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By S. Chung

Mining in highly stressed ground conditions has been an increasing challenge at the Brunswick mine. Over the past 30 years, two large regional pillars were established on the 1000 m Level to support the ground for safe extraction of the surrounding ore. The South Regional Pillar contains about 5 Mt of ore and the North Regional Pillar has about 3 Mt of ore. In the fall of 2000, mining activities were suspended following a series of ground movements around the South Regional Pillar along weak geological structures. After extensive geotechnical investigations, a decision was made to carry out a mass de-stress blast in the West Ore Zone (WOZ) to cut the principal stress across an area of 135 m along strike and 86 m high. At the end of July 2001, the WOZ mass blast was successfully initiated. Following this success, the mine decided to take a similar approach to de-stressing the North Regional Pillar (NRP). The final mass blast was taken in early February 2003. Advanced blasting technologies, including state-of-the-art electronic detonators and blast simulation, played an important role in achieving the successful blasts. The high precision of delay timing and long delay duration of the electronic detonators ensured accurate and reliable initiations of over 800 blastholes in the WOZ mass blast. Orica’s DMC_Blast (Distinct Motion Code) simulation code was used to study different blasting blocks for the desired timing in the initiation sequence. This paper describes the process of applying electronic detonators in complex blasts, and discusses how blast simulation results were interpreted to guide engineering design of the mass blasts.

Jan 1, 2005

By D. J. Hutchinson, M. Lato, M. Diederichs

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-based applications for geomechanical purposes have recently proven to be a highly reliable and accurate form of remote analysis and documentation. The ability to remotely collect, process and evaluate rockmasses for structural geomechanical applications has benefits ranging from safety to efficiency, and provides a permanent record that can be assessed before and after an excavation has been completed. With the collaboration of Queen’s University and Rio Tinto, the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) mines in Labrador City, Newfoundland and Labrador, evaluated the practical application of the I-Site 4400 LiDAR equipment, in conjunction with the Vulcan geotechnical module for geomechanical purposes. The project provided a comparative analysis between conventional hand-mapping and digital analysis. The analysis indicates that digital mapping could be employed as an active tool within the general geotechnical workflow, where results would be used in pit wall and rockmass support designs. As well, the field work enabled the generation of effective operational guidelines and protocols to maximize scanning efficiency.

Jan 1, 2009

By W. E. MacDonald

This paper relates the story of 100 years of mining in the Harbour Seam at the Princess Colliery, Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. Several interesting anecdotes are included along with the discussion of the evolution of coal mining methods in the area. Finally, some of the recently introduced equipment at Princess Colliery is described, and prospects for the future of the industry are outlined.

Jan 1, 1968

By K. Awuah-Offei

Long-term production scheduling optimization has been a challenging issue for the mining industry because of the size and complexity of the problem. The current planning algorithms have limitations in terms of addressing the stochastic variables underlying the mine planning problem. In this paper, an intelligent agent-based mine planning framework based on reinforcement learning is introduced. The long-term mine planning is modelled as a dynamic decision network. The intelligent agent interacts with the block model by means of a stochastic simulation and employs a Q-learning algorithm to learn the sequence of pushbacks that maximizes the net present value of the mining operation. The intelligent open pit simulator (IOPS) was implemented with an object-oriented design in Java®. A comparative application case study was carried out to verify and validate the models. The proposed method was used in planning an iron ore deposit and the results were compared to the Milawa scheduler used in Whittle® software. The outcome of the study demonstrates that the intelligent agent framework provides a powerful basis for addressing real-size open pit mine planning problems.

Jan 1, 2008

By Raj K. Rajamani, Sanjeeva Latchireddi, Dave Plummer, Stieger. Julius

"The Cortez SAG mill liner design was recently modified to improve the mill operating energy efficiency. In addition to the expected benefits, the design change unexpectedly played a significant role of verifying the proposed grinding circuit expansion for the Cortez Hills project as well as illustrating current SAG mill bottlenecks. This paper will discuss the evaluation that addressed operator and maintenance observations, historical PLC data, and “crash stop” observations to calculate charge motion, packing between lifters, and slurry transport through grate and pulp lifters. The performance of the new shell and discharge end liner design will also be discussed as well as their role in the possible grinding circuit expansion.INTRODUCTIONCortez Gold Mines commenced operation in 1969 with its Mill #1 rated at a nominal 2,000 tons per day. Mill #1 was a conventional rod mill/ball mill circuit followed by an 8-stage CIP circuit. In the early 1990s the Pipeline deposit was discovered and subsequently Mill #2 was built to process the increased ore volume. Mill #2, commissioned by mid-1997, was a nominal 10,000 tons per day SABC circuit followed by an 8-stage CIL circuit for oxide gold ore. Operating and commissioning details of this plant have been published elsewhere (Powell, 1998). By late 1998, there was not enough ore volume to support both mills so the smaller, higher operating cost Mill #1 was put under its current care-and-maintenance status. A simplified flowsheet of the current mill is shown in Figure 1."

Jan 1, 2007

By Louis J. Cabri, Donald Hoy

"Samples with contrasting gold mineralization were studied quantitatively prior to metallurgical tests. The AD samples are coarser-grained and characterized by abundant Sb minerals (jamesonite, berthierite, stibnite). The finer-grained MW sample has abundant pyrite and pyrrhotite, with arsenopyrite and galena next in abundance. A large number of gold mineral particles were determined by SEM investigation of hydroseparation concentrates, ranging from 150 to 597 per sample. The grain-size distribution of the gold minerals shows evidence of bimodal grain-size distributions (volume %), with the coarse fraction being most significant in sample MW-1 (maximum ECD=308µm). The coarsest gold minerals in the AD samples range from 139µm to 281µm ECD.The deportment of gold minerals is as electrum, aurostibite, native gold, and a possible new mineral (AuNiSb4). Gold also occurs in nisbite. The gold minerals are dominated by electrum in three samples and aurostibite is next in abundance. The major gold minerals are probably representative of three stages of gold mineralization. The first stage is represented by electrum, which is partly to completely replaced by Sb-rich mineralization forming aurostibite, and the last stage is native gold, often occurring as rims on one or the other earlier gold mineral. The gold minerals are strongly associated with sulphides in the AD samples (55 to 60 vol.%). At the grind used for the hydroseparation the liberated gold mineral quantity (volume %) is also significant, ranging from 65% for sample MW-1 to 30 to 37% for the AD samples.INTRODUCTIONThe Clarence Stream deposit is located 70 km south-southwest of Fredericton and 25 km northnorthwest of St. George, south-western New Brunswick, near the international boundary with Maine (Fig. 1)."

Jan 1, 2007

By Jack Zhang, Yunguo Tang, Baodong Zhao

"Rare earth elements (REEs) have numerous key applications in both traditional and advanced technologies. A shortage of some critical REEs is expected due to the discrepancy between the REE abundance in REE deposits and the REE demand from the market. For example, Neodymium, Europium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Erbium and Yttrium are expected to be in short supply. REE recovery and separation from secondary resources such as uranium wastes, heavy mineral sands, and recycled materials can balance the shortfall in a cost effective way.The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) is engaged in the development and commercialization of complete REE recovery and separation technologies in Canada. One of SRC’s newest developments is the design and commissioning of a heavy rare earth (HREE) separation pilot plant. The pilot plant uses hundreds of stages of solvent extraction (SX) to produce high purity individual HREEs from both primary and secondary resources.This paper presents the design of an HREE recovery process for the particular case of uranium processing wastes. The separation results of a group separation are reported and discussed, as well as the issues and the challenges of the development, commissioning and operation of the continuous SX pilot plant.IntroductionSignificant amounts of strategic specialty heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) are found in uranium wastes in Saskatchewan. It estimated that about 47 tonne/a of heavy rare earth element oxides (HREO) including 27 tonne/a of Y2O3, plus 6 tonne/a of Sc2O3 are in the raffinate of every uranium mill for potential recovery. Since the HREEs are already in the raffinate, cost effective HREE production is promising in Saskatchewan.Selective precipitation including nutraulization, oxalate and double-salts precipitation, as well as sulfide precipitation, ion exchange (IX) and SX are commonly used technologies for the recovery and purification of REE solution. REE oxalate precipitation is an effective technology to remove Fe, Al, Ca, Si and other impurities by taking the advantages of the solubility difference between oxalates of REEs and impurities in acidic solution (Xu, 2005)."

Jan 1, 2017

By Kenji Koga

In order to derive the population distribution of gold nanoparticle morphologies as a function of size, highresolution electron microscopic (HREM) observations and structural analyses were done for over 4000 particles (3-18 nm) grown by an inert gas aggregation (IGA) source using helium. To obtain structural features threedimensionally and not to skip high-contrast images, twenty photos were taken for each particle by changing tilting angle of a specimen holder in combination with the through-focus procedure. For the reliable structural determinations, HREM images and their tilting sequences were directly compared with multislice-simulation results for icosahedral, decahedral and face-centered cubic morphologies, and finally the population distribution of each morphology was obtained as a function of size. In the present sample, icosahedral particles were dominantly populated over the whole observed size range and decahedral particles with non-spherical truncated bi-pyramid shape were secondly dominant. Even though a large number of sampling has been done, few crystalline particles were observed.

Oct 1, 2003

By F. Bruey, T. Bruce, D. R. Nagaraj, W. Thomas, P. Riccio, E. Guitard

"AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter is a flotation collector that has been an industry standard in the Canadian mineral processing industry since its first commercial use at the Kidd Creek concentrator in 1980. Its wide range of applications in sulphide mineral flotation has made it successful, specifically in the processing of complex sulphide ores which contain copper, lead, zinc, and silver or any combination of these elements for selective separation.AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter is a unique, phosphine-based collector originally developed for the flotation of copper sulphide minerals and activated zinc minerals. It is now recognized for its selectivity for complex, polymetallic sulphide ores and porphyry copper ores. In addition, AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter is highly selective for copper, lead, activated zinc, nickel and precious metals. AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter exhibits strength yet, selectivity against iron sulphides (pyrite, pyrrhotite, marcasite, and arsenopyrite), non-activated sphalerite, and many minerals which contain penalty elements.This paper outlines a brief history of the product’s development, its historical use in Canada and several potential innovative mineral processing applications with the use of the chemistry. Three Canadian case studies will be presented on various ore types including: a Cu-Au ore, a Cu-Zn ore, and Cu-Pb-Zn ore. A plant production update will also be given on the future supply of AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter.INTRODUCTIONCytec Industries Inc. operates a phosphine derivatives plant in Niagara Falls, Ontario, that manufactures various products for their speciality chemicals division. The products from this site are based on phosphine (PH3) chemistry and are used in a variety of markets including electronics, agriculture, LED lighting, water treatment, metal extraction, and mineral processing. One of the major products is the phosphine-based sulphide mineral collector, AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter.AEROPHINE® 3418A Promoter (Figure 1) was originally developed for the flotation of copper and activated zinc minerals (Thomas, 2010).."

Jan 1, 2015

By M. E. Charles

The use of water flowing as a lower layer to reduce pressure gradients in petroleum pipelines was investigated using 17.5 deg. A.P.I. Lloydminster crude oil in a 1-inch laboratory pipe-line and a 21h-inch field pipeline. The method was found to be very effective in reducing the pressure gradient below that for the oil flowing alone. The factor by which the pres-sure gradient was reduced varied with the percentage of water added, and in general exceeded 10 for water contents ranging from 40 to 60 per cent. Within this range of water content the pressure gradient reduction factor was independent of the oil flow rate.

Jan 1, 1960

By 12670

The Cigar Lake project will develop the world’s second largest high-grade uranium deposit. The Cigar Lake Phase 1 orebody contains approximately 226 million pounds U3O8 at an average grade of 20.7% U3O8. The mine, to be operated by Cameco Corporation, will use a unique water jet boring mining method to cut previously frozen ore. A distinctive ore handling design is required to handle the highgrade ore slurry exiting the mining machines. The ore will be crushed and ground underground, with the ore slurry then pumped to surface. Loaded into purpose-designed containers on tractor-trailer units, the ore slurry will be trucked to Cogema Resources Incorporated’s McClean Lake mill. McClean Lake will leach all of the ore. Forty-three percent of the resulting uranium solution will remain at McClean Lake for processing into yellowcake. The other 57% of the uranium solution will be shipped to Cameco’s Rabbit Lake mill for processing into yellowcake there. Detailed design for the Cigar Lake project is now underway. Barring regulatory or market delays, production could start up as soon as early 2006.

Jan 1, 2004

By Joe Pease

"The demand for minerals and metals is increasing. Head grades of ore bodies are dropping. Remaining ores are becoming finer grained, more complex, and more logistically challenging. Mineral processing – in particular comminution – already consumes a huge amount of energy. But in 20 years’ time, it will require about six times as much energy as today to meet the world’s mineral demand.Unless we do something different.As minerals professionals, it is our job to find that “something different”. The world is relying on us. Of course, we must look for new breakthrough technologies and techniques. We must find them, and we will find them – most likely in surprising areas.But what if we also already know how to make 30-50% improvements to efficiency? Just by using existing technologies, by applying modern analytical techniques, by custom designing our plants, by applying manufacturing principles, by breaking down our management silos between disciplines.The thing is, industry professionals already know this. Yet – in spite of a lot of intelligent people trying very hard – we just can’t seem to make it happen.This discussion considers why, despite our best efforts, we don’t get the best out of what we already have. Why we are wasting energy and money. Once we understand why, we can set about unlocking that value and improving industry productivity and energy efficiency. We will discuss the role that professionals and volunteer professional organisations like CMP and CEEC can play in catalysing the changes."

Jan 1, 2015

"Geoscan is used for multi-elemental analysis of conveyed bulk materials in the minerals industry with proven performance and demonstrated paybacks of weeks or months in iron ore, manganese, copper, zinc-lead and phosphate industries. Geoscan-M measures continuously through the full bed depth and is unaffected by belt speed, particle size, layering, mineralogy and dust levels. Increments of typically two minutes are accurately measured and provide the plant operators with tonnage weighted results of contained elements. Measurement of the composition in real time enables prompt feedback to the mining operators and also feed forward to the process operators. Crushed ore increments can be diverted based on composition, such as diverting waste for disposal or marginal material to a stockpile for separate processing. Bulk sorting allows material to be placed into relevant stockpiles for subsequent blending to achieve consistency for process feed. Parameters used for decisions may be primary metal content, deleterious component content, other process parameter, or a combination of these. Process parameter may be the elemental ratio between critical components, e.g. Cu:S ratio, basicity, or the content of an “indicator” element (such as Si indicating material hardness). Benefits will be discussed based on case studies in copper and iron ore.IntroductionAs operators of process plants strive to remain competitive as capital and operating costs increase and commodity prices fluctuate, more focus has been directed at incremental performance improvements at incremental cost rather than major expansions to increase output. The philosophy of working smarter allows plants to adopt technologies proven in other industry sectors to minimise risk. This paper discusses one such technology that the minerals sector is adopting and has found to be safe, reliable and accurate with paybacks of weeks in most applications. New applications continue to be found and major benefits realised at various stages in the processing and handling of ores and products."

Jan 1, 2016

By Brigitte J. Dejou

The Red Dog sediment-hosted zinc-lead deposit is located in the Brooks Range thrust belt in northwest Alaska, approximately 1000 km northwest of Anchorage. The mine constitutes the primary deposit in a 400 square kilometre district, which hosts several other mineral occurrences. All the known mineralisation is hosted by the Mississippian Ikalukrok Member, deep basinal shale of the Kuna Formation, part of a Devonian to Cretaceous sedimentary sequence. The rocks underwent intense deformation during the Brookian Orogeny in Middle Cretaceous time. Several thrust faults juxtapose the stratigraphy. The Red Dog mine is composed of four deposits which together contain 105 Mt in resources and reserves for a total resource exceeding 18 Mt of Zn metal. The mine is an open pit with 25 foot high benches. The biggest challenge is not the Arctic conditions, but metal extraction, due to the fine grained nature of the mineralisation and the variability of the ore. The mine produces Zn and Pb-Ag concentrates that are shipped to smelters around the world from the Red Dog port facilities during the short summer period. Ore mineralogy is generally simple and consists of sphalerite, pyrite, galena and marcasite. The deposits are generally overlain by decametre thick exhalative barite horizons and exhibit strong silicification, which locally obliterates the original textures. Although described as a world class Sedex-type deposit, a large portion of the mineralisation exhibits sub-surface replacement textures. Moreover, unlike most other Sedex deposits, the reconstruction of the basin is made difficult by the structural complexity of the district. To assist exploration in the district, several assumptions are made regarding the deposit settings relative to metal source, growth faults or crustal extension.

May 1, 2006

By Walter Durst

On October 16, 1978, the Harnback open cut of Rheinische Braunkohlenwerke, the largest open cut ever planned, was officially put into operation. It will outperform all of the large open cuts known at present, both in its dimensions and in its annual output of overburden and coal. Present plans are to commence coal mining in 1983, although target production will only be achieved in 1995when the annual output will be 50 million tons of coal. Considering an overburden: coal ratio of 6: 1, this will involve the removal of approximately 300 million bank cubic metres of overburden. For overburden removal and coal mining, this open cut will use bucket-wheel excavators exclusively. It is planned to employ eight excavators with a daily output of 240,000 bank cubic metres each (Fig. 1). The transport of the overburden and coal to the dump and the power station, respectively, will be effected by 30Q0-mm-wide conveyors, running at a speed of 6 m/sec. The overburden will be dumped by spreaders having a boom length of 100 m, capable of dumping 240,000 bank cubic metres per day (Fig. 2). Such giants, of course, can only be used for extreme conditions . Their employment indicates that huge quantities of material can be handled economically for long periods. However, the use of bucket-wheel excavators is economic when daily outputs of 5,000 bank cubic metres are involved, in particular if direct backcasting of the overburden is not possible.

Jan 1, 1979

By E. L. Bruce

Introduction The Outokumpu copper mine is situated in eastern Finland, 50 kilometers west of the city of Joensuu or 225 kilometers directly north of the city of Viborg (Viipuri), which is situated at the eastern end of the gulf of Finland (Figure 1). The ore-body was discovered in 1910 by Dr. Otto Trüstedt after two years of careful, scientifically-directed, search. During the early period of development of the mine, the ore was treated locally and the copper re-covered by an electrolytic process. Now the ore is concentrated by tables and by flotation. The concentrates are shipped to Germany for refining. In 1929 the mine produced 150,000 tons of ore from which between 20,000 and 25,000 tons of flotation concentrates containing 20 per cent copper were produced. Profits in 1929 were approximately half a million dollars, but the present price of copper will affect very seriously the profits for 1930. The ore reserves are given as between 7 and 8 million tons (1). The grade of ore is stated to be 4 percent to 6 percent copper, with a little zinc.

Jan 1, 1931

By J. Nesset, F. Rosenblum, P. Spira

"Sulphide concentrates may exhibit self-heating to various degrees during storage or shipping, the worst cases presenting a serious hazard from fire and SO2 emission. Based on measurements of heating rates on a wide variety of concentrate samples in a special apparatus, combined with field experience, a methodology has been developed which allows concentrates to be rated for their heating potential. This has proven to be very useful in practice, for example, in deciding on the need to take preventive measures. Oxidation under ambient conditions in the presence of moisture initiates heating locally within a stockpile. In the case of highly active materials, such as those that contain abundant pyrrhotite, heating may progress through three stages to temperatures well above 5000C. However, most concentrates show little or no propensity to selfheat. Heating rates were used to estimate values of the heat output, or self-heating capacity (in joules per gram), which sustains the process at each stage. Thermal data from differential scanning calorimetry are also reported. Variables which affect self-heating are discussed and an actual case of heating control on a stockpile by covering is described. A simple apparatus which can be used to simulate stockpiling conditions has been tested successfully and is proposed as a convenient test system.INTRODUCTIONPrevious publications from this laboratory on the evaluation of self-heating in sulphides dealt with tailings backfill (Rosenblum et al. 1982) and waste rock (Rosenblum and Spira 1995). Sulphide concentrates may likewise exhibit self-heating in storage or during shipping. In a comprehensive but dated review, Kirshenbaum (1 968) pointed out the conflicting nature of information on means of controlling the problem, particularly with regard to the application of water and ventilation. Modelling by Simpson (1 97 1) of autogenous heating in stockpiled zinclead concentrate and associated field measurements by Wright et al. (1972) showed that the supply of oxygen by wind and the shape of the piles were the major factors in the development of hot spots. Simpson did not attempt to explain the complex mechanism of self-heating, simply ascribing its onset to oxidation. Pearse (1 980) investigated a potential method of testing for selfheating which consisted of (i) reaction with hydrogen peroxide and (ii) differential thermal anal sis, to characterize the response of concentrates at both ambient and temperatures above 100 C. He found the method sensitive enough to identify the need for careful handling but not to predict ignition. He recommended compacting concentrates and covering stockpiles with plastic sheeting to prevent ingress of air. All these workers recognized the key role played by oxygen and moisture in triggering self-heating."

Jan 1, 2001

By A. Roca, G. Ríos, I. Ruíz, M. Cruells

Flash Smelting Furnace (FSF) hot dust-laden is cooled in a waste heat boiler (WHB) and then dedusted in electrostatic precipitators (ESP’s) before being treated, together with the Peirce Smith Converters off-gases, in the sulfuric acid plants for SO2 removal. FSF dust is sulfated by SO2 and O2 in the WHB. Typically, 70% of the dust from the FSF drops in the WHB while the remainder is caught in the ESPs. The collected dust is recycled to the FSF for Cu recovery. Some smelters have developed hydrometallurgical treatments to recover Cu from the dust; impurities, such as As and Bi, are bled as leach plant residues. This paper presents a study (laboratory scale), of leaching the FSF dust, generated in Atlantic Copper Smelter using the weak acid bleed from the gas scrubbing/cooling section (GSCS) of sulfuric acid plants. Leaching was performed with 0.5 mol L-1 sulfuric acid concentration, 60ºC, and a solid/liquid ratio 1/3. After leaching, H2O2 was used for arsenic and iron oxidation. pH was adjusted for precipitation of arsenic and iron as scorodite or as scorodite and arsenical jarosite. The precipitation was carried out at 95ºC during 3-6 h. Liquids after precipitation are suitable for subsequent treatments of electrolysis. INTRODUCTION The copper smelter dusts are usually recirculated totally or partially to the flash furnace. This practice increases the amount of impurities feeding the furnace. Some authors have developed processes for treatment of these materials for copper and zinc recovery and for arsenic, antimony and bismuth inertization. The processes for the treatment of copper smelter dusts can be pyrometallurgical (Yu, 1987; Carter, Vance, Aldridge, Zaw, & Khoe, 1994; Fu, Jiang &Wang, 2000), hydrometallurgical, or mixed processes (Yin et al, 1992; Mulale, Mwema, & Mashala, 1999; Gorai, Jana, & Khan, 2002). Hydrometallurgical processes have been extensively studied and, in some cases, applied to an industrial scale. The most important chemical reagent proposed for leaching the dusts has been sulfuric acid (Roman-Moguel, Plascencia, Pérez, & Garcia, 1995; Gabb, & Evans, 1997; Larouche, 2001; Morales, Cruells, Roca, & Bergó, 2010; Cáceres, Cruells, Morales, & Roca, 2012; Ecometales, 2013; Yang, Fu, Liu, Chen, & Zhang, 2017). Processes developed in alkaline media, and in some cases with the presence of sulfide, have also been carried out (Gabler, & Jones, 1988; Morales, Hevia, & Cifuentes, 2009; Alguacil, Garcia-Diaz, Lopez, Rodriguez, & Alonso, 2013), as well as by using a bioleaching process (Massinaie, Oliazadeh, & Seyed Bagheri, 2006; Bakhtiari, Atashi, Zivdar, Seyedbagheri, & Fazaelipoor, 2011).

Jan 1, 2019

By C K. Bell, L. S. Collett

An AFMAG survey was flown in 1968 over the Upper Nelson River area, Manitoba. The flight direction was northwest-southeast and flight spacing was 2 miles. In the Cross Lake Subprovince, AFMAG showed that an isolated peridotite outcrop was part of a dike that extended over 80 miles. Diabase dikes are not always marked by an anomaly, but isolated cross-overs, when used in conjunction with geological and magnetic data, permit their extrapolation. Anomalies coincide with areas of sulphide mineralization. In the Flin Fion Subprovince, known and unknown northeast-trending faults are detected. The Berry Creek fault was extended south through Tramping lake, then under the Paleozoic cover. Conductors were detected at, or near, the axes of major synclines within Amisk and Snow Group sediments. Granitic terranes have low conductivity and, because they are characterized by smooth AFMAG profiles, they can be delimited. AF.MAG is being recognized as a geophysical method that can aid geological mapping and interpretation. Its most important contribution to the geologist will be in regions where out-crops are sparse.

Jan 1, 1971

By W. J. S. Craigen, G. E. Wittur

"In the context of today's continuously changing world, there are many factors which must be considered when attempting to assess the ability of Canada's primary copper producers to remain competitive in the face of increasing competition in world markets. In this paper, we have attempted to document those factors that will have the greatest impact on the future viability of Canada's copper industry, and to suggest possible strategies to fully utilize whatever inherent advantages Canada may have to enhance its competitive position. Technological factors related to the efficiency of precious and by-product metals recovery, energy type and utilization efficiency, production and sale of sulphur by-products, and control of 502 emissions are given high priority in this evaluation of Canada's future needs to remain competitive. Particular emphasis is placed on assessing the relative viability of hydrometallurgical versus pyrometallurgical processes for copper; to address uniquely Canadian conditions and problems. Due consideration is also given to the economic incentives required to allow Canada's copper producers to compete under anticipated world market conditions and to facilitate the continued development of Canada's copper resources. IntroductionWhen we try to assess the viability or competitiveness of any industry the bottom line is still usually, ""Can we produce a pound of product cheaper than the competition?"" Canada's copper industry is certainly no exception. However, as with most resource-based industries dependent upon exports, there are many factors which have a significant effect on the cost components which make up the total cost of producing and selling a pound of copper. It is desirable therefore to have as clear a picture as possible of the cost components, the major factors affecting them, and how they compare with the competition, particularly the third-world copper producers.In this paper we have attempted to provide a brief outlook for world copper markets and a brief overview of Canada's competitive position. We have also attempted to document those factors which will have the greatest impact on future production costs, and have suggested possible initiatives to utilize inherent Canadian advantages to enhance our competitive position. Special emphasis has been placed on technological initiatives designed to make full use of these ""advantages"", to develop superior beneficiation and extraction! refining technologies. Major factors considered in the present study are:"

Jan 1, 1986