Search Documents

By H. Cay, J. Zachwieja, T. Esplin, R. Ravenelle, T. Olsen-Tank

Barrick Goldstrike mine utilizes a carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuit to simultaneously leach gold into solution with cyanide and adsorb the gold-cyanide complex onto activated carbon for further refinement. If the gold bearing ore contains a significant amount of native carbonaceous material, gold cyanide can be adsorbed at these sites instead of onto the desired activated carbon and the gold is effectively lost to tailings in a detrimental process known as "preg-robbing." The preg-rob effect is considerably reduced by treating the ore with a surfactant, which is hypothesized to adsorb to and passivate the native carbon surfaces. Past laboratory and pilot studies have consistently demonstrated significant gains in gold recovery after treating carbonaceous ore with surfactant. With success in bench and pilot scale testing, a plant trial was conducted at Barrick Goldstrike to evaluate the feasibility of using an alkoxylated fatty amine surfactant (Ethomeen T/12) to aid in the leaching of high preg-robbing ores. This paper analyzes the performance of the surfactant during the plant trial in addition to the problems that occurred during the trial period. Suggestions for improvement are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2014

By Gavin Ritson, Chris Ward

"The oil sands industry is still fairly young with the first viable oil sand operation having been started in Alberta in 1960. Since then numerous modifications and improvements have been tried and implemented. The current process makes use of high velocity pumping of oil sands slurry with hot water (hydrotransport) to achieve separation of bitumen from the sand.A number of the oil sands processes have been adapted from unit operations that are used in mineral processing, such as crushing, screening, flotation, cycloning and thickening. This paper outlines a typical oil sands process flowsheet and investigates the differences and similarities in technologies and costs to other mineral processing industries. It also considers the very large throughputs required, and presents some of the difficulties and challenges currently faced by the industry as a result of high demand for oil and environmental pressures.INTRODUCTIONOil sands (also known as tar sands) deposits are found throughout the world. The Athabasca Oil Sands deposit in Aberta is the largest of these. Oil sands consist of a mixture of crude bitumen (a semi-solid form of crude oil), silica sand, clay minerals, and water. The Athabasca, Peace River and Cold Lake deposits cover 141,000 square kilometers and contain about 1.7 trillion barrels (270×109 m3) of bitumen in-place, comparable in magnitude to the world's total proven reserves of conventional oil"

Jan 1, 2009

By J. P. Landriault, F. W. Harrison

"Zinc-iron alloy coatings can be produced by either thermally alloying hot-dipped galvanized steel or by electro deposition. Stelco Inc. produces a thermally alloyed Zn-Fe alloy-coated steel, which is mechanically wiped to remove free zinc.A more extensive use of Zn-Fe alloy-coated steel has been predicted for unexposed autobody and structural part applications, since this material is characterized by good spot weldability and formability, and provides superior corrosion resistance under automotive primers.This investigation has examined the coating composition, corrosion resistance, spot weldability and formability of Stelco's Zn-Fe alloy-coated steel and found its properties to be similar to those of Zn-Fe alloy-coated steel produced by post coating annealing.IntroductionRecently, there has been increased automotive interest in galvanneal, which is characterized by good spot weldability, good paintabilityt and good corrosion resistance when primed. Stelco produces a thermally alloyed zinc-iron coated sheet product similar to galvanneal. However, this product is produced by mechanically wiping the free zinc from the surface of hotdip galvanize to expose the underlying zinc-iron alloy.The surface of Stelco zinc-iron alloy-coated sheet is matte gray and has longitudinal streaks which result from contact with Kevlar wipers during production (Fig. I). This paper describes the coating composition, corrosion resistance, weldability, formability and surface appearance of Stelco zinc iron alloy coatings and, wherever possible, compares these properties to those of galvanneal."

Jan 1, 1987

By L. D. Smith

"Those who submit competing proposals for projects seek to present senior management with complete and fully supported material that will not fail under questioning. Hopefully, misleading notions and omissions will have been minimized and there will have been testing of the assumptions regarding the economic, social and political environments. A capital project evaluation team can do management and itself a service by including a sound approach to the impact of inflation (and its twin problem, interest) on a project and a great disservice with an inappropriate approach to inflation.InflationHandled deftly, inflation can alter a project evaluation to show almost any result the handler desires. It must be a constant source of frustration for design people and cost estimators to spend weeks perfecting the technical aspects of a project in order to minimize costs, only to have all of their efforts set awash in a sea of financial and economic assumptions that submerge all of the detail. In all of this, inflation is perhaps the largest offender, with inflation criteria often being brought to bear at the last minute, almost as an afterthought. Perhaps this tardiness reflects the difficulty of the subject and the belief that senior management will take its own approach to the problems of inflation. Such a belief is unfair to senior management, for it is entitled to not being misled by omission. It is entitled to the full use of the skills of the evaluating team, including respectable assumptions of the impact of inflation.Working in a consulting context, one has the opportunity to participate in the evaluation of a large number of projects. Reflecting the observation of a wide range of views regarding the subject of inflation, this paper will-address the impact of five different approaches to inflation on the evaluation of a single Canadian mining project."

Jan 1, 1987

By Stopford Brunton

For many years it has been accepted as axiomatic that the greater number of 'veins' or 'leads' in the gold districts of Nova Scotia are of the 'interbedded' type. The corollary to this hypothesis is that the vein or lead will have a continuous hanging-wall of one kind of rock, and a continuous footwall of the same or another kind of rock; but the essential point is that the foot and hanging walls are, according to this theory, both continuous and of uniform composition throughout; and that the vein or lead conforms to the bedding of the adjacent strata. With regard to the deposition of the gold in the rocks, the probability is that the key of the problem is contained in a statement by E. R. Faribault, of the Geological Survey of Canada: "The combined effect of cleavage, jointing, and stratification is to cause the rocks, especially the quartzites, to break into rhombohedral blocks". It is essential to comprehend that the rocks of the Province are no doubt folded into anticlines and synclines; but also it must be fully realized that the gold deposits and pay-shoots do not depend so much upon these as upon the fractures resulting from the disturbance caused by the intrusion of granite masses, and controlled by the combined effect of cleavage, jointing, and stratification. These fractures would form the channels through which the ore-bearing vapours and solutions would rise, and at the junctions of these fractures, where the fracturing was greatest, the easiest passages would be afforded to the ore carriers, with the result that the ore-shoots would be found at or near the intersections of fractures. It is a significant fact that in at least thirteen different districts throughout the Province, operators have at various times remarked upon the occurrence of rich ore at the intersection of 'leads,' 'veins,' 'beds,' etc.

Jan 1, 1928

By Richard Morland

Some simple and fundamental objectives To challenge and inspire our people to embrace safety as a value ?A stand for safety as a value ?A stand for our people ?A stand by our people ?Prevent harm to our people ?Eliminate suffering for individuals, families, friends, colleagues

May 1, 2010

By Åke Krukka, Heribert F. Broicher

"The iron ores of the Kiruna Mine in Sweden are of exceptional quality but for the phosphorus content in certain zones of the orebody. The prevention of mixing ores high in phosphorus with those low in phosphorus has always been of significant economic importance. The ongoing introduction of tele-mining and automatic haulage by LHDs requires new means in the field of quality control underground, as the experienced miner as well as the underground laboratory assistant no longer are involved in the process. As of 1998 LKAB has been testing prototypes of LIF Analysers for non-contact and real-time measurement of the phosphorus content of ore being transported by LHDs from the stopes to the respective ore pass assigned to a certain ore quality. The principles of the analysis of laser-induced fluorescence, the different test phases and results are described and conclusions made. With bulk sorting of ore underground the mining engineer supports the efforts of the metallurgist in the processing plant.INTRODUCTIONThe Kiruna Mine of LKAB, Sweden is the largest underground iron ore mine in the world. In the early nineties LKAB decided to develop the Kiruna orebody further down from the 775m main level to a new main level at 1045m. This development programme was realised while in the mineral processing section and in the pellet plant further capacity was added (Wyllie 1996).In addition to deepening of the mine, which opened up 330 million tonnes of ore, the exploitation of the so-called lake ore was included in the future planning, adding another 1 15 million tonnes of mineable ore. At an annual production of approximately 20 million tonnes of ore the Kiruna Mine today looks at a developed ore reserve sufficient for the next 20 years.All of the competitors’ ores traded in the world market are from open pit operations. LKAB compensates for the obvious disadvantages by continuous efforts to make the best possible use of her high quality magnetite ore deposit. This objective is realised by combined efforts in the pellet plant, the mineral processing plant and the mine. Propriety processes, latest big scale equipment and high tech solutions for automation lead to high quality sales products at a reasonable cost."

Jan 1, 2002

By Gordon E. Agar, Brian Lyons, Gregory H. Styles, William B. Kipkie

"Rock rejection during the flotation of a copper-nickel ore was improved by adding carboxymethyl cellulose to both a rougher and cleaner flotation stage. The selection of the rock depressant was based on laboratory rates studies. Plant operating results are presented which confirm the laboratory selection of two particular brands of carboxymethyl cellulose.The rock assay of the concentrate was reduced from more than 40% to less than 15%.IntroductionThe traditional method of selecting flotation reagents relied upon batch bench scale tests, conducted under arbitrary conditions, to identify the effect of the reagent under examination. Too often these were ""one-off"" tests with little or no regard paid to the reproducibility of the results. Sophisticated researchers used statistical methods to design and evaluate the experiments but they were still obliged to rely on the arbitrary and often unreliable batch tests to generate the numbers that were analyzed statistically. An interesting side-effect of the enhanced sophistication of the statistical analysis was often that no significant effects would be uncovered in a series of experiments that would have generated many positive conclusions and much further experimentation if the same results had been evaluated by the traditional method.In the recent past, at least two groups of researchers a have directed their attention to the reliability of the batch experiments with a view toward improving the reproducibility of the test data. In this work the best of the improvements advocated by both of these groups have been adopted in order to generate kinetic data from batch tests that are as reproducible as possible.The objective of the work was to reduce the rock content of a bulk sulphide concentrate produced at Inco's Shebandowan mill. During 1982 the Shebandowan concentrate analyzed 3.5% Cu, 7.4010 Ni, 25% pyrrhotite and more than 40% rock, which resulted in an MgO content of 10.4%. Besides the expense of shipping all of this rock to Sudbury, the rock also contributed to the poor filterability of the concentrate. On favourable occasions the moisture content of the filter cake was slightly over 20% by weight. The magnesia content of the concentrate was deleterious to the reverberatory furnaces used by Inco for smelting nickel concentrate because the slag viscosity increased as the magnesia content increased, and the nickel lost in the slag went up."

Jan 1, 1987

By E. S. Moore

"The Centre of the silver-producing section of the Gowganda area lies about 55 miles northwest of Cobalt, and the village of Gowganda is 71 miles by road from New Liskeard. The geological similarities of the Gowganda and Cobalt areas led prospectors westward from the rich Cobalt field, first to Elk Lake and then on to Gowganda, where mineralization was found in 1907. A year later many showings were found, and rich hand-picked ore was shipped. Most of the ore has come, however, from two mines, both of which are still operating; the Miller Lake-O'Brien, which was purchased by Siscoe Metals of Ontario Ltd. in 1945, and the Castle-Trethewey. The annual production of these two mines runs over one and one-half million ounces of silver and considerable cobalt. The total production of the camp has reached about 32,000,000 ounces of silver and a large amount of cobalt, the total not recorded.General GeologyThe general geology of Gowganda is in many respects much like that of Cobalt. There are areas of Keewatin basic and acid Javas mixed with tuffs and basic intrusions. These rocks are deformed and partly altered to schists, and have been intruded by some Haileyburian basic and ultra-basic rocks and by Algoman granite. These were followed by a large number of porphyritic Matachewan quartz diabase dykes. After a period of extensive erosion the Huronian sediments were deposited on a pene-planed surface over all the older rocks; these sediments include large quantities of conglomerate (partly tillite), quartzite, and greywacke. The Keweenawan rocks include the Nipissing quartz diabase sill, later quartz diabase dykes, and one long olivine diabase dyke, the latest Precambrian rock. The area has been extensively glaciated.Structural FeaturesThere has been little folding in the area since the Algoman batholiths were intruded, and the Huronian sediments lie nearly flat, with dips of 10, 15, or rarely 25 degrees. The Matachewan dykes show a remarkably uniform, nearly north strike, indicative of east-west tension when they were intruded. On the other hand, the dykes later than the sill strike nearly east, tangentially to the northeasterly and northwesterly strikes of the Miller Lake basin."

Jan 1, 1949

By Y. Faitakis

In the mining industry, maintenance is a key priority and a major expense. As mining equipment is large in scale, high in cost, and difficult to tow, it is key to maintain equipment on a timely basis. Breakdown in -40°C or away from a maintenance station can cause great costs in repair as well as lost production. It has often been quoted that about 5% of the North American production is lost every year due to unscheduled downtime. About one-third of the downtime is attributable to equipment failures. From this fact alone, it is evident that proper equipment maintenance can add tremendous value to the bottom line. As organizations and equipment become more sophisticated, maintenance expectations begin to evolve. This evolution can be traced through three generations: The first generation (1940?1950): A ?fix it when it broke? attitude prevailed during that time, mostly because the industry was not highly automated. The second generation (1950?1980): Automation and mechanization of the industry increased. The industry now was dependent on machines performing the majority of the work. Preventive maintenance (overhauls at fixed intervals) appeared as the first maintenance practice. Maintenance costs started to rise rapidly. The third generation (1980?): Assets become more complex. Failure modes are better understood and computerized maintenance methods are becoming mainstream. Condition-based maintenance (CBM) starts to gain ground as a cost-effective alternative, replacing the fixed interval overhauls. As corporations amalgamate and market places are becoming more complex, multi-functional teams become responsible for maintenance. At the beginning of the third generation, maintenance organizations began embracing technology to provide efficiencies in maintenance management. A strong push was made to transition from reactive maintenance to proactive maintenance. At the forefront of this push is condition-based maintenance.

Jan 1, 2004

By Y. Faitakis, G. J. Powley, C. Mackenzie

"In the mining industry, maintenance is a key priority and a major expense. As mining equipment is large in scale, high in cost, and difficult to tow, it is key to maintain equipment on a timely basis. Breakdown in -40°C or away from a maintenance station can cause great costs in repair as well as lost production.It has often been quoted that about 5% of the North American production is lost every year due to unscheduled downtime. About onethird of the downtime is attributable to equipment failures. From this fact alone, it is evident that proper equipment maintenance can add tremendous value to the bottom line. As organizations and equipment become more sophisticated, maintenance expectations begin to evolve. This evolution can be traced through three generations:The first generation (1940–1950): A “fix it when it broke” attitude prevailed during that time, mostly because the industry was not highly automated.The second generation (1950–1980): Automation and mechanization of the industry increased. The industry now was dependent on machines performing the majority of the work. Preventive maintenance (overhauls at fixed intervals) appeared as the first maintenance practice. Maintenance costs started to rise rapidly.The third generation (1980–): Assets become more complex. Failure modes are better understood and computerized maintenance methods are becoming mainstream. Condition-based maintenance (CBM) starts to gain ground as a cost-effective alternative, replacing the fixed interval overhauls. As corporations amalgamate and market places are becoming more complex multi-functional teams become responsible for maintenance.At the beginning of the third generation, maintenance organizations began embracing technology to provide efficiencies in maintenance management. A strong push was made to transition from reactive maintenance to proactive maintenance. At the forefront of this push is condition-based maintenance."

Jan 1, 2004

By D. Getzlaf

"Oilfield cementing has been utilized in the industry since the turn of the century. Originally, wells were shallow and criteria for well integrity were somewhat limited. Since that time, wells have stretched the envelope in depth, temperature, and pressure. Environmental regulations have also become more stringent, thus, the importance of hydraulic isolation between permeable zones, and between these zones and surface has become more and more important.Initially, oilfield cements were comprised predominantly of construction cement and very limited additives. As time progressed, additives were incorporated to control pumping time or placement time and little effort was placed on optimizing actual components within the cement chemistry. This paper presents issues and concerns created by adding just one new component to the fundamental chemistry of an oilfield cement."

Jan 1, 2004

By M. Abzalov

"Control of analytical data quality is usually referred to in the mining industry as Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC), and involves the monitoring of sample quality and quantification of analytical accuracy and precision. QAQC procedures normally involve using sample duplicates and specially prepared standards whose grade is known. Numerous case studies indicate that reliable control of sample precision is achieved by using approximately 5% to 10% of field duplicates and 3% to 5% of pulp duplicates. These duplicate samples should be prepared and analyzed in the primary laboratory.Bias in the analytical results can be identified by inclusion of 3% to 5% of the standard in each sample batch. Several different standards are used, with values spanning the practical range of grades in the actual samples. A blank (a sample in which the concentration of metal of interest is below detection limit) should also be included. Standard samples alone cannot identify biases introduced during sample preparation, and therefore approximately 5% of the duplicate samples (coarse rejects and pulp) should be processed and assayed at another, external, reputable laboratory.This paper discusses techniques used for estimation of errors in precision and accuracy, and overviews diagnostic tools. It is shown that one of the most commonly used methods, the Thompson-Howarth technique, produces consistently lower results than other methods. These results reflect the nature of this method, which relies on the assumption of a normally distributed error, and thus produces biased results when errors have a skewed distribution. This study concurs with the suggestion of Stanley and Lawie (2007: Exploration and Mining Geology, v. 16, p. 265-274) to use the average coefficient of variation (CVAVR(%)) as the universal measure of relative precision error in mine geology applications: Le contrôle de la qualité des données analytiques est habituellement désigné sous l’appellation d’Assurance et Contrôle de la Qualité (ACQ), elle implique le suivi de la qualité des échan¬tillons et la quantification de la reproductibilité et la précision analytiques. Les procédures des pro¬grammes d’ACQ impliquent habituellement l’usage de duplicata et de standards analytiques dont la teneur est connue. Plusieurs études de cas indiquent qu’une bonne fiabilité du contrôle de la précision des échantillons est atteinte par l’usage de 5% à 10% de doublons sur le terrain et de 3% à 5% de doublons de pulpe. Ces duplicata devraient être préparés et analysés au laboratoire principal.Un biais des résultats analytiques peut être identifié par l’inclusion de 3% à 5% d’échantillons standard dans chaque envoi d’échantillons. Plusieurs standards sont utilisés, avec des valeurs couvrant l’étendue des teneurs habituellement rencontrées dans des échantillons réels. Un blanc (un échantillon dans lequel la concentration d’un métal donné est sous la limite de détection) devrait aussi être inclus. L’emploi exclusif d’échantillons standards ne permet pas l’identification de biais résultant de la préparation des échantillons, de telle sorte qu’environ 5% des duplicata (rejets grossiers et pulpes) devrait être traités a un autre laboratoire indépendant et fiable.Cet article passe en revue les techniques utilisées pour évaluer l’erreur liée à la précision et a la reproductibilité, et effectue aussi un survol de divers outils diagnostiques. Il ressort de cet examen qu’une des techniques les plus fréquemment utilisées, la méthode Thompson-Howarth, fournit des estimés systémati¬quement inférieurs à ceux provenant des autres méthodes. Ces résultats sont un reflet de la nature de cette méthode, laquelle assume une distribution normale de l’erreur, biaisant ainsi les résultats lorsque l’erreur présente une distribution asymétrique. La présente étude recommande de privilégier l’usage du coefficient moyen de variation (CVAVR(%)) en tant que mesure universelle de la précision relative de l’erreu"

Jan 1, 2008

By Norman O. Lotter, Lori Kormos, Greg J. Wilkie, Peter J. Whittaker, Johannes S. Stickling

"Assessment of opportunities to improve mineral processing performance in existing concentrators and in describing undeveloped orebodies is key to improving the business case of a mining company. This assessment has traditionally been performed using the distinct and separate inputs from Mineral Processing and Mineral Science.More recently, Process Mineralogy has been used to integrate these two disciplines. This trend has been driven by the need to develop and process more challenging ore deposits, and has been assisted by the availability of modern automated instruments. Together with the acquisition of a QemSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Materials by Scanning Electron Microscope) from CSIRO in Australia, and with the use of a supporting SEM with EDX / WDX capabilities and an XRD, the development of Process Mineralogy at Falconbridge commenced in 1997.The sampling challenges in presenting a QemSCAN with representative sample material at the polished section level are significant, but have been effectively addressed. The full description of this aspect is beyond the scope of this paper.It is shown that, by use of this approach, the set nature of an orebody can be best exploited with selected flowsheet changes in a concentrator which address the generic characteristics of the orebody. In this way, the flowsheet provides a process that more effectively fits the mineral processing requirements of the ore. This leads to clear and tangible improvements in grade and recovery."

Jan 1, 2002

By J. F. Jackson, R. W. Mau

"The first commercial installation in the mineral industry of the ""Verti-Press"" pressure filter was made by Falconbridge Limited at the Strathcona Concentrator to filter copper concentrate. The filtercake produced contains 6 - 7% H2O, an improvement from the 12 - 13% H2O produced by an internal drum filter, at rates of up to 20 t/hr. A novel slurry feed system incorporates a hose pump and a pressurized slurry accumulator.INTRODUCTIONIncreased copper production from Falconbridge Limited operational mines in the Sudbury Area has exceeded the current refinery capacity. A copper concentrate has been produced to overcome this constraint and has been shipped to custom smelters either as a slurry or as a 12 - 13% moisture filtercake utilizing an internal drum filter.With the treatment of the new Deep Copper Zone from the Strathcona Mine, copper concentrate production was forecast in excess of the installed dewatering capacity. The filtercake was too wet to transport by truck and the custom smelter refused to handle this product at the truck unloading site. The filtercake had to be trucked to a rail spur and transloaded into gondola cars. This system was expensive, incurred unaccountable losses and the concentrate was assessed a moisture penalty.To reduce the concentrate moisture content to permit direct shipment by truck, two basic systems were available; vacuum filter followed by a thermal dryer or a pressure filter. Past experience with the high capital and operating costs of dryers led Falconbridge to closely examine the pressure filter alternative.COPPER CONCENTRATE PRODUCTIONThere are two separate circuits at the Strathcona Mill; one treating nickel ore and the other treating copper ore.The rougher concentrates produced by both circuits are conditioned with lime and cyanide before the copper-nickel separation in a flotation columns. The concentrate consisting of cha lcopyrite with mi nor cubanite is very clean as shown in Table I. Currently 50% of the copper in the plant feed reports as copper concentrate, in the past, this has been as high as 70%."

Jan 1, 1990

By C. M. Campbell

Canadian newspapers from coast to coast, have been, for months, denouncing those articles entitled, "The Whisper of Death," which have been appearing in the Montreal Star. I have not read these articles as the newspapers do not print them; they just denounce them or class them as jokes. Apparently they think that they are not suitable for the ordinary Canadian to read. It appears, however, that the Star has said that unless we balance our budget, and that soon, we shall be bankrupt. That seems to me like common sense, though the Victoria Times says editorially that the Star claims will "shortly find a place in the joke column". In this editorial the Times quotes with much enthusiasm from the Quebec Telegraph. "Canada," says the Telegraph, "is all right. Her natural resources are so vast that no one need worry. Her future possibilities are limitless; her assets beyond figures". Does it not seem like the limit of nonsense for a country that is not paying its running expenses to make such pretensions? After fifty-five years of Confederation and much talk of national status we are still sponging on the mother country for our external defense; we still allow the hard pressed tax-payer in the old land to shoulder the entire burden. We even now refuse to accept able-bodied working-men from that small and overcrowded country and yet blatently talk of limitless resources.

Jan 1, 1923

By H. R. Banks

IF you have ever travelled in the valley lying between the Selkirks and the Rockies in the East Koorenay district, you will have noted that the former mountains are rounded and massive, while the serrated peaks of the latter, fingering into the sky, bring an entirely different. picture. These two mountain ranges, with the comparatively level valley between, serve splendidly to introduce the subject for discussion. It is rather strange that, despite the fact that wear is undoubredly the greatest force with which human ingenuity bas to contend, it has come in for very little study from the stand point of pure science. Empiricism has been the sole ally in the fight for improvement! That we may have a clear understanding as to what we mean by wear, I would include in the term the breaking dawn of ail solid matter, from the natural wearing dawn of the mountains previously mentioned, to the hale in the mill pipe-line, which forces one to shut-down-usually at some un-earthly hour-to carry out a repair. It seems a far cry from mountains to mill launders or pipe-lines, but, magnified sufficiently, most of the materials with which we have to deal would show surfaces not unlike those we see around us. The progressive steps of wear, or ?erosion' as our geological friends would prefer to term it, are exemplified in the two ranges of mountains and the valley between. True, the wearing dawn by natural forces is a slow process. The aeons which have passed since first these mountains were formed seem endless. The natural forces pitted against them seem puny in the light of the interminable rime that has been needed to effect the changes. But here, as in the case of the materials with which we are dealing day by day, the combination of many forces ultimately brings about that condition which we describe as 'worn out'. In the case of the mountains, it is when they are finally levelled into plains, and in the case of equipment which we use, it is when that equipment will no longer serve its purpose.

Jan 1, 1943

By Fuzail Siddiqui

"The SIDMIN program aims at filling the mineral processor’s need to know the deportment of ‘minerals of interest’ not just ‘elements of interest’ that pass through the processing plants. Generally, chemistry is used as a tool of routine monitoring on site. Mineralogy, which is relatively much slower, is used more as a tool of research and post mortem investigations and these services are usually provided by a distant facility. The SIDMIN program enables site management to receive chemical and quantitative mineralogical reports on their critical samples daily, simultaneously and affordably.The author developed the SIDMIN program at ZCCM Nchanga Division where it continues to be a powerful tool for monitoring the efficiency of operations. Outlines are given of procedures for quick sample preparation and quantification of significant minerals in process samples. A specimen report is presented, which shows the format of reporting the contributions of individual minerals to metal losses at critical stages of the circuit. It is shown that SIDMIN provides timely information to management, about trends and abrupt changes in the quality of ore, and its processing, in a way never achievable by chemical analyses alone. This greatly helps in resolving the age-old problem of ‘bad ore’ or ‘bad operations’ on a day-by-day basis. For example increase in copper mica in the feed indicates excessive ore dilution during mining. Increased loss of free sulphides was traced to insufficient reagent conditioning time at the Concentrator. Persistent losses of leachable oxides at the Tailings Leach Plant were traced to inadequate leach residence time.SIDMIN is affordable because it can be implemented using basic optical microscopes, minimal quantities of micro-chemical reagents and custom trained site staff who demonstrate good colour perception and an ability to follow laid down procedures consistently."

Jan 1, 2000

By K. J. Fair, H. W. Smith, D. R. Francis, J. M. Toguri

"Bench-scale batch milling and screening tests were carried out on secondary aluminum dross 10 produce an aluminum concentrate. To complement these tests, an analysis of a commercial plant was also performed by sampling dross at various stages in the plant's milling and screening circuit. These studies have indicated that benefits of increased capacity, grade and recovery of aluminum metal can be realized by addition of screens before the ball mill, longer grinding period and by grinding the smaller size fractions more efficiently.To test the predictions, a plant test was performed on the milling of100tons of secondary dross. The recycling of the large size fraction (+1/8 in.) of aluminum dross through the impact mill rather than through the rate limiting ball mill resulted in a comparable aluminum grade. The ball milling of the _1/ 8 in. + 10 mesh size gave a dross grade of71% AI. A lower feed rate to the ball mill resulted in a higher final grade. With minor modifications, secondary dross can be processed in 22% of the time it takes with the present circuit without a sacrifice in grade.IntroductionSecondary aluminum dross is a mixture of metallic aluminum, aluminum oxides and salts (alkali halides). Any comminution process deforms or slowly grind s the malleable metal phase and reduces the size of the friable, brittle, oxide-salt phase relatively fasterr(1).The milling of aluminum dross is performed to upgrade the metallic aluminum fraction. Figure I shows a flowsheet for the milling of secondary dross as presently practised at Metals and Alloys Co. Ltd., Toronto, Ontario. At point A, large acceptable grade material is hand picked for refurnacing, the unacceptable off-grade material is sent to the sweat furnace and the remaining, + 2 in. fraction is recycled through the 3.9 ft by 4.1 ft impact mill. For simplification, three ball mills are shown. However, in reality there is only one, a 5 ft by 10 ft ball mill used in a semi-batch mode. The 2 in. + 3/8in. and 3/8 in. + 10 mesh products are remilled in the ball mill. The -10 mesh material is discarded as waste."

Jan 1, 1987

By K. G. Thorne, L. J. Cabri, L. R. Fyffe, D. R. Lentz, D. Hoy

"Mineralization at the Main zone of the Clarence Stream gold deposit in southwestern New Brunswick occurs within a parallel series of quartz veins that occupy a NE-trending, steeply north-dipping, brittle-ductile shear zone related to the nearby terrane-bounding Sawyer Brook fault. This deformation zone cuts volcaniclastic sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Silurian Waweig Formation, and is intruded by mantle-derived East Branch Brook gabbroic dikes and a number of felsic dikes. Intermittent shear-zone reactivation during local magmatic activity induced heterogeneous deformation and alteration of the country rocks and dikes. The terminal phase of shearing is associated with narrow pegmatite-aplite dikes that grade laterally into granophyric granite, and into an auriferous quartz vein. Gold, aurostibite, and gold-antimony intergrowths, predominantly with vein quartz, are associated with a low ƒO2 sulfide mineral assemblage (pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and berthierite) that has a sulfur isotopic signature consistent with a magmatic source. Gold saturation and deposition occurred episodically between 300° and 360°C at low activity of sulfur, predominantly in response to pressure reduction during brittle failure combined with the effects of decreasing temperature and sulfidation reactions during fluid-wall-rock interaction. Geochronological studies demonstrate that the timing of the emplacement of the pegmatite-aplite dikes and associated auriferous veins overlap with that of the Early Devonian Magaguadavic granite. Moreover, the composition of the dikes is consistent with their derivation from this granite as late fractionates. The Main zone of the Clarence Stream deposit is therefore interpreted to be intrusion-related, with the Magaguadavic granite being the ultimate source of the gold-bearing fluids. La minéralisation de la zone principale du gisement aurifère de Clarence Stream dans le sud-ouest du Nouveau Brunswick occupe une série de veines de quartz parallèles dans une zone de cisaillement fragile-ductile de direction NE et à pendage abrupt vers le nord apparentée à la faille de Sawyer Brook avoisinante qui délimite deux terranes. Cette zone de déformation recoupe les roches volcaniclastiques et volcaniques de la Formation de Waweig d’âge Silurien et est recoupée par les dykes de gabbro d’East Branch Brook, d’origine mantellique, ainsi que par divers dykes felsiques. La réactivation intermittente de la zone de cisaillement durant l’activité magmatique locale a entraîné la déformation et l’altération hétérogènes des dykes et de l’encaissant. La phase finale du cisaillement est associée à de minces dykes d’aplite-pegmatite qui passent latéralement à des granites granophyriques, puis à des veines de quartz aurifères. L’or, l’aurostibite et les intercroissances d’or et d’antimoine principalement associées aux veines de quartz sont associés à un assemblage minéral de sulfures à faible ƒO2 (pyrrhotite, arsénopyrite et berthierite) présentant une signature isotopique du souffre compatible avec une source magmatique. La saturation en or et la précipitation a eu lieu épisodiquement entre 300° et 350°C dans des conditions de faible activité de souffre, principalement en réponse à la baisse de pression durant la rupture fragile ainsi qu’aux effets de la baisse de température et aux réactions de sulfuration durant l’interaction entre le fluide et l’encaissant. Les études géochronologiques indiquent que l’âge de la mise en place des dykes de pegmatite-aplite et des veines aurifères qui leur sont associées coïncide avec le granite de Magaguadavic, d’âge Dévonien Précoce. De plus, la composition des dykes est compatible avec une origine provenant de ce granite sous la forme de phases fractionnées tardives. Le gisement principale (Main zone) de Clarence Stream est ainsi considéré comme étant associé aux intrusions, le granite de Magaguadavic étant la source ultime des fluides aurifères."

Jan 1, 2008