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By Donald J. MacNeil

THE opinion, based upon geological knowledge, that certain areas within the Province of Nova Scotia might yield commercial quantities of petroleum, is not new. It dates back to at least 1864, when the Pioneer Oil and Salt Company drilled some shallow holes in search of oil near lake Ainslie, Cape Breton. As a matter of fact, several companies were engaged in oil exploratory work near lake Ainslie at about that time; included among them were the Inverness Oil and Mining Company, the Victoria Oil Company, the American Oil Company, and the Cape Breton Oil and Mining Company. Oil exploration by these and other companies was conducted sporadically on Cape Breton island until 1914. In several instances, the depth of the test holes exceeded 1,000 feet; the deepest was carried to 3,260 feet. The Lake Ainslie area was selected because oil seepages were present along certain sections of the lake shore, but the tests that were drilled to tap the oil-bearing zone failed to yield anything of commercial value. Currently, there are three areas in Nova Scotia wherein active exploratory work is being conducted, namely, at Pugsley Siding close to Amherst; at Kennetcook, Hants county; and near Mabou, Inverness county. The Pugsley Siding test is being drilled by the Sun Oil Company, of Philadelphia; the work at Kennetcook is under the direction of the Nova Scotia Oil and Gas Company; two relatively deep holes were drilled by the Lion Oil Refining Company in 1944 near Mabou, and, as a result of the additional geological information derived therefrom, another test probably will be drilled by this Company in the same area. Aside from these activities in the search for petroleum, the oil possibilities of several other sections of the Province are being studied by means of surface geological mapping.

Jan 1, 1945

By J. S. Stewart

THIS paper was prompted by a persistent demand for what information we have that will throw light on the oil and gas possibilities of the Maritime Provinces. The problems involved were made familiar to the writer during three seasons of field work in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The reasons for renewed interest are: (1) In many parts of that region, the surface is underlain by a thick series of unaltered sedimentary rocks. (2) Oil seepages occur, and oil in commercial quantity has been exploited' near Moncton, New Brunswick, for many years. (3) In recent years, a new method of attack has been developed toward the finding of stratigraphic traps. This method is based on a detailed study of the geological history of the region, as revealed in surface outcrops and samples from deep wells. The well samples show the lateral variation of strata, far from any possible surface outcrop of the same beds. Sufficient work has now been done in the Maritime Provinces to reveal the broad features of the geological history and the character and distribution of the various rock formations. Comparatively little deep drilling has been done in this region, but the holes are widely scattered and the samples from them have added much to the information obtained from the numerous outcrops of bed-rock. The following discussion gives a summary of available information that has a bearing on the subject.

Jan 1, 1943

By J. S. Stewart

THE Mackenzie River Valley proper extends from Great Slave lake to the Arctic ocean (see map, Figure 1). From Fort Providence, near Great Slave lake, to Aklavik, near the Arctic coast, the distance by river is 1,000 miles. This will give some idea of the extent of the region. Throughout the length of the river valley, the Precambrian complex rocks are overlain by unaltered sedimentary rocks several thousand feet in thickness. These sediments are dominantly marine and Palaeozoic in age. In places, the Palaeozoic strata are overlain unconformable by Cretaceous an Tertiary sediments. The strata have been folded and, in general, the inclination of the beds to the horizontal is comparatively gentle. Here, then, we have the essentials for potential oil fields covering an area over 1,000 miles in length. This is probably the largest comparatively unexplored potential petroleum region in North America, and surface evidences of oil in the form of seepages occur in several places. Many of these seeps were known to the early explorers, and the first Geological Survey report on the Mackenzie River region, containing the results of field work carried out by R. G. McConnell in 1887-88, noted the petroliferous character of the Devonian strata and the indications of petroleum(l). This region is, however, handicapped by distance from markets and sources of supply of materials; by lack of modern transport facilities; by short season for river transport, and mountainous country separating the valley from the Pacific seaboard; and by the long winter season with weather that makes outdoor work difficult. These factors have tended to discourage the enthusiasm of would-be promoters, and so development in this region has been slow In 1920, a test well drilled about fifty miles northwest of Fort Norman discovered oil in commercial quantity, and three additional wells proved a small area to be productive.

Jan 1, 1944

By Laszlo Imreh, Pierre Trudel, André C. Tessier

"The Siscoe gold mine is ranked as the fourth largest mine in the history of the Val d' Or mining district with a total production of 27.4 tAufrom1929 to 1949. Most of the gold mineralization occurred in quartz veins, hosted in a small (.69 km2) intrusion of altered quartz gabbro known as the Siscoe stock. The southern contact of the Siscoe stock is crosscut by a major shear zone (the ""K"" zone) trending 295/80 NE and from which gold mineralization was also exploited within the limits of the stock. Field and petrographic observations of the Siscoe stock combined with chemical analyses of major, trace and rare earth elements of the stock and its volcanic host rocks (Dubuisson Formation) suggest that:The Siscoe stock comprises four alteration facies formed from a homogeneous precursor: 1) the actinolite - Mg-chlorite facies, characterized by low FeOt,Na2O andTiO2 , and highAlp3 and MgO; 2) the albite- Fe-chlorite facies, containing high concentrations of FeOt and Nap; 3) the Mg + Fe-chloritefacies, which is transitional between the actinolite- Mg-chlorite and albite- Fe-chloritefacies; 4) the carbonate-chlorite facies, which consists of rocks that were subjected to extreme hydrothermal alteration, is spatially associated with mineralized veins and part of the K-zone. The first three facies are depleted in SiO 2, CaO and Au, and enriched in MgO, relative to fresh rocks of the Siscoe stock and the equivalent rocks of the Dubuisson Formation.Hydrothermal fluids introduced mainly along the K-zone ""channelway"" induced three types of element remobilization, resulting in the various alteration facies: 1) redistribution of elements within the stock from one facies to another (e .g., FeOt, Nap, Ti02 migrated from the actinolite- Mg-chlorite facies to the albite- F e-chlorite and Mg + Fe-chlorite facies); 2) remobilization of elements from the intrusive rocks into veins (e.g ., SiO 2 and CaO ); 3) introduction of elements by hydrothermal fluids in rocks of the Siscoe stock (e .g., Al2O3, MgO, H2O, CO2 and FeOt).The Siscoe stock and the Dubuisson Formation form part of the same tholeiitic suite. Similarly, the Bourlamaque batholith and the Val d'Or Formation belong to a single calc-alkaline suite. In view of this relationship, dissimilarities between the petrochemistry of the Siscoe stock and the Bourlamaque batholith suggest that the two intrusions are not co-magmatic.Finally, gold may have been leached from rocks of the Siscoe stock and remobilized into the quartz-carbonate mineralized veins. In order to account for the total production at the Siscoe mine, approximately 1.2 km3 of the Siscoe stock is thought to have been partially leached of its gold."

Jan 1, 1990

By A. Dogan Paktunc

Abstract - The Mechanic Settlement pluton is a small body of mafic and ultramafic rocks of tholeiitic affinity, occurring in the Late Neoproterozoic volcanosedimentary rocks of the Avalon terrane of the Appalachian Orogen. The lenticular-shaped intrusion is layered and consists of ultramafic and mafic lithologies in at least six cyclic units that are relatively thin or short-lived. The lowermost exposed portion of the intrusion is characterized by the cumulate sequences of olivine and olivineclinopyroxene and display relatively flat rare earth element profiles. In the overlying lithologies, plagioclase is the dominant cumulus phase following olivine in the crystallization sequence. Olivine ranges in composition from Fo73 to Fo85 and plagioclase from An62 to An89. Variations in the compositions of orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene are within Wo0-4En52-87Fs11-45 and Wo39-50En23-50Fs3-19. These mineral compositional variations in part reflect cryptic patterns and correspond to normal fractionation trends in cyclic units. Elevated Pt and Pd concentrations of up to 2.6 ppm occur in ten zones within the central cyclic series in association with both the peridotitic and gabbronoritic rock types. The mineralized zones are about several meters thick and appear to have lateral continuities over several hundred meters, suggesting that they are stratiform. Platinum-group elements (PGE) occur as discrete platinum-group minerals (PGM) including vysotskite, merenskyite, michenerite, sperrylite, stillwaterite, and hollingworthite that are associated with magmatic sulfides composed of pentlandite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite. PGM grains range in size from a few micrometers to well above 20 µm. Sulfur isotope ratios and the Se/S ratios of the mineralized rocks are typically higher than the mantle values. Sulfide saturation probably occurred as a result of assimilation of crustal rocks and magma mixing during emplacement of subsequent pulses of magma. Repetition of the PGE mineralization in rather thin cyclic units suggests that the replenishing magma probably had high PGE levels and was saturated with respect to sulfide during emplacement. Ingression of the replenishing magma into the chamber in a turbulent plume and its mixing with the resident magma was probably responsible for the formation of the PGE mineralizations in the Mechanic Settlement pluton.

Jan 1, 2000

By R. J. Smyth

A Steel Compression Reinforcement Repair Technique (PetroSleevel) system has been developed that has the ability to repair pipeline defects such as stress corrosion cracking (SCC) without requiring welding to the operating pipeline. The Technology has been used to repair active cracking in ERW seam and cracking in the pipe body. All repairs were performed while the pipeline was in operation. This paper will discuss the engineering theory, testing performed to verify the engineering theory, and examples of actual sleeve installations.

Jan 1, 2005

By Rodolfo Espinosa Gómez

"Industrias Peñoles, S.A. de C.V. – Mining Division, has initiated in the last ten years, six Mining Operations (Bismark, Tizapa, Ciénega, La Herradura, Rey de Plata, and Francisco I. Madero) and it has expanded several of their existing Operations (Sabinas, Fresnillo, Tizapa, Ciénega) one or more times.This work aims to share the experiences learned on this growing process. Some of these lessons are: 1) Project leaders must have a leadership that fosters good communication and team work; and this leadership style must come from top management. 2) A good communication must exist between the personnel from Engineering, Construction, and Operation. Also, this good communication must come from top management. 3) Starting the project with a solid Engineering Study. 4) Do not misunderstand cost with cost/benefit; always look at the cost/benefit. 5) Selecting good Contractors and good Suppliers. 6) Good training before the project commissioning is essential to reduce the learning curve period, this is even more important in areas where local people do not have any background in mining activities. 7) Recognizing that any project has a learning curve and it must be reflected on the production budget. 8) Avoid an over optimistic Mine preparation time schedule.BACKGROUNDIndustrias Peñoles S.A. de C.V.The mission of Industrias Peñoles, S.A. de C.V. (Peñoles) is to add value to non-renewable natural resources in a sustainable manner. Peñoles seeks to build long-term shareholder value; provide their customers with the highest quality products and services; maintain productive longterm relationship with their suppliers; develop and promote the capabilities of their personnel; foster mutually beneficial relationship with the communities in which it operates, and preserve the environment.Peñoles was established on 1887. It is a Mining Group with integrated Mining, Smelting and Refining operations of non-ferrous metals, and also produces inorganic chemistry materials. Peñoles is the main World producer of refined silver, metal bismuth, and sodium sulphate; Latin American leader in the production of refined gold, lead, and zinc.The Mining Group is made-up of nine mining operations producing concentrates with high gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper contents. It produced in 2002, 365,900 ounces of gold; 52.7 million ounces of silver; 86,820 tonnes of lead; 266,000 tonnes of zinc, 11,840 tonnes of copper; with a total values of 3,780.6 million of Mexican pesos (~ $ 378.0 million U.S. Dollars)."

Jan 1, 2004

By Eugene Nel, Johan Theron, Chris Martin, Hans Raabe

"Impala Platinum Limited is the world’s second largest platinum producer, producing more than 1.7 million ounces of the precious metal last year, much of this from the UG-2 reef located in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa. As part of Impala’s ongoing expansion programme, tonnage through their principal UG-2 processing facility, near Rustenburg, was increased 40% in 2001.To accommodate the increased throughput, the role of the existing primary mills was converted from conventional semi-autogenous grinding units, to attrition and selective grinding units, operating in fully autogenous mode. The finer chromite and coarser silicate components in the mill discharge are then separated by screening and processed in dedicated circuits downstream. This way, the need to spend considerable capital to increase primary grinding capacity was averted.In the last year, considerable work has been conducted to evaluate and optimise the two downstream circuits. This has involved an optimisation programme of sampling and diagnostic flotation testing, supported with QemSCAN analysis. This paper will describe the operation of the new circuit. It will also describe some of the more novel aspects and interesting findings from the optimisation programme.INTRODUCTIONThe South African platinum industry is the world’s largest producer of platinum and the world’s second largest producer of palladium. Located in a wide area north of Johannesburg, the industry mines ores from the Bushveld Complex, one of the world’s great mineral treasure chests, containing over 70 percent of the world’s platinum, as well as extensive reserves of the other PGE (platinum group elements), chrome, manganese and vanadium. The industry employs about 180,000 people in, predominantly, underground mines, which together form an almost unbroken circle of mining operations 200 km in diameter."

Jan 1, 2004

By K. G. Stowe

"1. Introduction Mattagami Lake Mines and Orchan Mines operate zinc copper mines adjacent to one another near Matagami, Quebec, situated approximately 300 kilometres north-east of Rouyn-Noranda. (Note: Mattagami Lake and Orchan are in the process of being absorbed by Noranda Mines and will become Noranda Mines-Matagami Division). Both concentrators began operations in late 1963.The Mattagami Lake concentrator is capable of treating up to 3,500 metric tons per day of massive sulphide ore with a mineral composition shown in TABLE 1. The Orchan concentrator consists of two separate circuits - the Orchan circuit with a capacity of 1,050 metric tons per day and a custom circuit with a capacity of 825 metric tons per day. Throughout its operation, Orchan has custom milled ore from several smaller deposits in the Matagami district."

Jan 1, 1979

By S. Deonarain, L. S. Schultz

"This paper details the process and methodology followed to rehabilitate a rectangular ventilation shaft, situated in the Free State region of the Witwatersrand Gold Fields in South Africa. The shaft consists of seven compartments where self-mining of the sidewalls had taken place and damage to the decayed steel work in the shaft had taken place, thus limiting access down the shaft. The paper will provide some insight into the successes and challenges encountered during the project and may provide some learnings for future projects of a similar nature. INTRODUCTION The ventilation shaft forms part of the Phakisa Mine, situated in the Welkom area of the Free State province of South Africa, and is located in the Southern part of the Witwatersrand Basin, one of the world’s largest known and richest gold deposits (Figure 1).As is typical in South African gold mines situated in the Witwatersrand basin, the shaft is 1 770 metres deep (below collar). The shaft was sunk during the early 1940’s and comprised a rectangular shape with 7 compartments, used for both rock hoisting and men and material winding, respectively, with a single lift “Mary-Anne” compartment. Early in 2003, the mine decided to change the shaft from a downcast hoisting shaft to an up-cast ventilation shaft. The conveyances, ropes, winders and headgear (head frame) were removed and replaced with a high volume fan delivering 323m³/s of air at a pressure of 4.2Pa on surface. The up-cast velocity in the shaft was 6.5m/s, however this reduced significantly with the scaling of the shaft and the restrictions at shaft bottom. Although Harmony had converted the shaft from a downcast service shaft to an up-cast ventilation shaft some years back, the shaft steel work in the barrel of the shaft was left intact. Over the years, the steelwork in the shaft had decayed (rust and grime) and portions of this steelwork fell down the shaft. Concurrent with the decaying steel work, portions of the shaft lining had collapsed and it was getting progressively worse."

Jan 1, 2019

By George R. White

"The Phalen Colliery, the Cape Breton Development Corporation's flagship, is now producing thermal and metallurgical grade coal in Eastern Canada's Sydney Coal Field. The colliery is a drift mine operating under the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Improved mechanization, including a 2200 tonne per hour cable conveyor, and the introduction of modern retreat longwall mining methods as part of the Phalen concept are now paying off in better productivity and low operating costs. Geological conditions within the coal field are consistent with plans for ever greater outputs in the 1990s. Although much of the current production improvement is related to uprated machine capacity and simplified mines planning there is potential for even further development in the areas of maintenance, process control and engineering. Human resource development will also be a key factor. These programs are now well under way and Phalen Colliery is poised for top results in the 1990s. Comparison of the CBDC's top producer with similar operations elsewhere in the world, quantifies that potential.IntroductionAn exciting new mining project which has recently started production on Canada's East Coast has been conceived and designed to be one of the most modern and productive coal mining operations in North America.As with all mining operations, the business is basically that of material transportation. Daily, the product is transported many kilometres from the underground face to the surface and then to washing facilities. Men, materials and equipment are transported to and from the surface and the operating faces and services, such as electrical power, ventilating air, fresh water, discharge water, communications and compressed air are supplied throughout the operation to cover operating requirements. On all accounts the operation has been designed to take advantage of the latest proven technology."

Jan 1, 1990

By M. A. Vasina, I. A. Matveeva, E. A. Naumova, V. V. Doroshenko, N. A. Belov

"Using the calculated (Thermo-Calc software) and experimental methods (SEM, TEM, EMPA, DSC, XRD, etc.) the phase composition, structure and hardening of aluminium alloys of the Al-Ca-Zn-Mg system were studied in the following range: 2. 5%Mg, up to 10% Ca, and up to 14% Zn (wt%). Fragments of this quaternary phase diagram in the aluminium corner were constructed, including the liquidus surface, as well as some vertical sections. It was shown that the relatively large amount of zinc enters in the Ca-containing phase, which formula can be described as (Al,Zn)4Ca. An increase of Zn content leads to formation of Al4Ca primary crystals at lower concentrations of calcium. The eutectic (Al)+(Al,Zn)4Ca has a fine structure and aluminide particles are capable to spheroidization during the heat treatment at temperature 500 C. The maximal level of hardness observed on calcium containing alloys was higher than 200 HV, what gives the reason to expect good strength properties. With an example of an Al-9% Zn-2,5%Mg-3,5% Ca model experimental alloy based on the (Al)+(Al,Zn)4Ca eutectic, a principal possibility of manufacturing thin rolled sheets was demonstrated.INTRODUCTION Aluminum alloyed with calcium was first studied in 1970-80s by such authors as Piatti (1976), Moore (1978, 1980), Il'enko (1985), Swaminathan (1990), and Perez-Prado (1997) as superplastic materials. In particular, the alloy systems Al-Ca-Zn were studied (Il'enko, 1985, Swaminathan, 1990, Perez-Prado, 1997). For some time there was no new published works concerning the aluminum-calcium alloys. During the last years many works were published dedicated to the calcium alloying of magnesium alloys (Kim, 2011; Xu, 2011; Aljarrah, 2008; Bakhsheshi, 2014). This urged the authors (Belov, Naumova & Akopyan, 2016) to start studying cast and wrought aluminum-calcium alloys for construction (2008–2014). There is almost no information in the literature concerning triple and more complex diagrams of the aluminum-based system states with calcium and other elements. In recent work, parts of the state diagrams are plotted for the aluminum angle zone: Al-Ca-Mg-Sc (Belov, Naumova & Bazlova, 2016), Al-Ca-Ni-Sc (Belov, Naumova & Bazlova, 2017), Al-Ca-Si-Sc (Belov, Naumova & Akopyan, 2017) and others. Special attention was paid to the study of the system Al-Ca-Zn-Mg (Naumova, 2017). Based on this system creation of advanced extra-high tensile alloys is planned. Wrought extra-high tensile alloys series 7??? based on the system Al-Zn-Mg-Cu are well studied."

Jan 1, 2018

By Z. Z. Öztürk, N. Sarica, A. H. Üçisik, C. Bindal

"Titanium oxide films were fabricated on commercially pure titanium surfaces via anodization procedure. Anodization parameters, anodization time and voltage were altered, whereas temperature and chemical composition of anodization bath were kept constant. The main idea in this study is to obtain rough titanium-oxide surfaces. The type and feature of titanium oxide formed were observed via SEM and EDX analyses. What was revealed from SEM and EDX analyses were combined with Ti-O phase diagram in order to make judgment on the type of phases obtained, e.g. solid solution and/or compounds. Studies on the different regions of each sample showed that surfaces consist of different titanium oxide compounds with various O/Ti ratios in nano level and solid solutions varying in terms of chemistry on the same sample. Thus together rough surfaces and inhomogeneous distribution of "titanium oxides" were obtained. It was also found that when anodization time and voltage were increased, more granular surface with higher O/Ti atomic ratio was obtained."

Jan 1, 2015

By Zhibao Li, Lanmu Zeng

The behavior of dicalcium silicate in NaOH-NaAl(OH)4-Na2CO3 solution is of significance for controlling the silica level in the production of alumina via the sintering process. Dicalcium silicate samples were obtained through a twostep approach: coprecipitation of calcium and silicate from CaCl2-Na2SiO3-NaOH solutions; and calcination of the hydrated precursor at 1200°C for 4 hours. The optimization of the synthesis parameters including temperature, solution concentrations and aging time was also investigated. Xray diffraction (XRD) and chemical analysis show that the calcined solids include dicalcium silicate with trace amounts of wollastonite. The solubility of the synthesized dicalcium silicate in HCl, NaOH, mixed NaOH-NaAl(OH)4 and NaOH-NaAl(OH)4-Na2CO3 solutions was determined. It was found that the solubility increases with increasing HCl and NaOH concentration. The effect of temperature on the solubility in HCl solutions is limited, but the solubility decreases with increasing temperature in NaOH solutions. The solubility of dicalcium silicate in NaOH-NaAl(OH)4 and NaOH-NaAl(OH)4-Na2CO3 solutions was shown to increase with increased temperature, Al(OH)3 and Na2CO3 concentration. The BromleyZemaitis model for the aqueous electrolyte system was selected to predict the solubility of dicalcium silicate. The model’s predictions yielded certain success compared with experimental solubility data.

Jan 1, 2014

By E. Haccuria

Due to the growing share of electrical cars, the use of lithium ion batteries significantly increased. Recycling of these batteries is essential to safely dispose hazardous materials as well as to recover valuables (Cu, Ni, Co, etc.). In order to optimise the recycling process, accurate information is required on the slag phase equilibria for battery smelting. The slag is a multi-component system containing alumina from the battery cases, silica and lime from fluxes, and manganese and lithium from the electrode materials. The present study accurately determined the phase equilibria in the "MnO"-Al2O3-SiO2 sub-ternary system at metal alloy saturation. Particular attention was given to the accuracy and reliability of the final results by highlighting the different reaction pathways, mass transfer- and reaction mechanisms taking place in the system during experiments. This attention enabled improved experimental methodology and measurements. Based on the present study, further measurements will be undertaken in the quaternary "MnO"-Al2O3-CaO-SiO2 system at low "MnO" concentrations, which closely represents the future recycling industrial slags.

Jan 1, 2014

By Tong Gao, Jingyu Qin, Xiangfa Liu, Zengqiang Li, Yaoxian Zhang

"The recycling of aluminum materials is a green industry while Al–Si–Fe is a typical scrap aluminum alloy. The key point of recycling Al–Si–Fe alloys is to separate Al and Fe. A method by introducing Al–Si–Fe alloy into Mg melt has been investigated in this work. A separation layer with gathered Fe–rich and Al–poor Fe3Al0.7Si0.3particleswereobtained at the bottom of the cooled ingot, indicating that ß–Al5FeSi phase evolves to Fe3Al0.7Si0.3,and quantities of Al are released to the upper Mg matrix simultaneously. However, the evolution of Al3Fe by adding binary Al–Fe alloy into Mg melt is different. It is supposed that element Si plays an important role in the phase evolution procedure, thus affects the performance of this method.INTRODUCTIONThe rapid development of aeronautic, automotive and aerospace technologies strongly depends on the consumption of materials while sustainable development is the future direction. Aluminum is a recyclable material and Fe is one of the most common impurities. Fe can be introduced into Al alloys by adding low–purity alloying materials and by using unprotected ferrous crucible, tools, or equipment (Belov, Eskin, & Avxentieva, 2005; Lu& Dahle, 2005).For instance, wear–resistant rings are usually inserted into piston head when producing Al–Si pistons and an infiltration procedure by putting the cast iron rings into Al melt before casting is always essential. As a result, both the re–melting of pistons and the reuse of Al melt for infiltrating rings lead to the enrichment of Fe element, which can be even high to5 wt.%(Viala, Peronnet, Barbeau, Bosselet, & Bouix, 2002).It is widely known that coarse ß–Al5FeSi particles will form in high Fe–contained Al–Si–Fe alloys which is harmful for the mechanical properties. In the past decades, several methods to eliminate the harmful effect of ß–Al5FeSi have been investigated which can be widely referred (Munson, 1967; Lee, Kawamura, Inoue, Cho, & Masumoto, 1997; Suárez–Peña& Asensio–Lozano, 2006; Eidhed, 2008).These methods can be divided into two kinds. One is to aggregate and remove the Fe–rich phase through the methods of centrifugation, gravity filtration or magnetic separation. The other way is modifing the morphology of flake–like ß–Al5FeSi by overheating the melt or adding neutralized elements. However, these traditional methods are rarely used due to respective disadvantages, while the commonly used method in industries is using primary aluminum for dilution. However, only less than 30wt.% of scrap Al can be added into primary Al melt for each melting work while it also results in the decrease of product quality simultaneously(Zhang, Liu, & Liu, 2016)."

Jan 1, 2018

By L. Voisin, K. Yamaguchi, D. G. Mendoza, K. Ltagaki

The behavior of arsenic and antimony in the Cu-0 system was thermodynamically investigated to understand their elimination during a blister-making stage in copper smelting. Firstly, the phase relations in a miscibility gap composed of the liquid slag and copper phases in the Cu-0-As and Cu-0-Sb systems at 1523 K were established by a quenching technique. It was found that arsenic and antimony distributed preferentially into the slag phase in the miscibility gap. Secondly, the activities of arsenic and antimony in the miscibility gap of these systems were determined at 1523 K by using a double Knudsen cell - mass spectrometer method. It was clarified that the activity of arsenic in the copper and slag phases showed the negative deviation from ideality while that of antimony in the copper phase a slightly positive deviation. These data obtained in this study suggest a possibility to eliminate arsenic and antimony by means of over-blowing in a converter after discharging the slag.

Jan 1, 2007

By L. Voisin, K. Itagaki

In the reductive smelting of the copper concentrate like a blast furnace operation using coke as fuel and reductant or in processing the copper concentrate which contains coal in the bulk, a sulfur-deficient matte phase often coexists with an iron base alloy in the bottom of the smelting furnace. This alloy is generally called furnace residue or speiss when considerable amount of arsenic or antimony is contained in the alloy and in the extreme case of reducing condition the alloy is saturated with carbon. As a fundamental study to know the behavior of some precious metals such as silver, gold and platinum between the sulfur-deficient matte and the furnace residue or the speiss which are in equilibrium under reducing condition, the phase relations and distribution of precious elements in the Cu-Fe-S-As and Cu-Fe-S-Sb systems saturated with carbon were determined at 1473 K by a quenching method.

Jan 1, 2007

By S. Surapunt, C. M. Nyamai, K. Itagaki

"The use of liquid copper as a medium for zinc extraction has been used in the Warner Process as a method of processing zinc-lead sulphide ore. The recovery of zinc metal is based on the reaction:ZnS(s) + 2Cu(l) = Zn(g) + Cu2S(l)In this method, thermodynamic and phase equilibria investigations of the Cu2S-FeS-ZnS and Cu2S-PbS-ZnS systems are of importance and form the basis for the liquid sulphide phase which appears as a product and is used as a solvent in the Warner Process. Phase relations in the Cu2S-FeS-ZnS and Cu2S-PbS-ZnS ternary systems were determined experimentally at 1473°K to provide a fundamental basis for the new zinc smelting process. The results show that the solid solubility of ZnS in the two systems is very small (2 wt% to 3 wt% ZnS in FeS, 4 wt% ZnS in Cu2S for the Cu2S-FeS-ZnS system; less than 0.5 wt% ZnS in both PbS and Cu2S for the Cu2S-PbS-ZnS system). The Raoultian Activity Coefficient of ZnS in the liquid mixtures and the vapour pressure of zinc over the matte in both systems is relatively large (?° = 7.7 – 15.8, Pzn(atm) = 0.088 – 1.026 for the Cu2S-FeS-ZnS system; ?° = 8.9 – 12.9, PZn(atm) = 0.075 – 0.214 for the Cu2S-PbS-ZnS system). On the FeS-ZnS join, the only phases detected are FeS and iron-rich sphalerite (Zn, Fe)S. The binary join mixture occurs at about 92 wt% FeS-8 wt% ZnS at 1473°K. Electron microprobe examination of the quenched samples indicate about 47 wt% to 48 wt% FeS in sphalerite and about 2 wt% to 3 wt% ZnS in the iron sulphide phase. On the Cu2S-ZnS join, microprobe analysis reveals that the maximum solubility is 4 wt% Zn in liquid Cu2S and 3.6 wt% Cu in solid ZnS. In the Cu2S-PbS-ZnS ternary system, microprobe analysis of the quenched samples indicate on average, 5 wt% ZnS in the liquid phase region. The only phases detected on the PbS- ZnS join are ZnS and PbS. The eutectic phase contains, on average, 13 wt% ZnS. The phase relationships, very low solid solubilities of zinc sulphide in the liquid mixtures of both Cu2S-FeS-ZnS and Cu2S-PbS-ZnS systems, coupled with the high Raoultian Activity Coefficient of ZnS as well as the high vapour pressure of zinc over matte all favour the partitioning of zinc metal into the vapour phase. This new process is cost effective and bypassesthe expensive and tedious conventionaltechnique of zinc production involving oxidationof the sulphide ore by roasting followed bya reduction process to extract the zinc. Theresults indicate that a new zinc smelting technologyusing the Warner Process would bemore efficient and preferable over the traditionalmethods of zinc extraction."

Jan 1, 2002

Ni and samaria-doped ceria (Ni-SDC) cermet are desirable materials for making a solid oxide fuel cell anode working at intermediate temperature (800°C or lower) due to its good ionic/electronic conductivity at the reduced operating temperature. An advantage of the use of a Ni-SDC anode is the enlargement of the effective reaction zone in the interfacial area between the anode and the electrolyte. As a result of the mixed ionic/electronic conductivity of the anode, the electrode reaction rate is enhanced. Investigations into the properties of the ceria-based anode reveal that the performance of the anode is closely related to its microstructures, which are dependent on the composition and fabrication conditions of the ceramics. In this paper, a method for quantitative characterization and correlation of Ni-SDC cermet microstructures to the performance of an anode is investigated. A series of Ni-SDC anode samples are prepared by screen-printing (SP) and spin-coating (SC) techniques, and different microstructures of the samples are obtained through controlling the SP or SC conditions and the sintering temperature. Individual phases (Ni, SDC and pore) in the tri-phase boundary (TPB) microstructures in the electrode are differentiated and segmented from each other in optical and SEM images based on the differences in refractivity and atomic contrasts among the phases. The geometric properties of the segmented phases are characterized using image analysis methods, so that a quantitative skeleton illustrating the TPB microstructures of the Ni-SDC electrode is obtained. Statistical analysis of the distribution of the three phases in the TPB microstructures is performed and the relationship of the microstructures with the optimum electrode is interpreted in terms of the microstructure analysis data.

Jan 1, 2005