enhanced erosion and the anodic current density.

Jan 1, 2004

By Steven Aiken

The East Boulder Mine located in Montana, U.S.A. utilizes snowmaking to assist with mine water treatment for nitrogen removal. Nitrogen species, including ammonia, are common contaminants in mine water from underground mining operations. Snowmaking provides secondary treatment of nitrogen during the winter due to the chemical and physical processes that occur during snowmaking, in the snow pack and in the snowmelt. The primary processes include atomization, evaporation, sublimation and volatilization. The snowmakers also provide secondary treatment for nitrogen removal when used as evaporators and/or land application units during the summer. In 2002, the snowmaking process was successful at reducing total nitrogen in the mine water by up to 87%. If additional losses due to soil and root zone processes are included, total nitrogen reduction would increase to between 87 and 97%. Snowmaking is an effective nitrogen reducing treatment method during the winter when other treatment methods such as land application cannot be used.

May 1, 2004

By K. Madi, E. Yeugo Fogaing, S. Forest, M. Boussuge, L. Massard, M. Huger, Gaultm C.

This study has been carried out owing to the French research program PROMETHEREF, which aims to improve the knowledge of thermal and mechanical properties of industrial refractories at high temperature. In this frame, this paper relates a collaborative study between Saint-Gobain CREE, R&D Centre for Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics in Europe (Cavaillon), the Materials Center P.M. Fourt of Ecole des Mines de Paris (Evry) and the Research Group on Heterogeneous Materials (GEMH) of ENSCI (Limoges). Data collected at high temperatures by using different means (bending tests, ultrasonic measurements,...) allows the identification of the high temperature behavior of two fused cast materials, produced by Saint-Gobain group for the glass manufacturing industry. The results emphasize the importance of the transformation of zirconia and of the viscosity of the glassy intergranular phase on the mechanical behavior. Damage under the form of microcracking caused by thermal expansion mismatch between the phases is also observed during cooling down at low temperature, when the material is elastic.

Jan 1, 2004

By R. Anthony Hodge

Who/what is ?community?? What are most communities interested in, what do they care about? What has happened in the past? What is happening today? What is hoped for tomorrow? What are the lessons and keys to success?

May 1, 2006

By J. Scalise

The paper covers a wide range of topics relative to filtration for continuous cast copper and aluminum. Subjects include system concepts, filtration concepts, system components, filter types, filter media selection, caster water filtration, coolant disposal, and recommended materials of construction.

Jan 1, 2007

By Chris D. Veldhoen

If you ask most diamond drillers if they have ever encountered methane gas, the answer would probably be yes. This paper explores a serious methane gas explosion that the author experienced while diamond drilling at a northerly Ontario mine. It is hoped that by documenting this event, people may be alerted to the hidden danger posed by confined methane in underground workings. Methane gas tends to be a problem the deeper you get in any Canadian gold mine. Common procedure when encountering methane is to take readings at the collar of the hole and at different lengths from the source. Monitoring continues until the readings drop below 0.25 ppm. Methane is a tasteless odorless gas that is usually locked up in the seams of the rock or is a product of decaying organic material. Occasionally, the gas is released abruptly over a short period of time. Sometimes the gas can continue to vent for months or even years. In small concentrations, methane is relatively safe. In concentrations under 0.25 ppm methane gas is considered safe to work around. Concentrations over 0.25 ppm can become dangerous. During the summer of 2001, Chris Veldhoen was drilling at a gold mine in Ontario. There were three electric hydraulic diamond drills on the 39 meter level, approximately 5200 feet deep. Two Longyear LM 55 drills were about 40 feet apart and another LM 75 was about 2000 feet away. The two LM 55?s were set up to drill holes no deeper than 350 meters. All three drills had been set up on the same spot for more than a month. None of the three drills had ever encountered methane gas in the entire time they had been drilling on the level. On the day shift of July 13 2001, the driller on Chris? cross shift hit a small pocket of gas. He tested the hole and got a reading above 0.25 ppm. He proceeded to rope off the area with a ?DO NOT ENTER - METHANE GAS? sign and a rope denying access beyond the sign. On Saturday, July 14, Chris was instructed to install a Margo plug in the hole that was emitting methane gas. Methane is usually odorless, but occasionally when encountered underground, is accompanied by a rotten egg smell. As he walked to the drill, he could not smell methane gas. He proceeded to test the hole and got a reading of 0.22 ppm methane. This number was in the acceptable range for drilling, but he plugged the hole anyway.

May 1, 2004

By W. Qin

The nucleation of d hydride in Zircaloy-4 has been studied using electron backscatter diffraction. Hydrides prefer to nucleate at intergranular rather than intragranular sites. (0001) a -Zr//(111) d -ZrHx is the most common crystallographic relationship. The hydride platelets are generally interlinked each other and form a chain-like configuration. Based on thermodynamic model, the formation mechanisms of the hydrides at different sites and the interlinked structure were analyzed. We found that the misorientation of two adjacent grains has a crucial effect on hydride nucleation sites, and the tensile stress near the tips of hydride platelets is a key factor affecting the appearance of interlinked structure.

Aug 1, 2010

By Gheorghe Vieru

Security and safety due to environmental impact as well as the radiological consequences during the uranium mining operations, tailings management, uranium processing, disposal of waste in conventional landfill sites are matters of great importance. The Uranium National Company (CNU) from Romania is responsible for all aspects belonging to the management of the entire Romanian uranium industry- the uranium ore extraction, transport and processing of uranium ore, concentrates processing, as well as disposal of sterile ore and waste. The paper will presents specific safety problems related to the identification and evaluation of potential environmental risks, as well as possible radiological consequences associated with the disposal of sterile and the uranium processing waste resulting from processing of the uranium ore. Computer codes will be used, such as IAEA INTERTRAN II and RADTRAN 5. It is also to be noted that this paper considers the main results of the scientific research carried out by the main author as CSI (Chief Scientific Investigator) for Romanian Research Contract on NORM concluded with IAEA Vienna.

Aug 1, 2010

By C. Zangerl, H. Lechner

"Large scale rock slides in deeply incised Alpine valleys are common hazards that can endanger human life, settlement areas and critical infrastructure such as highways, railways and reservoirs (Bonzanigo et al., 2007). In order to perform reliable forecasts of the behaviour of rock slides influenced by large dam reservoirs the geometry, the kinematics, the deformation behaviour and the hydrogeological situation need to be understood profoundly. Based on generic rock slide models the influence of the rock slide geometry on the stability as well as the impact of the buoyancy forces and water load of the reservoir at the toe of the slope are the main focus of this study. Various assumptions of hydraulic conductivity, groundwater conditions of the rock slide and impoundment depth of the reservoir are analysed using limit equilibrium approaches.Generally, deep seated rock slides are characterised by deformation along one or multiple shear zones where most of the measured total slope displacement localizes. Many large rock slides, especially those observed in foliated, mica-rich crystalline rock masses (e.g. paragneisses, mica schists, phyllites), do not fail suddenly or reach high velocities. Instead, many of them move slowly and reach velocities of centimetres per year or even less. Some show episodic accelerations, sometimes reaching alarming levels, but then subside to non-critical levels again. However, there is a potential that deep-seated rock slides fail rapidly, develop into far-reaching run-out rock flows, and cause catastrophic events. Whereas the role of triggers in promoting phases of acceleration is often understood, the same cannot be said regarding the kinematics and dynamic processes by which the rock slide mass decelerates, re-stabilises or accelerates to a catastrophic degree once the trigger impetus has been removed. Thus key questions of the presented work concern the geotechnical, geometrical and hydrogeological conditions under which a slowly moving rock slide is triggered to accelerate to irreversible, maybe dangerous velocities. The development of the sliding zone is generally influenced by pre-existing discontinuities such as brittle fault zones, shear and tensile fractures, foliation and bedding planes. These geological structures determine the geometry of the sliding zone which can either be rotational or translational. During the gravitationally induced failure process the geometry of the rock slide undergoes a change.Several observed post-failure geometries in metamorphic rocks show a concave topography in the middle to upper part of the rock slide and a typical convex or bulge-like topography at the toe of the slope (Zangerl et al., 2012). Whereas the sliding zone of the upper part of such a rock slide mass is rather steep and planar, the inclination of the sliding zone at the toe can be close to zero and act against the driving forces (Alonso et al., 2010). A shear zone that meets alluvial deposits at the foot of the slope encounters a stabilizing impact on the mechanical behaviour. This buttressing effect of alluvial sediments has a remarkable influence on the slope stability."

Jan 1, 2015

By D. J. Sapsford

This paper details results from laboratory simulation of an innovative underground bioleaching process. The underground reactors are periodic flushed with recycled leachate to remove uranium that accumulates within the reactor water. This leaching cycle has been recreated within the laboratory. This study examines the influence of varying cycle protocol on uranium leaching. Protocol variants examined include variation of flushing frequency, flush volume, leachate recycle, nutrient solution (NPK) addition to reactors and Fe(III) sulphate addition to reactors. The presented data highlight the dramatic improvements in uranium recovery that might be achievable by varying the operating protocol for the actual underground reactors.

Aug 1, 2010