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By W. G. Mine

In September, 1953, seismographs were installed in the Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta and British Columbia to study the 'bumps' which were occurring in the coal mines at Fernie and Coleman, and to investigate the possibility that they might be related to minor earthquakes in the area. During the initial phase of the work, three seismographs were operated at widely separated stations, two in the region of coal mines at Coal Creek and Coleman and one at Turner Valley, distant from any mining operations. Some earthquakes were recorded at all three stations and, in addition, many small disturbances were recorded by the seismographs located near the mines, especially -by the instrument at Goal Greek. A closer network of radio-linked seismographs was then in-stalled near Fernie, the records of which definitely established that the small disturbances were occurring in the mine workings, both active and inactive. No relationship was established between bumps and local earth-quakes in the area. This work was initiated as a -co-operative effort with the Fuels Di-vision of the Mines Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, which has undertaken a study into the phenomena of ground stress relief in underground mine workings.

Jan 1, 1958

By G. V. Fernandez

Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde S.A.A leaches secondary copper sulfides. In recent years, the mine has introduced innovations that have improved the management of mineral crushing, agglomeration, curing, and leaching. The crushing plant, for example, uses the concepts of degree of balance and percentage of time in an operationally balanced state which, displayed in real time, facilitate more intensive and uniform utilization of the crushers. High agglomerate quality is ensured with the correct dose of moisture, which is adjusted to the changing characteristics of the mineral through the use of electrical conductivity measurements. The amount of acid used for curing the agglomerate is also adjusted by using quality control information. Finally, the stockpile irrigation regime is managed using the criteria established by the "Lixiviant Request Rate", which optimizes the addition of leaching solution, creating such benefits as faster recovery, and reduced acid and energy consumption.

Jan 1, 2007

By A. S. Eve

The detection of magnetic dykes by using magnetic variometers is the oldest application of. geophysics to mining, and is also one of the more simple and certain methods 0f locating such deposits. As a result of recent improvements in the instruments, it is now possible to find the dyke, deter-mine with magnetic variometers its strike and dip', with fair accuracy, and to estimate the approximate depth of overburden when there is no outcrop. The application of electrical methods may be used to distinguish mineral from diabase dykes. The authors have had an opportunity of making surveys with the modern Askania types of vertical and horizontal variometers over magnetic dykes in the Sudbury region. The interpretation of the results has been confirmed by diamond drilling in some cases, and by experiments over models. The variometers used were the standard form of Askania instruments (1). The sensitivity of the horizontal type was 17.2 gammas per division, and that of the vertical variometer double this quantity. To make a preliminary survey of the district, parallel lines were laid off two hundred feet apart running north and south, and readings were taken with the vertical variometer every 100 feet along these lines. This can be done very rapidly, and when an indication of a magnetic deposit is found, the readings may be taken every hundred feet, or less if the size of the deposit warrants smaller intervals. If the deposit is a vein or dyke, the readings along the adjacent lines immediately indicate the strike of the body. Thus the presence and strike of a magnetic dyke, whether of mineral value like the pyrrhotite and nickel deposits of the Sudbury district, or simply a worth-less diabase dyke, is simply and rapidly found.

Jan 1, 1932

By F. W. Tregarthen

"This paper gives a brief description of the methods used to form and implement the present planned maintenance program. The system is designed to assist plant personnel in their task of controlling a large work-force and maintaining the many and varied types of equipment used in a mining and concentrator operation. The types of reports and methods used in scheduling and work-loading are described. General built-in flexibility is derived from computer assistance to the Central Planning Group."

Jan 1, 1971

By Wayne N. McKee, Scott A. Lewis

"Introduction to the Syncrude OperationSyncrude Canada Ltd., located 42 km north of the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, (Fig. I) is an integrated operation that has produced synthetic crude oil from the Athabasca oil sand deposit since 1978.The operation, consisting of a surface mine, an extraction plant, a bitumen upgrader, and a utilities plant, is currently capable of producing over 60 million barrels of crude oil per year. Production is expected to increase to 70 million barrels of crude oil per year over the next five-year period with no major changes to equipment or process planned.The Syncrude surface mine, producing a total of 675 000 tonnes of ore and waste per day, rates as one of the largest mines in the world. A strip mining method is utilized, with two or three operating benches necessary to excavate a total depth varying between 60 m and 70 m. The 20 m to 30 m of overburden is removed by electric and hydraulic shovels and 200-ton haul trucks, and dumped in the mined-out pit for final storage. The overburden operation creates a flat bench near the top of the ore zone on which the four 60 m3 draglines operate. The draglines excavate interbanded ore and waste in the highwall, with ore placed on the operating bench in windrows, and waste returned to the mined-out pit. The windrowed ore is reclaimed by four bucketwheel reclaimers, and discharged onto a conveyor system for transfer to the extraction plant."

Jan 1, 1993

By J. W. Coetzee, H. E. Deist

Carbon-in-pulp (CIP) and Carbon-in-leach (CIL) processes are used extensively in the gold mining sector to recover aurocyanide from solution. This paper discusses the modelling of these operations, using various simplifying assumptions, in order to simulate the effect of changing operating conditions on the dynamics of the system. It is assumed that the adsorption and leaching rates are a function of concentration difference between the source phase and recipient phase. The simulation was set up using Matlab's Simulink interface. Plant variables are solved using a medium scale Newtonian search algorithm in Matlab, where the differences between the actual and predicted plant outputs are minimized on a continuous time-line.

Jan 1, 2005

By P. M. Shibley

"IntroductionMine drainage, surface. drainage and process liquors are the principal mine and mill effluents. The quantity and quality of these flows varies according to mineralogy, type and scale of mining, the process, tailing disposal, local ground conditions and climate.Typical contaminants remaining after solids sedimentation are colloidal or semi-colloidal particles, acids, alkalis, metals in solution, cyanides and thiosalts. Environmental regulations and guidelines have been issued in detail by the appropriate government agencies and will not be reviewed here. Revisions and additions are being made as our comprehension and abilities increase. Some contaminants of consequence have not been specifically regulated as practical treatment technology has not been identified. Thiosalts fall into that category as do the derivatives of the first stage of cyanide oxidation - cyanates.Most mining activities have present or foreseeable water treatment requirements. Because process economics can be adversely skewed by the environmental factor, the acknowledged objective of every operation must be to identify and anticipate those requirements.The evaluation and selection of water treatment techniques for mine-mill applications is complicated by the fact that most mine-mill effluents are high volume, dilute and chemically complex systems. Treatment processes applicable to most contaminants are: chemical or biological oxidation; neutralization and/or precipitation; liquid/solids separation. Other processes such as ion exchange, electro-deposition, foam fractionation, freeze crystallization and reverse osmosis offer the possibility of selective removal or concentration of contaminents. The latter tediniques, representing a slightly higher level of technology, are less suited to the large, low value flows usually encountered in the mine environment."

Jan 1, 1989

By Yan Jie

The oxygen-enriched bottom-blowing continuous converting process for copper matte was recently developed by the China-ENFI Engineering Corporation. The first commercial plant based on this technology was successfully commissioned at the Yuguang smelter in China in March 2014. The present paper describes this new continuous converting process and compares technical characteristics with other continuous converting processes including: Kennecott-Outokumpu flash converting, the Mitsubishi Process, the Noranda Converter and TSL continuous converting. The bottom-blowing oxygenated continuous converter with competitive capex and opex costs is seen as an attractive alternative to the Peirce-Smith converter.

Jan 1, 2014

By L. A. Gomieroa

The Caetité-Brazil uranium facilities produce about 340 t/y of uranium from an ore averaging 0,25 U %. The process steps are ore crushing, heap leaching with sulfuric acid, U separation and purification by solvent extraction with tertiary amine followed by stripping with sodium chloride solution and precipitation as ammonium diuranate that is dryed. A change in the milling process is being evaluated to increase the production and the uranium recovery. Heap leaching will be changed to conventional tank agitated leaching of the ?590 ground ore slurry in sulfuric acid medium. The replacement of the stripping reagent is also being considered.

Aug 1, 2010

By D. Weston

"IntroductionIn preserving this paper, the author would like to acknowledge the basic development work carried out by the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada, without whose initiative the development of the Aerofoll mill would not have been possible. In particular, he would like to pay tribute to the late Mr. C. T. Oughtred, Superintendent of Concentration for Cominco, whose vision and research-mindedness was the chief contributing factor in the carrying alo.ng of the original development.He would like also to acknowledge the help and co-operation of the staff of the Mines Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa, without which the finalization of the un.it and its application would have been many additional years in coming to industry; and the assistance and encouragement given so freely by Mr. C. W. Dowsett, Consulting Metallurgical Engineer, Ventures Limited, and Professor A. M. Gaudin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology."

Jan 1, 1950

By W. J. Farley

Location and History The Sherritt Gordon mine is in northern Manitoba, one hundred miles north of The Pas and forty miles northeast of Flin Flon. The original discovery was made by a Cree indian, Philip Sherlett, in 1922. The claims lapsed in 1924 to be re-staked and optioned by various mining groups who carried out a certain amount of development work before relinquishing their options. In 1927 the present Company, Sherritt Gordon Mines, Limited, was formed to take over the property. Production commenced in 1931, but in the following year operations were suspended and it was not until 1937 that the prevailing price of copper pemitted resumption as an economic operation. The mine has operated continuously from that time to the present. Total production to the end of 1947 has been: Copper . . . . . . . . . 301,813 . .,345 pounds Zinc . . . . . . . . . . . 112,636 tons of concentrat (50% zinc) Gold . . . . . . . . . . 83,070 ounces Silver . . . . . . . . . 2,651,317 ounces General Geology The consolidated rocks in the vicinity of the mine, all of Precambrian age, are a series of gneisses and form a part of a great area of what are known as the Kisseynew gneisses. The Sherritt is the only known economic base-metal deposit to occur within the Kisseynew series. Extreme metamorphism has produced recrystallization that has imparted a decided igneous-like texture to many of the units. However, the gneisses are predominantly of sedimentary original although the most basic member, a hornblendegarnet gneiss, is considered to be an altered basic flow. Figure 1 illustrates the intricately folded structure and the succession of roe types. The footwall enclosing members are of sedimentary origin and represent quartzite and arkosic and greywacke derivatives. The contact footwall member is gneissic quartzite, a medium to coarse grained rock composed mainly of quartz with minor altered feldspar (orthoclase and plagioclase), muscovite, chloritized biotite, and magnetite. Most phases of this unit show varying degrees of granitization.

Jan 1, 1949

By Keith C. Hendrick

"Metal prices are frequently the most critical and least predictable element in determining the profitability of mining operations. Short -term fluctuations can be offset in varying degrees by hedging or other market actions. Such solutions are not practical for the longer term, The paper investigates the nature and extent of metal price risks and evaluates methods to reduce them.IntroductionIt is management's responsibility to improve the odds by managing the-risks by identifying them clearly, assessing them accurately, minimizing them where possible-and, then, timing decision s success fully.In determining the profitability of current operations, preparing forward plan s or developing feasibility studies for new projects or expansions, pr ices are usually the most critical input. Being market determined rather than cost based, they can also be the most unpredictable As a result, commodity prices are frequently the greatest of all risk factors.Nature of Commodity PricesThe cyclical nature of commodity prices is well known. They are stable only when supply is in balance with demand and forecast to remain that way. An imbalance on either side of the equation can lead to a price reaction completely out of proportion to the actual or perceived surplus or shortage.This exaggeration arises through the cumulative effect of market forces. When the market senses an uptrend, consumers buy for the expected increase in activity. They also seek additional quantities for inventory before price s rise. Merchants defer spot sales anticipating higher price s, speculators go along for the same reason, and producers raise prices in response to demand. Events tend to confirm the expectation of each party and strengthen their reaction causing prices to move higher."

Jan 1, 1983

By Gerry Doeksen

The paper deals with three case studies: (a) the handling of wet concentrates (5 to 8 per cent moisture) through feed bins; (b) the handling of the same product in rail cars; and (c) the handling of dry concentrates (less than 0.5 per cent moisture) through feed bins. In each case, the paper discusses the problems of rat-holing. In each of cases (a) and (c), there is a discussion on the consequent extreme variations of feed rates coming from the feeders, making automation of process control difficult to impossible. Currently available bin-flow theory and flow property tests are used as aids in redesigning the bins. The paper concludes with illustrations of the final results after the redesigned hoppers were installed and tested. There is also a discussion on the advantages of the new mass-flow bins on adjacent feeder performance.

Jan 1, 1970

By N. A. Beier, R. Amos, Smith. L., C. Atherton, D. R. Barsi, D. Blowes, D. C. Sego

"Waste rock is one of the most abundant materials at mine sites and must be properly characterized and managed to limit acid rock drainage and other harmful byproducts. An experimental waste rock pile—part of the test piles research program—located at the Diavik diamond mine (Northwest Territories, Canada) was deconstructed and sampled to study the spatial variability of material properties. Bulk samples were classified based on the amount of material finer than 4.75 mm. Hydraulic properties of each sample were estimated and particle size distribution analysis was completed. These datasets and classification methods might be used to improve the understanding of hydraulic and geochemical behaviour of the material and to study waste rock at other sites. ¦ KEYWORDS Acid rock drainage (ARD), Material classification, Particle size distribution (PSD), Waste rock RÉSUMÉ Les stériles font partie des matériaux les plus abondants sur les sites miniers et, en tant que tels, doivent être correctement caractérisés et gérés afin de limiter le drainage rocheux acide (DRA) et la pré¬sence d’autres sous-produits nocifs. Dans le cadre du programme Test Piles Research Program, un amas de roches stériles expérimental situé à la mine de diamant Diavik (Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Canada) a été décomposé et mis à l’essai afin d’étudier la variabilité spatiale des propriétés des matériaux. Les échan¬tillons en vrac ont été classés en fonction de la quantité de matériaux plus fins que 4,75 mm. Les propriétés hydrauliques de chaque échantillon ont été estimées et l’analyse de la composition granulométrique effectuée. Ces ensembles de données et méthodes de classement serviront à mieux comprendre le com¬portement hydraulique et géochimique du matériau et à étudier les stériles sur d’autres sites. ¦ MOTS CLÉS classement des matériaux, composition granulométrique, drainage rocheux acide (DRA), stérilesINTRODUCTION Statement of problem The characterization of mine waste rock remains a challenge in active mining sites. The large volume of material and the large size of particles make it difficult to collect representative samples. Sampling techniques are often dis-ruptive to mining operations because they alter the structure of the waste rock pile or interfere with mine traffic. The convention at most mine sites to collect little to no information on waste rock material means that models and predictions of how waste material will behave and interact with the surrounding environment are based on general information that might not be site specific. This could lead to environmental damage or higher costs if environmental effects are underestimated during the construction of waste rock structures."

Jan 1, 2019

By K. Hawboldt, J. E. Halfyard, C. Bottaro, I. A. Harrison

"The removal of elemental sulfur from leach residues derived from massive sulfide concentrates via hydrometallurgical routes has been demonstrated in a laboratory setting by converting water-insoluble sulfur to water-soluble polysulfides. The approach was applied to leach residue from Vale's nickel hydromet demonstration plant in Argentia, Newfoundland, which contained significant amounts of elemental sulfur. This technique offers an alternative treatment protocol for residues with a sulfur component not amenable to standard flotation/hot filtration processes. The practical considerations of a proposed flow sheet will be discussed including the impact of other sulfur species (e.g. thiosulfate and sulfides) and key process variables. INTRODUCTIONPresently, large scale elemental sulfur extraction from hydrometallurgical leach residue is performed by Teck Resources using a process of sulfur flotation followed by hot filtration (Chalkley et al., 1993). As mentioned, the technique proves viable for residues derived from specific concentrations - in this case zinc - whose residues constituency is primarily elemental sulfur itself. However, problems arise when this constituency is altered as happens when, for example, a mine containing one particular concentrate is mixed or replaced with a differing concentrate from a second mine. Such cases can often strain the effectiveness of current sulfur removal processes (D'Odorico, 2004). If hydrometallurgical residue containing elemental sulfur cannot be effectively treatment by flotation, the residue is stored subaqueously as is the case in some 'grass roots' hydrometallurgical plants (those not coupled with smelting operations). Hydrometallurgical processing of concentrates involving pressure leaching is becoming increasingly common throughout the mining world, the genesis of which can be found in research performed by Sherritt in Fort Saskatchewan since the 1950’s (Ozberk et al., 1995).The investigation of elemental sulfur removal by means other than flotation includes the uses of sulfide salts (NH3S or Na2S) effecting the conversion of hydrophobic elemental sulfur to hydrophilic polysulfides. The work of Kunda et al. (1974) and Olper et al. (2007) shows that elemental sulfur can be quantitatively removed from hydrometallurgical leach residue via the formation of a mixture of polysulfides."

Jan 1, 2012

By John Hansen

This paper has been written for presentation at the 103rd Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum, April 29 to May 02, 2000. The paper addresses blast pattern fragmentation and diggability versus the blasting technique used. RESUME The author is the Vice President for Thunderbird Mining Systems. In this capacity he manages the mine site installation of surface mining mobile equipment monitoring and navigation systems. These systems are onboard instrumentation and software systems designed to: ??measure and log mobile equipments? production and health; and ??direct the equipment operators via onboard displays that show comprehensive maps and engineering instructions. The author is a mining engineering graduate from the Royal School of Mines. His work experience includes front line supervisor and mining engineer for Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting, mining engineer for Teck Corporation, and mining consultant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

May 1, 2001

By Trung Nguyen

Midwest is a unique uranium deposit with exceptionally high arsenic content. The ore body is located 17km west of the McClean Lake operation. The McClean Lake mill will be modified to process Midwest ore and handle solid wastes coming from the Midwest water treatment plant. This paper describes the modifications required of the McClean Lake mill, process challenges associated with treatment of the arsenic, and the possibility of recovering nickel and cobalt as a by-product. It also reviews the complexity in the design of the Midwest water treatment facility which incorporates reverse osmosis technology with conventional physical-chemical water treatment.

Aug 1, 2010

By K. Musgrave

"The ISO 9000 Quality Management System Standards have become internationally accepted as the way to manage quality assurance. The author has developed a Maintenance Management System Standard using ISO 9001as a model and is working with a major basemetal mining company to implement this. This paper describes the structure of the standard and the steps required for its implementation.Using a management standard ensures that a system is maintained, reviewed by internal audit, and when instances of failing to follow the procedures (nonconformances) occur, that corrective action is taken. It also ensures that regular reviews are made and that the sys-tem is continuously improved.The Standard is designed so that if an organization decides to register to an ISO 9000standard, the Maintenance Management System will be in a format that is compatible and can be incorporated with little effort into the Quality System.IntroductionIn reviewing maintenance operations at many mining companies, and often seeing those same organizations some years later, two recurring issues have been noticed..The first issue is how dependent effective maintenance is upon individual supervisors and crews. In one situation, a mine that had an excellent maintenance system in the 1980s. Now, with new supervisors and crews, it is starting to develop a system that will bring it back to where it once was. No written procedures remain from the earlier excellent system.The second issue is that most operations feel that maintenance is the sole responsibility of the maintenance supervisors and crews. Nothing could be further from the truth. Maintenance, like safety, is everyone’s responsibility. If the operator does not report problems and perform daily checks, and if the production supervisor runs equipment until it fails, then nothing the maintenance crew does will prevent emergency breakdowns and lost production. More importantly, equipment will be operated in unsafe conditions, putting employees at risk and, with today’s regulations, leaving supervisors open to prosecution.The Maintenance Management System outlined in this paper is designed to establish the present best practices as standard procedures, to provide a continual review so that these practices are improved in the future, and to identify instances where the system fails so that corrective action is taken. The mine referred to above is using this approach to make sure that, this time, the system it implements will survive."

Jan 1, 1997

By John A. Legge Jr.

"ACCOMPANYING Alberta's great natural endowments of oil, wheat, scenery, fishing, and hunting is also a generous endowment of geophysical problems to plague the interpreting geophysicist. These problems — by no means unique to Alberta — are sufficiently numerous and outstanding to be of major concern in exploration. Some of them have been adequately solved, others are well on their way to being solved, and still others remain almost completely unsolved. Often a problem readily solvable in one area can be solved only with great difficulty in another. Many are closely allied with the geological conditions and require the best co¬ordinated efforts of the geologist and geophysicist for their solution.It is a fairly general practice to study rather carefully the geophysical characteristics of known producing reefs in order to obtain data on which to base an interpretation of unproven areas. This practice obviously has a very sound basis, for, as discoveries become more and more widespread in the Alberta basin, it is found that the variation' in geological conditions has a marked effect on the seismic results, as would be expected. By carrying this analysis over an area it is possible more and more to anticipate the geophysical picture which should be obtained in connection with reefing under the varying geological conditions. Another phase of this procedure, and one that has received less attention, though it is certainly of importance, is the analysis of the all too numerous failures. A study of these failures may be more fruitful than a study of the successes for it may indicate weaknesses of field procedure, computations, or in¬terpretation not particularly obvious in the discovery areas. These studies must not only include the geophysical characteristics of the observed `anomalies', but should also be coupled with a thorough geological study to ascertain whether some unanticipated geological condition is responsible for the erroneous geophysical interpretation."

Jan 1, 1953

By D. J. Charlton

"IntroductionMaintenance is a business, which to be successful, requires good management, systems and reporting. The prime objective of the maintenance management group, be they large or small, must be to anticipate and prevent interruptions in operations by keeping equipment in good mechanical condition. This objective should be carried out at minimum cost consistent with maximum productiveness.The objective of this chapter is to give an insight into the various aspects of maintenance management that must be considered to effectively and efficiently operate a mill complex. The degree to which the maintenance sub-systems are developed in an operating mill will be determined by the size of the mill and the needs of the operation.The criterion of the management system used is that the system serve the operation and not vice versa. The systems presented should be considered as tools and, as with all tools, they must be sharpened and replaced as the need arises or as more effective tools become available.To understand what is involved in maintenance management, it is worthwhile to consider a systems approach to analyzing management problems. This approach was developed by J.A.B. Rae while reviewing maintenance management systems for Cominco Ltd.A very simple system involving managing results and objectives is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.The systems approach to organizational development involves four basic elements: an objective, a result, an activity and feedback. In the analysis, the activity element is broken down into individual actions that people could be held responsible for. If we introduce the action of operating into the diagram of Figure l, we arrive diagrammatically in Figure 2."

Jan 1, 1989