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By B. L. Moreau

Certain gas wells tend to form hydrates in the production tubing. This paper outlines a method developed and used by the Author's company to overcome the problem. The injection of glycol to control hydrates results in sufficient dehydration to allow the gas to be trans-ported through a field-gathering system b a treatment plant. Sub-surface injection of glycol also offers a method of introducing corrosion inhibitors into the gas stream. The major operating difficulties have been overcome and the system is now in use in the northeastern part of British Columbia.

Jan 1, 1958

By Ian E. Efford

The paper gives an assessment of Canada's energy supply-and-demand position, the current situation and projections into the future, as well as a review of some alternative energy futures for Canada. The main elements of Canada's energy strategy for the period 1977-1990, with particular reference to the role of energy conservation, are discussed, leading in to the development of the national energy conservation program.

Jan 1, 1977

By D. Runnels, A. Allaire, J. Torrealba-Vargas

Data mining and modelling of operational data involves the discovery of patterns in large datasets for future use in benchmarking and plant optimization. The modern pattern of discovery in large data sets involves statistical techniques, machine learning and new visualization tools. Former examples of data mining are revisited and presented in this document. INTRODUCTION A network of enthusiastic and active professionals is currently developing and maintaining several open source statistical software tools (packages) for data analysis (example Rstudio, Orange, Spyder, etc.). The advantages of the open source software philosophy are the fast development and testing of the solutions presented to the community. Books and support are available for each software application. Since each modern work activity generates massive amounts of data, it is attractive to learn and test those available tools considering that we are at the door of the new work revolution coined as “Mine 4.0”. Data mining involves collecting large datasets, the preparation and cleaning of a dataset (term named data wrangling), the uploading of the data to a database program capable of handling big datasets, the development of prediction models and the presentation of the results. Machine learning techniques help to develop mathematical models and algorithms that could be used to improve the performance on a specific task. Mine operations are producing an incredible amount of data each day and the need to analyze those results seems to be impossible due to the lack of time, as well as the lack of skills to investigate the data collected. If we add to this the traditional habit of working in silos, an additional challenge is to consolidate databases from different departments in search of trends that could help to optimize production.

Jan 1, 2019

By E. J. Wade

The general location, climatic conditions and access of the Tasu mine are covered briefly, with comments on the Jack of conventional transportation and communication facilities. The Haïda story of Tasu and early at-tempts at production are presented, together with a discussion of the government legislation which throttled exploration and production in the late fifties. General and specific details of local geology, mineralogy and current ore reserves are also covered.

Jan 1, 1968

By N. Sauret-Szczepanski, G. Patry, S. Gauthier, G. Potvin, C. Munger

Adsorption/thermal desorption with sorbent cartridges and analytical method using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was developed for the determination of tetrafluoromethane (CF4) and hexafluoroethane (C2F6) emitted from primary aluminum smelters. A customized cartridge was built like a packed column with a stainless steel tube filled with a specific resin. The optimization of adsorption and desorption parameters was carried out to support the PFC sampling for all aluminum production technologies. The proposed method showed good linearity for concentrations ranging from 10 to 500 ppbv for CF4 and from 5 to 500 ppbv for C2F6 with correlation coefficients above 0.999. In certain conditions, the detection limits of the analytical method reached 0.3 ppbv for CF4 and 0.15 ppbv for C2F6- Using this methodology, a field campaign was carried out using a sequential sampler allowing the simultaneous sampling of PFC with cartridges and sampling bags. The results showed no significant difference (t-test) between the two sampling technologies and no breakthrough was observed from the cartridges .

Jan 1, 2006

By J. E. Danoczi

Shore Gold Inc. (Shore) is presently designing a diamond processing plant for the Star and the Orion South kimberlite deposits in the Fort à la Corne (FalC) area in central Saskatchewan. The first step in the plant is diamond liberation and occurs in the comminution section. Diamond liberation is the process of breaking up the kimberlite rock, as gently as possible so as not to damage the diamonds. Autogenous grinding mills (AG mills) use a combination of impact crushing, abrasion and attrition to break up the kimberlite. The forces that occur during the actions of abrasion and attrition cause the kimberlites to break up preferentially along lines of weaknesses which offers a ?diamond friendly? method of comminution. Hard competent kimberlite is commonly found in the diatreme zone as well as the root zone of the volcanic pipe and is the source of kimberlite for most of the Southern African diamond mines. Softer kimberlite is typically found in and around the crater area of a volcanic pipe and it is this kimberlite that makes up the majority of kimberlite for both the Star and Orion South deposits. These softer kimberlites can be readily broken up using abrasion and attrition imparted by AG mills. In order for Shore to benefit from the softer kimberlite found in the Star - Orion South diamond project, two large (10.97 m diameter x 7.10 m long) AG mills were designed for the comminution section based on extensive test work and simulations by Metso Minerals (Metso).

Jan 1, 2012

By H. Stutchbury

Alberta is labouring, and has laboured, under serious difficulties in the marketing of ?her coals, due to a number of conditions which now obtain, but all of which appear capable of solution, and their elimination would insure a very largely increased market for the vast coal resources of that province. It is perhaps necessary to again mention the fact that 15 per cent of the world's coal resources are to be found in Alberta; 21 per cent of that of North America; 72 per cent of that of the British Empire, and 87 per cent of that of all Canada. While we talk largely of the great wealth of Canada, the immensity of her vast natural resources, it is axiomatic that the mere presence of any natural product in a country does not in itself constitute wealth for that country, unless these raw materials can find a market, either in their raw state, or by the process of manufacture. There are many factors, however, which enter into the marketing of any commodity. The chief of these, in my opinion, is price competition. High costs of production materially reduce the radius in which any product can be marketed, and this applies particularly to coal. Mining costs in the province of Alberta are necessarily high at the present time, due in a large measure to the ease with which the 'gopher hole' mine can be opened with small capital.

Jan 1, 1925

By D. H. Pulling

Statistics for copper consumption from various sources show that the importance of production from secondary sources is increasing. This is of particular significance in countries such as the U.K ., which are totally dependent on secondary material for the supply of home-produced copper . A brief survey of the U.K . industry has shown that, in the past, relatively high profit margins have not encouraged high cap ital investment and development of more sophisticated operating techniques, but set against a background of rapidly escalating operating and energy costs , together with an ever-increasing demand for copper , it is anticipated that the industry will see great changes in the near future. With this in mind, an experimental furnace for continuous smelting of copper-bearing scrap has been developed at the University of Birmingham. This furnace has been designed to combine the conventional operations of blast furnace or reverberatory smelting, usually followed by converting, in one unit, and incorporates many of the features of the WORGRA and Noranda processes for continuous primary smelting . It consists of a long, sloping channel, constructed of chrome-magnesite refractory, which: is churned near the top. Smelting is effected lower down the channel, where iron, etc., in the scrap is oxidized and slagged off with silica flux. Provision is made for oil injection to increase oxidation rates. Metal can flow from the bottom of the channel, and slag from the top, so that a counter-current flow is achieved. The approximate molten capacity is 25 kg. Various scrap charges, both synthetically made and as supplied from various industrial smelters, have been successfully smelted. Metal of 83 -95 % Cu has been produced, depending on the original charge composition and the degree of air injection, although air injection was also found to considerably increase the copper loss to slag. Recoveries of other valuable non-ferrous metals in the charge were good.

Jan 1, 1977

By R. D. Parker

Location The Frood ore-body is expressed on surface as a prominent gossan ridge, with a total length of approximately two miles. The original Frood (the old No. 3 mine of the Canadian Copper Company) is at the southwest end of this gossan; adjoining it on the northeast is the Frood Extension (until 1929 the property of i:he Mond Nickel Company), while at the extreme northeast end is the Stobie mine. The first two of these divisions of the ridge form the Frood mine as it is known today.? This lies in lots 6 and 7 of the sixth concession, township of McKim, and is two and a half miles north of the city of Sudbury. The general elevation is 1,000 feet above sea level. The Ore-Body The Frood-Stobie parallel offset(l), as its name implies, has no connection in the field with the main mass of the Sudbury nickel eruptive-a norite. It lies one mile to the southeast of that body, and, in general, parallels it in strike. The ore occurs as a more or less tabular structure in what is known locally as the Sudbury series. They are the oldest rocks of the district, and have been placed by Collins(2) as earlier than the lower Huronian, of pre-Cambrian time. The series is comprised of sediments, volcanics (both acid and basic flows), tuffs, agglomerates, breccias, and basic intrusives, all highly metamorphosed, yet all forming a more or less regular picture. The controlling feature of the area has been the attitude of the sedimentary strata, from which has arisen the present sill-like character of the flow rocks, the basic intrusives, and the ore-body itself.

Jan 1, 1932

By D. W. Boydell

The response of reclaimed gold tailings to acid leaching was investigated in the laboratory, followed by a pilot-plant program in which the operations of CCD, CIX and SX were tested with plant feed material. These results formed the basis for the design of the extension to the existing uranium plant at Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine, commissioned in July 1977. This circuit consists of slimes-dam reclamation by bucket-wheel excavator at a rate of 100,000 t solids per month, acid leaching in pachucas, a five-stage CCD washing section, two parallel C1X absorption columns and two elution columns, SX and an ADU precipitation section. Barren solution is recycled to the CCD section as wash and to the repulper at the slimes dam. The performance of the plant during the first year of operation is compared with the predictions on which the plant design was based. Rated capacity was achieved within three weeks of start-up at a nominal dissolved uranium recovery in the ion-exchange section of around 98%. Owing to recycle, the over-all recovery in the ion-exchange and solvent extraction sections is somewhat higher than this figure.

Jan 1, 1979

By A. R. House, G. W. Shepherd

Newmont USA Limited owns and operates the Phoenix Mine near Battle Mountain, Nevada, USA. The existing milling facility has operated since 2006 (House, 2010). Following the startup of the milling operation, and coupled with the upswing in the copper market, Newmont realized that Phoenix had no process option to treat transition and oxide copper ores. This meant that potentially revenue generating ore would be mined as waste. With no system in place to treat the transition and oxide copper, work began to determine the most feasible approach. After evaluating multiple options, the flow sheet was set for a runof- mine (ROM) heap leach pad and solvent extraction/ electrowinning plant (L-SX/EW). This paper will discuss the eight years of successes and challenges with developing the copper L-SX/EW plant and achieving commercial production of copper cathode.

Jan 1, 2014

By Horace Freeman

Introduction This paper is an amplification of the paper presented by the writer at the last (1930) Annual Meeting of the Institute (1), and is somewhat in the nature of a progress report upon the introduction of pyrite into the field of Canadian consumption. The burner installed at the plant of the Canada Power & Paper Corporation, St. Maurice division, has been slightly changed in dimensions and has been put into continuous operation during the past year. As predicted, it has been possible to somewhat increase the steam consumption and at the same time decrease the amount of sulphur remaining in the calcine. The grade of the sulphur-dioxide gas produced has been maintained very steadily at 12 per cent, and sufficient experience has been obtained to determine the renewal cost of continuous operation. The object of this paper now is to encourage the development of pyrite, particularly by-product flotation pyrite, as it is shown that there is a very definite field in Canada for this material and that all the previous objections to the use of pyrite have been overcome, and that the use of the material in practice in paper mills has been developed to such a point that the operation of manufacturing the sulphite cooking-liquor is as simple as, or simpler than, the present style of operation with the use of sulphur.

Jan 1, 1931

By K. Mayhew, R. Bruce, A. Heidel, G. P. Demopoulos

"Teck and Aurubis are working together to commercialize a technology for the processing of copper arsenic sulphide concentrates that is economic and sustainable with regards to the environment and community. The pressure hydrometallurgical approach is a desirable option as mineral extraction and arsenic fixation can take place in a single autoclave vessel. A test work program was carried out where a range of copper concentrates with varying arsenic grades was processed under CESL leach conditions. This paper discusses the stability character (in terms of arsenic) of the resulting residues and their mineralogy. The basic ferric arsenate sulphate phase (BFAS; otherwise known as type 2) was identified as the main arsenic carrier. All CESL residues demonstrated high stability (<1 mg/L As) through a range of aggressive (pH and ORP) environmental leach conditions.INTRODUCTIONArsenic deportment and control in the copper industry needs an integrated approach involving each stage of the value chain, i.e. exploration, mine operation, refining process and mine closure. Teck Resources Limited (Teck), Canada’s largest diversified mining company and Aurubis, Europe’s largest copper producer, have formed a partnership to advance the application of CESL copper-gold technology for the development of high arsenic bearing copper resources (Bruce et al., 2011).Among the options for arsenic control in the metallurgical treatment of copper concentrates is the precipitation of ferric arsenate, which is widely accepted as the most suitable method for stabilizing arsenic (Ferron and Wang, 2003). The pressure hydrometallurgical approach to processing arsenic bearing copper concentrates is a favorable option as mineral extraction and arsenic fixation can take place in a single autoclave vessel. Under CESL pressure leaching conditions (150 °C, 1380 kPa) high copper extraction and arsenic (V) fixation is possible.Within the pressure leach autoclave, arsenate and ferric iron react to form scorodite type phases. The precipitate formed under CESL conditions is dependent on the Fe (III) /As (V) ratio and the tenor of cations and anions, particularly excess sulphate (Gomez et al., 2011a). Previous studies on CESL residues have found arsenic to be present as crystalline scorodite (FeAsO4.2H2O) (Bruce et al., 2011), basic ferric arsenate sulphate (BFAS: Fe(AsO4)1-x(SO4)x(OH)x·(1-x)H2O, where 0.3<x<0.7), and/or arsenate adsorbed on to hematite (Gomez et al. 2011b). Although not a focus of previous work, scorodite was the predominant precipitate formed when the concentrate Fe/As was <1.5 (Mayhew et al., 2010), and BFAS was the predominant precipitate when the concentrate Fe/As was >10 (Gomez et al. 2011b)."

Jan 1, 2012

By John Plecash

This paper comprises a general outline of all of the developments, including the history, geology, mining, milling, power and transportation installations, at the gold mining operation of La Luz Mines Limited and the copper mining operation of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rosita Mines Limited, both located in north-central Nicaragua. The low-grade, gold-bearing ore-bodies of La Luz Mines, contained in highly fractured and folded Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, were from 1909 to 1928, mined and treated by primitive methods by the La Luz and Los Angeles Mining Company. The abandoned property was acquired by La Luz Mines Limited in 1936, and was equipped with modern machinery and put into production in 1939. Between 1939 and 1948, the daily rate of production was in-creased from 300 tons per day to 2,-000 ton per day. The ore reserves available for open-pit mining were depleted in 1954. Since then, the entire production has come from under-ground operations.

Jan 1, 1963

PROFIL D&apos;ENTREPRISE Léandre Gervais & Associé(e)s est une société d&apos;experts-conseils en ingénierie de la structure, de la mécanique & de la tuyauterie, et de l&apos;électricité et de l&apos;instrumentation. Nous offrons des services hautement spécialisés à notre clientèle des secteurs industriels des mines et de la métallurgie, au Québec, au Canada ainsi que dans plusieurs autres pays du monde. Notre mission est d&apos;assurer à nos clients un ensemble de services d&apos;ingénierie de haute qualité contribuant à la mise en oeuvre et à la réalisation de leurs projets d&apos;affaires. Léandre Gervais & Associé(e)s emploie 36 employés à temps pleins et opère à partir de Val-d&apos;Or, province de Québec. SERVICES OFFERTS Nous avons réalisé de multiples mandats pour notre clientèle de différent pays du monde dans les domaines d&apos;expertise les plus variés : ?Études de faisabilité ; ?Ingénierie conceptuelle ; ?Ingénierie de détail ; ?Gestion de projets ; ?Ré-ingénierie de la maintenance.

May 1, 2001

By J. B. Boniwell

The INPUT electromagnetic prospecting system was originally developed by Dr. A. R. Barringer in an effort to increase the sensitivity and penetration of airborne EM methods. Although brought to an operational state some several years ago, it is only through relatively re-cent modifications and testing that some of the potential of the system has been fully realised. This is brought into perspective by some recent results over known ore deposits and geologic environments.

Jan 1, 1967

By J. A. Harle

Introduction When considering power in Alberta, there automatically come to mind ideas of either hydro or thermal generation, leaving in one&apos;s thought an uncertainty as to which one would propose. There is frequently an obvious source of power in some locations on our fastflowing rivers, the major possibilities being described in the report on Surface Water Supply and Water Power of Alberta issued by the Alberta Government in 1948, but it must be realised when reading that report that the sites so described will require extensive geological and other surveys before they can be exploited, and account must be taken also of the transmission distances involved in each instance. From a conservation point of view, where water power can be economically developed and power transmitted to the load centres, this should be done, and our thermal resources should be husbanded for our coming generations, especially if our water resources are falling owing to glacial shrinkage.

Jan 1, 1951

"In an environment of rising energy prices and mining at greater depths, cost-efficient loading and hauling equipment is essential. Conducted at an underground mining operation, this study analyzes the energy consumption and gas emissions of diesel and electric load-haul-dump machines (LHDs) with similar bucket capacities. Based on energy prices from the first quarter of 2014, results of discrete event simulation show that energy costs for diesel and electric LHDs are US$0.24/t and US$0.07/t, respectively. Also, diesel LHDs emit 2.68 kg CO2 per litre of diesel fuel, whereas using electric machines reduces the need for ventilation to mitigate engine heat and emissions and reduces energy costs.RÉSUMÉ Dans un contexte de croissance des prix de l’énergie et d’exploitation minière à des profondeurs de plus en plus grandes, il est essentiel d’avoir des équipements de chargement et de transport les plus rentables possible. La présente étude, effectuée dans une mine souterraine, analyse la consommation énergétique et les émissions de gaz de chargeuses-navettes (LHD) au diésel et à l’électricité ayant des capacités de godet similaires. En se basant sur les prix courants de l’énergie, les résultats d’une simulation d’événements discrets montrent que les coûts énergétiques pour les LHD au diésel et à l’électricité sont respectivement de 0,24 $US/t et de 0,07 $US/t. De plus, les LHD au diésel émettent 2,68 kg CO2 par litre de combustible diésel alors que les machines utilisant l’électricité réduisent le besoin de ventilation pour atténuer la chaleur des moteurs et les émissions en plus de réduire les coûts énergétiques."

Jan 1, 2015

By A. Tylczak, C. Norman, C. Shook, S. Loif

"There are a lot of good reasons to manage energy use at mining operations. Optimizing process energy use reduces operating costs. Tracking energy use can help identify unplanned process changes or malfunctioning equipment early, which allows problems to be corrected promptly.Sacré-Davey Engineering in Vancouver has performed over 50 Energy Management studies for various industries including: mining, pulp and paper, oil and gas, etc. Energy Management programs can be used to identify energy reduction opportunities, assess project feasibility, complete equipment selection trade-offs, as well as to monitor and manage energy costs. Benefits of energy management programs are reduced energy costs, reduced maintenance, and increased plant automation. Additionally, energy management can provide access to utility incentive funding and quantify savings which can greatly improve the return on investment of potential projects.Energy management studies are funded by many Utility programs across Canada. There are various programs available for existing plants energy audits, project feasibility studies, new plant design reviews and energy monitoring and targeting, etc. There are capital incentives available which can significantly reduce payback period.This paper discusses how energy management can be used to support mill/mine operations groups, maintenance programs, as well as expansion or green field projects. This paper will also provide an overview of Canadian Utility companies programs and how they can assist mining companies.IntroductionThere are a lot of good reasons to manage energy use at mining operations. Optimizing process energy use reduces operating costs. Tracking energy use can help identify unplanned process changes and identify malfunctioning equipment early, which allows problems to be corrected promptly."

Jan 1, 2015

By Mario A. Morin

Mine design, planning and scheduling is a very complex, iterative process comprising several interrelated and interdependent activities. Understanding how this process works, identifying the critical pieces of information and the decisions to be made is key to initiating business process improvements (BPI) or business process reengineering (BPR) activities. Fundamental to most BPI and BPR work is some form of systems analysis. Structured Analysis is a powerful systems analysis technique that is well suited for modeling and analyzing complex process activities. Through a series of diagrams, this paper presents a vertical slice through the analysis work performed for formally describing the underground hardrock mine design and planning process. These diagrams illustrate how simple graphic constructs can be used to decompose the most complex situations into easily understandable diagrams that facilitate understanding, communication, improvement and reengineering.

May 1, 2002