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By Gerald Blackmore

This paper discusses the present state and future trends within the coal industry, and then goes into the reasoning behind these planned trends. Such factors as marketing, costs, new mining techniques and machinery, and manpower and human resources are considered. Finally, the author refers to the effect that these trends will have on the coal industry of Cape Breton.

Jan 1, 1968

By P. O. Parfitt

The Critical Path Method has proved its usefulness at Mcintyre Porcupine Mines Ltd. This paper illustrates the techniques of network construction and analysis, and the application of the method at the Mcintyre copper mine to various projects in the gold mine. C.P.M.'s use in a mill maintenance project is also discussed.

Jan 1, 1966

By Fred Horne

1N THIS PAPER, the writer proposes to limit his comments to few generalized phases of the subject, based on his personal experience in the midwestern United 'States and in one section .of the Coal Branch in Western Alberta. The following statistics are submitted to show the importance that strip mining has assumed in the coal mining industry of the United States. In 1914, 1,281,000 tons of strip coal were produced, amounting to 0.3 per cent of the total production. In 1948, the total was 13~,505,000 tons, representing 23.3 per cent. In 1949, the percentage figure dropped slightly and this can be partially accounted for by the labour disturbances prevalent throughout the year. In 1914, there were 48 power shovels and draglines being used in the stripping of coal; in 1949 there were 3,712, not to mention other types of coal stripping equipment such as bulldozers, tractors and scrapers, rotary excavators, and stackers. At the bituminous coal mines in Western Canada, strip mining was introduced only a few years ago, two of the major reasons for its development being the need for increased production during the war and post-war years and the need to hold the line on increasing production costs, but even in these few years the percentage of strip production has in-creased to such an extent that some mines that, five or six years ago, were producing all their tonnage from underground operations are today obtaining up to 80 per cent of their total output from strip mines.

Jan 1, 1951

By R H. Hallam

The Mattagami mining district encompasses a favour-?able belt of folded Keewatin-type rocks, with intercalated sediments and intrusives of late Keewatin age. This environment has been subjected to periods of basic and acidic intrusion. The orebodies lie within the fold structure and are associated with faulting and shearing of considerable magnitude. The No. 1 orebody contains 60 to 70 per cent massive sulphides. The minerals, in their order of abundance, are generally: pyrite, sphalerite, pyrrhotite, magnetite and chalcopyrite. It is evident that the broad geological structure of the district is amenable to ore deposition. There are two ? prominent linear expressions which comprise this broad structure. Both strike directions lie at the edge of, or are related to, a complex gabbro-anorthosite-peridotite zone. The fact that eleven of the ore zones discovered to date coincide with the broad structure indicates its over-all importance. It is estimated that the production from Mattagami Lake Mines will be in the range of 600 to 700 tons of zinc concentrate and 70 tons of copper concentrate per day.

Jan 1, 1964

By J. E. Rehder

IN A DISCUSSION of use of any material of ?construction in the mining industry, two points of view must 'be kept in mind - that of the producer or manufacturer of mining and metallurgical equipment, and that of the maintenance and operating staff of the mining plant. In the first case, the choice of material of construction is up to the manufacturer and the user of the equipment has little direct say in the matter. However, if materials are badly chosen and the equipment does not function properly, wears out rapidly, or costs too much, repeat orders ?will likely go to a different manufacturer, so that, in the end, the consumer or mine operator does have the final voice. In the case of materials for maintenance work and plant operations, however, .the mill personnel have direct control over purchases and it is then that a well-balanced knowledge of materials, their properties, and their costs, can be directly useful. With all materials of construction, the final criterion is unit cost versus service performance, so that the lowest possible total operational cost will be obtained. Sometimes this means using the cheapest material available, sometimes the most expensive, but in any case careful analysis of service performance, replacement cost, and material cost is essential to determining the material that produces lowest total cost.

Jan 1, 1956

By David G. Baskin

"THIS DEPARTMENT is unique in that it operates in the production stream and also provides an essential service. Its operating function consists of scheduling an ore train to haul 10,000 tons per day over 17.1 miles of track and switching all incoming and outgoing rail equipment on 2.2 miles of track at the minesite and 6.2 miles of track at the metallurgical site. The service it provides is traffic control of all incoming commodities and all outgoing concentrates, metals and acid by rail and truck, even extending to port and ship control for overseas shipments (Fig. 46). Although they cover many miles, the railroad and traffic department employees operate very efficiently, as indicated by the following organizational chart:Railroad and Traffic Superintendent ................ 1Railroad Supervisor .............................................. 1Assistant Railroad Supervisor ........................ 1Track Foreman ...................................................... 1Trainmen ............................................................... ... 4Switchmen ............................................................... 4Trackmen ................................................................ 10Traffic Supervisor ................................................ 1Clerk Steno ............................................................ 1Clerks ...................................................................... 3"

Jan 1, 1974

By F. Bélanger, P. A. Fournier

"Modelling and optimization techniques used in the operation of the Detour Lake Mine leach circuit are contrasted to a 1973 review of contemporary techniques used by a major gold producer. The leach circuit at the Detour Lake Mine was modelled using a full factorial Design of Experiment of stirred tank reactor leach tests using circuit feed. Contour plots of extraction were applied in the plant to optimize addition rates of cyanide and the newly-commissioned lead nitrate system. Contour plot sections were used to understand the impact of sulphur in circuit feed at different operating dissolved oxygen concentrations. The 1973 review paper offers insight into industrially-applied modelling and optimization techniques. In particular, a mathematical model of plant data was developed using multilinear stepwise regression analysis. The model was presented using graphical representations available at the time and applied to optimize the rates of cyanide addition. Off-the-shelf software solutions of today allow mineral processors to quickly and easily visualize data, allowing them to re-allocate time and resources spent processing data to generating raw data and extracting actionable information.IntroductionModelling and optimization in mineral processing is the art of reducing reality through judicious use of assumptions to understand a process and leverage this knowledge to engineer practical solutions to metallurgical problems. Data analysis is at the core of this enterprise.While this paper showcases the modelling work done at the Detour Lake Mine (DLM), the primary objective is to pause and reflect on how far the field has progressed since the 1970’s. A snapshot of state-of-the-art gold cyanidation modelling at that time is a review paper of the Anglo American Group’s capabilities (Brittan & van Vuuren, 1973). The objective of this paper is not a play-by-play of the evolution of modelling and optimization since that time. Rather, it is a comparison of the field at two points in time.In 2016, DLM undertook an extensive bench-scale leach circuit modelling program to better understand the impact of cyanide, dissolved oxygen, lead nitrate, grind size, density, and pH on gold cyanidation (Fournier, 2016). Two major capital expenditure projects were anticipated for 2017: improvements to oxygen control and a lead nitrate distribution system. While the lead nitrate system was planned for construction, the design parameters had not yet been selected. Following the development of the model, plant trials were executed to validate aspects of the model and the methodology was expanded to address other plant issues, in particular the effect of talc chlorite and pyrrhotite in leach feed.The variables of the bench-scale study are summarized in Table 1. Dependent variables were varied using a full factorial design of experiment with two repetitions for each test condition, yielding a total of 300 tests. Test order was randomized to eliminate bias from independent variables."

Jan 1, 2018

By Howard W. Tipper, Richard B. Campbell

"The Quesnel Trough is underlain by a thick sequence of mainly Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic volcanic-clastic and sedimentary rocks that lie between the highly deformed Proterozoic and Paleozoic rocks in the Omineca Geanticline to the east and the Upper Paleozoic Cache Creek Group in the Pinchi Geanticline to the west. Broad areas of the Trough between Kamloops and Williams Lake are covered by Eocene volcanics and sediments and by Miocene-Pliocene plateau lava. Granitic intrusions were apparently mainly confined to two major episodes; one about 200 m.y. ago (coeval with the Guichon batholith) and one about 100 m.y. ago. In addition, the region includes small granitic and syenitic intrusions, some porphyritic, that may be all or partly still younger. Exposures in the region are generally small and scattered, obscured by widespread, not necessarily thick glacial deposits. This, together with the extensive Tertiary cover, makes prospecting difficult. The part of the Quesnel Trough discussed here is the direct northwest-ward extension of the copper-rich Kamloops-Merritt-Princeton region. It contains the Boss Mountain molybdenum mine, related to a breccia zone induced in a batholith of the oldest group by a younger intrusion, and the Cariboo Bell copper deposit in Lower Jurassic volcanic-elastic rocks and syenitic intrusions. The Gibraltar deposit, in a 200-m.y. intrusion, is within the Pinchi Geanticline close to the margin of the Trough. Molybdenum prospects are mainly restricted within or near the 100-m.y. granitic rocks. Copper prospects, on the other hand, are most prominent in the volcanic-elastic rocks and in the 200-m.y.-old granitic rocks, although they can also be spatially related to younger intrusions. Copper thus has a wide potential distribution.The writers believe that the region is deserving of careful and comprehensive exploration by directly applying the knowledge and techniques developed in the important producing areas to the south. All of the major pre-Tertiary geological elements seem to have potential for mineral deposits; none should be ignored. A thorough knowledge of the thickness and distribution of the Tertiary rocks and the development of geophysical methods to ""see through"" them is of particular importance."

Jan 1, 1970

By Staff

The Tetreault mine, operated by the British Metal Corporation (Canada), Limited, holds a unique position in Canadian mining, being the only steady producer of zinc in Canada east of the Rocky mountains. Its importance in Canadian zinc production may be gauged with some accuracy, since, in 1927, it was responsible for over 13 per cent of the zinc output of the Dominion. In addition, it also made valuable contributions to the production of lead, silver, and gold. Location: Situated in the foothills of the Laurentian mountains, 600 feet above sea level, 20 miles from the St. Lawrence river, and 52 miles due west from the city of Quebec, the property is in the township of Montauban, county Portneuf, Province of Quebec, as shown in Figure I. The municipality of Montauban, immediately adjoining the mine, has a permanent population of 700 people and is six miles by road from Notre Dame station on the main line of the C.N. Rys. between Montreal and Chicoutimi-Notre Dame being n6 miles by rail from Montreal. Connection by 19 miles of dirt-and-gravel road with the Provincial highways' system of Quebec Province, the city of Quebec, which is distant 78 miles, can be reached by automobile in less than three hours, while the distance to Montreal by road is 16o miles .

Jan 1, 1928

By D. N. Thurston

Luscar Stereo commenced construction of the mine at Coal Valley, Alberta, in August, 1976. It is designed to produce approximately 2.5 million clean short tons of steam coal annually - 2.0 million tons per year being committed to Ontario Hydro and 0.5 million tons per year being committed to Neptune Terminals for sale on the export market. The project involves constructing a heavy-media coal preparation plant, erecting a 42-cubic-yard dragline, constructing a shop/office complex, and developing three surface mining zones and associated facilities. As there were no existing facilities in the Coal Valley area, it was necessary to establish access roads, an airstrip, temporary utilities, fuel supplies, a construction camp, rail upgrading and communication services.

Jan 1, 1978

By John A. Hansuld

Geochemical dispersion of metals under various environmental conditions is discussed within the frame-work of Eh (oxidation potential) and pH (acidity). In general, two aspects are considered -(1) the oxidation of certain primary sulphides in the outcrop or sub-outcrop environment, and (2) the movement of metals in different dispersion media. Practical applications of each are illustrated by means of exploration case histories representing environmental conditions in the Canadian Shield, the southwestern United States and the Caribbean.

Jan 1, 1966

By C. E. White

The depletion of higher grade mineral reserves will accelerate the trend toward production from progressively larger and lower grade deposits. The discovery of adequate reserves of leaner ores will require the development of improved exploration techniques with a greater depth range. The principal challenges to the Canadian mining industry are to find the mineral resources required to meet fast growing world demand and to develop mining methods and equipment to ensure production costs which will strengthen our position in export markets in the face of in-creasing world competition. The challenges cannot be met without intensive efforts to attract more technical men to the industry and to improve their training.

Jan 1, 1967

By V. V. Severov, Z. Lafhaj

The flotation separation of salt type calcium minerals is problematic, due to the similarities in their formation properties and the same active Ca2+ related site for interaction with anionic collectors and similar physicochemical characteristics such as solubility, point of zero charge, surface speciation, Ca-site density. The work was performed to achieve effective and selective separation of the calcium-minerals using pure minerals samples: four calcite, two fluorite, and two apatite samples. The effect of pure and mixing anionic collectors such as oleic and linoleic acid to different ratio (2:1; 1:1; 1:2) as well as the role of nonionic collectors on the selective separation of Ca minerals were studied. All flotation tests were performed in self-aspirated flotation cell. The results obtained with the blend of anionic collectors with the molar ratio of 2:1 show a separation between apatite and calcite at pH 5 and a ratio 1:2 at pH 9. The enhancing of separation contrast using the sodium silicate as a depressant for calcite and apatite is also examined as a function of oleate/linoleate ratio. Additionally, this paper discusses the enhancing of the selective separation of Ca minerals when anionic collectors were blended with nonionic reagents. The surface reactions in aqueous mineral suspensions and the adsorption of anionic collectors blended with nonionic reagents were studied by FTIR spectroscopy. An unexpected synergistic effect was observed for some ratios between anionic and nonionic reagents. The mixture of fatty acids and nonionic reagent showed very high flotation efficiency in comparison with fatty acid alone for the flotation of an igneous low-grade phosphate ore.

Jan 1, 2016

By Staff, G. M. Hogg

"The eastern portion of the Late Precambrian geosynclinal structure known as the Labrador Trough comprises a 16,000-square-mile sulphide-bearing belt of good potential as a base metal exploration area. Hollinger and Hanna mining interests have carried on exploration in the region since 1953, with encouraging results. This program has been considerable in terms of both effort and expenditure, and has resulted in an apparently successful primary evaluation of the entire belt.Much detailed work remains to be done in the area. Exploration to date has been largely of a reconnaissance nature, employing various methods in common use in Canada today. In the course of this work, several deposits of promise, containing near-economic quantities of copper, zinc, nickel and other metals, have been located. A broad classification of these deposits is proposed.Exploration in the sulphide belt was started on the basis of partial control of the area under mineral exploration concessions. This was necessary to justify operations in an area of difficult access and high operating costs. The results of this now-terminated arrangement are regarded as being of benefit to those directly concerned as well as to the mineral industry in general."

Jan 1, 1966

By R. J. Enkin

Modern mineral exploration depends on multidisciplinary 3-dimensional integration of geological and geophysical data. Identification of the geological sources of geophysical anomalies requires knowledge of the physical properties fingerprint of rock types, formations and their alteration products. Understanding how and why rock physical properties vary within the Earth's subsurface ensures that appropriate geophysical exploration methods can be chosen, and allows for more efficient and effective surveys to be designed. Physical properties knowledge is integral to geophysical modeling - measured data or values estimated based on geological understanding are used to produce realistic forward calculations and to constrain inversion models. Mira Geoscience and the Geological Survey of Canada, in collaboration with industry and academia, are building a Rock Properties Database System (rpds.mirageoscience.com). It compiles the most valuable physical properties for mineral exploration (density, porosity, magnetic susceptibility and remanence, electrical resistivity and chargeability) linked with location and lithological metadata. A critical knowledge gap, addressed in this study, concerns the dependence of physical properties on alteration and mineralization processes. We report on the results of a collaborative University of British Columbia - Geoscience British Columbia project, ?Integrated Geological & Geophysical Porphyry Models: Adding Value to Geoscience BC Geophysical Data?. As part of the QUEST and QUEST-West geophysical initiatives, Geoscience BC focused detailed geophysical surveys on a suite of six known porphyry deposits: Mount Milligan, Endako, Huckleberry, Bell, Granisle, and Morrison. Physical properties for a set of 269 samples of characteristic host rocks and their altered equivalents were measured. The causes of physical properties variations were investigated through their correlations with ore and alteration mineralogy determined from thin-section observations and X-ray diffraction analyses. Physical properties of variably altered host-rocks and intrusive rocks vary significantly between different BC porphyry deposits. No specific unifying geophysical model exists that can be uniformly applied during exploration. Knowledge of local background geology and local physical properties variations is necessary as host-rocks and intrusive rock compositions vary depending on magmatic affinities, and alteration styles will vary reflecting host-rock compositions, crustal depth and influence of meteoric water. A district-scale exploration strategy requires location of intrusive bodies, which are commonly magnetic, resistive and low in density. Correlations should not be expected between density and magnetic susceptibility, because alteration may lead to magnetite destruction or to secondary magnetite development. Deposit-scale ground geophysics might image potassic alteration zones that can be magnetic in both alkalic and calcalkalic systems. Low magnetic susceptibilities, resistivities and densities might aid in locating the typically more porous phyllic and argillic zones. All geophysical data must be interpreted with background knowledge of local rock types and in light of the expected deposit model and associated magmatic and hydrothermal processes. The most effective means to building physical properties knowledge prior to geophysical investigation remains collecting rock physical properties measurements. The cost of rock properties data collection is low, relative to the overall costs of running a mineral exploration program, and can provide an important framework for design of geophysical surveys, survey method selection, geophysical modelling, and data interpretation.

Aug 1, 2013

By Jonathan Peck, Jim Gray

"While the mine developer looks for bigger and better orebodies in countries offering lower risks to development capital, the opera-tor of existing mines is looking for bigger and better ways to use his existing resources. Mining operations today utilize a variety of stand-alone systems for planning and managing their operations. In both small and large mines, payroll, accounting, inventory, planning, and engineering requirements are met using a combination of manual and computer-based systems.Technical advances and new enabling technologies are changing how mines are doing business. PC-based systems are allowing small operations to join the larger mines in using advanced computer-based systems. Advanced monitors are being used in maintenance to track, predict and correct the health of production equipment. Production monitoring systems are used to measure the performance of operating equipment and personnel in real time. This detailed information on how much, where, when, and by whom is being used for proactive management and planning. Ultimately, this information can be used to optimize and control the machines’ activities, eventually leading to robotic and autonomous operation of mining equipment.As the use of technology increases in mining, specific information objectives are being met but other problems are being created. The life cycle of technology is small, and as current systems are replaced by newer ones, integration problems and additional end-user training are created. In addition, onboard monitoring systems can create large volumes of data, data which are frequently archived without being analyzed. Mine operators are also duplicating efforts applying new technologies in an effort to be more competitive, but in doing so are creating interfaces which are only compatible with their own facilities. As system development moved from the centralized mainframe computer to the PC environment, the fragmentation of these systems became more pronounced.To efficiently continue in adapting and utilizing advancing technology, the mining industry needs to develop a system architecture that readily integrates as many sub-systems as possible. This will provide a framework for existing system integration and design guide-lines for future development. The Total Mining System (TMS) concept will allow a network of stand-alone functional modules to be readily integrated with minimal effort. This paper will discuss some of the current technologies cur-rently in use in some surface mine operations.In addition, a description of the information system and communications requirements that will be needed to integrate these components in the future, will be discussed."

Jan 1, 1996

By J. H. Brown

"THE need for continuing education has been recognized only in fairly recent years as a major concern of the engineering profession. Formerly, it was acknowledged that engineers were required, at least informally, to follow the professional literature and to give some attention to new technical and technological developments. However, those relaxed days, when progress could be followed in a casual or incidental evening of reading, have disappeared in these days of mushrooming information. The engineer is now in the position of the man trying to control the flow from a fire hydrant with a child's pail. Our problem is that of developing an effective flow system -be it trough, hose, pipe or a bigger pail.The first step in achieving an effective means for continuing the education process is to realize that the need for the system is really an outgrowth of an increasingly sophisticated society. It is merely one more symptom of that society; others would• include the facts that new engineering graduates are more highly trained than those of several years ago, that graduate schools are now the norm and that even some fairly recent technologies are becoming outdated. There-fore, let us examine the education-al systems from which the bulk of the increasing sophistication has grown."

Jan 1, 1966

By H. W. Wevers

This paper is the result of an intensive literature search and practical study of the problems experienced by a mining company with the frame cracking of their large-tonnage haulage trucks. It explains the advantages of particular HSLA steels for applications in the welded structures of such equipment. Examples of existing welds in truck frames are analyzed. Modern fatigue models and linear elastic fracture mechanics techniques are explained.

Jan 1, 1978

By M. J. Fairweather

"The nature of minor element values and impurities are important both in the assessment of new properties and in the continuing improvement of operating plants. Impurity elements are frequently present as fixed solid solution impurities in association with the constituent minerals of a deposit or process streams in a concentrator. This paper uses five case studies to illustrate the application of simple regression analysis to the evaluation of minor element distribution in both operating mines and new deposits using analytical information readily available. This information maybe used to determine opportunities for improvements to the performance of an operating mine, to the economic assessment of anew deposit, or to the subsequent planning of an experimental study.IntroductionThe nature of minor element values and impurities are important, both in the assessment of new properties and in the continuing improvement of operating plants. Minor element values often contribute appreciable incremental revenue to a complex base metal deposit. Examples of valuable elements include precious metals, but may also include elements such as indium and bismuth which can be recovered at a profit by smelters provided with the necessary recovery circuits. During preliminary metallurgical studies of a new property there is usually a strong incentive to maximize the recovery of such valuable by-product elements. For example, the extent to which the by-product gold in a porphyry copper deposit is associated with chalcopyrite rather than pyrite may determine theeconomics of developing a new property.The nature of impurity elements in base metal concentrates is correspondingly important in minimizing the penalties which may be imposed by smelters in the treatment of such concentrates. Penalty elements include silica, dolomite (magnesia), arsenic, antimony, mercury, nickel and cobalt. The mineralogical association of these minor elements determines the ability of the mine to remove them in the concentrating process. This paper discusses means of assessing the mineralogical nature of such impurities without the use of sophisticated micro-analytical techniques."

Jan 1, 1997

By K. Kawagishi, K. Matsumoto, Y Koizumi, H. Harada

A new burner rig for cyclic and hot corrosion testing of Ni-base superalloys and high-temperature coatings has been developed at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan. The concepts of the rig design include: use of kerosene as fuel, easy operation for materials research and multi-specimen testing capability per test run. The burner rig consists of six blocks including combustion block, corrosion-solution injection block, furnace block, specimen block, controller block and outdoor facility block. During verification testing, it was confirmed that the rig had accurate specimen temperature control within ±1? from 600 to 1100? and automated easy operation. Cyclic testing of several Ni-base superalloys was conducted. The results from 50 cycle testing indicated that a new NIMS alloy developed for 1700? class gas turbine had higher oxidation resistance than CMSX-4. This new burner rig testing capability at NIMS can be very useful for future oxidation, hot corrosion and coating durability studies.

Jan 1, 2010