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By E. V. Lilford

Valuators of mineral properties are faced with a range of valuation methodologies, the most important of which are grouped under the headings of the market approach, the cost approach and the income approach. The way in which value is defined and the detail of the different valuation methodologies is examined here. This paper aims at documenting the variety of valuation procedures and applying each method to a variety of gold projects and comparing the outcomes. Any decision to apply a valuation technique will depend principally on the stage to which the project has been developed. The valuation approach to a greenfield project will be substantially different from that applied to a well-drilled, extensively explored mineral property. Furthermore, a valuation exercise may produce different outcomes for the same gold project depending on which method is applied. In order to investigate the variability in valuation methods and to explore the outcomes of different approaches, a series of five gold projects was analysed. The projects differ in regard to levels of capital application, infrastructural setting, depth below surface, in situ grade, and the stage of development, and were valued using the different methods. The most critical aspect of any valuation is the capacity of the valuer to identify the salient issues and ensure that they are incorporated into the valuation. The danger of simply applying ?black box? solutions to valuation problems without a full understanding of the parameters and the areas of uncertainty is emphasized. The importance of the valuator?s experience, insights into best practice and the ability to recognize and submit to the requirements of compliance within the minerals industry is among the most important characteristics of a valuer.

Jan 1, 2005

The Douglas mineral sands deposit is located 75 km north of Hamilton in western Victoria, Australia. The deposit was discovered in the late 1990s by Basin Minerals Limited and purchased by Iluka Resources Ltd in 2002. Prestrip mining commenced in December 2004, with ore mining commencing in August 2005. Douglas is the first of several projects being implemented by Iluka Resources Ltd in the Murray Basin, with all heavy mineral concentrate planned to be treated at the companyÆs mineral separation plant in Hamilton. The mineralisation at Douglas lies along the south-eastern margin of the Murray Basin. It is hosted by marine Pliocene Loxton-Parilla Sands and consists of three discrete deposits; Bondi Main, Bondi West and Bondi East. The mineralised sediments dip at a low angle to the west and lie unconformably beneath a veneer of top soil (50 - 100 mm) and subsoil (up to 600 mm) and between three to 12 m of overburden. The barren overburden, characterised by high clay content (<53 ¦m material) generally provides a stark contrast to the sandy ore, which is between 1 m (parts of Bondi East) and 15 m (Bondi Main) thick. Both overburden and ore are removed utilising standard dry mining techniques using both scraper-bulldozer and truck-excavator combinations. All ore is delivered to run-of-mine (ROM) stockpiles before being reclaimed by front end loader into the processing plant. Grade control at Douglas is based around visual dig control aided by high precision survey, which enables accurate reference to the resource drilling and block model data. Vertical excavator faces, inclined scraper faces plus regular test pits and trenches provide opportunities for in pit mapping and sampling. This data is used to refine not only the resource estimate for Douglas but also the drilling, interpretation and resource modelling methods used for similar deposits across the basin. The foundations of the geological reconciliation process at Douglas are the in pit surveys undertaken each time the mining fleet has completed building a ROM stockpile. These surveys and the subsequent interrogation of resource models enable robust estimations of the heavy mineral content of the stockpiles, which are subsequently used to predict the daily input grades into the plant during their reclamation. Reconciliation of this daily data is then undertaken at the end of each month against metallurgical production data and plant balances. Learnings and results from the reconciliation process are used to further refine subsequent resource models and modelling methods.

Jan 1, 2009

When a company has an effective hearing loss prevention program, everyone wins-the employers, the employees, and the safety and health professionals who implement the program. This guidebook is not about minimal programs that meet only the letter of the law. It is concerned with programs that are effective as well as efficient: those optimizing program elements that succeed in preventing hearing loss in a practical and cost effective manner.

Jan 1, 2006

By Martin Plante, Denis Hamel, Marie-Pier Bédard, Jeff McLaughlin

"The results and methodology for the optimisation of the zinc flotation circuit at the Matagami Mill using the 6-Sigma methodology are shown in detail while only the base line and final results are presented for the copper circuit. As a result of the six sigma project, the zinc concentrate grade was improved by 2% and the zinc recovery by 3%, with reduced dosage of reagents while the copper concentrate was improved by 2.4%. The process variation in the zinc concentrate grade and recovery was also reduced by over 50%. The main factors contributing to the project success were identified to be improvement in the plant measurement systems, an internal benchmarking exercise and statistically designed laboratory and in plant tests to guide the process improvement. The annual value to Noranda resulting from this project has been estimated at approximately $5 million.INTRODUCTIONThe Matagami concentrator started ore processing from the new Bell- Allard deposit in July 1999. Concentrator performance (grade and recovery of zinc and copper concentrates) was highly variable and work was ongoing to fix the sources of variation. In the mean time, Noranda embarked on its 6-Sigma initiative across the company. The 6-Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control) methodology was used in the two flotation circuits to reduce variation and improve performance. The statistical 6-Sigma methodology moves towards identifying and controlling critical process operating variables (the X' s) to achieve customerspecified performance (the Y's). The goal of the methodology is to describe a process in a numerical equation known as the transfer function, given as Y = f (XI, X2, X3.. .), where Y could be concentrate grade or recovery and examples of X's are reagent dosage, particle size, etc. With the transfer function, optimal operating conditions and control tolerances are established for the key X's to ensure the desired Y performance is obtained.Each phase of the 6-Sigma methodology is explained below with examples from the Matagami project."

Jan 1, 2001

By S. Strömberg, A. Jokilaakso

Two complex copper concentrates and one arsenical nickel concentrate were oxidized in simulated flash smelting conditions using a laminar-flow furnace. The concentrates contained tetrahedrite as Sb-bearing mineral and arsenopyrite and gersdorfite as As-bearing minerals. At high temperatures and low oxygen potentials, Sb tended to vaporize, but with high oxygen potentials it was captured in mixed oxide phases with copper and iron. Arsenic was found to follow antimony in copper concentrates, although with less sharp contrast between low and high oxygen potentials. In the nickel concentrate studied, arsenic was found to vaporize from the gersdorffite particles and, subsequently, condense on the other particles.

Jan 1, 1998

By Michael Peterson, Robert Davinroy, Robert Rapp, Gregory Hempen, David Herzog, Thomas Keevin

Fish sampling in a deep-water, high velocity, environment is extremely difficult. Conventional techniques such as electro-fishing and netting have been limited to depths generally less than 7 meters (m) and velocities below 1 meter per second (mps). The goal of our study was to sample a bendway weir field on the Mississippi River to assess the effects of the weir field on the fishery. In a bendway weir field, depths can exceed 20 m, and velocities can exceed 3 mps, making conventional sampling techniques inefficient.

Jan 1, 2002

By S Nkwanyana, I Govender

Batch experiments in a 0.6 m diameter mill have shown that improvements of about 13 per cent in the efficiency of energy utilisation can be realised in ball mills by replacing 25 per cent of the ball charge by an equivalent volume of cost-free critical size pebbles from AG/SAG mills. For a mill of a given size, speed and charge filling, the rate of size reduction of ore particles depends on (i) the frequency of grinding media collisions (ii) the probability of capture of ore particles between the colliding grinding media (iii) the probability of fracture of the captured particles. The probability of fracture depends on the magnitude of collision energy. The distribution of collision energy into shear and impact events determines the relative strengths of attrition breakage and impact breakage. The efficiency of energy utilisation depends on which of the two mechanisms of breakage is more desirable in a particular milling stage. In this paper collision data from a series of DEM simulations of a mill charged with steel media and a mixture of steel media and pebbles is presented in energy spectra and spatial distribution maps. The data provides the necessary detail to elucidate the improvements in the efficiency of energy utilisation in ball mills when using a mixture of pebbles and steel media.

Aug 24, 2022

By Marie-Pierre Bourdouxhe-Barnich

Since 1997, in partnership with the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées in Strasbourg, ProfilARBED has been carrying out a vast study to qualify the improvements jetting can make to vibratory driving of steel sheet piles, and to understand its effect on the surrounding ground and on the sheet piles themselves. The process basically involves discharging a fluid (mostly water, sometimes in association with air) at controlled pressure and/or flow rate near the toe of the sheet pile being driven. The steel jetting pipes are attached to the sheet pile and are connected to the pumps by hoses. The jet of fluid loosens the soil, thus reducing the resistance at the toe of the sheet pile. Depending on ground conditions, the fluid that flows along the pile can reduce skin friction. Four soil types were involved in our experiments. Each site was instrumented: the driving parameters and the geotechnical characteristics of the soil before and after vibratory driving and jetting-assisted driving were recorded. Each test provided its own particular information which contributes to overall thinking on the matter and is of help to project managers who are often confronted with rapid driving to the final depth.

Jan 1, 2002

By A. H. Swart

Rock engineering is concerned with the design of rock structures generated by mining activities. Therefore, rock engineering designs have major implications for the safe recovery of mineral deposits and operating costs. The paper deals with a few challenges facing rock mechanics engineers operating in the hard rock underground mining environment in South Africa. Finally, examples are included, which may assist rock mechanics engineers in providing better designs, which could ultimately lead to further improvement in safety and lower operating costs.

Jan 1, 2005

By C. Sensogut

The phenomenon of spontaneous combustion is one of the major hazards encountered in underground coal mines both from the safety aspects and on economic grounds. Every occurrence, however small, if not tackled effectively in the early stages can develop into open fire, or explosion of gas or coal dust. In terms of economy, even dealing with small incidents may be costly in terms of labour and materials, and in case of a sealing off of a district being necessitated, the loss of face equipment and sterilization of reserves is potentially great. Therefore, expense and effort in prevention and detection of such heating, together with a high state of readiness for dealing with likely event, is completely justified and may be considered as a sound investment. In order to achieve this investment, it may be worth to pinpoint the centre of the fire occurring due to autogenously heating which is supposed to be great assistance to inert it at a least cost and time. Therefore, it is the aim of this work to model the spontaneous combustion in the goaf.

Jan 1, 2002

Outsourcing of specialist and non-continuous services is common practice in international mining operations. There is an increasing trend towards this practice in South Africa as a result of the major organisational changes that have taken place in the industry, and as lower revenues and production cost pressures have reduced profit margins. Many specialist functions have been outsourced in the industry for a long time, an example being shaft sinking, which is undertaken by specialist shaft sinking contractors. In the professional services area, some activities have been outsourced, for example the design and construction supervision of tailings dams, but mining related activities such as geology, mine planning and scheduling, engineering, ventilation, and rock engineering, have traditionally been carried out by in-house staff. In this paper some of the industry problems which have led to an increase in outsourcing of professional services are considered. Then the pros and cons of outsourcing are dealt with before outlining the factors which should be taken into account in choosing an outsourcing partner.

Jan 1, 1999

By Robert B. Hopler

The hazards which naturally prevail in underground coal mines, always severe and unpredictable due to the loosely-consolidated strata in which coal is frequently found, are increased by the commonly-occurring combination of coal dust, methane, and explosives. It was recognized by the mid-nineteenth century that coal dust was the basic factor contributing to disastrous explosions killing hundreds of miners, and that the ignition of methane gas was often the source of the coal dust explosions. It was apparent that preventing the ignition of methane was a critical part of avoiding these disasters, and it was also apparent that one cause of such ignitions was the firing of explosives. In addition, it was found that dust explosions were often initiated by blown-out shots of explosives in the absence of methane.

Jan 1, 1996

By Fabio Mielli

The mining industry is a multifaceted industry with special characteristics that make efficient and intelligent operations uniquely challenging, and subsequently call for distinctive and tailored solutions. Not only does mining call for processes that are complicated and energy intensive, but complex material movements and an intricate logistical chain add to the industry?s obstacles in achieving sustainability and performance. This article explores three major challenges and the resulting issues currently being faced in the industry, as well as potential solutions to these impediments by use of energy management, automation and control strategies.

Jan 1, 2011

By R. Sharma, S. Svoronos, S. Gupta, N. A. Abdel-Khalek

This paper presents the results of column flotation of a fine feed sample of Florida phosphate. A central composite design is used to study the main and interaction effects of parameters affecting column efficiency. The statistical design is also used to determine the optimum conditions. The results indicate that, depending on the experimental conditions, it is possible to achieve a concentrate of high grade and recovery. A concentration of 15 ppm of non-ionic frother is found to be enough to maximize the recovery at the pH of 9.5.

Jan 1, 1999

By David C. Lager

While not a new construction technique "top/down" construction is seeing increased use in high rise building construction. Using diaphragm wall, drilled shaft and mining construction techniques, top/down construction enables construction of both the below grade basements and high rise structure simultaneously. To date the top/down method has been used on at least four major building projects in the United States. This paper will review the economic, engineering, construction and schedule issues associated with top/down technology on two projects -Olympia Centre, Chicago, and One Westwood, Los Angeles. Top/Down construction is currently under consideration on several additional projects in the United States.

Jan 1, 1987

By Leonel Lopez

Throughout Mexican history, mining has been an important, traditional activity. Before the "Discovery of America," native miners worked a variety of deposits throughout the country, including Mixtec gold and gem mines in Oaxaca State and Aztec gold, silver and copper from mines in Michoacán. The 500th anniversary of Mining in Mexico after the "Discovery of America" was initiated by the Mexican mining sector on April 15, 1991. As early as 1548, when the Guanajuato mining district was discovered, Mexico had become a leading world producer of precious metals. Since then, Mexican mineral production has developed in cycles, responding to changing technological, economic and political conditions. During the 20th century, Mexican mine output reached its peak in the decades of the 1930s and 1940s, when it was producing about 40% of the world's silver, 15% of its lead, 10% of its zinc, 4% of its copper and 3.5% of its gold. In 1990, by way of contrast, these percentages of world output stood at 13.5% for silver, 4.7% for lead, 4.1% for zinc, 3.2% for copper, and 0.43% for gold. The lowest production levels were recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, when Mexicanization of the industry and increasing state controls weakened mineral economics to a point that mineral exploration budgets were sharply reduced or eliminated, along with the industry's future. Only the noble old mining districts continued to supply production, with occasional eruptions of "bonanzas" and new extensions in established mining districts.

Jan 1, 1994

By W. Curlook, V. G. Papangelakis, M. Baghalha

A pressure acid leaching process has been developed for the extraction of metal values, nickel, copper, cobalt and zinc, from base metal smelter slags. The basic concept contemplates cooling the smelter slags through solidification sufficiently slowly to induce a good measure of crystallization; and subsequently, after fine grinding, to pressure leach such slags at around 250°C while applying oxygen overpressure, utilizing smelter byproduct sulphuric acid. High levels of extraction of the slags' metal values are thereby achieved. It has been shown that if the same slags are quenched thereby producing an amorphous structure, the resulting metal extractions are very low. The process is applicable to smelting furnace throwaway/discard/dump slags, as well as to in-process converter slags. By extracting the bulk of the residual base metal values in the throwaway/discard/dump slags, the resulting leached residues are rendered virtually benign vis-à-vis the external environment.

Jan 1, 2004

By S. Felderhof, W. S. Vaughan

"Over the years, it has been increasingly difficult for the minerals industry to raise the necessary capital for its activities. To alleviate this phenomenon, complete transparency and capital market efficiency is needed. Since a company’s mineral resources and mineral reserves base is an essential component to obtaining capital, reporting these assets must also be transparent and efficient. This must occur, however, at an international level given that mineral industry operations, and its financing, are international. To achieve this, an international committee (i.e. Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Europe, and the United States) was formed and has been developing standards for the reporting of mineral resources and mineral reserves.The effectiveness of these standards, however, depends on adoption by the required regulators. Unfortunately, these standards have not been recognized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Instead, the SEC adheres to its old standard (Industry Guide 7), making it increasingly expensive and difficult for international mining companies to obtain capital in the United States. Compounding the problem is the SEC’s influence over the current work of the International Accounting Standards Board and the International Organization Organization of Securities Commissions. These organizations are in the process of standardizing international accounting practices and international securities rules and regulations. Their current position may prevent adoption of the industry-developed mineral resources and mineral reserves standards which are internationally recognized."

Jan 1, 2005

By W. H. Bassett

BERYLLIUM was discovered in 1798 by Vauquelin and the metal was first produced by Wohler in 1828 about a year later than his production of metallic aluminum. Beryllium remained dormant until about 1920 when the production of the metal by the electrolysis of a molten bath was carried out by Stock in Germany, closely followed by Dickinson in the United States and by Vivian in England. This may not have been the first time the electrolytic method was thus used but was the beginning of present-day methods. I believe the first commercial attempts in this country started with the Kemet Laboratories about 1924. Siemens & Halske in Germany were working on the same problem at about the same time. The work of the Kemet Laboratories was transferred to the Beryllium Company of America and later to the Beryllium Development Corporation. In 1926 1 made a considerable study of the beryllium¬copper alloys, using beryllium purchased from the Beryllium Company of America, and read a paper on this subject at the February, 1927, meeting of the A.I.M.E. However, I failed at that time to discover the properties of precipitation hardening which such alloys have in a very marked degree. After this publication the work on beryllium-copper alloys rested awhile. One cause for this was the difficulty of securing a supply of beryllium-at least at what might be considered a reasonable price. In 1926 the price was $200 per lb., a figure which held about the same both in this country and in Germany until the beginning of 1932, when it was offered here at $50 per lb. if taken in the form of a copper alloy which carried about 121/2 per cent beryllium. Somewhat later the 121/2 per cent alloy dropped to $25 per lb. of beryllium contained, which is the present price. Promise is made that with a greater consumption, production on a larger scale warrants a reduction in price to $10 per pound or less.

Jan 1, 1933

By M. Pope

By 1950, packaged oil and gas fired boilers were on the market for capacities up to 30,000 lbs./hr. By 1962, capacities were up to 100,000 lbs./hr. and even higher when separate heat traps (economizers and air preheaters) were attached to the boiler packages. During this period, complete packaged coal fired boilers were developed into the 10-15,000 lbs./hr. range. Oil and gas fired plant designs became very compact, "basementless", and far: less costly than the coal fired plants of any capacity. Coal fired plants remained large and expensive, required field erection of boilers and required basements. With the spectacular strides made in automation, oil and gas plants became far less costly to operate, requiring only the part-time attendance of a single operator. Some advances were made in coal fired plants, but not to the degree attained by the fluid fuel competition.

Jan 1, 1965